Debra & Scentimental Gardens

{Love fig trees!!}

Last week we got to stop over to see our friend Debra Phillips at Scentimental Gardens in Geneva, IL and I was in Heaven!!  {Debra also recently opened up another store on Grand Ave in Chicago and writes the blog 5th & State. }  Debra & Sarah (below) greeted us at the shop and they are so warm & sweet.  Debra's amazing with kids & even gave Christian an adorable little concrete turtle he promptly named "Sammy."

{Sarah & Debra}

I was totally in love with this room and wanted pretty much everything in it.  The slate tile floors were hidden underneath blah carpeting when Debra first moved in. 

How adorable are the chalkboard signs/ labels? (below)  What a cute way to label a drink.

Check out the industrial tabe below (mm mm!) and lately I've also been been loving silhouettes.

And here's one last photo at Scentimental Gardens of us all before a yummy lunch:

{Dave, baby Justin, me with Christian, and Debra}

While we were in Geneva, we also stopped at the butterfly house at Peck Farm.  Christian's been very into butterflies lately (there's a Little Einstein movie about them) and loved it:

I thought this one, called a "Julia," was awesome:

If you can get to Geneva, it's so worth it!!  ...  Lots of great shops & an adorable town and of course you have to stop in and see Debra!! (And the butterflies if you're into that) One of the things I love most about blogging is making & meeting new friends.  It's so much fun to be with other design junkies & to feel like you already know someone before you've even met them.    

Zit Cure: Plantain (I am so serious!)

I love plantain.  Not banana plantain, but Great Plantain, the stuff that grows all over fields and yards (like mine) that aren't quite all grass.  It has medicinal properties and I've even transplanted a bunch of them from my yard into my garden into a pretty row.  I don't have a photo right now but check out this photo below from here

I've always loved herbs & plants and spent a lot of time when I was younger researching the medicinal properties of plants, fruits, etc.  I collected volumes of books (before the internet was big) on the subject and used to go hunting for the herbs and would make herbal teas & concoctions.  My friends would make fun of me and I totally creeped them out with my weirdness.  One of the best herbs around that's readily accessible is plantain.  A puree of it is great for cuts and scrapes and even zits. (!!)  I wish I could say I'm past them, but I'm not.       So, first you pick a couple of the leaves: 

Next, wet the leaves and make a puree of them (I like to do it with a chef knife...  my dad made the one above and it's the best!!)  Below is the yummy-looking mixture ready to be applied:

hahaha okay and I seriously can't believe I'm sharing this picture with you....   but then you apply it to any trouble areas and just use scotch tape or a band-aid to keep it on your skin for 15-20 minutes. 

{Please forget you ever saw this}

hahaha ok, but I'm serious when I tell you that it really works.  If you don't mind looking like a fool, then this stuff is the best.  (And it also gives the whole family someone to make fun of.)

Have an awesome weekend!!

My Dream to Life

There are some projects that just get me deep inside.  Whenever designing a space, we think of all of the functions the room needs to have.  In this case- it was my dad's lakehouse bathroom and it needed to be practical and be able to handle lots of wear & tear from guests.  But beyond the functional, I always want something more. 

This cottage has been in my family since the 50s.  We've been been making memories here through now 4 generations.  I remember coming here as a little girl and the whole family piling into the cottage on summer weekends:  Beds pushed together, laughing & talking late into the night to the hum of the window air conditioning units.  This cottage was built in the 1930s and when my dad inherited it in the late 90s, he completely redid it.  I've been there helping along the way & we've had our disagreements believe me, but most of the time, I win.  I want to share with you one of my favorite finished spaces, the kids' bathroom.  We started with nothing.  There wasn't an original bathroom there, jusgt a small sitting room.  My dad raised the roof on the original cottage and made room for a large bathroom.  When I started on this space it was just rough- framing, sans-drywall. 

{Little galvanized buckets hold kiddie washcloths and toys}

There are details that my dad has filled in that were not the ones specified by me (such as the wall color, chrome outlet covers, etc.) but I am seriously trying to LET GO.  (It's not easy for someone like me..)  I got to this bathroom in spurts on visits and so it's not exactly as I want it but it feels good, which is what matters most to me.    I used fun bright colors- corals and aqua- to pull in the glass floor tiles and the scheme from the kids' bedroom.

