classic preppiness

Every now and then, I get a client who totally gets me, and I totally get them. This is one of those clients. Having grown up in Connecticut, she was into that traditional New England preppy classic look, with some new modern elements. Very influenced by some of my faves such as Studio McGee, Caitlin Wilson, and more, we set out to refresh her dining space and entryway (which happened to be connected).

Let's just say that once I learned that this amazingly ridiculous project was her main inspiration, I was hooked.

This was one of the three moodboards I created for her, and not even the one that ended up being the winner. We both loved this, of course. But, my client noted that she already had this rug in her kitchen, and I knew that we were already on the same wavelength. Great minds think alike!

Her home is located in Florida but she wanted to bring back some of her New England roots. As a child of two Vermont-born-humans who dragged me around antique shops as a child and a still-new-ish resident of Boston/Cambridge, I was more than willing to put this together for her!

I can't decide what I love most about this board -- everything is pretty fabulous (not to toot my own horn). A classic chandelier with a soft capiz pendant (this one was from West Elm originally, but out of stock) in the foyer complement each other so well. A couple of pillows on her really cute white antique bench make for an instantly inviting space. The softness of the abstract canvas keeps the mood calm and collected among the bold rug. I love having a vibrant rug like this at the front door - something bright, dark, able to hide entryway dirt! Almost always worth the investment as it will last you forever. 

capiz pendant (similar) | caitlin wilson rug | solid pillow | watercolor pillow | chandelier | abstract painting

amy's office

Maybe you've seen this little office around the interwebs? Maybe it gave you an itch to paint one of your rooms some obscenely dark color as a contrast to the rest of your light and airy house? Maybe it encouraged you to go bold? That's exactly what we were going for!

The rest of Amy and Adam's house is super light, modern, and clean. Amy came to me with the idea that this second bedroom (in reality: extremely tiny office but pretty large walk-in closet, depending how you look at it) would have dark walls and a fun, colorful rug to be something different. With that, I ran! At first, we wanted to fit two spots for chairs at the desk (so Amy and Adam could both work), but the room proved to be ultimately petite. After looking at a few standard desks and not feeling wowed, I came across this idea of desk separates. This somewhat adjustable solution with an IKEA butcherblock countertop and two cabinet units was the winner. Not only did this provide a nice wide work surface, it created plenty of storage and filing without a lame filing cabinet.

I liked the idea so much that I did it in my own office, which coincidentally is about the same size as Amy's!

But what were we to do with this dark wall? Amy and I agreed that a gallery wall would be lovely - she was thinking floor to ceiling (sort of like Alaina's), I was thinking just above the desk (because who's going to see the other stuff?). Away we went with choosing some awesome pieces from Society6 and Minted to reflect their personalities (Seinfeld silhouette print and Bill Murray illustration included). The graphic effect of this wall against the dark dark grey was what we were looking for!

This rug from Urban Outfitters did the trick and fit the bill for our "colorful, fun rug" aspect, and originally we LOVED this chair from Anthropologie and it's quirkiness. It was backordered until forever (in true Anthro style, but I still adore everything, of course), so we opted for this funky leather chair instead.

Needless to say, we are both super pleased with how this turned out!

desktop | filing cabinets | leather chair | ikat chair | rug | wall color | various art from society6, urban outfitters, & minted: one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | ten 

Photography courtesy of my stellar team at Havenly!