A New Blog!

Today's Agenda:  Wrap up some tile purchasing and paint color selection and a little Excel file action. 

I am also excited about an idea I have for a new blog. 

Throughout this past year while working on client projects and trying to make their style come to life, I have also been refining my own style inspiration and design point of view.  To celebrate making it through year one of leaving my life as a lawyer and starting a business focused on styling and decorating spaces and events, I am going to start a blog called "Hotel Decor" which will be dedicated to images that I am inspired by and that express my own design point of view. 

To put it simply, I have always said I would love to live in a hotel.  But, it would have to be a hotel with just the right style.  A mix of home and adventure.  Sleekness and comfort.  High style and practical living solutions. 

This blog, On My Agenda, will be used to highlight solutions for decorating, organizing and planning spaces and events and to showcase projects that I have worked on and explanations of great ideas and lessons learned from projects I have worked on.  Hotel Decor will be more of a collection of images that I am personally inspired by.  {Similar to this recent post from our trip to London.}

I'm excited to get started creating this new blog and refining my own sense of style and design via inspiration from hotels around the world.  I hope you will come visit.

Bicycle Chic

Today's Agenda:  Think about some in-home bicycle storage solutions since, sadly, my husband's bike got swiped over the weekend from our in-garage bike storage area in our condo building.  I'm sad about the bike {and for some reason can only keep thinking about Lance's book title "It's Not About the Bike" but, you know, it IS about the bike, for us right now at least...} and trying to think of a creative solution to hang it inside our place.  We have a loft space so it actually won't clash with our decor and could even enhance it.  Here's the space I'm thinking of using for it.  I think I would paint that wall a semi-gloss so it would be easier to clean the scruff marks off {or continue my affinity for black walls and do that here...}.

Here are some creative {and some super simple} options I've seen around the internet...has anyone tried one that works?

Custom tension option

Ikea hack

Wood bike rack

Good styling

This makes me nervous -- maybe because it's called the "hoist monster"??

I like this console table

 
Cute

Staging Project

Today's Agenda:  Researching sleeper sofa options.  Patio umbrellas.  Desks.  Desk chairs.  The usual kind of day...:)

And, trying to be good about blogging about past projects!  Website construction still underway but I'm making progress...

A very good friend of mine decided to make a very good decision and put her condo on the market in DC and move just down the street from me (!) all the way across the Potomac River to...Arlington, VA.  We talked about what needed to be done to sell her place and well, you see, the problem is that basically my friend is too fun.  Too fun in that she likes a lot of color in her apartment.  Too fun in that she loves every kind of sport and the equipment that comes along with that.  Loves clothes.  Loves party supplies.  Loves Wii.  It's a serious problem -- too.much.fun.  Well, she found a great apartment and was able to move in really quickly so that we could go ahead and re-paint and stage the apartment in order to maximize its value.  It is {was?? it still exists but just not in our world...} a great 1 bedroom apartment in the heart of dupont circle with a balcony and den and large walk-in-closet. 

Here are some before pictures...these were taken in the middle of the packing chaos and painting prep so they aren't really accurate as to what the apartment looked like but you can see the paint colors, etc...

the living room

{we changed out the curtains for something more substantial but still light and airy, moved the art above the fireplace, changed the paint color/removed the two-tone color, focused the rom on the fireplace vs the TV}

the living room, right before painting

{kept the couch for staging and moved it over to be directly in front of the fireplace}

the den

{painted it the same color as the living room to make it feel airy and big, removed a lot of the furniture in the den so people could envision their furniture in there}

the dining area

{repainted, removed extra furniture like the rolling cart and staged the table for a dinner date}

the kitchen

{painted it the same color as the living area to reinforce the open living plan idea, took down decorative curtain, cleaned off counters, added some decorative fruit (why is that the universal sign of apartment for sale??}

the bedroom

{painted this a more neutral blue -- which was hard to do because this is such a pretty blue -- and removed a lot of the furniture, kept it gender neutral}

the walk-in closet

{we basically just cleared this out so potential buyers could see ALL of the potential in this closet -- it has amazing Elfa closet storage capabilities; painted it the same complimentary blue as in the bedroom and there's an inspiring view over the trees behind that curtain!}

Now that you have some hints as to what it looked like before and what we did...check out the after photos!  And, best part was a full offer the first day it hit the market!

views of the living room

 

 

views of the kitchen

 views of the dining area

views of the den

views of the bedroom

views of the closet

views of the bathroom
{we just added some flowers and brightly colored towels}

bonus -- views of the outdoor space!