A while back we made these little framed stamps of Christian's hands and feet:

I used the lobster print from the Natural Cuiosities centerfold:

{Still waiting to be properly matted}

And, finally, after years of waiting for the house to be finished, I got my dream last night:

The kids piled into the clawfoot tub!!  (It's not original to the house, but a new 7 footer.)  It was exactly as I'd envisioned and was seriously awesome.  I'm sure many of you feel the same way about creating a space:  you envision the way things will play out and "making memories" in the perfect setting.   We'd had a nice long day at the lake and then it was easy & fun to just run the bath water in the massive tub and pile them in at the end of the day.

i loved seeing them having such a blast. 

{Andrew, and poor Lily being squirted by Christian}

This is what it's all about and I just wanted to share with you.   When we're creating rooms we really are doing more than designing spaces.  We're affecting how we'll live.  I love it!!

*Sink: American Standard 
*Paint: "mountain haze" by Behr...  Eventually, I'll switch it to a more bluey/aqua-gray instead of the green-gray it is (the current undertones are wrong with the aqua floor tiles) or a creamy-warm-beigey-neutral  that works better with the glass floor   (...My dad used the leftover paint from another room ;)

Weed Love & What I'm Doing About it

{Queen Anne's Lace from my Dad's House}

We're headed out to Illinois to visit my dad this week.  The Midwestern summer flowers bloom just a little bit after the East Coast ones so every year I feel like I get them all summer long.  As I've mentioned before, some of my favorite flowers are wildflowers or "weeds." 

There's an empty lot accross from my Dad's house that we own and my dad has left it uncut because it's filled with wildflowers:  black-eyed susans, tiger lilies, queen anne's lace, wild chicory and lots of others whose names I do't know.  One of my favorite things to do as soon as I arrive in Antioch is to pick a ton of the flowers and put them around the house.  The cottage my dad now lives in (and has renovated from the ground up) belonged to my grandparents and I remember summer afternoons as a little girl picking flowers with my Grandma Maestranzi , who always had fresh flowers around the house. 

{I even love the grapevine that have taken over the old chain link fence...  I know how ugly "chain link fence" sounds but this thing is so old (over 60 years?) and covered in vines that you can't even see the fence itself.  It really is pretty.}   

Below is a photo of my dad from last summer picking a bunch of widlflowers for me:

Our trip to Illinois last summer was pretty rough.  My dad's dog attacked Christian (below you can see his little raw nose) and it was terrifying.   After a bunch of stitches and an emergency room trip, we just attempted to keep things low-key and tried to shake it off:

{Christian last year, age 2 helping to pick flowers}

Here's the arrangement my dad & Christian made filled with dandylions, wild clover, Queen Anne's lace, chicory, hosta & lillies:

{We used a hosta leaf to hide all of the uneven stems}

My dad thought it was very "Eddie" and I didn't want to burst his bubble.  ;)  

But I really loved it and nothing beats seeing my little guy & my dad picking flowers together. 

(This happened right before they caught the frog...)

...So... all of this brings me to a new venture I'm working on.  The idea behind the whole thing is finding beauty in the everyday...  in the uncultivated...  things from my memories that affected me...  As a child you find beauty in things like this all of the time.  It's the reason I chose a wild white clover for the Pure Style Home logo: seeing them pop up in the Spring reminds me of being little and seeing beauty in the clover.  Making little posies and bracelets and drinking in the sweet smell.  I didn't find clover in a garden and they might not have been considered to be "beautiful" but they were mine for the taking and they were beautiful to me.  ...  My memories of these everyday wildflowers/ weeds/ etc. have stayed with me and I still feel the same way about them when I come across them.  I want to celebrate them somehow...

