First Home In New Orleans

A young woman engaged me to help her furnish her new condo in New Orleans. She recently arrived from New York when she got a job as a resident doctor in a hospital here.

The condo is a two bedroom, carved out of one side of an old  shotgun style house. It has been renovated with nice contractor grade finishes (granite in the kitchen, etc.).

The young lady had no furniture to speak of, so we were starting from scratch. She loves color, her books, and a collection of prints. She wanted a tufted modern gray sofa. So we took it from there. She reads the design blogs, and Houzz, so she has a good eye and vocabulary for decor. We speak the same language.

First home in New Orleans

The starting point was the gray sofa

We got a pair of these chests for the living room- Later on when she moves to a larger home they can be re-purposed as nightstands, sideboards, useful in any and every room

I arranged the furniture away form the front door to create an entry way - I hate when the door opens right onto a couch in a shotgun house - One of the pair of chests is placed by the front door

A breakfast nook in the kitchen was created by using two upholstered benches and a round table - These benches can be used elsewhere since they are not built in

Vamp Greige walls, gray and white furnishings, with an accent of green and black - The white chairs are part of my flex plan for the future - They could be used as host chairs in a  dining room in a larger home one day

My young lady is on a budget, so we did a bit of catalog and smart local shopping.

• Sofa - Z Gallerie
• 4 Bookshelves - Home Decorators
• 2 green studded chests - Home Decorators
• Sea grass rug - on sale at Modern Flooring (a local shop)
• White leather chairs - Renaissance (a local consignment shop)
• You can also find the white quilted leather chair at Overstock
• Pair of vintage green tables - Caravan Finds (local home furnishings shop specializing in on trend vintage)
• Green chair is one of 4 - Hotel Liquidators (a local warehouse that sells second hand hotel furnishings at rock bottom prices - These chairs were $7. each, and we spray painted them).
• Pair of floor lamps - Hotel Liquidators
• Pair of over size lamp shades - World Market (our local one)
• Drapes - custom made from Etsy
• Pillows - Etsy
• Bamboo shades (for the whole house) - Overstock
• Picture frames - on sale at our local Michael's
• Benches for kitchen dining area - Overstock
• Industrial metal kitchen table - Discoveries (a local shop)
• Paint - Wal Mart,  job done by a lovely local
• Prints for her gallery wall - various internet sites
• Daybed for guest room - West Elm
• Headboard, nightstands, lamps for master bedroom - Hotel Liquidators

This is just Phase 1. We have spent the first part of her allotted budget. She also got a padded headboard with nail heads, two nightstands and two lamps for her bedroom, and a daybed from West Elm for her second bedroom used for guests.

Once her home decor fund is replenished, we plan to get a vintage vanity for her bedroom, a rug, and drapes (she has bamboo blinds in the bedrooms now). The second bedroom needs side tables, a rug, curtains, and a desk and desk chair. Down the road, we would like to do a tile back splash for her kitchen.

Buying a first home is a milestone. What did the first home you bought look like? How did you furnish and decorate it?

Photos by Sara Essex Bradley

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Revamp Your Home Like Mary McDonald

I did a post about abut the last episode of Million Dollar Decorators where Mary McDonald revealed the revamp of her very own home.  I said I would follow up with a post about where to get some things that might give you the feeling of what she did.

I love the way Mary McDonald layers things like the large temple jars under the console - I also love that she uses carnations

Mary has the talent and the stash of stuff to pull together rooms like no one else, so I am not saying that we can copy anything she does. But we can take inspiration and add a few things to our homes to get a little of that Million Dollar Decorator feeling.

My Guest Picks this month at Houzz

Mary has luxurious expensive things, but in my Guest Picks at Houzz this month, I found a ton of affordable things that evoke a luxe feeling, the look for less.  It's all about smoke and mirrors, something I know you all understand. I concentrated my picks on her living room revamp.

Mary uses a lot of green, so maybe the update in your room might just include touches of green.

Mary McDonald loves green and uses a lot of it in the revamp of her home

So go on over on over to Houzz and check it out and tell me what you think about what I found.

I picked over 30 things to help you get the look of Mary McDonald's revamp

You can find  the look for less of most of these items at Houzz

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How To Use Emerald Green According To Colin Cowie

This morning on the Today Show Colin Cowie did one of his regular occurring segments on home decor. He talked about 2013 trends, color, artsy mirrors, and vintage finds.

He said that he has been using Emerald Green for the past six months, and said for you to get current by painting an accent wall with the 2013 Color of the Year.

Here's Colin's little room set up showing the green accent wall - He says to use an arty mirror

He used vintage bottles and a vase of anemones, and a turquoise Buddha on the sofa table

Here in this office set-up - Colin covered an accent wall in black plaid - It looks like fabric to me  - He also used a giant green clock that I am sure he made (and wished he would have talked about) - He lined the desk drawers in green paper

Here's the mirror Colin used from cb2

cb2 Perspective mirror

It comes in 24 inch squares

You can arrange them any way you like

Are you ready to paint an accent wall or make a giant green clock?

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How To Use Emerald Green - The Table

Okay, so every year we get the word about the color of the year. No one is going to change their entire home decor or wardrobe to accommodate this pronouncement. But if we like the color we might decide to add a little of it into our lives.

The dining room table is set with Emerald Green - The "tablecloth" is white cow hide

For me the table setting is the easiest. You can add a charger, or a napkin, or some glassware in the color of the year and be done with it.

Green charger,  antique Limoges plate on top of that, and a vintage plate on top of that with a Carnival motif

Green is a color used in New Orleans in conjunction with Carnival season and Mardi Gras, so I set the table for a Carnival lunch.

