August 17, 2011

Custom Bedding with Authentic Home Interior Design Services

Custom bedding can make all the difference when creating just the right look in the most intimate room of your house, the bedroom. I always try to have people invest in custom bedding so it is unique to you and your home. It can also be difficult to find just the right colors, patterns and textures with store bought linens to coordinate with a new look or vision you are trying to achieve for this very personal and special room in the house. Quality is also a factor; with custom made bedding, you know you are getting quality fabrics, craftsmanship and longevity in your linens.

Here is a before picture of a master bedroom ready for the furniture, linens and interior design touches.  The after picture shows the warmth and personal style the fabric collection brings to the room creating a unique look for this homeowner.

The custom bedding for this trundle bed creates a sophisticated, pulled-together look that most likely could not be achieved with store bought linens.

I also love working with different seasonal fabrics on either side of a duvet so all you need to do is flip over the duvet with the seasons.  Another design idea I like to use is adding an upholstered headboard and/or slipcover. Again working with changes in the seasons and tastes, you can have 2 or more slipcovers made for the headboard and change them out easily with the seasons.

There are unlimited possibilities when it comes to custom bedding. With Authentic Home Interior Design we work with you to select the fabrics and  oversee the creation of your beautiful linens to ensure you get exactly what you want for your rooms.

August 3, 2011

Beautiful Hand Crafted Dining Table

This past week I was fortunate to particpate in the delivery of a custom dining room table at my clients vacation home in the resort community called Suncadia.   This table is quite unique in that my client wanted to have it seat 16 comfortably as well as to work within the rustic Northwest design and decor of their home.  The current dining room table was one of my clients parents and simply didn’t accommodate 16 and was too small of the size of the dining room.

I knew we had to make a custom table in order to meet these requirements and so I partnered with Paul Jackson, an former boat maker and expert wood craftsman to create the custom table.

We selected 3 unique woods; sapele, wenge and moabi for the table that consists of 3 leaves and 2 side bread boards extensions and measures from 7′ to a full 15′.  The sapele wood was crafted for the body of the table, the wenge was the beautiful inlaid sections and the moabi was used as a edge border of the wenge sections.

This table is truely a work of art and you can see all of the love and passion that was put into this by Paul.  It was the largest table that Paul ever created and the process took a little over 4 months.  And every bit of it was well worth the wait since my clients and their family couldn’t have been happier with the end results.

We celebrated the delivery date with a champagne toast over a lovely lunch.

Even Ginger, the family dog got in the festivities!

I wanted to share Paul’s beautiful piece of art with you. So when you have a specific furniture need, please remember that there are many artists that can create one of kind pieces just for you.  We know there will be many lovely memories shared at this amazing table.

Click here to view more of Paul Jackson’s work.

June 29, 2011

Room Makeover Completed!

When we first met Katie & Jarrod Hamilton in April they were very excited to be the winners of our room makeover contest and had a list of things they wanted to have done in their living room.  They are a young couple with a four year old, Shelby, in tow and live in a lovely ranch style home built in the early 1940’s.  The house, which sits back off the street, has a lush green lawn and yellow paint with brick façade on the house that welcomes you in. After walking thru the home to gain insight on their style, I realized that Katie loves the “shabby chic” look and used soft blues and cream colors in their master bedroom.  The master bedroom was the only room in the home that was “finished” and so I took all my hints from this room.

The challenge for the living room makeover was to appeal to both Jarrod & Katie and to create a space that was a reflection of them and that they both would feel comfortable in. My challenge was to incorporate the feminine “shabby chic” feel with masculine touches while using their current furniture pieces.  The large 10’ x 15’ living room is just to the left of the front entry and has 4 East facing corner windows that let in a lot of light.  Setting a color palette for the room makeover was the first item on the agenda.  I selected Authentic Home COLOR Paint™ in London Fog for the living room walls with Authentic Home COLOR Paint™ in Champagne on Ice color for the ceiling.

The ceiling was the original fir bead board which is very predominant, was the first thing I saw when I entered. The dull colored fir ceiling darkened the room and I knew it needed lightening up in order to achieve our desired look and feel.  It was the only fir ceiling in the house so I encouraged them to have us paint it.  Both Katie & Jarrod were nervous about painting the fir bead board ceiling so we provided samples of a glaze to paint mixture for their review. After reviewing the samples we decided to use a 1 part glaze and 2 part Champagne on Ice paint mixture to give the “white washed” look to the ceiling while allowing the fir grains to still show through.  Billy Brandt Painting provided his expertise to transform the dark ceiling into something unique and exceptional.

The next area that needed updating was the fireplace. The original orange colored brick lined both the hearth and surround and it quickly dated the entire room.  We agreed that a 12” x 12” tile for both the hearth and surround would improve the overall feeling of the room as well as enhance the original mantelpiece. I selected Castillian Gray tile that brought out the blue London Fog wall color.  Tom’s tile team quickly transformed the fireplace which freshens up the entire room instantaneously.

I rearranged the existing furniture to create a conversation zone in front of the fireplace which is the room’s focal point.  I moved the upright piano to the East wall, the first wall you see upon entering the space. Previously the piano was in the left corner of the room and you barely saw it.  Now it is the second focal point and fits perfectly between the 4 corner windows.  The ivory color armoire that houses the TV was positioned to the left of the room’s entry and placed on an angle. An ivory shag rug anchors the conversation zone and decorative accessories in our color palette pull the room together and are the final touches to complete the new look.

“It was so easy working with Kathy Banak, Tom Fine, and their teams on our living room remodel!  Kathy brought fresh ideas to our living room which we’ve struggled with over the years to arrange and decorate.  We love the color palette that she chose and the updates to the fireplace by Tom’s team have given our living room a more modern feel.  The biggest change was to paint our wood paneled ceiling, we were nervous, but Kathy showed us examples from her own home to reassure us that it would look great.  We finally have a living room with the right colors, the right furniture placement, and the right décor.  We are extremely happy with the end result and highly recommend Authentic Home and Fine Construction.” –Jarrod and Katie Hamilton

March 6, 2011

JLo’s Home

I recently discovered images of J Lo’s (Jennifer Lopez) home and wanted to share them with you.  Veranda magazine showcased them in a recent issue and I love the ease and sophisticated feel of each room and especially how she stepped out of the box in the kitchen!

The light, fresh color choices give the classic lines of the chairs, tables and sofa a clean, contemporary feel to the entire living room.

I love the use of a warm gray taupe on the chaises with the light crystal blue color used on the chairs and pillows.

I so love the robins egg blue cabinets paired with the black traditional stove and modern glass back-splash.  The mixture of both contemporary and traditional styles is so refreshing and lovely to the eye.

The use of the warm apricot and off white combination in her bedroom provides a warm, comfortable feeling and compliments the use of the cooler color tones used in the rest of the home.

May you find these images inspirational for your own Authentic Home creation!