Weekend at West Elm

Today I had a great time speaking at West Elm as one of their design experts for their "top picks" event.  They had a wonderful turn out and I loved sharing the "stage" with my fellow ASID designers Laura Neuman and Jennifer Fagalde.  We were sure coordinated our presentations so we were sure to offer different ideas throughout the event. 

Jennifer started us off talking about window coverings.  She demonstrated how you can incorporate West Elm's great drapery panels with your existing window shades and how to tie it all together with a few pillow and throw accents.  I spoke about accessorizing using my top 5 picks from West Elm's store.  I went over a few "dos" and "don'ts" and "musts" in accessorizing.  Laura finished us up with demonstrating how to mix styles - traditional with modern using your her own traditional french chair mixed with a white lacquered parsons table. 

We fielded some great design questions from the crowd and even learned a bit from each other!

I hope your weekend is going well! Happy Saturday!

Photos via Rebecca Ward

Cyber Monday

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As per usual, I went up to my family's beach house in Oregon.  This time we had a nice surprise of snow one day!  Not enough to stick but it was fun to watch the flurries come off the ocean.  (You can rent out our beach house, if you are interested.  More info here)

Today is Cyber Monday.  A few ours left to save!  I always forget about it until emails start arriving in my inbox.  I still prefer Black Friday since on Cyber Monday I'm still trying to catch up from being out of town.

I can't believe we are nearly at December!  I have a busy month ahead as I finish up a few project and have picked up a few more!  Looking forward to sharing my design adventures with you.


P.S. If anyone is keeping track, I did decide to go with the green plaid bedding from West Elm.  I finally picked it up and am just now putting it on the bed.  Pictures to come!

Photo by Rebecca Ward

Time For A Change

This weekend marks a change in time - falling back.  I love this time change because I get to sleep in an extra hour.  As it were, I think it would be best to spend that extra hour in my bed with a new duvet cover and shams.  I have a gift card to West Elm and think the perfect way to spend it is to replace the duvet cover my husband and I got for our wedding 4-1/2 years ago.  It's starting to show signs of wear, no thanks to our cat who has claimed ownership of one corner and has been the cause of having the duvet covered washed many times more than normal.

She obviously feels no remorse about the condition of our duvet.

In light of the Interior Designer Chat that I participated in earlier this week on twitter (#IntDesignerChat), I made sure my husband had a say as to what he likes and dislikes on the choices of duvets at West Elm.  I want to make sure both of us feel comfortable in the room - not overly masculine or feminine in style.  I kind of felt like Goldilocks going through the selections: this one looks to college dorm, this one too country, this one too busy.  My husband didn't think he could sleep under a duvet that had been described as "flowerbed."

We were able to narrow it down to these two:

My thoughts are that when we buy a house next year, this duvet will be put in the guest room and we will get another new one to go with the colors of our new bedroom (in which I plan to paint the walls gray, of course) and possibly new bed with an upholstered headboard.

Which do you like best?

Images by Rebecca Ward and West Elm

Orange on the Side

I'm completing a design package for one of my clients.  I'm nearly finished and am pulling together some photos of the orange accents I'm sprinkling throughout the house.  My client really likes orange.  When discussing counter top possibilities with the builder's design center, I was told she considered an orange Corian for her kitchen counters which the designer quickly steered her away from toward a nice neutral.  It's so much easier to add color with accents than to deal with it as the main color in the palette.  Here are some of the fun orange pieces I've found:

Pendants for the kitchen from Lumens

Orange side table from West Elm

Orange dining chairs for the ends of the table

Lovely bedding from West Elm (West Elm has a perfectly timed orange kick going right now)

Orange desk chair

I'm having fun with all of this orange!

Images from West Elm  Lumens and Zuo Modern

The Great Outdoors

On a beautiful day like today, I have a hard time not thinking about spending some time outdoors.  I think I wouldn't mind relaxing this afternoon in this space from West Elm showing off their great outdoor collection.

I love how they have hung the grommeted outdoor curtains on some thin rope. It has a certain relaxed feeling to it.

And what about these great outdoor woodblock mats?  I saw them in the catalog and thought they were the best looking mats I've seen in a while.

I noticed on the west elm website that their outdoor accessories are on sale right now.  Tempting!

Images from West Elm

Hurricane Season

West Elm has these wonderful hurricanes that keep catching my eye! These would look great on any coffee table. I think I have to put them into the "must have" category.

I also love how they show them being used as a vase. So versatile!

Images from West Elm

Claim Some Reclaimed Wood

I came across this company, Live Edge Design, Inc. who feature furniture made from reclaimed wood from trees felled by storms or left behind by forest companies.

I think some of these pieces would be great as one of kind, organic(and not to mention green!) additions to a home. The natural woods can fit easily in most design styles.

I love this dining table. The grain of the wood is so naturally beautiful and a piece of art.

These tree stumps look great in this lounge setting and are ever so popular right now. (see West Elm)

This side table is fun!

Organic Bedding

I have been admiring this organic bedding from West Elm for a few months now. If I was going to redo my bedroom set right now, I would definitely pick this. The pin-tuck look makes the duvet look so inviting!

It's made from 100% organic cotton, meaning no pesticides or herbicides were used on the cotton while it was growing. West Elm calls the bedding to be "spa quality" which basically translates to you will never want to get out of your luxurious bed!