Client e-design

This weekend I was getting a sponsorship & giveaway post ready for an ad spot that I will be running on Natasha's blog - Hello Happiness - and I came across an e-design I did for a client a few months ago.  I can't believe I forgot about this design - it's one of my favorites!

I really like the play on colors and the idea of a barn wood feature wall to bring contrast and texture to the space.  Nancy's house is a farmhouse in the eastern US that is filled with natural light - she has an eclectic style that made this design so fun!

Easy Breezy Coastal Bedroom Design

While I was on maternity leave I was fortunate enough to work with a couple of design clients! (Thankfully they were patient with me since the designs took longer than normal to complete.)

This client wanted to create a bedroom that had a coastal and somewhat rustic feel.  What came out of the design process was this Easy Breezy Coastal Bedroom design board!

This might be one of my favorite rooms that I've worked on.  I love the light - airy feel, cool colors, and mix of furniture.  Not to mention a couple of interesting pieces like the wave pillow, nightstand, and turtle planter!

This gal was fun to work with and I loved her input with the ideas she had throughout the design process!

If you are interested in your own e-design, check out my design services!

Out of respect for paying clients, I do not share item sources.

Client Design: Home Office

I love it when emails roll into my inbox asking for help to decorate or even re-create a space, especially when the potential client shares my design style!

Alyssa recently got in touch with me to help her update her home office and turn it into a more modern space.  Here are a couple of before pictures...

I love how much space is in this office - I would to have this space!

Ultimately, Alyssa wanted to lighten up her home office and turn it into an open, more creative space that she can share with her kids. Here is what we came up with! 

Since Alyssa already had her kids table, we just needed to update her "adult" furniture!  White furniture is so fun and instantly lightens up a space!  

To create a large desk space that leaves room for both work and craftiness we decided to go with a butcher block counter top (4) braced by cabinets for storage (6 and 7). 

To add some shine and sparkle to the space we decided on gold accents, including a gold polka dot accent wall.

Finally, to create a clean-feeling space, we decided on white walls to let more natural light reflect.  Light colors are perfectly inspiring spaces.  Not to mention, white goes with everything!

If you are interested in re-decorating your space this summer, I'd love to help!  Check out my e-design page and send me an email (designyourdwellingblog (at) gmail.com) to get started!

Weekend shopping list for baby K's nursery

Yesterday my sweet husband got the crib put together which now has me motivated to get the entire room decorated.  It's about time considering we are only about 10 weeks away from having a baby.  Yes, 10 weeks sounds like a long time but I have a feeling it will go quick.

We aren't finding out if we are having a boy or girl so deciding how to decorate the room has become a little bit of a challenge but there are a few items I have on my shopping list that will work perfectly in a gender-neutral nursery!

1 / 2 / 3

Unfortunately we don't have an Ikea in Iowa but I am headed to Minnesota, where there is an Ikea, to visit one of my best friends who just had her baby!

While furniture from Ikea has the tendency to a little on the "cheap" side, it will work perfect for a baby and future toddler room.  If something gets damaged due to wear and tear (or a very "busy" child) we wont feel so bad having to throw it away and upgrade in the future. 

Plus, I know my husband can't wait to assemble more furniture... Honey, this is only the beginning... 

Client Design - A Spring Kitchen

Kitchens are some of my favorite spaces to decorate because they are a space that you spend a lot of time - in fact, I've been sitting in my kitchen all day working!

Valerie sent me a note a few weeks back looking for help styling her kitchen, dining, seating area space.  This is a great space, I love how much room there is to gather your family and friends. 

Valerie wanted to leave the paint color and stenciling as is but fill the space with additional color and decor elements.  I worked closely with Valerie on this design since she already had her eye on some dining room chairs and bar stools.   Here is the design we came up with!  I can't wait to see after pictures!

If you are interested in booking a custom e-design for your space, I would love to help!  Click here for more information. I am currently taking clients, turn around time is approximately two weeks.

