Woodyliana {Pillows} and More Cougar Town Love

I'm super excited about a package I received from the amazing Woodyliana.

But first, check this out.  I'm always surprised by how many people I've met who love the Cougar Town painting.   

Here she is at her normal home, Omega Cinema Props.

 

 

In Jules' living room on the set of Cougar Town.

 

 

In my living room, the painting I had a friend paint for me.

If you are new to the blog or haven't previously read about my mad love for the painting, you can check it out here and here.

 

I bring this up because I've recently found another friend with a similar attraction to the painting.  Liana of Woodyliana Textiles!  You may know her from her former etsy shop and I blogged about her awhile ago when I bought these Betwixt beauties from her.
 

 

As Mary Ann of Classic Casual Home says, Li is the Pillow Master!  In case you're not quite convinced of her pillow mastery, here are some of her lovelies:

 

 

Classic Casual Home

 

 

 Classic Casual Home - One Room Challenge

 

Classic Casual Home - Vervain Ishtar

Those lumbars in Vervain Ishtar might possibly be my all time favorite pillows.  I was sad that Mary Ann wasn't selling them at her moving sale. 

So imagine my surprise when Li texted me this morning and sent a picture of this:
 

 

How awesome is this?  Li painted it after being inspired by the original Cougar Town painting she saw on TV and by the one my friend painted for me that Li had seen in my living room.  She customized the size to fit a specific space in her home (that corner in her living room where she used to photograph her pillows for her etsy shop, for those of you who remember that).  I love this size and now I want it!

I also love how she blended the colors and the drips...it's all so great!   I just love it and I'm amazed at Li's many talents!

OK, so back to the pillows.  No matter how many I have, I never seem to have the right ones.  However, I firmly believe one can never have too many pillows (holla!) so I am always excited to buy more. 

 

I purchased this gorgeous fabric from Kravet last year and for the life of me I can't remember the name of it.

 

 

It's a yummy wool blend paisley, with black, cream and gold. 

 

I sent the fabric to Li and voila, a glorious package arrived.

Seriously, isn't her packaging beautiful?  I always kinda hate destroying it to get to the goodies inside.

 

So much attention to detail.

 

 

 

  

   

My crummy iPhone photos do not do them justice at all.  I really need to learn my new camera...I've been saying that for almost a year. 

 

I am so pleased with how the pillows turned out. 

They are soft and cozy....the perfect wintery touch in my mostly white living room (it's 84 today, but whatever).

 

If you want the best, Liana the Pillow Master is your girl.

 

Hope you're having a great week!

As always, thanks for stopping by.

#youcanneverhavetoomanypillows

xo

~Karen~



E-Design and Why It's Awesome

About a year ago I was really struggling to get my dining and living rooms together.  I had been reading design blogs for a couple of years and thought I had absorbed some design skills.  Haha!  Doesn't work like that.  I was so frustrated because those talented gals (and guys) make it look so easy that I was sure I could achieve the look I wanted.  Wrong!  You non-designer types know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

 

 

 

I realized I needed help and e-design was the perfect solution.  I highly recommend it!  It's totally afordable and can really save you from making costly mistakes, not to mention help you get the rooms you really want.

My dining room below...
not possible without e-design.

 

Before this great invention, ordinary people like myself could never have afforded to hire a professional designer.  Along with their higher fees, they sometimes add 20%-40% to the price of everything they buy for your rooms.  No offense to designers...you are totally worth it, but that can add a lot to the price of a design.  So if you're on a budget, like most of us, connecting with a talented designer through the internet is a fantastic alternative.

 

 

 

How does e-design work?

 

1. Start checking out design blogs and find a designer whose style you like.  I looked for one whose home I also liked, not just their client projects.  Somewhere on their blog it will say if they do online or e-design consulting.  You will contact them via that link on their blog.  

 

2.  The designer will contact you with the details of what their services and fees are.  Typically you will pay a set fee for a room design that will include a couple of phone conversations with the designer, a design plan and sources for everything you need to purchase to implement the plan. 

 

3.  You will then email the designer pictures of your room along with dimensions, your budget, what colors and styles you like, how you intend to use the room...stuff like that.

 

4.  This is where you usually have the first phone conversation with the designer to further discuss your likes and dislikes, and what you want to accomplish in the room.

 

5.  Once the designer has completed your room plan, you will be sent an invoice to pay for the service either through Paypal or via check through the mail.

 

6.  Once the designer has received your payment, they will email you the plan and sources.

  

7.  At this point there is usually a second phone conversation wherein you discuss the plan, the sources and your general giddiness at how much you love your designer for giving you this fabulous plan for your room.

Happiness ensues.

 

 For my living & dining rooms, I worked with Lauren of The Cottage Mix.  Lauren's style is light, neutral, a bit coastal & traditional with texture and great woodwork.  I was instantly drawn to Lauren's style when I first laid eyes on her foyer (below) which I think is absolute perfection.  It was love at first sight for me.

