Client Entry Before and After - in Neutrals

Hello out there readers of design blogs!  Today I have a postlet to share with you of a recent foyer makeover.  This is one of the "afters" because I think it best to open things up with some pretty.

So now we'll back up to where it all began.

The thing is my clients' home is at the top of a mountain on the most gorgeous wooded lot, and we didn't think this particular arrangement honored the natural loveliness of its surroundings. Although the console table was a step in the right direction, the three shelves with the two mirrors and chairs felt busy.

My clients wanted something rustic and sophisticated.  And they did not want to repaint the walls.

Sorry for this horrifically blurry shot, but its the only one I have the shows the "before" of the feature art piece painted by my client's son.  I immediately knew we should make this painting the focal point of the long wall of the entry.  I had the painting reframed with a wider creamy white mat and a simple black frame for a cleaner, more updated look. (see below)

Here's what else.  We added some whitewashed planks to the aforementioned long wall, hung that pretty painting, put a long chunky console table under it and styled the whole thing up. With some nature-inspired stuff like those twigs I got out of their side yard. And, to keep the look from going all Cracker Barrel on us, we added some modern glam with that amazing Drexel Heritage glass prism lamp and crisp white accessories. 

We also painted the French Doors to the outside living area a rich charcoal gray, which we repeated in the family room on the book cases and exterior doors.  It gives them such presence, doesn't it?

Before

 In this slightly wider shot, you can see we also replaced the fussy wool rug with a black & white cowhide.  Oh how I love it!  And we replaced the generic chandelier with something a little more whimsical. A tall leaner mirror further simplifies the look and is perfect for checking out your head to toe look before heading out the door.

And that's the end!  Thanks for stopping by and having a look.  And did you know if you were following me on Instagram then you would have already seen it? Follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and on Facebook!

ORC Week 5 - China Cabinet and Chairs Get Zhushed

Welcome to week # 5 of Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Event.  I'm making over the living room/dining room combination in my humble little abode known as Project Dollhouse.  If you'd like to see where it all began and get caught up on my progress up to this point, you can do that here.

Today I have a few makeovers to share with you.  As much as I'd like to get all new everything at my place, the cold hard truth is that just isn't in the budget.  So that means I'm working with a lot of the things I already have, and have had for decades.  One such thing is my corner china cabinet I've had since circa a long time ago.  Like one of the first pieces I bought as a young bride, when I thought it was cool to buy a dining room "set".

Here's the Where's Waldo version of my china cabinet, with my china cabinet playing the part of Waldo

Yes, there it is in the circular mirror in a dining room 3 houses and about 5 years ago. This the only picture I could find and once again, I failed to take a proper "before".

I decided to strip it of its dated arched glass top door leaving the top portion open and then painted the whole thing black.  I also wanted to do something unique with the interior and I found the perfect something in this TJ Maxx wrapping paper. So I Modge-Podged it to the inside of the china cabinet.  I don't have pics of that process because have you ever tried to photograph yourself whilst modge podge-ing paper to the inside of a cabinet?  It can't be done.

Did you know I love anything marbleized?

Brace yourselves: here come the grainy night time iphone pictures. I decided the simplicity of the white pieces inside would be a nice counterpoint to the marbleized paper, but I will probably play around with it some more.

Okay then!  Also underway is a fluff on a set of Chippendale chairs for my dining room table. I even have a proper "before".

They got the old white paint treatment and are currently getting some super groovy fabric thanks to my girl Kimber who can hook you up with the most amazing assortment of swoony fabrics and wallpapers under the sun!

One almost down and 3 to go. 

Hope everyone else if faring well, and I hope to see you back here next Thursday for the reveal of my living room and dining room makeovers!

I plan to post updates each day this week on my Instagram feed.  Follow me!

