Nashville here we come!

Our family is moving to Spring Hill, Tennessee and we are so excited!!! Spring Hill is located just south of Nashville/Franklin. 

My sweet husband has been the cause of many of our moves over the years. He is a wonderful pastor and has several times been asked to move in order to help a church in need. Each move has always been a wonderful time of learning and growth for us- including for our children.

Recently, we were talking and thinking about our future plans. We began to talk about wouldn't it be nice to move to a place we want to stay, to put down roots. It began to grow in our hearts and minds. As we talked to overseers in our church affiliations - we heard things like -we can send you to another church - mentioning several cities and situations. But we just kept thinking -no- none of those are right. We began to pray -where does God want us - where do we want to be? Where could we plant a life giving church where there was truly a need? We started talking about Tennessee. It's the place we feel most at home. But we wanted it to be for a purpose. We could go back to Memphis but there are great churches there. Then we thought of the Nashville area, we love it there. There are great churches there too.  We looked on a map and began researching north and south of Nashville. Before long we were more and more drawn to Spring Hill.  We went down and scouted out the land.  Spring Hill started  to stand out to us. Great family community. Just south of the beautiful Franklin area. It turns out Spring Hill is the 14th fasting growing city in the nation.  So guess what that means- they need more churches.  We began to truly get excited about planting a new church. 

So after much prayer and planning. We are moving from Holland, Michigan, which we have loved -minus the freezing cold 9 months of winter, it is truly so beautiful and the people here are wonderful (they almost seem southern :-).  We'll be settling into Spring Hill this summer. I'll start up my new interior design business. And we will begin gathering a launch team for our new church, which will begin in February 2016.  

So if you live in the Spring Hill area (I'll service the Nashville metro area) and need an interior designer - OR if you would like to know more about our church plant, please feel free to email me or give me a call.  The church will be called Summit Church and you should be able to Google it sometime in July.

I love new beginning and all that God has in store.

Just Add Flowers

Yes, just add flowers -
-It's a rainy day?
-It's a sunny day?
-I'm happy
-I'm sad
-It's a special occasion.
-It's not a special occasion.

I love flowers. Especially the ones that you can cut from the garden or yard (not so much the hot house ones- but if that is all I can get - I'll take those too!)

Growing up in a family of 9 - yes I said 9 -I was the baby of  5 brothers and 3 sisters. We had a lot of fun and a lot of craziness in our home. My Mom had her hands full. One of the ways I think she brought joy into our home was simply through flowers. The house might be in a mess but just add flowers! She made flower arrangements from spring to late fall and even into winter if she could find some pretty unique shaped dried flowers or berries. She was able to make a beautiful bouquet that lasted into winter (Sometimes keeping them a bit too long until they fell apart!). But it would start again in spring. There were daffodils- we had several varieties: a bright yellow, a lighter yellow with a darker center and then one my Mom called the scrambled eggs. It was kind of a messy all over with no true center.  I actually did not like the scrambled eggs when I was little, but would love them now because they have a sweet memory attached to them. But my favorite for spring were Dogwoods. I loved their simple white and even sometimes pink flowers on those sturdy wooden stems. At first blooms my mother would start the arrangements.  The flowers would continue to come into our home with whatever was in bloom. There were Iris - we had two purple varieties. Then apple tree, wild cherry and crap apple blooms. There was also this bush (that would overgrow into a tree) that had tiny white flowers in clusters.  My Dad had a hard time keeping it under control it grew and multiplied. My Mom used those tiny white flowers all summer mixing it in with whatever else was available.It was the best filler and was always in good supply and lasted most of the summer. There were wildflowers and roses. One of my Moms favorite was a tiny little bush that had little pink blossoms. It was always getting ran over by the lawn mower and she would nurse it back to life and put thing around it to save it for another year. The other thing that got ran over by the lawn mower were the day lilies but they were still in abundance. We had orange ones like these:

My Mom had a green vase - it is (I still have it) a small pedestal but the vase part is very shallow.  She would put a dozen or so into it- cutting off the long stems and letting just the flower rest in the water. They only lasted a day but she kept refilling the vase or picking the stems with a second bud ready to bloom the next day.
She also loved hydrangeas but had a hard time getting a bush to grow at our house. She finally did and cherished it greatly - again guarding it from the evil lawn mower and weed whacker.

Going on into late summer we sometimes had zinnias and black-eyed susans from the vegetable garden. One of my favorite late summer ones were the wild golden rods. They grew in abundance all around our fields. My Mom mixed them in with everything when they were in bloom.

For fall they mixed in nicely with other wild flowers making a very woody bouquet. By late summer early fall there were various berries to be mixed in. And winter months we'd see holly and evergreens.

Life was always busy with a big family. Plenty of chores to be done (or put off to another day), but never is life so busy that we should not stop and just add flowers!

My Mom passed away suddenly several years ago. I miss her greatly. I think of her often and especially every time I'm making my own arrangements. My favorites will always be garden cut flowers or even wild ones.  But no matter what life brings I'll remember to just add flowers!

Drapery, Curtains, Window Treatments or What!

