Sooo…we have been doing a lot of switching things up here at Casa Christensen. Which meant I got to choose new paint and re-decorate things! And believe me, I’ve done a lot of re-painting, re-arranging and more re-painting and re-arranging. But I think I finally have things how I want them (for now), so I took the chance to clean up the room and take some photos! And the clean room didn’t last very long…you can put the photos in chronological order based on how many plastic balls are in the photos. How can you expect a toddler to resist a clean room with a basket full of plastic balls?

So to refresh your memory, this is Harper’s old/first room. I’m assuming she’ll have many different rooms throughout her first 18 years with an interior designer for a momma.

I’m sure many people thought it was just fine as it was (if you recall, it did win a contest over at Serena and Lily on Facebook! Their very first Show and Tell contest for September 2009!), but we decided to make this our room as it has a little bathroom.  So Harper’s room was moved to the bigger (longer and skinnier) room and we got the slightly smaller (more square with a smaller closet) and I couldn’t be happier with it all!  We love having our own bathroom, and we’ve solved the clothing storage problem so things are great!

And then her new room…

This is how the room used to look when we first moved in and it was ours.  I liked the orange as a color, but not in my room.  It just never worked.  But I finally feel like things are coming along!  Notice that some of Harper’s painted furniture is in here (side table – now green and the dresser – now with white drawer fronts and new hardware).

So on to the photos of Harper’s new room!  If you look close you’ll see some things are the same, and some things are different.  For instance, the window shades stayed in their original rooms (i.e. we kept the striped ones and Harper got our old brown ones) and I’m so glad it worked out color-wise.  We repainted both rooms, and all of the furniture that I previously painted white for her old room, I re-painted GREEN!  As for her new room color – this is how I chose it.  We already have gray, brown, green and white throughout our house so I started thinking about a new color for her room.  Hmm…what color have I not used?  Orange? Nope, done it already and want it gone!  Pink?  Nah…pink just wouldn’t go in our house.  Purple? Not feeling purple either.  Blue? YES – blue!  So I grabbed all of my blue paint swatches and went through the stack to find one I liked.  If you know me, you know I am obsessed with gray right now so it’s only fitting that the blue I chose is somewhat related to gray.  I love the color – Comfort Gray 6205 by Sherwin Williams. It’s also in a flat finish, and I love how it looks.  Plus it will work if she has a little brother sometime in the future…I promise I’ll take the pom poms down by then!

(10 points to you if you know where this color is from blogland.  Yes, I order paint samples that I see from everywhere!)

I still have some touch-up painting to do (there is a lot of orange peeking out where the walls meet the ceiling) but I couldn’t wait and had to get some photos up.

I also want to re-stain the cedar chests to a darker reddish brown, to look more like the unpainted areas of the dresser.

If you’ll notice, I’m trying to add more black to the room (you know I like a little edginess – there was no black in Harper’s old room except for those lamps which is crazy for our house.  We love black accents.) and black and white accents.

I’m not really an advocate for TVs in a toddler’s room, but our new room has no cable outlet and we just haven’t switched it yet.  So it’s staying for now.

I stole art and shelves and lamps and fabric from all over the house to bring into her room.  Lucky girl.

My aunt painted that picture from a photo of Harper.  I love that she turned her into a little pixie.  And I’m glad I finally got to hang it (it was in the powder bath before but now it goes with her new room!).  Thanks, Aunt Vicky!

I love the new gold accents, in the frame (of a pencil drawing I did in high school – it used to be hanging in the living room) and in the lamp on the black bookcase.

I love the green I picked for the painted furniture.  It’s actually the color in my office – Old Salem Gray, Benjamin Moore HC-94 – so I just used leftover paint.  I knew Harper’s room needed another color and I just happened to have a sample of that green handy, so I put it up against the blue/gray and instantly knew it would look great on the furniture!  Love it.

What do you think of Harper’s new room?  Hopefully I can show ours soon…but I’m still working on art on the walls and it should be done!

So for the breakdown:

• Crib is from IKEA – it has the rail taken off so she sleeps in it as her toddler bed!
• Recliner is La-Z-Boy
• Window blinds are from Home Depot
• White curtains are a diamond matelasse, hand-me-down from a friend of mine
• Cedar chests were made in high school shop class (Glenn made one, the other was a gift for me)
• Black bookcase is from Tarjay (Target)
• Changing table is hand-me-down from a friend
• Black hanging shelf is hand-me-down from sister-in-law
• White and wood dresser is from thrift store
• Poms poms are Martha Stewart from Harper’s 1st Birthday Party
• Black lamps are from Fred Meyer
• Gold lamp is hand-me-down from ?? Glenn’s family I’m sure!
• H-A-R-P-E-R letters are from Land of Nod.
• Striped rug is from Tarjay.
• Harper’s bedding is Olivia by Dwell for Target
• Zig zag striped fabric is Summer Soiree by Paula Prass (Chevron in black)
• Black frames with black and white pictures are Ribba from IKEA

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

]]> http://lindsaychristensendesign.com/blog/2010/06/06/harpers-new-room/feed/ 2 http://lindsaychristensendesign.com/blog/2010/05/17/another-switcheroo/ http://lindsaychristensendesign.com/blog/2010/05/17/another-switcheroo/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 17:04:53 +0000 Lindsay http://lindsaychristensendesign.com/blog/?p=1288

Phew – I have been busy! But I’m home with a sick little one today, so I have a chance to update you all a little and hopefully I won’t be so MIA for a while. Well, I take that back – when I’m not here, I’m working like crazy so that’s a good thing!

