Studio Apartment (ple...

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Contemporary Studio Apartement. Please excuse some of the bags in the background....I was packing everything up to move.

Labor of Love for our ...

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I wanted a room that was girlie without being too babyish as I was hoping it could grow with her. It all started with a picture of lollipops and then came the color scheme and the ideas from that. It took a long time, but I am sooo happy with the results.

Emmy's Parisian Chic...

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When my husband and I found out we were having a little girl, my wheels immediately started spinning and construction began! I have always loved wainscot, so that was the first DIY project my husband tackled. I maximized space by setting the armoire caddy-corner with a changing station to the left and the crib directly on the opposing wall. The glider and ottoman is also caddy corner next to the changing station. I found an antique mahogany two-tier table with scallop edging from Craigslist -$50- and refinished it in a black pearl stain with gold etching and tulip flowers with the letter M for Baby Madison. The picture-in-picture was a design inspiration that my mom found in an interior decor magazine. We replicated the idea, wallpapering each of the inside panels bordered with molding, and placed vintage pictures that have been with my family for several years. On the 'changing station' wall, the other two picture-in-pictures have wired vintage figures of a manikin silhouette and Eiffel tower for that Parisian flare. My mother-in-law made all the bedding, drapery, and diaper hanging sack from fabric we picked out a local fabric warehouse in Buena Park, CA. The crib cornice and curtain tie backs were a great find at the Princess Canopy Shop on Etsy. They are stained in black pearl with brass/gold etching. My husband designed the M font and worked with an online wood-work company to produce the finished product at a greatly reduced price -under $40-. I bought the hanging chandelier on closeout with black shades and matching pink bows were tied using the leftover pink satin bedding fabric. The furniture is by Munire, purchased at USA Baby and the lamp was purchased on clearance at Tuesday Morning -$50-. I shopped around for the rug after finding that on an interior design website, I bought it for 50% less than retail from BoldRugs.com after they price matched another competitors price. The crib mobile was purchased on target.com.

Painting concrete to l...

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took out carpet from room and faux finished concrte to look like mahogany wood floor

The Moveable Playhou...

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We are currently renting a house with a small backyard... I wanted to build a playhouse for my boys that could be completely taken apart and moved. I also wanted something that would 'attract' rather than 'detract' from our exterior space. I built it in the garage for two reasons... I knew it was going to be tricky working in the hot New Mexico sun and was worried about wood warping and second, it ensured that I would be able to take it apart. Amazingly, I only had to cut off one misplaced screw in order to drop the walls and move it out! The whole project took about two weeks working on a part time basis... now I've got a list of parents that would like me to help them build one for their kids in their backyards!

Olivers Nautical Bedr...

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The inspiration for this room came from a picture on pottery barns website about a speedboat bed. The price if the bed was ridiculous and I knew I could make one just as nice if not nicer so i set out to create the ultimate nautical boys room. The bed is hand made by me with fully functioning bow lights, lighted compass, water temp gauge, and amperes gauge. 2 walls are upholstered in stained pine 1X2 to create a yacht type feel. Grey laminate floors, all stained pine trim and hand painted door. Closet door handles are old paddles I had in the garage cleaned up and clear coated. Ceiling fan is from Hunter Fans and has actual sail cloth fan blades. The mural on the wall was designed and hand painted by me, it is the area of the St. Lawrence river in which we live. The room took several months to complete but my little man loves it and the smile it brings to his face made it all worth while....

The Place is done!!!!!...

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We took alot of time and looked to make the home a warm and comfortable place to just unwind. We love the porch. New windows and siding
My favorite is the red door. That was a must I love red outside its bright and welcoming hope you like the makeover.. designed by Us.. Thanks for the nice comments.We have been having fun finishing up this house. We also picked up a Cabin that we just had fun doing over. Ck that out it's "Our Getaway" Our cabin.

Victorian farmhouse r...

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SC circa 1900 Victorian style farmhouse was completely renovated.

Romantic historic Ita...

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This house was a 1923 simple Italianate style that was so boring it was hardly noticeable when driving by. I painted a 2 layer 13 color waterstain using simple exterior paint. 1st layer was done with 5 shades of grey and moss green. The passer by's were very curious as to what I was doing. The progress looked quite awful. I designed and installed the hand poured cement walls/columns. The iron on the walls was forged to match the existing original iron skirting under the windows. Window canopies were existing I just painted them black and cream with exterior house paint after scrubbing and cleaning them.

Take Two: Dining roo...

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We added drapery (custom panels in off white linen with black greek key tape, black nickel drapery hardware, wallpaper (by Thibaut. Style: Antoine Trellis. Color: Silver on Charcoal, buffet and accessories. We kept our existing reclaimed wood table and upholstered chairs (Candice Olson, Style: Margo. We removed the area rug intentionally as the chairs are quite heavy and now with felt pads under each leg its very easy to move them around.

Game room

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We are actually still working on finishing this room but to make myself feel better about how long it is taking us to finish it I am going ahead and posting it for viewing. This is new construction added to an old house so it was very important to me to have the new parts "feel" like they have been in existence for as long as the rest of the house has been. Keeping with the original house we used lots of wood ( but not so much orange colonial maple this time thankfully..... This space is intended to be a masculine space designed for my husband and sons (the testosterone runs pretty high around here as the guys out number me. Anyway I'll post another space I designed as more female friendly in a minute or so. The floor is slate, framed in wood. What I learned from this floor project was that it's HARD to convince a contractor that you know what you want and how you want it done if you are a woman. Remodeling headache number 7,657,895.5 . Sometimes doing it yourself can be easier but we were intimidated to try to install this floor. In the end it wasn't as complicated as we imagined and we really could have/ should have done it ourselves.
The ceiling is pressed paper that was painted and stained. It was somewhat tedious and quite messy but I like the end result. My husband gets some kind of award for most trim used in a room. There are hundreds and hundreds of feet of trim on the ceiling alone...never mind the walls. Our friend Lupe works with us on a regular basis to get these projects of mine finished. A true friend indeed who is an occassional design mplementation mediator. What I like most about Lupe ( aside for his competent skill sets is he never says, "it can't be done"... He and Craig have done some wonderful building from some admittedly sketchy drawings. I am VERY lucky to have such help in getting my ideas out of my head and into a room.

Warm & Cozy Craftsma...

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I love sitting in my living room. People have referred to it as warm cozy inviting etc. I attribute it to the generous amount of wood (mahogany ebony Brazilian cherry American cherry used and the natural stone fireplace.