Before & After Guest Blogger: Maria Killam @ Colour Me Happy

I am so thrilled to be guest blogging on Pure Style Home! Thanks Lauren for the opportunity!

My before’s and after’s are from a project that was featured on the cover of BC Home magazine  last September, my readers haven’t even seen the before’s of this loft so I’m excited to show them here!

My client Karen is a young Corporate Lawyer in downtown Vancouver who wanted her place to reflect her current level of success. I am lucky to have clients that mostly hire me because I have a talent for creating atmosphere  which happens only after the lighting and accessories have been installed. Not every designer has the luxury of finishing each space, I consider myself to be very lucky!

Karen hired me to decorate her empty loft (except for the large TV she had been given) I advised her to get rid of it. The one existing colour that we had to work with was the yellow beige broadloom because it was staying. She was renting the space so painting the white walls was not an option (in the end we created a colour block instead)

This was how it looked when all the soft furnishings had just been installed. Everything here was custom made except the 3 Malm dressers from IKEA that were used for extra storage and for the TV. It was also designed to be the focal point of the room. You can see that I repeated the carpet colour in the top panel of the drapery (and it’s in the polka dot ottomans as well).

Here is the space (photographed by me) the day before the photo shoot with everything in place. The branch was raided from a tree in my neighborhood!

I have learned that photographing interiors is all about the flowers and I went to 6 florists before I found one that had the dark purple leaf that is in the arrangement (above).

And here is the final professionally photographed image! Big difference isn’t it?


Here was her bedroom (before).

Since my client was buying everything else new, she decided (for now) to keep the bedroom furniture. The Lumpy TV had to go once again and she immediately bought the duvet cover from Macy’s when she saw it shopping in Seattle!

After

This bookshelf was at the 3rd level of her 3 level apartment (which ended on a rooftop deck, to see all the images from this project, click here:  http://mariakillam.com/yaletown.htm

BEFORE

AFTER

Thanks Lauren for including me as part of the blogging community that will be appearing here weekly! I am honoured!

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Thank you so much to Maria for showing us how to turn an ordinary rental into a magazine-worthy pad!!   Of course your colors are spot-on as always & I can't get over you finding the purple leaves for the arrangement!!  The whole place feels so young & fresh & light & modern.  Beautiful!!

xoxo,
lauren

ps-  Go here to vote for Eddie Ross's Window in THE BIG WINDOW CHALLENGE!!  (You can vote twice/ day!)

Look What Arrived Today! Thank you PVE!!

It's a beautiful little package from Patricia van Essche, of PVE Design!  She did an adorable drawing of a pair of little blue baby booties for the outside of the package and also included a pretty pale blue alphabet chart- both of which will go perfectly in the nursery- for baby Justin.  I'm so touched to have met such wonderful friends this past year and a half.   

In the box was this adorable little hand-knit stem hat (below).  Oh my goodness I love it!!  It went right onto poor Justin's little head for a photograph which he was VERY unhappy modeling for.  (Ah the life of a child of a blogger! He'll learn ;)

Thank you Patricia for this beautiful & thoughtful gift.  It means so much.

xoxo,

lauren

Pure Organization Project #3: If It's Broken, Fix It!!

Hope you're still enjoying the long weekend!!  And now for Project #3...  This one has the potential to feel boring but it is one of those things that just feels so good to get over with.  Nothing very "wow" about it, but when you've done it, you can pat yourself on the back...  or better yet, pour yourself a nice glass of wine. 

It's sad to say but this sconce has been broken since we first hung it up in our bedroom.  It was one of those things, "we'll get to later."  --or so we thought---  A few months later the broken sconce still hung in our room.  It was irksome but really it should have bothered me more than it did.  I actually have quite a collection of broken things around the house.  Why didn't I fix my broken stuff right away you ask?  The answer is simple:  I didn't have any Krazy Glue.  It really took me this long to acquire Krazy Glue.   No joke.  We'd always say "Oh we need glue," but it really wasn't high on the list of priorites with all of our renovating & baby-having, so we went without our glue.  Well let me tell you how much better Krazy Glue got while we were out forgetting it!!  It's got a brush on it now!!  AMAZING INVENTION!!  I didn't glue my fingers together once in the fixing process and only have the teensiest amount of glue to peel off & that's because I'm sloppy & impatient. 

