I love watching HGTV and seeing the reactions of the clients as they walk into their rooms for the first time.  Our process tends to work a little differently, as our clients are usually involved throughout the project.  The pieces may or may not come together all at once, depending on the timeline.

The process for this project was a little more like a television makeover.  Molly got the opportunity to work on a room for a fourteen-year-old girl named Sarah.  She worked with her to get everything selected, but Sarah went away to camp and her room was transformed while she was gone!  She came home to see this:

Don’t those beds look like the perfect place for slumber parties?  I worked with Molly on some of the details, including the vinyl quotes that adorn the walls.  Sarah gave us some of her favorite quotes, which we turned into wall art that will inspire her every day. 

We used some of her existing things, like the window panels, but added unique details to tie in to our green, gray, and black color scheme. 

We personalized the space by printing black and white photos of her friends and family to use throughout the room.

She had an oversized lounge chair in one corner before, but it was switched out for a clean lined sofa that is more condusive to hanging out with friends.  The door on the left leads into the bathroom, now painted a fun tangerine!

Green and white accessories pop, while the water closet was painted the same color as the bedroom.  What a fun space!

Lauren

Design Lines heads back to school! Here are our Top 5 Must Haves that we wouldn’t leave home without. School is a big deal and we always want to be stylin!

1. The Coolest Kids on the Block Must Have The Coolest Lunchbox.

These lunchboxes are handmade just to show just how much we care in preparing our lunch. I can’t help but smile at the patterns. These can definitely get us through the rest of the day and the horrible science experiment at 2:00pm. By the way, interior designers prefer art class over an science experiment.    

2. Color Pencils Brighten the World

Color always enriches life. In the design world we spend a tremendous amount of time matching and coordinating colors so why not bring those color pencils to school.

3. Notebooks = A Simplified Life

When in doubt right everything down, especially in school. While juggling many projects we find ourselves using several notebooks. It’s the only way not to loose  information….well unless you loose the notebook. Now that’s a different story.

4. Enjoy the Sweet Life

Around the Design Lines office, cupcakes are a guilty pleasure. The whole team enjoys a little sweetness and if I remember correctly my Granny use to always say, “Be good to yourself.” Why not enjoy a little sweet, school is hard enough.

5. When Homework Becomes to Much to Handle…Surround Yourself with Summertime Memories.

In any work space whether you are doing homework or surfing the Internet, the team believes you should always surround yourself with the people you love and/or enjoy.

What are your back to school must haves?!

images are from Handmade Vendors or Local Stores: 1. Edan Rose 2. Urban Harmonie 3. Edan Rose 4. Google 5. Red Star Ink 6. Cake + Milk Paperie  7.Spoonfed Raleigh  8. Frames Can be Purchased Locally at Furbish

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about these fabulous knobs from Anthropologie?  We had a local artist, the talented Jamie Goffman, paint our client’s existing furniture-from an ordinary stained maple bed and nightstands to a fun red bed with cream nightstands- to make quite the cute transformation. This makeover has inspired me to consider painting other pieces of furniture.  

Stay tuned to see more of this whole room transformation!

-Brittany

Later this week we’ll see the efforts of a big before and after on some furniture we had painted. Our clients, wanted to convert their existing guest suite furniture into colorful kid friendly pieces appropriate for their sons “big boy” room. Using a transporation concept as our guide- we selected the finishes, a fabulously fast red for the bed and some cream for the nightstands to grow with. For the nightstands, we purchased these fun checkered knobs from anthropologie. So excited to see the finished product and an inexpensive furniture makeover!

-Brittany

Last night, Brittany and I attended a wonderful event at Rosenberry Rooms, a local and online design source for kid’s rooms!  We found them on the web a few years ago, for accessories for a nursery we designed – but we had no idea they were so close to home!  Not long ago, owner Susie Fougerousse decided to open a local showroom in an beautiful old house on Hillsborough Street.  They had an event last night to share their space with local interior designers – Brittany and I were in love!   

Brittany and I pose for a picture with Susie, the owner and mother of four.  We love these “diaper clutches” by Petunia Pickle Bottom!  (They also have the matching diaper bags.)  We enjoyed talking with her and seeing her vision for creating a place where busy mothers can find the perfect things for their children’s spaces.  We love having a place where we can take our clients to work on their nurseries and kids rooms!

They have adorable accessories – including a manly diaper bag for dad (seen on the top center shelf).  They have some of our favorite lines for kid’s rooms – and more – on display, including: Young America, Dwell Studio, Serena & Lily, and Stray Dog Designs.

Our favorite of the night:  this custom teepee, by TeePee for Me!  We love working on kid’s rooms and coming up with creative solutions just for you!  Check out some of the spaces we’ve designed: Harrison’s room, Haley’s room, Mason’s nursery, and a nursery for the Gass twins.

Thanks to Rosenberry Rooms for hosting a wonderful event!  We’ll be working with you soon - especially since Molly Simmons won the $1,000 gift certificate they gave away last night!  All three of her kids are pretty excited!

One of our clients follows this blog http://www.homeworkshop.com/ where they feature challenges. Challenge #17 was “What should you do with all of your kid’s artwork?” Want a great idea? Everyone knows that they store it under the bed or in closets, pulling it out when they are spring cleaning and then it goes right back into storage.

Here is what they suggest:
(1) Take all the artwork and snap digital pictures of each piece and keep it separated by kid.
(2) Download pictures and make a grid collage in Photoshop.
(3) Print the collages out or you can take them to Kinko’s based on size.
(4) Put the collages in decorative frames to create a collage on the wall!

(Digital pictures taken of the kids artwork.)

This is how they used it on the wall. How creative and interesting is this? We give it two thumbs up!