The grape napkin ring calls to mind Bacchus, an important entity during Carnival

I had just about everything in the cupboards. I just added the green charger that I got on an after Christmas sale for only 49 cents each. I doubt they will last, but they should be good while Emerald is the color of the year.

I added ribbon streamers to the in line chandelier

Purple, green and gold ribbons

I also bought a set of wine glasses from Overstock. I love the pretty gold floral motif.

I mixed glasses with gold embellishment - The wine glasses are from Overstock, the champagne coupe is vintage, and so is the rocks glass that I use as a water glass - It has a gold medallion embossed on it that says "Rex", which is another Carnival reference - The small vintage plates each have a different Carnival figure on them - Moroccan tea glasses are used for candles - A simple white linen napkin looks clean

My table is set for Carnival, but if I edited a few things, it would be perfectly fine for any occasion where Emerald Green might be featured.

Using Emerald Green for a table setting

How would you use the color of the year on your table?

Emerald Green the New Orleans way

I am starting the new year off over at Susan's Between Naps On The Porch to join in on the 228th (!) Tablescape Thursday. Go check out all the wonderful tablescapes and join the party.

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Colin Cowie Easy Peasy Table Settings

Maybe some of you are throwing a dinner party or two for the holidays. I love to set the table, and create different table settings.

Colin Cowie was on the Today Show this morning and did three nice tables with tons of easy-peasy ideas. I like Colin, because he keeps it clean, interesting, and pretty, and he uses things we all have access to.

Colin uses the 2013 color of the year Emerald for this table - The trick with all his table ideas is to have a predominant color theme - You can spray paint wooden chargers (I also saw a Christmas green one at Wal Mart for 98 cents!), and he layered a plate from cb2 on top of the charger, and he uses simple supermarket Mums - The green glasses are nice, but if you don't have any, regular clear glasses will do

I love the centerpiece, a  topiary of macaroons - Colin made it using a Styrofoam cone and store bought macaroons

He shows us how to make the topiary, by just putting a toothpick in each macaroon and then poking it into the Styrofoams cone - He added large pearl head pins in between each cookie

Colin loves to use fruit or vegetables for place cards - He also used mirror tiles from Ikea as a base for the whole design

Another table he did has a woodland theme - He found this funky fabric to use as a tablecloth, but a white tablecloth would work too - white is the predominant color - You could find small white trees and white candles and holders anywhere, and who doesn't have white plates and white napkins

He cut slabs of tree trunks for chargers - that is not so easy ha ha, so any wooden charger would work - He wrapped votive candles holders with birch bark which I know you can get in the wholesale flower market in New York - You could also use sheet moss and tie it around a glass votive holder with raffia - Again, fruit is used, this time a pear for a place card

The red table is classic - Colin cut two runners out of plaid fabric and laid them in a cross pattern to make four place settings - He added plaid napkins on white square plates (these plates are everywhere -  I've seen them at Wal Mart ) - Red pillar candles at different heights is easy enough to do - The red rose flower ball might be tricky, but you can use supermarket roses, and you could just do a very full tip to tip (cut off all the leaves) arrangement in a simple container

Colin wrote on an apple for a place card, and he mixed a signature red cocktail, a Negroni

Hope this inspires you! You probably have all the elements around the house to set your own festive table in the manner of Colin Cowie. Watch the segment on the Today Show HERE.

And if you have any good ideas to share with us, please do tell!!!

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Passing Down The Emeralds

I had many mentors and teachers over the years. I bet you have too. Something of them always remains in the interpretation of the work I do. And so it seems to go for designers and decorators.

Here's a little time capsule of a time line of interior decorators passing along what is now the "newest" thing, Emerald Green, Pantone's 2013 color of the year (are you sick of the posts and pins about it yet ha ha). Some say Pantone chose it, but actually it has been chosen by designers and decorators for years dating back to centuries-old palaces in Europe, and historic colonial iconic homes here in the USA (Mt. Vernon. Williamsburg Governors Mansion, The White House, etc).

Elizabeth Taylor wearing Emerald Green

Green, green, GREEN, whether you call it Emerald, Kelly, Lime, Poison, Sage, Avocado... has been beloved by modern designers, decorators and recently by bloggers. Here's a casual time line in pictures.

Billy Baldwin (1903-2011) did this green mid century room

Classic Emerald Green wallpaper (room attributed to Billy Baldwin by another blogger)

Albert Hadley (1920 - 2012) was a friend of Billy Baldwin who mentored the younger Hadley

The green living room of Bunny Williams who worked for Albert Hadley

Bunny Williams hired an associate named Miles Redd

Miles Redd the king of green

Miles Redd

Miles Redd

Then came Domino, especially this 2006 issue that featured Nick Olsen

Nick Olsen was the assistant of Miles Redd

His love of green evolved and was refined in this House Beautiful editorial

This little paint job by Nick Olsen cemented green into the hearts of bloggers

Nick Olsen thrives as an interior designer doing rooms like this for clients

Nicole Cohen is a friend of Nick Olsen - He once told her to paint all the doors in her apartment Emerald Green - She didn't do it, but the color resonated when she did the interior design of this apartment for a client

Brian Patrick Flynn, TV personality, interior designer, and blogger  masterfully uses green in his work

Designer Tobi Fairley helped put green on the map with her fresh take on it

The living room of Tobi Fairley - Everyone wanted those green wing back chairs

Blogger Skyla Freeman got some good mileage out of using green in her apartment

A year ago I redid my bedroom in Emerald/Kelly Green - Read more about it HERE

The color wheel goes round and round

For more images check out my Pinterest board Kelly Green Trending, and see the shopping post I did on Houzz with the same name (Kelly Green Trending).

Have you used green yet?????

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