Cozy at home give-away -- pot holders in Heather Bailey fabric

My dear friend Elizabeth has opened an Etsy shop.

Yippee!

To celebrate she has a giveaway going on. Visit her site -- click here -- to win these darling pot holders made from Heather Bailey's fabric.

Happy Birthday to Whitney and my blog!

Happy Birthday to Whitney Johnson, Dare-to-Dreamer who dared me to start this blog two years ago. Wow, time flies and I really didn't think I'd stick with it. But here I am in bloggerland and contemplating twittering and other social media. Yikes.

This blog was Whitney's birthday present, but I think the present has really been for me.

Here is what I have gained from blogging:

1) An opportunity to develop my design voice.
2) Ability to share my design voice with the media.
3) New friends and networks.
4) Confidence that I can indeed manage technology.
5) Improved writing skills.
6) A way to look back, a journal for keeping design notes.
7) An active way to share my portfolio, beyond my website.
8) Joy in sharing.

...and probably a whole lot more. I never imagined all these things would happen.

Thank you Whitney!

Please help me celebrate by visiting Whitney's blog -- Dare to Dream -- and tell her your dream.

Painting Crisp Lines

Here is a little trick I learned to keep paint from bleeding through your tape.

Candlestick find in Melissa's home

Today I helped Melissa put the final touches on her room. We accessorized with items found around her home. I pulled this cool looking pea green candlestick she had hidden.

Melissa asked if I knew what it was made from. No clue.

Look close and see if you can tell.

Look closer. Does the shape resemble anything you know?

Clue: If you have a baby, you might get it.

Do you see it?

Baby food jars. Yep, those are baby food jars. Clever, clever.

Melissa's mother-in-law made this candlestick back in the 60s. Retro and green all in one.

I don't have the instructions, but I am pretty sure it involves gluing the jars together. The bottom and tops are plates that felt like metal. The whole thing was painted and must have several layers of polyurethane because there was not a chip or scratch on the thing.

The baby food candle stick looks right at home amongst the turned-wood variety.

Melissa's new mantel with our final touches -- all found objects from around her home. Melissa joked that she's been decorating this room for ten years, that's how long she's been married and collecting things.

My favorite among her things?

The baby food jar candlestick.

Have it: Jonathan Adler's book

I just love Jonathan Adler's design voice that inspires us to have "happy" interiors, so I added his book -- My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living. --to my design library: Check it out.

Johnathan Adler from his website:

If you don’t have one, get one. Nothing inspires me more than when someone tells me I can’t do something. Get up close and personal with somebody who is wildly unsupportive. My mother is the greatest person on earth and I absolutely love her. Truly. But, she is pathologically risk-averse and whenever I tell her about some new venture I’m embarking on I know that if she screeches that it’s a terrible idea and that I’ve lost my mind then it’s a sure-fire smash. If she says nay, I say yay.

LOVE HIM!

And check out St. Louis AT HOME magazine to learn how Jonathan Adler inspired local St. Louis couple to decorate their home in the "happy chic" style.


See more design voices, check out my design library found in the column on the left.

Glass Installation -- my place!

Here is an exciting preview of the Chihuly-inspired glass installation above my fireplace. Jana from Gringo Jones came to install the glass. The plates and pods (curly objects) are individual pieces of recycled glass made in Mexico. Together we sculpted the shape.

Jana put brackets on the wall and wired them in place. Earlier in the week I painted my wall the turquoise color with one inch wide stripes -- still in progress, I grab the paint roller whenever I have an hour or two. I love how the layers of pattern and color play off each other.

Thanks Jana, it was a fun collaboration!



Stay tuned for more exciting layers of color and pattern to be revealed in my home. Yummy!

designHop club makes a difference at Etanim's home

See videos and photos to follow the latest redesign by the designHop club.

Dear Dana,

Please pass on to the designHop group a very sincere thank you from our little household. You can only imagine what peace it brings to now have such a lovely living room. We are still so very excited about it. Please thank everyone who came (in spirit or in person) for their wonderful contributions. We are most grateful.

