Featured Designer: Kristin Panitch

For the second installment of Featured Designer, I chose Los Angeles designer Kristin Panitch. What captured my attention about this designer is her modern, classic style. As you know, my style is a bit traditional but I'm always looking for a way to merge "a little bit of modern flair" into a room and that is just what Kristin Panitch Interiors does. Take a look at some of the spaces they have created: {and under each picture, just for fun...I spy the modern touch}

Pacific Palisades

(high contrast black and white}

{okay, maybe not every picture!}
I think this is pretty traditional (emphasis on pretty!). I'm coveting the dishwasher drawers. I've been without a dishwasher for more than a couple years because I'm holding out for those!

{graphic rug}

I need this bathroom!

Brentwood

{the counter stools}

{the glossy brown bookcase}
This is the photo that led me to her website. I think this is gorgeous!

{maybe not modern, but unexpected- notice the branch clad cocktail table}
Special note to Renee: notice the fireplace! (I just painted Renee's fireplace brick and mantle white)

Brentwood Polo Fields

{the dining and counter chairs}
Very traditional decor but the use of stainless and leather give it a more modern flair.

{a mix of Ikat and geometric patterns}

This is just awesome! What little kid wouldn't love these cave-like beds and workspaces! What an incredibly efficient use of space and what drama...a chandelier!

Rustic Canyon

{lighting}

Classic!

{lucite stools}
Isn't this such a comfortable looking room. I just want to cozy up and read philosophy ;)

{graphic rug}
I think built-in beds must be part of her schtick! Anything built-in is a good thing in my book. 

All of the bathrooms, thus far,  are very traditional, vintage even. The bathroom is the one room that I don't feel compelled to bring in modern touches either. I don't know why, I'll have to ponder that!


http://www.kristenpanitchinteriors.com/about.html

I'll finish with an outdoor space and that's where I can't wait to be! Sitting outside, around a campfire with some friends, the kids toasting marshmallows. Our spring is delayed but soon, right? I hope!

Have an awesome day,

Michelle

Stylish Blogger Award

Okay, I actually got a bit choked up - I admit it! Really...a Stylish Blogger Award. Thank you Carrie at Hazardous Design for honoring me with that. Carrie has a really fun blog where she is chronicling the home renovations that she and her husband Chris undertake on their "new" old New England home. Makes you just want to go over and help out!

I can't wait to tell my kids. They are entirely convinced  I  suffer from sort of blogging disease that I'm hopefully going to recover from some time very soon! Work hard and get rewarded -See, I'm teaching them lessons as I'm blogging ;)

For now, without further adieu, as required, here are Seven Things About Me That You May Not Know:

1.) I have three boys and a girl (ages 23, 12, 7 & 21) and all of the boys were born on holidays  Christmas, New Year's Eve & Halloween respectively.  Throwing a couple of birthdays into the holiday mix is always, umm..fun :)

2.) I will be celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary this summer AND from the night we met (at a bar) we went over fourteen years seeing each other... each & every single day! We are best friends <3

3.) Maxfield Parrish & M.C. Escher are my favorite artists.

4.) I am a self proclaimed philosopher. The book "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen changed my life and my favorite quote is "Endeavor to be what you desire to appear" by Socrates.

5.) I've qualified for the Boston Marathon but have since learned that it's one thing to qualify, yet another to actually get in! Maybe next year.

6.) I adore all of the songbirds at my feeders and justify spending so much money on bird food because they are my only pets.  

7.) My friends say that I'm the most competitive person they know but they think I'm motivational as well, so it works for me.


I am honored to pass this award on to some other stylish blogs:

Beth & Kristy at Design Chic

Lucy at Lucy Designs

Linda at Oeke Design Blog

Karen at Vanilla and Thyme

Shawn at Country French Antiques

Delores at Vignette Design

Fun Friday Find: 3D Sidewalk Chalk Art

This has got to be the most fun Friday post yet! Even though the sidewalk and driveway are once again covered with snow, it won't be long before my own little artists will be out there, with the Easter basket in tow, creating their own works of art. I just showed these photos to my seven year old and we both are in awe of these amazing artists. 

