Out & About: Milwaukee - The Home Market

My family and I spent a couple of days last week exploring the other great city on Lake Michigan, Milwaukee! For most of my life, I have lived about 1 1/2 hours from Milwaukee. Growing up and living in the Chicago area, we made only an occasional visit there. One of my best college girlfriends grew up there, so I did spend some time back in the day, getting the lay of the land in the "Cream City." I have lived in Madison now for 5 years and have just begun to explore this flourishing city of nearly 600,000 inhabitants.  Once known for it's industrial strength and beer brewing prowess, things have changed in recent years.

Like I do whenever I am visiting someplace new or that I have not been to in a while, I did my homework.  I have found the the City Guides published on Design Sponge to be incredibly helpful.  The article on Milwaukee did not disappoint and provided quite a few worthy stops.  The Home Market in the city's burgeoning Third Ward was one of those.  So I dragged my family along to check it out...

What a delightful shop!  My husband felt it immediately, The Home Market was fully aligned with my personal style, filled with products that exude high style and sophistication, but are approachable and fun.  

Products like Dash & Albert rugs,

stunning and unique lighting,

 

framed Hugo Guinness Prints,

textiles from Japan,

 

John Robshaw and Bella Notte linens,

 simple, yet lovely furniture, art work, accessories and many customizable items, I could go on and on!

all photos above via The Home Market 

The Home Market also offers design services...

The shop's delightful proprietor, Kate Barrette is a Wisconsin native, University of Wisconsin-Madison grad and former Director of National Retail Sales for Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic.  Her design sensibility and the store are an amalgamation of these experiences and her personality.

 2 photos by Jack Orton for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

I enjoyed meeting and chatting with Kate and look forward to visiting her wonderful store, The Home Market again, unencumbered by 3 teenagers and an only slightly interested husband!  If you happen to be in Milwaukee, be sure to check it out at 222 E. Erie Street in the city's Third Ward neighborhood, I highly recommend it.

 Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 
If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Design Concept Board or a complete Room Rx.

Fresh Fabrics Friday: {me} longings studio

I know, It's Saturday, so I'm "a day late and a dollar short," (we were on a little family boondoggle, more about that later) but I do have a great collection of hand printed textiles for you, so thanks for stopping by today. 

From pillow covers to tea towels, Chanee of {me} longings studio not only creates the design, but she hand prints with water based inks onto environmentally friendly hemp fabrics and then sews all of the items herself.  These pieces offer graphic pattern, rich, natural color and high style all with an eco friendly angle. Chanee has cleverly named each of her newest patterns, infusing personality into each look.

dottie

aya

mimi 

 The overall feel of Chanee's products really speaks to me, the texture, color, simplicity. 

The tea towels would make a lovely gift, don't you think?

 

Beautiful cloth napkins, how much more eco-friendly can you get?

All of these items can be purchased through {me} longings studio on etsy. Chanee also has a beautiful blog by the same name where she shares her adventures and inspirations in design with a focus on the vintage and sustainable. If you have never visited, check it out, I promise you won't be disappointed!

A hearty thanks to my lovely 'blog friend" Holly over at West Pear Avenue for her shout out on my timeless kitchen project yesterday.

Y'all come back on Monday, I have lots to share next week, including a fabulous find from our family "boondoggle."  I need to run now to put the finishing details on my Halloween costume, big party tonight!!!

 Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 
If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Design Concept Board or a complete Room Rx.

this & that

Remember last week when I told you about my "kitchen tweaking" project and my love for this West Elm Modern Windsor chair? My client has shared a photo of the chairs paired with her Craigslist bargain table (which will be re-finished soon, stained a deeper color and poly coated to hold up to the wear and tear of daily use).  I am loving the clean lines and black finish of the chairs, paired with the classic pedestal table and the drum shade light fixture.  I promise to share more about the plans we have for this space, but this is a great start to it all.

In other news, Sarah at Pewter & Sage just announced the inspiration for another Mood Board Monday; dinnerware!  Check out these lovlies....

David Stark Wood Slices at  West Elm

Penumbral Doily at Anthropologie

Chirp by Lenox at Macy's

 Philippe Deshoulieres' "Dhara" at Bloomingdales

Sarah and I co-hosted Mood Board Monday, the "Wallpaper Edition"  back in September. Check it out, then go put on your creative hat, put together a mood board for a dining room inspired by one of these fun dinnerware sets and join us on Monday, November 14th! Here is a link with all of the particulars for 
Dinnerware and Dining Rooms. 
I LOVE Mood Board Mondays!

 

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx

Color of the Moment: layered neutrals

Textural, natural, soothing, a room built around neutral color can be calm, yet full of energy as the tones mix and move. Think seagrass rugs, sepia toned photographs, linen, leather and rustic woods.....

