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Quick and Easy Living room Re-design

April 22, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Home, Organize, Organizing Projects

Last week I had a fun and quick re-design job for an open living room dining room area.  My client had recently inherited quite a few new pieces of furniture from a relative and had purchased a new sectional sofa.  She was left with a mix of furniture in her open space that wasn’t functional and didn’t flow.  I quickly assessed her needs as follows:

  • more living room seating for guests
  • a more functional and useable dining room area-for entertaining and daily use
  • integrate new furnishings with existing eclectic style
  • more seating for outdoor patio
  • too cluttered/crowded feeling

BeforeKW BeforeKW-1

Before the dining table was under the windows and when being used it obstructed the flow of the room.  The chair next to the china hutch rarely got used and two additional chairs in the living room were pushed up against the wall across from the sofa and therefore felt quite separate from the living room space.

We relocated those chairs to the screened porch to make more room and give the outdoor space additional seating. The two large pieces of furniture on both ends of the rooms created a heavy feeling and on one end partially blocked light from a window. First, we moved the TV cabinet over to fill the large wall across from the sectional. This allowed more light in through the previously blocked window and made room for two additional seating areas on both sides of the tv cabinet using a couple of chairs and occasional tables already in the space.  We also moved the sofa a bit to create space for the china cabinet on the wall behind it.  By moving both the chair and the china cabinet we opened up the entire back wall (closest to the kitchen) for a clearly defined dining space that has ample room for entertaining.

The newly arranged living space has more seating but also feels intimate and cozy.

After-1 After

The room now feels more open and less cluttered and there are still two distinct spaces for living and dining.

Whenever I do a space re-design I advise clients to live with it for at least a week before deciding if there are things they really don’t like.  As creatures of habit we get use to our things in a certain arrangement and it might feel awkward at first having things moved around within the space.  Luckily in this case the client worked with me to move things and she seemed really happy with the results immediately.  The following day she responded to an email I sent with this response; “I love it so much! The room feels bigger and I like my “things” more now too in the new arrangement.”  This was a two hour project and the only expense for the client was my consulting/space planning fee. We did not buy one single thing!

Use what you have in new ways, move things around and create a totally new space!

Makeover Monday::His & Hers Walk in Closet

April 2, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Closets, Home, Organize, Organizing Projects 1 Comment

This was a case of a beautifully designed closet that just wasn’t functioning so well.  Without calling in anyone to redesign the closet or purchasing anything new we made do with what they had and re-organized some things so that more of what was needed fit into the closet in a neat and tidy way.

Her Side (Before left: After right)

About 4 hours later (mostly working by myself on this project) I had this closet finished.  On her side I sorted tops, bottoms and long dresses and jackets by clothing type and color.  I re-located less used special occasion items to a second guest room closet, created drawers designated for specific items such as hats, jewelry, belts and lingerie.  This freed up space for the client to use other bedroom furniture drawers for items that should not be hung such as sweaters, other knits and casual/frequently used items.

His Side (Before left: After right)

On his side I sorted full suits by season putting the warmer season suits to the front since we are shifting towards summer (at least here in the south).  This client also has quite a collection of bow ties and suspenders which I hung on a multi section hangers (often used for scarves or pants).  Again I sorted shirts and pants/shorts by type and color leaving suspenders attached to several pairs of pants in this case.

We got rid of almost everything on the floor and many of the decorative boxes and items cluttering up the shelves.  We used the shelves for shoes (both in and out of boxes and drawer bins), bags, hats (on the top shelves) and photo albums.  She liked keeping these albums in the closet but if she needed more shelving space she could remove them to another area in the future.  The closet is a nice space to keep photo albums if you have the room and you can always pull out a few at a time to have on display in a more public room of the house.

Tip: Store items that are not needed often in the back of deep corner shelves in containers that are easily pulled out.  For example shoe; a shoe shining kit. Label the edge of shelves so you know what’s hiding in the back of each.

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Wednesday Wellness::Bringing Home the Green

March 9, 2011 by Heather Filed Under: Home, Inspiration & Education, Wellness & Mindset 2 Comments

Keep houseplants and get out and garden if you can. Bringing home the green can be incredibly healthy! These 15 houseplants are easy to grow in a variety of settings.

I’m currently starting some seeds for my garden. It is that time of year when we all start thinking about things turning green, the cycle of growth and spring flowers.

Bringing Home the Green

I’m a big fan of gardening and that includes anything from designing landscapes, creating garden plans, choosing plants, starting seeds, pruning, raking leaves etc.  Some people have NO interest in growing anything and for those of you who feel that way, okay fine maybe you could just keep a couple houseplants!  Seriously, houseplants improve indoor air quality haven’t you heard?  They create oxygen and help filter out toxins in the air.  Some of the hardest working houseplants are also the easiest to care for.