First Week of Year 2

Today's Agenda:  Finish up the projects that got done this weekend!  We were all over projects all weekend and it was fantastic.  My hallway wall is painted and picture alignment determined, dining room decluttered and streamlined, office rearranged and all the little things in their place {even found my lucky peseta from my Sevilla study abroad in 1998!}.  Just need a quick trip to Container Store {when do I not need a "quick trip" to the Container Store!} and I'll move a few magnetic boards and such around the office and, I hate to say it, I think the house is done.

Which comes at an appropriate time...my one year anniversary of my "new" life!  A year ago, I made a pretty bold decision to leave my career as a lawyer {okay, so actually lots of people do this as I have found out after collecting stories like I work for the New York Times but, I would still consider it
bold for me and a life-changing decision} and try out a completely new career in design.  Being a lawyer, I could effortlessly rationalize my decision...and could also see the other side of the argument against what I was about to do.  {Yes, a little bit like arguing with your self, this happened a lot, but I move on...}.  But for the first time in a long time, I didn't second guess myself.  I had no doubts, only excitement and lots of energy.  A bit naive, yes.  But this time I chose idealism over cynicism, and lept.  I did have times where I stepped back to have an "Are you nuts?" moment.  But that's all it was, a moment.  My plan was to work hard, plan appropriately and do what I believe in.  And be flexible.

And, here I am a year later.  Not completely broke, insanely happy and self-fulfilled, and meeting wonderful people every week.  I have been working hard this year but there is something different about my after-midnight work these days -- I'm still exhilarated and engaged and inspired even in the middle of the night {and my friends know that my body is tuned to wake up at 5:30am vs going to bed at 3am!}.  Clients have turned into friends and, unbeknownst to them, mentors.  This is the part that has surprised me the most.  I knew I would like planning events and organizing and designing spaces, but who knew I would meet so many amazing women through this venture.  Their stories, experiences, points of view and work and family relationships have inspired me.  {And, one woman in particular kept me going strong as I faced some serious health issues this year.}  This was something that was sadly missing in my experience as a lawyer and one that I think is important for anyone, no matter what profession you are in, age or gender you are or experiences you have had.   

I must say that I could not have done this without the support of my husband.  I am lucky to be with someone that completely believes in me, is honest {too honest sometimes!} enough to tell me the truth, and at the end of the day looks forward to the next.  I was someone who I think went into law, in part, so that I would be financially independent and wouldn't need to lean on anyone for anything.  But through this experience, I have learned that I do need to lean on people.  And, as long as you are with the right partner, married or not, your relationship with a significant other really is a partnership where you work together to set goals, meet them and hopefully exceed expectations.  Now, it's not as easy as that on a day-to-day basis sometimes!  {And always good to be prepared for a change in circumstances -- I can't help it -- can't really take the lawyer out of me...} But we have a solid big picture view now and are working as a team on the little things {hanging a picture wall!} and the big things {where do we want to be in 5 years???}.   

Well, as my husband said this weekend, we are now on to year two!  This week I'm going to blog about a few more projects I have done this year and haven't yet blogged about -- a staging project {which sold the first day on the market!}, a wedding {which was THE most fun}, and invitations to a wedding {which I love!}.  And I can't wait to show you more soon -- a DC playroom by day/Mad Men viewing area by night, a third story addition to a Capitol Hill rowhouse, a beautiful North Carolina home with a cherry hardwood floor as its centerpiece, and more!  Thanks for reading and, to my friends and family, thank you for your support and friendship during this amazing year.

{I'm not a huge fan of blog posts with no pictures, so had to include this photo that I just found this morning and caused me to exclaim aloud how much I loved the idea of that glass door!  It could open what can really be an awkward, cramped space.  From Belle Maison.}

Party Planning

Today's Agenda:  Getting ready to make baby shower invites!  I haven't made invites in awhile and forgot how fun it is!  And, that I still need to post pictures of the wedding stationery I have done this year...so much on the to do list...at least it's all pretty fun, so no complaints :)

Color scheme for the invitations and the shower is based off of these napkins from Capari -- found at Marshalls for $1.99 for 20 medium sized napkins.  And coordinating square, stylish plates -- awesome!

And found these and these @ Paper Source!