My friend-for-life, Betsy, is having her first baby.  She just found out yesterday that it is going to be a boy.  Here is my Congratulations Gift to her: a virtual consultation.  She wrote me yesterday to tell me she didn’t want any kitschy character crap and her hallway upon entering the baby’s room had chocolate walls and vanilla trim.  (Hint Hint, right?)

When I give a client a Design Recap, the copy is formal.  But Betsy is my friend, not my client, and I am posting this on my blog for the world to see.  So just imagine me standing in room with her…

Run out NOW, Betsy, and get the DwellStudio Space Baby Bedding Collection because it is really really super cheap at $64 for Designer Bedding.   They have it at your Target (I checked) but in limited quantities. Plus, its blue and green and should remind you of my dorm at Westminster. (Readers, Betsy and I went to college together, but we go back  waaayyy  before that…) And space stuff is cool, not dumb like trucks or trains. The world needs more scientists. 

The paint swatches are from Benjamin Moore’s new Affinty Colors mixed exclusively in Aura paint.  Aura paint is scrubbable, which is good since you are having a boy, and is environmentally friendly.  It is more expensive, but take my advice.  This high quality paint is worth the few extra dollars.

An outdoor rug will protect your light carpeting, and can be hosed off when the baby has an explosion poop or barfs all over the place.  It doesn’t look like an outdoor rug, does it?  I have had great luck with Home Decorators Collection.  Go for as big as you can afford, but try not to get any smaller than the 5 x 7, which is more than I wanted to find at $169, but remember I saved you a bunch on the bedding.

I love this earth decal.  It’s pretty big at 27 x 27, only $30 and is removeable, so have no fear.  You can use it to point out where mommy and daddy are from.  And teach Biddy Baby how important it is to clean up after your oil spill.

Brown furniture will coordinate well.  I tried to find  something for you on CraigsList, but I wasn’t too successful.  The good thing is you have time to keep checking.  I do love this $99  small dresser from Ikea.  You can use it for a changing table, and buying it will give you a reason to come and see me. I found this crib at Target and it looks pretty nice  for only $149.

NO GLIDERS!  Get a Poang instead.  Plus I really want you to make an Ikea trip so I can rub your baby bump.

The drapery panels are from Pottery Barn Kids.  They are clearanced priced at $49, and if you have only one window, you will need two.  (A panel for either side.) They are Blackout, and if you have a baby that sleeps better in a dark room you will love me forever for suggesting them.  Choose navy in order to avoid Matchy Matchy Syndrome.

Last but not least, understand that every baby’s room needs a little kitsch.  It’s the American Way, Betsy.  This Rocket Lava Lamp is the bomb diggity and only $23!  The green goo sparkles as it warms up.  And when Biddy is the first man on Mars, you can tell him to thank his Aunty Denise.

Just a few changes will make a big difference.

Counter Choices  Rug  Rug  Mirror  Fabric for Roman Shade  Bench  Wallpaper

I have mentioned Pottery Barn a lot in these four posts because it is the only major mid line chain in Myrtle Beach.  It stands without its usual competition in a very nice mixed-use-New Concept-Town Centre-format-outdoor Mall.  Being the only people in the store on all three occasions, we had excellent service.  But the best part about shopping here was the deals:  I selected drapery panels for all three bedrooms at 75% off!  Silk Panels for $45! And the complete hardware set  for $35!!! This is cheaper than Wal-Mart.  I was positively gleeful about this.  Like a doctor scanning MRI film showing no cancer or Senator whose pork has passed, these are the moments that make my job. 

We were not able to complete a room with the stock available, but at such crazily low prices, we decided to buy larger panels than we needed and have them altered.  Out of 8 windows, we needed to alter only one panel in length for the Master Bedroom, split two 105″ width panels into four 50″ width panels for the room with the full bed, and split one 105″ panel into two for the room with the pair of twin beds.  The alterations expense came to $180, which is less than the original price from only one panel. 

We had more perfect finds.  Two lamps, exactly right for the Master Bedroom, were just sitting on a shelf and waiting for us at HomeGoods.  A solitary picture containing all the proper colors for the Guest Room hung on a peg right under an ideal black lamp with a green leaf shade at Target.  A pair of prints framed in an exact complement to the pair of twin bed frames was found on clearance for only $30 each. We loaded the van again and again, happy with our purchases, our bellies full of fresh seafood. 