I've moved many times over my interior design career. I recently moved from the warm sunny state of Tennessee to the beyond cold but beautiful state of Michigan (record setting cold and snow just for me this season!). I've lived in Mississippi, Missouri and England. Each place I've lived there are always words that are called something different in each place that does not have the same meaning in other places. For instance if you wanted a cold carbonated drink - here in Michigan they say Pop! Down south we'd say we want a coke - that can mean even a Dr. Pepper or any other brand -we'd just let you know which one. In England they called it a Fizzy. And in Missouri it was a Soda and sometimes you hear people calling it a Soda Pop. Each area has it's own words for it. 

Recently, I went into a design studio and was talking to the owner. She was showing me around her very awesome studio.  When we went by the sheers she said here are the drapery fabrics. I got curious and asked what do you call the fabrics in these other books she said window treatments or curtains. I was a bit surprised. I began to wonder if this was a regional thing or if it's what you've been taught in design school to call them. I would have called what she said were drapery fabrics -sheers and the other books drapery fabrics.  So I did a bit of research.

I came across this website on the subject :
http://www.drapesmadeeasy.com/drapery-curtains.html

They say "Floor length drapes supported by a rod or pole are called either drapes or curtains depending on where you live."  They mention that in the Midwest and South you'll probably call them drapes but in other areas you'll probably call them curtains.  Also, there is a North American way of looking at it and a European way. North American usually say drapery are made of heavier fabric and drape to the floor, while curtains are lighter weigh and can be short or long. The European style which is anything that is made of fabric and hangs from a rod or pole whether it's heavy or light weight is called a curtain. So you see it goes back to where you live and what you were taught to call them. Some resolve this by calling it window treatments which can cover everything including blinds and shutters, valances and drapery curtains etc. So I'm not sure what I'll call them on my new journey here in the Holland Michigan area. They instantly know I'm from the south so I think they'll forgive me if I call them the wrong thing. But of course as a designer I'll want to make sure we mean the same thing! 

Here are a couple of drapes or curtains from a couple of my clients homes (Sorry the color is not so good). I do love fabric treatments very much. I think they make a room more finished looking and give it a warmer cozier feel. So my advise is to add some fabric to your windows (even a bit of trim too) and make your windows beautiful.

Even here there are differences. In many cities soft window treatments are known as draperies or drapery. In the Midwest and South you'll probably refer to them as drapes, while in other areas you'll call them curtains. - See more at: http://www.drapesmadeeasy.com/drapery-curtains.html#sthash.BZmlH0pX.dpuf

What's New at Market 2013

I always enjoy going to market. This year at the Atlanta AmericasMart there seemed to be a buzz in the air. Hopefully that translates into a good year for all of us!

I am always asked :What's new?". "What are the new trends and colors?"  There was a lot of new - maybe not something for everyone but new things to see. There was more color - yes,there was still a lot of linen on sofas and chairs but not as much as last year and yes still some burlap (see last years blog!) -but color was everywhere - Teal - in all shades seemed to be the biggest hit, as well as pinks and apple greens. Here are some of my fines and "what's new" at market 2013 -

 Check out these cool letter books - love them!
You can spell out words or just have a single initial on a shelf. Let me know if you'd like some - they have to be ordered in bulk and I really want them but need to have some sales before I make it happen :-)

Bigger is better - right??? Well, I saw a lot of very tall backs on love seats and chairs in many styles.  The love seat on the left from French Heritage at the smaller size of 40" back to the 6 foot tall chairs from Pasha Home on the right.

Love this hanging lamp - Not to mention it's super looks -but I love  the idea of extra light over head with out having to call in an electrician. This one is by Aidan Gray.There were lots of great looking "drum" shades, some were super big.

And last but not least - Woolie felt everything! Loved all the beautiful garlands and Christmas ornaments- these by Midwest. There were hats and mittens and more! But check out these adorable bird houses from Wild Woolies by DZI - they are made from natural water resistant wool - fun for the birds and a touch of color in the back yard.

Over all - it was just a fun trip. Here's to a new year and hopefully great sales and beautiful homes!

Greens and Blues

                                                                                Loved working on this master bedroom. We started with a custom comforter in greens and soft blues. Drapes repeated the colors and then we added a soft blue wall. At first the blue seemed over powering but once we added all the accessories it turned out beautiful.

 

We found this great art work by local artist Emily Ozier with a soft field, horse and rider.  But we had another large wall to fill. So I asked local artist Sarah Robertson to paint a large scenery picture - and it worked out great!

I love the fun colors of fall - bright yellows and reds and a touch of browns makes thing so warm and inviting. Here I added a sunflower garland to a simple green wreath - with lights so it has a soft glow at night.  Then added some grapevine to give it a bit more texture and fall feel.



     

My client has this great center piece and we change it up for various seasons and occasions. We keep the green as a base but then here I added reds and golds to make it a nice fall affair.

Christmas in July

I'm usually so busy around the Christmas season that I don't get to share my photos. A lot of you ask to see them -so here are just a few from last season. Hope you enjoy! I estimate my helpers and I did 22 trees, 8 stairways, 13 entry/doorways, and 29 mantles - a nice busy season!

Warm and Cozy

Warm and inviting

 

 

Cozy Office

Fruitful

 

Inviting stairway

Winter lights

Outdoor entry

Outdoor entry reds and greens

Formal mantle

Joy!

 

Fa La La La La La La La La

Deer and Christmas red bows

The top

Soft inviting Christmas reds and greens