The Yellow Cape Cod

Cheerful Child and Pet Friendly Living/Dining Room

Hello! Hope you're having a great day. I'm feeling especially cheerful thanks to this recent design project. Our client was ready for a new look and wanted the help of a professional. She came to us for a two room design plan for her living room and dining room. After reviewing her answers to our project questionnaire, we had a good feel for her style preferences, budget and lifestyle. Based on that information and photos/measurements she provided, we we got to work creating her custom online design plan.

Here is her two room design board...

One of her requests was that in addition to looking amazing, her home had to be child and pet friendly. All of the pieces we chose have removable, machine washable slipcovers.

Since this is a young family, she wanted a touch of whimsy. In the living room, we suggested a DIY pallette art project for a large scale, character rich piece to hang over the fireplace. In the event she was not up for any DIY projects, we gave her an alternate choice for ready made art.

(Click here for a tutorial on the art piece shown)

In the dining room, we incorporated new pieces with her current pieces to create a warm, inviting, semi-casual dining atmosphere. To soften the space we added a pair of fabric chairs for the head of the table. Normally fabric dining chairs would not be considered child friendly, but…

removable machine washable slipcovers are a game changer.

We grounded our new color scheme of gray, white and soft, buttery yellow with rich wood tones. This keeps the whimisical, cheerful palette sophisticated. Should the homeowner decide to change things up someday, she can do so easily by purchasing new chair slipcovers and switching out the yellow accessories. Gray works beautifully with just about any accent color.

Along with these inspiration boards, we provided our client with a true-to-scale floorplan of each room illustrating the furniture/accessory placement (using the products we recommended and some of her current pieces). We also provided her with a "where to purchase" product source list (for accessories, furniture, drapery, art, paint, rugs) and step-by-step instructions on how to put the new rooms together.

If you would like an affordable online design plan for your home, click here to make your reservation. We are now accepting new clients! Online design plans are a great option for local Detroit area clients also.

A Sophisticaed Dining/Living Room (shhh…and an incognito office)

Today's featured online design board is part of a recent online design project for a client's brand new home. We had the honor of designing her entire main level. Today, I would like to share a sampling of what we created for the living room and adjacent dining area.

The home is a spacious new construction with soaring ceilings, big bright windows and gleaming hardwood floors.

In this project our goal was to give each space it's own personality while maintaining flow throughout the open concept floor plan. We choose a gorgeous color palette of blues and grays for the entire main level. The custom paint color palette we gave her consisted of a warm neutral with gray undertones for the living room, a beautiful moody blue for the kitchen and a light silvery gray for the dining area.

The living room…

The living room is the first space you see when you enter the grand foyer. It is a long, large, open space. We gave the client multi-functional furniture that is as beautiful as it is practical. Our client needed an office space, we were able to discreetly incorporate a hard working home office into her living room.

You can see in our true-to-scale illustration above, how a desk and credenza were placed behind the sofa. From a functionality stand point, this divided the long, narrow space into two areas, the "office" and the media viewing/seating area. From a design stand point, the space does not appear to be divided.

The credenza we recommended offers hidden office supply storage while pulling double duty as a beautiful console in the foyer/entrance of the home.

To anchor the media viewing/seating area, we gave her a luxurious area rug. New furnishings included a gorgeous gray sofa, a pair of upholstered chairs, cocktail table and fabulous media cabinet.

By incorporating the clients beautiful existing pieces into the design, the space will have familiarity. Her fabulous silver end tables will look amazing with the new pieces we selected. The silver finish is highlighted by the silver accents on the "office" furniture, cocktail table and media cabinet.

Oversized artwork placed over the sofa gave us an eye catching focal point and pulled our color scheme together. Dramatic drapery was chosen to frame her amazing windows. Patterned toss pillows and sophisticated lamps rounded out the accessories we chose for the living room.

In the dining room, the furnishings we recommended were from the same collection as the living room…

Silver accents were carried into this space with a sophisticated chandelier, stunning oversized mirror and romantic candle sconces.

Dining spaces tend to have a lot of hard surfaces, a large, patterned area rug softens the room.

As does the tufted upholstery on the new dining chairs.

Luxurious drapes and a dramatic custom molding treatment make this space extra special.

These touches set this room apart from the others, yet they flow together seamlessly.

Thank you, to my client for giving me this opportunity. Your new home is beautiful!

*There is much more to this online design plan project. Out of courtesy to my client, I'm unable to share all the specific details of her custom design. Thank you for understanding. Please feel free to use this design as inspiration OR click here to reserve your very on affordable online design plan. We are now taking new clients!

For more information on my affordable online design service, please click here.

"She Is Me"~Join Me in New Jersey!

I announced earlier this year that this summer The Yellow Cape Cod was hitting the road. So far, we've been to Denver, Colorado where you joined me behind the scenes of a real-life, two day room makeover. Our next stop is the Haven Conference in Atlanta. I'll wrap up our national summer tour in New Jersey at The Enchanted Makeovers (EM) She is Me Event.

I'm so honored to have been asked by my friend, Terry Grahl, the founder and visionary behind EM to be a greeter during this amazing event in Hackettstown, New Jersey. I'm excited to share the experience with you. Not only will I be greeting guests at the gala, but I will be heading to NJ for five days with Terry and the EM team to help with preparations.

Invitation...

Please join us for an evening of dining, dancing, silent auction, inspirational presentations by renowned speakers and a viewing of the most recent shelter makeover video.

