Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!!

Our ten days of holiday parties is ending with a huge bang.  We are planning on staying up till the cows come home (whenever that is since we don’t live on a farm).

We’re headed to dinner with friends at Kokkarri and then to a fabulous party.  What are you plans?  Whatever they may be, I hope you have a sparkling New Year’s eve and I’ll see you back here in 2011.

Highlights Through the Year

One thing I love about this week is that it allows time for reflection on the past year.  What a year it has been for me!  It’s easy for my mind to get tangled in fearful thoughts as I venture into the new land of interior decorating.  Sometimes I find it hard just to keep my head above water.  However, as I reflect back on this year, I see that I’ve actually accomplished a lot more than I ever would have thought.

It all began with a new year’s resolution last year: “My new year’s resolution is to start a blog and to write a post five days a week”  February, my adventure began in our Chicago apartment, where I dedicated this blog to my dad, who taught me to dream big…

This is a resolution I’ve actually kept and that alone is accomplishing something.  The blog has brought me incredible nourishment and fervor for creativity.

Then came my first DIY –

The chair that sparked it all!

I became an estate sale/second hand store/flea market fanatic.  And then I happened upon this beautiful chair

which I sold to this amazing talented woman: Julia Buckingham Edelmann of Buckingham Interiors + Design.

And a friendship sparked.  Julia encouraged my dreams and helped me to feel confident in the career path choices I was making.  With her sage advice, I felt like I could take on a client.

My first client’s original living room

And the after

I then ventured into the land of e-design.  What a thrill that was to see living rooms transform electronically.  Here is a sneak peak at a client’s living room:

I LOVE how it turned out!

June brought on a move to NYC for ten weeks and I took in every decor shop, every antique, every textile that I could get my hands on.  I walked away with my beloved Craigslist finds: Jonathan Adler lamps and my Madeline Weinrib rug…

Finally, in September came the final move to San Francisco.  The move brought on the opportunity for three more e-design clients and three more in person clients.  I have finished a guest room (pictures coming soon) and I’m working on a restaurant and two rooms in a home in Atherton.   Not to mention, my own home is coming along…

Before dining room:

Current day:

I am also taking classes in interior design and I’m grasping as much knowledge as I possibly can.  I’ve met the most amazing bloggers and designers and I’m constantly in awe of the design community.  My cup runneth over this year.  We shall see what 2011 brings, but I’m thinking more growth and change and that is what I’m looking forward to the most!

There is no way that I would be here without you!  When I feel its hard to keep my head above water, it is my readers that keep me afloat.  Thank you for reading!  You mean the world to me!  Happy New Year!

Dinner Party Tablescape

Now, you can see my new cage light in action.  What do you think?  It’s larger than life but I like how it’s oversized for the room.  There is nothing like lighting to take center stage in a room.

I changed my tablescape as well because we had another dinner party last night.

The fabric for the table is Hollywood by Alexander Henry

I used the eucalyptus wreath from Trader Joes that has been hanging on our front door to frame out the flowers.

The fabric was tucked under the table for the dinner party so they didn’t have to see the unsightly tattered ends.

It was tough to get a good picture since it was gloomy gray day but you get the idea for my dinner party tablescape.  I drove down to the South Bay yesterday afternoon for a client meeting and along the way I stopped by my mom’s place to finally pick up our wedding china.

I’m so happy to finally have it at our apartment – I love it!

If you’re thinking to yourself, where is my invite to dinner?  I promise, it’s coming!  Let the dinner parties begin!! Tis the season for them – we have attended or hosted a dinner party every night since Dec. 23 and it will continue to be nightly until Jan. 1st.  Love it!

If you would like help decorating your place or sprucing it up for a special event, please e-mail me at katecollinsinteriors@gmail.com

Before and After: Light Fixture

I was so happy to have Graham’s help around our apartment this weekend.  We were finally able to switch out a light in our dining room.

This flush mount light needed to go.

Graham worked on the electrical elements…

And I assembled the base

And now we have this light fixture in our dining room…

I love the end result and I’ll be sharing more pictures from farther back  (so you get a better perspective) tomorrow.  Thanks to my electrician husband.

Frances Reid Stockings

I hope you had the most wonderful holiday weekend.  We had an amazing time with family and friends and I’m a little bummed it’s all over with.  At least New Year’s is not far off!

Today, I wanted to share with you stockings that my sister-in-law handmade.  She is an amazing seamstress, incredibly fashionable and very creative.  She is the woman behind the children’s clothing line: Frances Reid Clothing, which I will be blogging about more fully once her site is up and running.

Here are the stockings she whipped up for her husband, herself and their cats and dog.

Stockings for their cats: Apple, Penny and Jack.

Love the embroidery!

Her own stocking.

She even lined the inside with a different coordinating fabric for each stocking.

My brother’s stocking – her inspiration – the woodsy look

My favorite – the stocking for their dog, Charlie.

Without a fireplace mantel to hang the stockings, Bridget pulled an ingenious move and hung them on their coat rack.  So smart and creative!  Well done, Bridget!!

