Before this kitchen it was hard to imagine a home kitchen that would look like a cozy country club restaurant. Love love love the way the open leggy banquette makes everything look more open. A fantastic way to lighten up the closed cabinets. If it weren’t for the two fridges in the back I would not think this was a kitchen, perhaps a bar area… or part of a family room? I don’t know… I’ll take whatever was left over from it!
I wanted to frame this gorgeous painting my father-in-law made for me but I wanted the result to be modern and light. Sort of to not take away anything from it so I decided to frame it in a Lucite sandwich frame. It’s a wonderful way of making a painting take reign without having to rely on more expensive frames. I first saw this style of framing a few years ago in Sag Harbour, NY at one of my favorite stores, Ruby Beets and I loved it! then I saw it in Elle Decor. The size of the frame is pretty big, exactly 49″ by 47″ ( I left two inches all around to leave space for the 9/16 Hex head cap screws in a brassy color I found at Lowe’s). The screws were long so I took them to an Iron shop to have them cut. This is something that can be done with a manual saw though, something for a man. I had the acrylic sheets custom made at Plexi-Craft in Queens, NY and put it together myself. A sandwich frame like this would take about four weeks so it’s good to plan way in advance. Lowe’s and Home Depot have acrylic sheets as well, but the biggest sheet available in store is 36″ wide. I love the result. It’s a look that can go with either a traditional decor or a modern one.
” For parading without a license each of you gets thirty days. For planning to knock me off, you get the guillotine.” Louis XV (1710-1774)
I can’t think of a better way to make a wall look more beautiful than with a very well displayed gallery wall. From more conservative ones, same frame and hung with symmetry in mind, to more asymmetrical ones framed in different types of frames, a gallery wall always looks gorgeous and makes a room look bigger and taller. Enjoy!
I had our closets custom made a year ago to make our morning routine a lot easier and it makes a big difference. Before redoing them it used to take me forever to decide what to wear and I think it was because I couldn’t see all the pieces of clothes I had. Recently I paid a visit to TJ Max and came across these very thin velvet hangers called Closet Complete a lot more affordable than other similar ones and got a bunch to replace my original wooden ones. With the wooden hangers some lightweight blouses would slip off but now these velvet-covered ones hold them so well and the best part is that because they take a lot less space it gives me more room. You can see the difference in the two pictures of how much space is empty now that I switched the hangers; how to make more space in your closet. What girl doesn’t need that? A simple action as changing hangers can make big difference on how you start about your day. The only negative thing bout having more space in your closet is that you may want to buy more clothes
In our previous home a few of my clothes got molded and two of my bags with the leather all cracked up and peeled off. All consequences of closet-enemy-number-one, humidity. Not too nice. This whole unfortunate experience made me think that yes, walking closets are very convenient and beautiful but as is any area of interior design the most important part of a closet is the planning. Good insulation, proper ventilation, enough room between clothes and last but not least lighting! It is a good thing to think about if you are currently building or remodeling your home. Enjoy!