Sincerely, Chantal, Etanim, and Mario

Etanim and son Mario live in a beautiful home they share with Chantal, their housemate and friend. Etamin is a single mom and works hard to keep a home nice for her son. Recently she received furnishings from St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store in St. Louis. She got wind of our designHop group and invited us to use her newly acquired furnishings to create a warm and inviting living room.

Nine amazing women, Mario, and two darling babies completed the transformation in just four hours.



We pulled the covers off of beautiful furniture hiding from view. Etanim thought two fabic chairs did not work together with the sofas, so she hid the offending chairs. We told her they are beautiful, keep them uncovered! An area rug stored in my basement was re-purposed to the room and helped pull the furniture together.

Ann Brown donated the oops paint -- cheap, but very nice paint at Home Depot. Check them out. For just $25 Ann bought five gallons of Behr brand paint in a perfect buttery cream and one gallon in a warm sage green. The buttery cream paint is enough for Etamin to continue painting the stairway and halls. We used the sage paint on the fireplace wall.

While most of the group painted, Julie Koch and Christie Hutchins settled in the dining room where they kept two sewing machines humming to make window treatments. They created the simple, easy pattern on-the-spot. Way to go ladies! Throw pillows will be made later by Etanim and I'll post follow up photos.

The whole evening came off with minimal planning. The only instructions that went out were photos of the room and a call for donations of paint. We executed with whatever came together: paint, sewing machines, fabrics and talented women fueled by Etanim's tasty homemade salsa and treats.

Thanks to Kara Johnson for the videos!

The living room BEFORE:


The living room AFTER the designHop ladies did their magic:






See more photos of the group on Chantal's blog post -- click here.
So whose house do we hop to next?

Great Look for Less -- Planters

Look at these great pots sitting between my neighbor's door and mine. They were bought at Ashley Furniture, where I work, in Kirkwood, Missouri. The orb (round) pot was bought for $88. Compare to the DWR Gratia orb planter that is priced at $520.00 on sale. I think we achieve the same look for a lot less.

AT HOME St. Louis Magazine's Habitat for Humanity project -- Sherrel's room

It's been fun working again with AT HOME St. Louis Magazine on yet another successful community project, this time with Habitat for Humanity. You may remember last year's project with Haven of Grace.

I was teamed up with designers Ellen Alvey and Becky Noelker. What a blast working with these talented women. We decorated Sherrel's top attic bedroom.

Sherrel gave us only one direction, blue walls with black and white accents and fabric. We loved the idea! All we added to the design plan were the pops of red.

All items were donated by generous area vendors and subscribers to the magazine. I donated the Ashley Furniture lamp to the right of the bed. The artwork was donated by a St. Louis favorite, Laura Gunn.

Sherrel and her friends helped paint the room. They also assisted us in painting the furniture.

See photos below with captions that tell the story.

Above, we laid out all the fabrics and a fun lamp shade for Sherrel to view and approve.

Above, old chest found in basement.

Above, after a bit of paint. We accentuated the lines already in the piece. The hardware is the same, original flower shaped knobs. We just spray painted them white and then dipped the edges in black. So cute! the scroll pattern on the top drawer was inspired by an are rug in the room.



Above, room before.

Above, room after.

Above, we slip covered this grandma chair in a fashion-forward pop of polka dots! Not your grandma's polka dots, but big ones. The red pillow was a bonus, made of found scrap fabric. Could not have planned that if we had tried.

Above, the three musketeers, left to right, Becky Noelker, Ellen Alvey, and me.

Artist Laura Gunn with her paintings.

Above, I can't resist this photo of Paul Pagano, designer, who worked on the basement of the home. He would drop by our room and entertain us. Watch it now, don't split your pants!

Sherrel thinks her room is hot!

Cousin Craig -- Repressing Andrew Wyeth

Cousin Craig has another masterpiece and, again, a great back story.

From his website:

It's no secret that I love photo-realism in painting and greatly admire the work of Andrew Wyeth. However, I find it can also be a trap that artists occasionally fall into (including me). In some ways, painting in a "Photo-Realistic style relegates to artist into becoming a human "Xerox" machine. This piece was to designed to "repress" my Wyethian tendencies, and strive for something original and my own statement. I first painted a portrait of Andrew in oils, and then deconstructed it by slicing it into 5 ribbons which I integrated into the "picture towers" shown above. The act of physically cutting the painting up was my way of severing my past artistic tendencies.