Lisa Cohen Photography {via}

Alicia Bock on Etsy

Trudes on tumblr

Wouldn't this color palette work beautifully in a breezeway or small mudroom?

Have you ever used a neutral color scheme, just layers and tones and no "color?" I would to hear about it and see the end result. 

(If you are ever curious about an item pictured in my "Color of the Moment" boards, please contact me either by commenting or sending an email)

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx

Room Rx: Timeless Kitchen update

Several weeks ago I shared a bit here about a kitchen project I am working on and today I want to give you another little peak at the progress.  The cabinets were delivered last week and they are just gorgeous. Built by Amish cabinet makers in a workshop about an hour and a half north of Madison, the custom cabinets are beautifully finished and my design plans were well executed. In this kitchen, since it now opens up to the dining room, we are mixing finishes with the perimeter in a dark stained, clear Alder and the dining room banquette and island in a creamy white.

I am especially excited about how the small island turned out, exactly like I drew it...!

 

The wood floors have all been refinished and create a nice contrast to the dark cabinets and white banquette and towers.  Sherwin Williams Silvermist on the walls provides a fresh background color that works well with the SW Ancestral Gold in the living room, now opening up to this area.

My client and I have continued to tweak things and I found the perfect accent fabric to use for pillows on the banquette and to update the cornice board window treatments, Flaunt in stone by Stout  Fabrics. It's hard to tell on the screen here, but the colors are perfect, picking up the blue-green of the walls and cushion fabric as well as the gold color from the living room and the dark brown of the cabinets.

 

Flaunt by Stout

 

 Banquette cushion fabric - Soft Touch Teal by Christopher Lowell

Today the counters are being measured for and the cabinet install will continue.  Next up, hardware and back splash. Stay tuned as this kitchen will be done in the next few weeks and I'll give you the full reveal! 

This week is a short school week with no school Thursday and Friday, so we've got a little road trip planned to Milwaukee with kids. Laverne & Shirley, here we come!

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 
If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Design Concept Board or a complete Room Rx.

Fresh Fabrics Friday: Robert Allen's Bandings Collection

Today I share a little bit of a different angle on "FFF," trims. This new collection from Robert Allen is just delightful, made up of bands, tapes and gimps in a variety of materials, widths and colors. The trims in this collection are simple and elegant, working with many decor styles. Using trim is the kind of detail that can take a room from nice to fabulous, giving the pieces where trim is used a custom, one of a kind look.

All trims above in Robert Allen's Bandings Collection

1. Caligraphy, 2. Velour Gimp, 3. Diamond Band, 4. Chainlink, 5. Linen Dart, 6. Diamond Chain,

7. Pleated Band

 Bands and tapes can be used to give character to a Roman shade...

 

{via} Marcus Design 

To edge a long window panel...

{via}

To add interest to a simple knife edge pillow...

 Sofas & Sage

Room Rx

To spice up a simple lampshade....

Loft & Cottage

Special trims get me almost as excited as gorgeous fabrics, there are so many creative ways to utilize them.  What projects have you done lately where a gorgeous trim played a star role?

Thanks for bearing with me over the past week with my computer issues, I think it's safe to say that we have conquered these problems and are moving on!  Thanks for your visits, comments and support, you all make my day!

Have a wonderful Fall week-end, enjoy!

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 
If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Design Concept Board or a complete Room Rx.

West Elm love

Have you ever been to a West Elm store? Living here in Madison, we have access to lots of great culture and shopping, but let's face it, due to our size, we just don't get all of the "good stuff" like in the  nearby large cities. Yesterday my client consult was in the Chicago area and while it was "quick-in, quick-out," we managed to find time for a stop at the nearby West Elm store. In fact it was such a whirlwind visit that I did not have time to get my camera out of my bag and snap photos! Let me just say this, I could have spent hours there! It was fun to see many of the pieces I have been eying on line, in person. The "kitchen tweaking" project I am working on involves an eating area and opens up into the family room, so our work extended that far. Here are a couple of the goodies we are incorporating into these spaces....

Loving the fresh look of the classic Windsor chair.... we'll have these paired with a great table my client found on Craigslist for $20 (of course it needs a little face lift, but for 20 bucks, we couldn't pass it up)!

This little bath mat may just be perfect for in front of the sink.... we'll see!

Basic but beautiful, the ivory pillow will show up in the family room.

We also brought a sample of this rug home, it is a gorgeous steel gray kilim rug and should be perfect in the foyer.

Yes, we were "coloring outside of the lines," our "tweaking" extended to other rooms on the first floor and involved moving lots of furniture, re-hanging pictures, moving lamps and accessories and the like.  Why not? We had a blast and were able to accomplish an amazing amount in a few hours, I can't wait to share the "before & after" photos.

In other news, because I know you are wondering, my "Indy race car computer" is one more day away from being ready to use.... I am hanging in there (kind of....).

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Design Concept Board or a complete Room Rx.