The Big Reveal!!

I am back from the "big reveal" in San Diego! I have to say, while it was one of the most tiring weeks of my life (well the whole summer, really), the expressions on the client's faces made it all so very WELL worth it. Here, the reaction for the first time in their new house since June. The following photos are the product of looooooooooooong hours, and NOT much sleep. At any point had I reversed the camera to sneak a picture of myself, all readers would be horrified! The house was almost completely empty when I arrived on Thursday, July 30th. I will send before and afters later this week for fun. First, the Living Room...

Living Room, other side. Please note that we still need a few more pieces for the house throughout - as my friend and client mentioned, "this is still a work in progress!" Also one should note that we only began placing orders for this project on May 1st - most everything here is either a quick-ship upholstery item or an antique from 1st Dibs, and my shopping trips to Dallas, New Orleans, and Alabama. I must say that I was very very pleased that almost every single thing made it to Diego Delivery by my deadline. I guess that is where steady harassment gets you. :)

Fortuny tapestry and 18th century Italian gilded angel in the Dining Room.

Family Room... still working on this one!

Master Bedroom. Screen is from Crown and Colony Antiques in Fairhope, AL. The chair to the right is being re-upholstered in the same celedon linen as the settee as we speak.

Bedding is by Leontine Linens in New Orleans. Pillows are fortuny, color:Peacock! Endcaps are Calvin fabrics. Lamps by Visual comfort.

Library: Still a work in progress, and these photos are just not that great!

This is the upstairs guest/media Room. I have no photos of this room (the bed, etc).

My favorite time of day at this house was the late evenings, when the sun set over the back lawn and pool.I designed this daybed/swing for reading, napping, relaxing. The rope came from a local shipyard in San Diego and I thought the guys helping would kill me during the installation of this heavy sucker! Bravo guys, they figured it out!

The four kiddos loved their new swing. :) This crew was the drive behind much of the design - the fabrics, especially in the kitchen and family room needed to be VERY kid friendly and practical. I think we achieved the goal, so far, at least!

Almost every night around dusk, the neighbors would fly hot-air balloons. REALLY???!! I want to lay on the swing. View from the backyard....

Hot air balloon in the distance here...

Mid-makeover photos

San Diego: Powder Room BEFORE: "MID" - After:

And Before again:

Mid-After:

I hope you agree with me that this is looking MUCH improved! We painted the baseboards, added crown, and new paper by Philip Jeffries. I return to San Diego next Thursday for the "big reveal", as my cute client has referenced the installation. I can't wait and I hope I'll have good photos to share soon!

Signing off: 100 degrees in Austin today.

MJ and LA

When things are busy with work, the blog gets no love. However, I am back! I was actually in Los Angeles the very day that Michael Jackson passed away. In fact, I think he was pronounced dead as I was on the plane ride back. My trip out to California was great. The weather was 75 and sunny the entire week - a nice reprieve from the 105+ heat in Austin. My sister-in-law, Heather was a perfect host and I loved spending time with her over dinners. On Wednesday, I hit up La Cienega for antiques and new friends...

Loved Lucca - in fact, I purchased a lamp there for San Diego. Here I am snapping photos. Yes, that is a pashmina - in July! Yay!

I enjoyed Lee Stanton Antiques as well - he has a beautiful garden in the back of his shop.

After lunch (I lunched at Catherine Malandrino's cute cute cafe outdoors) I took a break and shimmied over to Robertson so I could scope out the t-shirts at Kitson. I parked the car, walked that way and was suddenly surrounded by the Paparazzi! I admit I was expecting someone fabulous like Jennifer Anniston, Posh Spice or Gwyneth, and was sort of bummed to learn it was Ciara. In fact, I had to ask a young teen standing near me in the shoe section who it was! A few pics of the paps.....

I never ran into Kelly Wearstler but I did happen to park right in front of her office on La Cienega!

Thursday was more antiquing and a visit to the Pacific Design Center for fabrics.

When I returned to Austin, I worked for a week, and we then had some friends in from Dallas. We MIGHT have gotten into some shenanigans! Amanda, Katy, and Dougie were here for the weekend to ring in America's birthday. We spent most of the time on the lake, which was perfect considering there is really no other way to enjoy an Austin summer unless you are moving!

We somehow ended up on a bright yellow ski boat with this guy - Jorge Moreno - who was in town for the weekend from Miami. Jorge was nice to share wake-boarding advice with the hubs and was also quite nice to provide such pleasant eye-candy for us girls. (unfortch for the Dallas gals, he's married).

We concluded the night at a party on the lake - where we had a great view of the fireworks. (I did not take this photo, but thought it was better than mine).

Signing off: temp today: 104.