Imperial Trellis

I’m off to go talk bathroom talk.  My little nephew would be so jealous. 🙂  No, not that kind of bathroom talk.  One of the items at our meeting is to finalize wallpaper in my client’s tween girl’s bathroom.  They requested pink and graphic.  I’m thinking Imperial Trellis in pink.  I know, I know it’s been seen all over blogland.  But it is a beautiful pattern that I never tire of; I also love that it has a sophisticated look that can grow with the girls.

Apparently, the last shot is Gwyneth Paltrow’s house in the Hamptons.  So pretty!!

 

It’s About Time

For some reason, I’m very slow to jump on the social media band wagon.  I have a twitter account, but I rarely tweet.  I have a pinterest account, but my pins are not organized all that well.  I have a personal Facebook account but nothing for my business.  That is, until now.

After a few clients asked me, “where is your Facebook page?”  and family and friends prodded me saying, “you need a Facebook page.”  I created one.  I can’t say it’s anything special as of yet, but it will be.  I really don’t understand how to make it look all snazzy, any tips would be amazing.  I’ll be posting my blog as well as sneak peaks onto projects or other pics that inspire me along the way, such as this cute Lulu DK fabric –

One of my very huge fears about getting a Facebook page was that nobody will “like” me.  That dang like button is kind of cruel.  I’m getting that “will anybody ask me to the dance?” feeling.  If you do get a chance, if you could like my Facebook page, it would mean the world to me.

Happy Friday!!

Babysittin’

I do A LOT of babysitting.  From pillows and stools to chairs and benches, I am constantly watching over other people’s babies until I get to drop them off at their house.  Most of the time, I fall in love with them in my own home.  This time was no exception.  Without even thinking about it, I plopped my client’s custom lumbar pillow on my office settee…

Ohhh…don’t you think my settee needs a lumbar too?  However, per usual, the pillow fit best in it’s rightful home –

I love the cheery colors and fabrics for this windowseat which is in my client’s beautiful kitchen.

Plus, the lumbar hides a power socket.

Now, they’ve got a secret little spot to plug in their laptop.  Happy this striped baby has found it’s way home.

Vanity in Progress

Remember this post on my little scheme to put together a vanity?  Well, I’ve purchased the desk where all my vain happenings will take place.

I got it for $25 on Craigslist.  I obviously am in love with the brass pulls and it’s a kid size so it’s perfect in that it doesn’t take up too much space.  Now, here’s where the big question comes in…to paint or not to paint.  The wood is actually in good condition and it is real wood.  But, it’s not the stain that I would love it to be.  Staining wood is totally different territory for me and to scary for me to try out at this time.  So, do I leave it be or do I paint it?

There is painted inspiration aplenty out there…

Henry Happened

Home to Three Duncan Boys

Re-Pretty Please

Because I Like to Decorate

Centsational Girl 

My Many Moments

I have gone down the path of painting campaign furniture before and I loved the change.  Remember this guy?

Which ended up looking like this…

However, since I have done it before, I learned that painting takes work.  Hmmm…is it worth the challenge?

Gardening the Deck

This past Saturday was a particularly hot Saturday for San Francisco.  After a hectic week of work for Graham and I, we decided to take advantage of the warm day.  We went for a long run and hike in the Presidio, then stumbled upon the Blossom Cherry Festival where we enjoyed some street food and beers, then we headed to Sloat for a few flowers for our deck.  Graham’s sister, Lindsay, a landscape architect is helping us design our deck and she helped us spruce up two pots this past weekend.  Her big transformation will be coming later.

Before.  Sad spanish lavender –

My brother Miles told us it was too hot to garden.  We thought that was just his ploy to get us to come to Dolores Park with him.  But, actually he was right.  Our flowers wilted in the sun.

But they are regaining strength as the fog has rolled back in.  Our Spanish lavender is getting rocked by the wind.  We’ve tried tying it back but the howling wind always wins.