I love that I actually found a picture that shows the art from a perspective other than the perspective that it needs to be viewed from in order to see the illusion.

Happy Friday!!!

Have a great weekend, 

Michelle

Fifty Posts Later & How to Make A Simple Frame Using Molding

Yesterday was my fiftieth post and as I reflect on my blogging experience thus far I'd like to share a funny story with you. Let me back up a little. When I was in the research phase of starting a blog I read about a hundred articles (posts) on the ProBlogger blog. One thing that struck me is when I read "there are no original ideas"...huh??? It didn't take long for me to realize that statement had a lot of truth to it. At first I found it discouraging but then I realized not having the pressure 3-4 times a week of having to come up with an entirely original idea was a bit liberating. Every time I come up with an idea for a post I can find several others who have already done it, so I do it anyway and try to put my own style and personality into it and hope that my readers will find it inspiring. The funny story is that yesterday a gal sent me an email to tell me that she found my blog and saw the mural I did in our nursery HERE  (inspired by a picture in a Ballard catalog). She did the same thing!  It just drove the point home but it also illustrates how much we all have in common. She is now my latest follower and I'm following her blog as well. I'm loving the blogging community and look forward to the connections that will be made with the next fifty posts!

Now back to blogging :)  Want to learn how to make an easy frame out of molding?

I bought these architectural drawings years ago from Ballard Designs. Yesterday, on The Mustard Ceiling blog I learned of Wikimedia Commons where you can download all sorts of prints- including architectural prints like these for free! Of course, you're limited by the size of your printer if you want to do it yourself or I've had blueprints (36x24) printed from a file (put it on a flash drive) at print shops and office supply stores like Staples for just a few dollars. You may want to use this option for color prints too if you don't have a good quality printer to use.

I used pine corner molding but there are many others, including actual picture frame molding, that are sold at  Lowes, Home Depot and many hometown lumber yards. It just needs an "L" shaped profile of at least 1/4" to hold the glass and print. Figure out how big you want your frame, add up the sides. Mine were 14x23 and 23x29 so I needed at least 74" and 104" respectively, of molding. 

Using a miter box cut your side and top pieces to size at a 45 degree angle.

Besides the molding you'll need:

1.) brads (very small nails)

2.) v-nails or corner nails (I used the corrugated fasteners above because I had them)

3.) wood glue

4.) 2 eye screws

5.) picture hanging wire 

6.) glass cut to size (see my note at the end of this post)

All of the hardware above is available at hardware and large craft supply stores. 

Glue and fasten your corners. Like I previously mentioned, I used these corrugated fasteners to hold the corners together and even though they're not the best choice they have worked for over twenty years! Be sure to wipe off any excess glue that squeezes out of the joints because paint will not adhere to it. Let the glue dry and go ahead and paint!

I had to clip the corners of the glass. The v-nails would eliminate this because they would be flush. 

Assemble! Glass, then mat if you're using one, art print and a piece of cardboard backing.

Use the brads to hold it all together. They are very sharp and push quite easily into the pine molding, just a couple of taps with a hammer. Put your eye screws in to hold the picture framing wire. That's it!

 Now, I'm sure if a professional picture framer reads this, they are cringing but I'm just telling you how I did it. I have this kind of stuff around my house so it didn't cost me anything. If you had to go out and buy all of it,  it probably wouldn't be cheaper than buying a frame although it may still be worth it! I get great satisfaction out of making my own things!
Note about the glass: Garage sales are coming soon to the northeast. I am constantly picking up framed pictures for ridiculously low prices. Sometimes I buy them just for the glass. I've got quite a collection and it comes in so handy.  It's very easy to cut glass- it really is! You can get a glass cutter at a craft store. Maybe that's what I should do a tutorial on!

