A Fun Bedroom Design For 6 Girls

ALL six of my grand children are girls, they range in age from 2 months up to 9 years old.


I had so much fun planning a room for when they come visit our lake front home.

 (Hopefully it turn out so comfortable they never want to leave:)

I started with an idea from an HGTV Show called Sarah's House . Sarah Richardson did a  bedroom in a  cottage for her own children. She used different but matching quilts.  Here is a link to Sarah's website.
 I put that idea in my " decorating binder" that I store all my favorite colors and ideas in.

I found 6 different quilts that have the same color pallet, but each one has a different designs.

I decided to go with, bright green, soft yellow and pinks, which are the dominant colors in the quilts.

We painted the room a beautiful soft yellow from Benjamin Moore- called HC5- Weston Flax 

(My idea book had a note from an old House Beautiful Magazine, stating the this yellow was perfect for a north facing room. The girls lake front bedroom window faces north)

Now that it is painted - I totally agree with House Beautiful--- it looks beautiful ---I am loving me some yellow)

My next challenge was to find a dresser that had 6 drawers., I wanted to put their names on each drawer.

 I  found this dresser  that  desperately needed some TLC at a local thrift store for 90.00. It is a mid-century style with lovely curved drawer fronts.The dresser was solid but ugly:)

I took it to a very talented lady at Re-Imagined.   Michelle is so creative and uses Annie Sloan Chalk Paints.

I gave her the color scheme and some fabrics that I was going to use for decorating the room and told her just go for it ~ I have seen a lot of her work and I completely trusted her to create a beautiful  and fun piece of furniture for the grand girls room!

Here is the dresser completed. I love it!

 Michelle at Re-Imagined Just For You,  also created a really unique wall hanging for their room.

 I had wanted to write a permanent note to the girls that was also dated Summer 2012 to remember the year we completed the room for them.

One of the times I stopped at Re-Imagined , they had stacks of cupboard and drawer fronts, over 600 of them:)
Michelle told me they where going to make some fun things with paint and hooks.   I knew immediately I had to have one. 

 It turned out so cute. The cupboard and drawer front re-imagined---- with chalk board paint & hooks. I had her finish it with permanent  white paint so our note would last forever. 

It looks  so great on the wall.

We finished the room with 3 set of cream cottage looking bunk beds.

They came from Art Van Furniture in Grand Rapids Michigan

It is from their Petite Phillipe Collection.

I also love the "port hole" looking mirror which is perfect for this lakefront bedroom

.

I hope the "Grand Girls" love the room and make many memories of being at grandma & grandpa lakefront home. 

Have you ever heard of a Sleepy Hollow Chair?

We are in the process of finishing our lower level, completing a 1200 sq feet area, a big project for 2 people who are still working full-time.

One fault that I will admit to having, is once the creative ideas start flowing for a new decorating project- I tend to branch out into the existing areas. So, not only am I managing the lower level  project I started changing the main level too!

 I just mentioned to my husband  in passing I would SOME DAY like to change the paint colors up stairs (I probably should have waited until the lower level was done)  You ladies know what I mean, just rearranging the furniture and maybe adding a few new things.......
 
My poor husband is trying hard to keep up with me.

After picking out a new color pallet- I always start with color.  I saw an accent chair on Craig's List, that I just had to have, it matched perfectly!

They called it a "Sleepy Hollow Chair".  Here is what I found out about the history of  Sleepy Hollow Furniture.

Grand Rapids, Michigan is known as the furniture city and many of the best upholsterers can still be found there. These craftsmen continue to create or recreate many antique and modern pieces of furniture.
One of the more exceptional pieces of leather furniture is the beautiful antique sleepy hollow chair. A chair made famous by the West Michigan based upholsterer Francisco Melendez. He revolutionized the antique upholstery business in the state of Michigan where many leather sleepy hollow chairs grace Grand Rapids homes. This style of chair was introduced by Francisco Melendez to Puerto Rico in the late 1990s; and can be seen in a number of upscale homes. The chair, a beautiful work of art, is tufted with buttons and is usually accompanied by an antique leather ottoman. Still, more than 40 years after his introduction to upholstery, Francisco Melendez continues to create art in the form of upholstered antique and modern furniture.

 

I bought the chair and matching foot stool on Craig's List, in pristine condition for $75.00.  I know mine is a genuine sleepy hollow by the markings.  I also was able to call the furniture store on the label of the chair they verified the authenticity of the chair. The color of the leather is a beautiful soft gold. More like a taupe- the photo looks too yellow.

 I am totally in love with my new/old chair.

