Christina Marie Interiors

Monday, June 10, 2013

House Adventures: Part 2

I held out on sharing the paint colors post on Friday because it was so rainy and dreary in Boston and the colors were not photographing right. But now they're looking slightly washed out because it's sunny........ color is hard to photograph! Anyways, I've been working on color choices for the first level and here's what I tested for the main living part of the house. I wanted something neutral but slightly gray/beige or as some refer to it, greige. From left to right the colors shown below are Edgecomb Gray, Balboa Mist, Sail Cloth, and Gray Mist (all Benjamin Moore). After looking at the colors for a while I've decided to go with the Balboa Mist. The far left and right we're both a little green once they went on the wall and Sail Cloth was just too tan. The more I look at the Balboa Mist the more I like it. In the picture it looks a little too gray but in real life it's a color that changes with the light and you can't exactly put your finger on what color it actually is. It definitely has a "misty" quality and I like that about it.

So, one down. In the nursery I tested two colors. The first color I tried was White Sand on the left but once it was up, again, it looked too kahki and a little green. I was going for something more of a light sand tone and definitely not green. So I tested the Sail Cloth from the living room swatches on the right and liked it much better. So I'll go with that. The nursery will be a combination of light blue, white, tan, and some orange accents.

Here are a few fabrics I am planning to use in the nursery. The blue and white ticking with the lobsters will be a cornice or valance (I haven't decided the exact style yet) and the cream, quatrefoil linen on the left will be the drapes. I loved the other cream fabric and plan to use it for some pillows. It's a knit and feels nice and soft.

And..... my rocking sheep arrived! I basically just saw him and had to have him and so I bought him. I know it won't get much use for a couple of years but it will look cute in the meantime sitting in the nursery!

So in other random news, I picked up this sideboard off the side of the road with my husband on Sunday. We were driving up our street and there it was with a big free sign so we checked it out and it's actually in pretty good shade! I'm thinking it will make a great entry piece in my "foyer". I'm planning to strip the paint and see what the condition of the wood is and then I'll either stain or repaint depending on what I find.

It appears to have it's original hardware.

This wood is gorgeous! Looks like tiger wood to me but I'm not totally sure. Any thoughts?

And finally I'll leave you with some pictures of the beautiful peonies that are blooming in my back yard. How pretty are these flowers?! So good for cutting and bringing inside!

xoxo,

christina marie

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

House Adventures: Part 1

As I mentioned on our facebook page I'm starting a series of posts that share my decorating adventures in our new house. My husband and I moved into a cute ranch style home about a month ago in a quiet neighborhood. The house actually previously belonged to Ryan's grandparents who have since passed away and when it became available we decided to buy it. The house was built in the 50's and was only ever occupied by Ryan's grandparents up until now so as you can image it is definitely in need of some updates! e.i. bathrooms & kitchen! But I never wanted a house that was in move in condition because mostly I don't care for the finishes that are selected for most "move in ready" homes. The house has been kept in great condition however, and the bones are all good so it is manly a matter of cosmetic updates.

Here's how the house looked when we first moved in. Brace yourselves.....

View of the living room when you come in the front door. Notice the awesome border and carpet!

View of the front wall of the living room and front door

The dining area off of the living room

The knotty pine kitchen! All hand built by Ryan's grandfather. Anyone want some knotty pine cabinets for their cottage?

Hall off of the living room leading to the bedrooms

One of the three bedrooms on the first floor. See that hardwood? It actually runs throughout the entire first level. The floors have all been covered with carpet for years and it's actually protected them really well! They just need a light refinishing eventually and they'll be good as new! We were dying to rip the carpets up as soon as possible and it's made such a difference in the feel of the house already!

And, tah dah! The pink and blue bathroom. Every 50's house is not complete without one right?!

Dying to RIP THIS OUT! And if this isn't scary enough for you, don't worry it gets even better in the basement. I have another full bath complete with shag carpet on the floor and a matching toilet cover!!! I won't even show you that picture....

Presently, we have removed all the carpets and the wallpaper borders and my painter is scheduled to start painting the entire first floor. Once the paint is done I'm hoping to get going on tearing out the pink wonder bathroom. Tomorrow I'll show you the paint colors I'm considering for the main living area and the bedrooms!

christina marie

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Dining Room & Foyer Interior Design - Lexington, MA

It's been a busy year so far and I haven't done much blog posting but I'm hoping to start updating more often. I certainly have plenty to post about but instead of dumping everything into one huge post I'll break it up for you and show you some projects I've been working on over the past few months.

Here's one that I'm currently in the process of ordering all the furniture and materials for. So far, we have been working on the foyer and dining room for Jen who recently moved into this brand new house in Lexington, MA. The first steps for this project included adding new moldings and architectural detail to the walls of the foyer and dining room. We also decided to stain the existing stair treds a dark ebony to match the existing stair railing which was already stained dark.

Here's what the foyer looked like when I first arrived at the house.

And this is what the stairs looked like before

And here is the after shot of the newly stained stairs and new applied wall paneling. We ran the paneling around the entire foyer and also up the staircase. Both these changes made such a huge difference in the feel of the space. Before, the foyer lacked character but now even before the addition of furniture the space has a lot more style and presence.

Here's a look at what will be going into the foyer for furnishings. We've already ordered a custom wool/sisal herringbone stair runner and custom fit area rug for the entire space and once that is installed these furniture pieces will be making an appearance. (Ignore the drapery rods, those are being used in the dining room).

.....And speaking of the dining room here's what the space looked liked when I arrived. This room already had the paneling on the lower half of the wall but we still felt the room lacked in detail. Also, since this is a fairly large dining room there were some seriously large expanses of empty wall and we were going to need a lot of art if we were going to fill all that empty space. So, instead of spending a fortune on art installations we decided to box out the walls with molding to break up the wall space and also give the walls more depth and interest.

Here's the space before

And here's what the space looked like after the addition of the molding. We painted the moldings to match the existing wall color so the room wouldn't feel too busy. Again, this made a huge difference in the feel of the space. (Ignore the furniture, this will almost all be leaving!)

Here's a look at some of the furniture pieces that will be coming into this space. We also have some really beautiful and fun fabrics that we are using for custom draperies and custom slipcovers for the white chairs which will flank the two ends of the dining table. I'll keep those a surprise for now :)

We're hoping to have this project mostly complete by mid May and then I will share the Afters!

christina marie

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact us about our design services.

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Completed Playroom Design in Lexington, MA

Just checking in to share a few shots of the girl's playroom that I recently completed and photographed. No professional shots yet but here are the shots I took over the weekend

First though, a reminder of where this room started out!