I created a plan for the half bath rather late in my trip because I just couldn’t grab a vision for this space.  Since wallpaper was off limits, I felt tapped out.  Until I saw it.  A pretty little chandelier, coral and green and white, of painted iron with tiny flowers.  This was it.  I instantly saw a more feminine space, true to the color story in the Great Room.  In the showroom, wordlessly, I pointed up.  Jim’s face lit up.  He, too, received a vision of it hanging in the half bath. 

This time Roseann was the holdout.  “No way!”  “Too grandma!”  “Not my taste at all!!” 

It was the last day.  I was flying home in a few hours.  I had to get tough.  “WRAP IT UP”, I said to the salesman (all along knowing that today the credit card was in JIM’S wallet…)

Kristi, over at Addicted 2 Decor, posted on her blog yesterday about wanting so badly to paint a black room. 

I completely forgot in my commenting over there that I had done just that, only last week!  (It has been a long and foggy November.  Three weeks of flu, Granny passing, the holiday and now my mother-in-law visiting…)

Stephanie bought a foreclosure.  The day we chose the flooring and the middle level color scheme, her 18 year old son was with us.  Let’s just say he showed a bit of concern for the decisions being made, as they did not include plans for the lower level that they had decided to let him make his own.  On that day, Stephanie had a lot of choices to make, and his space was not on agenda. 

As we made our selections, I could not help but notice poor Douglas, upset about being ignored.  He had on a zip hoody in the velvetiest shade of charcoal and a long tee with black and white splatter marks.  I asked him if he would like his room to look like his cloths—and was that a mistake!  The kid went wild.  “Could I have a black wall?!?” 

Stephanie is a good mom.  She relented and we ended up choosing mid-tone gray for most of the walls, black for the largest unbroken one, white for the ceiling, trim and fireplace, and a deep gray flecked Berber carpeting for the floors.  I haven’t seen it yet, but Stephanie said it looks great.  She told me today that she got him gray striped bedding for Christmas.  (Oh dear, I hope he doesn’t read this. HA!)  As of yet, she still doesn’t know about my plans for the splatter…

A good mother deserves a room of her own and sometimes it takes a mother to give it.

Mary and I first worked together about 3 years ago.  She was a patient of a dentist whose office I designed. She first hired me to sort through and utilize some inherited pieces. Soon after, she and her husband decided to retire to North Caroline, so we staged her home for the real estate market.  We have stayed in touch through her daughter who also became my client.

Well, Mary is a very wonderful mother.  And her other daughter, now a mother herself, is equally devoted to her three young children.  Three young ones who, as small children tend to do, have taken over the house.  And Mary, having been though this, understands how important a little grownup space can be.  So while the whole family is at Disney, Mary and her husband have snuck back to Virginia and into her daughter’s house.  They are spending the week creating a little haven in the master bedroom as a surprise.  A space without toys.  It is going to be just like television.

A master bedroom should be a haven, but in reality it rarely is.  Confessionally, my own also serves as an office.  Hardly Relaxing.  The pictures at the beginning of this post are from the Inn at Little Washington.  I am not saying that your room need be so outrageous, but you can get the idea. 

An ad from cb2 appeared in my inbox today showcasing the Coconut Bed.  Fully upholstered in plain white canvas, I imagine shoppers need a little encouragement to accept the $1,000 purchase price.

The photographs are convincing, that’s for sure.  Both images are show stoppers, and as different as the country (top) from the city (bottom).  The bed is dressed in all white, a perfect foil for the grainy bleached wood in the top image.  The bottom photo, too, is bi-chromatic, but with clean and crisp black and white.  Notice the loopy graphic bedding and how perfectly it contrasts with the chandelier wallpaper.  The laptop, of course an Apple, is a lifestyle clue.  In this room, the owner is so important, work never stops, even at night.  But in the other room, we have a glass of water and an alarm clock.  The lifestyle here is relaxed.  We are on vacation in a cabin in the country.

The ad makes it easy to accept that this bed would be appropriate in many settings.  But in reality, it would be much harder to pull off.