The Changing Room: May 2013

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Spring Scrapbook

So sorry I haven't posted as frequently lately. You Champs deserve better! I've missed you!

I've been busy springing full swing into spring. Here's a brief scrapbook of what I've been up to this past month:

Hosting family birthday parties:

Shopping for clients:

Attending end of the year school celebrations:

Planting Flowers:

Biking to the Beach and enjoying Michigan Sunsets:

Being my niece Danika's special VIP guest in her kindergarten classroom!
best. day. ever.

Staging my booth at Not So Shabby:

Working at Not So Shabby:

Remodeling client's bedrooms:

Dens:

Walls:

Making Custom signs:

and so much more, like hitting Allegan Antiques this past Sunday, (next blog post), and having fun spending time on the water with my new stand up paddle board!

Thanks to those of you who commented on my last post regarding my mini kitchen remodel. I'd love to post pics of some of the projects you're working on. Send them to my email at christyboeve@yahoo.com and I'll upload some here.

I know many of you are heading outside for the summer season and all interior projects come to a screeching halt (as do mine), but if you need any direction with color selections, accessorizing, staging or purchasing, let me know. I cut back my hours in the summer, but I'm here if you need me!

Wait until you see some inspiration for springtime vignettes- next blog post. My favorite vendor was back at Allegan Antiques and it was eye candy, let me tell you. Come back here to check it out soon.
Enjoy the short work week!

C-

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Monday, May 20, 2013

mini kitchen remodel

I'm sitting in my home office right now in the exact spot where when I posted last, I had a space heater blowing at my hands to warm them up as I typed. Wow! What a difference a week makes! It's nearly 90 degrees in here and I refuse to turn on the air conditioning yet. I am loving open window and fresh breezes, but I might cave soon. I am dripping with sweat! Summer is almost here! Yippee!

I wanted to finally post pictures of our mini kitchen remodel. I call it mini not only because my kitchen is pretty mini, but also because we didn't make a ton of changes...only a few that made the space brighter, lighter and feel a little larger.

I truly do try to live by my business tag line, "Room for Change-Where a little change, goes a long way". See for yourself. See if it's true:

Kitchen: Circa 2010

Kitchen 2013

BEFORE:

(Why is it killing me that I left my coffee creamer out on the counter? "Countertop Cleaner" is not happy with herself for that)!

2010

NOW:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

This photo above is actually from 2012-last year when Kennedy and I decided on a whim to paint the original cabinets one more time before Ken built me new fronts. Here she is, hard at work:

Here's what we did:

Switched the tile looking laminate flooring to engineered bamboo.

Replaced the door and drawer fronts with a recessed panel shaker style design. (Ken built them for me out of pine for less than a couple hundred bucks)! I painted them "Inspire Awe" by Clark and Kensington Paints.

Switched out the black hardware to a brushed nickel modern pull I bought from Lowe's.

Replaced our outdated faucet and installed an instant hot water tap (LOVE).

Bought new aluminum bar stools from Overstock.com

Replaced our built in kitchen island with a rustic pine Pottery Barn knock-off! (Again, Ken built me this out of pine and I distressed and stained it). Saved ourselves $2, 350!!) We have yet to add the industrial looking bolts...that's next.

Bought a new pedant light in over the island from Lowe's.

Added a porcelain counter top to the island that looks like marble. (Duca Tile and Stone-Holland).

I am happy with how everything turned out, despite sweeping and mopping the dark kitchen floor more often than I want to. :)

Here are a few more angles.

The final (??) project we have in this house is updating/finishing off our laundry room. Trying to psych ourselves up for that in the fall.

Hope your week is off to a great start! See you back here soon.

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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the CHAMPS out there who fearlessly, passionately, lovingly live out this calling of motherhood day after day. It is often a thankless job and I want to make sure that those girlfriends out there who weren't acknowledged fully today get a great big shout out here!!

You are amazing and I thank you for inspiring me every time I meet one of you. Let's continue to encourage and not compete with one another. We're in this thing together and I'm honored to partner with many of you in celebrating the joys and commiserating over the defeats that this calling provides.:)
In honor of Mom's day, I will showcase two rooms below. Both of which I can take no credit for, except for choosing wall colors and offering some advice on accessories. This one below is my friend Abby's little boy, Murphy who is transitioning to his big boy bed while waiting patiently this last week for the arrival of his new brother or sister .
(*Disclaimer-if these pics make you feel like an inadequate mother, stop my my house anytime and take a sneak peek at my girls' rooms-they are a disaster of mismatched furnishings, piles of clothes, food and unidentified foreign objects).

This one below is my client Karen's guest bedroom/ retreat for her oldest college aged daughter to bunk in for the summer months before she heads off into the real world. So sweet how both women went to great lengths to make sure their children's rooms were a reflection of their love and care. (Again, those of us that don't or can't-there is NO shame in that. We're good at other things, right? Like remembering to brush our teeth every day).

Ignore the bag on the bed. My attention to detail is slipping while snapping photos on the run. :)

Karen is looking for additional wall art and wants to recover the shades and replace the baubles on the chandelier but I thought all of it was eclectic and precious and told her not to change a thing. (My bedroom chandelier is eclectic and precious because half the decorative bulbs are burned out and it keeps me from having to put it on a dimmer switch). :)

Of course, me and my strong opinion couldn't leave well enough alone and during my my color consult with Abby, I tried talking her out of painting Murphy's bed bright green. I was rooting for robin's egg blue, but she forged ahead and proved me wrong. I truly LOVE it and it is soooo Murph- preppy and bright and cheerful. I think she offered me a compromise by painting the base of the vintage card catalog nightstand blue.(A shout out to my better half who built that base/box for her).

I thought Karen's vintage dresser was so sweet. I loved the detail on the knobs and the beading on the sides. (My dresser doesn't have beading, it's just taken a beating).

Here's a few more shots of Murphy's room:

This is the same over-achieving, but so very lovable mom who threw the London themed b-day party for Murph's first birthday bash. You can see some of the same nods to London in his room. (The theme for both of my girls rooms is "FOR THE ONE HUNDRED MILLIONTH TIME, PICK UP THIS ^%$%$##$####"!" :)

I'm Murphy's neighbor, so I get to remind him these upcoming years just how lucky he is to have a Mommy like his-and NOT because his room is so sweet, but because his Mommy is.

Karen let me snap a few other photos of her house.
She has a gift for accessorizing and
making everything feels so inviting and homey. I loved her living room set up and use of a vintage ladder.

And one last pic of her own bedroom:

Again, I only helped with color selection and some ideas for furniture placement and some suggestions for implementing some functional character pieces like this: