Wallpaper Partay

Wallpapes oh wallpapes, how we love you so. There are so many ways with which we can use these perfect rolls of paper, each serving a very different aesthetic and purpose from the rest.

Take for instance the concept of singularly using a pattern of paper on only one wall in a room (Aka accent wall-papering). You'll get an entirely different look than you would covering all four walls with the same pattern.

Or how about running rolls up a wall and onto the ceiling? Often underused, this method invites a room to have the major attention is deserves. Kid you not, it also makes you want to spend all the more time in this space.

There's the favorite feature of running them papes in a dining room from the top of the ceiling to just above the chair rail. Or doing your due diligence in a powder room, giving it all the color, and covering every inch of those walls with pattern that makes you want to hug such a place of powdering.

All of the above concepts are equally turn-down-for-what legit, but none of these tickle our fancy like the method we love most: shelfie wallpapering.

Give us a shelf, well thought out patterns, and the wonderful workings Denise, Greenville's OG wallpaper install queen. And swish swish bish, it's on. For this is the tactic that makes your styled items look their very best, while also pulling the entire room in. Those dog figurines? Look way more exciting behind wallpaper happenings. How's it for the antique books that have been in your family for eons? Looking like dimes against a special print. No barenaked bookcases here, ya mean.

Shelf wallpapering works stellar in the open shelving of a kitchen, or the built ins of your living room. Try it in your wet bar or on a bookshelf in the kid's playroom. When in doubt, wallpaper it out homies. Stacks on stacks, rolls on rolls. We believe in adding all the colors and patterns to a shelving backdrop; because lbh, it's the bow of a bookshelf, and a dang grand finale.

Shop some of our favorite papers on Pinterest or at the bottom on the post.

 Photos: Luke Cleland 

Hippity Hop Living Room

Photos: Luke Cleland 

Hippity hop, don't stop. When we started working on this project, our clients, in the midst of a renovation, got hit with a 1-2 punch in the health department. Needless to say, it was scary stuff and disarray on the homefront. Creating a happy space was number one on our agenda, and when this dear client professed her love for all things bunny, visions of Hunt Slonem flashed in my head . We knew it had to be the jumping off point for this space.

Like most of our spaces, this one was all about balance. Old with new. Tradition with funk. Bright colors with neutrals. Small prints among large prints. Pieces with sentiment mixed with new pieces that pull our design concept together... etc, etc, etc.

The client had a very traditional collection of rabbit oil paintings and although she still loves them, they needed to be balanced with some bright hues and funk to match her now oh-so-colorful style. Enter Hunt and off we went. Doing our thing with color and pattern.

We brought in one of our favorite Bassett sofas with greek key arm details in a masculine stripe to balance some of the more feminine patterns in the space. Recovering chairs that were in the living room before, we brought in a mix of huge orange buffalo check, small prints, some florals... and you can't ignore the base layer of pattern with that blue leopard print situation.

Accessories and art were where this one really came together. That calm Kiah Bellows landscape over the mantle draws you in while it partners with the much-more-bold Kim Hassold floral.

Overall, this bright happy space is what it's all about: creating spaces that people can enjoy time in, spaces that act as a haven from some of the not-so-fun realities of life, and spaces that reflect their passions, loves, and personalities.

Shop the look on Pinterest or at the bottom of the post!

Peace,
AL

 

Not My Mother's House

Yo yo fellow design pals! Caroline here. Dropping in to tell you a little story about my own personal design journey, and how I discovered that design is so very specific to each person; that following your own gut is often the best thing....



"Who inspires you most?"
"What person would you most like to be like when you grow up?"
"Who is your hero?"

All questions that trace the memories of my younger years in elementary school. Fill in the blanks that never strayed from my constant, forever answer: my mother.

Now, at 27, I still live by my "What Would Sheryl Do", mentality. I make my best decisions by following W.W.S.D. Call me a fangirl of the woman who raised me, but I kind of think Sheryl hung the dang moon. For example...

Sheryl keeps her house spotless and prepares a meal via Ina Garten on weeknights?
Oh, well fork, I should do that too. 

Sheryl has a subscription to "The Atlantic" and learns enormous amounts of what's going on in the world by reading every night before bed?
Here's my credit card, hit me with a subscription. 

Sheryl wakes up early and uses not only a Nespresso maker but also froths her own coconut milk?
Why am I not yet doing this?!

In short, I kind of want to be my mother.

She's my best friend, the easiest person I know, and owns a deep wisdom about what to do in both the oh-so-great, and shittiest of situations. I respect her in all fields, among all things. My family jokes about this, but we're all deep in a never-ending funnel of bonging the Kool-Aid. Mom's a badass and we love it.

There is one part of my life, though, that I've found won't quite fit into the "strive to be like your mother" picture. It's a jagged, rough puzzle piece with frayed cardboard edges that won't fit the puzzle. For years, I've been trying to make it lay in its place.

Enter 2015, when my husband and I got surprise IUD (gasp!) pregnant and bought our first home. Holding our homeowner keys at closing my immediate thought was: I must make this home look like the house I grew up in.

So I called my mom, and began ordering all of the W.W.S.D. neutral pieces. Chairs, sofa, coffee table, lamps. They all spoke soft, calming vibes as I remembered my mom has always told me she chose her designs to create a calm home, a place of tranquility. The woman loved to add color in accessories and art, but she mostly needed calm colors, neutrals, and the soothing choices only she could make. Growing up, our family was struck with medical chaos time and time again, and home for my mom needed to be very, very relaxing. A place of safety.

And this is where I made the mistake. I never thought about why she chose to decorate the way that she did, I just thought that mimicking her taste would be the best for my home, and my family. But as the updated traditional pieces flowed in, something didn't feel quite right. I was living in a space I thought would bring me ease and tranquility, but likewise I was craving adding my very favorite colors, blue and green, into the mix. I too tried introducing color with art and pillows, but that still wasn't cutting it. It didn't feel like me.

I wanted the patterns, the bold choices, the turquoise geometric coffee table that says "Check me out. I'm awesome. Bring it". And all while I'm feeling these feelings, as luck would have it, I meet my tried and true gal, Amanda Louise.

AL introduced me to the idea of keeping my neutral pieces, but placing them throughout our house, instead of all in one room. She was the first to show me that a bold cheetah pattern could live next to a blue couch, and that said blue couch didn't have to be a scary unknown, but the ideal item I'd always aimed to own.

It was a big leap, going from what I've always known, to what I've always wanted. But damn, I'm so glad that I did.

May we always go with our guts, and design the homes we live in to an I-want-it-that-way T.

-Caroline