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to discover the joy of living in a well designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com 

Thinking Ahead for The One Room Challenge

Are you planning to link up to Linda's next One Room Challenge event?  It kicks off on April 3, and for 6 consecutive Thursdays the blogosphere with be up to its elbows in progress reports and DIY victories.  If you didn't get a chance to participate in the last ORC Link party, I highly recommend it.  Participating in The One Room Challenge is truly the most exhilarating, stressful, and exciting things I've done since I started blogging.

If you check in on my blog from time to time then you already know that my house (aka Project Dollhouse) is a work in progress.  We're doing mostly cosmetic changes, but even these types of projects can be costly and time consuming.   I have to admit that the One Room Challenge has been instrumental in bringing a few of my rooms to completion.

In the first ORC I made over my family room.

And in the second One Room Challenge I made over my sweet little kitchen:

So what do I have my sights set on for this round of the ORC?  My living room and dining room. They're open to each other and so this ORC will be a 2-fer.

This shot was taken before we even moved in.  We are still enjoying those plywood sub floors only now this space is cluttered with moving boxes filled with all the stuff that goes into these rooms once they get done. It's the perfect candidate for an ORC intervention.

And here's a teeny tiny sneak peak. There will be blue walls.  Don't hate because I painted.  Look at the plywood sub floors.  There is plenty left to do to bring this project to completion.

So who's with me?  Will you be linking up for the next One Room Challenge?  It will be upon us sooner than you think!!

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to discover the joy of living in a well designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

One Room Challenge Week 6 - My Kitchen Reveal!!

Welcome to the final post of  The One Room Challenge!  Before we get too deep into this, I'd like to serve up a biggie size thank you to Linda at Calling it Home for inviting me to participate!  I am completely honored to have been given a chance to make over my kitchen along with 19 of the most talented designers/bloggers/friends out there.  High fives, ladies, we made it to the finish line!

If this is your first visit to my blog, then you came on a good day.  For the last 6 weeks I have been sharing the trials and tribulations of my kitchen makeover.  If you'd like to read the back story, click here.

Let's have a final look at where it all began:

Oh my.  That's a dreary little kitchen. 

If you recall, I didn't make any changes to the kitchen's layout and I kept the original cabinets and flooring. 

I (meaning the husband) removed the upper cabinet to the left of the sink and we (again, the husband) replaced it with subway tile and white shelving from Lowe's.  Said shelves were styled mostly with stuff I already had.  The lemons and clementines are fresh.  Shopping for accessories in the produce department was a new and out of the comfort zone experience for me. 

This is a look at the cabinet wall across from the sink.  I styled the counter tops with things I already had and leaves from my back yard.

And here's my teeny tiny dining area. I'm pretty delighted with the 11th hour bench I scouted out at a local antique mall.  If you recall,  I wanted to keep this side of the seating area open by using a bench. Unbelievably I found a bench with nearly perfect size and form.  I zhushed it up with paint and fabric during the wee hours last night.

And did you notice that lovely sconce over the dining table?  I found the the perfect solution to my lighting dilemma at Rejuvenation.  Those folks are wonderful to work with.  I went with the Reed Plug-in Wall Sconce in a "burnished" finish and the shade is "old brass".  The plug-in feature means no electrician had to be called in and there is very little anxiety for those of you with commitment issues. You know who you are.

Can we just talk about how much I love my print from Etsy artist Loopy Lolly.?!?!?? I  wanted something whimsical over the kitchen table, and I knew instantly this was "the one".

My dining table is styled with leaves from my back yard, a thrifted trophy vase, and swan salt & pepper shakers we got as a wedding gift.

This is my favorite view into the kitchen, taken from my family room. My awesome Joy at my work room whipped up the roman shades for me out of super inexpensive cotton duck fabric trimmed out with craft store grosgrain ribbon.  They are beautifully made and she had them to me in 3 days.  Thank you Joy!!

And one last "big picture" photo.

Thanks for following along on my kitchen makeover journey. You guys have been so supportive and encouraging and I appreciate all of your comments and emails.

Oh, and a special thank you to Jaime for her beautiful photography work!!

PS.  I've been so impressed with the bloggers that are linking up with their room makeovers every Thursday! Make sure you check out their reveals too. You can find the links on Linda's blog tomorrow.

I'm dying to see how everyone else made out.  Here are the links to their reveals!

Calling It Home

Chinoiserie Chic 

Classic Casual Home 

Cottage and Vine 

Design Addict Mom 

Design Crisis 

Design Indulgence 

Design Manifest 

The English Room 

The Green Room Interiors

Henhurst Interiors 

Little Black Door 

Maddie's Nest 

Mix And Chic 

My Notting Hill 

Pawleys Island Posh 

The Pink Pagoda

Shelter

Simple Details 

The Vault Files 

One Room Challenge Week 3 - Kitchen Table & Chairs

You guys.  I have to fess up.  I had many comments last week from readers who were so impressed by the amount of work I had accomplished in a week.  Full disclosure.  The changes I showed you last week were made in 2 years time.  Not so impressed now, are you?  I  wanted to show you the real beginning in the first post, which was truly where it all started. Last week's post showed the state of the kitchen at the start of the ORC. Got it?  

Now, let's talk about my dining area.  It's small.  It's basically a table pushed up against the wall because if it wasn't pushed up against the wall we wouldn't be able to open the refrigerator or the dishwasher.  And that's important.

I've had a revolving door of tables in here but I think I've finally hit on a winner.

It's this one. I don't know what its made of or how old it is but it's just what I've been looking for.  I wanted something somewhat casual and timeworn, and this table had such nice clean lines and the right amount of wear.  And it fit the space perfectly.  Finally. 

Remember back in July when I posted about my love of mixing traditional dining tables with modern chairs?

That's what I'm doing.  I thought about using these beauties I picked up a few weeks ago.

But I'm not.  These are great, and modern, but the heart wants what the heart wants.  And my heart wants these.

It's a love match!  Even my 15 year-old daughter approves (of the chairs only. She hates the table).  

Most nights there's three of us for dinner, so I plan to add a little bench to the open side of the table.  More to come on that later.

And in other news... look at the walls.  They got primed this weekend!

to prepare for my wallpaper.  

which I have yet to reveal.  Come back next week and see!!!

Let's see what everyone else has accomplished this week. Find them here:

Calling it Home 

Chinoiserie Chic 

Classic Casual Home 

Cottage and Vine 

Design Addict Mom 

Design Crisis 

Design Indulgence 

Design Manifest 

The English Room 

Henhurst Interiors 

Little Black Door 

Maddie's Nest 

Mix And Chic 

My Notting Hill 

Pawleys Island Posh 

The Pink Pagoda 

Shelter 

Simple Details 

The Vault Files 

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to experience the joy of living in a well designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.31866 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com.

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Mirror Makeover

So in case you've been wondering what in the world I've been up to, I'll just tell you it's a lot of different stuff.  And I will be sharing more of it with you in the near future.

One of the little project-ettes I've completed is a mirror makeover for a client's nursery. If you follow The Green Room Interiors on Facebook, you may have already seen the inspiration board.

As you can see, our plan calls for a round mirror that will be placed on the wallpaper just above the crib.

Enter this little number I spotted at a local Antique Mall.  Nice, but I thought we could do better. So, after the sanding and priming, it got a coat of fresh white paint.

Better, but I still wanted to do more to bring out the stud detail of the mirror, which I think is its most interesting feature.

Familiar with Liquid Leaf?  It claims it's a one-step gold leaf finish in a bottle. And, it's only about $5 at Walmart.

I'm pretty happy with the results.  The gold is warm and soft, and I love it against the white paint. I used one of Shelby's small artists brushes to apply the paint to the studs.

This mirror is a surprise/gift that I plan to deliver to my client Friday afternoon.  I  hope she likes it! 

