Saturday: Yoga with Katherine -  my favorite. If you are looking for amazing yoga and live in Arlington, check out Journey on the Pike!

Hours and hours of uninterrupted gardening – popped some Advil and then…

Wiffle ball and drinks at Meghan’s – such a sweet family and a new tradition is born.

Sunday: Running with my girlfriends and then to successfully reach total physical exhaustion…

Rock climbing at SportRock with my good friend Z and family. Was a girls only event and we kicked butt!

Natalie shows us how it's done. She climbed a 40 footer no problem!

Sunday evening closed with an inpromptu Wiffleball, cornhole potluck with our fine neighbors (and then a long soak in the tub).

Okay, enough reminiscing. It’s Monday, so let’s talk design.

HOW TO DRESS A SOFA

It’s time to change out those drab pillows and create a whole new look! Pillows are by far the cheapest, quickest way to change up a room and get it ready for a new season. Think of it as jewelry for couch. Check out this great tutorial from Glitter Guide featuring the design genius Jamie Mears of Furbish. Go here for the step by step and get busy!

So on to the design part…

Online design magazines have hit their stride, just in time for all of you iPad users. If you were lamenting the loss of Domino magazine, there are now several on-line options to feed your need for real-life design, trend-watching, fashion, travel, and peeks at the lifestyles of favorite designers and bloggers. Most of these pubs are free and worth signing up for for a little sugary hit of design and consumerism. Perfect for that late night snuggle with the e-reader of your choice, or when you are killing 10 minutes at the doctor’s office. A few of my favorites are Rue, Ivy & Piper and Lonny magazine, who all have new issues out for March. Today I’m visiting Rue for some much needed inspiration and much not-needed distraction!

Here are a few images to wet your whistle…

I'm loving the bold red/orange shades with soft grey wall in this little girl's room. High impact color and a room that will grow with her. Courtesy Rue Magazine, March/April Issue.

I can't have enough stripes these days! Love that splatter painted chair and that they photographed it all messy like that - this is real life folks! My son's looks just like that! Courtesy Rue magazine, March/April issue.

This open kitchen is so inviting and not-fussy. Makes me want to rip off my cabinet doors for a more exposed European look - Or invite my sister Carole over to do it for me. Simple. Courtesy Rue Magazine, March/April issue.

And a few rooms I loved from Ivy & Piper magazine.

This graceful eating area is a nice mix-match of elements and finishes with a layout that works well in a small space. Courtesy of Ivy & Piper magazine, March/April Issue.

More stripes! Notice the smaller faux zebra over the wall-to-wall. Layering is a great way to spice up a boring wall-to-wall, as well as give a high traffic play area some extra protection. Courtesy Ivy & Piper, March/April Issue.

Enjoy your browsing! Do you have any on-line magazines that inspire you? Please post in your comments and I’ll check them out.

I thought I’d share the process, in case you want to create your own art wall. Easy peasy if you follow these steps. I’ve done a few of these image walls for myself and clients, and this is by far the easiest way I’ve tried.

Before - boring blank wall. That is the top of the armoire, a placeholder for some great new piece I have yet to find!

Put all of the art on the floor to make a layout. We knew approximately how much width we were working with, and we had lots of room to go up. If you have limitations by length or height, layout your art to fit. We started with the  big poster in the center, and worked out from there. Pay attention to balance – mixing large items with smaller items. Spread the color out so not all of the dark prints are next to each other. In our case, we are using the negative space (wall) to balance out the framed space. Try a few scenarios and you can photograph them so that if you re-arrange, you have record of your previous set up.

Then, take some scrap paper and create templates of each frame to size. Newspaper is not great as the ink will get on  everything. Tape the templates on the wall to match what you have going on with your floor set up. Adjust as needed.

We were lucky to have our talented helper for taping and general entertainment.

Mark the paper where the nail needs to go. We nailed right through the paper to protect the wall, then removed the paper. The part goes faster than you think.

Hang pictures and style with accessories.

Now when I wake up I look at my art wall and smile. We have big plans of hanging some 3-d things up, like Mark’s ukelele and a big deer skull with antlers. My vision is to fill the entire wall with stuff… What do you think? This would work well with family photos and children’s art as well. Inspired yet?

My friend who is also a client hooked me up with one of his family members in Chicago and now I’m working on interiors in their large home room-by-room. Ah, the Internet! So, if your Martha’s beach house needs some designing…let’s chat!

On to the space — it’s large, traditional and pretty formal with a large fireplace, columns at the entrance, and it’s the first room you see when you come in the front door so it’s got to be tres chic! The empty room has been great for tricycle riding up to this point, but it’s time for a change. The goal is to create an adult escape—to have a glass of wine, read and entertain — but it has to be kid friendly as they have two little ones who won’t understand that this is the “adult zone.” My room theme was quiet (calm) sophistication with a touch of Asian elements. The palette is grey, gold and beige in some touchable kid friendly fabrics that aren’t your usual microfiber. The accents are gold and brass – I’m loving the massive gold bamboo mirror that’s about 54″ wide over the console on the back wall. The carpet is a 100% wool Axminster strie pattern in beige with an asian graphic in grey/blue. Big drapery panels on the picture window in the front of the room and Voila!

