Before and After: Exterior of the Scott Residence

I know you all love a good before and after post!  While we are waiting for the interior shots of the Scott Residence to arrive, I will show you the exterior before and after.  This house is cute and cottage style but upon purchasing it, my client agreed that there were a few things that the exterior needed to improve on.  The ladscaping was overgrown and we later discovered a rotting tree!  The house got a nice paint job, I added the black shutters to complete the cottage look and gutters were added where missing or replaced.  We also added House numbers, a new porch light and mailbox.  The bench and railings also got a fresh coat of paint.

 Before

After

The paint colors used on the exterior are from Dunn Edwards.  The body color of the house it Inside Passage with trim in Swiss Coffee.  The front door is Black Bean, although it is usually covered by the screen door.  Black Bean has hints of plum which are carried into the interior, as you will see later on.

It's best when colors on the outside of a house are an introduction to what you will see inside.  Do you agree?

Peek-a-boo!

This weekend I had a photo shoot at one of my projects.  I won't get the photos back for a few weeks but I thought I would give you a little sneak peek with a few shots that I took while I was there.

As you can see, I'm still tweaking my blog template and header and I have added one of these photos to my latest version of my header. Stay tuned for more to come!

Photos by Rebecca Ward

Happy Weekend!

After a few downpours today, the sun decided to show, revealing a vibrant rainbow!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Walnut Wallpaper

Walnut Wallpaper being the name of the company, that is, not wallpaper made from walnuts or walnut colored.  I was turned on to Walnut Wallpaper by the a mention by the editor of Dwell magazine, Michela O'Connor Abrams (yes this was at the Sustainable Furnishing synposium mentiored here.  I got so many gems of information there!)
This fun company is located in Hollywood, California.  Founded in 2005, It features many of the in-demand and hard to find wallpaper lines and designers while also providing eco-friendly wallpapers, as shown below.

What a fun resource to find!

You Can Take That to the Furniture Bank

I was sadly unaware of the existence of furniture banks until I went to the Why Green, Why Not? symposium in Las Vegas this month, as I mentioned in my blog here.  Kathy Ireland mentioned it as a way to be green.  I wasn't the only one not in the loop though, since someone piped up to ask her what exactly a furniture bank was.  On returning home I did a little research and found one local to me as well as useful websites for furniture banks nationwide and I thought I would pass on this knowledge for those unaware of their existence, like me

There is an organization called the National Furniture Bank Association (NFBA) whose mission is "to assure that no child in America has to sleep on the floor."  Furniture banks will take your donated unwanted furniture, often pick it up, and relocate it to a family in need.  What a wonderful way to clear the room for your new furniture or just get rid of some in an over cluttered space.

For my local readers, Furniture for Families in Folsom, California is the furniture bank for the area.  Other furniture banks can be located on the NFBA website simply by entering your zip code.


Of course, there are always charities like Goodwill and Salvation Army as well as internet sources like freecycle who will be happy to take your donations.


I think knowing about furniture banks will be a great value for me in finding ways to help my community and I will definitely recommend it to my clients, families and friends! 


Have you ever used one?

Predictably Me

This is so predictably me.  I got a great deal on a gray (surprise!) striped shirt recently, which is now one of my favorite things to wear.  As I was sitting at my desk today, I glanced at my business card and with the sleeve of my arm close by, I noticed a resemblance. Do you?

Thank you Krista, my graphic designer, for my business cards.  This event just reaffirms that she completely captured my style in the design for my card.

New and Improved

As you can see, I've updated the look of my blog!  I realize that not everyone has a love affair with the color gray, as I do, so I'm making my blog more reader friendly.  Using my inspiration board from Feb 4th's post, I incorporated more teals and greens, but not eliminating gray altogether.  I also changed the header, it was time for something new.  If you look closely you can see a glimpse of the old header in the new...

Old Header

New Header

What do you think?