I'm featured in Birmingham Home and Garden's Top 15 photos of 2014

I am super excited that one of my projects made the Top 15 photo's of 2014 from Birmingham Home and Garden!  (find the article here) Thank you BH&G for making this such a great year, from cover girl in January to Top 15 of 2014!



Featured in "Custom Color," photo by Jean Allsopp

Need some custom color in your home? Give me a call and we will make it happen! Just click on the envelope under the Let's get social tab at the top of the page.

High middle and low great dining tables

Continuing my high/ low series, I am focusing on great looking smaller dining tables in modern styles.

Fantastic tables! The top table is perfect for those that do not use table clothes and love a rustic and vaguely French style. You could add any style of chair with this table.
The second table is handsome in dark grey brown and a metal inlay. Pretty curved lines on this 86.5 inch long table. It would look so fresh with crisp white dinnerware!

Lower price range of tables- still with great style. The half circle table base dining table is so clean and contemporary! The Pottery Barn table is chunky, strong, and great for modern to craftsman style homes. The West Elm table is so clean and would look great with everything from Parson's chairs to high French Rococo chairs... possible even better with French Rococo for an eclectic mix.

However you go with a modern table, by looking at tables in a high/ low method, you will be better able to monitor your budget and keeping your style!

Vintage White porcelain is perfect for your white room

I love a good collection... one that is personal and timeless in design... one that can move around in your space, be separated and then placed together. Contemporary style, or lines, to a piece can meet those criteria and heighten an otherwise dowdy piece of Grannie's pottery to collection worthy and can earn a spot as the dining room table centerpiece.

The collection of vintage German white porcelains are all that and more. They are clean and patterned, stylistic and accessible. Please click on the link below to find the pieces online.


Vintage Nanny Still Mid Century Matte White Porcelain Vase Heinrich Germany


Vintage Op White Matte Vases / 1970s Royal KPM / Porcelain German Op Art Vase Set of 2 Vases


Vintage White and Glossy Matte Porcelain Vase German Vase by Mitterteich


Large Mid Century Tirschenreuth - Hutschenreuther bisque / bisquit porcelain vase west germany 1960s


Vintage Bisque Vase- Heinrich


Mod Bavarian porcelain vase by Scherzer of Germany


Mid Century German great Op Art Vase


Op Art Vase Shells Fossil Square Alka Kaiser Frey


White bisque porcelain vase by Royal Porzellan KPM Bavaria

Work in progress - the downtown condo

One of my current projects is a downtown condo. We are turning it into a jewel box of a contemporary boho space. The new sofa came today and looks great with the turquoise FLOR flooring, lighting, contemporary coffee table and the clients artwork.

The white sofa was necessary to support the heavily patterned carpet, bold artwork and the soon to be re-upholstered stools. The stools will each be a different fabric in pink, orange or pink and orange. A wonderfully bold color palette on a backdrop of contemporary white!

Additionally we are creating an ethnic patterned chalkboard wall in fuchsia and orange!!!! I am so excited about the wall. And, rare would you find the designer who spackles your wall while waiting for the sofa to arrive. I am a full service designer after all!

I felt very Kitty Barthomolew, whom I have always admired, while I was spackling and maintaining my manicure at the same time! She was one of the last Home Design-type show hosts who really knew what they were doing. Hopefully they will continue the path a technically savvy designer on TV.

Below are shots of my top fabric pics in situ and the fabrics choosen for the project. As always, if you are interested in design services or any of these fabrics, please let me know!

Fabrics selected for the project.

 Fabrics in situ as stools stored under the coffee table.

great nightstands - shopping

I've been doing some client shopping for great modern nightstands. I thought I would share my contemporary finds! The keys I was looking for was clean lines and metallic or metal look finishes. I also wanted something with and uncommon appeal.

~pin this~

Blackhawk nightstand from Restoration Hardware.

~Pin this~

Wood tile nightstand from West Elm.



                                                      ~pin this~
Metal Rolling Cart Bedside Table from Pottery Barn.



                              ~pin this~
Zinc Closed Nightstand from Restoration Hardware.



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Park Mirrored Beside Table from Pottery Barn.

Easy floral arrangements

Here are some photos of my recent easy floral arrangements from yesterday's photo shoot.

This photo of white roses was a easy grouping of palest peach to cream. Pretty roses made prettier with a few photo stylist tricks.

1. Start my trimming the end of the roses about a 1/2" and place in warm water. This will begin to open the roses.
2. Grab the hair dryer and turn it on, to the coolest of slightly warm setting, to blow the rose petals open. The warmth will aid the wind in opening the petals.
3. Re-cut the stems so that the base of the flower is and 2-3 inches above the vase. The larger the vase the longer the stem- this vase was about 5-6 inches tall.
4. add greenery from the yard- whatever is the greenest without and brown marks or holes.

easy rose arrangement

Contemporary arrangement-
I like a bold color combo in my contemporary arrangements. I also see inspiration from the Japanese Ikebana tradition of simplicity and scale. In this arrangement below, I used purple, fuchsia and lime green. Here's the steps-

1. Choose your color inspiration and consider the two colors close together on the color wheel and one that is opposite.
2. In your "clean lines" vase, group the colors together and look at scale.
3. place your largest color flower, or group of flowers in the vase, then the second color and lastly the third.
4. to keep the lines clean and visually uncluttered, I wrapped the stems of the gompherna in a host leaf, since they looked messy. Messy tends to not work in a contemporary arrangement.
For this arrangement the purple hydrangea is the dominate, followed by the hosta leaves then the gompherna. I also looked at the pattern story that this tells- mass of lightly patterned purple, smooth lines of the green and dots of the fuchsia.

The third arrangement was just greenery from the yard- cheap and easy! It included, boxwood, ivy, juniper, and ligusterum. Because easy plant has a markedly different texture, I  grouped them for their textures- like a landscape of trees. Boxwood in the center, ligusterum and ivy for height and juniper is the filler.