I’ve come to realize that we’re rather spontaneous when it comes to our house sometimes. We talk about our house a lot (more than most, I think!) and what we need or want, but a lot of it is just dreaming. But when something can become a reality, we kind of just jump on it and make it happen!

For instance, we’ve been talking about getting a new bed for a while now, but weren’t sure when it would actually happen. So I decided to post a picture of our old bed on Facebook saying it was for sale to see if anyone was interested – and 20 minutes later it was practically sold! Then we did some final research (we’d already done a lot) and bought a new mattress and bed online – woo hoo!

So next we decided to switch rooms with Harper. Why? Well hers has a half bathroom and Glenn wanted it. But it has a smaller closet and it’s a little smaller so I was a little torn. At first. Her room is more of a square and ours is longer and skinnier (a rectangle). Which after I thought about it, makes more sense for our King size bed. Anyway, we’ve switched rooms, put the bed together, painted and the new armoire for Glenn is on the way (solving the closet problem!).

Luckily both the mattress and bed had free shipping and arrived very, very quickly (thank you, Amazon Prime!!) so we had a new set-up by the weekend! So here’s a sneak peek of our new room – more to come soon!

I love that what took us almost 2 hours to put together, is time lapsed into less than 2 minutes. I also love that Glenn tested the bed out and you see a flash of me about to jump on it, ha! Enjoy!

Putting the bed together from Facebook User on Vimeo.

Stumped on what to get your mom or the mother of your child(ren) for Mother’s Day?  Gift certificates for interior design services are available!

Contact me at lindsay @ lindsaychristensendesign . com to get started!  Have a great weekend!

Aren’t these just absolutely adorable?!? I love the color, the font, the patterns…and the margarita looks pretty tasty, too.  And you can make your own Cinco de Mayo Party Circles from a FREE download from Kim at The TomKat Studio!  Enjoy!

She also has some cute links and Cinco de Mayo party inspiration at the blog post – check it out!

Cinco de Mayo Party Circles – Tomkat Studio

{image via The TomKat Studio}

Wow…April has been a busy, busy month around here.  I’ve found I’m a much better Facebook-blogger than blogger-blogger…so if you’d like to know what I’ve been up to, head over there and “Like” Likely Design!

So let’s recap April, shall we? April 1st was my first day of complete self-employment.  Very, very exciting!  If you didn’t know, I had a part-time job working with kids in the local elementary school in the After School Program.  The rest of the time I worked from home and hung out with Harper.  April has been going very, very well and I do not regret my decision one bit – I just wish it wouldn’t have taken me so long to make the jump!

I celebrated that move with a 30-minute (plus or minus, ha!) creative coaching call with my internet friend Michelle at When I Grow Up. She rocks and I would love (LOVE) to meet her in person one day.  Too bad she’s way out in NYC and I’m way over here in Northern California.  Go schedule your first (first one is free!) call now!

Also on the agenda during April – manual labor.  When I wasn’t drawing houses I was outside building fence, or inside watching the girl, watching Glenn and my nephew build a fence.  A big thank-you to the tax man for a refund that allowed us to go buy some lumber!  And cement.  We tore down our old fence (along with the back porch), and put up a new one over the very next couple days.  I sent a few phone pictures to the Facebook page, but I can’t wait to show it off in all of its before-and-after glory.  Plus it’s lighted a fire to also build a dog-kennel, fix the grass (where the dogs have destroyed it!) and PAINT!  And hopefully build a deck and new porch sooner than later.

Another Facebook page teaser is how much work and time was taken up to get ready for the Modoc County Home and Outdoor Show…which I had a booth at last Saturday.  People seemed to be excited and interested in what I do, so I think it was definitely worth it.  And it was fun to participate.  Thank you to the Alturas Chamber of Commerce for holding it (which I am now a member of, woo-hoo!).

And last Sunday (yesterday) I was running around after Harper trying to get her to smile for a few pictures.  Action shots are definitely easier to take of toddlers, as mine is more interested in what’s going on around us than letting us hold her and smiling.  But we got a few good ones that way!  Thank you to Elaine at Elaine West Photography. I am so glad I finally got some professional ones taken.  Go check out the entire album here!