NASA and ALCA (Associated Landscape Contractors of America) conducted a study testing common houseplants for their ability to remove indoor air pollutants and below is their list of the 19 that do the best job.  The study revealed that in a home under 2000 sq feet there should be about 15 plants (in 6″ pots or bigger) to have the best effect.
1. Philodendron scandens `oxycardium’, heartleaf philodendron
2. Philodendron domesticum, elephant ear philodendron
3. Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana’, cornstalk dracaena
4. Hedera helix, English ivy
5. Chlorophytum comosum, spider plant
6. Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig’, Janet Craig dracaena
7. Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii’, Warneck dracaena
8. Ficus benjamina, weeping fig
9. Epipiremnum aureum, golden pothos
10. Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa’, peace lily
11. Philodendron selloum, selloum philodendron
12. Aglaonema modestum, Chinese evergreen
13. Chamaedorea sefritzii, bamboo or reed palm
14. Sansevieria trifasciata, snake plant
15. Dracaena marginata , red-edged dracaena

If you are more into gardening outside then I think any gardening activity you do is good for your overall health and wellness.  Fresh air, Vitamin D (but use the sunscreen), exercise and a sense of peace and well being are all benefits that come from being out in nature.  Recent research is showing that there are tremendous yet unknown benefits to getting some form of exercise outdoors.  There has even been a term coined recently “Nature Deficient Disorder“, check out this article for more about that concept.  It kind of makes sense to me!

One thing I always try to incorporate into my gardening is growing a bit of food.  It’s fun, it’s easy and it’s healthy.  I’ve done the majority of my food production in one form of container or another over the past  years.  I’ve grown garlic, lettuce, spinach, bok choi, kale, radish, beets, strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, malibar spinach and all sorts of herbs in containers.   NOW is the time to start those seeds for the upcoming season.  If you are interested in learning about how to start your own seeds  check out these great videos.  The Grow It Eat It website is one that offers a tremendous amount of information specifically on gardening for food production.

Whatever you like to grow, I hope your growing something!  It’s good for the soul, good for your health and good for the planet.

Related Articles
  • Wednesday::Wellness (hkpowerstudio.wordpress.com)
  • The Quest for a Greener Houseplant (treehugger.com)

Field Trip Flavors of France

February 11, 2011 by Heather Filed Under: Home, Inspiration & Education, Photography 2 Comments

Since I didn’t get very far last week I’m happy to bring you a bit more of France today sharing, some of the great food experiences we had and saw in Provence.

I was completely in love with the French markets.  It seems like practically every city and town has at least one market a week with a ton of fresh produce, fish, cheese, sausage and other meats, textiles, spices, flowers etc…who needs the regular store when you can get practically anything you need at the open air market.  And Everyone shops at them!  On market day it’s just a part of life to prepare your list, get your basket and bags out and head out to get what you need for the week (or half the week if your lucky enough to live in a larger city that has them twice weekly).  This way of life is so much more connected to agriculture and fresh food, it’s ingrained in the culture and I loved this aspect of the French lifestyle.  Look at all the lovely goodies that I saw at the markets in Orange, Marseilles and Avignon. Flavors of France

To start the trip out hour hostess’s landlady insisted on having us for a very special truffle omelet for dinner.   We were truly lucky to have such and exquisite home made meal in the home of a gracious and fun woman!  The process of preparing for this omelet required buying the fresh eggs and truffles at the weekly market and infusing the eggs with the truffles by some process of keeping the eggs in their shells and allowing the truffle essence to permeate the eggs.  It was divine.  We also had this incredible Spelt (that I have yet to locate in the US) served simply au pistou.  I’m still hoarding one last bag of it that I brought back.  It is much more nutty, sweet and delicate than the spelt whole grain you typically find in the US.   Another truly memorable dining experience (really they all were!) was the fresh daily croissant’s that our hostess went and got for us each morning.  Some days they were chocolate, some day’s almond and some days just plain.  Our typical breakfast was a croissant and plain delicious yogurt.  I can’t believe I didn’t get a photo of that!  Every meal was delicious I think due to the truly fresh ingredients that are standard in Provence.  With the slightly mediteranean climate they have a pretty long growing season with not too many very cold spells.  We even got to experience the Mistral while we were visiting~Woosh!

Dining in Provence

And then of course there were the sweets!  So many delicious sweets, pastries, candies etc. we tried to restrain ourselves within reason but we did a lot of walking so we had a good excuse to indulge.  Probably my favorite though was the combination of chocolate and orange.  In the image below right are some green sugar coated chocolate orange candies that we found in a small Chocolatier in Saint-Tropez.

French Confections

These candies were the inspiration for a cookie recipe I “invented” this week (I’m apparently not the first person to “invent” these but I’d never heard of them and didn’t look up any recipe for them before I concocted my version).

The recipe, below is a French inspired twist on Oatmeal cookies.

Chocolate Orange Oatmeal Cookies

Yields about 3 dozen

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup apple or peach sauce (peach sauce-pureed steamed/canned peaches)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 cups cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 to 1/4 cup chopped candied orange rind (homemade or store bought)
  • 1/2 to 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips or pieces (more chocolate can never be a bad thing)
  • Optional:  1/4 to 1/2 cup walnuts or hazelnuts in to replace some of the chocolate

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpats; set aside.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and apple or peach sauce; mix on high speed to combine.
  3. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and beat on low speed to combine, 10 to 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer, and stir in dried fruits and chocolate (and optional nuts).
  4. Using a large metal scoop, drop dough onto prepared sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until golden and just set, about 15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes then transfer sheets to wire rack to cool completely.

If you have a favorite Oatmeal recipe you could adjust it to include the chocolate and orange in place of raisins and nuts etc.

Chocolate Orange Oatmeal CookiesBon Appetit!

Related Article Friday Field Trip::France (hkpowerstudio.wordpress.com)
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