Showing posts with label Alexa Hampton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexa Hampton. Show all posts

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Welcome Home...


It's so nice to receive a friendly greeting at the front door upon arriving home. For me, it's seeing these fresh green walls painted in Para's Aspen Valley. The front hall project started when I added trim to the doors and painted them out last January, and just one short year later I have a completely finished entrance hall. If my memory serves me correctly, I painted half of the hall early last summer, the other half in late October and finally the back of the door to the corridor just last weekend. I know how to take procrastination to the next level - particularly when it comes to painting, since it's not my favourite thing to do.


The photo on the above left is taken from the corridor, and gives an idea of how the green transitions into the navy blue at the end of the entrance hall (you can read more about that transformation here). It certainly is a contrast of colours (which I'm obviously not afraid of), but the trim moulding on the doors and walls keeps the spaces feeling consistent. By the way, do you loooove that table lamp? It's the Alexa Hampton Helios lamp designed for Visual Comfort and it's my new favourite thing!!


The colour may be the attention grabber in this entrance, but the trim moulding is what truly adds character to the space. A modern city condo doesn't always have to be smooth surfaces and hard edges, and the DIY trim moulding sets the tone for my home starting at the front door. I created this section of trim to fit the two gold leaf quatrefoil mirrors which had previously resided in my bedroom.


One last tip: I painted out all of the trim, including baseboards, to maximize ceiling height. The condo ceilings are nine feet, but here in the front entrance the ceiling is only eight feet due to a bulkhead running from the dryer vent (located behind door number one) and washroom vent (located behind door number two) through to the exterior. Painting the trim allows the eye to travel in one motion from floor to ceiling without stopping, fooling the eye into perceiving the space as being taller than it really is. I used this trick throughout the entire condo, painting out trim and baseboards in every room.

So what do you think of the colour? I love that it's bold! Truth be told I'm happy to see the final walls painted and I think I'm done with brushes, rollers and paint trays for the foreseeable future. Insert happy dance here!!

Monday, January 26, 2015

The Weekend in Review: IDS 2015 & Other Stuff

This was meant to be an easy weekend, but the unlisted tasks (4 loads of laundry) and the impulse tasks (rearranging decor accessories) had me up past midnight late Sunday. Regardless, all was accomplished and I'm ready for a new week.

To review:

1) Empire Auction preview (starts at 10 am Saturday). Done.

2) IDS Globe Style Saturday (Jonathan Adler @12, Alexa Hampton @2, Thom Filicia @4). Attended!

3) Paint final coat of Aspen Valley green on both doors in front hall. Done. Thank goodness!
 

4) Go through three years of House Beautiful magazines and tear out inspirational pages, recycle the leftovers. Done.

5) Catch E! "Live from the Red Carpet: The 2015 SAG Awards". Done & blogged.


Saturday afternoon was spent at IDS where I was able to enjoy all of the Globe Style Saturday presentations by Jonathan Adler, Alexa Hampton & Thom Filicia. In fact, thanks to my media pass, I was able to personally meet and briefly chat with all three of these talented designers in the VIP lounge. Such a thrill!!☺


A key takeaway from each presentation:
  • Jonathan Adler advises each of us to enjoy "rules free living" and to "embrace vulgarity" by adding gold accents to our decor.
  • Alexa Hampton shared a lot of great tips. I love the "Sharpie method" she employs to envision a new design by drawing on a photo of the existing space with marker.
  • Thom Filicia passes on a piece of advice he was given by the late great Albert Hadley: "Always have an element of surprise in your design."
In other weekend news, I stopped in at Empire Auctions Saturday morning for the preview, but that was a strike out - no classic marble top commodes this month. On the bright side, this gives me at least another month to save up for the splurge. I also finished the final coat of Aspen Valley on both doors in the front hall and added gold highlight to the trim. Later this week I'll be able to put the doorknobs back on - yay!! Lastly, I got through several stacks of decor magazines, tearing out tons of inspirational spaces. I guess I know what I'll be working on next weekend...lots of trimming & organizing to do: