One of the unspoken perks of decorating for clients is the opportunity to explore a multitude of styles and inspirations. With so many to chose from, it would obviously be an expensive proposition to do them all in your own home. Whether our personal preference or not, it’s still fun to deliver whatever ‘look’ our clients feel best suits their family and lifestyle. Becoming comfortable with and creating such varied spaces helps us grow as a decorators!
We’ve just finished working on a decorating project for an awesome, newly-wed couple in Crystal Lake, Illinois. After seeing what we were able to do for them staging their previous property, they decided to continue working with us to decorate their new home. Already familiar with their belongings, we knew which pieces needed to be repurposed and what new furniture, art and accessories we’d need to fill in the blanks.
If I had to put a label on their particular style, I’d say retro chic with a nod to mid-century modern design. I’ve dabbled with this style in the past and love the clean, sinuous
lines that bring back both images of a classic, simpler time while nodding to the future. While we were repurposing a few key pieces in the home, the hunt was on for a new dining room set , family room group, bedroom night stands, light fixtures, window fashions for a couple rooms and a few key pieces of art. After visiting the usual suspects, we ended up with a combination of items from Crate & Barrel, Room & Board, Pottery Barn, HomeGoods, Wayfair and few others to complete their new look.
It takes times to find just the right things, get them ordered and delivered and finally style the space. With the patience of saints, these clients waited for over three months while things were ordered and delivered. Finally the day of redesign arrived and our team of 3 descended on the home to pull everything together.
While the Before pics were snapped while the previous owner was preparing to move, the transformation is no less impressive! Working with existing wall colors in most of the rooms but planning for an eventual update, we began the transition from warm taupes, tans and gold tones toward the more trendy warm grays.
A new table, chairs and console from Room & Board were perfect for the dining room. A new rug from Crate & Barrel helped to perfectly blend the existing floor tile with the new gray walls. The table and chairs are complimented by a fabulous, hand crafted Hubbardton Forge chandelier and matching wall sconces. New cream panels from Bed, Bath & Beyond on shorty rods help soften the edges of the beautiful plantation shutters.
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AFTER
The family room received a new gray track arm sofa, matching oversized chair and accent chair from Crate & Barrel. A wonderful find…. a canary yellow leather & chrome Eames chair and ottoman from HomeGoods… added a fun punch of color to the space. New chrome and glass coffee, end and console tables from Pottery Barn worked perfectly with that chair. While it’s hard to see the multi-colored bands in the new Crate & Barrel rug, they coordinate with the colorful tv console we repurposed from the previous home.
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AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
What served as an office for the previous owner, we turned into a small living room for the piano. Since this room will rarely be used, we simply repurposed furniture from the old home to stretch our budget farther for the new things we needed. The chandelier was removed and used in one of the daughter’s bedroom.
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The previous home’s master bedroom had featured dark blue with orange accents. By some miracle, we inherited the perfect, custom orange window panels in the new home. What would have cost a small fortune to duplicate, we were able to reuse with the existing bed and bedding. The old sofa from the previous home found it’s way to the tv area while new chest nightstands from Crate & Barrel are the perfect addition to the space.
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While we are still contemplating changes to the kitchen, for the time being it was enough to change out light fixtures that better suited the family. Tech Lighting offered the perfect solutions with brush nickel pendants for the island and a coordinating dome light with orange insert for the kitchen table.
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Exploring so many decorating styles would take the average homeowner more than a lifetime. Luckily for us, we get to fast forward through so many thanks to our clients and their wonderfully varied tastes. If you need help figuring out your own “style” and pulling it together, let us know. Happy Decorating from Decor Designs, Inc. 815-245-2433
From Decor Designs Owner & Chief Creative,