Mid-Century Modern: Another Great Design - Spartanburg SC

I'm so excited to be starting my business (again), but this time in South Carolina. I'm in the upstate area and near my family in North and South Carolina. I'm very blessed to have wonderful family around me who are eager to see my business get going and have hired me to do their home. My aunt and uncle (Judy and Del Ezell) have bought a nearly 9000 sq. ft. Mid-Century Modern house in Spartanburg. For those of you who know me, or who follow me, you know this is my dream house and the style I'm most passionate about. If I was a dog, my tail would be a waggin'.

The house was originally built for a Winn-Dixie heiress and has gone through several renovations since it was built in 1956. Some of the renovations were done without consideration for the style or period of the house, so they had to go. And after years of neglect the house needed a great deal of structural repairs in addition to the basic updating and restoring that all older homes tend to need. We are four months into the project and the house is looking more like a construction site than a home, but for those who have worked day after day on it, it's coming around!

I won't bore you with all of the details about plumbing problems and electrical issues, or leaks and floods, or structural issues that had to be fixed, but suffice it to say these homeowners know how Tom Hanks and Shelley Long's characters felt in the movie Money Pit. The good news is, they aren't having to live in it during this process and they love the process! I think I got that gene from Aunt Judy.

I've posted photos on Facebook and mentioned some of the details we were working on. However, I'm not sure if most people can truly appreciate how many details there are to a house with five bedrooms and ten bathrooms and a guest house. Besides the house there are over eight acres of land with beautiful gardens and patios. This is a huge project and a great test of my knowledge and expertise. I'm so thankful they have trusted in me to guide and assist them in the design.

I'll include a few "before" photos here, and will follow up in a couple of weeks with some "during" shots.

The Laundry Room

This will be a Craft/Multi-purpose Room

The Kitchen has been updated most recently. The changes are mostly cosmetic, but will be amazing. The wall you can't see is all glass a overlooks the pool and patio area. I've got great ideas to makes these two areas harmonize!

The Dining Room

This light in the Dining Room is way too ornate for the architecture of the house. We will "simplify" the fixture and blend the dome with the ceiling. This room is about the views!

Living Room

 I can't wait to see this living room done with the beautiful finishes we've selected!

This "cubby hole" will be a real "show piece"

The wall and tank are gone!

Re-Open in Chesnee, SC

As many of you know, I'm living part-time in Las Vegas and the other part in Chesnee, South Carolina. I've just re-opened Regeneration Interiors in South Carolina. I have one very excited "project" I'm working on. My Aunt has purchased a beautiful mid-century home and I'm helping her with some of the details. It's very exciting to be able to help her out, and even more exciting to be able to see this beautiful home come back to life!

I will still be traveling back and forth to Vegas to be with my honey, but will be taking on clients in the GSP (Greenville/Spartanburg) area in hopes of transitioning here more full-time.

Since most of a designers "advertising" comes by word-of-mouth, I'm happy to give references and testimonials from my former clients. I'm excited about my new opportunities and look forward to what GSP has to offer!

Y'all give me a call!

"The" Nursery

Many of us dream of what our baby's room will look like, even before we are expecting. That space where you'll bring your baby home to, and where you'll spend countless sleepless nights soothing her; it has to be perfection! "The" nursery... just the sound of the words conjure up wonderful images in our minds. Well, when the nursery you're dreaming of is for your grandchild, it's even more special. (I wasn't completely onboard with being a Grammie in the beginning, but let me say, it has definitely become my biggest excitement).

Beachy Chairs on the front porch

My daughter lives near the coast in North Carolina and her home has a comfortable beach-inspired feel. She is very adamant that the beach "theme" not be too literal, so she uses cotton fabrics, slip-covered furnishings and painted finishes. She sprinkles in touches of beach with a vase of seashells or an abstract painting of an ocean. She also likes nautical inspired clothing like Vineyard Vines, it's more of a preppy, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard kind of feel, rather than tropical or west-coast. So, her decor is more beach cottage feeling, than beachy... I'm not sure this is coming across, but a picture is worth a thousand words, right? 

So, taking these things into consideration, I set out to design the best nursery for "Clementine" (code name since they aren't telling anyone the name yet), but one that also functions for the parents and that flows with the feel of the rest of the house. Painted furniture, wicker and other natural materials, and lots of comfy, easy, cotton fabrics. 

we used gift tags to label the contents of the baskets.

They had a buffet that they were using in a guest room as a dresser, but it had doors instead of drawers on the sides, so we removed the doors and replace them with baskets to make it more functional, and we love the final result. 

Boat Cradle built by my dad with blanket crocheted by my mom.

She wanted a white crib and we found one that has a bead board detail, which is very cottage feeling. Since they had an upholstered and slipcovered rocker, recliner in the living room, they opted for a wicker chair in the nursery. With it's smaller scale and natural fibers, the same as the baskets in the dresser, it was the perfect choice. 

 A designer friend of mine had a small table she had rescued from a client who was throwing it out and we painted it to go next to the chair. We found a wicker lamp that works well with the other woven natural materials and it looks great in the space.

Then we added in details...

Changing pad attached on dresser, easily removed when she gets older.

You can see additional photos on my Facebook page and on Pinterest.

I used patterned scrapbooking papers to make her initials,
and then bejeweled them to make them sparkle.

I chose sheets to go with the quilt that reminded me of mens
shirts from Vineyard Vines.

We used more gift tags to organize the clothing by size
in the closet.

the gift tags and matching
clothes pins were invaluable
for organizing and hanging the clothes;
they look great too!

This little oar was adorable, but my son-in-law added these
glass knobs in the same colors to make it a coat rack.

On the Move.... AGAIN

Well folks, it's been 6 months and our lease here is up and we're moving... again! We are moving across Vegas to Henderson to be closer to my dear hubby's office and the airport. We've also realized that living in a tri-level townhouse is not ideal for us. What we thought would be no big deal, turns out that it is kind of a pain to forget your keys in the bedroom and realize it when you get two stories down to the garage, or when you have to carry groceries up all of those stairs. So, we're getting a single level apartment on a golf course.

We also have realized that we aren't "rental furniture" people. We've found that the cost of rent for 2.5 years is quite a bit more than we would spend to purchase the furniture we'd love to have. We are glad we tried it, because we actually learned things that we can and can't live with and without. I'd definitely recommend short-term rental if you aren't sure what kind of furniture you like or to try out a style that you think you might like before sinking lots of money into purchasing. 

What we learned about our tastes and needs: 

*we don't have to have a king sized bed and because apartment bedrooms are usually smaller, we would be more comfortable with a queen and could use the extra space.

*we don't like solid headboards. Perry sleeps with one arm over his head and has developed a habit of putting his hand through the rungs of the headboard. We didn't realize this was a big deal, but after having an upholstered headboard, his sleep has definitely been affected.

*while we love the clean lines and look of a modern sofa, we definitely like the comfort level of a more traditional style and we definitely prefer leather to fabric.

*we prefer dining chairs that are comfy and make you want to linger around the table after a meal for good conversation or just for drinks or reading the paper, so fully upholstered chairs with arms are the best for our needs.

*last but certainly not least, we must have a comfortable mattress! We rented a mid-range mattress/boxspring set when we first got here, but we purchased a higher-end, pillow-top mattress. 

All of these things, we didn't know were important, turns out that they really are! So, I've spent a little over a week purchasing furniture. I bought some custom pieces and some "off the rack" pieces, but I'm hoping the entire look comes together.

Temporary Digs....

Entryway:
This piece I purchased, and it serves a really needed function.
The baskets house all of the dog supplies and a place to drop
keys, purses, etc. There is just this and a coat closet on this floor.

Well, if you know me, you'd think that every place I live is temporary, since we never stay anywhere for very long... but when I found out Perry was taking a job back in Vegas, I knew I couldn't make this "home" again. And, as you know if you follow my blog, we bought the house in South Carolina and moved all of our earthly belonging there and came to Vegas with just our clothes and a few personal things.

We will probably be in Vegas for about three years, maybe longer, but no shorter and we've definitely lived shorter amounts of time in other places and bought homes there and put down very shallow roots, but I'm getting older and it's getting harder and harder to do that. Not to mention, trying to find a place that would hold all of the things we had and have a place for everything... yuck, it's just miserable. There's always something that doesn't fit. Or there's that one space that just needs something that we didn't have... no more!

Guest Room:
The bedding, lamps and accessories in the
guest room I brought from the other house, just
rented a
 bed and nightstands .

Guest Bath:
The accessories in this room were left from
the yardsale too, I just bought the shower curtain
 and towels to match.

So traveling light has it's advantages, and definitely knowing that when it's time to move on to the next adventure, all we have to do is throw our clothes in the trunk and drive away is awesome, but it doesn't make our space feel very comfortable. We have rental furniture from Cort that serves every need, i.e. beds, dressers, sofa, table and chairs. Just the basics, mind you, nothing more, but then that's what we wanted, right?

Living Room:
The art and accessories in this room make it feel like home.
The coffee-table books add a homey feel and I love having
interesting photo books to share with guests.

I loved these pictures in a movie I saw
so when I saw them at Home Goods, I had to
have them! They just make the Dining
Area.

I don't have to tell you this, and it doesn't take a professional designer to know it, but it's the accessories and the soft furnishings that make a house a home... so what about keeping the belongings to a minimum and the whole traveling light thing? Well, I think I found a good balance with this place, I bought accessories, but kept them to a minimum and didn't spend much by shopping at Home Goods, Pier 1, and even Barnes & Noble.

Before we left SLC, we had a yardsale, and there were quite a few accessories that didn't sell, so I brought them in the car. Because I have an obsession for lamps and had a lamp "graveyard" in my basement in SLC, I didn't have to buy lamps for the bedrooms and I even had a giant one for the living room that I think works beautifully.

The main thing here is that we don't have anything extra. We have empty closets and cupboards because we have just the necessities when it comes to everything. (4 plates, 4 glasses, flatware for 4 settings, etc.) I've had to be creative in cooking without my kitchen full of small appliances and every different kind and size of pot and pan, but I'm getting along and it feels so freeing to have no extra clutter around me, and to also know that those things I love and hold dear are safely in my home in SC and I can go there whenever I want to and feel at home, away from "temporary home"!