  
So I contacted Lauren, sent her my awful before photos (see below...yikes) and she got to work.  

 

I cannot stress this enough (hence to bold type)...from the moment I contacted Lauren, I felt a tremendous relief of pressure just knowing that help was on the way and I was no longer going to drown in that design black hole of confusion and indecision. 
(Cue the angels singing here.)

Above is part of the design plan that Lauren created for my dining room showing lighting, host chairs and fabric choices. I was keeping my table and had already purchased four wicker chairs.  We also talked about adding four pieces of art around my existing mirror.  Lauren suggested these frames from Pottery Barn which I purchased and used to frame four sea fans that I bought at Wertz Bros in Santa Monica.  That's how my dining room below came to exist...

thanks to e-design.

 

 

In my living room I wanted to keep my white sofa and white chairs.  Lauren used a  painting I already had to pull the other colors...green and blue.  Here was part of the plan:

I purchased the green striped rug from William Sonoma Home and a new tv cabinet from PB according to Lauren's plan.  We added some new accessories and some custom pillows & some John Robshaw pillows.  I had a 4" navy linen border added to my PB cotton panels (Lauren had done this in her living room and I liked it).  Voila...it all came together thanks to working with a pro.

I cannot even begin to count all the money I've wasted buying pieces of furniture that didn't work...my kids received a lot of free stuff from my mistakes.  The cost of an e-design is more than worth it, not to mention the fact that I was not capable of getting the look I wanted by myself.  Had to just suck it up and admit that.

 

My sister Linee and I both love the style of Mary Ann at Classic Casual Home.  What's not to love about her gorgeous rooms?

 

 

  

 

  Linee recently worked with Mary Ann on her living room and she is thrilled with the plan Mary Ann has come up with.  Linee had her basic furniture pieces and fabrics in place but was frustrated at not being able to pull it all together.  Mary Ann came in and took it to the finish line with this gorgeous plan that included lighting, drapes, flooring, rugs and accessories:

 

I can't wait to see Linee implement this plan and I'm especially excited because this is where our family spends Christmas.  Awesome!  It's gonna be fantastic.

 

 

Another of my favorite designers is Rene of the blog Cottage & Vine.  Rene is such a sweet person and I love her design style.  Here is a fun design board Rene created for an e-design client:

 

 

I love the way Rene created a room plan that is modern, yet warm...colorful yet calm.  It's called talent people...it's not accidental, it's talent.

 

Another fun design team is the mother-daughter duo of Powell Brower Home...Nancy & Bethany.  Here is one of their cool design boards for an e-design client:

 

 

 

Nancy & Bethany also offer a service they call "Design in a Box". 

 

 

 

After a telephone consultation, they put together a box containing a plan with paint colors, flooring materials, fabrics, and furniture & lighting sources.  Bethany says this service is great way to save money and complete your room on your own timeframe.

 

There are so many choices out there for

e-design...literally thousands.  The beauty of this internet thing is that we can connect globally and you can find a designer that you love and is in your budget...regardless of where you live. 

 

Find one you like and just go for it! 

 

#you'llthankmelater

 

 

~Karen~  

 

  

 



Cougar Town Set Design {Epic}

Seems like only yesterday, but it was way back in 2009 when my favorite comedy writer Bill Lawrence debuted his newest show Cougar Town. It started out as a show about a recently divorced woman (Courteney Cox) on the prowl for hot young 'uns.  Gross.

About 6 episodes in, the show hit it's stride and became a funny ensemble about a group of neighbors in fictional Gulftown, Florida (the "cul-de-sac crew") who drink a lot of wine and are quirky, funny & sweet.  It's not about cougars anymore.

The show's greatest asset way back then was it's awesome set design by the amazing Archie D'Amico.

Easy breezy coastal design without being too beachy.  Captivated a nation.  Or at least thousands of crazed bloggers and internet lurkers like myself.  We went nuts trying to source every single detail of the set.  Like the fabric, Thomas Paul's Aviary in Robin on the barstools, Ikea's Henriksdal.  That was a week of my life finding that fabric.

Had slipcovers made for my kitchen chairs.  Still love them.

The darling kitchen table from the set below is custom made.  Wicker chairs from Crate & Barrel.

I came dangerously close to having a coral sofa made.  I'm a white sofa girl...always will be.  So glad I didn't do it, but still love the look.  Lamps filled with shells are the Bacchus Lamp from Pottery Barn.

Custom made coffee table is gorgeous.  Spent a month of my life looking for this table until I finally heard from set designer himself that it was custom.

I was never that crazy about the bedding in the master bedroom...

Lucia from Crate & Barrel. 

It has since been changed on the set.  But I did love the bedside lamps from PB...bought 'em.  

Frosted pantry door created quite a buzz.  And the vintage bamboo hat rack is from Wertz Bros. in L.A.  I say that so casually but it took me a month or more to find out where that hat rack came from!  I must have been insane.  Or maybe the challenge of the hunt.

