Clifford: Kitchen

I was being a little bit of a bitter Betty in regards to Clifford: The Big Red House while we were stuck in zoning hell, but now that we are free at last I am excited to bring you the plans for our kitchen!

I know these are hard to read, but here are the plans for the first floor. At the top you are looking at the entrance hall and the living room, which is open to the dining room. As you move back in the house down the hallway you pass a bathroom before getting to the kitchen at the back of the house.

Here is a close up of the kicthen layout. Because of the french doors there will be a lot of light which we want to take full advantage of.

Here is an initial drawing of the kitchen elevation looking toward the stove...

And then the ever important view from the kitchen sink...

I have posted this kitchen before. It is one of my alltime favorites, and we will definitely be keeping with this idea in our kitchen (think white cabinets, beveled subway tile) however the white carrera marble counter tops are just not the most practical with as much as I cook, and as much, ahem, red wine we have been known to consume.

But who doesn't love a white kitchen?

They are just so pure and inviting!

So now we are looking into alternative countertops, like these CaesarStone countertops from Ina Garten's kitchen of the year.

Or maybe we could switch it up and do a dark work island and keep the white countertops?

OR call a complete audible and go black with light countertops like Gwyneth!?

THEN I saw Tory Burch's fab apartment in Elle and decided that I too, must have high gloss painted floors in my kitchen.

What about this fun pattern?

Or YELLOW!?

House of Turquoise

Or plain bright blues?

I think regardless the details are really what will pull the space together and make it feel homey.

Christopher Peacock

Sarah Gilbane

And as always, if I haven't properly credited a photo please let me know! I love giving credit where credit is due, but a lot of these images have been in my "favorites" file forever, long before I had illusions of blogosphere notoriety.

Excuse me, have we met?

Sooo I was just perusing the blogosphere and stumbled upon this sketch on High-Heeled Foot in the Door.

Look familiar?

The room was designed by Michelle Moreland and was featured in Domino Magazine (I believe...) a few years back.

I posted it a few weeks ago to demonstrate the desired look for the living room at Clifford.

I love seeing how the vision of a talented designer gets translated into reality.

Really inspiring.

If only I could draw, maybe then I could get a grasp on the massive project Clifford the Big Red House has turned into...

Gossip Girl: Ursula's Apartment Inspiration Board

Inspired by the fabulous Gossip Girl set for Ursula's apartment, I pulled these fabrics at work today to make an inspiration board for someone wanting to create a similar look!

My palette is a bit lighter, but I think it still has the fun girly exuberance of the Gossip Girl set!

Clockwise from the top you can find the fabrics at:

{Bolton Damask in Schiaparelli Pink: Brunschwig & Fils}

{Kirkmicha Jacquard Madras in Ivory: Schumacher}

{Ombrione: Osbourne & Little}

{Amalienborg Collection Sanssouci: Osbourne & Little}

{Designers Guild pattern # F1569/04}

Inspiration & Translation: Clifford's Living Room

As I go forth in the often daunting task of renovating and decorating Clifford from top to bottom, I have clung to a few sources to keep me from spinning off in a thousand different directions. My main inspiration for the living space on the first floor is this vintage circus poster Megalou gave me for Christmas this year.

The blue/gray background will be the wall color, and the greens, pinks, and yellows in the print will translate into furniture, window treatments, and accessories!

The yellow stripes will be curtains, the pink scheme is for the chairs, and the greens are the couch and accent pillows.

The green I am using on the couch didn't show up very well in the other picture, but here you can get a better idea of what a fun, vibrant color it is.

The solid pinky/red will be used on two armchairs, while the striped fabric will be the accent pillows, bringing in the green from the couch and yellow from the curtains.

It might be kind of hard to visualize how all of this will come together, I am having trouble myself right now...Toooo many decisions! However, my HOPE is that it will turn out somewhat like this.

Or this...

Then I will be lauded as a child genius in the design community. Fame, fortune, and best friendship with Britney Spears will ensue.

Can't see that natural chain of events? Come live inside my head for awhile. It's wild.

Stay tuned!

Inspiration & Translation: Clifford's Master Bedroom

I can't believe it is almost October! Things have been sort of stalled with the house lately as we wait for permits to get approved etc. but I still need to get crackin' ordering fabrics and furniture and making decisions on windows and flooring! Time is FLYing!

