August 24, 2011:

My Design Process

While technically I am a Virgo, am not as neat and orderly as one would expect with my birth sign. This is one of the reasons I strongly believe that I am more a Leo than I am Virgo. I thrive on creative chaos. Disorder makes my brain work better or so I like to think. I like seeing a visual cacophony of sorts as I design. I'm not gonna lie, it drives people around me nuts and I've actually come to believe that it's an elaborate weeding out process when it comes to finding a right fit for staff at MHD.

That being said, I am finding that I do need more order aka staff to clean up after me. It's true. I need that. Ideally someone who is a wee bit OCD about neat and tidy and who lives to swoop in and bring order to their environment. That would be awesomesauceness.

We are busy little firm at the moment. Projects in varying in all sorts of completion.

I thought it would be fun to give you some insight into what a typical day in my office looks like: Warning - it's not all pretty and fluffy!

Our Wineva Road project is in full swing but we are still designing aspects of this project despite contractors ripping out walls and ceilings. A bit daunting but fortunately it's just details that don't impact the actual renovation. Case in point, we are working on the design for the powder room. The wallpaper was a done deal after the first design meeting but the finishing touches have yet to be decided. The clients are out of town but I went ahead and chose this fabric as the window treatment. I'm just trying to decide on the ribbon to adorn it....

Still on the Wineva Road project - Guess what arrived?? YIPPEEE the yummiest grass cloth I've seen since um #ProjectNurseryFabulous. This time it's a delicious navy blue for the dining room!

These babies arrived for Wed Luxe offices. You are looking at slipcover fabrics for chairs & drapery. Feel free to SQUEE loudly. I know we did when they arrived. You should see the pillow fabrics!

and the delivery gods were good bringing us these bad boys from Griffin & Wong. Hand painted silk chinoiserie wallpaper. Oh just you WAIT and see what I have planned using this paper!

It's not all deliveries at the office. Oh you want glamour... I'll give you glamour. Our Poplar Plains client has finally taken possession of the new house. The other day was moving day. You betcha, I was on hand to oversee furniture placement, zhushing and my famous "A little to the left... Smidge more No back to the right." I am the human level after all. Here are a few sneaks at what I am calling the Living Room Befores.

The millwork is beautiful. Going to have to choose between a lot of fabulous art pieces as to what goes up over the fireplace.

There are a LOT of windows in this house. There are. The client and I have different visions but we'll find some common ground I am certain. We always do. I just feed her a lot of wine and then she sees things my way. She's always grateful in the end. She is her own worst nightmare at times. I adore her.

August 23, 2011:

Housekeeping….

JOKES! You must know by now that I'm not exactly a domestic goddess. In fact, today is my birthday - I'm 30 something - and all I want for my birthday is an OCD clean freak of a housekeeper. Bi-weekly is fine.

I'd also like an organizing freakazoid to come to my house, clean out my back room, sort out our kitchen, hang our pictures that have been on our hallway floor for like 6 months (read 7 years don't judge). Oh and while I'm at it - I'd like my front yard re-landscaped as a surprise birthday present too. I'm not greedy really. I'll settle for one of the above..

Our Wineva Road project is in full gear. After our discovery that the house needed to be entirely rewired, we did what all fabulous dream teams do - Exploded the Scope of Work to expand to just about every area you can think of. Talking with the clients on the phone last night in our "State of the Budget Union", the husband cheered "Freedom 95!!!!!!!!' (If you aren't familiar with the Freedom 55 Retirement campaign of the 90's Google it!).

One of the projects that we've planned since the get go was to move the laundry from the Basement up to the Third Floor into an old kitchen (The house was once divided into apartments). It just made sense when I saw the space. We are doing the necessary prep work to water proof, heat and sound proof the space in preparation for the new laundry facility. It will also be a wrapping room, utility space and storage room.

During our discussion last night, we talked about the pros and cons of custom cabinetry vs. big box ready-made cabinetry. Drum Roll... Custom won out! Hooray. Seriously - that ALONE was an early birthday present. Clients who understand and appreciate AND value custom. ::Cue the Angels on High:: We have a blue/green colour palette throughout the house you may recall - the kitchen cabinetry will be black and cream so here I don't want to do different uppers and lowers. I'm thinking though, that we will paint the interiors in a contrast colour for some fun... along with....

Loving the idea of a semi-flush lantern of sorts for the ceiling with under-cabinet lighting of course. Obsessed with the fold up drying racks. We don't use dryers much in our household so these are a MUST have. We're either going to do a faux vinyl hardwood or I love the idea of black and white melamine stripes. You know me - horizontally striped to the nth! The washer/dryer are going to be stacked to save room and give us more usable counter space. Faucet is Brizo of course. Thinking of using Casearstone Misty Grey for the counters...

Stacked Washer/Dryer via, Blue Laundry Room via

Here's my backsplash inspiration. I'm liking the idea of colour and something off the beaten path albeit colour, pattern, shape or texture. Love New Ravenna but fear they are out of our price range at the moment now that I got the clients to splurge for custom cabinetry. Hand painted concrete looks like fun... the Moroccan Trellis YUM but is it too trendy? Or do we do a simple subway tile and play around with darker grout? Hand made tile? As always, your thoughts are most welcome.

Open Kitchen via, Clawfoot Tub via

August 22, 2011:

Relaxation Meredith Style…...

Involves planning my own projects. On average, I plan a room for myself at least 5 times and I take anywhere from 1-5 years to execute it. Maybe longer.

It's a sickness really. I torture myself over and over again. But not this time. This time, I'm moving forward. I may not know where I'm going with it exactly but here's a rough idea.

You may recall I was torn between tropical & bright splashes of colour for my sofa. I then unearthed a fave on my messy desk. Berry Leopard. My luck, now that I've finally decided, it will be discontinued.... oh well I am pretty smitten with this plan... for now.

I love Galleries. Books or Art or both! We have really tall ceilings so I want to take advantage. Here are a few of my faves... I am a bookcase image hoarder.

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4 - Suzanne Dimma - Style Department, 5 (Bella Foster, artist)

I'll take any one of these for the den... The acid citron one is totally floating my boat for some reason say layered over a black and cream striped dhurrie?

August 22, 2011:

#ProjectKitchenGorgeous - An Update! WITH PICS!

We are fast approaching the completion of #PKG. Christine returned home from a few weeks of holiday time with the family out on the East Coast to a big surprise... Marble, Lights, New Furniture & Styling oh my!

Appliances & backsplash get installed this week, drapery and a few finishing touches soon to follow.

It's hard to not look/think/talk about this project without squealing. Truly. It's also pretty darn fantastico to have a client who is soo appreciative of all the beauty.

A little taste of what she came home to!

Christine has curated a rather large collection (notice I'm resisting using the H word here) of smalls, objets & glassware/stems. The process for arranging/styling/deciding is well complicated. I had an inspiration picture that I knew C loved so I used that as my guide line. Still think there is room for tweaking but we'll wait on that until say, we've got a magazine coming in to shoot it....