 The chair is more like a buckskin color- above photo is too yellow- below  photo is too cream:  I LOVE the color of it:) 

 It is in perfect show room condition and a very comfortable chair. I think it is an amazing find.

I am going to redecorate my entire living  room around it.

Tansy Green Leather End Table

In 2007 we bought a beautiful condo on a lake. The sun-room is a favorite spot to relax. I painted the lake facing wall -- Sherwin Williams "tansy green" SW6424. It is a bright beautiful grass green and makes a perfect frame for viewing the lake.

It really has become one of my favorite colors.

I have been very, very busy the last 2 months, we are working on completing our 1200 square foot lower level.

I am  so excited. my goal is to use all re-purposed furniture except two pieces of furniture that I have bought new...a love seat  for the family room and the 3 sets of bunkbeds for the Grand-girls room.

(That will be another blog soon!)


I have been on a mission to find the perfect pieces to put together.

The first item I found was two very pretty rocking swivel chairs on Craig's List. I wanted swivel chairs so they could turn to watch TV, or visit with another guest or turn completely around to view the lake. (That idea came to me about 2:00 AM one night when I was thinking about the layout of the room!)

In my Martha Stewart Living Magazine  I found a leather topped table idea. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it. and I have kept it in my "Idea Binder" .

My first challenge was to find the perfect table.  I found this one on Craig's List for $20.00.

The size (12x20) was perfect, but I did not like the country dip on the side:)

I brought the table to a new friend of mine that does AMAZING ...really AMAZING things to create beautiful pieces of re-purposed furniture. ( I have Michelle working on a few other piece for my lower level project I can't wait to share them with you). I found her on Craig's list, when she posted a re-imagined  beautiful Hooker Cabinet.

You can find her at Re-Imagined Just For You

She painted the table a shade of grey with  Annie Sloan Paint that is a perfect compliment to the leather and the accent chairs.  I also had them cut the "old" country curves off each side of the table to give it a modern look

My next big challenge was to find the perfect (green) leather. I went to the most incredible leather store in Grand Rapids called Tandy Leather  I  found the perfect tansy leather green cow to put on the top of my table. The only problem was I had to buy the WHOLE  Italian green leather cow!! All 30 square feet!

My husband was not too happy with my New Large Green Cow- but I was elated that I found the perfect piece of leather.

Here is my finished project!

Love it!!! Love it!! Love it!!!


I can't wait to share the rests of my projects with you.


Finishing, 1200 square feet with all re-purposed furniture is a lot of fun!

Lunch with Candice Olson-HGTV

Candice Olsen came to the Grand Rapids, Home and Garden Show as guest of Standale Interiors.  I bought a ticket to hear her speak, but I was also selected to have lunch with her after the presentation.

It was so much fun!

I am a big fan (but who isn't) of Candice Olsen and I love to watch her show Divine Desgin  and Design Star on HGTV

 Design Star is a competition for HGTV wantabees  to get their own show. My favorite part is the "white box challenge". Each of them gets their own white box space, with a few basic white pieces of furniture and $500.00 to spend at a local store. I love it because it is so fair, they all have exactly the same tools to work with and to see what they come up with (or don't) is just amazing!

 (Candice told me she is not participating as a judge this year, and they are taping right now for this summer show.)
 I can hardly wait!

The event started with a very informative 1 hour presentation, packed full of her best ideas. She was very easy to listen too and sometime really funny.

PS: I am wearing my Azuli Skye  necklace I bought from Holly Phillips- love it!

Like, Candice I am from Canada, it was great to hear a few eh's. (For those of you who do not know, Canadian's love to end their sentence with.... eh? No too sure why but they all do it!)

A nice lunch was  provided by Standale Interiors    Standale Interiors  carry her line of furniture,  Candice Olson Furniture Design by Norwalk Furniture).

 At lunch, Candice was so sweet, very warm and friendly. She went from table to table "speed dating" style and took time to have her picture taken and talk to everyone.

This event inspired me to give you a couple of my design tips:)

I call this my idea/love it book! For years  I have kept pictures of room, spaces and colors I that I love. Sometimes, I know exactly why I like the space, sometimes it is harder for me to define but I keep the picture anyway.  It REALLY helps you to identify what you like.

It can be an interesting  exercise to take some time and go through the book....you will discover your design style.

My second tips is paint chips. There is SO much you can do with them. ( I have to give credit, my mum is the queen of using paint chips for home decorating)

I carry my little notebook with all my household colors in it. That way when you come across a fun item or are doing some serious shopping you will know if it is the right color to match your space.

(We have all bought what we thought was the PERFECT  color match, only to get home and it is so WRONG!)

 It was a great day.  I think everyone, (including me) was ready to go home and design something!