Install of the Day !!

Hi There !

Have to say I am pretty excited to be featured in this month's Charlotte Home + Garden  . . . Who's more excited, Kate, my 11 year old.  She's all a twitter that her room made the cover.  The issue hits the stands today!

The story covers our decision to renovate.  Having lived in our Plaza Midwood home for about 13 years now it was time to fix a few things.  Just like a lot of my clients the kitchen needed a big ole face lift and the colors throughout the house, for me, seemed tired and I was ready for a change.

Where did I start?  The front door and worked my way though.  I wanted a clean, crisp ,white palette.  Out went all the bright, saturated color.  Why?  I think it was simply that I wanted to feel less stressed when I came home and visually needed a calmer look.  I wanted to simplify the color combinations.   So in the process of this reno I sold off and gave away almost all of the furniture pieces I had, kept just my favorite, classic pieces and worked around those I truly loved.

Take a look at the finished product.

My foyer and stairwell is the one space I added a big dose of wall paper... black and pale grey broken lines with the look of a hand painted pattern.  It's very dramatic and so pretty from the street through the front door. I used a lot of brass in this project, from the foyer fixture to the details in the fireplace and throughout the kitchen.

I absolutely love my new floors.  What I didn't love was the transition from the original house through the kitchen to the new addition we added when we purchased.  Three different floors, it always bothered me.

From the kitchen back David Reece replaced everything and laid hardwoods to match the original them stained from front to back in this gorgeous pale grey.  We brought in Helms Flooring and they did a beautiful job creating the color I wanted.  With the new white walls and black window casings these light floors made all the spaces seem instantly bigger, cleaner and calmer!  Use a low luster poly and you wont see scratches and endless dog hair (we have 3 running around).  

Black and white, old and new, collected pieces.  Both my living room and family room are causal.  No need for formal around here.

David help me create a new look for the fireplace with this black and white marble.  We used brass schluter to create the broken lines in a random pattern and new fireballs as oppose to logs for the gas fireplace.

Picked up these three Mel Rae pieces at Hidell Brooks Gallery.  Love her work !

New art, new lighting and simple white linen roman blinds Amy Lily made for me.

The living room opens to a window filled music / reading / office.  I painted the entire space black for a really cozy feeling and loaded it with my favorite books and albums.

With all the windows and light furniture it feels so cozy and a place we all love to hang out in.  

A touch more brass on my live edge desk (by Josh Utsey) and large art Keith is working on.

When you round the corner you hit the new, long, open kitchen.  I love - love my black tile.  I was so impressed with the attention of detail David had when installing.  Beautiful job !!!

The kitchen, we gutted.  David took out the wall separating it from the dining room and it made the biggest difference.  We took out all the upper cabinets and tiled from floor to ceiling on one wall in this dramatic back tile with white grout.  Daltile here in Charlotte - great source for tile.  LOVE !  I added a new large island all with a grey Silestone counter top.  Check out Cosentino Charlotte for counter tops, they have a gorgeous showroom and huge selection.  I'd mention my source for custom kitchen cabinets, but even after working with this contractor for years, he didn't give me his best work (or keep word for that matter) and unfortunately I wouldn't recommend him now to any of my clients hate to say !  So -  no renovation is without a headache or two and I have since had fixed all the nagging details that were not taken care of by this cabinet maker and moved on to a more professional sub who I can trust with client's projects.

Brass sconces highlight the floating wood shelves and a combination of brass pulls and long black door handles on the white mill work.  This long, open layout has proven to be so functional and fabulous. 

Barn doors !!!  Behind the right door was a narrow hallway to the front door.  We closed it off and created a new pantry.  Behind the left door access to the basement.  I love how clean, yet interesting this wall now looks.  Jason Angeldorf custom made these for me ... great job !

The kitchen opens to the family room.  We continued the white walls and black windows.  I mixed a mid-century low sofa and black Eames Lounge Chair both in leather.  I am a huge leather fan especially with my dogs... tough tough ! Lori Love created the art piece over the sofa and it's quite sentimental to us in that we were in London when this project started.   Slate Interiors was my go to for the vintage rattan chair I had painted black and recovered and the little brass side table with shagreen top.

