Black and White Wallpaper

A remodeled bathroom we did in a turn of the century (20th century) home gets a corner sink and a pocket door and fabulous black and white wallpaper. IKEA off-the-shelf silver shade works great.

Holiday Decorating

We participated in a Holiday Decorating Tour for the Montclair schools. The house was beautiful so it just needed some festive touches. The couch was red and white so that helped in using red for Christmas since sometimes red isn't a color used much in most rooms. We put red balls in a high bowl on one of the small tables and a big red poinsettia went in the corner. The fireplace was dark so we wanted to brighten that up with a silver glitter twig wreath and mercury glass vases on the mantel with greens. We also painted the logs white in the fireplace to pop there.

The white tabletop trees were sitting on a built-in bar in the living room. Two of the trees are vintage and the third is new. Can you guess which is which?
An empty corner was perfect for a lighted tree we found at a garden store. It has a little bit of a Charlie Brown feel.
A side sitting room with a pretty tiled fireplace just needed some greens and red branches and a Danish lucite Advent wreath.

Montclair Kitchen and Powder Room

 This kitchen was old and needed to be gutted but there happened to be a beautiful new Viking stove in it. It's just that the range didn't even look good because the rest of the kitchen was so bad. But lucky we decided to keep the range because when the rest of the kitchen was done and the Viking put back in, it looks beautiful and brand new. White, grey and blue small subway tiles over the stove mirror the larger white subway tiles over the rest of the counters.

The countertops are two different colors of granite. The owner was going to go with a white Corian but when pricing it out she found granite for less than Corian, so go with it! The dark floor here is bamboo. There is no table in the kitchen but a center island and stools.

A beautifully shaped light fixture over the center island in stainless that goes with the appliances.

          The white glass tiles along with the black and white marble-like granite.

The new powder room was the very large front coat closet so the new loo is generous in size.
The wallpaper is metallic Philip Jefferies grasscloth that takes on many colors including greys and beiges.

The large tiles on the floor have a hand-built raku like feel that goes with the Asian feel of the grasscloth paper but wainscoat on the bottom half of the powder room brings the room back to the age of the house.

Guest Bathroom for a Traditional House

Lava rock countertop and a more transitional mirrored medicine cabinet from Kohler that opens from the bottom up. Lighting from Lumins.

Marble tile from the floor was used as a decorative edge.

A charcoal and white cotton fabric was used for a deep valance and the shower curtain.


This client had been planning to do her bathrooms but kept putting it off until there were 2 leaks from the 2cd and 3rd floors at the same time and she had to do both at the same time. The master is not quite finished yet but the guest turned out beautifully. We were able to save the original tub which was a savings to the owner. The tile for the floor is a traditional gray marble small square and subway tile on the walls.

Downsizing

Downsizing

I sold my house last fall and moved to an apartment. Needless to say it was a huge downsize. Going from a three floor home to a two bedroom was a huge job. But it has felt really good to get cleaned out. Everyone told me I would be happy but it was hard to do all the work. I didn't have to buy any new furniture, just get rid of some and store the rest in the basement. I am lucky to have storage and not to have to get a storage unit. I had heard too many horror stories about storage units. I did get a new sofa to update my look but the rug here and coffee table were from the old house and still look great. The hardest part was all my art, my own and others that I own from my brother and other artists including Minneapolis' and Montclair's own Tom Nussbaum. I also have a small collection of oils from an old seaman from Brooklyn that came from my father. They are realistic but fit in well with all the others.

Master Bath

A master bath we have been working on is almost finished. We have had fun working on this. It has been a group project with the owner being very involved and working hard so she is happy, which helps us push ourselves to be perfect also. The carpenter and contractor have had wonderful ideas too. It is amazing how the project has morphed as we go along. Window treatments and glass shower are what is left to be installed so more pics to come. The floor is 12" x 18" Carrara marble and the wall design on subway tile is a blue glass pencil.

Paisley

I had a very old wool paisley shawl that was my grandma's. It was ripped in the middle so couldn't be used as a throw. I guess they used to wear them to keep warm but it would have been rough on the skin.
I decided to paint my dining room chairs a minty green and then cover them with the paisley. I'm still in the middle of the project but I like the way they turned out. I also made a couple of simple window valances to match.