Darry Savage: White Diamond

Reading the Spring Home & Design Issue of the Washington Post Magazine this morning, a featured designer & antiques dealer, Daryll Savage, more-than-caught my eye!! (Below, see all the aged white & moss?!! = perfection)

Darryl Savage's Annapolis waterfront home boasts an all-white color palette & a 100 foot deck along the back of the house over the river. Below, the view is amazing!!

Darryl owns & runs DHS Designs' Antiques in Potomac, Maryland and the website has me drooling!!! With clients like as Charlotte Moss, it's no wonder!!

Below if a view of his living room, with photos taken a few years ago. I have to say, the photos featured in the Post Magazine were a little more to my taste... It's been restyled a bit and there's now a very cool huge white paper mache hippo in the living room. The all white-palette with hits of black perfectly showcases the views.

Darryl's motto with this house was "Bring on the bling."

The ancient statues at attention along the window are incredible!! Somehow, though, Darryl manages to make it all look fun instead of serious.

Darryl loves his neutral palette because he can inject any color he wants into the scheme at any time, as seen in the red coral branches below. (Sounds like someone I know?!! ;) ;)

I'd LOVE to dine here!! Or party here!!!

His bedroom, below features more black than the rest of the home. Check out his leather dresser to the back left!!! (Again, the Post's view of this room is better and you can check out all those photos here)

Here's another shot from a differet photo

And check out his 22-year old daughter's bedroom, below. The walls are done in glass beads, the floors are seamless white marble and the chandelier is pink crystal. Lucky girl!!

One of my favorite things to hear was that Darryl says his neighbors roll their eyes at him, always wondering what crazy thing he'll do next. Currently, huge Chinese statues are out front. Who knows what else he's got in store??

I can't wait to be able to have fun like that at our new place!!! :)

xoxo,

lauren

Beach Studios: Unkempt Beauty

I came across this beautiful & unruly Beach Studios location, called "Sperm Bank." (I felt indecent writing that in the title!! :) Anyway, above, is the very apt whale weather vane. I love this location for its wild, almost abandoned feeling. How beautiful is the photo below?!!

I love the massive vines overtaking the structure-- Is that wisteria?? It reminds me of something out of a fairytale... Stumbling upon a sleepy hidden cottage in the woods...

Below is the dining area insided the house. I LOVE the transoms & how real and undecorated this place feels.

Below, the blue is so pretty & it feels like someone really interesting lives here. I would just love to wander through this place & explore!!

How pretty is this shot, below? I love how the prints are placed anywhere they can fit, instead of perfectly displayed. Is that a library I see through the doorway on the left? Also, how funny is it that the plastic baby seat on the far right chair just sort of blends in & doens't look at all out of place on an antique chair?! (It's things like that that I really love--- the old fitting with the new & with "real life." It's like the grandparents live here or something & they keep the seats out for when the kids come to visit. ) It still manages to look beautiful to me.

Below, is one of the bedrooms. Very simple and seems like the perfect place for a vacation afternoon nap. I love the wall color with the curtains. Again, this room just feels a bit thrown together and its not anything about the decor I like specifically, but there's something about its feeling that I love.

And below, is one finaly shot of the property. I hope to have something this overgrown one day.

On a personal note concerning the flood, things are going really well here. We're halfway through packing for the new house & will probably get most of the important things covered by insurance. We will be sleeping at my grandparents' house starting Tuesday (they're going on a trip) and will have a great place to sleep!! My laptop is dead, but they were able to save all the memory & my photos so I'm thrilled!! And a camera that used to be broken now works after being soaked!! craziness. We're really really happy (and exhausted!!) about everything & are just so excited & counting down the days until we move into the treehouse!!