Piano Color

Here is a fun idea from Design Mom.

We think a piano can only be two colors, brown or black. How about green or another fun color?

Refinishing can be a good chunk of change. Painting yourself costs just a few pennies.

Mike and Toni's Chandelier Galaxy

This is hilarious. Heather and I have been shopping for the perfect chandelier for over her piano. This is one store we have not checked out. How about it Heather?I found this fun clip on Carolina Eclectic.

Meet DeirDre Krotz -- A St. Louis Favorite

Close-up shot of finish applied to what was once a white laminate cabinet. CRAZY!

My St. Louis favorites list is growing, this time with DeirDre Krotz, faux artist, who does the most amazing treatments with paint. Her company is called Crazy Walls.

I first became acquainted with her when I took one of her classes and she has since done work for my clients.

Her most recent work transformed a plain laminate cabinet to become a stunning old-world piece. Crazy!
Original white laminate cabinets (above)
AFTER (above) DeirDre does her "crazy" magic. Same cabinets, no joke. These are laminate, but you would never know.

I can't tell you how many clients ask me if they can paint laminate.

Yes Susie, you can! And DeirDre can help.

If you live in the St. Louis area and would like to learn how DeirDre and I can transform your furnishings, your walls and any paintable (not a word, I know, but I like it) surface, give me a call: 314-276-1129. If you live elsewhere, fly us out!

The Henken's Family Room -- featuring Ashley Furniture's Curved Sofa

It's been several months in the making, but yesterday we finally finished the Henken's family room and kitchen.
We started with one of my favorite sectionals: Ashley's curved sofa.
We teamed the curved sofa with Ashley's Jenna chairs which inspired the color scheme of red, green, yellow and tan. The walls are painted in Restoration Hardware's Bay Laurel. The area rug, about 11' by 14', was found at Rug Decor to complement the chairs. Notice the old window to the left side, it's an actual window from Joe's family home. The lamp and small table were made by Joe using reclaimed woods.
The window treatments and pillows are by Material Girl, Jeanette Longfellow. We banded the red treatments with a 12 inch block of tan fabric to mimic a valance. I love the graphic statement this makes.
Dining table (pictured above) was found at Three French Hens. The top is made of reclaimed wood -- the base was a pillar rescued from a Missou frat house. The chairs for the dining table are from Bassett. The ladder back chairs are upholstered in leather, practical dining for the children. The parents sit in the fabric chairs.
Tile back splash is subway tile laid in a brick pattern, the centerpiece surrounding the pot-filler is glass tile mosaic.
Accessories were found at Ashley Furniture and Pier One, but some of my favorite accessories were made by Joe, the reclaimed porch post lamp and small side table, seen with the Jenna chairs.
A fun find: whimsical side table that is a monkey holding a tray, found at Arhaus. Too cute! It's one of Joe's favorites.
Everyone feels at home, including the Henken's dog!

Thank you Henkens!...it's been fun. Let's do the living room now!

Want it: DOWNTOWN CHIC

I am starting something new. A running list of wish-books for my design reference library. This will be a handy list -- found on the side bar of my blog -- for friends and family who want to get me a gift!

DESIGN CHIC is reviewed by DESIGN MOM.

The cover of the book inspires me because I am getting ready to launch a design re-do of my master bedroom. I want to inject color, but I don't have the time or energy to paint my walls in the immediate future. Injecting color in the fabrics and finishes like I see on the cover of this book are likely the way I want to go.

Moonrise Hotel in St. Louis

Sitting area in lobby of the Moonrise Hotel.


Dan (husband) and I went with friends Don and Diane Wallace to check out the new Moonrise Hotel on the Delmar Loop.

The website says it "blends cool modern design and quirky sophistication to create a truly unique boutique hotel experience...The result: an unforgettable experience that combines Midwestern hospitality with urban chic and luxury boutique."

The lunar-themed decor is really out of this world. LOVE it!

It's so cool. We'll book guests here for sure.


Stairs light up and change colors. The Chihuly inspired chandelier is to die for.



The place was hopping. Great to see in this economy.