Atlanta Interior Designer: DIY Door Designs...

I don't know what's up with me lately, but I find myself really into doors....the shapes, colors, and how we could give this seemingly function-only portion our our homes some designer pizazz. I find myself really taking notice of them when I'm in other people's homes.

Maria Killiam wrote a blog post this week about her own door going from something that blended to a fabulous kelly green...and so I thought yes, great minds think alike! We should all be dazzling up our doors! You can read Maria's post here.

Idea Number One: Paint your door a fabulous color!

I found more blue doors than anything while searching for pictures of painted doors. The turquoise blues are happy welcoming colors so I see why so many want their entrances giving off this type of energy.

For you city dwellers...

 

Chartruese for my modern mammas (and pappas) out there! Love this one...

Pink. This shows a good blend between a feminine color and cooler building elements.

 This shows that painting the exterior of your door a color that relates well to your interiors is a good way to set the tone for what's to come.

Happy Yellow :)

My favorite...Black! This is a good selection for this house, given the black bannister and stair treads. Absolutely adore black and golds.

Idea Number Two: Stencil or Add a Design

 My back door is a single glass pane encased by a small molding like this one. This would only take only an hour and make a big impact! Cute idea...

 Any talented painters out there? They actually do make mural stencils out there that could create this type of look. Or try toning it down to a simple vine & leaf pattern if you're not as talented with the paint brush.

I love the idea of having a mirror close by to reflect the paint color. This is a great way to add dimension to a flat paneled door.

Who doesn't love a good monogram? This reminds me of a swanky residence or posh bed & breakfast on Melrose.

Nice geometric design on a flat door. What's not to love here...gray, yellow, a tulip table, bamboo chairs and a puppy! Yes please...

 

There's a lot going on here but it makes a statement, that's for sure!

Three colors of paint from what I can tell.

You can always spruse up your doors by adding fresh & funky hardware or a stand out door knocker.

Any more ideas for doors? My head is kind of spinning from that last one...

Happy Designing,
Heather

Atlanta Interior Designer: Cutting Edge Stencil Company Review...

This week I've had a chance to work on an stencil accent wall in my loft (finally). The space has 8' ceilings and this wall is about 12' long. I talked about Cutting Edge Stencils in this post while getting inspiration for this project. This company features stencils for the modern day. Stencils are not just for the walls anymore! You can stencil a piece of furniture, fabric, ceilings, pillows, and even doors (a whole post on do-it-yourself doors coming this week)!

For my project, I chose the Entwined stencil show below.

It's contemporary but with soft lines. I thought it would add the right amount of curvature to a straight space which also features large rigid desk. I received the stencil within the week that I ordered it. It arrived rolled up in a box which I then laid out flat as the instructions said. It said that it would flatten out on it's own, which even after a few days, it did not completely straighten out. When I was ready to use it, I warmed it with a hair dryer (which directions also suggested) and that seemed to help.

 I knew this would be time consuming so I made sure I followed exact instructions so I didn't have to repeat the process. Cutting Edge Stencils has many how-to videos featured on the website with easy to follow tutorials. But even so the stencil bled through on the very first one. I continued very carefully for two days until the wall was complete, but definitely no where close to perfect.

I used white paint over a dark mushroom color and had to use two coats to get it the color I desired and to cover the dark color underneath. I also had to clean and dry the stencils twice during this time as the paint build up was interfering with the stencil's preciseness.

The package came with a top stencil, which proved to be very valuable, and I used the same large stencil for the bottom of the wall. However, there's nothing to help you with the sides of each wall and I had to cut the stencil so that it would fit correctly. Something I really didn't want to do but turned out to be the best way for me to get the exactness I was looking for.

I ended up spending another hour going through each loop with a fine paint brush touching it up. After all that, the pattern is exactly what I was looking for and I am satisfied with the project.

Overall I would recommend using their products due to their great designs, cost effectiveness (as opposed to wall papering), and very easy to change if necessary. But keep in mind this takes patience, time, and a steady hand! Nothing is as easy as it may appear in the how-to video :)

Here is a close up of the space (sorry the photo is crooked). I'm not complete with this area so I didn't want to do a reveal just yet.

What do you think? Is this something you may try in the future?

XoX,

Heather

Let's wine a bit...

Lately, I've been looking into ways to repurpose wine corks & bottles for the home. I have definitely found some cute ideas. As usual, most of my inspiration is coming from Pinterest these days. If anyone out there doesn't have Pinterest yet I suggest you get it :)

Okay, let's get inspired!

Wine bottle UPcycles...

Tiki Wine Torches :)

I have got to find the tutorial on how to make this chandelier (above). I absolutely adore it!

Wine cork UPcycles...

All these ideas & more were found on Pinterest.

I guess there's just one thing left for us to do...drink up!

Happy Designing!

Heather

ATLANTA INTERIOR DESIGNER: 5 design mistakes to avoid...

