Storyful Design

We’re home in Philly! The last few weeks we have been slowly unpacking the whole house and getting things back in order after renting our house to tenants the last 7 months while we were away. One of the first priorities was getting my daughter a new bed. She outgrew the green crib/toddler bed (see slide 2).

My family had an antique wood spindle bed in storage from my grandmother she found somewhere that we claimed as the new bed. Decided to eliminate having a box spring so it sits low to the ground. Now working on dressing it up with some pretty linens. We are deep in 4 year old princess mode and so it’s got to be super femme and have elements of pink, but I try to balance with other fresh colors like yellows and greens to keep things layered and fresh.

I assembled these 2 schemes:
SOFT & PRETTY (image left)
or
CHEERY & PLAYFUL (image right)

My husband and I chose different (no surprise). Maybe my daughter will break the tie. Which would you choose? Let me know in the comments.

My husband was traveling to the University of Birmingham in the UK for work and I tagged along to visit Winterbourne House and Garden that now belongs to the University. It is an early 20th century suburban estate built in the Arts & Crafts Period, featuring gorgeous historic William & Morris papers and fabrics throughout. And many lovely architectural details in the plaster, woodwork, and hardware, created by local craftsfolks.

The grounds feature stunning gardens and I was lucky to have a perfect weather day to enjoy them with my daughter. Inspiration abounds!

Some completed construction photos sent to me by our contractor at the bathroom project in . Last pic is BEFORE. Still finishing touches of artwork, books and window treatments to come to complete the look. A unique design feature in this bathroom is the open shower that was also designed with accessibility in mind. We wanted to keep the bathroom as light and bright as possible and decided on this glass enclosure so you could still get the nice light from the window. The client talked about creating the feeling of an outdoor shower. I started researching exposed pipe shower systems that you often see in that scenario. I found a really awesome system that was designed to mount to glass like this, but it came at a luxury price that was way out of the budget. So I used that as inspiration and put together a custom system using much less expensive parts. Other challenge was the client did NOT want a rainhead which is often the style you see with exposed pipe systems. So this is truly super custom- the parts even come from different manufacturers and are pieced together. The contractor was awesome in coordinating the custom glass enclosure and getting a precise pre drilled hole to align perfectly with the riser attachment. The client reported the shower has already been tested and it does feel so bright and like showering outside. I love it when a plan comes together!

This bathroom also features a custom soapstone vanity, built-in millwork linen cabinet, custom mirror and medicine cabinet, and walnut shelving.

A little pop of color to brighten the feed. I have been taking an abstract painting course one night per week this month. Had never done abstract before, and I’m finding so many similarities in determining a composition to interior design. It’s exciting and inspiring! You start with this blank canvas (always intimidating), but then you put in some grounding planes of color to define the space in larger zones and start to break it down. You continue to layer on color and textures, pulling back in some places and allowing more contrast in others for your eye to easily move around the “room.” There are micro zones of visual interest within the larger composition. A touch of black always helps. And one little bright contrast color pop (like that perfect accent pillow). It always turns out best when you don’t overthink it and just let intuition guide the way! Looking forward to learning more and applying this to my work.

I don’t often share family photos on my professional account, but I want to highlight the work of who so beautifully captured our family and home. I also want to share with you all the news that my family is on the move and will be temporarily relocating from Philadelphia to Germany starting in January for an exciting opportunity. We will return to Philly next summer.

Thank you so much to my wonderful clients who have been so understanding and supportive. I have been hyper focused this season to make sure all projects have reached important milestones prior to this transition and will continue to monitor everything virtually (learned so much about how to do this through the pandemic!). I look forward to this special time with my family and to returning to on-site / in-person work next summer.

Stay tuned on this account for design inspiration from Europe in the New Year. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season filled with light and love and blessings! ✨