Design

Finally inspired

Posted by Lindsay C on May 17, 2012 in Architecture, Design, Exterior, Featured Articles, inspiration, Me, Real Rooms | 0 comments

Well hello out there!

I know, it’s been a while.  And I know I was talking about jewelry a lot (haha), but I’m back to drafting and design projects and am feeling inspired (to blog, too!).  I’m finally getting back into the swing of things after having my son…and yes, I know he just turned 6 months old.  I have been enjoying my time with him (and my daughter!).

Here are a few peeks of what I’ve been working on lately.  Names have been blacked out to protect the innocent, haha.

The last project has been my favorite.  Garages are nice and quick and easy (and my clients have been GREAT!), but doing actual INTERIOR design has been a nice change.  I hope they love their new, functional kitchen as much as I have enjoyed living in it in my head the past few weeks!

The first one was a HUGE remodel that has taken months and months and months (I started it well before my son was born), then I’ve had a couple garages, and next I hope to start working on that floor plan with the octagonal room.  It should be an interesting one!

Okay…back to work!

light reading…

Posted by Lindsay C on Aug 20, 2010 in Design, Featured Articles | 0 comments

I could spend a fortune on design books.  And design magazines.  But I don’t – I only buy ones that I *really* think I need.  And this is one of them.

It’s available on October 12th here.

Harper’s {New} Room

Posted by Lindsay on Jun 6, 2010 in Art, Bedroom, Decor, Design, DIY, Featured Articles, Kids Rooms, Me, Real Rooms | 2 comments

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!

Kitchen Dreaming

Posted by Lindsay C on Apr 4, 2010 in Design, Featured Articles, inspiration, Kitchen, Laundry Room | 2 comments

I really, really, really want to change my kitchen.  It’s very small right now, but we have the space to expand it and fit our needs a lot better.  And we could really use the storage…and the dishwasher.    So I’ve been playing with CAD today to make sure Glenn and I are on the same page – because by just talking about it I find that we often have COMPLETELY different ideas.  And I’m very visual so this helps…

Here is my idea – new L-shaped countertop with a breakfast bar with cabinets above and below in the existing dining room (where the striped wall is if you’re familiar with my house).  This is at the top of the drawing.

Then we’ll bump back the laundry room wall (4 feet back) into the garage and add a wall of pantry/floor-to-ceiling storage, and we’ll move the fridge there.  This is at the bottom-right of the drawing.  See – not a crazy change, just expanding above and below.  Plus we’ll add some new flooring to the entire kitchen space to unify it.  I can’t wait!  Oh, and I want a new door to go out to the ‘South Alley’ – one that is almost completely glass because this is the only Southern facing wall in our house and that is where the most light comes in.  Bring on the sunshine!!

Barn Door Love

Posted by Lindsay on Mar 12, 2010 in Decor, Design, Featured Articles, inspiration, Likely Favorites | 2 comments

Someday my home (not my current home – my future dream home!) will have doors on barn-type slider tracks.  Like this…sigh…

Besides being visually attractive, they are very functional as to eliminate the space you need for a door swing.  Either way, I love it.

Via Design Sponge.

This house (below) is where my barn-door obsession began about 5 years ago – I saw it in the March 2005 issue of Western Interiors and I still have the issue.  I even used this house in a few projects in design school (with permission from the architect! .  Please follow the link to see it in full below – you won’t be sorry!

Via studio.bna (Audrey Hall photo)

Via Apartment Therapy.

Apparently they’re easy to install, you just need a kit.  Visit Remodelista for more info on where to find the fittings and supplies!

Have a great weekend, everyone! I’m excited to do my daycare playroom install tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll have those pictures up for you soon!!

xo, Lindsay

Hello.

Posted by Lindsay on Mar 8, 2010 in Design, DIY, Featured Articles, Laundry Room, Wallpaper | 2 comments

I have a problem.  I start a blog post, but don’t finish it.  I find 1 good inspiration image, then I get stuck.  My draft list is getting longer and longer on here.  I try to squeeze a post into the free moments that I have, but it’s not enough time.  I have a ton of photos on my camera that never make it to my computer.  And then I have 5 client projects I’m working on.  And calories that need to be burned.  Where was I going with this? 

So I’m going to stick in one or two (okay, 3!) images of a cool product that I’m actually considering for my own house…because I am so excited that the wall between my garage and my laundry room will soon be a distant memory, and it will be replaced with another set a few feet back.  And it will be the new home of my refrigerator and my new pantry.  Because putting food on the open shelf above my washing machine isn’t cutting it anymore!

Beadboard wallpaper. Oh yes…because who can stand to paint brand new wood?  Because I want it painted.  And who can afford to run it floor to ceiling, like my inspiration image.  I saw this image (below) and have saved it for my laundry room.  And I’m a bad blogger and don’t remember where I got it.  Sorry!  I think it’s Martha Stewart, but I’m not sure.  Please let me know if you know!

Cool glass containers should go above my washer and dryer.  Not food.    And I found the cool wallpaper while browsing the latest Land of Nod catalog.  They’re now offering wallpaper (I love the paintable textured options) and eco-friendly Mythic paint from their catalogs.  I’m sure I’ve seen it before, but I forget about things with so many options!

$30 for an 11 yard roll (20.5″ wide). And my mother-in-law can hang wallpaper.  And I am getting a tax refund.  And I’d like to spend it on my kitchen…what are you spending yours on?  Home related or other?  I am excited that our big kitchen plans might be coming to life sooner than expected!

Have a great week!!

-Lindsay