Kitchen sneak peek

Our home renovation is finally coming to a close - just waiting on the painter to come back for touch ups and to finish painting our trim.  I am so ready to have my entire house put back together and to be done working with contractors coming and going.  While I appreciate their hard work, I'm ready to be back on my own schedule, especially Saturday mornings. (Coffee and a little HGTV and Food Network tv-watching - in my pj's of course!)

Once I get to bringing our house together with our decorating plans more posts will come but for now, here is a sneak peek of our kitchen.

Before / Tear Down

During

After

I am more than pleased with the result! :)  Can't wait to show you more!!

New Year, New Home - A Resolution to Love Your Space!

Happy New Year!  How can it be 2014 already - eeekk!! I just wrapped up one of my favorite years of all time so with any luck that means life should just get better, right?!

On December 30 (no lie) we talked to a contractor about gutting the whole main floor of our 80+ year old Iowa farmhouse, changing the layout to an open floor plan.  A big undertaking but it will be so well worth it to have a better, more open floor plan.  We are both very excited to say the least.  In fact, Adam is building basement storage this very minute...

While we aren't getting an actual new home (I don't want to leave our farm site) it will feel like a new home and I can't wait to share plans along the way!

In honor of the new year and our resolution to love our space, I have a special offer for you - a sale on all Design Your Dwelling design services!!

E-Design Services are on sale for $80/room (originally $100)

Virtual Room Consultations are one sale for $15/room (originally $25)

This offer is available thru January 31.  Email me at designyourdwelling (at) gmail.com and mention the  New Year, New Home offer to get started!

One of my goals for 2014 is to really run with my interior design business.  I love it - it feels so good to help people design a space people are excited to live in!

For more on my design services go here. To see some of the client designs I've worked on, go here.

Cheers to 2014 friends!

Client Design + Before & After

Is it seriously December already - eeekkk! This month always seems so jam-packed but in the end we survive!  This month I am participating in two local vendor fairs and hoping to wrap up a couple of client designs before Christmas.  The good news is that this is all stuff I enjoy!! (Did I tell you that I haven't started Christmas shopping yet either?!)

Anyhow... I month or two back I had the opportunity to work with a great gal, Neda, to re-decorate her living room.  She has such a great space so of course my mind started to go in a million different directions because the possibilities were endless.

Here is a "before" look at her living room.

Isn't her space awesome?! I love the high ceilings and the open floor plan!  Based on the client profile she sent me, I pulled together this living room design for her.

Neda did such a great job pulling the space together.  I sort of want to live here. :)  Not to mention this quick picture from her phone looks like it came from a magazine!  It's so clean, fresh, and modern!!  This is easily one of my favorite spaces that I've had the opportunity to decorate!

What do you think?!

If you are looking for help with any room in your home, let me know, I'd be happy to help!  Hop on over to my e-design services page for more information or email me designyourdwellingblog (at) gmail.com to get started!

Turn on the Twinkle - A Holiday Design Board

I am shocking myself by the fact that I am already thinking about Christmas and decorating for the holidays!  This year I found my decorating inspiration from this Glitzy Greeting card by Tiny Prints.  I love the combination of gold and jewel tones and by adding just a few holiday decorations, a room can easily be transformed into a beautiful space to live and entertain guests during the holidays!

How about this for a holiday space?!

Inspiration

Glityz Greeting: Black Ornament Card

For more Tiny Prints holiday cards go here.

Start With The Basics

sofa | side table | rug | lighting

Add Pillows

happy holidays pillow | purple & gold pillow | polka dot lumbar pillow

Finish With Holiday Cheer

pine cone garland | Mistletoe print | wreath

For more items to go with this "Turn on the Twinkle" look visit my Pinterest board: Christmas Decorating 2

One more thing!  If you are planning to order holiday cards Tiny Prints has a site-wide sale of 25% of your purchase with the code SW1117!  No minimum purchase required. Offer ends November 17, 2013.

If you would like a custom design board created just for you, I would love to help! Visit my e-design page for more information.

