A Likeable Home

A 1908 Victorian was the last place I thought I'd spend the past several months. But when you find the perfect client, with a family whom you bond with immediately, it's a dream to good to pass up. Carrie and Dave are the CEOs of a growing social media firm in NYC; Likeable Media. A very young, very hip and very savvy company that promises to "create, curate, and promote content that gets you results."  As busy entrepreneurs and parents of two wonderful and artistic young ladies, there is little time left for creating the home of their dreams. Taking Carrie & Dave's family home from years of neglect by previous owners (every light fixture required major electrical wizardry), to a beautiful, happy, and functional space that Carrie and the girls are "obsessed with" is every designers dream! Carrie wanted something akin to rustic bohemian chic.  She and Dave clearly love bright colors, especially their signature 'orange,' but also wanted the softer side of what Carrie called shabby chic and I call rustic elegance. Think barn wood tables and bling'd crystal chandeliers. There is still much to do in the next phase of the family's design plan, but they have a solid base from which to work.  Enjoy! (Pardon the iPhone pics as we need to set up a photo shoot and stage ;)



Carrie wanted to paint the front door and the porch as well. We ended up choosing their companies signature 'orange' for the door and painting a black and white checked pattern on the wood porch. We also added a vintage screen door in matching orange. It is awesome and so welcoming!

The entry needed character indicative of its vintage past and had to be beautiful, bright and able to withstand a lot of traffic.

I purchased this vintage mahogany console at auction and painted it a grey chalk paint with a hand waxed finish.  We added a custom marble top to withstand anything the family could throw on it and last for years. The console actually has a middle drawer that was quickly utilized for items the family needed to grab on the way out the door and the shoe basket was filled the next morning with Dave's orange running shoes.   

The stair treads and the newel posts were in very bad shape.  Major repairs of the walls and touching up of the original paneling with the decision to paint the posts high gloss black were exactly what was needed along with a gorgeous Cole & Son Regalia wallpaper and a very durable sisal on the steps. We chose soft linen romans with beautiful Samuel & Sons tape to coordinate with the wallcovering. 

Love Love Love.



The entry door simply lacked everything.  The radiator also needed help.  We painted the inside of the door high gloss black to match the newel posts and added a beautiful soft roman trimmed in Samuel & Sons tape to match the other entry window.  We also painted the radiator a perfect silver that plays off the silver fittings of the crystal chandelier. It turned out gorgeous.

Loving that Cole & Son Regalia wallpaper!



Due to the entry walls running into the alcove all of which needed major re-plastering to hide years of cracking and damage, we chose to end the wallpaper in the immediate entry area and use a complimentary soft paint color on adjoining walls.

We repurposed this crystal chandelier from the living room to the entry for a beautiful warm welcome. We also purchased several soft area rugs placed throughout the entry.



This main living space went through many design variations and we ended up with a bright and fun boho chic vibe with a comfy leather sectional, whimsical soft roman window coverings, and a vintage Victorian cast iron faux fireplace.



These windows were unbelievable tricky as the house had settled roughly 4-8" along several walls and the window frames were several inches off from one side to another.

The crystal chandelier was out of place and we decided to move it into the entry as it was perfect with the wallcovering and foyer table.  We used Global Views Sunburst light fixture to replace it for softer overhead lighting, combined with other task lighting including Carrie's grandmother's vintage lamps on the sofa table.



The built ins had to stay to house books and photos, but were in need of help as they were also sloping 8" from end to end and needed bulking up with a lot of millwork, crown moldings, and painting.

This is the amazing cast iron fireplace surround we have as a focal point with the tv that still needs to go up just a bit more.  We had a custom black marble top made for the mantel and it is simply gorgeous. And the shipping of this behemoth - well that's another story!

Better picture of the mantel top we had fabricated in black marble.

We decided to turn the tv room into a music room where the girls could practice their piano and play games on a low round game table with friends.  We changed out the light fixture in here as well and added soft romans and framed a few of their huge collection of playbills from Broadway plays they've attended.  As well as adding family portraits that were printed on wood from Photobarn - very cool. We also painted the piano a soft gray as well and added crystal knobs.

The dining room is definitely the heart of Carrie and Dave's home so it had to be special.  Carrie wanted to keep the custom wood table, but add a touch of shabby chic everywhere else.  We used a very feminine soft fabric for thick window treatments trimmed in gathered grosgrain along with soft romans underneath, got new custom vintage French chairs from Restoration Hardware and a gorgeous crystal chandelier also from Restoration Hardware along with a ceiling medallion, added a durable diamond sisal rug from Stark Carpets.  For the walls we added a grouping of art, both new and vintage that had special meaning to Carrie and Dave to create a mini gallery and an oversized beautiful French antiqued bronze mirror over the existing serving piece.

 This was our inspiration for the dining room. 

 The gorgeous rococo Restoration Hardware fixture that took an immense amount of digging through 100+ years of lathing and piecemeal wiring in order to hang properly.

Vintage postcards from the family's village, personalized silhouettes, Victorian brass keys, and the lovely lady from Carrie's grandmother create a mini gallery for the family.

The RH vintage French chairs hadn't arrived yet. But, they were stunning around the table once they did arrive!

This is just the foundation for this wonderful family to start adding their own special touches and grow their family and home. They are well on their way! Thanks so much for allowing me to share in the beginning of this special journey for you all.   xoxoxo.

What's In My Library?

I always enjoy posts from other blogs talking about what is in everyone's library. Whether they have a physical location they call a library or not, who cares. Any chair, bed, or space that lets you become totally engrossed between the cover of a good book works for me. I also get a good chuckle at some of the pics of the library owners holding their favorite reads. Really, who looks that sexy when curling up with a good book or shelter mag? Is that perfect PR shot really necessary? But, lets not be catty, what matters is that the list of books in my Amazon shopping cart grows and shifts with each new blog because cheesy pic or not, they are fascinating titles and beyond informative. I am very fortunate in that I actually have a formal library which holds my growing collection of books of all types.

With much blood, sweat and some begging and pleading (no tears please, that just doesn't work on my better half) I've been able to transform an unused, large formal dining room into a well used, working library space enjoyed by myself and my children immensely. It is undoubtedly the most well used space in the house. After clipping every picture I could find and making many trips to the local do it yourself warehouse store (which was a complete joke, both price-wise and design wise, which is why they shall remain nameless), I secured several estimates from local carpenters.
A pair of brothers who were just starting a business were able to take all the clippings and many suggestions and give me the library of my dreams. Custom shelving, beautiful moldings, and an open mind to my ideas were just the tip of the iceberg with these guys.
They had never done a space like this, so there was a learning curve for all of us. The result is a room that I know my children and I will be using well into the years. Thanks Steve and Pete of Jaxon Construction, Huntington, NY. Doesn't the dining room look so lonely before renovation?