Fabric & Wallpaper: Mr. Decor Happy’s Den

So, I have been slowly but surely working on Mr. DH’s den (aka the “man cave.” ) I received creative and inspiring input from my design savvy blogging friends and took something from each.

After I figured out the layout (it’s a small room, so this was easy), I put my mind to the colour/pattern scheme.  Mr. DH likes navy and grey (and it’s manly – no pink allowed in this room) so I knew those would be the main colours. Interestingly enough, four out of the five blogger moodboards had a shot of orange/tangerine.  So when I spied a linen called “Spice” at Tonic Living, I knew that had to be the “happy” colour in the room to balance the grey and navy.  Even “man caves” need a happy colour so it doesn’t end up looking like, well, a cave! I would call this colour a “burnt orange” as it’s not bright and I think that’s why I like it.



I fell in love with this Robert Allen fabric (below) and thought it would be perfect on a custom ottoman – every room meant for TV viewing and relaxing needs an ottoman, don’t you think? (I think I have designed one for almost every client’s family room!) I love the ethnic/tribal feel of the fabric.
 

I knew I wanted wallpaper on one wall.  I love seeing all walls papered in a room but that is something that I just can’t commit to – so one wall would be enough.  Which wall though?  The idea of papering the TV wall in a dark wallpaper really appeals as in this image below.  The TV just disappears on the Nina Campbell wallpaper.

Credit: Style at Home

But when I brought home samples of wallpaper with a black background, it just wasn’t Mr. DH’s cuppa. So, then I thought a lighter wallpaper on the daybed wall (the opposite wall.)  That probably makes the most sense anyway since I am only doing one wall.  What wallpaper? How to narrow down the thousands of choices? You know I love floral but this is Mr. DH’s room where he goes to chill, watch TV, read – no florals allowed. What about trees? Trees are manly, right?  I narrowed it down to these two.

Nina Campbell’s new Woodsford papers are beautiful (they are so new that they aren’t even on the Osborne and Little site at the time of writing.)  They have a real hand painted quality and when you touch it you can feel the “paint,” i.e. it’s not smooth.

But I have always been a huge fan of Cole & Son’s Cow Parsley papers so when I heard they recently came out with five new colourways, I headed off to Kravet to see them. (One of my first posts included an image with Cow Parsley which I loved.)

Isn’t it lovely? It’s like a mural so that kind of justifies my “one wall” plan. I was going to choose a hex print (you probably know the one I mean!) which was very cool and manly but I think this tree/plant wallpaper/painting is more fitting for a one wall application.

This is how everything will look when complete.  The Daybed is for napping but this room also doubles as a guest room and a room where I can go when Mr. DH’s snoring is too loud. :) (He is not going to be happy when he reads this!)

As soon as the room is done, it will be revealed in a national newspaper (online), so you have to wait until then!  So, what do you think of the room?  When I do the reveal, I will show you the before – it’s pretty scary and a far cry from this!

Happy Halloween! Hope the kiddos don’t get too wet/blown away.

(And PS – my thoughts are with everyone in the US affected by Hurricane Sandy and dealing with the aftermath. )  

If you require design/decorating help, please contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis.com.

Client Before & After: Fresh+Preppy Bedroom

I love working on a room from start to finish – coming up with the design concept and feel and then executing.  This bedroom that I recently completed was a fun project.   This is what we started with:



The room needed some architectural presence and I thought that panel moulding/trim would be a great solution. As an example, I showed them Jen’s bedroom and they absolutely loved the panelling and decided to tackle the work themselves. They did an amazing job!


Photo: Leah Kirin

In the Before photo, you can see that the side tables were just too big for the wall with the king bed.  These ones from West Elm were perfect.

The ceiling fixture is one of my favourites that I blogged about here. It is just so pretty and suits this bedroom perfectly.



When I showed them this fabric (Thom Filicia for Kravet) for the headboard, they loved it! Paired with nail head trim, it looks amazing with the panelling.  (We used a different colourway of this fabric on roman shades and pillows in other rooms in the house, we loved it so much!)

The pillows and the striped rug from Crate and Barrel in a bold yellow/mustard colour punch up the neutral grey/white/cream palette.

We were all set to commission a painting above the bed but decided the room didn’t need one.


Photo:  Leah Kirin

I loved working on this bedroom with these clients. They were so trusting and wonderful – makes my job so much easier and fun! They said that they feel like they are waking up in a 5 star hotel every day! Love that.
I also worked on other rooms in their house and will show you their dining room in the coming weeks!

