Redesign will help you renew, repurpose, and refine the special spaces in your home. We use the things you already own to create an entirely fresh new look! What grew from a simple hobby (yes, obsession) has now become a creative part-time business. By "recycling," or better yet, "up-cycling" your furnishings, artwork, and accessories, we'll create an exciting new look and feel for your space!
Staging for Sale
I was lucky enough recently to work with a great client who needed help staging her house for sale. She was on a tight timeline, she had about 30 days to get her house ready to put on the market. She has lived in this house for 18 years and raised 3 children and numerous cats and dogs in it. Envision having to purge a house of 18 years worth of school projects, toys, photos, collectibles, Christmas decorations, books, etc. You get the picture! She was overwhelmed and lucky for me, she called me for help. As always, I wish I had taken more “before” pictures so you could really appreciate the transformation, but we were in a hurry and there just wasn’t time!
Family Room before.
Family Room after.
We ripped out the old wall-to-wall carpeting and put down hardwoods. That made all the difference! We also removed the over-sized chair, the “too- big-and-not-quite-right-for-the-room”bookshelves. We moved a mid-century modern sideboard from the dining room in to serve as the media cabinet for the flat screen tv. Removing the big dark bookcases made the family room feel so much bigger. The dining room felt so much bigger by getting the sideboard out of there. We found a great rug at Marshall’s and reupholstered the purple leather swivel chairs. We ditched the dusty faux plants and replaced with real, live ones throughout the house. Real plants bring a room to life! We swapped out the end tables with ones we found downstairs and stole the lamps from the dining room.
Dining Room before.
Dining Room after.
We peeled off the completely stuck to the floor area rug and refinished the floors. By moving the side board out and into the family room it made the room feel more spacious. We hung a collection of silver spoons on the wall to balance the weight of the hutch on the other side. We removed the outdated door blinds and replaced with simple linen panels. The dining table was passed down from the inlaws and I don’t think my client realized what she had. I sent it off for refinishing and now she realizes it is a treasure!
Dining Room Table before refinishing.
Dining Room table after refinishing.
Living and Dining Room before.
Living Room before.
Living Room after.
Living Room after.
Living Room after.
Living Room after.
We pulled up the area rugs in the Living Room and Dining Rooms and refinished the floors. What a huge difference that made! We also recovered all of the furniture in those rooms. After 18 years and many cat claws, it had seen better days. Now it all looks brand new and she can use it in her new house in Kentucky. We removed the grand piano to make the room feel more spacious and stole the bench from the upstairs landing. We had a cushion made for it and covered it with a blanket she already owned that went perfectly with her newly upholstered furniture. We found the rug at Tuesday morning and the lamps at Marshalls. The “coffee table” is actually the piano bench that we covered in faux fur!
Office before.
Office before.
Office after.
We removed the wallpaper and painted over the green below the chair rail to lighten the office. We got rid of the old area rug and stole the oriental rug from the baesment, restyled the shelves,and hung pictures. A few simple improvements and it felt like a new room!
Kitchen before.
Kitchen after.
Kitchen after.
We ripped out the ceramic tile flooring and replaced with hardwoods. We also repainted all of the stools and chairs with a fresh coat of white paint. We removed the outdated door blinds and replaced with updated simple curtain panels. Other than that we just edited out the junk that accumulates on the counters and in the cupboards after 18 years, and ditched the dusty faux plants again and replaced with live ones.
Laundry Room before.
Laundry Room after.
Not much needed in the Laundry Room – just a little purging after replacing the ceramic tile floor.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the staging makeover. I sure enjoyed the process. Too bad my client has to move. Her house is like brand new and completely organized – down to every drawer (thanks to her daughter and her amazing friends.) I think she regrets she waited to do all of this for the next owner to enjoy! I often think we should all go through the process of pretending to “put our house on the market” just to make us do all of those projects we have put off for years. Cleaning out closets, reupholstering furniture, washing windows, editing and purging everything we own down to what we really need and love. I think most of us would find that we don’t really need or want to move after that!
Thanks also to Bob Headrick of Nest Realty for referring me to this wonderful client.
