Estate Sale Mill Valley

Part of the fun (along with the schlepping!) of being a stylist is doing commercial as well as residential spaces. This week we designed the window and interior of Estate Sale in Mill Valley, in the historic El Paseo mews on Throckmorton Avenue. A satellite office of The Madison Company, the space doubles as an art gallery, and now also sells vintage items from estates in the Bay Area. We had the opportunity to showcase them in this tiny but very charming setting.

Here in the window we hung attention grabbing red/white striped curtains and held them back with vintage men's ties:

Old books, hotel silver, blue and white urns and ironstone pitchers mixed with shells and quill feathers create a fun mix:

                                                              
                                                                       Hard at work!

                                                                    

                                                                          

English riding boots on old leather suitcases and a vintage Banana Republic safari jacket  (their very first travel themed store opened right down the street in 1978) recalls Baroness Blixen in Out of Africa:

      

An antique secretary desk dressed with books, china, and a classic bust creates the feel of an old curiosity shop:   

A black and white story anchored by 2 oil paintings from the gallery and layered with a wood rice barrel,  painted oil lamp, tole cache pots, old glass bottles and vintage real estate flyers:

                                                       Happy Customers!

The inventory is updated weekly and you never know what will turn up- stop by when you're in town!

Mill Valley Gem - Traditional With A Twist!

Here's a house we're particularly proud of and is very representative of our our work. We originally decorated it for day to day living some years back, have updated it from time to time with fresh accessories, and then recently staged it for resale.  Although staging usually requires a scaling down of furniture and accessories, all agreed that this home showed perfectly just as it was - a tribute to our belief that if a home is set up correctly right from the start, you can live beautifully everyday. The decor is a mix of contemporary classics with some family pieces,  and owes much of it's warmth and charm to the many fun accessories we found quite inexpensively at flea markets, thrift shops, estate sales, etc.

Before and After: Novato - Shake It Up!

When we're called on to do a one day room makeover, we never know what we will encounter until we walk through the front door. There, we're greeted by our clients and shown the problem area, often a living room, which just isn't working for them. We hear the same thing time and again: they don't know why but their room remains unfriendly and underused. The funny thing is we can see what the problem is as soon as we enter the room: the seating is lined up along the walls, very prim and proper. But most of us don't live formally- we want our living spaces to be warm and appealing, inviting conversation and interaction. This can't happen when all the seating is around the perimeter of the room:

This room is very large, and the idea of having more than one seating area is a good one. But the distance between them is so great that in order to talk to someone you'd be yelling across the room - how can you make it feel cozy and warm?  Get the furniture up and into the room!

 Before, the chairs look lonely back against that side wall with all that space in front of them- the small pictures look spread apart and lonely too- and what's that cabinet in the corner?

After, by switching those chairs out with one of the sofas and then pulling both sofas off the walls facing each other,  the room feels much more inviting:

 We placed the chairs here, where they welcome you in. A larger wood table with a beautiful pedestal base we found hidden under a cloth in another room now stands front and center between them, creating an impressive entry to the room. Those small pictures now flank a larger more substantial one- much more impact:

We shake it up some more- What about those 2 lamps that were on either side of the sofa on matching end tables? And the 2 coffee tables?

Those lamps look more interesting behind the sofa, placed on that cabinet we saw in the corner, now opened up. The heavy wood coffee table wasn't needed, so out it went:

Before, there was a large framed piece of art traditionally hung over the fireplace:

We replaced it with some unexpected sculptural pieces that are more exciting:

After all our changes, the room feels more contemporary, yet warmer and cozier. It's more conducive to entertaining or just hanging out with friends and family. 

Come on in and relax!

Before and After: Terra Linda

This weekend we worked in a charming home where the homeowner was really into decorating and moving the furniture around, but just couldn't achieve the look and feel she was craving in her surroundings. We could immediately see that this wasn't a case of tightening up the rooms (as it so often is), but rather pulling them apart, allowing them to relax and be more used friendly.

The Family Room BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

What did we do?: 

-We removed the big jute rug and replaced it with a smaller white rug that was in the dining room. This added contrast to the wall to wall carpeting and defined the seating area. 

-We separated the sectional into a sofa and a chair. We pulled the sofa off the wall and into the room, making it feel cozier. We added some throw pillows and placed the chair on an angle facing opposite, creating a conversation area which balanced the room. We found the white garden stool in a back bedroom and placed it as a fun end table for the chair.