Here are the details…

When: Saturday August 17, 2013

Where: Lackland Performing Arts Center

400 Jefferson St.

Hackettstown, NJ 07840

Why: Join us to celebrate our journey, and help us continue to expand. With your support, we can transform homeless shelters, and create mentor programs, for women and children across the country – inspiring much needed behavioral and psychological change. We can’t do it without you.

Please Click HERE to purchase your ticket.

If you are unable to attend the event, but would like to help, please click here.

Unless you are new to this blog, you are familiar with Enchanted Makeovers. Since being introduced to Terry years ago through one of my bank clients, I've had the honor of participating in two Detroit area shelter makeovers along with my friends and family. I've also posted about a crafting soiree last Christmas in honor of EM. We created vintage button picture frames for a recent shelter makeover. If you missed those posts and would like to learn more about the organization please visit the website for videos, testimonials, shelter before/after photos and more...

It would be amazing to have you join us in NJ! Please purchase your ticket by July 30, 2013.

If you are unable to attend, stay tuned. I'll be sure to post about the experience here on the blog.

See you in New Jersey!

Stars and Stripes Boys Room

I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday week. In honor of Independence Day, I thought I would share my boys' Stars and Stripes sports themed bedroom.

{Don't forget to check out Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Ideas Magazine 2013 to see this room decked out for the holidays. I still can't believe that is happening.}

This space has gone through many transformations. It started as a nautical themed room based on their love of the family cottage in Northern Michigan. Over the years and as their love of sports takes over ~~our~~ their lives, it has evolved into an all-star theme.

In order to accomodate two boy's we had to make use of every inch of space. We turned the walk-in closet into an extension of the bedroom by removing the door and adding a dresser and built-in shelving.

Trophies, equipment, team photos, Detroit team paraphernalia, and a framed motivational quote have become the room decor.

Certain elements from the original nautical theme remain. The "vintage" Detroit boat race poster from their father's childhood, a lantern collection, and photos of them on the boat still fit into their space.

The dresser is actually a piece that we brought home from the cottage and gave it the "Potterybarn Black Paint Finish Treatment" and new hardware.

Sometimes I miss the old nautical room. The kids however, have moved passed it.

They are proud of their accomplishments. Having their stuff around is inspiring and motivating to them, which makes us all happy.

Here are a list of project posts from this space:

DIY Boys Interchangeable Trophy Photo Display Shelf

DIY No-Sew Star Drapes

DIY Trundle Bed

Potterybarn Black Paint Finish Tutorial

DIY Framed Quote Tutorial

DIY Wall Stripes

Happy Fourth of July!

For information on my affordable online design service, please click here.

Olivia's Playroom~A Fun and Functional Play Space

Today's featured design board is part of a recent online design plan for a playroom designed for a little girl, Livy. Livy's parents recently finished their basement and created a gorgeous room that will be designated as Livy's play space.

Our goal in this project was to create a design plan that was fun and functional. And of course, beautiful.

We gave them comfortable seating in the form of this adorable sectional from PB Teen and kid friendly oversized bean bags.

These end tables are super fun for a kids space...

Bright colored inspirational art from Etsy, family photos and Livy's own art gallery provide colorful and personal decor throughout the space.

{Art found on Etsy, here}

These adorable twin lamps are perfect for additional lighting to warm up the lower level space.

Fabrics were also used to cozy up the design, gorgeous drapery, fun toss pillows and beautiful rugs all play a part in creating a comfortable and inviting atmosphere.

The fun color palette of gray, turquoise and yellow will be grounded by brand new, gleaming dark hardwood floors.

Our hope is that this space will not only be inspiring to Livy, but also a room the whole family will enjoy. Thank you, for inviting me into your home.

If you are interested in an online design consultation, I'm currently accepting new clients. Please click here to get started.

For information on my affordable online design service, please click here.

Mountain Nursery Details and Product Sources

Hi! I hope you are having a great week. We are busy at The Yellow Cape Cod working on brand new design plans. Thank you, for the amazing opportunity to design your space(s)! I have so many exciting rooms to share, please stay tuned throughout the summer to see our most recent projects.

Today, I'm sharing the details on the mountain nursery I designed and implemented in Denver.

If you're new to the blog, here is the story... This project began as a typical online design plan project for Brian and Heidi's nursery. Until I decided to fly to Denver to install the room, all by myself (no painters, carpenters or design assistants) in just two days (which is where the "challenge" comes in).

The furniture in this space was chosen by the clients (crib, dresser and rocking chair) before the design plan began. It is a really pretty set from Babies R Us and it fit right into our design.

The new oversized drum ceiling pendant light we chose is from

Potterybarn Kids.

Hand painted "Let him sleep…" sign,

Words On Wood.

"Stitch" our model, is a French Bull dog. He and I quickly became best friends. I miss his cute face already and I hope he keeps his promise to write.

The fabulous bedding (sheet, quilt, bedskirt) and drapery is from Carousel Designs.

The adorable mountain pillow is by La petite echarlotte (Strasbourg, Alsace, France).

To personalize the space, we added photos of Heidi and Brian (the parents) climbing the Rocky Mountains. The frames we used were from Potterybarn Kids.

Accessories for the space were purchased at various discount home stores. The white lamp and shade were picked up at Bed, Bath and Beyond. The original plan included a green gourd lamp, but at the last minute a delivery snafu sent us scrambling for another option.

Thank you for joining me on my trip and for following along as I installed this design.

It was a lot of fun having you with me and sharing the behind-the-scenes details.

This trip was an amazing adventure! Not only did I get to do what I love most, but I made some fantastic new friends and had the opportunity to see the mountains for the first time. :)