So last week I did a post about updating a client’s house with a new color and coat of exterior paint. You might remember it looked like this:

I went over for a color consultation and brought three paint decks with me – one from Sherwin Williams and two from Benjamin Moore {more than enough from which to make a choice.}

The first thing I did was to analyze the color of the stone on the lower half of the house. We can all see the warm caramel color that’s present on some of the stones but I was surprised to see there is a purple undertone to many of the stones. The other feature that I looked at was the grout. Many times when selecting a new color for a house, I will use the color of the grout as a unifying color.

This gave me two options to present the clients. The first one was the warm caramel color option. Shelburne Buff (HC-28 from Benjamin Moore) was a great paint color that complimented the warm tones from many of the stones. I put together a quick color rendering of what the house would look like if the white was changed to Shelburne Buff.

I suggested that they remove the metal awnings that were over the two small windows on the right and add black shutters. Even in this color rendering you can see how the paint color acts as an instant facelift taking about 30 years off the appearance of the house.

The other option I suggested was to use a color that closely matched the grout. This is always a great options because you know it will look good if the existing grout looks nice.

That color ended up being Gray Area 7052. This color is a warm brown gray that will add a very sophisticated look and feel to the exterior of the house.

The photo to the left shows what the house would look like using Gray Area. 

Here’s a little designer trick you might not know – both color options I gave my clients are interior colors. That’s right, your local paint professional can mix any interior color with an exterior base to give you a truly custom painted house.

So I’m curious, which option do you like? Which color would you select?

The arrival of warm, sunny spring days means spending more time outside – and that’s a good thing in my book. However, it does mean seeing your house and yard up close and personal from the outside in. That’s a complete shift from the winter view we have of our homes – from the inside out.

I have a client who wants to freshen up the outside of their home with a new coat of paint. They were thinking of using the same color – white  (as seen in this photo above).

My suggestion is to not only freshen up the paint but to give the house an instant facelift by painting it a new color! The exterior is very common for homes in our area built in the 1950s.

We don’t have a large budget so painting is pretty much what we are able to afford. So this is your chance to be the designer! What paint color would you suggest? Keep in  mind the stone on the lower part is staying.

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts. I have already sent my clients a mock up with my suggested color palette. I’ll show that to you next time!

Hi All! Sorry I’ve been MIA but I’ve been busy with clients and the Dream House. It’s a good kind of busy but trying to juggle it all can be diffifult!

These past couple of weeks I have been developing the color palette for the Dream House. Paint color selection is a challenge for most people -  it’s my #1 requested service. No one wants to make a mistake including yours truly!

Over the years I have become good friends with Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams. Here in NE Ohio where Sherwin Williams in headquartered, it seems like every painter uses SW. I like their paint but feel that Benjamin Moore offers more color selections so I end up using both in my work.

Since I’ve been knee deep in selecting paint colors, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite spring colors.

From Sherwin Williams
SW 6134 Netsuke – the perfect neutral beige. It has a yellow green undertone, perfect for spring.
SW 6204 Sea Salt – I fell in love this this color four years ago when I used it in an in-law suite. A soft blue green that looks like sea glass. I’ll be paining our living room this color in a few weeks.
SW6267 – Sensitive Tint – a beautiful soothing, sophisticated violet.
SW 6414 Rice Paddy – this yellow green is on the walls of my office which I have designed to feel like a perpetual spring/summer. When the winter weather gets me down, my office palette picks me up!

Benjamin Moore
HC-4 Hawthorne Yellow
HC-5 Weston Flax
If you are looking for the “perfect yellows” check these two colors from BMP’s historical paint collection. They are amazing. Yellow is one of the most difficult colors to pick out. Most of the time they come out way too bright and neon. Hawthorne yellow is a more saturated yellow while Weston Flax is softer. Both are perfect!
052  Conch Shell – this soft peachy pink does look like the beautiful soft color inside a conch sell!
631 Aberdeen Green – a wonderful robin’s egg blue green that reminds me of spring.
920 Honey Harbour - a soft creamy yellow beige – another perfect neutral and a great alternative to beige.

It’s the house that everyone seems to love. The Hampton’s beach house from the movie, Something’s Gotta Give.

The fabulous kitchen and dining room. The must-have living room. This house/set design was the reason I bought the movie on DVD!

If you love great movie homes, you must go visit the ladies of The Skirted Roundtable and listen to their interview with  Beth Rubino, the Set Decorator for Something’s Gotta Give.

Beth talks about the process of creating these beautiful sets and you’ll be kinda shocked to hear how they created the iconic rug in the living room {above}.

The Something’s Gotta Give house is going to be the inspiration for the 2010 YMCA Dream House. This year’s house is a lake house – our first ever! {For those of you not familiar with Lake Erie, it looks like an ocean – you can’t see land across or from side to side.} So the Something’s Gotta Give house is a perfect inspiration for our designers.

I’m excited to announce that I have been asked to be the design coordinator for this year’s house! I’m very honored and a bit overwhelmed – it means I help determine the color palette and other major aspects of the house. I have also been asked to design the kitchen, eat-in area and the living room. Wow! I’m going to be pretty busy these next few months but that’s a good thing!