-We substituted a longer console table for the small end table table that was placed along the long wall. This anchored the art arrangement on the wall above, which we rehung and added to for more impact. We also placed a leather dining room chair along the wall, where it can be pulled in to the room for extra seating when needed.

The family room now feels sharper yet cozier. 

The Living Room BEFORE: Our clients said they didn't use their living room because it felt too formal and they enjoyed a casual lifestyle.  Their oversized furniture was from their former Victorian flat with big rooms and high ceilings, and they thought they had to replace all of it with smaller pieces. We felt that the placement of the 3 huge upholstered pieces blocked off the room and said "Don't come in." 

AND AFTER:

We wanted to create a lighter, airier feeling:

-We moved the sofa to the wall on the left and angled the chair opposite, opening up the entrance to the room. 

-We separated the corner bookcases and flanked the fireplace with them, adding height and interest.

 -The painting over the mantle was too large for the space and the colors overpowering, so we replaced it with a vignette of a round mirror and bronze horse - their fluid lines soften all the straight angles of the hearth and their shine welcomes you into the room.

- We removed the leopard bench as it was closing off the room and blocking the patio doors.  But our client had told us it was her favorite piece- we knew we had to find a place of honor for it....

The Dining Room BEFORE: Again, our clients said their room felt unwelcoming and didn't invite intimacy. Although we loved the drama of the chocolate walls, more color was needed to punch it up. And while the white rug provided contrast, it was too small for the table and chairs. 

AND AFTER:

Small room, Big changes! 

-Here's where we placed the large jute rug we removed from the family room. It's scale fills the room and makes it feel bigger, it's color adds warmth to the walls, and it's rough texture contrasts beautifully with the soft leather chairs.

-We removed 2 dining chairs and brought in that much loved leopard bench - by placing it up against the wall we created a fun banquette. We added softness with some white pillows we took from the family room sectional.  

-The red color accents we removed from the living room are just the ticket here : The red shaded standing lamp creates a sexy corner, and the massive size and saturated colors of the oil painting from the mantle stand up to the dark walls, creating drama for dining!

More photos:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Our clients were "thrilled with the transformation", saying that now their living areas "made sense and made a statement".  As we always like to say, you don't have to go out and buy new things- you often have everything you need right in your own home (although it may be in another room!)

Before & After: San Anselmo

Yesterday we did a quickie room makeover in a charming home in San Anselmo. The homeowner knew

how she wanted her rooms to look, and just as importantly, to feel, but just couldn't do it on her own. She read the article about us in the San Francisco Chronicle and wrote to us that same day, asking for help. She said her home was "boring, with neutral color schemes and minimal personality" and wanted it to be "cozy, fun and interesting." She also said "It's about time to make my home a place my family and I love!"
When we arrived, we asked her how she used her living room and she replied that she never sat in it. She wanted to have a book club but didn't feel comfortable having people over because she didn't think the room was welcoming. Here is the Living Room-

Before:

And After:

Before: 

After: 

Before: 

After:

So what did we do? 

-We tightened the whole room arrangement, centering the rug on the sofa wall and bringing the chairs out of the corners and into the room, creating a cozy conversation area. 

-We searched the house for furniture :

-The tall bookcases were being underutilized in an office, so we brought them in to flank the sofa and create a niche, filling them with plants, books and family memorabilia.  

-The little desk was downstairs housing misc. kids stuff, so we brought that in to make that far corner of the room more inviting, and asked the homeowner to buy a small chair to place by it when she next visited the fun shops San Anselmo is known for. 

-The end tables that had been next to the sofa we placed alongside the armchairs, where their scale was better suited

-Color was introduced with pillows, throws, books, plants, accessories, and art.  The black and white family portrait was relocated to the family room, and a bigger more colorful piece was placed over the sofa.

The Dining Room-

Before:

After:

Here, we simply removed the rug (too big and overwhelming) and rotated the table 90 degrees. We added interest and color with some of the homeowner's accessories and created a bar on an old marble chest for fun.

When we were done, our client said she was "amazed" that such a change could be achieved with things she already owned- she wanted to have people over right away and start entertaining- music to our ears- We love nothing more than helping someone love the home they're with! We'll return and work our way through other rooms in her home. (Thanks Sue!)