Austin Ranch
I was in Austin last weekend for a wedding and wanted to share photos of my friend’s Ranch. She has such an incredible flair for “ranch style” that I could not stop taking photos of her adorable home! Unfortunately I didn’t have my good camera, only my i-phone, which doesn’t do it justice.
To give a little background, she was my college roommate and moved to Austin 15 years ago for a writing fellowship at UT. She is a writer and is always working on her book, a screenplay, or poetry. But, in the meantime, she has become an accidental rancher! She took a leap of faith and bought this 300 acre “ranch” outside of Austin several years ago, hoping that it would be a good investment. I wish I had the before pictures, b/c this house was nothing more than a one story brick house with ugly wall to wall carpeting and popcorn ceilings. It was dark and dank. The amazing thing about my friend is that she has done all of the work to make this house a charming, memory- filled home all on her own. She ripped out the wall-to-wall carpeting, she refinished the concrete floors herself, and she hosed down the popcorn ceilings and scraped them herself. When I say “herself”, I mean she and some of her more adventurous friends. What she has created is an amazing Ranch that is now under conservation easement with an incredible view of the Austin City Lights!
I can tell you that just about every piece in her Ranch is either something she inherited, something she found (literally), something that was given to her, or something bought from a junk store/thrift shop!
Enjoy:
I knew I was in for a treat when this is what I saw as we pulled into her garage! Two wooden horses brought to her from Mexico by a friend and various bits found on the Ranch, all displayed so artfully on the garage wall…
The walk from the garage to the house was so charming.
These stones were all found on the property.
Old “found” metal gates are used as garden trellises.
From the beautiful stone walk, you entered into a screened porch overflowing with flowers, twig furniture, old cottage pieces and of course, cowboy hats!
When you enter the house, this cool desk greets you and tells you lots about whose home you just entered. A beautiful little box holds small arrowheads found on the Ranch.
I am in love with her concrete floors!
A wooden bowl full of big arrowheads found on the Ranch.
Everywhere you looked there were sweet little vignettes of everyday objects from her life. Boots are ready to pull on to go riding in a minutes notice…
Again, everyday objects act as accessories in her home, these chaps are easy to grab and go.
An unframed original oil painting rests on the guest room sink – so casual, yet so charming.
She uses weathered fence segments for headboards and an old “pin-the- tail-on-the-donkey” hangs above the bed.
Aww- she even has a “vintage” photo from our days at the A Bar A Ranch in her guest room.
Meaningful objects from the “west” are a big element in her design aesthetic.
Fresh flowers are abundant.
Her writing studio is full of books and manuscripts.
My “Rancher” friend, inspecting her newly bailed hay. She will kill me for this photo…
Even more captivating than her charming Ranch home is the incredible views she has and the beautiful grasses growing in her fields.
I’m evidently not the only one captivated by her amazing place. Location scouts have discovered her as well and her ranch has been used for Rachel Ray Magazine photo shoots, Teen Vogue photo shoots, movie scenes for the Predators movie, and many, many more.
Summer is over…time to get that playroom finished!
It’s not that we haven’t been busy, we’ve just been super lazy about posting/blogging. Actually, it’s more like we are very bad about photographing what we’ve been up to. So, I apologize in advance for the grainy i-phone photos, but if I wait for the perfect photos you will never get to see this fun playroom redesign!
Here it was before…
Playroom Couch before
Chair before
We started with a color scheme…
game table and chairs before
the game table needed a little upcycling
chair has been recovered and table has been too!
My client found a great inexpensive piece of furniture to house her children's gaming equipment but it wasn't working with our color scheme. This is mid-progress. New rug is in place and pillows but we still haven't painted, gotten furniture back, or hung window treatments.
After – new slipcovers on existing couch, chair, and ottoman. New pillows, floor pillows and window treatments. And notice the “new” green” gaming console! What a difference paint makes!
We went with crisp white on the walls to make everything feel fresh. We also had white slipcovers made for the furniture. White in a playroom - no worries, they can be bleached!
the desk area was lacking personality as well as bulletin board space.
So we made a giant custom fabric bulletin board to coordinate with the playroom fabrics.
The bookshelves in the hall needed a little redesigning too.
So with some velcro and some left over fabric from the floor pillows, we upholstered the back of the shelves!
Floor pillows
Thanks for checking out our playroom redesign!