How is your to-do list coming?

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The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to discover the joy of living in a well-designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

New Shop Items and Finds

Good Thursday!  I hope you're having a good and productive week so far.  Today I want to share some new things I'm adding to my booth at Merchants On Main, and a few things I might be keeping here at Project Dollhouse.  Ready?

I'm kind of proud of myself for getting this one done.  I had only a yard & a half of fabric and the first cut I made was for the back of the chair and I cut the fabric a little too small.  Since the pattern has such a big repeat I had a hard time finding another part of the pattern that would fill the space properly. Luckily, the upholstery gods were smiling on me and it all worked out (after bullets were sweated).

I really lucked  out finding this Mid-Century white and gold china set. I'd love to keep it, but I just don't have the need or the space at home.  The set is by "Fascination" and has 38 pieces - including hard-to-find serving pieces like a gravy boat, platter, sugar and creamer.

This is the best rainy day garage photo I could come up with today.  I just finished up this gorgeous 5-drawer chest. Don't you love the pulls?  This piece is Mid-Century, made by Dixie and is solid oak under the new oil-based high gloss white finish.  Who doesn't need glamorous storage?

This one may take up permanent residence at the Dollhouse.  It's hand-painted silk and completely gorgeous.

Finally, I've loaded in this Mad Men-esque Mid-Century green pleather chair.  It has great details - can you see the brass caps on the legs?  It also has big brass nailheads on the side, but I neglected to get a picture of that.  It's in as-found but good vintage condition.

Wait, one more thing.  If you follow The Green Room Interiors on Facebook, you'll get to be the first to see new arrivals in my booth, so "like" us!

Who's ready for the weekend?

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to find out how a well-designed home can improve your life, contact Kim at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

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Project Dollhouse Family Room Styling and Sources

I have a few more photos I wanted to share with you of my family room makeover that was part of Linda at Calling it Home's One Room Challenge. I also got lots of emails inquiring about sources for some of the items in my room, so I've supplied links wherever I could. 

I got more emails about the Lemon Tree fabric than anything else.  Sadly, I can't share a source with you for this.  The fabric was a lucky find from a small fabric store in Atlanta near my mother's house.  I bought what was left on the roll and haven't seen it or been able to find it since.  If you want to have a go at locating it yourself, the fabric is by Greeff for Schumacher.  The name on the selvage is "Lemon Tree".  The store I where I found it is Budget Upholstery.  Information about them here. (They also made the slipcovers for my Mid-Century barrel chairs years ago and have reupholstered sofas and chairs for me. If you're in the area, I highly recommend them)

 Metal stool/ Leopard print fabric/ Cowhide rug/Yellow velvet fabric.  The rattan armchairs were an estate sale find.

My huntboard was styled mainly with things I already had.  The bird picture was given to me by my mother.  The chinoiserie lamp and mirror were thrifted, and the "Kimberly" brick was a happy find that was uncovered during a historic home restoration a few years back.  My husband found it in the basement and presented it to me as a gift. The bust/planter was a new purchase.  I altered the color by pouncing on small amounts of leftover gray, cream and beige paint.  When that was dry I rubbed on a thin layer of Minwax wood stain to give it some age.  

The needlepoint leopard and the pottery planter were both estate sale finds - not at the same time.  

Sofa/ Chinese garden stools/ Black geometric pillow/  Cream embroidered lattice pillows/ rug

All estate sale/thrift finds

Striped curtains/abstract painting/iron sconce (discontinued)/green chandelier crystals

Wall paint is Benjamin Moore's Moonlight White.  This room is blessed with a southern exposure that is unobstructed by trees or shade of any kind, so the light is wonderful all day long.

I have one more post planned for this room, and it addresses my heavy use of vintage and "found items".  If there's anything else you're curious about, shoot me an email!

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to experience the joy of living in a well-designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com