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One of my favorite things to do in LA is visit the Getty Museum. If you go later in the day, you can pay a reduced rate to park with free entry. The museum has a beautiful collection of Impressionist and Dutch Master works, but the grounds are just as much a draw. 
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 The humble Rast chest. A blank canvas of solid wood goodness that I've had my eye on for several months. We need new night tables, ideally something with storage and frankly, I do not have the patience to keep Craigslisting/thrifting anymore. I did that with my highboy dresser and found a Phyfe inspired beauty for about $200. So yeah, I got spoiled.
At $35 each, the price can't be beat. The only thing holding me back is I've been overwhelmed with too many ideas and none of them "undeniable". Until now.  I've been working with some clients on their open floor plan home. Having the kitchen/dining/living room open to each other is very popular but it does create some challenges. You have to think strategically about the choices you make because the pieces are all within the same eye line. There's ecclectic--and then there's crazy.
 I'm working with a client on an update to her living room. She has a long narrow room with a dinjng area at one end and sliding doors to a small patio at the other. The dominant feature in the room is a angled fireplace wall faced completely in black granite. My client is not in a position to change out the stone, so we need to work with it. She also has some special pieces from her parents that she want to kerp in the room that are more traditional.
I went through some of my old portfolio today; the one I put together years ago with real fabric swatches and a glue stick. I still love to create mood boards for clients, but these days I work more digitally. There's still a lot of value in putting the fabric, paint and wood samples all together to convey the idea.   In preparation for a gathering at the house, I stopped into Ikea to pick up some new slipcovers for our dining chairs. The old ones had seen better days and for $7 a chair, it was a bargain. Nothing like the prospect of a house full of people to get that to-do list finally done, right?
I'm not in the market gor any new throws or pillows at the moment, but it's nice to have resources for attractive, inexpensive ones at the ready. Last week I was working with clients in the store trying to pick out an upholstered bed. They had beautiful pearlescent ivory grasscloth wallpaper from Phillip Jeffries already selected for the walls. Gorgeous and very glamorous. Clearly the star of the room, since it was going to be on all four walls. But since they had already committed to the paper, that options for furniture were off the table. A patterned fabric on headboard was not going to work. A luxe velvet? Now we're talking.
Even though the temperatures are now just finally cooling off, I put out some fall accents as if to will it along. Pumpkins from Trader Joe's, leaf bowl and vase from Crate and Barrel.   A few fun pillows for the sofa. That fox pillow is everything. He's so snooty. Fox and feather pillows from Target, sweater pillow with buttons and sheepskin from Ikea.
As promised, here are the other 2 proposed plans for my client's guest room/home office. We mixed some higher and lower end items to stay within budget. There are times when you need to pull the trigger and invest in a nicer quality piece but you can balance that out with some budget finds, too. I've included the source list under each board so you can get more information. Option 2, Daybed with trundle I've been working with a client on her guest room/home office this past week to pull together some ideas how we can pull it all together to create the happy, fun space she craved. She already has the desk and painted her walls a bright green, a favorite color. My job is to balance out the color with some white to ground things. Here's a peek at how it's coming together. I'll share the other 2 options later this week.
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AuthorChristine Schwalm is an Interior Designer and Visual Merchandiser based in Los Angeles. This space will keep you updated on what's going on with CSD along with some ideas to inspire you. Go here for more information about pricing and services and here to make an appointment. Archives
January 2017
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