My Favorite Interior Design Bloggers

There is no doubt that I love interior styling, decorating, DIY projects and inspiration in general.  In case you were curious where some of my inspiration comes from, I want to introduce you to my favorite interior decoration bloggers!

I make a stop at 6th street design school every day to see if Kristen has anything new - she is seriously awesome!

Sarah's blog is full of DIY projects and her home makes you leave feeling envious of her fresh and modern style!

I've had the opportunity to meet Jackie of Teal and Lime and she is one of the nicest, most helpful people I've met.  I truly admire how she is making her blog work for her.  Not to mention she has a beautiful home and creativity that I could only wish I had!

 Nicole's blog, Making it Lovely, is a regular stop for me too! Her style is so different from mine that I leave feeling completely inspired to give a few new ideas a try and to step out of my comfort zone.

Lay Baby Lay is a blog focused on nursery design but her designs are so awesome. You can see the room come to life.  Plus she shares all of her sources.  This has definitely added to my "go-to" files for design clients - adults and kids!

There you have it - an idea of where some of my inspiration comes from! What are your favorites?  Let me know in the comments because I would LOVE to check them out!  Cheers!

Paint Colors In My Home

If you ask me, its hard to choose paint colors so I am always on the look out for paint color recommendations.  Over the past year or so I've come across a few paint colors that I love and have used in my own home.  If you're on the hunt for the perfect paint color, hopefully this helps!

Bedroom Walls - Sherwin Williams Repose Gray (SW7015)

  

Main floor bathroom cabinet - Sherwin Williams Thunder Gray (SW7645)

Entryway walls - Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray (SW7029)

Home office cabinets - Sherwin Williams Slow Green (SW6456)

October Mood Board Link Party + A Giveaway!

Hi Everyone!  It's been awhile since I've hosted a mood board link party for interior design bloggers but recently I've gotten quite a few requests to bring it back so I thought, why not?!  We are getting into winter when house projects and dreams of home updates can take shape so I invite you to get inspired by all of the fantastic design that have been linked up!

Super simple requests for the link up:

1|| Follow my blog via GFC, Bloglovin, or Facebook - I'll definitely follow back!
2|| Link up as many mood boards or e-designs as you would like!
3|| Check out the designs by other bloggers - I always find inspiration and new shops to check out!
4|| Tweet about the link up or share it on your Facebook page
5|| Link back to this post.

I pin all of your design boards to my Pinterest account from your original post to help drive traffic to your blog!

I am also giving away a virtual room consult to one lucky reader! Sign up to win below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Home Office Reveal

FINALLY I am showing off my home office! I've been hinting at it on Instagram and Facebook so it's about time that I give you the goods. This project has only been in the works for 2 years.  Mostly because I couldn't decide on the color to paint my cabinets until I learned to "Be Brave."

Before I show you the current state, I need to share the "before" picture with you.  It will add a little more shock value so hopefully you wont walk away from this post and say, "hmmph, I expected more..." :)

Yep, that is what we started with, an old Iowa farmhouse basement.  Thanks to my sweet husband for saying "Honey, you need a space for yourself and all of your creative work." Which probably really meant, if I fix up the basement she'll keep all of her crafty stuff out of the dining room. :)  Regardless, I am thankful that he had the basement painted for me and had a friend build custom cabinets as my Christmas present. 

Here you go... the after!

My new decorating motto is "Be Brave" I picked this up from ABChao, a blogger whose Design Camp I attended in Minneapolis.  For this project, being Brave meant painting my cabinets a blue/green color  (Slow Green by Sherwin Williams - SW6456) instead of painting them white or staining them which would have probably been the logical thing to do. :)

There are a few quirks that I wish we could fix like actually putting sheet rock on the walls but we have a small leak on days when we get a really  heavy rain.  I would also love to have the floor leveled but that would take a lot of money which means I would have to starting doing a lot more e-design work. (Feel free to ask, I would love to help you out!)