Thank you all so much for your sweet words (I can't tell you enough how much they mean to me) & I won't be able to blog/ read as much as usual until I get a computer/ and things get a bit more settled, but I'll be thinking of you & wondering what I'm missing!! If anyone writes any posts or reads any posts that you think I'll just totally LOVE, could you please shoot me an email?!! thanks so much

xoxo,

lauren

Industial Chic Before & After: The Basement

Well, we really changed things up in our basement last night & I wanted to share with you. First are the before photos, which I was actually pretty happy with. This first one (below) was taken at Christmas time:


And here is my office before. (below) I was really in the mood for something a little more "industrial chic" since it's just everywhere right now, so I think you'll be really surprised at the changes!!


And below is what it looks like now, "after." With the exposed pipes & electrical in the ceiling it really gives the cool vintage-warehouse feel we were going for. Much less cottage, much more modern. ;) ;)



The wood laminate floors were torn up to expose ORIGINAL CEMENT FLOORING!!!



So really what happened, was my parent's washing machine kirked out in the middle of the night. (We are living in my parents' basement for 2 more weeks until we close on our house) The washing machine is a stackable on the floor above us. Well, sometime in the mioddle of the night it decided to just start pumping us with water. And I mean water.
My husband & I slept through it until we heard my mom running down the stairs yelling at us to wake up at 4 AM. I got out of bed & went into the main area & it was literally like a RAIN STORM. The ceiling was falling down on us & thank God Christian (our toddler) was okay in his bedroom (Some ceiling fell down in there but not over the crib.)


I'm usually really amazing in crisis situations but this time, once Christian was upstairs & I went back down stairs to try to save stuff, I was just so overwhelmed. I didn't know what to save!! laptops, printer, phones, all electronics were DONE... I immediately grabbed a sentimental photo & ran it to our room where it was dry. and oh hahaha the next thing I saved were my Style Files. ( But how sad is it that all of the pages I'd clipped out to go into the files for like the past 8 months (I'm so behind) got soaked.?! ) Then it was my chairs. Then I sort of wandered a bit just shaking my head (My SOAKING wet head.) in ANKLE DEEP water.


SO... a lot of our furniture is ruined and so much work was lost, but we're all safe & sound. It's been a crazy day but I just have to thank God that my little guy is safe & sound. As much as I love my pretty things (and you know I do!!!) it really is just stuff and can be replaced. (Maybe I'm overtired & delusional right now & will cry or be angry later?!!) But I don't think so. We'll be sleeping in the kitchen for two more weeks & then we're moving to our new house so we got a jump strart on our decluttering & packing.


My laptop's dead (this is my mom's computer) so I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging/ reading but it's tough to stay away for you all for long!!

xoxo, (from a slap happy & silly)
lauren

Pure Style: Dining Room Before and After

I just recently completed a dining room for a client & thought you'd like to see pics. (Who doesn't like before & afters & instant gratification?!! ;)

It's not styled & I just snapped some photos really quickly, but I thought I'd share with you what we've got so far. Here are the before photos:

This photo doesn't do this rug justice. It really is pretty & we moved it to a more prominent spot in a stairway.


Below is the dining room before. Our goal was to update it & lighten up the space and make it feel more grand in a comfortable way.



So here it is now:


We purchased new oatmeal-colored linen slipcovers with adorable box pleats for parsons chairs she already owned and purchased a few more for around the whole table.



Below is a sneak peak at the living room, which we're finishing up right now:

Here's the chandelier that I really think makes the space. It's totally my client's style & its overscale size was needed to dilineate the dining room & from the living area & to keep it from getting lost in the open-plan living room/ dining room.

Here's a closeup of the hutch. An old friend made it for her!!!! WOW, It's just beautiful & you wouldn't believe the craftsmanship!!

How pretty is this little porcelain basket of hers?

I loaded the hutch with all of her whiteware for a light look for the spring & summer & when she feels like it she can switch it out with other colors:

Here's a close-up of the sconces. Love those beads!!

And finally, one last picture of the room: You can really see how a few small details- lighting, seating and accessories- can have such a huge impact!!

hope you enjoyed!!

xoxo,

lauren

Icons of "Home"

idyl·lic
Pronunciation: \ī-ˈdi-lik, chiefly British i-\
Function: adjective
Date: 1856
1 : pleasing or picturesque in natural simplicity
2 : of, relating to, or being an idyll


When making checklists for all of the things we want to do to our (soon-to-be) new house, I realized how many things have been ingrained in my mind over the years as to what the idyllic home (to me) would have. Not necessarily stylish things, but more romantic ideals or icons of the perfect home. Some of them are things I will probably never realistically have, but they've been with me for years & I thought I'd share some of them with you. I'll start outside & work my way inside............


I've always wante a white house (image from Martha Stewart.com)



A front porch with a porch swing is the perfect spot!!



A wisteria-covered pergola (although I just learned that wisteria seeds are poisonous so we won't be getting any!!) (image from here)

Image below (and top image of post) from House Beautiful. How amazing is this?!!!
Window Boxes: They makes houses look so cheerful & loved. (image from hooksandlattice.com)



A garden large enough to "walk through" and "sit in" as opposed to edging the yard or house (image from indigolandscapes.com) I like a little mystery in the garden & it would be such a luxury to have enough space to do this:



A beautiful back patio (image from one of my favorite Cottage Living houses)



There are a lot of plants I've always thought embodied the perfect yard or garden. Here's a list of some of them: A magnolia tree would be amazing (image from here) and I could just sit there & smell the blooms for hours!! :)



A lilac bush to cut blooms from and again, smell for hours (image from gardencorner.net )



Forsythia bushes (image here from Dumbarton Oaks)



TONS of hydrangea bushes (image from http://www.youcanlearnseries.com/)



Peonies -- how beautiful are they in arrangements?!! (Image from marthastewart.com)



And finally, it used to be rose bushes until I put them in my townhouse garden & managed to kill almost all of them, (image from http://www.sloatgardens.com/) but if I could do better, I'd still want them... (Actually the bushes themselves were in such bad shape that I felt absolutely no guilt for cutting off every single bloom & taking them inside for arrangements!!)



A tree swing for the little guy & me too!! :) (image from http://www.ntoddblog.org/



French Doors (Image from that same amazing Cottage Living house) leading to some beauitufl outdoor space... They'd be amazing in the bedroom...



A big hood over the range (image below from House Beautiful) A hood makes a kitchen look like such a functional yet homey space:

A window seat (image from Cottage Living)... We built one in our old house & it really was the perfect spot for chatting on the phone, cuddling with the dog, getting warmed up by the sun, reading & relaxing

A banquette or window seat for an eat-in kitchen (image from Country Living)

A grandfather clock (image from mantecalighting.com)... When I was a little girl I loved the mystery surrounding them. They made me think of huge houses you could get lost in & have adventures in & always wanted one when I grew up... Think The Borrowers... But sadly, now I really don't even like to know what time it is & would have to go with a Mora clock if I did have a huge clock in my house.

A fireplace with two chairs that can face each other with an ottoman in between for reading with my husband... The two chair & ottoman thing would also be amazing in the bedroom...

A guest bedroom (image from Country Living) is truly a luxury to me. To have it ready & waiting for friends & family to come at any time... to not have to unfold a bed/ mattress & not have to hide anything away... Just an easiness...

A sunroom/ conservatory that could act as a family room or dining/ breakfast room (image from here)

A huge living room/ great room where lots of people can be at one time doing different things (images from Cottage Living & House Beautiful)

A round table for intimate dining (Pic from House Beautiful)

And finally, a four-poster bed (Bed below from Restoration Hardware) ... We had a sort of British Caribbean mahogany styled one in our old house and it's in storage now. Because the lines of the new house are so modern, I can't really picture it in our bedroom but the lowerl level feels a bit more traditional, so we'll be putting it in the lower level guest bedroom. (I think it'll be fun for guests too :) The bed below is from Country Living's 2008 Idea House:

I think we all envision a home and a life in which we have the time and space to be with our families & friends. Some call it the "good life." It's a home with simple luxuries... where things are made easy so we can spend our time doing what we really want to do. It's a life & home with the perfect balance of function & beauty. These are just some of the iconic things that come to mind for me when thinking of the ideal home... how about you?