The first one I'm working with is one of my favorites "wild chicory:"

Seeing it along roadsides makes me so happy and I their jagged petals are so interesting:

So I've decided to create a line of textiles that incorporates my love of things from my past & from my travels that still to this day touch me...  the "weeds" are just the beginning and are simply the springboards for where the designs will go.  I'm not an artist and am finding it seriously difficult but very rewarding.  For the designs I draw myself, I envision simple almost rustic woodcuts because I'm not skilled enough to do anything else and of course because I'm crazy over these types of designs.  For the more complicated designs, I'm working with a graphic artist.  Here's the first design/ drawing I did, "wild chicory:"

It'll be on a linen groundcloth repeated of course over & over and will be available in 4-5 colorways.  I'm at the very early stages of the process but wanted to share.  This all came about when I was working with Jessica over at Front Porch Studios who did my new blog layout and is also doing my business cards, letterhead, etc.  I thought it would be fun if I drew the logo for my business card that she was working on.  After I drew the logo I realized it would be perfect for my Victorian Wing Chair:  (below, think approx 12" high for each little chicory) and sent it onto another friend Dagny, who was really encouraging.  (Thanks Dagny if you're reading!!)

So my original idea was that I would just make the fabrics and wallcoverings for myself and for my clients... but then I thought maybe others would like the textiles too, so we'll see how it goes.  (I'll also partly blame Dagny who is super-sweet and encouraged me to create more designs ;)   There will be lots of different styles encompassed in the line and there won't necessarily be something for everybody, but again, my goal is for me to be personally in love with each & every one.  If I love them, then I'm comfortable attempting to sell them.  I'll keep you posted and am only at the very beginning stages, so keep your fingers crossed!!  Who knows what will come of this but I'm giving it a shot.  I'll fill you in on some more details next week.  Hope you're having a beautiful weekend!!

ps-  On Sunday, July 18th, Susan Fox of Love Where You Live is showing off what I consider to be the "chill zone" in my house.  Can you guess what spot that is? 

Also, thanks so those who listened to the Skirted Roundtable Interview...  If you haven't gotten the chance to listen and want to, you can check it out here.

Check out the Skirted Roundtable

I was so excited to be interviewed on the Skirted Roundtable by Megan Arquette, Linda Merrill and Joni Webb last week.  (Pictured in that order, above)  I'm sure most of you know, but for those of you who don't know  (my family if you're reading ;) -  the Skirted Roundtable is a weekly online interior design radio show hosted by Linda, Megan and Joni- megabloggers & interior designers.  They discuss everything from running a design business, to seasonal decorating, to magazine stories and bloggers along with interviewing an amazing stream of people in the interior design industry.  (To say that I am the least exciting/ known person they've ever interviewed is not at all an understatement, which is why I was really shocked/ thrilled when they asked me.)  

I've been addicted since the very beginning and it's really the only radio show I know of that broaches interior design and interviews interior designers regularly.  Like many of you, I find myself nodding along, laughing outloud and just being generally enthralled by the weekly shows.  I've left embarrassingly long comments on there because I just get so into certain topics discussed.  Anyway, you can imagine how thrilled I was when they asked me to be on the show... Excited and then seriously nervous because I've never been interviewed on a radio show before and typically hate to hear my voice even in an answering machine message.

But, in true Skirted Roundtable-style, I felt instantly at ease and comfortable with these ladies I've always admired- Linda, Megan and Joni.  Thanks so much to them for thinking of me & for taking the time to put the show together. 

If you have some time, I'd really love it if you could listen to the show.  I know many of you read at work (shhhh ;) so it might not be possible at your regular blogging time, but if you do get the chance, I'd love for you to check it out and to hear what you think of it.  You can go listen here: SKIRTED ROUNDTABLE INTERVIEW.  Thank you so much!!