The crazy gorgeous fabric on the two club chairs in the living room...Gran Umbelifera by Gaston y Daniela.  That was SO hard to track down...seriously at least two months of looking.  It's like $500.00 a yard and you have to buy like a million yards. 

But pretty right?

And perhaps best of all...the painting on the far wall in the living room.

Changed. My. Life.

OK, maybe not my actual life, but you know.

Tracked the painting to a prop rental house on Santa Monica Boulevard.  It's an old unsigned painting from the 60's.  Seriously?  I wanted to buy it so badly.  But no deal.

 

(p.s. see that white etagere from Bungalow 5 hiding behind the French door in the photo above?  Still love that piece.)

I never imagined a set design would have so much impact on my own design tastes, but this set hit me like a bolt of lightening.  And I wasn't alone.  In November 2009, a sweet blogger named Melkorka did a blog post "Does Anyone Else Watch Cougar Town For The Set Design?".  Innocent enough question.  As of today's date there are 138 comments and 20,548 hits on that post with the most recent ones being in September 2012.  That's 3 years!(I'm new to blogging but that seems like a LOT of hits to me!)  Poor girl, we took OVER that post.  It became a chat room for all us crazies trying to source every detail of that set. 

I didn't have a clue what a blog was then...people were asking me to post pictures of my finds and sources.  I couldn't understand why I couldn't post pictures in the comments section of someone else's blog.  Oy vey.

I recently emailed Melkorka to ask her if I could post the link.  She's no longer blogging much (I think we scared her) but she sweetly said absolutely yes. 

You can read the original post and comments here on Our Little Big House.  There are lots more sources named along with a couple of comments by Archie D'Amico, the set designer.  I am the crazy poster going by the name of Hartmom (don't hate me).

Entertainment Weekly did a piece on the sets naming many sources but they had some pretty glaring errors.  Shoddy research ;)

The "EAT" letters...yeah have those in my kitchen too...originally from Anthropologie but since discontinued.

It's always fun when something really gets your creative juices going, and the Cougar Town set did that for me.  In many ways it changed my design outlook forever. 

Gotta love that!

As always, thanks for reading...I appreciate you so much!

xo

~Karen~

P.S.  If you are interested in the new bedding in Jules' bedroom set, click here.

Betwixt Bothered & Bewildered

I can't help it...every time I see the awesome Schumacher fabric Betwixt, I think of the great old Rogers & Hart song 

Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered from the musical Pal Joey.  Back in my 20s we used to go to a club in Palm Springs called Pal Joey's...such fun times.
 
Anyway, Betwixt...in Spark colorway:


 

 

Love it.  Loved it for a very long time.  Late to the party.  All of the above.

 

 

So I finally treated myself today...I ordered a pair of pillows from the awesome and talented WoodyLiana on etsy.

 

 

 

Cannot wait to get them!

 

Have a great weekend all!

 

~Karen~

xo

Staging Your Home To Sell

 

 

As I told you the other day, I'm packing up and moving from the suburbs back to my hometown...the Hollywood/Studio City area...not exactly sure where I will end up yet.   

 

So in order to get going with my big plan I need to sell my house.  Towards that end, I've been clearing out and purging stuff (even more than I usually do).  Another thing I've been doing is staging my home.  Staging your home for sale is all the rage...everyone is doing it.  Sometimes I think it looks kinda fake, like when the dining room table is set for a full meal.  No one really has their table set all the time (do they?).  
However, if it's done right, staging can be very effective. 
It's all about creating a feeling of a certain lifestyle.  The scene you set should show the potential buyers what a lovely life they will have if only they will buy
THIS home.

 

 

You want them to be able to picture themselves having breakfast or a cup of coffee in your kitchen.

 

 

Of course you love your family photos & memories but pack 'em up.  Don't remind the buyer that another family lives here, you want them to picture themselves living here.  A good replacement for photos is a stack of books. 

Looks clean and organized. 

 

You're going for uncluttered, so even if you have to pack up some of your clothes, it's worth it to show that your closets are spacious...plenty of room.  I didn't have to do that...I don't have that many clothes anyway!

 

 



I won't bore you with pictures of my  bathroom cabinets, but trust me, they are clean & tidy.  Buyers look everywhere.  Snoopymcsnoopersons!

It's all about creating a feeling...they think if they buy your house, they too will live a neat and tidy lifestyle.

Seriously, I even slightly staged my refrigerator. Don't laugh..they will look in there.  If your fridge is dirty or messy, it will help if it's cleaned up.

 

 

If possible, keep lots of fresh flowers around the house when you are selling.  If that's not practical, live plants are a good option but I happen to think fake plants are worse than no plants.  What do you think?

 

Staging is really about common sense.  Think about what you would like to see when looking at a home. 
Clean, uncluttered, well-maintained, neutral.
But if you need help, there are plenty of talented peeps out there who will do it for you.  Seems like it would be a fun job.

So come on over for a glass of wine in the backyard and picture yourself living here.

It's lovely I promise.

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

~Karen~