Over the Christmas weekend, my nephew, Nico wore the blazer that we had custom made for him from Bridget last year.  This is a sneak peak at Bridget’s awesome talents – I can’t wait to show more as her business builds…

The lining is the most adorable frog lining that matches the stitching and coloring of the jacket – it is an awesome, one of a kind jacket that he looks very dapper in.

Merry Christmas

 

I wish you all a very merry Christmas!  I hope your weekend is blessed, brimming with happiness and your cheeks hurt from smiling too much.  Sending you all my love on this fabulous Christmas eve!

My Holiday Decor

It starting to look a lot like Christmas!!  It hasn’t felt quite as Christmasy this year.  I think it’s because we decided to forgo getting a Christmas tree and a Christmas card, which I now regret.  My best friend, Lauren and her husband, are coming to town to celebrate Christmas and we’re having dinner at our place tonight.  I’m over the moon excited and I felt it was time I bring up the Christmas spirits in here…

My table:

I must say, I’m thrilled with how it turned out.  I used a vintage orangey, red and white striped fabric that was going to be used for a client’s room; I got 5 yards off of e-bay for $35.  We decided to go for a slightly different direction in my client’s room and so the fabric was going to go unused.  I figured it must come out and spruce up our table.

The feathers, I got from JoAnne’s for $0.50 each and all the rest is mine.  The plates are our every day plates from Pottery Barn – I love them!  The white napkins, silver napkin rings, table runner, gold balls and wine glasses are Pottery Barn.  Can you tell I once worked there? The gorgeous tall white candlesticks were a wedding gift from Gumps.

The green settee, I bought off of Craigslist earlier this year.  It used to reside in our living room and now usually sits under the bay window in our dining room.  But for Christmas that baby has got to take center stage at the dining room table.

The console table is from Ikea and then greenery was from Trader Joes.  The gorgeous silver candelabra were a generous wedding gift as was the beautiful copper champagne bucket.

There you have it, we’re all set for our dinner tonight and I only spent $5.00 on the feathers and $15.00 on the greenery.  Sometimes, it helps just to take what you already have and use it in different ways.  If you would like me to help decorate your place for the holidays or special event, please e-mail me at katecollinsinteriors@gmail.com

From Sofa to Settee Back to Sofa

As I type this post, I am sitting on our new living room sofa. Let me just say, a sofa has never, ever felt soo good in my entire life!  If you follow this blog, you’ll know that when we moved in our couch didn’t fit up the stairwell and so we thought we would go the entire year without a couch and with just a small settee.  But our apartment didn’t feel like home without a comfy couch.  So we now have the Templeton Sofa by Jonathan Adler.

We’re thrilled with the comfort! Let me show you a before shot of Graham lying on the settee watching TV. You think his 6’2″ body is comfortable?

Hilarious!

Here’s another before shot of me watching a movie. Yeah, this position isn’t so cozy when sitting for a two hour flick.

And the afters….

As comfy and happy as ever!!!  Yipppeeeee!!!

The living room furniture was shuffled around a bit; the gray chairs moved…

Getting the sofa up the stairs was a challenge. But we had the greatest movers ever! Literally, this sofa could not have been one centimeter bigger. They angled and adjusted and re-angled until finally it made it into the living room!  Thank you Mygrate Movers and Santa!

Something is missing…

Here is my living room in its current state – see if you can tell what’s missing…

Here’s a big hint…

It’s a sofa!  You see, we thought we could tough it out with a 51 inch settee and just deal for the year or so we live in this apartment.  But it’s rough without a sofa, almost like camping without a sleeping pad, it’s fine for a little while but after a short time, you really start missing comfort.  Movie watching is only so much fun from a chair.  And when Graham got the flu, he wanted to watch TV in comfort; we only have a TV in the living room so I went out and bought him a blow up mattress, which worked until it started deflating.  Really folks, we’ve been roughing it.

I have been on the hunt for a sofa that is stylish but has a low enough back that it’ll fit up our stairwell.  And after CRAZY amount of deliberation, I took the leap…I bought a Jonathan Adler sofa!!!   The Templeton Apartment sofa…

The Templeton Apartment sofa in ice blue.  The colorway shown below –

The sofa is leap worthy and I’m so glad I took the plunge and handed over my AmEx.  Of course, I didn’t pay retail because it seems to be something I don’t like to do anymore.  I guess all the thrift store shopping has rubbed off on me.  It was a sample floor model and going for 60% off.  Yippee!!

Once this beauty is up in our apartment – fingers crossed all of my measuring was accurate.  I get to do some furniture rearranging.  Then I’ll pick the final fabric for the room – the seat cushions for my faux bamboo chairs (against closet doors in living room photo).  Can’t wait to show you new pics!

 

 

Window Shades Finished

A couple of weeks ago I had started a DIY project making Roman shades in my living room. I ran out of fabric and I had only made one window. Click here to see the before shot.

Well, I can now say that I am finished with that project!  Woo hoo!
Here’s the finished look:

And one a little farther back…

My apologies for the rug being scrunched up.  I had to step on the chairs to put up the blinds.  A big change is coming to my living room, which I can’t wait to share.  Let’s just say Santa arrived early!