Green with Envy

I'm having a bit of art jealousy at the moment. A friend had her wedding bouquet painted by none other  than Ms. Lulie Wallace, of whom I have had a pretty major art crush on for a while now. She emailed a photo of the finished product that she is picking up in Charleston this week.

I die.

We are also in the process of decorating her home so you know this is going to have a prime location. I can't wait to see it in person!

For more of Lulie's work and for commissions, check out her website luliewallace.com

P.S. I love this idea. I had my bouquet dried, deconstructed, and then framed in a shadow box. While I still love it, if I had it to do all over again, I would go this route. 

The Emerald City

Pantone picked their color for the year 2013 and I for one am totally pumped for some emerald green! My wheels are turning on how to get some of this amazeballs color in my home.

A breaking heart...

I sat down to blog today just after hearing the news of what happened in Connecticut. Everything I wanted to write about was just ridiculous after hearing such gut wrenching news. So no post today. Go home and hug your family.


Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

Family Room Design Board

Here is a design board I did for a client's family room. With a toddler and a soon-to-be newborn, she wanted the room to be family friendly, but also a more grown-up place to entertain guests. We worked with her husband's favorite leather recliner (we have to please the hubbies as well...he lives here too!) and added in Restoration Hardware's Lyon chair. It's so comfy and the color and scale work fantastic in the space. A couple of upholstered benches from Ballard (orange!), those Richloom fabric pillows, a touch of leopard (because she's fabulous) and it all came together wonderfully. 

Interested in a design board? Email me at hendersondesigns@gmail.com

DIY Painted Table

I literally did this in 2 hours. So obviously you can too. This little table was purchased for a client to use behind her sofa. The price was right and I liked the clean lines and the cute tapered legs. But it was screaming for help. It was sad. Sad and unfinished.

So I decided to paint.

First I primed it with a tinted primer (Rustoleum...the best) because this little guy needed to be black.

I totally forgot to take a photo after it was black...but you get the idea. Then things started to get crazy. I taped and spray painted the bottom of the legs gold (Rustoleum again...metallic brass). I just measured up 13" from the bottom of each leg and used painter's tape to get a crisp line. You can do as much or as little of the leg as you want...just don't cut it exactly in half.

Bam! Sad to awesome. How cute is this??! Can't wait to get it in the room.

Another score!

Found these this weekend at an estate sale. They are staying at my house...where in my house I have no idea. But for $50 each, I couldn't say no.

The seats will be reupholstered but overall they are in fantastic condition. And you can't see in this pic but the legs have brass casters! Squee! Oh, and I needed a few more books for my shelves. I got those for free. FREE. 

Seriously....

I'm going to veer off subject for a post because I have got to give it to this lady. Now, she's a supermodel with a gorgeous boyfriend (right? or are they married?) and millions of dollars but she's also a MOM. With a kid. A little kid. A toddler. And she manages to leave the house all the time looking like this. Jeal.



Nicely done, Miranda Kerr. Note to self...get sunglasses and jackets.

P.S. How stylish is her little man??

All I want for Christmas...

Tis the season for gifts! Both for giving and receiving. Here are a few things I wouldn't mind seeing under the tree on Christmas morning...

Books: Charlotte Moss / Rhapsody / Nate Berkus / Clutch / Fur throw / Macbook Pro 

Earrings / Sweater / Bookends / Fur snood / Tory Burch wallet /
Fox Decanter / Tray / Report Jude boots

So the Macbook Pro may be a bit of a stretch, but I totally need it! (wink, wink Santa!) I'm working on a five year old Macbook and it's slowly losing steam. And how stinkin' cute is that fox decanter? It needs a home on my bar cart. On the top of my list (besides the laptop...Santa are you getting this?) is that fur throw. It's pretty large which means I can use it on the bed too! And who doesn't love beautiful coffee table books? With the piggie bookends? Am I right?! And the Rachel Zoe sweater because it's...wait for it...bananas.

Stay tuned for a list for the kiddos...so much cute stuff out there!

Decking the Halls

In our house, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is for Christmas decorating (Saturday is for football). My favorite 2 things are the tree (of course) and the mantle. We are fake tree people (don't judge) and the first order of the day is hauling all 9 feet of it from the basement. The hubs loves this part. Branches hitting him in the face, me yelling at him to watch the walls...it's the best. But then, voila!, plug it in and instant Christmas. 

I love unwrapping all the ornaments from the tissue paper. I always forget how pretty they are. A few years ago I started collecting nice blown glass ornaments. I usually buy one or two a year because, well, they aren't cheap. But they are so worth it. They really are so much more detailed and vibrant than those you find at the mass market stores. Don't get me wrong, I have those too. Here are a few of my favorites...