 

So here's my little collection of broken things (below):  A poor piggy bank lost his ear when we first moved in (my fault I think?), My grandmother's vintage sconce got broken (seriously-  this is real-  6 YEARS AGO when it was hanging in my first apartment's tiny entryway and our very large handsome Danish friend, Esben, walked into it.  The laugh alone was worth it breaking!) and finally, my beloved $5 flea market Wedgewood bowl ( my fault again...  This one has been sitting on top of the fridge in our fruit bowl in pieces for a couple of months). 

SO if you aren't a procrastinator of little jobs (like me) then this week's project might not apply to you at all.  BUT, if you're even a little like me, here's Project #3:  If it's broken, fix it. 

(This can apply to anything:   broken accessories- toys- jewelry, clothes in the mending pile, loose hardware on drawers or cabinets, ANYTHING you've been "meaning to get around to" but just haven't.  ) 

Below, I feel so much better having fixed the sconce!! yay!!!  (It took 1 minute to glue-  why did I wait so long?!!)

Below, my kitchen piggy bank is much better!!!

And finally, here's my sad broken bowl out of commission for months...

...  Glued back together...

... And {almost} as good as new!  (I'm not a perfectionist.)

So, if it's broken, fix it.  And good luck.  It's honestly not as bad as you think!

xoxo,

lauren

ps-  I was REALLY dragging my feet this week so good thing I promised results or I would have given up ;) 

To check out readers' awesome takes on Project #2, go to the previous post here

Project #2: Organizing the Coat Closet- Reader Projects

Last week's Project #2 was organizing the coat closet and I got some great photos of projects from readers!! Here's ours, below:

Many of you had already tackled this project brilliantly & needed no help from me, but it was so awesome to see your creative solutions & thank you for sending them in.  First is Elisabeth from BOVAGOODS and how adorable are the rows of pegs outside the closet for her daughter's things??  I love the periwinkle blue too! Does this not look like it's from a magazine?!!

And here is Chelsea's coat closet before:

And here it is now:  Super-organized, she's even made an accessible spot for her cleaning supplies!  I also love the clear hanging door rack because you can really easily see what's inside:

Sarah from Miss Trixie's Table (who's 37 weeks pregnant & nesting hardcore!) did a beautiful job too.  Here's her before:

And here's her 'after':  LOVE the color of course (she had it leftover in the garage) and it's organized to perfection...  even the coats are color-coded! 

Tina, below, took a plane Jane organizer & made it pretty & personal with some turquoise Martha Stewart twill ribbon.  Go Tina!!

 

Lisa from Lists in My Pocket  used labeled baskets for pretty storage.  Here's her before & after:

How cute are the baskets?!!

 Christel, below, a home stager, took her once- average closet: 

...  And used this an adorable red check to make it fun & unique.  It's adorable!  She mentioned how important it is for staged homes on the market to have attractive & organized closets.

Yvalie took this dark space here:

And totally freshened it up into a bright & welcoming mud room.  How amazing is the antique harp case she found to use for storage?! 

She stores hats, gloves, mittens, bags, etc in there.  I've never seen aything like this!  So creative...

Kacey at She's.No.Martha uses the pocket door hanger and also mentions that having coat hooks at her children's height is a huge help & that thay hang their own things up 75% of the time - which is 75% more than happens in our house! :)  Love these pretty glass hooks:

 

Devon of The Wisteria House sent me photos of her coat closet and it was when I saw this beautiful coat closet a year ago on her blog, here,  with moss balls in the forefront, that I knew she had an amazing touch:

I can't get enough of the paisley fabric!!!  JUST HEAVENLY and I'm jealous (boots too please! :): 

So thank you everyone so much for being up to the challenge!!  I LOVE seeing your beautiful handiwork & creative solutions!!!

xoxo,

lauren

I LOVE LAMP: My Faux Bois Flea Market Find

Last weekend I made it out of the house!!  wahooo  (I really do just hibernate after I have a baby.)  I headed to the "DC Flea Market" in Chantilly with one of my best friends, Lindsey.  We CONQUERED that place in 3 hours:  Power-walking & bargaining till it closed.  But my first find of the day was LOVE:  This awesome 1950s Faux Bois Lamp!

When I saw it at first I smiled.  It looked a little tacky as things surrounded by mounds of other things often do at flea markets...  but it piqued my interest.  I took another look at it started to imagine it in the right setting (errr my house ;)...  It had that quirky element I love and the turquoise leaves were perfect for our family room.   It was interesting & unique & overscaled and I knew it could be beautiful!  (AND I've  been looking for a lamp to replace the temporary tiny one in the family room that belongs in the baby's nursery.)

