dwellings and décor

I had a man email me the other day asking for some decorating advice.

This is what he wrote:

“I want to paint my bedroom walls a sage green color. I was wondering how to decorate the rest though as far as bedding and such. I would like it to have an Asian feel. Any help or pictures of ideas are greatly appreciated. Thank You.”

So I needed to look for green bedrooms with an Asian style. Here are my top 6 that I think were the most inspirational.

I like the idea of incorporating dark woods with white bedding and rice paper lanterns for more of a modern take on the Asian style. I think keeping it clean and minimal will give it the Asian aesthetic. What are some of your suggestions for him?

Photo Sources:
1. dowlingkimmstudios
2. Unknown
3. adeenidesigngroup
4. eramanagement
5. jeremysamuelson
6. mirvac

On Sunday my husband was quite the decorator. He has been itching for some change and so he figured rearranging the apartment would help. He made the cutest floor plan and actually made it to scale and cut out little pieces of furniture. So adorable! I am so happy we rearranged because it looks great and I didn’t realize how much I needed the change too! I have taught him well! ;)

We have a very large sectional that is difficult to work with. Before we used the sectional to create a living room area separate from the other “zones”. We decided that we wanted the area to be more open so we moved it into a corner making the space feel more open and less closed off with unnecessary hallways. Our space is just not big enough to pull off the sectional actually sectioning off a space like a divider. I figured that some other people might be in similar dilemma and so I posted some images below that have sectionals in them to show how other designers worked with them. The first 6 photos are examples of sectionals placed in the corner and the last 6 are examples of sectionals being used to break off a space creating a divider between areas. Hope this helps!

Photo Sources:
1. spi-design
2. zkinteriors
3. kendallwilkinsondesign
4. okadirect
5. joeserrins
6. michaelabrams
7. furnitureseen
8. vicentewolfassociates
9. marieclairemaison
10. katehume
11. irinagraewe
12. johnsonmcleod

Loving these neutral and soft blue spaces. I think it could be pretty to have a house where there were soft browns, beiges and white in one room and the adjacent room had pretty blue walls with natural woods and dry branches. I think there could be a really nice flow and bring warmth and balancing it with cool. I didn’t realize this until I had these rooms together lined up like this.

How do you like to create a flow between spaces? Do you have any tips to share?

Via these fabulous blogs:

1. Delight by Design
2. Decorology
3. Weekend Host
4. Verdigris Vie
5. Mandarine
6. Marley & Lockyer

Today is my birthday so I am leaving to Oahu for a little birthday blogiday for a few days.

This photo pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment. The last few days I have been trying to wrap things up before I go because I promised myself I would not work on my birthday. I am debating bringing my laptop to Oahu. It’s great for watching movies on netflix but it may be tempting to dive into work things. Hhhmmm.. I really should get away from the computer for a bit. I think my body would like it.

Hope you have a great rest of the week and I will see you next Monday!

Photo from HERE

Lately my sleep schedule has been all out of wack because of the 11 hour time difference between Ireland and Hawaii. I am starting to finally get into the hang of things. For awhile though I was passing out at around 7′oclock at night. You sort of have to just force yourself to get back into your regular routines even if you are really hungry or really tired. The human anatomy is quite fascinating!

It’s hard to stay awake when all I want to do is crawl into these comfy looking beds. I love the styling of them. They aren’t stuffy or too rigid. Perfect for a good night sleep.

Photos from Toast

Hi Everyone! I am leaving to Ireland right after I get married and so I have asked some of my favorite bloggers to help me out when I am gone. I will be back May 4th.
- Rachel Mallon (soon to be Follett)

One of my favorite things to look at for interior design are the preliminary renderings. Before I went to college for Interior Design I was always really inspired by Candace Olsen’s beautiful renderings and I love at the end of the show how they have the rendering fade into the photo of the completed design.

I am quite a little collector for interior renderings because I like to see how people show lighting and texture. Whenever I start a design I always hand render it first but I usually create a 3d model because clients change things and re-rendering something by hand can be very time consuming. I wish I had the patience because hand renderings are just so beautiful but on the other hand 3d modeling can really help the client see materials and artwork in more of a realistic way. It all depends on the project and the client.

Here are some of my favorite renderings from my collection. Each artist has it’s own style which I really like and I even included one I did for a group project. (# 4)

1. Thom Filicia
2. 265west122
3. via design sponge
4. Art School Rendering by me (Rachel Mallon)
5. From “Billy Baldwin Remembers” scanned by me
6. Robert Lucas
7. Janet Hill Studio **
8. Ortelia Vergez
9. Deco Design
10. Aurelien Burillon
11. Rendering by Steve Giannetti from Velvet & Linen
12. Rendering by Michelle Morelan, Design by Patricia Gray

I have been contemplating hanging an empty frame collage on my very tall wall. I love this idea because it keeps from looking too busy and overdone and I like the simple beauty of the concept. It also seems quite affordable if your willing to search for frames and possibly paint them to achieve the look you want. Here are a few from my inspiration folder. I hope you find them inspiring if you are thinking about doing something like this for your walls!

Row 1
1. via Honey Pie Living
2. Trine Thorsen via desire to inspire

Row 2
1. Easy Living Magazine
2. Emma D’Inverno via desire to inspire

Row 3
1. Claudia Bryant via Delight by Design
2. Lund Photo

Row 4
1. via decor8
2. via Sfgirlbybay

At first glance I really like this room but when I look at the details I want to change a few things. Something I have been contemplating is the floral arrangements height on tables for my wedding and I decided to go with average size flower arrangements for the main seating tables so people can see one another over them and I have a very large center piece for my favors and seating list table. In this photo there are two very large vases that I am assuming would be removed every time you would dine there and so realistically I don’t think they work functionally but aesthetically they are really cool. I also would add a larger area rug and although again aesthetically white looks fabulous but if you have kids that rug would not last, so functionally it is probably not the best choice.

I really like when people use different chairs for their dining table and so it makes the space more unique and interesting. Christina from Down and Out Chic did a whole post about this and you can see it HERE. I think I may have done the white wooden chairs in a different upholstery that may work better with that beautiful peacock feather wallpaper. I also would change out that drapery and maybe implement that same teal of the wallpaper in possibly a dupioni silk.

What are your thoughts on this space? Keep it as it is or would you make some changes?

Image from HERE

I have been  thinking a lot about moving into the country and I have always dreamed of having a quaint and modest sized house that I could fix up and call my own. So when I came across this stunning, colorful, and quite livable space it peaked my interest. Maybe I like this space so much because it’s main color is green and that is my favorite. I have also taken an interest in yellow lately so I enjoy the little pops of it throughout. The decorators really paid attention to the small details and I can really appreciate that. You can tell there was a lot of thought and design sense that went into this home. I also really enjoyed reading their design tips. Here are a few:

“The trick to combining many patterns in a room is to choose a common color scheme,” says John. “A variety of bold patterns won’t clash when linked by a limited palette.” To avoid overwhelming the space, John advises using no more than two large-scale prints and keeping other patterns geometric.

You can see more about this house at Country Home via Belle Maison

FYI: Speaking of green; I posted my wedding invitations on my other blog Design Lovely. Click here for link.

Check out that lovely yellow door!

I am swooning over this kitchen/dining area. Love the dishes on the wall with the round window and that drum light is beautiful.

I love the idea of adding some pattern to an armoire and that green trim is quite fun.

There is just so many great details to look at!