Regardless of the quirks that still exist, I have fallen in love my stone, farmhouse basement space, that still leaks every once-in-awhile. At least it didn't have dirt floors...

Featured on Tuesdays at Ten June!  Thanks Michelle!

I'm Back From Design Camp!

Good morning my sweet friends!  I am back from AB Chao Design Camp!!  

In case you missed it via my Twitter, Instagram or Facebook feed, I spent the weekend in Minneapolis at the AB Chao design camp.  What a great time, full of tips for good design and styling your home!  Here are a few shots from camp...

I got to hang out and even work one-on-one with the sweet and creative AB Chao!

 Camp was not complete without these fun little gifts and of course mimosas all day long... 

Design camp was hosted by Josi, a fabric designer in Minneapolis, MN and owner of Home Fashion Fabrics.  She has gorgeous, patterned fabric all over her shop. 

Our group was so fun! I couldn't have asked for better ladies to share the weekend and connect with.  Everyone was so kind and so creative. :)

Here are the top 4 things I learned a camp:

one. Good design can change your life.

two. Be Brave!

three. Build on the basics. 95% safe and 5% fun!

four. Go big or go home.  (Buy a few large accessories rather than a lot of little ones.)

Of course I learned more which you will see in future designs.

Happy Monday all!

Announcing Design-To-Go!

Happy Monday!! I hope you all had a great weekend.... we welcomed a new puppy to our family and went to a friends wedding.  All-in-all it was a pretty darn good weekend!

However, I am excited to kick off the week with a fun little announcement - I am adding "Design-To-Go" to my little interior design blog!  A personal goal of mine is to start a virtual interior design business as an extension of my blog so I can continue to inspire people to live a beautiful life by helping them design a space they love to live in.

Here is how it works...

Every month I will add new virtual room designs to my Design To Go page.  The design will include paint, furniture, flooring, lighting, accessories, everything that a custom mood board would include.

For only $25 everyone will have the opportunity to purchase the design!  With your purchase you will receive a JPG file of the design board, the shopping list for all of the items in the space, and a series of design tips that will help you pull the space together.

To purchase, send an email to designyourdwellingblog (at) gmail.com with "Design To Go" in the subject line.  Once I receive payment through PayPal I will send you the design board, shopping list, and design tips!

Here are the first two designs that are available to you for purchase...

Living Room

(Design available until 8/12/13 - Slight revisions can be made for $10/item or paint color)

Home Office

(Design available until 8.12.13 - Slight revisions can be made for $10/item or paint color)

To purchase either (or both) of these designs, email designyourdwellingblog (at) gmail.com.

I am definitely excited to launch Design To Go! What do you think?!

P.S. - Custom mood boards are still available. :)

Mood Board Link Party

Hi everyone!  It's time for the July mood board link party!  (I decided against last week since it was a holiday week... sorry) However, I am excited to bring the link party back to life this month for you to link up any or all of the mood boards you have been working on.  This link party will be open all month long so keep on stopping back.

To kick off the link party - here is one of my favorite design boards that I recently completed for a client!

Here are the quick requests for participating...

1. Follow my blog via Bloglovin'

Host: Beth - Design Your Dwelling

2. Grab A Button!

Grab a button below and include it in your blog post or where you share your link parties on your blog.

3. Share it!

Spread the word about this link party by tagging me (@beth_dydblog) in a tweet with a direct link to your mood board post and using the hashtag #moodboardlinkparty! Feel free to share it on Facebook too!

4. Like it!

Like your favorite mood boards by clicking the 'like' option below your favorite!  I will feature the design board with the most likes during the next link party!

Each week I pin all of your mood boards to my Design Boards board on Pinterest!

Most importantly, connect with, be inspired by and follow other design bloggers!

Grab a button, link up, and have fun! :)

<center> <a href="http://designyourdwelling.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l194/krferrall/moodboardlinkpartydyd_zpsb2f7dbf5.jpg" border="0" height="150" width="150"/></a></center> The next mood board link party will be hosted the first Tuesday in August!