Top 5 Design Mistakes every DIYer has made...

1. Hanging photos and/or artwork too high

This is one of my biggest designer pet peeves. I realize for every design project this could be different, especially when you have a really exquisite piece of art that you want to hang at eye level. However, as a general rule when hanging a piece or art or a mirror above another piece (sofa, console table, bed, etc) I think 8" is about perfect. Having too much negative space between your floored piece & wall piece can be distracting and create some not-so-good harmony. Scale is also very important, check out this website for some great advice on hanging art.

Bad :(

Good! 

2. Purchasing without a plan

Often times consumers get excited and start purchasing because they really love this shade or purple, because 'it's on sale, or because they can easily redo this antique chair'... After getting it home you realize this purple chair goes with nothing else I had in mind or that antique chair is too small in comparison to everything else in the space. My best advice is to stop, breathe, and allow time for the design process. Having an entire plan for you room, and then purchasing over time is much better than rushing or buying individual pieces without a grand plan of what you want your space to look & feel like. This will save you big bucks...

3. Bad lighting

Lighting is one of the most important, yet most neglected principles in design. Try to incorporate a good variety of the three basic types of lighting.

-Task Lighting: Helping you perform 'tasks' such as reading, cooking, or homework. This comes in the form of desk lamps, under the cabinet lights, or floor lamps.

-Ambient Lighting: General light that illuminates the room or space as a whole. Ambient lighting usually comes in the form of wall or ceiling mounts.

-Accent Lighting: Adds drama and visual interest to a space. Think about drawing the eye to a focal point such as live plants, special piece of art, or the texture of a stone wall. This lighting should be 3 times as bright as your ambient lighting to be effective.

4. Painting first

If you are wanting to provide a quick update, painting can be an inexpensive fix to a dull room. However, when planning to re-decorate or begin a room paint is last.  There are just about as many paint colors as there are blades of grass. I promise it's much easier completing your furniture and accents and then choosing a great color to highlight these, rather than starting with butter yellow and then trying to create a room around it.

5. Getting advice from the wrong people

Such as your bestie, your neighbor, or the cable guy. I know you may trust their opinion on many things, but your home might not be one of them. I say this because they don't live like you live, feel how you feel, and just might not be qualified to give you the correct answers. Often times your friend or neighbor can give you advice as it would relate to them, not you and your family. I have seen it many times...client brings their bff shopping with them and then finds it really difficult to say no to them. Sometimes it can make you second guess your great ideas & feel insecure about your own home. I promise there are affordable ways to get professional design advice. Visit my Ava Living page if you have some questions of your own!

Happy Designing!

Heather

ATLANTA INTERIOR DESIGNER: Hand Painted Wallpaper...

I'm sure some of you have seen this but it's officially been added to my growing to-do list. Hand-painted wallpaper. My good designer friend Ashley from Vogue Abode tried this and it turned out amazing. So even though I'm feeling fairly confident I can pull this off, I have little problem with this thing called patience.

Basically, using a pattern or stencil, you create a wall (or entire room) of a design that resembles a wallpaper motif.

I originally saw this one

And these eventually led me to an incredible website, cuttingedgestencils.com, which made my head start spinning with ideas!

Check some of these out:

It list goes on for days with the most amazing stenciling I've ever seen. They have categories for Holiday, Damask, Floral, Geometric, Nursery, Tree and Branch, etc, so you are sure to find the perfect match.

It kind of makes me want to stencil the entire house :)

I will get this in our new home office/loft space, even if it takes me a month to complete. I'll make sure to take pictures of the process.

Whats your favorite stencil design?

XO-

Heather



Office Space...

It has been a crazy busy week and I've definitely been lacking on the blog-front! I have a lot of ideas and great projects that I've been working on this week, including a bachelor pad, which doesn't come around quite as often as the family or women's space.

I have a ton of home projects that I've been gathering inspiration for as well & can't wait to get started. One of the areas is an upstairs loft that I would like to turn into our home office.

Pondering how I feel about a few of these looks:

I love these because I'm definitely into the black desk idea! Fitting, considering that black is my all time favorite power color. I have to remember that my husband lives here too, so I can't go as crazy feminine as I might of let myself otherwise.

I'm going to make the most amazingly-thrifty office I can. I've have all these DIY ideas swirling around my head these last couple weeks. On this list will be refinishing an oak desk with a fancy new black coat & hardware, hand painting "wallpaper" on the main wall, finding the perfect chair to refinish/reupholster, and finally putting that mercury glass spray paint to good use on a new lamp....this is going to be fun! More of all of this coming soon!

By the way, has anyone seen the amazingly adorable hardware from Anthropology?

My favorite is the antiqued mercury glass look.

You can see the whole collection here.

Well loves, looks that's all for now. Lots & lots coming soon so stay tuned...

Happy Designing!

Heather

Photos from Decorpad