Ready for Mr. Cool

We are finally ready for Mr. Cool, who could grace us with his presence any day now! I hope he likes his little room, it was done with love. :)

Coming Soon....

To my Library, and now hopefully yours... Essential Elegance by Solis Betancourt. You may pre-order here. I cannot wait to own this book, especially since many of the projects I managed over the years can be found right within these pages, including this one on the cover! Jose Solis and Paul Sherrill are true talents, not to mention two of my favorite men, whom I am fortunate to know.

Mi Casa...

es makin' me LOCO.

My recent move to Dallas led to the purchase of a new home yielding a new client: MYSELF. Might I mention that I am a self-proclaimed horrible client! Most designers would have already fired me by now - major undecisiveness is not a good client trait, but I am guilty as charged. The reality is that I need four homes: One that is very fashion-forward, Kelly Wearstler-ish, one that is soft and muted, Cote Jardin-ish, I need an Alys-Beach-esque Mediterranean that is all white, and of course a rustic, brown lakehouse a la Bobby McAlpine. So what's a girl to do when she only has ONE home? This appears to be the problem. I can do schemes for friends and clients all day long, but my house: not so easy. I thought you might enjoy some images for my McBrearty Library of Likes...as you see, they're all over the place...:)

Excited

I am thrilled to announce the launch of my new website! Many, many thanks to the most talented gal I know, Laura Randolph, for countless hours spent designing the site. I have yet to figure out what this girl can't do! Be sure to check out her own blog as well - www.redstaplerproject.com

Nurseries

I recently realized that I don't think I have yet acknowledged on this blog that I will be a MOM soon! We are having a little boy in December and I am vvvvvvvvvvery excited. I will continue to work (assuming I continue getting new clients!) and will no doubt have a few challenging years ahead of me. Hang with me, people. Let's back it up to April when my sister Emily came to visit us in Austin. I had her open a few birthday gifts and made her model the new digs (my reason for having a camera out, and the reason for her odd behavior seen below) The camera was really needed to capture her expression when she read the card.... Which, as you can see....

Was PRICELESS.

Don't worry, I continued on to be a very fun hostess all weekend - we even went to Lustre Pearl and had a hula hoop contest until 2 am. Fast forward a few more months, a move to Dallas, a few doctors visits and here we are! He even gave us a thumbs up during the 4D ultrasound. Love. love. love. This guy deserves a nursery that is nothing less than par. When I see his little picture I think: cool, funny, mostly Mere-esque. Yes, yes he'll need to sleep in style.

Images I love that remind me of Mr. Cool....... Rickshaw design pillows....

Jenna Lyons added stripes on the ceiling of her nursery.........

Jonathan Adler makes adorable letter pillows..

And lately I have been lovin' on the Oeuf Sparrow Crib...

I'm also very inspired by my wonderful friends who have such great taste! First, let's glimpse over to Birmingham for a peek into my friend Mary Catherine's nursery. MC will most-likely be bringing her little girl home to this beautiful, serene room any day now! With the help of Anne Turner Carroll of Turner Carroll Designs, she got to work - the crib is by Corsican, painting by Claire Cormany, and Mary Catherine designed the crib bedding with Once Upon a Time in Birmingham.

It's beautiful! I just want to walk in there and never leave!

My friend Natalie in Atlanta has a very chic, simple nursery for her little munchkin, Mary Martin....

And my friend Hannah in Dallas just put the finishing touches on her nursery this week!

Read more here...

Don't THINK I don't have a few ideas up my sleeve, 10 fabrics on the floor, sketches drawn for mine - I just have yet to pull the trigger on anything....
Bon Soir.

Henry's Nursery

I got a call this spring from my dear friend Teale asking for "help with a nursery!" I, of course jumped for joy - not only is Teale one of my favvvvorite people who I would love to help, but what is more fun than picking out digs for a little baby? The client, in utero: Henry Taggart Smith. (Teale is in labor with my client as I write this very post). Henry's mom has great style herself, so I knew the nursery would have to hold up to the rest of their adorable house in Memphis. Here we are a few years ago doing who-knows-what with Lord-knows-who. I miss her terribly. So, I in Austin, Teale in Memphis, we began the back and forth beginnings of long-distance design. First, I requested photos of the now-emptied guest room....

I then cruised to Dallas to gather many fabrics. I did a quick sketch, gave her 3 different options with fabrics, and popped them in Fedex over to Tennessee.

Also did a CAD layout to make sure the daybed she liked, etc would all fit! We also needed to determine the best layout for the room...

We began with the selections. We ordered a matelasse coverlet from Matouk with a big 14" monogram with his initials.

Teale ordered this cute, cute mobile...

We gave her grandmother's glider a new facelift with white linen fabric and eliminated the tufted back...

We also gave new life to this cute little stool. (I think this was also her grandmother's).

Ta-Da!! The final result..

Daybed pillow fabrics are Manuel Canovas and Lulu DK.

Crib by Bratt Decor. Bedding by Serena and Lily.

I hope little Henry will approve when he comes home. :)