You can have grown up space in a family home. Here’s what I’ve put together so far – what do you think?

Here’s a mood board I built of the proposed space…

The paint colors were inspired by this photo.

Houzz.com

I love how the color on the wall creeps into the crown molding for more saturated impact. And the celadon ceiling is incredibly classy and fun all at once. We’re going to go with a flat color ceiling, rather than this custom finish.

The good news is that my client loves what I presented, so in a few months, I hope to be posting the finished photos!

Does your office space inspire you? If you have any questions about designing a personalized works space for your home, please send them my way!

We stayed here at the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach – stay here if you want to feel like a rock star… I like to take photos of all of the hotels rooms I stay in so I can remember them.

This is what we woke up to for 3 glorious mornings of sun, sun, sun…

This was the high style lobby that was usually full of fancy people in dark suits and uncomfortably high heels looking important…

This is the boardwalk that I had the pleasure of running on a few times…

This is me on my field trip to Vizcaya – the incredible home of John Deering that you should check out if you like architecture and beautiful places.

This is the grilled salmon salad I ate one beautiful day for lunch overlooking the Atlantic, with the most delish pineapple bread – I ate the whole loaf!

These are some of the art deco hotels that are now protected by the Miami Design Preservation League. I took an excellent guided walking tour of many of the buildings, including some of the lobbies. I want to go back to see more of this!

This is the super sexy bathroom off the lobby in the Delano Hotel. I wandered around for a while pretending I was a guest. Philippe Starck designed it – over the top fabulous!

The last night we were there, we hit the Collins Avenue hotel night life and ended up at the Shelborne. That was a scene with Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys pulled up front!

I can’t wait to go back. Have you ever been to Miami? Where are your favorite places to visit or to eat?

So, I made the trip to Merrifield Garden Center to see what they had to offer. They do have a lot of house plants in their green house – I had no idea that back room existed!! So you don’t have to drive far to bring home a lovely for your own. The Home Depot does have some nice houseplants from time to time so keep a look out when you are there picking up boring household stuff and treat yourself to some green.

I am really into the fiddle leaf fig these days, which is actually a ficus. The fat leaf has so much personality. These big guys have been appearing in many design spreads lately and seem to be quite the rage. Yep, they have a few of these at Merrifield. Here’s a collection of images to inspire.

Fiddle leaf figs from Mstreet denver blog. Original source unknown.

Fiddle leaf fig. Designer Peter Dunham courtesy Elle Decor.

Fiddle leaf fig courtesy House Beautiful.
Plant in Basay basket from Crate & Barrel.

Fiddle leaf fig courtesy Mstreetdenver blog. Original source unknown.

Fiddle leaf fig courtesy Apartment Therapy.

Courtesy Elle Decor. Split Leaf philodendron (Monstera deliciosa) softens the hard lines of the black granite bath.

Courtesy Elle Decor, Kentia Palms (Howea forsteriana) add an exotic touch to a living room.

Courtesy Elle Decor, Beverly Hiills home decorated by Madeline Stuart with banana trees in green-glazed pots. These will grow inside as well…

Do any of you readers have a favorite house plant?

Note: the Fiddle Leaf Ficus can be poisonous to children and pets, so please keep this in mind if purchasing one for your home.

If you want more good house plant info, take a look at these articles at Apartment Therapy.

Apartment Therapy: Bringing in Green: 10 Best Plants for Apartments

Apartment Therapy: Setting Up Home: 5 Hard-to-Kill Housplants

Christiane Lemieux and I after the presentation.

Her book shares her philosophy of creating a home that expresses your personal style no matter what your budget or design style. She is into REAL LIFE designing with kids and pets and hand me down furniture and flea market finds. Lots of gorgeous photos of household messiness in a beautiful way, and some eccentric homeowners with exploding collections beautifully arranged and things like cars in their living spaces. Take a look at a book preview here, or get your own for inspiration here.
“Great style isn’t necessarily a finished product so much as it is an ongoing process.” Christiane Lemieux.

Photo courtesy Melanie Acevedo, Undecorate

Photo courtesy Melanie Acevedo, Undecorate

Owl Sky Crib Set courtesy of DwellStudio.com

Gate Ash Duvet Set courtesy of DwellStudio.com

Katie Ridder’s “Leaf” wallpaper comes in a small and large scale. It’s very ordered, but very bohemian at the same time.

Cole and Son’s “Cow Parsley” from England. Comes in some great colorways.

I love how it was used as an art element on this wall with some trim.

I am seriously considering Cole & Sons “Woods” for an accent wall in my master bedroom if I can talk Mark into it. It is graphic and natural all at once. I love it in every application I’ve seen.