How this Designer draws inspiration for her clients projects…

SPRING 2024 Newsletter

With the arrival of spring, longer days and warmer weather inspire us to view our home projects with renewed enthusiasm. Inspiration abounds with brighter color palettes and organic materials trending. When beginning a new project, while we endeavor to define the project’s scope, as your designer I dive deeper into understanding what we can do to make the completed project more personal. This deep dive often provides a discernible start for creating a design plan that is both meaningful and relevant to you, the client.

Our SPRING 2024 newsletter details this and how I have drawn inspiration for interior projects from clients’ existing artwork. Clients’ treasured heirlooms set the stage for beautifully envisioned and sentimental spaces that reflect their style….only better! Let’s look closely at two projects where clients' heirlooms inspired the design plan.

For our first example these empty nesters desired an update to their tired family room. The client had acquired treasured artwork over the years which they requested implemented in the design plan.

This BEFORE photo provides a great baseline for the transformation about to take place.

The room has a slanted ceiling reaching 20’ at the highest point and shares walls with an adjoining stairwell/hallway and kitchen. A warm neutral paint color, Sherwin Williams Anew Gray, was selected to provide a cozy atmosphere and enable the client to continue with the color in adjoining spaces in future projects. An oversized portrait (40”wx49”h) of the client’s mother found a home on the expansive back wall and helps to center the gathering space.

We continued with our neutral palette for the larger furniture items as well as the fireplace facade. The clients artwork inspired the pops of color for smaller furniture and accessories. This landscape painting was a wedding present to the client’s grandmother from her uncle, Karl Buehr, a well-known artist in the Chicago area.

We were able to maintain the original framing for all three works of art with an eclectic design plan perfect for this casual setting. The final work of art is displayed in a corner niche, painted by the client’s grandmother.

The new Eldorado stacked stone fireplace facade provides a breathtaking focal point. The client’s artwork is on display throughout the space providing splashes of color and meaningful reflection throughout the room.

The builder-grade half wall is now replaced with a functional bookcase and seconds as additional serving space near the kitchen table. The 69x6x6 wood mantle and 76x14x1.5 bookcase top were custom built by Rustic Red Door with a quartersawn oak with SEELY stained urethane finish.

For our next example, the client has original pastel art created by their mother and other prints and watercolors with sentimental value. We took the time to source the framing and matte for each piece to coordinate these intimate spaces beautifully.

The client inherited antique furniture as well as maintains an extensive book collection. Thus, the library theme was born. We re-upholstered the clients’ wing-back chairs in rich-toned fabrics. A custom wall and corner bar unit were designed for the space (Rustic Red Door). Wall color- PPG’s Ostrich Feather.

A pastel of a fox, created by the client’s mother, is newly matted and framed. The tones from the pastel coordinate beautifully with the corner unit bar/bookcase.

This fly fishing watercolor was purchased by the client on a trip to France in High School. Its tones complement the new color palette. Now, aptly placed over a Arhaus’ Rylan leather sofa, it is surrounded by the client’s treasured antique furniture.

The Dining Room continued the theme with rich hues adding antique copper accents throughout. A beautiful print of the church and lake in the town of Yardley was a gift from friends when the clients moved in.

Antique copper tin tiles (American Tin Ceilings) on the ceiling provide dramatic contrast with walls painted PPG’s Twilight Stroll. The custom window treatments pull the color palette together. Dining table and chairs by Arhaus.

This watercolor, painted by the client’s mother, features her as a child with her two dogs swimming in Gunpowder River, Maryland. Newly matted with a vivid yellow contrasts beautifully in the room.

NEXT UP - I am LOVING this new project. My client approached me to design her living room. She has inherited beautiful works of art (look at all of them!) her mother collected over the years. The design plan will showcase them in a newly designed living room.

You can see this project unfold over the next several months by following me on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK!

“So many of us experience that burning eagerness to just get the decorating process over with as soon as we move in. But there’s a growing push to do just the opposite: SLOW decorating gives you the opportunity to plan your splurges, figure out your style, and take any self-inflicted deadlines (and rash paint decisions) out of the equation”. HouseBeautiful

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