Hello!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to quickly introduce myself. My name is Monika, and I’m going to be interning for Kathryn at Haddon Interiors this summer! :) I’m fresh out of college and have decided to change paths and try my hand in the interior design business. I have always had an innate passion for all things interior design (you should have seen how long I spent perusing Craigslist for those perfect pieces of furniture for my first apartment) and finally came upon the realization that it was possible for me to turn that love into a career. I stumbled upon the Haddon Interiors website and immediately knew Kathryn was someone I’d love to work with; the rest is history!

I will be blogging occasionally for the rest of the summer so keep an eye out. I could not be more excited for this internship! It’s already off to an amazing start, which is to be expected when you have such a great boss ;) Thanks everyone and see you back here soon!

Fun With Paint

I'm currently working with a really fun client (and good friend of mine:) on redoing her main floor. She and her husband have a great sense of style and an adorable 2-year old. This project has been particularly exciting because she and her husband really value wanting their house to project who they are creatively and as a family, and so they are willing to take some "risks." I put " " around risk, because it's been an interesting process to see how different clients define that word. Let me give you some context.

We've decide to use the infamous Schumacher pattern Chiang Mai Dragon in the alabaster colorway as the jumping off point.

The pattern and colors definitely define this couple's bold, spunky flair. We have just finished painting the living/dining area, and lucky for me they decided to do a more unconventional paint job.

I pulled out the gray-blue color in one of the flowers in the pattern and used Benjamin Moore's Iced Slate in a high gloss finish for the crown molding, baseboards, doors and window trim. I used Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White on the walls. I couldn't be more excited about the finished product! My client's house is a row house that has an unusual floor plan that is long and narrow. She wanted to brighten, freshen and open up the space but also wanted to do something a bit different than the traditional white trim and this color scheme certainly does the trick.

In my own home, I wanted to do something a bit different with my paint scheme downstairs. I chose to paint the walls white, the ceiling a light blue and my window trim black. Trust me, my husband gave me a few dubious looks, but once the paint was applied he fell in love with it.

Paint is a great, inexpensive tool as it can mask, emphasize, obscure, widen or narrow a room. Farrow and Ball is one of my favorite paint companies, and they are a company that really understands the magic of paint.

As my client and I were deciding on our paint game plan, it was interesting to hear the feed back she got from many of her friends that came over. She said she got a lot of weird faces when explaining what we planned to do with the paint, which brings me back to my earlier point of how one defines "risk." I think most people default to the traditional paint scheme of white on the ceiling, color on the walls, and white on the trim. This isn't a bad look, but there are more options, ways to manipulate and apply paint to transform a room. However, if you aren't exposed to what those options are or have never seen it done, it most likely doesn't make sense in some one's head or they have trouble visualizing it. This is where an interior designer can be extremely helpful - especially if you are wanting to do something a bit off the beaten path - we are here to help create the overall vision and to give you confidence that it will work as I assured my client that I would never suggest an idea that I didn't think would look good.

My client was thrilled how it turned out, and at the end of the day the room looks and feels like she and her husband, and that is the most important thing.

A Diamond in the Rough

It's been a year since we purchased our house, and this time last year the Mister and I were sporting goggles, masks and crow bars knee-deep in dust, sweat and lath and plaster as we began to gut our house. Oh, how I don't miss those days. I love that we put blood, sweat and in tears into renovating our home as our house feels somewhat like someone we took under our wing, cared for it and helped transform it into the person it was meant to be. However, aside from the sentiments we feel, we are so thankful that we can spend this summer enjoying our hard work and actually see the sun!

Although phase 1 is over, we are now embarking on phase 2 which includes smaller interior projects (replacing doors, hardware, adding bookshelves, etc.) and focusing on the front and back yard. It's been a bit of a tease for us as we walk around the neighborhoods oohing and aahing over our neighbors beautifully maintained yards with bouquets of every flower imaginable and then returning home to this (prepare yourself, it ain't pretty):

If you can believe, it looked worse about 3 weeks ago until the Mister took a jack hammer and removed the broken sidewalk/patio that was back there along with pulling up arm fulls of weeds. I actually felt encouraged by the scene above once all that was done.

I am thankful that God gave me vision as I think a lot of people would give up on a backyard like that. I do envision a space where we can sit outside on summer mornings, drink our coffee and read the paper and entertain late into the night. I've come to realize that living in a row house in the city where your neighbors are literally attached to you on either side creates an intense desire to have an outdoor space where you can stretch your legs and breath a bit. So we plan to build a wooden fence around the perimeter adorned with ivy and other vine-like plants, and then either brick-in the space or use stone. Grass isn't worth it for the small space we have. We plan to remove the current rusty stairs and relocate them alongside the house to create more space. So by the end of it our yard will look similar to this:

(via Domino)

As I was brainstorming about our backyard plan, I came across a few other images I had to share of outdoor spaces that were incredibly inspiring.

(image unknown)

I love the intimacy of this dining area. It reminds of Alice in Wonderland.

(image unknown)

(via Veranda)

Clever use of strategically sized and placed stone to make this garden seem ancient.

(via Veranda)

LOVE the potted hydrangeas lining the driveway - brillant! I plan to do this at our future home in the country - ha!

(via Veranda)

I have a brown thumb so this is the perfect use of a greenhouse for me!

(via Elle Decor)

You can never have enough arches in a garden.

