Vintage Charm for New Construction
When the homeowner asked Emery & Associates to help her choose finish materials for the new home she was building, we found ourselves ensconced in a treasure trove of antique French furnishings, accessories and art work. After listening carefully to her stated preferences, we created a palette around her favorites colors, plum and green. The […]
Beyond 50 Shades of Gray
Did you ever go shopping to find sheets or towels in your favorite colors and discover they don’t exist? At the moment there are LOTS of gray items, as gray is really hot right now. But try finding sage green or plum bedding or decorative pillows in a retail store. It’s practically impossible! Since Emery […]
Room Service
This year we changed up our master bedroom. It went from earthy, Tuscan colors–sage, gold, and red–to spa blue with crisp white linens to echo the white trim, now more prominent than ever with the draperies removed. Never mind that the bedroom in its previous incarnation had been published in a magazine in 2007 […]
What a Difference a Shade Makes
I want to tell you a story about a lamp–the one pictured above in its “AFTER” incarnation. Unlike those shows you see on HGTV, most real interior design installations are done in stages. Furnishings trickle in from various vendors, and eventually everything is in place. I wasn’t intending to write about the project pictured in […]
Allegorical Art Celebrates the Feminine
When Carol’s daughter grew up and left home, she wanted her daughter’s room to be done over as a guest room that her daughter would still want to enjoy when she came home to visit. She asked her daughter to choose a new headboard, and when it was in place, Carol felt stymied about […]
I love It When a Plan Comes Together!
The Bauman family recently inherited two magnificent ancestor portraits, which deserve to be prominently displayed in their living room. Fortunately, when we remodeled their living room four years ago, we added new recessed lighting, even though adding lighting wasn’t on their original list of “must haves.” (See my very first post on this site–put title “Tricks […]
Repurposing Prexy
Last year I was asked by my alma mater, Reed College, to help with the re-design of the Prexy Building on the college campus. It was designed in 1914 by the renowned Portland architect, A.E. Doyle, as a home for the college president, hence its name. The building was subsequently used as a boys’ […]
Make Your Living Room Come Alive
It’s a sad story–hardly anyone “lives” in their living rooms anymore. This is a tale we hear over and over, and here is one example of how we fixed it. The “AFTER” detail above shows a small slice of the adjoining living and dining rooms featured in this post. When the homeowners called Emery & […]
Combining Households–How to Make It Work
Susan Bach and Doug Egan combined their households some years ago. When they asked Emery & Associates for help redoing the entire house, it was apparent that what they needed help with the most was integrating Susan’s family pieces and whimsical country style with Doug’s more formal, traditional French style. We began in the TV […]
Redesign–What does it mean?
Emery & Associates did a major remodel of a client’s living room fireplace several years ago (see my previous post “Hot New Looks for Old Fireplaces,” February 24, 2011). The clients liked the remodeled fireplace so much that this year they rearranged their furniture so that the sofa faces the fireplace, which has become the […]