A Touch of Rose

"You either have a flair, or you haven't"

Rose Cummings

Rose Cummings, Unknown, Caroline Robert, Marc Jacobs, and Windsor Smith

Christmas Wishes

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.  ~Burton Hillis

Merry Christmas Eve friends. The big day is upon us, family will be arriving soon, time to take a rest and enjoy all my little blessings.

We  decorated 2 trees this year, one for the children with all our collected ornaments, and one for me with all my decorative ornaments...I call it my bird tree as it somehow turned into that and this year the theme was the peacock. While Tory Burch as seen above and Mary McDonald have peacock tree decor I aspire to, my little colorful birds and colored ribbon will have to do this season. 

From my home to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday!

Checking In

Happy Holidays everyone, hope your season is merry and bright! 
I can hardly believe Christmas and the New Year are upon us. Are you ready or possibly to the point where I am in throwing my hands in the air to surrender? 

 Sorry for the radio silence on the blog...I have taken a bit of an unintentional hiatus as you may have noticed but I have been lingering around in blog land, not totally absent, just too caught up with life to post something of my own.

While I was away my business has grown, (hence no posting) and I couldn't be more excited! I have amazing clients and have added some fun ones to the mix, 2012 is looking good. With that in mind, I am putting out feelers for a young intern starting in January. If you or anyone you know night be interested message me, let's chat.

 It would be next to impossible to catch you up on all the goings on of the last month and believe me there are some stories to tell...  promise to post in a more timely manner, no excuses                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Call of the Wild

Happy Friday Friends, what a beautiful, crisp, fall day it is! So sad that I haven't even posted a single time for the month of November, I have been very absent from this blog although it is never far away from my mind. Work has definitely been keeping me busy so that is the positive and my family life has had no shortage of excitement. 

We celebrated my son's 5th b-day with Dan the Animal Man and he was absolutely amazing!  

If you haven't heard of him, he is worth a look see and I believe he travels. When I booked him I had no idea the guy was an animal celebrity, he has been on Regis & Kelly something like 8 times and flown first class with his animals to entertain George W. Bush. I mean how lucky are we to have him in Raleigh? My little guy was in heaven holding alligators, snakes, lemurs, owls, and a bonus... one giant tortoise.

Next on the agenda was my daughter's 7 year old birthday party where she and 16 of her closest friends took over The Painted Butterfly. They painted peace signs on canvases in little children's art smocks, with child size chairs and tables in a whimsical setting. Nancie Norvell the owner was wonderful and assured me that they were completely fine even though I was about to jump out of my skin because they were so crazy! All in all 2 unique parties and happy children one year older.

So I expressed my animal love in decor, namely the cheetah and it so happens everyone else is loving it this season although in my belief it is truly timeless. My other animal obsession which easily perks up any room whether it be on the floor, wall, or on a chair is a zebra

 print. You see a ton of zebra hides gracing the floors of the chicest abodes in magazines and I love using them layered over natural rugs. So it seems that I am not the only one with the love for the zebra and after going through my collection of images there are some pretty amazing spaces with a hint of this animal. 

Perch

Wallpaper

Hides

Fabric

Client Updates

I just finished up a conservatory for a client and we found the most amazing Jute rug custom by Stark dyed to look like a zebra print. This rug is probably one of the most beautiful I have ever seen and it makes the space!

Below is the space when I first laid eyes on it...

Here it is today, refreshed, renewed, and ready to entertain! 

2 of the chairs were reupholstered and plumped up in this indoor/outdoor.

Another chair covered in a giraffe indoor/outdoor inspired by a recent trip to Africa.

A set of glazed lamps with lucite bases were added in this rich burgundy/wine color.

We added an array of Aubusson pillows to the sofa to keep it up to speed with all the other items that had just been recovered.

This glass coffee table was quite a find and I would love to have one for myself. The 2 ends are glass but the sides are open, very unique.

We are so pleased with the end product and the process of finding all these goodies was such a delight! 

Another project that involves a zebra is in phase 2 and we are ready to roll, completion set for the end of November. I have said before I love before and after pictures so here ya go...only if I was only a better photographer.

Before, a 1950's kitchen with wood cabinets that are a little dated...

the breakfast area with wallpaper that has seen its day.

Our focus for the breakfast area, these bamboo chairs found at an antique store, stripped, painted orange, and covered in a zebra print fabric that has been laminated to protect their beauty from sticky, tiny little hands.

Cabinets that have been painted white are a breath of fresh air in this space and this colorful Turkish rug adds a punch of color that ties in the orange from the breakfast area. 

The colors in this rug are a theme throughout the home and orange is my client's favorite color! I will keep you updated with pictures when we hang the window treatments, and light over the breakfast table.