(via Costal Living)

And this is what I plan for our future house on the Mediterranean. I'm sure I'm giving the Mister a heart-attack by now:)

Friday iPhone Dump

I think I LIVE for Fridays and the weekends!!! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but there is just something about waking up on Saturday and having the whole day ahead of you to do whatever you please. For us this usually entails a morning walk with Max to Lincoln Park (the proclaimed dog park) so he can hang with his buddies and run off some energy. We always take a pit stop to P&C Market to grab coffee and a fresh pastry, and then sit and watch as all the various neighborhood dogs play as we read our New York Times (The NY Times Weekend edition is fantastic!). I told Ron the other day that if this Saturday morning routine is the peak of life, I'm content:)

I also wanted to leave you guys with some pictures I recently took during one of our walks. The spring season on Capitol Hill is so alive with blooms around every corner. The residents here really take pride in their postage stamp-size yards, and I can never get enough of the colorful spreads. I came across this fuchsia the other day and was mesmerized.

The fuchsia that have yet to bloom remind me of pom-pom fringe or a Japanese lantern. I love how delicate they are yet bold in color - what a combo!

Isn't this amazing how it unfolds when it blooms? It looks like the roses you see on Harris Teeter birthday cakes (I always requested a rose when I was young when the cake was being cut!) Nature continues to put me in awe and it's such a great source of artistic inspiration. Whenever I am stuck on a project, I often head out the door for a run or walk to clear my head, and almost 9 out of 10 times I come back refreshed and with solutions and new ideas.

The last photo is from the recent DC Design House. Photos are permitted, but I snuck this one in. How I would love to have a room like this in my house (the Roman shades were made of burlap!). I can imagine returning from our Saturday morning walks and cozying up on this chaise to finish reading the paper.

I hope you all have a great weekend! It's suppose to rain here this weekend, but I think the Mister and I are going to take advantage of staying indoors and do a little tweaking around the house!

A SNEAK PEEK!

I thought I'd give you a sneak peak of a project underway. We have just started to implement the design plan, so I'll share some photos of the progress so far.

This particular project entails redoing a dining room, living room, hallway and bedroom. We recently had the dining/living room area and hallway repainted including the stairs. It's amazing the difference just a little (well, relatively speaking) paint makes. My clients live in a beautiful row house on the Hill (with their absolutely adorable kids) that has most if not all the original architectural details. We are bringing in a new color scheme to the down stairs, hence the paint job, and we thought we'd give the stairs a little face lift as well.

Here is a shot of the fabrics and colors we are infusing in the new spaces.

As I mentioned before, these clients live in a beautiful row house with traditional details. However, their personal taste leans a bit more toward a modern, clean lined aesthetic. In order to mix the two styles (I believe that the architecture of a home needs to not necessarily match the interiors but they need to "speak" to each other) I selected a beautiful botanical embroidery that is a stylized, fresh take on the traditional botanical prints. I then paired the botanical with a great, textured, strie woven orangey/red fabric and pulled out the blue with a plain, woven accented with a graphic Greek Key trim. I can't wait to see these applied and in the room -stay tuned!

STAIRS BEFORE: I thought I had a picture, but I realized I didn't take one! Just imagine a walnut brown stain on these stairs....

STAIRS AFTER:

We are adding a sisal stair runner bound in a coral/red color, which will really pop against the black and white!

I also had two custom mantles designed and installed for this same client. When I first met with them, they had a fireplace in both the dining and living room areas downstairs but with no mantles. Now, they have a place to hang stockings!

FIREPLACE BEFORE:

FIREPLACE AFTER:

Adding a mantle really finished off the fireplace and gave the room more stature. There is a matching mantle in the dining area to the left of this one.

So that is a little teaser for now as there is more work to be done before the project is complete!

The Kiss That Was Seen Around the World

(Via OK Magazine)

I was up with the rest of the country to watch the royal nuptials this morning. The Mister was sweet to join me after I enticed him with fresh coffee and bacon!

It cracks me up how the Today Show had a "count down to the kiss" ticker on the screen. Isn't kissing an expected part of any wedding ceremony? Rumor has it that Will is not a fan of PDA, so he was very gracious to offer up two kisses! Poor thing was blushing during the entire ceremony.

I only wish the best for Will and Kate. I cannot imagine what was going through Kate's head as she took those vows. She certainly looked the part of a princess and she seemed so at ease as she walked down the aisle.

PS. I love the little bridesmaid on the left in the photo above. It looks like she has had enough of the kissing spectacle!

Brillant!

I know it's been a week or so since I lasted posted. Things are swimming along here over at Haddon Interiors. I'm juggling about 9 projects right now, and although I wish I could post some pictures to prove it, unfortunately completed, photo-ready projects take awhile to come to fruition. Soon very soon, I promise.

I'm in the middle of a kitchen renovation, and I look forward to sharing the before and after shots as it's a kitchen in a Capitol Hill row house (those kitchens are like playing a Tetris game since there is limited space). There are a few living room/dining room redesigns, a newly constructed breakfast nook and a fun basement project which entails chalkboard paint. So I hope you keep checking in for update photos on these projects.

I did want to share a fabulous ottoman I came across by the new Lilly Pulitzer furniture line. Even though I'm from the South, I was never a Lilly Pulitzer fan, however, I am loving their new furniture line debuting soon. I've been looking for a round, storage ottoman for a client for their living room. This has been somewhat difficult to find since storage ottomans are usually squares or rectangles where you can place the hinge on side. I was close to just designing something myself until I found this:

(via Real Simple - not available until this summer)

It's also the perfect size I've been hunting for - 36" in diameter. Of course I'm planning on having it reupholstered, but my client has a one year old and this will provide toy/shoe storage plus offer a safe, cushioned jungle gym for him to crawl all over. Thank you, Lilly Pulitzer!