I’m so thrilled with the added fullness the extra flowers bring to the pot.  (Isn’t it great how we cleaned up for the photo?)

We love our jasmine but we have dreams of it growing along the entire side panel of the deck.  This is not happening because our pot is too small.  Oh to have a ground to dig into.

It is fun to see how much our orange tree and mint has grown though.  Here’s how they looked in September…

And now..

Overall, I’m really happy with the color we added to the deck and I can’t wait for Lindsay’s additions as well.

I also took advantage of the Saturday sun and painted the base of my Palm Spring stool – transformation is coming along…

Once we were done with our active Saturday, we savored the last rays of light with some OJ, berries and Domino Magazine.  Then we headed out to a scrumptious dinner at Salt House.

On Sunday, we stopped by Emily Joubert to look at some outdoor art that we wanted to hang above our bench.  We both fell in love with this piece…

But we were not in love with the $2,600 price tag.  I smell a DIY version coming soon.

If you are looking to feel inspired to garden yourself, I would recommend going to the Gamble Garden tour in Palo Alto this Friday or Saturday from 10:00 – 4:00.

I can’t wait to go and to get inspired!

Custom Pouf

This past Friday I woke up to a major surprise…A Diary of Lovely, one of my favorite blogs stumbled across my portfolio and decided to blog about my previous apartment.  I am so thankful to her for the exposure and the compliment.  Thank you for anyone new who stopped by.  If you’d like to stay a while, I’d LOVE to have you…welcome to my blog…

In other news, I had a custom pouf made for my client’s living room and I was just sent photos of the finished product and I absolutely love it!!  I used Anitascasa on ETSY to make the pouf and she was professional, efficient and a joy to work with.

We used Schumacher’s Beatrice Bouquet for the fabric and I am completely smitten the sweet, soft print.  We’ve been pulling out the blues you see in the print elsewhere in the room.  We’re getting close to completion on this room and I can’t wait to share pictures!!  It has been so much fun to work on!

My Neighborhood

First of all, this is where Graham’s parents are right now…

They are literally staying in a castle on the beach in beautiful South Africa.  Jealous?  Yeah.  Me too.

But, I can’t complain because the weather outside is beautiful.  And I’ve got to say that my surroundings, while not a castle, are gorgeous.  Inspired by Ashley’s posts on her neighborhood, I thought this would be a great opportunity to show you some highlights of my neighborhood.  I so, so love where I live.  I live in the charming area of Laurel Village, just outside of Pacific Heights in San Francisco.  It’s the most beautiful neighborhood.  I really feel very blessed to be able to live here.

My neighbors…

Aren’t they beautiful homes?  Do you have a favorite?

Happy Friday, everyone!!

So Vain

We’ve all got some vanity in us, right?  Although, I’ve let some vain things go the longer I’ve been married (sorry Graham), I still like to put on make up and fix my hair from time to time.  Thanks to the help of my fantastic organizing, miracle working friend, I now have a spot in the apartment that is just begging for a vanity.

I’ve already got the stool from palm springs so now all I need is a desk and a beautiful mirror.  Here’s what I’ve been dreaming of…

Hmmm…perhaps, I also need a fabulous lamp, topiary plant and some better make up.  New, freed up space in home = trouble.

Fabulous Drapes

I’ve got two custom drape installations happening this week and they are going to be fabulous.  I can’t wait to see them!!  Drapery can really make a wonderful impact in a room.  Case and point…

Ruthie Sommers

So lovely!!

Spoon Back Chair

I found a great vintage pair of spoon back chairs for a client of mine on ETSY.  They have arrived and they are due for a makeover.  I can’t wait for the finished look!

In the meantime, here are some fabulous Spoon back Chairs seen in action –

I adore the lines of the back of the chair and how they are so nice and open that they won’t impose too much visual weight on my client’s living room.  It should be about two weeks until the chairs have completely transformed and I’ll update you with an after photo.