New Beginnings

Today's world is always changing...constantly.  Day by day new technological advances, trendy products, and new styles emerge, and if one doesn't want to get "passed-by" one must keep evolving as well, in order to keep up with the current times.  Thus, my maiden voyage into the blogging universe.

A new home or project can be much like beginning this blog.  Mindlessly staring at a blank computer screen, wondering how to convey your thoughts, feelings, and taste....while the mind derails off the track wondering, "What will we be doing for lunch today?" 

Many of my clients experience this same cycle of a run-a-way train mindset when beginning to decorate a new home or even when remodeling a current space.  Standing in front of a blank, stark white, wall contemplating various styles of artwork and subject matters?  Trying to envision recovering a worn and weary settee' in an endless variety of fabrics?  Moving and moving furniture over and over again in your mind and in the room in an attempt to create a better floor plan? All of these create extreme frustration and exhaustion of every creative bone in the body, without the proper know-how and expertise.....and sometimes even with these traits.

Even a seasoned design can be stumped every so often.  Just yesterday I was visiting my friend Whitney's townhouse in Mt. Pleasant, SC, and of course, she wanted my opinons/likes/dislikes, which I'm always happy to give whether asked for them or not.

Overall Whitney has a great set-up.  Beautifully upholstered furniture in shades of seafoams and browns, well-mixed textures of linens, leather, wicker, and wood finishes, and four stunning Low Country botanical prints.  She also has all of the natural elements of design within her living area: iron, wood, glass, natural fibers. 

Really all I could offer were ways to make the great pieces she has "pop" more.  Angling her side chairs ever so slightly; re-hanging the four prints in a large, stacked, square grouping formation for maximum impact; and moving some of her larger pieces just an inch or two - all of which combined to showcase and compliment each other better and more dramatically. 

We were in a rush to do some shopping and other errands, so I didn't get to the one problem which is still stumping me: What on Earth to do with her flat screen television?!?

As I said earlier, technology is always ever-evolving, and the birth of the flat screen televisions have often caused interior designers to become puzzled, (or faklempt/"pha-klempt" as a fellow designer, Brian, says!)

I even had this same saga in my home.  With limited spacing in smaller living rooms such as hers and mine the placing of these black holed, squared monsters is frightening! 

For over a week, I squabbled with myself over the mixed feelings I had placing my 50'' Sony over my beautifully carved, antique cherry fireplace, but there was no other central focal point for company and myself to be able to view the TV.

For a week I would come home after designing clients' homes all day, and I would desperately try to make the television above my mantle appear as beautiful as a giclee' or oil painting.  I would arrange and endless array of accessories, picture frames, books, statues, greenery, vases, and candles along the mantle ledge in an attempt to disguise the hideous beast! And do not even get me start on his sidekick - the silver colored Tin Man of a cable box.

Of course my family thinks from time to time that I have completely and utterly lost my mind, but this was a definite scenario where I was waving my crazy banner.

Finally, I ended up "walking away," another term my co-workers and fellow designers Brian and Wendy have coined.  I lightly (which for me is still over the top compared to most people's taste) arranged a few of my favorite accents pieces on the mantle and called it a day. 

While my TV/wall dilemma is temporarily solved, I am ready to throw myself full force into Whitney's.  I can see it now: me camping out a week at her place carefully arranging decor on the wall behind the TV stand.........I certainly hope this "New Beginning" doesn't end our friendship or her faith in me as a designer!

Stayed tuned!