Letting Go

So, as you may have guessed, based on my long moments of dead air here, I've lost my blogging mojo. Life has just gotten so busy for me that I have to really use my time effectively and as a result my blog has been put at the bottom of a long to-do list.

Some exciting real life things going on here...

We are putting our house on the market and looking for our "forever house"

My design business is booming

Grayson has started pre-preschool

and

We are trying for baby #2 (not pregnant yet)

{spending as much time with this little man as I can!}

Eventually, this blog will be linked up with my professional website which is still in the works. Until then, I'm signing off to enjoy my little ol' life. I hope to see you all soon and I thank you for reading and supporting me!

Teresa

aka: The Stamford Wife

Shippan Designer Show House & Technical Difficulties

If you're in the neighborhood, go check out the Shippan Designer Show House on Ocean Drive West here in Stamford, CT. Proceeds support the Stamford Museum and Nature Center which is an awesome place to take the kids!

On an annoying note...I have NO clue how my blog got all askew. Everything that once was on my right sidebar is located way below all of my posts. I must get this fixed, but of course, I have no time to do so. UGHHHH. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm a huge fan of free things (who isn't?). Connecticut Cottages & Gardens is a free magazine found at any stylish shop in Fairfield Co. (and maybe beyond?). I usually get my copy from one of my local go-to sources for great lighting here in Stamford The Accessory Store. There were so many great rooms in the current issue that I had to share my favs...

This dramatic black and white powder room certainly caught my eye. I always love a nice teardrop style chandy as well.

This den is right up my alley with it's mix of antiques and modern pieces. Love all that white too.

This living room, with is simplicity really appealed to me. I'm particularly interested lately in the juxtoposition of modern furniture with classical architecture.

Happy Saturday!

Moving On? {Prepping A Home To Sell}

{Living Room BEFORE}

I spent one day this week helping out a lovely young family get their home ready to put on the market. We didn't want to spend a penny (who does in this economy?) to spruce up the place, so we used what they already had in the home. This isn't one of those super dramatic TV show make overs by any means, but the subtle changes make a huge impact to the overall "energy" of the home.

They have two gorgeous little girls, so the living room furniture was pushed up against the walls in order to make a play space for the children to scatter their toys about. However, that arrangement didn't showcase any of the rooms selling features.

{Living Room AFTER}

We rearranged the furniture to create a more cozy feel by pulling the pieces away the walls and floating them in front of the fireplace. The homeowners love color, but we decided to paint over the accent walls to match their current butter yellow walls to make the room more cohesive and less "taste specific".

{Living Room BEFORE}

Here you can see the sectional in it's previous position against the wall (and a little princess hiding from the camera, lol).

{Living Room AFTER}

Using the homeowners artwork on the mantle and repositioning the furniture, the fireplace is now the focal point.

{Fireplace BEFORE}

We simplified the mantle and the built-ins

{Fireplace AFTER}

{Shelving AFTER}

Using the homeowners camera collection and just a few books and magazines, we created a clean shelving display.

{Living Room BEFORE}

The homeowner had three different paint colors viewable in this one room which fit their young and artistic personalities, but to some the colors could be considered distracting.

{Living Room AFTER}

We chose to just paint over the blue and a small bit of the persimmon to just make the room more cohesive.

{Dining Room BEFORE}

The dining room was primarily used as a craft area for the two young artists in the family.

{AFTER}

The walls were painted to match the living room (which is open to the dining room) and all toys were moved to a playroom.

{Little Girl's Room BEFORE}

One of the girl's room which was really quite cute in person, but looked like most children's rooms, toys toys toys everywhere.

{Little Girl's Room AFTER}

Someone did a nice job cleaning her room!

{Master Bedroom BEFORE}

The homeowner is a sewer and did her sewing in their bedroom. While this worked nicely for her, it made the room look smaller.

{Master Bedroom AFTER}

She relocated her sewing machine to the basement for now and what a difference it made. We also painted over the mural (which unfortunately the homeowner hand painted herself and it was adorable). The mural gave the room a slight juvenile feel which was a little confusing...was this a nursery or a master bedroom?

{Kitchen BEFORE}

The kitchen didn't need much to begin with...just a little decluttering and paint touch up.

{Kitchen AFTER)

{Kitchen AFTER}

With nothing more than a can of paint, simplifying and furniture arranging, we made this family's home ready to list on market.

Just to recap what we did:

Paint: got rid of accent walls and bold colors, took most artwork down and filled holes, touched up all walls and trim to hide any scuffs or imperfections.

Declutter: removed all unnecessary items from all rooms and put in storage. Cleared shelves and just left decorative arrangements. Cleaned out all closets, cabinets and storage areas and organized.