Wow, I think this is officially my longest post! Let me know what you think- you know I love your comments!
Michelle

PS I realized why some people were having trouble leaving a comment (settings, ugh!) please give it another shot!

The Other Entrance

via High Street Market

The secondary entrance of a home is usually a high-traffic area that has to accommodate a lot of purposes. Besides having a place to wipe your feet and hang your jacket, you may have a laundry area, a mail drop-off area, a pet feeding area or a charging station. These are all common areas near the other the most frequently used entrance/exit of your house. With that in mind, storage and organization are key to maintaining a space that has some semblance of order. As you may know I am in the process of reorganizing and painting my own  mudroom- I put up a few pictures at the end of the post. Take a look at some of the mudrooms that I've posted and then I'll tell you about how I am tackling my own work in progress!

via High Street Market

via Country Living

via HGTV

Stagtecture.com

Stagetecture.com

via Better Homes And Gardens

via High Street Market

via Country Living

via Better Homes and Gardens

http://www.gpschafer.com/#/home

via Canadian House and Home

When I started writing this blog I never intended to highlight my own home projects but I've been following a couple of blogs that share their home improvements and renovations and I'm really enjoying them so I thought maybe I would do the same. Below are current photos. We've done a lot to get to this point and we still have a couple of big projects ahead of us, namely flooring.

PHOTO BY ISPIRATO DESIGN
Interior transom windows are one of those architectural features in a house that I love

Originally, when you walked into the mudroom it was a three foot wide hallway open to the kitchen. To the left was a large laundry closet with bi-fold doors. What I didn't like, besides the lack of floor space, was that the laundry closet had a large window over the washer and dryer but it was in the closet. So, that wall came down -Wow, what a lot of light and space that created! We also built a wall between the mudroom and kitchen and framed a new door opening (the French door above).

PHOTO BY ISPIRATO DESIGN
This is the window that was in the closet!

 Okay, I'm not going to show you my ugly, mismatched washer and dryer but I will show the window surround I built over them to showcase my favorite glass bottles and vases. First, we built two 30"x30" closets on either side of the washer and dryer for storage and to enclose the laundry sink and laundry chute. Then, I basically built an open box with one fixed upper shelf (I used 1x12's) and added a 6" (1x6) center vertical support. I built it on the ground, installed it and then finished it off with various moldings.

PHOTO BY ISPIRATO DESIGN
I used 6" pieces of corner molding to support the shelves.

The closets are so small that we had to custom build the doors but they store so much and will be the subject of an upcoming post. They were an exercise in organization!

PHOTO BY ISPIRATO DESIGN
In a small space like this, every inch of space needs to have a purpose. A shelf near the ceiling and/or over doors is a great place to use baskets or decorative boxes to store out of season apparel.  

To the right of the door, when you walk in from the garage, is a door going to the deck. There isn't enough room for an enclosed closet for coats so I pulled out a Pottery Barn catalog, looked at the prices of units like the one above and said yeah right! Back to the drawing board. Using the photos in the catalog for "inspiration" I built the unit above to fit our space perfectly! I love using power tools :)

PHOTO BY ISPIRATO DESIGN
Since there are only four cubbies we needed more places to hang stuff, again -just  a few pine boards, a couple of brackets, coat hooks and molding- tada! I love the vintage mirror even though it has some blemishes. It widens the space and reflects the light from the windows!

PHOTO BY ISPIRATO DESIGN
The powder room is next! I found a beautiful shade of blue that will blend the casualness of the mudroom with the formality of the powder room.

I hope you enjoyed and found useful these mudroom photos!

I will continue to update this post as I find lighting, flooring and install baseboards (we are replacing all of our baseboard and door moldings a little at a time- my husband hates being married to a designer!- not really, right hun?). Take care! Michelle

I'm Participating in Remodelaholic's Friday Link Up Party!