the dining banquette!

i am officially dubbing h & h interiors ‘masters of the breakfast nook.’ last month they shared a built-in beauty and today they’re wowing us with a freestanding dining table and banquette. the dining space off the kitchen was dated, featuring an eclectic chandelier, poorly sized table, light floor, and faux finish walls. dawn higgenbotham and tobie hand majorly revamped it, adding hardwood flooring, perfectly scaled furnishings, extra lighting, modern draperies, a patterned wallcovering and plush pillows. my favorite piece is the high-backed banquette, with velvet upholstery and nail head trim. it screams luscious living!

huge thanks to dawn higgenbotham of h & h interiors, llc for sharing photos of their birmingham redesigns. for more inspiration check out h & h's website and facebook page.

another anita clark stunner!

our favorite marblehead massachusetts designer is back, turning this meek monday into a show stopping day! anita clark once again worked her new england magic, customizing this recently constructed home. inhabited by a young family with two toddlers, they yearned for their home to feel finished and better reflect their personal style. while clark retained the original floorplan downstairs, she introduced new colors, fabrics, furnishings, finishes and accessories. i’m particularly fond of the new fireplace mantel, kitchen back-splash and banquette dining area.
upstairs anita mixed up the master suite. the bedroom was gigantic, while the bathroom and closet were on the small side. by cutting the palatial bedroom in half, clark was able to move the closet to its other half, allowing the bathroom to now fill the closet’s space. the ultimate switcheroo, by a talented designer, in my favorite new england!

i’d once again like to thank lauren beshara of anita clark designs for submitting photos of their massachusetts redesigns. for more inspiration check out clark’s website and facebook page.

flat iron loft

posting was light this week, but with both featured transformations hailing from manhattan, we’ve totally made up for it! susan hughes is back with another renovation from modify interiors. crying for updated finishes and a new floorplan, susan performed a head-to-toe rehaul on the flat iron loft. first she gutted, opening up the kitchen to the living and dining areas and breaking up the long hallway. she also added the illusion of added square footage by creating a retractable master bedroom wall. after space planning, susan decorated by specifying high-end finishes in the kitchen and bathrooms; a neutral brown color palette and perfectly scaled furnishings. the flat iron loft dazzles, feeling expansive compared to your average new york apartment and looking far more captivating.

i would especially like to thank susan hughes of modify interiors for submitting transformations from her new york firm.

tribeca apartment transformation

i love manhattan transformations! new york’s vibrant personality is always reflected, no matter who the designer is. today, felicitas oefelein is taking us to tribeca to show off her redo of a 2,500 square foot apartment. her client purchased the residence in great condition from a family, and while he loved the space, his bachelor lifestyle and contemporary art collection begged for some space changes. oefelein selected new paint colors, custom furnishings, lighting, window coverings, and accessories, as well as having the floors refinished. her major design changes include, transforming the very small and narrow children’s bedroom into a dramatic "art office", adding a fireplace mantel and reworking the guest bath with a daisycake curtain. the space now screams NEW YORK ELIGIBLE BACHELOR.

i would especially like to thank felicitas oefelein of FO design for submitting transformations from her new york firm.

our garage inspriaton

spring has sprung, the grass is riz, i wonder where our garage is? when temperatures started hitting the 50s, tyler and i decided it was time to turn our attention to the outside of our house. while we cleaned up its exterior last year, we've never done any real work to it. and now that we've started, i think i know why we had waited.
we have a freestanding garage. it probably looked really cute 40 years ago, but it's had a tough go around, what with a termite and an ivy infestation. our original spring spiff-up plan included the construction of new carriage doors and a painting. that plan, the ivy and the termites laughed in our faces. the reality, new siding, new flashing, cement work, structural beefing, and the removal of a whole lotta crap. we're picking up our new white siding tonight and tyler is hard at work buidling us custom carriage doors (which i'll be painting slate gray). by summer we're hoping that our garage will resemble the best of the beauts below. who knows, we may even go wild and add a pergola/trellis?!

[inspirational photo sources, from top to bottom: mona ross berman, melanie thompson, home shoot home and evergreen carriage doors]

the expanded cape

today’s renovation reminds me of the house i grew up in, which makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. when my parents bought the house in 1976 it was a small cape cod, much like the before version in today’s transformation. two major additions and countless color changes later they’ve got themselves an expanded cape just as lovely as today’s terracotta home. the georgian designers raised the roof thus raising the resale value. they also landscaped, reworked the color palette, added dentil moudling to the fireplace, and specified modern furnishings. terracotta’s designs always feel like home, but today’s conjure up the smell of my mom’s detergent, and the sound of dad’s slippers on the carpet.

special thanks to the lovely luly melarti of terracotta properties for submitting photos of their atlanta redesigns. for more inspiration check out terracotta’s website, twitter feed and facebook page.