House Seven Design Services

Ever since I can remember I have loved interior decor. 

I remember one time when I was probably around twelve years old. We had gone to see a family friends home and it was my first time visiting. I will never forget being completely transfixed on the decor in the home. I was in awe of the floral window treatments, the white tiled countertops and the babies nursery...all white and wood! When we returned home that night I asked my mother if I could do some decorating of my own? She gave me the go ahead, so off I went, tearing off the backs of Readers Digest to frame and hang in my bathroom, stealing pink and blue heart wreaths hanging on the wall in our home to hang in my room. I even begged to have a peg rail hung in my room so I could hang candles from it! Okay, it was the early nineties people! 

  It felt like it was just something in my blood. It was that thing..dare I say.. I was good at for no particular reason. I wish I would have harnessed this talent years ago. But never say never! 

All this reminiscing does have a point to it.....

I'm so happy to announce that House Seven Design is open for business
and I could not be more excited!

This is something I have wanted to do for some time now and finally I feel like the moment is right!
House Seven Design is specifically for someone looking for help styling their home and making it the way they have always envisioned it.  My goal is to assist you in all your styling needs on any budget! I would of never have thought I could afford a interior stylist. That is why my rates are set so that I can be available to just about anyone in need of help with their home decor! 

If you are interested in House Seven Design Services, I would love for you to contact me! 

You can visit my services pages above or fill out my 

E Design questionnaire.

 I look forward to working with many of you in the coming future, helping to make your home styling needs complete and creating a space you'll love!

Trend predictions with staying power

In late 2012 I wrote a post about  2013 trends that I thought would have great staying power.  Several days ago I reread that post, and if I do say so myself I definitely hit the bullseye with my predictions.
These are still going strong:

• simple geometric patterning 
• nature inspired motifs (birds, feathers, florals, plants, etc. )
• lighter woods in furniture and  floors
• gold toned finishes 
• open walls in kitchens 
• backsplashes to the ceiling
• mixed colours in kitchen cabinets
• reclaimed/eco-friendly materials 

In addition it seems that there are variations of these trends that will also have great staying power.  
Consider:

More geometric patterning 

Not only will you see geometric patterning used on textiles and rugs, it has moved to furniture  and lighting as frameworks, overlays and inlays. 

Sculptural light fixtures

Yes,  still going strong and branching out a little from the  large scale, voluminous fixtures seen in 2014 to a whole new skeleton/wire look that will be big for 2015. This look is also strongly influenced by geometry.

The wire/ skeleton look also extends to furniture especially tables.  

Global inclusiveness  

No longer is travel the instigator of interest in the products of other cultures. As the world becomes a smaller place because  of technology, homeowners are exposed to a range of products and looks from different countries.  Access to these is as easy as a keystroke.  Rather than a themed look, think about integrating special pieces  with  what you already have.  

Any of these pieces could be easily added to any decor unless you are averse to yellow!

Patterned tiles

The geometric trend is popular in  wall and floor tiles as well as textiles. The new looks range from herringbone designs  to elegant parquets in one or two hues. 

 Even rugs have taken on a tiled look. 

Mixing up warm metals 

Yes we know that silver finishes are being overtaken by the golden tones of mellowed brass, but the orange glow of copper isn't far behind.    Mixing metals is a trend that will be a safe bet for years to come.  Just think how long the silver tones have been popular, that will be the staying power of mixing things up for variety.  

Marble is hot 

One noticeable trend for this year is the the use of marble in everything from backsplashes and furniture  to lamp bases and accessories.   It isn't only  white marbles either, think black, blue, golden and champagne. 

Mixing materials 

In furniture and accessories designers are playing with interesting combinations of materials.  Raw woods and lacquer, glass and concrete, metal and marble, wood and fur, resins and metal, glass and filagree metal, the list is long and the look is interesting. 

