Grateful

Imagine my surprise, when recently traveling in Norway, to open my email to this!!  A recent Bryant Park Designs project highlighted in the Address "Room to Love" feature of The Boston Sunday Globe.

We knew Eileen Woods was writing the article but had no idea how prominent the feature would be!  Here is the original photograph by Michael J. Lee.  Truth be told, this is the front room in Deb's home and we couldn't be happier to have our work recognized and featured!

You can read the entire article here including sources for the fabrics, furniture and art!

Thank you to the Boston Globe, and photographer Michael Lee, for featuring our work twice since our inception (see our first feature here).  When we started Bryant Park Designs four years ago, we had no idea how it would take off, and are nothing but grateful for all the support.

Cheers!
Becky and Deb

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Cubist Self Portraits

A couple of days ago, strolling around my twins' elementary school, I happened upon a bulletin board showcasing their "Cubist Self-Portraits".  Apparently, from what I could squeeze out of them, the assignment involved painting themselves twice - each time portraying a different emotion (happy, surprised, excited), cutting them up, and pasting the various pieces together.  What a brilliant assignment, and I just love the results... so much that I could picture a room designed around the final products...

Here's Ellie's... it's very her, especially the heart on her chest that apparently made its way into both self-portaits (as it should have!).  I love the dark lashes and eyebrow; ironic as hers are so blonde they're invisible (a couple of years ago she lamented, "I'm the only girl in kindergarten with no eyebrows!").

I could picture her self-portait in a room like this, girly but not too trite, with a nod to some of the animals she loves so much....

Headboard from John Robshaw

Lamp and bookends from Jonathan Adler

Quilt and storage baskets from Serena and Lily

Rug from Land of Nod

Dresser from Bungalow 5

And here's my sharp Emma.  She looks about this disheveled on an average day, no joke!  I always try to let her be herself, and kind of despise admire that she is so headstrong!  

She'd sooner die than appear in any shade of pink, and her room would need to reflect that...

Rug and chair from Land of Nod
Storage baskets and bedding from Serena and Lily
Owl bank from Jonathan Adler
Pouf from Overstock
Lamp from Robert Abbey
Bunting from Etsy

Have a great day,
Deb

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Blues and Greens in the Kitchen

My ebay kitchen chairs have finally gotten the boot.  The kids' fighting over who has to sit in the "surprise" chair (the surprise being falling through the seat bottom on to your arse) has gotten too much.  Enter the set of six Lillian August chairs my mom procured from her church rummage sale, perfect save the upholstery of the seat cushion.

So, I'm on the prowl for some new fabric, with this painting in my kitchen as the inspiration for hue:

This photo sums up the range of hues I'm looking for...

It's actually been a lot easier to find fashion accessories in these colors, than fabric!

Aqua and Green by Bryant Park Designs

Earrings by Dara Ettinger

Clothing by J.Crew

IPhone Cover by Kate Spade

Shoes by Jessica Bennett

Bracelet from Artfire 

Here's what I've got so far in the fabric department...

What do you think?

Deb

How Do You Like Your Grout?

One decision that threw me a little bit on my recent kitchen renovation was what color to grout my subway tile.  There are about a million grout color choices, and I spent some serious time hemming and hawing in the aisles of Lowes (and had a bag of gray grout rip open on my head as I reached for it on a high shelf, leaving me looking like a coal miner).

We started with white, but ultimately switched over to charcoal to help make the dark granite counters (which we kept) relevant.  It was a bit daunting watching the application...

Here are some other examples of kitchens using white or ivory subway tile with a darker grout, all via pinterest...

But, I really do love how these kitchens that used white grout look, too!  

Hope I made the right decision....

Have a great weekend!

Deb

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Kitchen and Bath: Before and Afters

So happy to have my kitchen and powder room renovation complete - in fewer than 6 weeks, by the way!  Here are some before and afters, from when we bought, and from yesterday :)

Looking from the eat-in area across the kitchen...

From the kitchen to the eat-in area...

The peninsula and kitchen table see a ton of homework and arts and crafts projects.  It's so nice to be doing "new math" in a brighter space...

Looking from the hall toward the back of the house and mudroom...

So glad the contractor talked me into scope creeping into the powder room (off the mudroom)...

Thanks to WellBuilt for their fantastic work on this project.  These guys can and will do anything - even jumpstart your mini-van.

Deb
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Update: The Bathroom

So happy to have my accent wallpaper installed in the powder room last evening!  

I'm in looovve.... and slightly nervous to hear my husband's reaction.  Yes, the husband who never asked why only three of the walls of the bathroom were painted one color, the husband who let the wallpaper hanger in the house and was here for the entire two hours he worked, the husband who peered around the corner to offer the wallpaper hanger a drink half way through the job without looking at the wallpaper.  That husband!

The pedestal sink and toilet will be installed here, hopefully tomorrow...

The faux bamboo mirror will be rehung under the light fixture (which won't work again until Christmas when my dad comes to change the 3 burnt out light bulbs)...

I'm going to hang this Taiwanese block print piece, which I just lifted from my parents' place in NYC (with my mom's permission), on the opposing, painted wall.  Unless my dad notices it when he's changing the light bulbs at Christmas and wants it back.

Have a great weekend!
Deb

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Seeing Stars

I've been brainstorming some ways to add a little pizazz to my new kitchen design, with its white cabinets, tile, and walls.  What's left to treat?  The ceiling, of course.  My Moravian star pendant got thinking about extending the star motif...

Both Domino and Lonny Magazines featured spreads of children's rooms with this Osborne and Little pattern on the ceiling...

Jaime Meares killed it in this nursery... amazing...

It comes in other colors, too...

One of the workers in my house asked me, quite seriously, why I didn't just buy a bunch of the glow in the dark stars to stick up on the ceiling.  And that kind of ruined the whole concept for me!

Deb

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Stain Wars

As part of our kitchen renovation, we're not only laying down hardwood that obviously needs to be stained, but refinishing the rest of the first floor, as well.

Cue a weekend of experimentation at our house...

Everyone had an opinion, even the little girls (I'm presently in a stand-off over bathroom tile with my four year old, but that's another story)...

Ebony floors are pretty hot right now, but I definitely don't want to go quite that dark for the whole first floor.  I'm hoping for the perfect dark walnut that can provide just the right contrast with our new all-white kitchen...

Coincidentally, yesterday's Apartment Therapy post included a discussion on dark vs light floors in the kitchen.  What do you think of these dark floors?  How dark is too dark?

Stay tuned....

Deb
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