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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 & […]
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 […]
East Meets West
Asian furnishings and objets d’art have been in demand by Westerners since Europeans discovered the magical, mysterious East in the 1600s. My personal style has always run toward 18th century European furnishings, with the occasional Asian accessory thrown in. I have resisted becoming committed to a single palette, because I love changing things seasonally. After […]
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 […]