farmhouse meets traditional

It is such a small world.

A potential client contacted us recently and I asked her if she was local.  Well, not only is she near Atlanta, she is in walking distance.  She found our blog and had no idea I lived in her neighborhood.  I love that!

She has this innate style I wish I had:  clean, warm, minimal without being stark–very thoughtful.

(here is a peek at her dining room.  She had this hutch constructed and it is almost finished.)

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She (I always type “she”, but of course I mean “they” :) ) chose Farrow & Ball’s Matchstick for her main floor.  They have light-filled rooms and tall ceilings, so it reads white and creamy, not dark and yellow.  She did good.

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Her style reminds me of some of my all-time-favorite rooms:

 

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Country Living Magazine (let me know if this is actually Country Home)

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(I don’t know source)

 

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Again, don’t know, but isn’t this just beautiful?

 

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design by Ruby Beets

Although our clients’ style is more old farmhouse than traditional colonial, I think it best we marry the two.

23771cdcf1771f96f32f2f19ada68ac7c0f1309908This isn’t their home, but it is quite similar.  Grand, stately, and painted brick.  (dream, right?)

 

     Our advise is always to honor the architecture of your home.  If your home is a total mid-century ranch, then we think it best to keep some elements that honor this time period (maybe a mod lamp or two, low-scale furniture, etc).  If your home was built in the ’20s or ’30s, then consider some timeless white subway tiles and dark grout for your kitchen and baths, or, at minimum, some period light fixtures here and there.  It makes me hurt when people renovate a home and the home’s essence is completely lost.  If your facade beckons to an era of design, then at least make mention of it in the interior.

Man, had to get preachy there for a minute.

 

Darryl Carter does a perfect job of combining minimal farmhouse & timeless traditional:

 

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country living darryl carter cococozy white foyerhis work in Country Living

 

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Maybe not much farmhouse in the last photo, but the art nods to it.  (I read that he prefers to hang his art lower than most.  He said it should be at eye level while sitting.  Genius, and less formal, don’t you think?

 

As much as I adore this aesthetic, I find that I am more and more drawn to color.  Wyatt’s room is now aqua and red, Liam’s is green and I’m Anisa and I are about to hang a million landscapes above my sofa below (and move the tv and clean up.  I can’t believe I’m posting this picture)

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Oh, I really want this sofa, but I also want to stay married.  Chris ain’t having no new sofa.

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How great is my new lamp, though?  Worth every cent.

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I promise to have my sister come take a pretty picture of our living room when we hang the art.

We also have some great stuff going on—Daniel and his crew are crankin’ out some renovations.  The kitchen below will be green, the hood will be tiled, the hardware will be brass…oh, and they got a white Viking range and white SMEG.  Can you see it?

Okay, I am so sorry this is not straight.  I tried three times and can’t get WordPress to flip it.

They opted for more windows & a better view in lieu of more storage.  Good choice.

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I hope you’re having a good day!

Julie

southern cottage trad (peek)

I don’t know why I feel the need to label everything, but I can’t help it.  Maybe I just can’t get Emily‘s style diagnostic out of my head.

Anisa and I totally do a style diagnostic.  We look at their clothes and their home and do our best to study what they love.

With this client (and friend), we wanted to marry the traditional southern Greek revival home with the intimate, cozy cottage style they love.  The house is large, like six bathrooms large, so tiny cottage it ain’t.  But, why can’t you live in a grand cottage?

Like always, it ain’t done yet.  I reckon I need to say fixin’ now, too, since I’m in my full drawl now.

But in the progress stage is where we all are, ’cause ain’t none of us done.

My motto:  ”Progress, not perfection.”  (I first heard Brad Pitt say this on Oprah, so of course it has to be good.)

 

This is currently what you see when you enter.  Grand is appropriate, don’t you think?

The molding is new, and soon (tomorrow) it should all be white and glorious

 

Glorious and cottage-ish like this:

 

or this (Steven Gambrel)

 

just so you get the point here are a few more (uncredited) lovely entries…

 

 

 

 

I’ll finish that set with a favorite from Phoebe Howard (or her husband, but definitely one of them)

As you continue down the foyer you will enter the breakfast & keeping room (Oh, I really would love a keeping room.  Do you have one?  Do you love it?)

 

 

They plan to use this room as mainly a family game area.  Don’t you love that idea?  We had Don, our carpenter, construct a game table just for them.  A coffee table was too low and a bistro table too high.

I gotta say…I love the idea of four chairs facing one another.  No tv or fireplace as the focal, just each other.  Lovely.

 

 

Yes, I know the decor in the mantel is changing throughout the pictures.  We couldn’t make up our minds, then finally settled on randomness.

 

The queen of random :)

 

Like this.  We thought there are so many pairs, symmetry and right angles already–we needed to break that up.

 

See….in the adjacent family room there is not much random at all:

a wall of family photos (sepia)

And we have a pair of gliders, two matching table lamps & two floor lamps.  Pictures of those will have to come later.

(this is how it looked when we began–)

 

The mantel boasts a pair of large lanterns, too, which flank the tv (they will be white before too long)

 

Although I called it a breakfast room, it is really their everything room.

 

 

 

 

Please tell–if you did a style diagnostic on yourself what would you call you?

 

xo,

Julie

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