Have a great week!

Have a decorating dilemma and don’t know where to start? Contact me at vanessa@vanessafrancis.com

Client Project: Bathroom Reno

I received some photos from my photographer of the bathroom reno I completed for a client a few months ago. I just love this bathroom. You can read about the reno here. 

This is what it looked like Before just to remind you how far we have come:

And this is the inspiration board using Olioboard that I created at the start of the project for the client's thoughts and approval going forward.  A few things changed along the way (for the better) but the general feel and mood remained the same.

I love the pretty photographs from this photographer.  They really do complete the room.

I custom designed this vanity.  The legs and shelf for baskets keep it light and doesn't overwhelm the small room.

All photos by Leah Kirin.

I would love to have a bathroom like this myself!  So fresh, clean and pretty. What do you think?

If you require design advice for a bathroom reno (or any design project), please contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis (dot)com.

My Best Girl’s Room Complete!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!  Mine just ended as my daughter is back at school today after two weeks off.

I have some photos of my daughter’s room to share with you.  Here’s how it looked before and you can read a previous post here.



And here is the After:



I think you have seen everything before except the cute little ottoman/stool I had made from leftover headboard fabric.  (Wish I had taken an extra minute to fold the duvet cover properly.)

You know how I love Tommy Smythe? Did you catch him suggesting the floral fabric above for the girl’s room in the latest season of Sarah’s House?

He said it would be a great jumping off point for a colour scheme with the pinks and greys. (Sarah thought it was a bit brown so they didn’t go with it.) I chose the fabric because I didn’t want a white or cream background as it would get/look dirty in no time.  I also loved the pink, coral and red combo found in the fabric.

The chair was the rocking chair we had since our daughter was a baby.

It is Canadian made and comfortable so I had it reupholstered in a stripe Kravet fabric and changed the rocker to legs.

We have had the chair for 10 years and I’m sure it will last another 10!



The lamp used to look like this but I found a lovely pinky-red hand blocked print and Lia made a new shade and painted the base a cream colour.

 
You have seen the dresser before  but I changed the knobs to a different one from Anthropologie.   A painting by my daughter and a print from Cozamia look pretty over the dresser.

Besides the headboard, my favourite part of the room is the bookshelves from Ikea.  Before, the floor would be covered in books, magazines and “stuff” and now everything has a place.


(Photos 2,5,8 and 9 by Leah Kirin)

This is what held up completing the room.  I had been searching for one large wood bookcase to fill the wall to no avail.  I ended up going back to my first choice (doesn’t this always happen?) which was the Liatorp as two of them together fit the wall perfectly.  I love the beadboard detail and painted in this deep coral colour (pulled from the headboard fabric), I think it looks amazing.

I’ll do another post on the DIY linen bulletin board, the “art”. and the items on the shelves later.  Just want to add though that the “donuts” are actually a tea towel by Avril Loreti that I framed.

What do you think? I'm linking up here.

If you need decorating help, please contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis(dot)com.

Client Project: Bathroom Reno

Over the summer, I worked with some lovely clients to renovate their bathroom.  I had blogged about it here.  This is what it looked like before:

This is the design I came up with and the clients loved. Subway tiles, marble hexagon floor tiles and chrome fixtures – classic and timeless. 

We veered from the design plan above slightly, e.g. the Ikea vanity didn’t work and to ship the wood mirror to Canada would have been costly.

And here’s how it looks now but it hasn’t been styled pretty and professionally photographed yet.  Hence, it’s the “Almost After.”  They are placing black and white photographs over the toilet.   The shower curtain is the West Elm one above and needs to be hung with a new chrome rod.   Other than that, it’s a wrap!

The wall sconces from Restoration Hardware were a splurge but my clients really loved them, so they were a must.  The wall colour is Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray – one of my “go to” colours (although it has a purple hue in the photos, it really is a lovely gray.)

This is a close up of the marble hexagon floor tile:

 

I custom designed the vanity so that it would be the perfect width and depth for the space.  The airy design makes the small space feel larger.  The counter is a pure white quartz and the baskets are also from West Elm.

I must say I love this bathroom and if I were to redo my own ensuite, this is exactly what I would do!  Once I get professional photos done, I will share.  I’m sure it will look way more prettier than my photos! 

I’m linking up here and here.