NeoCon

This post is sooo last year. 

Well, not really last year, but last month already! Summer is just flying by and I am forever trying to balance work and play. In June, I was able to do both by surprising my husband by showing up in Chicago at the furniture design show, NeoCon, Before you think that's kind of a dicey thing to do, let me reassure you that for the past 5 years he has begged me to join him down there, but 'something suddenly' seems to come up every time I plan on it. Well, this year, I hung around town long enough to attend lots of great graduation open houses of Kennedy's classmates, but then I took the train from Michigan City (Dunes Park Station-which I highly recommend) and walked to The Merchandise Mart to join the chaotic masses of people perusing the show. 

I searched for Ken for over an hour (and in one embarrassing plot twist was asking the front desk people at Herman Miller to look for him for me----He works at Haworth)!!

Needless to say, he was speechless when he saw me walk up to him. 

I  had such a fun time exploring the city by day and then again with him at night. We only get down there once or twice a year, and now that I know how simple (and cheap!) it is to take the train in, I will for sure join him next year again. 

I ran/walked many miles in the morning and loved being so close to Lakeshore Drive and Navy Pier. 

 View on my morning run! So beautiful!

 All dressed up and no where to go. Ha! Certainly a different kind of night out compared to our mid twenties on Rush Street!

This was earlier that day in one of the wood flooring showrooms. I loved this herringbone pattern and thought most of the displays were so gorgeous!

Here I was EVEN earlier that day, kicking back with a good book and a cup of joe.

Here are some assorted displays/booths that caught my eye. I loved the clean, simple aesthetic and the pop of color here and there. 

 Thought this was cool. This was in the Haworth booth-tvs framed with black metal to look like an art gallery wall.

 Bolts of fabric became an eye catching wall display. 

 I loved this look for a hospital or doctor/dentist office setting:

 I'm just a small town girl, but I have to admit, for that half a week, I really appreciated and loved the big city. 
Thanks for putting up with my throwback post. I am trying to catch up on all the pics I've taken this summer and it's getting away from me. Hope you enjoyed a relaxing, meaningful weekend with friends or family or both.

 Happy July!

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Allegan Antiques

 Here's a messy before and a messy after pic of a fireplace for a ranch remodel that I've been a part of since this past winter. I have loved working with the homeowners, Missy and Jim (in fact, they reminded me a lot of the cool couple, Pam and Mark that I just wrote about on the previous blog). Super fun, open to new ideas, very thorough with attention to detail- all with great taste! The perfect recipe for a great collaboration on an extensive project (which both were). Missy just texted me an update last week on how things were coming along over there and I hope to be able to take post project pics sometime soon! 

 Years ago, they had painted the dark brick surrounding the fireplace white. We liked it but we wanted to take it the next step and update even further. 
Joanna Gaines and I could be the "ship lap" sisters...I LOVE using ship lap and found several applications to use it in Missy's house alone.

 We lightened up the walls with a beige/taupe color and had all new painted trim installed to replace the oak. 

 Here's a quick peek at where we introduced more ship lap..from floor to ceiling in the back entry/mudroom. (The striped wallpaper was how it was before). Doors are replaced now to white. 

 You'll also notice that the doorway has been cut into. The back entry used to be arched there, and I begged Jim to let us take the arch out and raise it up as tall as we could (in my opinion the arch was too low and made both the kitchen and mudroom feel smaller). He let me and I think he would agree it was the right thing to do. :)

Here are their oak kitchens before:

Here they are mid-project!

 I can't wait to show you the completed space! You'll notice we raised the cabinet height and added crown molding. We kept the kitchen's original layout but had new cabinet doors built and painted. 

I'm also halfway through an amazing farmhouse remodel. Emily and I are becoming great friends with our weekly, sometimes twice weekly meetings and coffee dates discussing selections. Below is a wall that we are so proud of and that is just a hint of all the incredible salvage pieces we found out at their farm and are using for architectural interest in many (almost all of the rooms). 

We found these boards in one of their barns and we had Cal (her husband) power spray them slightly to clean them up but not to lose the character. Jon Vander Mass  (a very credible builder who has done lots of downtown Zeeland historical home remodels) is building this house and he and his trimmer are amazing!!! 

This is the wall of the sunken living room/playroom and a large flat screen t.v. will be mounted onto the wood. The bottom cubbies will have sliding barn doors on them will hold the components for the t.v. 

