Here is a “quickie” design board I threw together for a friend who is furnishing her new home. I was honored to be her buyers agent on the house and can only imagine the fun and creative decorating she is going to do. She needed some advice on which rug to purchase so I placed it on a design board with some other accessories to give her some additional ideas. She really likes French Provincial with an industrial edge.
Spring 2015 is bringing exciting and new possibilities! I am happy to announce that One Love Interiors is now A Grace Interiors!
Picking a name for your business can be extremely stressful and daunting. You want it to be a reflection of you but also convey to any potential clients what you do. One Love stemmed from me trying to throw my beliefs out into the world. In the words of the great Beatles, all we need is love. So that is where that came from.
One day I wrote on a Houzz.com message board to get advice from other professionals on my One Love Interiors name. One person said when they heard it, they imagined Bob Marley drawing floor plans. The thought of that sounds awesome-mon, but did not portray the professional image I sought.
I wanted to incorporate Grace because that is my middle name and I was named after my grandmother. My Grandma Grace was an amazing woman. My mom always called her a saint. She always helped our family when we were in need, taught me so much and had a certain elegance to her. If I could go back in time and talk to her, I would. She had an amazing eye for style in fashion and in home décor. She would help my grandfather during his home building years, select finishes and decorate his homes. Their Ranch home on Lake Murray in Columbia, SC was spectacular. She had beautiful paintings throughout, lovely china displayed in her china cabinet and curated accessories throughout.
About a year ago, I visited my grandfather in the mountains and we went through some old boxes of stuff from the Columbia house. My grandmother passed away when I was in the 4th grade, and my father shortly after that. All of her belongings were packed away when my grandfather moved to the mountains. The boxes were filled with all the items I remembered as a child. It is amazing what you remember from something as small as an old Avon bottle. She collected little items like that and proudly displayed them. My grandfather let me take what I could fit in my car. I got home, cleaned all the items carefully, packed most back up in a box to store. I left a few items out that I could use in the house. In one of the boxes was a stash of vintage Christmas decorations! Old school tinsel and Christmas balls that current department stores inventory doesn’t hold a flame to. Even plastic nonsense was made with more care back then.
I was named after my grandmother and some of my favorite memories growing up are from her. I know she is watching over me know. I want to make her proud and she deserves to be honored..thus a grace interiors!
I had the pleasure of attending the Fall High Point Furniture Market this year as One Love Interiors! It was so exciting getting my badge in the mail and putting it into my lanyard upon arriving. Sunday morning I woke up bright and early, hit up the Whole Foods for a vegan breakfast biscuit and almond latte, and hit the road to the Hot Pocket! The night before I made a list of the showrooms that I had to see first.
I always prefer Fall market to Spring for some reason. Maybe it is because the Fall is usually sprinkled with seasonal décor and there is a chill in the air that carries excitement! For those of you who don’t know what the market is, it is the largest home furnishings trade show in the WORLD! Right in our very own High Point (or as I like to call it, Hot Pocket, hmmmm).
One of my first stops was Global Views of course. I learned about GV when I was a designer for a hotel developer and Marriott always specified their products. it is funky, eclectic and global. I truly love every single thing they pump out! They have a brand called Worlds Away that was spot on in home accessories! Here is a photo slideshow of my time at Market. Join me next year and we can peruse the pretties and drink some mimosas at the same time.
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I was honored to help two of my best friends purchase their first home! We closed a few weeks ago and it was a very happy day! Real estate is a funny thing…you never know what can happen. The ultimate goal is to close and have both parties be happy which I think we succeeded in. It is a beautiful home located in the heart of North Raleigh and is a hop, skip and jump to North Hills. The two story home features hardwood flooring, updated kitchen, built-in’s, updated master bath and HUGE backyard. The new homeowners are interested in blowing out a wall between the formal living room and family room to open it up a bit. We had a contractor check it out and he said if it was built accurately, then he did not think it was load baring but we never know until we tear down the wall. I have started to work on some 3-D models of the space to give my friends an idea of what it would look like opened up (with added beam for support and without). I hope to purchase some rendering plug-ins soon to assist in giving it a realistic look. For now, for space planning purposes, this really helps.
Selecting paint colors can be a very intimidating process, even for experienced designers. Simply taping paint chips to the wall does not cut it in my opinion. 
Excuse the rotting banana.
Taping samples is a good start but narrow it down and take a trip to the local hardware store to buy a small sample (all brands offer samples nowadays). Purchase some bright, white foam board and paint the sample directly. Once it dries, you can move it around a room and see what it looks like in different lights (natural, incandescent, fluorescent etc). Look at it during different times of day to see if the color changes. A color can look great in the daylight but once the sun goes down and you are relying on that 1980’s framed ceiling light to illuminate the space, you might realize the paint looks like vom. No bueno.
Here is a sample board showing two paint samples I am considering for our living/dining/kitchen (see design board here).
Painting sample boards is something I always recommend. It is a safe, easy, non-committal way to test paint colors. If you are lucky, you live by an Ace Hardware and you can purchase small foam boards for a song.
Happy Painting
Happy Fall Everyone! Fall is our favorite season for so many reasons. The crisp chill in the air, sun filtering through the kaleidoscope of falling leaves, pumpkin spice everything, scarves and sweaters are a few of our favs. Not to mention, the most amazing holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving!
Initial e-design board for our master bathroom remodel.
Here are updated Google Sketch Up Renderings for our master bathroom. These are just basics and don’t have all the rendering plugin bells and whistles but it gave a good idea of how it would layout. We are finished with the bathroom except for one glass shower shelf (that will fit into the shower wall recessed shelf). It could not have turned out better! Picture will follow!
Google Sketch Up Renderings of Master Bathroom
*Listening to new music that sounds like 80’s music. Check out Betty Who, “High Society”.
The other morning I grabbed the hubs and enormo-dog and we drove to Umstead Park in Raleigh. Umstead State Park is simply amazing and reminds me of being in Boone..perhaps on the Parkway or behind my house growing up. You could always find my sisters and I playing in the woods when we lived off Castleford Rd. Looking up and seeing the towering tree’s makes you feel small and humble. Being in nature always puts things in perspective for me.
Lately I have been working on myself. Trying to get better in a number of ways. Maybe better is not the write word, let’s say aware and present. I have been working on my physical health, mental and emotional wellness and outlook on life. Somehow I got caught up in the busy-ness. Through reading more enlightening books, yoga and seeing an amazing acupuncturist with a holistic approach, I feel like I am making progress. Fear and stress is trickling out of my body and I am happy to see it go. I have always been a “worry-wart” (my mother’s term) and it has followed me into adulthood. Worrying about things I have no control over, worrying about what people think, worrying about my future, worrying about not worrying enough! I know I am not the only person out there who does this and it makes me sad to think that the world we live in creates so much anxiety for people.
Thirty hit and I realized it needed to stop. Turning thirty has been amazing and all of a sudden I am doing more empowering things. Yoga was also the catalyst for change. I started doing yoga seriously about 2 years ago and it planted the seed. For the first time in my life I feel comfortable in my own skin. I am in control of my reactions to the things and people around me. I always have been..it just took some growing up to trust myself. Your attitude affects your reaction to external blows. You have to see it for what it is, let it move through you and acknowledge it and move on. Don’t worry about it. Just be present and the rest will fall into place.
While wrapping up the trail at Umstead the thunder started to roll. Lighting lit up the sky and the clouds opened up. We started to run but I did not care about getting wet. I chose to focus on the moment and how great it was to be alive and to feel the rain on my skin! After jumping into the car (and noticing my husband was not thrilled with the turn of events) I turned to him and said “Sometimes in life, it rains. It rains hard and it is up to us to accept it and smile. We cannot let it ruin our day or our mood.” My intention was to lift his mood but also to secretly remind myself that life (just like nature) is beautiful, the good and the bad.
Another field trip to Goodwill. Always a fun experience.
Who remembers this? Home girl needs a drink.
This table rocks! Keep the legs brass or spray paint a fun color!
This papasan chair was only $20 bones. I would recover that baby and go. Or elevate it like this person did here.
I did a double take on this vase. I don’t think it’s a vase.
Cheesy? Maybe. Or you could make it amazing like this person did.
Happy Thrifting!
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