In honor of Rufus, our Chihuahua.

I love Tourist Santa.

If you are wanting to invest in quality ornaments, here are a few of my favorites. Also, eBay is a fantastic resource.

www.kurtadler.com

www.glasswareartstudio.com

www.christopherradko.com

My mantle is very traditional as well. I found this beaded fruit at Michaels years ago and I looooove it. It's held up surprisingly well. They don't make them on sticks anymore (big bummer) but you can still get the fruit. I'll cry if they stop making it.

Got it!

Thanks to Black Friday, this sweater I have been dreaming of now resides in my closet. It was the last one and my size. So it was meant to be. Victory!

Vince hooded cardigan
(I can't find it online...sad)

Gilding the Table

Gold flatware is everywhere. I have been seeing it pop up in photos all over the web and in magazines. So, of course, I became obsessed with owning my own set. It's so terribly chic. I love it paired with simple white dishes and white napkins. And don't even get me started when I see it with gray or black.

Awesome, right? Naturally I started scouring the internet trying to find some that wasn't going to break the bank. I was thisclose to pulling the trigger on this set from West Elm...

Gold Flateware 5 pc set

But then the angels sang and clouds parted and my dear old friend Craigslist came through in the clutch. And a few hours later, this was mine!

To say I love it is an understatement. It's a traditional style as opposed to the West Elm set that is very modern. And it's service for 8! With 7 serving pieces! Never. been. used. Not once. Moral of the story...Craigslist is the shit. Who wants to come over for dinner?

Yowza!

Holy cow you guys. My client just emailed me pictures of her brand spankin' new wallpapered entry and it looks totally bananas. Am I jealous? Maybe a little.

If you recall from this post we decided to go with a wallpaper from Sherwin Williams. I can't tell you whether or not it was as easy as it claimed because, well, we went with a professional. Maybe it was easy for them. Who knows. But I do know this! It looks fantastic! Worth. Every. Penny.

I am styling bookcases tomorrow so I see a blog post about that in the near future. Happy Tuesday!

Time for a Change

I'm changing up my living room again. I've had the current look going on almost a year now and that's a loooong time for me.

Pretty sure this is happening.

Yahtzee! I'll get pics up as soon as it's done.

Family Room Design Board

Happy Day-After-Election-Day! It's finally over. Moving on.

Here is a design board I did for clients for their family room. We kept it easy breezy with a base of neutrals and lots of different textures. I am actually nearing the end of this one so hopefully I can get some pictures up here on the ol blog. The before and afters are gonna blow your mind!

Cuteness Overload

I have been looking around for artwork for the little one's new room and I ran across Sharon Montrose's site again. I've never blogged about her work before so I figured it was about time. Her photos are beyond amazing and would look fantastic in any room of the house. I love the baby animals for a nursery or kids room and I could see something like the camel or flamingo (the birds are my fave!) above a sofa in a huge print. Love them all...it's hard to choose!

squeeee!!!! 

See them all at www.theanimalprintshop.com

100th post! And an art lesson.

And another awesome find. But this one is for me! I found this at, yes, another estate sale. It's a sickness folks.

A gorgeous (seriously the photo does not do it justice) antique needlepoint. It's huge too, about 36"x20". It was $12. Twelve. dollars. (!!!!!) I had thoughts about turning it into a large pillow to go across our bed, but I think I may frame it instead. I really don't want it to get messed up. The sucker is pretty old and who knows where it's been (Maybe it's from France? All the text is in french.)

UDATE: While I was writing this I put the title in google "Le Moulin de Flatford". Turns out it's a needlepoint of this painting by John Constable. Now obviously a french needlepoint as Mr. Constable was English and his work hangs in the Tate Gallery.

"Flatford Mill"

Well done needlepoint artist. The resemblance is uncanny. I was unsure of what that horse was doing but now it's so very clear. Awesome.

Serene Master Design Board

I noticed I haven't posted a design board in a while. I am going to try and stay more on top of posting the boards I put together for clients. Here is one I did recently for a master bedroom.  The bed is pretty much the only thing that they wanted to keep from the existing room so I built around that.

I should also point out that this particular client was an e-design client. I did the design and provided links/info of the products shown and she will implement the design on her own. If any of you are interested in this service, let me know! It's a great way to do interior decorating on your schedule. Shoot me an email hendersondesigns@gmail.com and we can discuss!

On a roll

Man, I have been on fire lately when it comes to awesome finds. These are my latest...

Vintage cane back chairs! They are for a client so I won't spill the price, but I will say...they were a freakin' steal. The seats definitely need a fabulous fabric, but all the cane is intact and the color is beautiful. I'll probably regret not keeping them for myself, but I look at it as decorating karma. Who knows what I'll run into next!