I told you I would post some pics from last month's Allegan Antique Market and here are a few. Ken and I didn't make it down there this past week as we were enjoying some fun and sun up at a friend's cottage overnight. 

We talked Cherie and Robert (my sister and brother in law) to come with us to Allegan that day and the weather was perfect! They were on the hunt for a desk for their son and future daughter in law's apartment and we spotted one right away! Score! 

All I came home with is a rustic trough/wood centerpiece for my dining table. I'll have to show you a pic of that soon. 

One of my fave booths there:

 

 ha ha ha ha ha!!! :)

(Ken's holding the wooden trough in his arm-he buys and carries for me. What a guy)!

'Til next time Champs!

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Pam's Pride :)

Happy Wednesday! It seems like I have so much to report! A few upcoming blog topics:

*Attending Allegan Antique show last month

*Surprising Ken by showing up at the Design /trade show NeoCon last week in Chicago-so fun!

*The transformation of my best friend, DC's kitchen and master bath

*Getting better 'after' pics of this project below

Here is a sneak peek of my client Pam's ranch style home in Imperial Estates. Before I go on, can I just say again that the reason I love doing what I do, is because of clients like Pam. She and her husband Mark are AWESOME!! 

They were so easy going and up for anything!! And we did anything and everything to this place!

We picked new wall color, flooring, trim, baseboards, cabinet doors, interior and exterior doors, lighting, and furniture. 

It feels like a brand new house!

I'm so sorry these pics don't do justice to the before/after process. I was mostly snapping before pics for my own reference to refresh my memory on room set ups and such. 

This was taken on the day of our first consult. Very clean but traditional choices. She is way too much

 fun to stay that traditional, so in moving forward, we leaned toward a fresher, more modern look.

BEFORE

AFTER

Of course, we aren't nearly finished. We met again this week to discuss artwork, coffee table, lamps and end tables. The rug we chose from a special order carpet book from Carpet Bonanza and measured out the exact size we wanted and had it bound. It is a soft cream with taupe/tan threads through it and soooo soft and comfy!

Below is her oak kitchen before we replaced the cabinet doors and had everything painted white. 
She had replaced her countertops with a beautiful neutral quartz not too long ago, so we used that as for inspiration when picking out new wall colors and furniture.  
BEFORE

 AFTER
Same counters, new appliances, cabinet doors, hardware and backsplash. We love the dimensional stone backsplash which adds so much flair in a smaller space like this. We chose stone that complimented the existing counters.
Hallway lighting BEFORE

Hallway lighting from Lowe's AFTER

 

 We did not want to attempt to paint the fireplace. Mark, she and I didn't think the brown was offensive or outdated. We added can lights throughout the kitchen and living room and took out the lights facing the fireplace and replaced them with more subtle "eyeball" lights.
BEFORE

AFTER

 
We had Jason, the painter stain the oak mantle a dark espresso color to tie in with the overhead beams, which we left as they were. We debated whether we wanted to wrap them with pine and make them look more rustic or paint them white, and we are all happy with the choice we made to leave them dark as they were. We chose the new flooring to tie that all together. 

This dining hutch below looked far too formal and wasn't being utilized as a storage piece for kitchen accessories. We wanted to make it look more casual and not so hutch like. 
We had new doors and shelves built and painted. This is BEFORE

AFTER

 
Glass knobs from "The Basement Store" in Grand Rapids. Travis, the trimmer, and Jason the painter did an amazing job on this built in. We are looking forward to doing some shopping in the next few weeks to fill and stage these empty areas.
Another angle of BEFORE:

AFTER

  We love how much bigger and more open the whole house feels with the lighter trim, wall color and new flooring throughout. We chose a luxury vinyl product that mimics wood which we even ran into the bathroom/laundry area. 
Below is a fun piece we found at Talsma. We are hoping to incorporate more weathered pieces to mix with the urban looking larger furniture. We're on the hunt for drapes and lots of accessories to make these areas look inviting and interesting. Stay tuned.

 I actually had some time on Tuesday of this week to work on rearranging my booth at Not So Shabby for the first time in ages! It felt good to move some things that were in the back, to the front and add lots of pillows and artwork that I picked up at a clean estate sale.

A couple custom sign orders I finished just yesterday. 

Great words that will hang in separate mudroom areas(two different clients) as reminders to the kids before they walk out the door. 

Thanks for the orders, Kelsey and Michelle. 

Enjoy the rest of your week and  I'll see you back here soon. 

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