My Little Man

Our little man #1 just turned 3.  Time's flown and you'd think things like cakes, icing, candles, etc. would get simpler.   I "bake" cake out of a box.  I love box cakes, esepcially the kind with the little colors dots inside the batter..  mm mm so good.  We had a really last-minute birthday party for Christian & invited some of our neighbors/friends over with their kids so I decided to do cake. It came out like this:

Yeah, haven't you ever hear of "Lightning Cake?"  I was seriously ready to serve the cake like this with icing on the side for "dipping" until my neighbor Melissa came to the rescue.  (I was at that point of 'who cares it tastes good they're toddlers and won't notice?' but all it took was a little push to get me going.)  First things first, Melissa fixed the mojitos we'd attempted with her secret recipe (dont' you love neighbors like that??) and then turned to look at my pathetic cake- "Ok, now we have to do something with that.  You said you wanted a car, right?"  So, enjoying the newly concoted mojitos, we got to work making a car cake & it was so simple of course:

{The car cake}

Christian was so excited when he saw it.  He's so into cars right now.  He said something about Lightning McQueen (a cartoon character-car) and I really didn't catch the rest, but I think that's 3-yr old for "I love it."

(Yeah, I know the icing isn't on the sides... we ran out.. Don't judge ;)

Happy birthday to my sweetie-guy. We love you.

ps- Just as I was finishing up this post (12 AM) I heard a knocking form his bedroom door & I went to get him.  He was standing there,  "Mommy, I choked up on my bed."  = vomit in bed.  yummy. 

goodbye Marija

Please keep Marija Stephens' family in your thoughts & prayers.  Marija of Holding Court passed away over the weekend, breaking many hearts.  I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that she touched so many people and reached out with an extremely generous spirit.  As I've read the posts today, so many of us bloggers have written about how excited we would get when a comment from Marija popped up- they were witty, thoughtful and always honest.  Whenever a question or issue arose in a blogpost she was one of the first to email a suggestion or an idea on how to fix it.  She was beautiful- both inside & out.  Her design sense, insight, intelligence and passion were incredible.  Marija soaked up life and affected so many people.  She is dearly missed.

Movin' Out

So things have been crazy as usual around here and we've decided to make some changes in hopes of getting some more quality time for our family and growing our business.  For starters, I'm moving the office out of the house.

{Suzanne Kasler's SICK office via one of my favorites, nest egg...  My office will not be this great, but I can dream}

It's been pretty tough running a business out of the house with an almost 3 yr-old and a 6 month old...  I feel guilty when I'm working because I know they want me, and I feel guilty when I'm hanging with them because I have work waiting for me right there.  Hopefully, getting the office out of the house will give me strict work hours and put a little bit of a chill on my workaholic tendencies.  My goal is to keep work at the office and then when I'm home, I can really just relax and be home.  I found myself wanting to go on vacations and get out of the house to relax and I realized that I now associate home with work.  (Not that I don't love work...  but I need my family time.)  I want home to be just home. 

I'm so excited about it and am 99.9% sure it's a 'go.'  It's planned for this September and as you can guess, I'm already psyched to do my new office.  The new office space is about to undergo a major renovation and the fun Victorian wing chair I found is the only piece I have squared away for sure (being reupholstered in a special fabric.)  My office will be pretty small so I'll need to pack in a lot of function in a small space.  I think I will have room for a massive inspiration wall. I've been reading Thomas O'Brien's American Modern and cannot wait to try out some of his ideas on it.

{Thomas O'Brien Image via Chic Coles, another favorite}

Since things are still in the works and not official yet, I'll have to save some of the {juicy-to-me} details for later, but there are so many cool opportunities at this new place of business I'm moving to.  I have to save the best part for later and it's KILLING me!!.  The SECOND I can, I will be letting you know what's up.  I hope you're enjoying this summer, and I am sorry I am so MIA-  Dave's home for the summer and I'm trying to spend as much of my free time with him & the boys as possible.   I truly love your comments and reading my favorite blogs- many of which I have yet to add to the new blogroll!!- but just have not been able to comment the way I wish I could right now. 


 

Interior Design Graduates & My Meghan

Last summer I was lucky enough to have an amazing intern from my alma mater, James Madison University.  Her name is Meg Short and she recently graduated from JMU's interior design program.  She is such a sweetheart and tirelessly drew floorplans, helped source products, worked on design plans & boards, managed accounts and even helped entertain my toddler.  (She helped me with this project!)  She did everything needed, is souch a quick study, & was always a pleasure.  She's on the job hunt right now and she deserves to get snapped up right away!  (If I could, I would!!)