Depersonalize: Left only a few personal photos and strategically placed artwork. Removed wall murals and other "taste specific" decor. Buyers want to picture their things in the home, not the sellers.

Rearrange: Strategically arranged furniture to showcase the selling points of each room (the sofa now faces the fireplace).

I hope these pointers can help anyone who may be getting ready to move on to bigger and better things!

Where I Shop {Antiques & Artisan Center}

{a beautiful peacock (?) in one the vignettes at the Antiques and Artisan Center}

I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine consisted of housework and client work (WAY more fun than housework). I love shopping for clients because I get peruse all of my favorite haunts for goodies. Today I visited my favorite antiques store the Antiques And Artisan Center here in Stamford in search of some vintage pieces for a living room I'm currently working on. It's a massive building housing seemingly endless vignettes of antique and vintage furniture, accessories, lighting, housewares, even fashion (I spotted a vintage Hermes Birkin there today) and art. I thought I'd share just a small glimpse of all the goodies you can find there.

Here you can see the peacock resting on top of a gorgeous mirrored console.

This pair of mid century black chests certainly caught my eye.

As did this pair of lucite tables!

This vignette has an eclectic mix...lovin' that nail head trim.

I feel in love with these chairs in the style of Frances Elkins (I believe there were 8!)

A full set of vintage lime green Baccarat stemware.

1930's French lucite and brass table. They have an enormous selection of lucite pieces throughout the store.

A white Chinese Chippendale dining set.



More pretty stemware (love the tray too).

I spotted this wheat sheaf coffee table (for a really great price!). I'm surprised someone hasn't snagged this pretty table up. Good thing, because it's a contender for one of my clients.

So is this black mid-century chest of drawers.

I'm also a sucker for a nice bust.

More fabulous lucite, this time a bar cart.

So if you're in the neighborhood, you should make a stop by the Antiques and Artisan Center and you'll lose track of the time and hopefully leave with something pretty.

Onward and Upward

{I have no idea where this beautiful image is from. It's been in my "favorites" file for ages}

I just couldn't leave that crappy comment up as the first image all weekend long. First of all, thank you so much for the positive comments. They mean a lot to me and I'm so happy to have such awesome blog "friends". I didn't mean for that post to become a pity party, but just a "WTF?".

So, onward and upward! I have a weekend full of good intentions aka: trying to get through my long to-do list of home projects.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

South Beach & Nate Berkus

So are you all tired of reading about the Nate Berkus blogger show yet? Yeah, me too. So, I'm going to catch you up on what I did over the weekend.

My husband and I checked into our room at the Tides and I was instantly relaxed. So much so that the hubs had to convince me that we should go walk around or at least get a cocktail somewhere. Leave it to him to coerce me with booze (it worked).

I love that stitching detail in the leather chair...so clever.

Welcome drinkies!

I also made my way up to visit the bride-to-be in the penthouse and to snap a few photos (which just don't pay it any justice!)

Um, that bed had a lucite (or maybe glass...not sure) headboard!

One of the three bathrooms in the penthouse.

Loved this chandelier in the hallway.

A guest bathroom. Beautiful, yet not functional (ah-em, no mirrors).

A pool cabana

The lobby

The Coral Bar. According to the bartender, it is an actual speakeasy (that has since been refurbished) that was originally hidden behind a false wall during Prohibition!

One of the many sexy chairs in the hotel. This particular one was the ladies room.

La Marea, the main restaurant.

Some other great details from the lobby...

Then we were off to the Mondrian hotel for a group dinner the night before the wedding.

The outdoor lounge had an incredible view of the city.

"Cheers"

We then made our way to the W for some after dinner drinks. Of course I had to ask my friend for a tour of their suite as well. Trying not to be too much of a decor weirdo, I only took a few, discreet photos.

This print was hanging in the foyer of the room. Love!

The day of the wedding was just beautiful (duh, we're in Miami). The ceremony was held on the penthouse balcony/rooftop deck of the Tides.

The happy couple!

Me with my bestie. We had such a ball. I came home with a nasty hangover, mysterious bruises from a hard night of partying married girl style (with the hubs). Does that ever happen to anyone else? Ooooooofffff, it was a great weekend and I'm beyond happy for my darling friends S+A.

Oh, and yes, I too was one of the ba-zillion bloggers in the audience of the Nate Show on Tuesday. I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it by now. He's adorable. I wanted to hug him. I admire his design work. I'll just leave it at that.

{photo via Camila}

I also attended the lovely party hosted by Camila and The Nest. I just have to say that I truly enjoyed meeting so many amazing bloggers. I've never been in a room with so many warm, intelligent and creative (and gorgeous!) women in my life. I wish I could've met each and everyone there, but the night went by fast! Thank you Camila for the heads up and the invitation. I had a fabulous time!