:: media room mood board

So, I need a little advice from my fellow decorators & designers.  I am finally getting around to updating our bonus/media room. I've found furniture and accessories I like, but I just can't seem to decide on the color of the room, I'm personally leaning towards the blue.  Help! I can't decide!

Which wall color do you prefer with the furnishings above, blue or gray??  

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: home office e-design

{ OPTION 1 }

{ OPTION 2 }

{ BEFORE }

Several months ago, I worked on a home office design for some friends. They live several hours away, so we decided to work together via e-mail. They gave me direction by letting me know what things they wanted to keep in the space, otherwise I had full design freedom. They weren't particularly married to any of the existing furnishings so I started from scratch.  I gave them  a new vision for their home office and a list of where they could purchase the furnishings. I always keep things as affordable as possible, knowing that taste & styles change over time. Using Photoshop & online shopping resources, I am able to source beautiful items and put them virtually into their space giving them a clear vision of what the space will look like, it is then up to them to order the items and place them into the space according to the layout provided. With the vision for the space my friends were able to shop for pieces at their leisure and as their budget allowed.  The second after image shows the space using a pair of existing chairs from another part of their home with a new coffee table,  a set of similar bookcases that the homeowner purchased and the desk in it's original location. I think it's important to give several design/layout options.

Though I prefer to go into a space to get a real feel for how it works & flows, I also love being able to turn an existing space into something beautiful & cohesive from my own office. 

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

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:: leaving our nest

The Wren's Nest...a HOME tour...

Well, it's official we are leaving our nest soon....see my little perch hanging under there. I'm excited for the change, but also a little sad to leave my home of 10 years. I can hardly believe it's been that long, my children were just little little's when we moved in, now they are teenagers. We've had so many good times in this home...it's bittersweet leaving it all behind.

Many meals with friends & family have been enjoyed in this kitchen. I can just see my kids propped on the bar building gingerbread houses, making cookies for Santa & dyeing easter eggs.

Cozy fires, Christmas morning, and beautiful sunrises have been the highlight of this living room.

The dining room like most sees action only on special occasions such as holidays & parties.

The kid zone....hodge podge furnishings, cartoons & movies, drums & guitar, games & sleepovers...many many memories.

One of my favorite spaces to create has been my sweet Punky's apartment

I put in the bookcases & gate to create a little playhouse area when she was little & also to hide all the mess/toys from the door , now it's her personal sleeping space & hideaway & she has a little living room instead. Time is marching on, and toys are giving way to boys {uh oh... well not quite yet} clothes is more like it.

My little mister has gone from a giant playroom bedroom to his personal pad including private bath. Gaming system & computer station required.

Our oldest chick is off to college and this has become a landing zone & dumping ground for her more & more infrequent visits as she enjoys her new found freedom.

Movie central, family hangout & guest quarters complete with private bath & workout room.

My fun studio with it's amazing vaulted ceiling, I'll miss you too...at least when you're clean

{ Our Dreamy Master Bed & Bath }

Many talks & cozy sundays have been spent in front of this fireplace in our Master bedroom.

Kids sleeping on the sofa at the foot of the bed, and snuggled in with us too. Those days too are fading away as everyone grows up and into their own...ready for change & a new move.

Proof that things are what you make them, those are simple wire shelves. A little organization makes things much nicer. Though it is a big closet,  it doesn't have to be big to be tidy & pretty.

Just a simple laundry room, but I sure will miss my little window. 

In my personal opinion this could have very well sold our house all on it's own...

{ THE PANTRY }

Is it crazy that this is probably one of the things I'll miss most about this house....my new pantry.  I just had it custom designed to my specifications not even a year ago now. The best part is that my family finally keeps it neat & clean too. What more can a mother ask for?

Hmmm did I leave anything out? Besides bathrooms? 

A Foyer? A lovely staircase, what, did you say two staircases? Done.

Front Staircase

Back Staircase from keeping room.

Goodbye my lovely home with 2 tons of new rock borders installed just last fall by yours truly. I can't believe we are actually moving. I hope the new owners will enjoy all of the hard work & love that have gone into making this house a home...it's been good to us for 10 years.

Mostly we'll miss all of our friends & wonderful neighbors.

WELCOME HOME

{tears, sniffle sniffle}

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

P.S.  stay tuned for our adventures in moving & our new home.

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:: dream pantry

                            Spaces design by Other Metros Design-build Witt Construction

{ p a n t r y   l o v e }

This is what I've been dreaming about lately.  I love this pantry....every last thing about it. Due to a recent failure of our lovely builders wire shelving, we are now looking to redo our pantry.  This is the look I'm going for....to a point of course...but you get the idea.

This is as good as my current pantry gets. It's just impossible to keep it looking this neat.

So, wish me luck & I'll keep you posted on our little pantry project. 

Hopefully I'll end up with a pantry worthy of Houzz { fingers crossed }.

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

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:: common thread

{via}

{via}

{via}

What do all of these spaces have in common?

One thing is that each one speaks to me. 

I'm interested to hear your idea of the common thread.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: keeping room do-over

I'm so excited to share a sneak peek of my new keeping room with you.

Were you even wondering a little bit about what it might look like?

The changes around here are even bigger than I planned.

Who am I kidding, God made this happen for me...

I never could have made this happen so quickly on my own.

He knew exactly what I needed to lift me up.

It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

Eph1:11-12 The Message test

The painters finished up around 5:30pm yesterday,

and since then I've been a busy bird getting my nest back together.

Things moved from this room to that to allow the painters to do their thing.

Which also meant a lot of moving back and replacing of said things...I still have piles.

The great thing though is that it gave me a chance to look at my rooms free of any decor,

 and this really helped my ideas flow & got my creaky ol' decorating wheels turning

I am so loving my new spaces...so light & bright...my mood has been instantly transformed.

I really never realized how much my home & color choices could affect my moods.

This new change is going to help me so much this winter, when I usually feel 

the rough affects of SAD {seasonal affective disorder} and depression.

I could just be high from all of the paint fumes, but I really believe

this change is just what I needed to give myself a little boost.

So much purging and organization going on around here.

 I am super motivated to get things back in order.

I feel like I'm living in a brand new home.

I can't wait to share more with you later.

I took the photo above very late this afternoon when the sun

was on the southern side of our house...I never could have done that before.

So a big WOO HOO for Moderate White walls....I love them.

I'll share more details later of how my room came together,

and share more pictures of the newly painted spaces.

Hope you've had a wonderful Saturday too.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: watery

Working on an inspiration board for a college students new bedroom.

Her only request was black & white bedding. 

I love the ikat print of this bedding 

as opposed to the more traditional damask or toile.

:: LINKS ::

bed, dresser, nightstands, desk, vanity, chair, lamp, flower, pillow

So this is design choice #1

I'll be working today on other options.

Hope you all are well : )

:: peace, love & hugs ::

Carrie

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:: playing designer

For years now, I've thought about going back to school for interior design. I love to decorate & over the years I've helped all of my friends buy furniture, fluff and rearrange their homes, I've even helped in their friends homes...but I've never actually gotten paid for my help. 

Well, that's all changed now. I've officially gotten paid for my first real design job. My new friend/client is a client of my husbands, and friend of his sister's who suggested that she give me a call. She's a real sweetheart, a busy working mom who needed some help decorating her house. 

I first thought I would be going over to help do more of a fluff job, but nope...this is full on bottom up decorating job {yee}. Before the holidays we picked out flooring & a wall color, and over the holidays she had her new flooring installed, and she had everything painted. I've helped her pick out a new Sofa, rug, entertainment center, coffee table, side table, and an adorable phone table for her kitchen. We still have the kitchen, dining room, and master bedroom to buy for. It can be hard to stay on track with so much to do, but I'm trying to let her see one room put together at a time.

This is the room I laid out today in photoshop. { please excuse any wonky pictures & bad perspective } 

No...I don't plan for the chairs to be facing this way, crazy huh. In the end they will be facing the sofa for a comfy cozy conversation area. I need her to see what the chairs I'm thinking of for the space will look like with everything else. I also wanted to give her a good visual of what her room will look like once we get some accessories and curtains up.

Here's another version with a different set of chairs and a swing arm lamp instead of the coral based lamp {which I love}. Man Oh Man, the hardest thing is not turning around and buying all this great stuff for myself. Luckily though I get to live vicariously through her. Not to say that some rooms around here aren't on my agenda this year ; ).

Here's the living room before. Her house was under a good bit of construction when I first started, she had popcorn ceilings replaced, and the walls were being repaired and smoothed out, you can see here she still had her carpeting down. {we had already purchased the rug and coffee table before I remembered to take pics }

Here's where we are today. So you can see this is the image that I added my furniture and accessories to. Now, I'm not the best at Photoshop layouts yet , so some of my items in the first image are probably a little out of proportion, and the perspective is off too, but I still think it will give her a good idea of where we are going.

Now you know...best laid plans and all. The room may not end up looking that much like the first pic, it just depends on if we purchase the items I have pictured, and of course whether or not she even likes what I've put together...so we shall see.

Anyhoo, this is what I've been up to lately, and it really feels good to have a somewhat real job again. We'll see if it leads to more. I think I could get used to this. 

Hope you all have had a wonderful week so far.

:: peace, love & hugs ::

Carrie

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