I'm writing this because I'm blown away by the number of talented design graduates who are looking for work right now.  It's a tough time to graduate and go to work in any field, but especially in this one.  I've been getting lots of resumes lately but am not currently hiring.  But, I'm really struck by the talent & drive and hard work these graduates have.  I feel for them and wish I could give them positions. 

{by Miles Redd via Belle Vivir}...  Just thought we could use a pretty pic

I'm often asked for advice from graduates and I guess mine is this: 
-If sending a resume via email: Make sure the email is personally addressed to whomever you're writing (and only them) and that the information pertains to them/ their firm.  We can smell the "general" query emails and much prefer something that includes an observation or compliment about us/ our firm.  (hee hee you catch more bees with honey! ;)  Also, I delete any mass emails thinking that someone else will respond

-If you can't get paid to do design work, work for free or for a low fee if you can afford it...  I did this when I first decided I wanted to get into the industry.  It's so cheesy but you're getting experience which is a crucial form of payment.  Once you feel you've learned all you can from a low or non-paying position, move on. 

-Hound people in the nicest way possible.  If someone says they'll get back to you and they don't, get back to them instead.  We remember those repeat emailers and I appreciate a reminder.  If I don't write someone back after saying I will, it's because it's slipped my mind.  As long as you're nice about it, we like it when you get back to us.

-Again, if your message is personal and feels sincere, designers will be more likely to send on your resume and letter to designer friends and keep you in mind for future open positions. 

-You can follow up with a phone call if you didn't get an email response.  A graduate called the other day and just had the sweetest personality over the phone and it made me want to help her find a job.

-Stay excited & be optimistic.  It may feel like forever away right now, but your time will come.  You will find a place and with hard work, determination & a constant search for knowledge, you'll succeed.  Don't ever let naysayers get you down and as cheesy as it is, believe in yourself.  There are days when you might feel like giving up, but don't.  (Hell, there are days when I feel like giving up!) It's normal (I think? ;) and it will pass.  You make your own future.


 

ps-  If anyone needs Meghan's info, please email me.  She's the best!!

Project: Family Hang-Out

 My clients, the Hart family wanted a living room that they could really live in.  Like I mentioned in my previous post on their dining room, they're an active family who love being outside, hiking, camping and spending time together so we really wanted an outdoors-in natural, fresh feel in here.  They're also musically-inclined and wanted a place where the damily could practice playing.  Although they do entertain, the initial function of their living room was to be a place where they can hang out, pay bills, do homework, play instruments and relax. 

Here's what the space looked like before.  It was a totally empty blank slate (how fun?!): 

 

And here's it is now:

When I initially surveyed the house, I noticed they didn't have many family photos and suggested doing a family photo wall in the living room because they wanted an extremely personal family-focused feel in here.  The problem was that they didn't have many family photos to create the wall.  

...So, this past Fall, I met with the family for a family "photo shoot" and I took a ton of pictures of them in the backyard.   We had so much fun "playing" in the leaves and even Whimsy, the family dog, got her close-ups. 

{The Harts}

They came out really well and I created this photo collage of all of the photos surrounding a natural "twiggy" sconce:

Mike & Debbi pay their bills  and the kids also do on homework here at the worktable:

{I love their family-passed-down-clock !!}

We chose a pen shell cocktail table: (This was the first element I chose for the space and used it as a springboard for the rest of the design)

And repeated the natural shells again in the capiz shell pendant over the work table:

I found this cool old lion painting in their garage.  I think he's prefect for the space and it was the last thing to go up.

I tossed this cool needlepoint throw of mine over the back of the loveseat for some added interest: 

 {It's a very tone-on-tone textural design in keeping with the family's natural, relaxed style}

The kids & I picked some pretty polar leaves from the trees outside the house and I had them enlarged on 3 and a half feet high canvases for the walls.  I thought it was a really personal way to "bring the outside in" since they love their house because of its wooded location. 

Here's a view of the second poplar leaf canvas:

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the before & after and thank you again to the Harts for trusting me to design your home!  It was so much fun!!

Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend and if you missed the first part of this project (the dining room), check out the previous post here.