Fine Tuning Home Decor

After

This will be a series of before and after pictures 

of the rooms in my home that I recently fine tuned.

Before

Drapes were just pieces of fabric...

After

Drapes are custom made sheers with 

silk striped banding in pale yellow, blue and green,

 then bishop sleeved with french wired ribbon.

After

Fresh plants fill planters

After

A new linen toile pillow cover in romantic pale blue

Detail

Hydrangeas in an old soup tureen

Before
a little too colorful perhaps?

After

The bright rug was too much

 for my idea of how I wanted the 
room to look in the photo shoot

Before

I toned down the colorful accessories.

The green chair was removed for traffic flow.

After

Black needlepoint carpet from my office came here

and a new linen shaded lamp

Before

Two chairs...too many

After

One chair and one frenchy side table

After

Detail

Fresh roses and a victorian bell pull

Before

What to say...a cluttered mess
Yellow walls and a green valance.

After

I can breathe now after a quick paint job in  pale blue. 

Countertops I can see and a new light fixture from the dump!

Before

Old light and junk on top of the fridge

After

New custom sheer linen valance on white iron rod.

The valance has a little fleur`de`lis pattern.

A pretty vintage swagged light!

Mmmmm..I am lovin' this space now.

 Thats what happens when you find out a 

camera crew is coming to film your house in 72 hours!

You TWEAK

You PAINT

You REARRANGE STUFF

You HANG LIGHT FIXTURES

You DECLUTTER

You fine tune it so it sings the right song. 
I just can't rest when I know it can be better.
Now I am going to relax and enjoy.

Where I Blog

Where I blog is in my home office.

I have an old writing desk that came out of a storage trailer

 that hubby had from his family years ago.

I paired it with my black leopard chair.

My girly chandelier with pink and clear crystals finally has a home.

Maison Decor is spelled out above my desk with vinyl graphics.

Throw in a crown or two from 

Hobby Lobby and a frenchy chair print....

and I am right at home.

Of course sometimes I have to be "in the mix" 
so I will use a laptop right on the dining room table.
I sit on my wire bench and blog without missing a beat.

I'll be linking up to

Kate from Censational Girl.

She is hosting:

A vintage light fixture finds a home over my island

The "new" light

This WAS my kitchen light

 and this WAS my junk on top of the fridge 

and this WAS my old valance  

and this WAS my old yellow wall color.

The old light fixture was never centered in the space.

So the island could never have a cool pendant or chandelier.

So I was resigned for awhile....

Then I spotted this fixture at the dump swap shop in NH.

It had two lights coming out of one cap and 

each long chain carried a milky glass rose carved globe.

Hubby said it was junk when I proposed the idea.

I persisted and had second thoughts but still took it home.

I loved the romantic look of the globes.

 I also thought we could swag them over to center on the island.

After suggesting I could purchase a chandelier 

or we could try this FREE option, 

hubby jumped on board.

We bought a ceiling medallion to hide the marks 

from the old round fixture as well as 

to play up the vintage aspect of the new vintage one.

He has the long chains hanging and now has to figure 

out where the center of the island is to hang the swag hooks.

Funny when you look at pictures you see 

all of your junk and clutter more clearly.

Hubby starts swagging.... but I want them uneven.

'Maison Decor' is itching to get in there and adjust!

Here it is all hung up. 
I dry brushed some pale blue paint
 on the ceiling medallion.

The kitchen has been given a mini makeover.

Trust your instincts when you have 
a chance to grab something FREE.
It may look spectacular in it's new home~
like this one!
It inspired me to paint the kitchen 
and make a new valance and give it some love.
We're all a lot happier now.


Linking to Funky Junk Interiors SNS

Linking to Romantic Homes Show and Tell Friday

Audition Day at Maison Decor Home Office

The big day is here!

 Time to audition for a production company 

and maybe land in a TV show showcasing my design skills!

I went with black skinny pants
from a cool store in Boston called Turtle,

courtesy of my personal stylist Sarah McManus.
 I paired it with a black tank,

 a frenchy petite fleur jacket 

and black patent loafers.

My little sister, Ellen, was "my assistant". 

I swear she was more excited than I was!

She came over early this morning to offer support.

She's in the blue dress and I am in the red print. 

This is an old family photo of us right before

 we got on an airplane to go overseas. 

Isn't it funny how dressed up we all are for travel?

She still looks the same,

 but somehow I have turned into a blonde!

The camera "crew" has arrived. 

Here is Nicki, the casting director. 

She will also doing all the filming for the audition.

Nicki is directing me to speak about the 

mood board I made for a fantasy client.

You can see it on the wall behind me.

My mood board

A sketch of my fantasy room\

You know I had to blog about it during the shoot! 

Title: Blogger in Action

We've wrapped up the office and 

are going to head downstairs to film a tour of the house.

Nicki made everything so easy for me, 

she does her job effortlessly.

She asked Ellen to stay upstairs because of background noise, 

so I don't have any pics to share of her filming me downstairs.

Its a wrap! 

Wow, that was such fun!

Nicki told me I did a fantastic job~thats a relief.

So now I will wait 3 or 4 weeks to see if I make the cut.

I'll keep you all posted!

 To see me getting ready for this big event click here.

Getting ready for my audition!

I haven't been able to post this week due to the exciting call 

I got from a production company looking to see if

 I might be suitable for a new show they are making involving decorators and designers! 

They found me from my blog right here on Maison Decor! 

How cool is that?

 I needed to get camera ready and I had to make a mood board for the audition.

  They are coming tomorrow so this is a bit of

 behind the scenes at the residence of Maison Decor this week!

I picked this old light fixture up at the NH swap shop (dump).
 FREE! 
Hubby thought I was nuts 
but hung it in the kitchen for me anyways. 
Our old light was off center to our island 
and I never could have a drop pendant style 
until I spied this number and 
figured it would be perfect.
I detested our fixture but just ignored it 
and the rest of the kitchen.

Hubby is finding the center point over our island...
looks wierd but it came out cool!

Adjusting the globes...

they have roses carved on them in milky glass. 

Here is the old one off center 

and the kitchen looks like a bomb went off in it!

Since this picture was taken 3 days ago,

I've already painted it and made a new curtain!

You'll have to wait for a final reveal on this.

Had to get going on making a mood board for a fantasy client.

Frenchy all the way...

Here's a sketch of the room I conjured up on the mood board.

I had to run into Newbury Street and get my hair done!

My son's GF, Sarah McManus

 is a personal stylist and she set me up.

 looking mahvelous....

Thanks John, you are awesome!

Trying on the clothes Sarah got for me:

hmm...black skinny pants?

mirror pic and send to her.

or do I tuck in my blue top???

hmm...what about this form fitting dress? 

Or maybe this top with the black skinny pants?

This was all happening at midnight last night! 

I appreciate Sarah's input to help me look my best!

You can catch Sarah's blog on my blog roll.

Still not sure what I will be wearing..

but you will be seeing a follow up post on everything soon.

Its been a hectic week trying to make our house

 look like only one perfectionist lives in it.

Pretending there are no dogs,

 no slobs, 

no kids leaving trails of toys,

 no dishes left in sinks, 

all toilet seats down,  

plenty of  fresh roses arranged just so,

 a glass bakers stand filled with buttery croissants, 

a perfect lawn, 

no dust on table tops, 

nothing piled on the kitchen counters, 

all the laundry done and put away neatly.....

well its been fun (read: stress) playing make believe!

Tomorrow I get to show my stuff on camera~

it will be an unforgettable day for me.

Wish me luck!