Let There Be Light!
What better way to start the New Year than with a master bedroom makeover that focuses on light. The client had only three requests: make the room lighter and brighter, replace all the current furnishings, and make sure that everything is durable. We listened. The very first thing we were able to install is the […]
4 Tips for Downsizing
If you or someone you know is thinking of moving to a smaller home or a retirement community, here are some tips that will help make your transition smoother. 1. Start a “TO DO” notebook Here you will list the tasks that need doing, as well as names of professionals whose services you may need […]
Living in Your Living Room
This inviting seating area in the sunny bay window looks like it has always been here, but truth to tell, it just happened last week. That is, the completion of the room happened last week, but was actually year in the making. Let me back up to show you what the living room of this […]
The Doctors’ Decorating Dilemma
When I first met Drs. Lainie and Jon Yarris, both emergency room physicians, they had been raising their three children in this charming Craftsman home for eleven years. When they weren’t working at their demanding jobs, they were doing activities with their children and with friends, who also have children. Their dilemma was how to arrange the […]
Crafting for Comfort
Emery & Associates has worked on many Craftsman-style homes, but none that were as representative of the style as this wonderful, 100-year-old beauty in Portland’s historic Irvington neighborhood. Here’s the living room “AFTER” photo. Let me back up a bit to show you how we arrived at this comfy, child-friendly design. Josh Smith called me in […]
What Every Guest Room Needs
A few months back a long-time client called me to ask if we could do a makeover on her oldest daughter’s bedroom. The daughter had graduated college, moved across the country to start her career, and didn’t know that any changes would be made. She asked if we could please keep the wallpaper so it wouldn’t […]
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 […]
Chew on This!
It’s not often that I design a room around a dog, but Samoa is a very special dog. She’s a Bernese Mountain Dog, and it was her chewing behavior as a young dog that prompted her owners, Sue and Bob Van Brocklin, to ask Emery & Associates to redecorate their family room. Eventually we worked […]
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 & […]