Her Majesty by Lori Love

So being that I ripped out all the upper kitchen cabinets and still needed storage for all my dishes, glasses and serving pieces, I asked Jason to make these custom floor to ceiling pieces in the new dining room, I love them.  So happy I used two different cabinets contractors on this project !  These are made perfectly and house everything.  With the wall gone between the kitchen and dining, the space is open to each other and we actually use this dining room most nights for dinner now.

Josh Utsey, who we all love here at Lucy and Company, created this chandelier and the dining table.  Made of ash and stained light with a black metal base, it has a live edge top.  It's casual and unique which I love.  These director's chairs, another favorite thing, I found them at Slate, but had them recovered in a distressed leather and reworked a bit to get the height right.  

That takes care of my little bungalow on the first floor . . .  but of course having the first and second floor jive with each other, I had to repaint and tweak the upstairs.  It started with the runner.  This Stark seagrass has a heavy pad and black binding that Randy Mullis installed for me.  It actually took away all the old squeaks heading up the stairs (old house ya know !)

When we bought the house we added the downstairs family room and just above it this bonus room for the girls.  I wanted the same look and feel as downstairs in this space with a bit more whimsy.

We painted it white as well and I asked David to rip out the engineered floor.  I actually painted the subfloor with Ben Moore Porch and Floor white and love it.  I want it to "age" with use for an old loft like feel.

I brought home one of my favorite pieces from the Lucy and Co showroom, this mustard yellow chesterfield and the peace sign we had as well.  (And FYI we are redecorating at the office .. Charlotte people.. not closing lol !!!).  Added a new seagrass and loaded the space with art.  I asked Lori Love to create another piece for me and this Stevie Nick is the focal point of the room.  Her work in Rock Icons is truly amazing (see a closer look below).  A few of Keith's art pieces and the new addition of a large black hanging chair finish it off !!

Take a look at some of the details  . . . .

Art by Keith Keim

Art by Keith Keim

Kate's room is next to the bonus room and this black and white tree wall paper is all her !

We added, or should I say my neighbor Mr. Don Duffy - Charlotte architect extraordinaire and his daughter Carson, cut out all these white and green ginkgo leaves for us to hang from the ceiling.

The space is nature inspired as is my Kate.

And lastly, the Master Bedroom.  New upholstered, low bed with a channel back and simple white bedding.  Black metal side tables and white dressers.  One of my favorite things are the photos we had simply framed and randomly placed.  Ever heard of Social Print Studio?  So cool... download the App and your instagram pics can be uploaded to the sight and turned into cool postcards or framed pieces... Love how they turned out...  

Found this piece by Craig Ritchie and it was perfect . . large scale and loads of texture...

And Keith created two of these which have always been favorites of mine !  One over each dresser.

These are the Social Print Studio framed pieces I was talking about.  I took these with my phone ! Can't believe how good they turned out.  Mixed them in with a few original pieces I have collected for a casual feel.  The pendant, we rewired with an old school cord and simply strung up.

And this it's ... my reno.  I love all the clean white, even had the exterior painted a bright white and changed out the lighting and porch floor.  The last detail I added was new brass hardware on the original door, the finishing touch !

all photos by Mekenzie Loli

I want to thank all those involved.  My husband and kids for putting up with me.. not happy I was tearing things up but sure are happy now.  Maggie and Bree for overseeing it all while we were out of town.  David Reece... you are amazing doing all the work you did to make my space so gorgeous.  You are truly a professional with the most amazing work ethic.  My painters, Eddie and the boys.. thanks for running over so constantly.  Jason Angledorf and Josh Utsey, for creating such beautiful and well made pieces of furniture... James Staples who really knows how to do electrical work in an old old old house !!! Randy Mullis, Ashley Mullis and the boys at Helms Flooring - thanks to you all!

p.s. stay tuned for what we did in the front yard !!!!

and


p.s.s. lucy didn't want to clean her room -  ha ha .... but it's black and white and pretty cute too.