So that concludes the busiest April ever for me! And I always love to see April go, as I am a May 1st baby.  Hello 29! Wow…29…

A very kind reader just left me a comment saying that he could give me some insight into my crack problem.  I mean, my wood stove crack problem! Ha ha.    Here are some detail shots I took to e-mail to him so I thought I’d share.

Can you see it?  It’s that little white curve coming off the right side of the door, curving upwards.  Here’s a closer shot.

Now do you see it?  I would have missed it too, except one night as we were going to bed, Glenn shut off the lights and we could see fire glowing through it! I’ve been told that it can be welded, that a stove cement might work, etc.  So we’ll see what the expert says soon – thanks, Mark!

P.S. – do you all like my pink gloves??  I do!

Another reason that I fell off my chair today? I saw this at Crate and Barrel; the Ankara Chair.  Oh yes.

I think I need to check C & B more often because this is hot.  And way out of my price range at $699, but a girl can dream, right? Or look for imitations…

Did you hear that thud?  It’s the sound of me falling off my chair this morning when I found out that Kim (yes, THE Kim from the TomKat Studio), my party planning HERO!, has featured a few of my photos in her newest Project Nursery blog post. She even sent me a heads-up message on Facebook this morning, which made my day even better.  And then I saw the article – so cute.  It’s all about decorating with tissue paper Pom-Poms, so she featured photos from Harper’s birthday party AND her bedroom.  Yay!  Thanks, Kim!

Click here to go check out the full post!

Playroom product sneak peek!!!  The daycare playroom is almost done!!  Glenn and I went to the house last weekend and opened boxes, cut off tags, hung art, shelves, wall decals and installed one of THESE!!  And it is my favorite part of the room so far…what kid would not want to hang out in this all day????  I know I would have!

It’s the Home Sweet Play Home in Blue at Land of Nod.  And it is awesome.  We were originally going to go with this (below) for cost reasons, but then we couldn’t get this out of our heads and had to have it!

Yawn.  Too see-through to be cool.    It’s the Fabler from IKEA, by the way…

Yes, it’s a whole lot cheaper ($19.99 compared to $99) but the Land of Nod one is totally worth the splurge!  It also comes in green, lavender and pink.  I’ve decided that Harper needs one – someday – when she will appreciate it!

And I thought I’d share a few inspiration photos that I gathered for my client for the playroom – enjoy!  And hopefully I’ll have some pictures to share with you soon!

If you’d like your own custom interior design package for your home, feel free to contact me at lindsay[@]lindsaychristensendesign.com to get started!

I offer full-scope interior design services to help you every step of the way, from finish, furniture and accessory selection to architectural drafting of complete building plans, or I offer ‘e-decorating’ packages to give you some inspiration to DIY the design on your own.

Want more info? Visit my design website at lindsaychristensendesign.com.  Thanks for reading!

xo, Lindsay

I’ve recently become a customer of the new branch of Lands’ End called Lands’ End Canvas – and I am obsessed!  I normally don’t spend more than $20 on a single piece of clothing for myself, but as I get older (and am forced to exclusively shop online from Likely) I realize that quality is more important than quantity.  And when you get an e-mail every other day with a discount and free shipping code, how can I resist?  I hate paying for shipping – and free shipping is where they hook me!

These are what I purchased (above) and I LOVE them!  They get softer and stretchier after you wash them more.  And the dark color gets on your hands and bleeds in the wash so be careful what they touch until they’ve been washed a few times!

I am considered petite, but only because I am short (5’3″, and I wear a 6, hovering waaayy too close to an 8 – I bought a size 29).  I am nowhere near as skinny as I’d like to be or should be for that matter, (thank you, Harper!) so I was scared of skinny jeans – but I wanted a pair of jeans that looked more professional than my worn-out-at-the-hem bootcuts.  I didn’t know where to shop until I saw this post:

Skinny jeans on a curvy girl: at petit elefant.

Check it out and don’t be scared of skinny jeans anymore!  She raves about her Lands’ End skinny jeans, and she’s a size 12.  And the author, Allison, was even kind enough to answer a few of my questions about them and help squash my skinny-jean-phobia on Twitter!  Thanks again, Allison!

Hers are the main brand’s version, but I just couldn’t help myself with the Canvas version, plus they’re $10 bucks cheaper.  And I got them with a 20% off coupon with free shipping.  They offer things like that A LOT! Plus the codes that they show for the main version work for the Canvas clothing and vice versa…so go sign up for both e-mail lists!  And be their fans on Facebook!  And if you’re like me, follow them on Twitter. 

Oh – and I also received a coupon for free shipping because of placing my order as well as a handwritten note thanking me for purchasing from them – sweet, right?  A pair of their straight leg jeans are also on their way to me as we speak – I hope I love them just as much as my skinny jeans!

Anyway, I just had to share my newest find with you all – Enjoy!