Luckily I have already picked out most of what we will be using in the Master Bedroom.

I was inspired by this bedroom that I think I tore out of House Beautiful awhile back?

It just looks so cozy, yet still bright! As y'all probably know by now though I love a bit of color so while we are doing a pretty close interpretation of the room, we decided to bring in a few more accents.

Forgive me because some of the colors end up a bit washed out in my photography...

However, here is a close up of the fabrics and trims we will be using throughout the space. In the top right is a damask from Brunschwig & Fils that we will be using on the walls. Lori Doran found the trim, which matches perfectly and gives us an opportunity to pull more color into the space.

Here you can see the wall damask better, as well as the velvet for the headboard to the right. Below that, the solid pink fabric will be used on the underside of the canopy, which will be made out of the striped fabric.

Here is a close up of the accent fabrics we will use in the space, the pink and green polka dots will be in my dressing room, while the pink damask and blue linen will be used for a bench and pillows in the room.

And here they are all together! Ta-Daaa!!!

I will be sure to show you some pictures of the final project, as the full vision does not seem to translate fully here...It actually kind of looks like a babies nursery, but I assure you it actually is very grown up in person if I do say so myself.

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek!

Inspiration & Translation: Betseyville

Another person who loves bright, crazy colors as much as I do is Betsey Johnson. Her house in Mexico was the inspiration behind the renovation of the garage apartment at my Moms house in Houston

While this design was a less literal interpretation, Betsey definitely pushed us to re-imagine the way we use bright colors in a space. 

{Living Room}

{View of the Kitchen from the Living Room}

{Guest Bedroom}

{The Master Bedroom}

Often times in decorating I find that as much as you plan out a space, the things you find when searching for the "perfect" fabric can often steer you in a different, and altogether more fabulous, direction. 

In the case of my apartment in Houston, this gorgeous Clarence House fabric totally made the room happen.

And as always, this amazing renovation (I only wish I had the before photos, they are truly unbelievable) was a "collaboration" between myself and Lori Trahan Doran...And by collaboration I mean she completely rocked it and I learned along the way.

Inspiration & Translation: Abejas

I do not pretend to be any great decorator or artiste. I have a passion for decorating, sure, but I have no formal training and very little experience. I am the first to admit I rely heavily on higher decorating powers for inspiration. That said, I have been fortunate enough to be able to experiment with decorating under the tutelage of some very talented people, and have learned a few things along the way. 

As many of my fellow post-grads get their own places for the first time, I have been asked for decorating advice by a few of my friends. I reiterate, I have no formal training and very little experience, but here is my little "how-to" guide to plagiarizing the work of more gifted individuals, and making it my own.

I usually start with a single image which I use as my inspiration. This can be anything, a piece of art, a fabric, a pillow, a page from a magazine, that will serve as the jumping off point for the entire room. I will continue to showcase examples of how this works in posts I will dub "Inspiration and Translation". 

First up, Abejas!

When it came time to decorate my house in Austin affectionately known as "Abejas", Spanish for "Bee Hive" chosen for the yellow exterior as well as its residents, The B's (Bailey, Bella,

& Bernie):

 I used this page from Domino Magazine as my inspiration for my entire living space.

The turquoise on the bookshelf became the wall color in my living room and kitchen.

The green from the wall behind the bed was used in the dining room.

And the watermelon accent colors on the bed served as the inspiration for the couch and armchairs in the living room. 

The translation might have been super literal and unoriginal, were it not from the fabulous fabric options provided by the Designers Guild, namely Osbourne&Little:

The fabrics we were able to find and use for the window treatments, pillows, and furniture as well as some of the accessories I acquired over time really made the place unique and interesting. 

Since the house had an open floor plan where each room flowed into the other, we made sure the colors carried through as well. In the living room and kitchen we drew on the green from the dining room in the window treatments, and vice versa in the dining room. 

All the bright colors made for a super happy home, it was really hard for me to pack it all up when it came time to move on, but I know the cute girls living there now are enjoying Abjeas in all of its fabulous neon glory!

P.S. The "we" I refer to is the very talented, very patient, Lori Trahan Doran who has helped both my mom and I in all of our decorating endeavors for the past decade or so. She has impeccable taste, can do everything from traditional to neon (see above), will design a space in its entirety or help you execute your vision, and is completely pleasant to be around. If you are in Houston and could use the help of a design professional, I would highly recommend her services.