Dream Home - Some After Pics

Friday night about 1am, it was all I could do not to collapse into this beautifully made bed and sink into a deep sleep!!  Friday was the scheduled completion day for the 70's sidesplit I was furnishing for a single mom and her young daughter.  After a month of planning and 3 months of purchasing, everything was finally put in place and ready for mom and daughter to move-in their personal things this weekend.   With brand new flooring and new wall paint already installed before I came on board this project,,,,my job was to plan the furniture layout and purchase all new furniture, window coverings and lighting to work with the house as it was.  My client was starting from scratch and everything needed to be purchased, right down to the small accessories.  The house is a 3 bedroom sidesplit with an eat-in kitchen and family room.   Her taste....... is very traditional leaning towards elegant and feminine,,,the budget was very very modest considering an entire house needed to be furnished top to bottom,,,and the lead time was extremely ambitious to say the least.

With such a short time line most items had to be ready-made, in-stock options but I did have a few select pieces custom made. So after what was nothing short of a purchasing marathon these past 3 months, Friday was the last day for deliveries and installations and I spent the past week making sure all the final last minute purchases were made and the wallart was hung etc. Although it was early Saturday morning when I had finally packed up all my things and locked the door behind me for the last time,,,,,,,there will still be some more accessories to be sourced (not critical but on the 'would be nice to have' list) and 2 or 3 back-ordered small items awaiting delivery. But despite that, the house is move-in ready and my client and her daughter were excited beyond words when they arrived Friday evening. For me it was exhilarating to finally be done and heartwarming to see their emotional response at seeing their new home and realizing how positively it will impact their lives from here forward on a day to day basis - the happiness they'll enjoy in the house and how many memories they'll make there.

I had a chance to take some preliminary 'after' photos on Friday, however, because the sun had gone down and I didn't have my tri-pod with me, the photos are on the dark side, so sorry about the poor quality but...I'll be returning one day in the next month or so, during daylight hours to take my time and get a full set of photos for each room.  (I like to photograph my projects myself using natural light, and more importantly - without props or staging, using only the things the homeowner actually owns!) Hopefully by then, the rest of the accessories and and final furniture pieces will all be in place.   I'll post those photos as soon as I have them along with the details of each room.  In the meantime, these will have to do!

The Dining Room. With grocery store flowers (that's all I had to work with!)

Mirrored Sideboard in LR/DR

Living Room,,,small artwork over side chairs one either side of sideboard still to come.  More grocery store flowers that weren't in bloom yet!

Living Room

Kitchen Table overlooking family room.

Front Hall,,,a wall of sepia photos on opposite wall still awaiting a pair of benches, and top of this chest of drawers still needs a tray.

Little girl's room with custom headboard, ikea drawers customized with paint and new crystal knobs.  Framed prints still to come.

My favorite room of all, the Guest Bedroom.

Master Bedroom....I'm thinking of raising the headboard a tad higher now that the last minute bedside lamp is in place (I could wright a novel called the Tale of Two Lamps, its easier to build an entire house than it is to find a pair of matching lamps in stock in this city!)

Master Bedroom,,,still some ironing/steaming to do after these shots were taken!  Bench for end of bed will be delivered next week along with second bedside lamp, fingers crossed.  And i'm still on the hunt for some accent pillows...

Family Room

Lots more after pics to come!

All Photos:  Carol Reed

A Lucky Find!

I don't make a lot of purchases at HomeSense,,,,,,,but I do visit regularly to check out the bedding and bathroom  and kitchen accessories dept. - every once in a while I make a great find.  Typically I don't bother to look thru all the other areas of the store and get tempted to fill up a cart with chatchkas that I'll inevitably regret buying.  I prefer to find small accessories at antique shops or vintage stores,,,,,,or collect them from travels.  Nevertheless, when I'm short for time and money its a must visit.  I do recommend if you ever see anything that strikes your interest, buy it right then on the spot (you can always return it later)...........if you think you can go away and ponder it for a while and then come back, you'll be out of luck.   I know from experience the stuff in this store flies out the door as fast as it comes in.   Decorators, Stagers, Editors and Stylists frequent this store daily, I've even gone back same-day for something..... and its gone.

Tonight, after a not so successful day of shopping I decided to stop in at HomeSense while it was still open.  I spotted this french style chair and knew instantly it could work in the Girl's room of the 70's sidesplit I'm furnishing, priced at only $149 it was really a steal.  Last month I was lucky enough to find a lovely painted french style vanity in a consignment shop that works beautifully in her room, the painted glaze finish on it looks like it was custom made for us, but the vanity didn't come with a chair or stool.  

Since then, I havn't come across much that could work with this vanity and that was affordable.  So when I saw this beautiful cane back chair tonight,,,,,,,I thought it could be a perfect match.  It has a white paint finish but I think I can easily do a simple dry brushing or glaze over top of the white in the same peachy colour glaze on the vanity (which happens to be the same as the wall colour).  I know Mom won't be too thrilled with the white canvas upholstery, but for this price.....its worth living with for a while!

So I'll see how it works with the vanity tomorrow,,if it doesn't work in the girl's room, I can think of a couple other areas in the house where it could work!

All Photos:  Carol Reed