I hope you enjoy the interview with Beth – so interesting! Thanks ladies of The Skirted Round Table!

Spring is just around the corner, right? I mean, despite the foot of snow on the ground we are less than a month away from the first day of spring which is March 20.

The longer I’m back on the North Coast, the more spring becomes my favorite season. That’s because it’s the season farthest away from winter! 

After six months of being hermetically sealed in our house, there is just nothing like open window season and catching the scent of freshly-cut grass as it wafts in and perfumes the house.

Since moving into our Cottage In the Woods, we have done an updating project at the house each spring. Last year was the kitchen and this year it will be, in part, the living room fireplace.  

 We will be getting rid of our 10-foot brick fireplace surround. It’s just a monstrosity.  (Here it is during one of my projects!) This is one of the rooms that has stayed exactly as it was when we bought it. Aren’t the builder white walls so . . . in need of warming up?!

We are tearing out all that brick and in it’s place we are putting in some very simple built-ins. That means more to decorate {happy dance!}

We have also ordered a sectional for this room which will arrive in April. My husband wants to be able to watch TV with his legs up and since I refuse to have recliners, we got a sectional with a chaise.

Since most of our money will be going for the built-ins, sectional and my husband’s new flat screen TV, I’m on a very tight decorating budget, as in, I pretty much have to re-purpose existing things in the house to dress the living room.

I’m planning on using the lamps from our master bedroom in the living room. I am also reusing our sofa console table but I can’t use our existing coffee table because it’s rectangular and won’t fit with the sectional.

So I’m also scouting thrift stores for a small round table to use as a cocktail table. I love this one from Maine Cottage but umm, as beautiful as it is and as much as I would love this table, $1,590 IS NOT in the budget! I’d like to find something similar and then paint it a color like this “sprout” which is one of 40 custom colors Maine Cottage offers.

I know spring will soon be here, so I’m keeping busy counting down and getting ready for a fun redesign of our living room. Let’s see, just how many days until spring . . . ?

Today I was interviewed by a reporter from our local newspaper for a feature article about design and decorating trends – where we’ve been and where we are going. Jean was such a sweetheart and we had so much fun talking – she’s one of us!

The interview got me to thinking. I go into many homes where people are just struggling to get out of a rut - they want to get their home into this century when it comes to the way they should decorate.

Well, recently I came across a post that beautifully showcases ”where we have been” and shows how simple it can be to get to ”where we are going” when it comes the current trend in design and decorating.

How better to show the difference between the two than with pictures? Here are two from her post that really say it all.

Where We’ve Been

Where We Are Going

Amazing yet so simple. Today’s design trend is to the fresh, clean line tempered with a touch of vintage which adds character and history to a space. For the not-so-sure-do-it-yourselfer, a bathroom is the perfect place to try your hand at making a change. It’s easily done in a weekend and for not a lot of money. How “devine!”

Pop over to Susie Harris’ blog to see more of her fabulous bathroom makeover!

Welcome friends from Melissa’s Beautiful Life Fridays!

If your nesting instincts are kicking in, you’ll love this fabulous fall mantel makeover.

How many of you have this kind of stock mantel around your fireplace? Kinda boring and not much to write home about.

With the help of Caromal Colour paint, it was transformed into a stunning focal point! The owners discovered stone under the drywall – why would anyone drywall over this beautiful stone?

So off came the drywall and on went a couple more layers of molding to beef up the fireplace mantel to help bring it into proportion with the stone.

Then the painting began! They used a basecoat of the chocolate texture base coat from Caromal Colours.

Once that dried, they topped it with the chipping creme.  The chipping creme helps create a layered look when using two or more paint colors.

After the chipping creme dried, they applied a coat of the texture base coat in the color putty. The sanders and sand paper were used to give the mantel a distressed, vintage look once the putty base coat had dried.

The finished look is stunning! How warm and cozy does this look, especially for fall nesting season!

To see a step by step walk thru of the project, visit Country Living magazine.

Want to get this look for your own fireplace? Got flea market finds that need a facelift?

You can order Caromal Colours and get a discount on shipping using my “DevineD” code. Just put the code in the coupon code box when checking out.

I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days. We have been switching over to a new host and of course, little gremlins were haunting us! Ah, ’tis the season!

Speaking of seasons, nesting season is soooo officially here! We have had nothing but cold, rainy weather for days. I’ve pulled out the turtle neck sweaters, wool blazers and knit scarfs! What’s it like where you live???

If you want to dress your nest for fall, I love this welcoming idea {above} from BHG.com. Wouldn’t this be a great way to greet fall guests?

Inside your home, if you want to spice up your walls, try 1148 Concac Snifter from Benjamin Moore Paints. It’s a wonderfully spicey copper with a bit of bronze. The online swatch doesn’t do the color justice, so take a look at the real thing at your local BMP store.

For more fall inspiration, check out this wonderful Vermont home of former Country Living publisher Ron Galotti. What an amazing home in such a picturesque setting! {And here’s an FYI . . . if you’re a fan of the TV show Sex and the City, Ron was the inspiration for Mr. Big . . . personally, I think the original looks way better than the copy. Be sure to check out the story for pics!}