Statement art /walls 

Go big and bold in artwork, splurge on a hand painted mural or a whimsical wallpaper.  Think about a wall of texture.   Large and textured is definitely in. 

Focus on hand made and recycled

Anything that shows the hand of a creator is a sure bet for home decor.  It reads as unique, honours natural materials, and supports artists.  Such products are usually sought out, well considered and support local economy.  All good and very trendy right now-  if such sensible choices can be  trendy.
 Think about woven objects, hanging sculptural forms, pottery and ceramics, fibre art.

 If you are handy yourself consider the upcycling of objects.  There are enough  ideas on Pinterest to keep you going indefinitely. 

And there you have it, what's trending for 2015 that will be a safe bet to invest in for the coming years.  What are your thoughts on buying into trends? 

New Ikat fabric and a Chair!

I don't know about you all but when I find a fabric I love I want it everywhere. I've been looking for some new Ikat fabric for awhile now and I finally found some that I love. I also like to change up the pillows on my sofa frequently because it sets a new tone for the room and its very cost efficient! 

I'm really working on a more organized home with a lot less stuff to fuss over so each purchase has to be made with actual thought involved! 

I love how neutral the new pillows keep the room and as you can see the amount of color in here is becoming less and less. If you have figured me out at all, well then you know I'm perfectly fine with that. I can appreciate lots of color in other peoples homes and kind of envy it. But its not what I gravitate towards.  I have also discovered that a more neutral palette makes me feel calmer and way more comfortable which is in my opinion exactly how your home should make you feel. 

In my need to declutter I added some boxes to the bottom of the book cases to keep my ever growing magazine collection a little tidier.  My husband questions my need to keep issues of Domino from 2006 but you all don't...do you:) 

Something else you may have noticed is that the rug is gone! 

Well, its not gone completely, just relocated to the upstairs because our lovely little terrier likes to do unmentionable things to it and my hearts stops every time I see something else he has done! So for now we are rug free and yes my anxiety level is lower but I dislike not having a rug in here so I'm doing a little research and I will share what I come up with! 

Lastly, my new chair from TOV furniture. Oh what a beauty and at 34.5 inches across it's become the perfect snuggle chair for me and my girls! I have this idea lingering in the back of my head about possibly one more in here with a linen Chesterfield....hmmm, a girl can dream! 

We'll see what happens with all that!

Understanding the Farm Sink

So this is our current sink situation below..... (insert sarcastic tone) lovely right?!?

When we built this house I begged the builder to please install a farm sink before we moved in. That was when I was under the delusion we could use the drop in one from Ikea. That was before I understood cabinet sizes and how not every sink fits in every cabinet. No laughing please.
Because they are not a custom builder, the answer was no and so we decided that it would just be done later. Well, later has stretched out to two years now and yesterday I finally ordered our sink.
The reason this has taken so long isn't because we weren't in any hurry, it was that its been a total pain trying to figure out how this was all going to go down!
 Our cabinet is a standard 33 inch. But its wedged between the dishwasher and a 90 degree corner! Ugh!
Trying to figure out how to retrofit a standard farm sink with a 9 inch front apron was leading us to one road block after the other! The company that made our cabinets didn't offer a 33 inch apron sink cabinet...only 30 inch or 36 inch and having new doors made wasn't really something we wanted to do.
Whats a farm loving sink girl to do!?!?!
Well things finally started looking up when I stumbled across this

 Say hello to the Kohler Whitehaven cast iron self trimming apron front sink!!
I think she is the prettiest! I would love to have a deeper apron but at this point I will take it because not only does it give me the look I want, its actually going to fit in our existing cabinet!
The front of the apron is only 6 11/16 inches so its a perfect fit but the bowl drops to 9 5/8 inches so I will still get that deep basin sink I have been longing for.

Im so excited to finally have a sink on the way and our small kitchen reno underway!
Now its time to chose a faucet and Im thinking about something like these below.

I can't wait to keep you all updated on our progress....talk soon!