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I'm working with a dear friend on a living room refresh. She recently switched her dining room and living room and wants to make the new living room a cozy spot for reading, iPad watching and the occasional violin practice. (iPad for her and violin for the kids). I need to show you her dining room by the way - so good.

What I love best about working with her is that I just plant the seed and girlfriend runs with it.  And since she is a mucho talented graphic designer, she always adds some killer flair along the way. Flair on your Chochkies uniform might be a thumbs down, but flair in your design is always a good thing. Flair is what takes a room from just pretty to pretty awesome.

She is also good to indulge me in my color addiction and I try to limit myself to two colors in an effort not to drive her off a cliff. Is that teamwork or what?
Plan is set and in motion. Furniture has been delivered, bookshelves arrive next week and the grasscloth is in the corner ready to go up. Now all we need is some multi-day childcare so we can drink some wine get to work. Of course I'll be sure to share some pictures when it is ready for its closeup.

Got a space that you want to refresh? I can help. Email me at daily-site@gmail.com.


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Design Your Dwelling

Before I jump into a recap of my weekend, let me first say a big 'thank you' for all of your comments on Friday's post. You are good eggs, each and every last one of you. And if I could, I'd hug you all. And I'm a good hugger. Just ask around. I'm kind of a big deal amongst high powered hugging circles. So thank you.

Now the weekend. It was sunny and warm. There was shopping involved and pretty dresses. Not too shabby at all.

I've got a new upholstery project waiting for me.


Had a great day with Client F where we scored many many goodies. I'll have to take proper pictures with a real camera, but here is a ReStore score/project in the making.


Brainstorming some ideas on how to work with this tile combo.


And came home Sunday afternoon to find this masterpiece ON my doorway.


Creativity seeps out of every member of the little black door household. We are unstoppable.

How was your weekend? Enjoy any good food, company or entertainment? What did you think of the Globes? Was Jodie Foster supposed to make sense? She rambles more than I do! And Tommy Lee Jones - lighten up. No one shot your dog. It's a party. Live a little.

Ok, I know. I'm a little late to the party. And you are probably rolling your eyes to have to look at yet another New Year's list, but I've got to create some accountability here people. If I don't put this list out into the great big interwebs, it will become part of the long list of things that never get done. I need to be able to look you in the eye after all.

After my success with my 2012 goal list I find it best to keep this suckers short manageable. So I'll keep this short and sweet.

1. Entry refresh. It is really too small to be considered a foyer and "entry" is even pushing it, but whatever it is it needs a kick in the pants. The hubs and my dad hung the wallpaper the first summer we were in the house and it is pretty beat up. I also need more storage...somehow. A head scratcher.


2. Sew something. Anything. I've got the sewing machine, it's the whole using the sewing machine thing that is getting in my way. Just to figure out how to spool the thread is a challenge for me. Don't judge. I'm just not a patient person. So the goal is to sew myself a pillow at the very least. 12 months to sew a pillow. I'm pushing myself for greatness, aren't I?

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3. The girls' room. It's almost time for Eve to move into her big girl bed, so it is the perfect time to start from scratch. Hopefully I can make these bossy clients happy.


4. Bathroom redo. All cosmetics. Not the lipstick kind, but the paint kind. I'm over the color(s) in there and something needs to change. Pinterest and I have been consulting on this already. Now if I could just narrow it down to one idea...

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5. Open my little black door a little more. Did you know I have a growing design business? Of course you don't, how could you? I don't talk about it much. That will change, in a good way. More to come.

So there is my top 5 for the year. Officially out there. And I already feel behind. No turning back now, you've read it after all. Have you planned for any big changes this year? Any new adventures?

Do you think Bob Marley had any buffalo check pillows? Where does 'buffalo check' come from anyway? Totally off topic. Moving on...

Many of you were super curious about this teaser pic I shared last week.


Well, I would love to say that these beauties are now sitting pretty in my dining room but actually I recovered them for a client. I'm working with a cute and energetic young family on their new to them house. We'll call them Family F (for fun).

Mrs. F inherited her mom's dining room furniture and wanted to give it a refresh for her family. Here is what we started with.


The chairs are in great shape, but the fabric had seen one too many dinners.


We are going to be working with blues thru out the kitchen, dinning room and living room so this navy and white buffalo check was a great base. Me and Mrs. F love a good buffalo check.


Now there are 6 of these suckers, so it took me the better part of a week to get them all done. Sadly though I didn't take pictures during the process. Bad blogger. I was just too busy concentrating.

But no worries, I'll reenact it for you - unscrew, rip fabric, pull staples, many staples, cut fabric, attach new foam, staple fabric, staple more, re-screw. Repeat. Thank god for Bravo and DVR.

There were many squeals and happy jigs when the chairs were delivered. And Mrs. F loved them too!


I love a good furniture refresh! This room is off to a great start and I'll be sure to share more as it progresses.

So what about you? Any fabrics or patterns you are in to lately? C'mon now, wouldn't these look great in my dinning room?