At first the 3 shades kind of threw me off.  We don't really see much of this anymore.  But again, this is part of what attracted me to the lamp.  And I love the stars on the shade...  It's beautiful when lit but I coudn't get a good photo of it.  The lamp was marked at $65, but I very nicely asked the dealer what his best price was and he kindly dropped it to $50.  SOLD. I did a little research on faux bois and any faux bois over 50 years old is considered an antique & is highly collectible if it's in good condition.  yay!  I wonder if I got a deal?

The faux bois is a fun play on all the real driftwood we have in our family room like this huge cypress root by dad found while fishing in Georgia:

My "end table" next to the sofa is actually a console table standing in until the right piece comes along & attacks me at another flea market or thrift store.  To get the lamp at the right height and to keep it from receeding below the arm of the shelter sofa, I piled a few books under it.  The artwork above the sofa is a growing collection of flea market & thrift store paintings I've been collecting.

  I know it's not a piece that's to everyone's taste, but I'm so happy with it!!  It''s such a unique & personal find and I love incorporating accessories like this into a room.  Our family room is a fun, playful place & nothing in it should be taken too seriously.   (My cousin was over with her new boyfriend the other night & he looked around the room and said, "This is a fun color."  The first words out of my mouth were, "Who told you to say that?!" and looked accusingly at my husband & cousin.  Both shook their heads in innocence and I realized he'd come up with it all on his own. =  Best compliment ever because that's exactly what I'd assured my skeptical husband about the wall color before it went up & what I've been going for in this room all along! ;)  One last little pic of my lamp.  I repeat:  I LOVE LAMP.

Have a great weekend & keep sending me your Project 2 Closet pics!!  Thank you- I LOVE seeing your takes on the projects!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps- Sofa: discontinued Restoration Hardware Sofa

      Striped Blanket:  Dash & Albert

Eddie Ross: Before & After Guest Blog

Hi, everyone! Eddie Ross here. I'm super excited to be able to guest blog today for Lauren, one of Jaithan's and my closest friends! It's not something we do very often, but Lauren's definitely a designer after my own heart. I love the way she mixes new and old, classic and modern. She has amazing style and is so humble about it! Can you believe it's been over a year since we all met on our first shopping trip to the New York City flea market? In the blogging world especially, you never know whom you'll meet if you just put it out there!

Speaking of the old becoming new, here's a quick before and after with a sweet, little tray I picked up last week in Atlanta. I'd been looking for a piece with handles that went with our bar cart—something I could could cary and serve, say, two or three drinks at a cocktail party here at home. You never know when luck is going to strike, and this time around, it was at a tiny, hole-in-the-wall thrift shop in Norcross on our way to Larson-Juhl to prep for the framing party. It's a faux bamboo brass tray, probably, from the 50s, so stained with water marks, even I wasn't sure it would come clean. But for $2, I was willing to take a chance!

Flash forward, and we're back upstate, unpacking from the trip, when out came the tray, soiled and spotted as ever. Quickly, I went to the sink or, as I like to call it, the Restoration Department. Out came the gloves, Brillo pad and Brasso, my favorite polish for brass. Call me crazy (compulsive, neurotic, etc.), but I love taking something like this forgotten little tray from trash to treasure. A little polish goes a long way!

Fifteen or so minutes later—"scrub, Christina, scrub!"—and voilà! I love how the tray turned a nice matte finish while the crevices kept their tarnish, accentuating the bamboo. Here's something that cost all of two bucks that now looks like it could have come from the 7th floor of Bergdorf Goodman!

So where to use it? On the dresser as a vanity tray for cuff links and cologne? Passed hors d'oeuvres at cocktail hour? How about lining it with a pretty linen napkin for rolls at a dinner party? For now at least, I'm taking the Rat Pack-route, propping it appropriately with L-monogrammed highballs from our Etsy shop, Grecian lowballs from our friend Steve McKenzie, a shaker we picked up in Kansas City, and an Italian tiered tray from the Goodwill.

Talk about trash to treasure! Cocktails, anyone?


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Ahhhh love it!!!  Thanks so much to Eddie & Jaithan for putting together this awesome before & after.  The tray is GORGEOUS & I love the Ratt-Pack-esque cocktail set-up above...  SO ready for it after 9 months!!  (and for $2?!!!  INSANITY.)  I'm always floored by everything Eddie does but am never surprised by its perfection...  Mm mm good! 

xoxo,
lauren

ps- Guest Blogger up next week:  Maria Killam the Color Queen of Colour Me Happy!