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 & […]
Always Sunny in Portland, Oregon
Yes, I’m kidding. But even on dark and rainy days the mood in this room is sunny and warm, like a day in Provence. When we first started talking about what kind of changes they wanted in their home, Sue and Bob Van Brocklin let me know their color and style preferences, and we […]
High Summer Dining–Bon Appetit!
My clients are having some friends over for dinner tomorrow evening, and I told them I’d bring the flowers for the table since the room is now completed and I wanted to photograph it. The hostess is using her mother’s Spode china (“Buttercup”), and her own coral red place mats and napkins. This space […]
Outdoor Rooms and Fresh Looks for Summer
Now that summer is officially here, how about a few ideas to freshen up your home for the season? One of the easiest ways is to add garden flowers–if you don’t grow your own, you can stop off at your local farmers’ market for a large bouquet for just a few dollars. Another idea is […]
Sweet Dreams
Often the master bedroom is the last room in the house a homeowner tackles, probably because it’s a private space–not the first room seen when guests enter the home. However, it is a space where the homeowners will spend a large part of their time, so it’s important to make it inviting and comfortable. The […]
Master Bedroom Makeover: Light and Luscious!
The young couple who hired Emery & Associates in 2009 to do the main floor of their 1903 foursquare home in Ladd’s Addition called me back this year to do their master bedroom. “It’s really dark. What can you do to help us?” I gave them the obvious answer: add lighting! They really didn’t […]
The Upside of Downsizing
Our client had sold her home and most of her furnishings several years ago, when she first moved to into a one-bedroom apartment in a retirement community. She called me when she had the opportunity to move to a two-bedroom unit so she could have an office space. She wasn’t happy with the furniture she […]
Turkey and Dressing
Less than two weeks to go till Thanksgiving, and I haven’t even done a single post about holiday decorating! I’m talking now about dressing your dining table for Thanksgiving. If you are as mad about “table top” as I am, you probably own more than one set of dishes and a variety of table linens. […]