Category: being an interior designer

cooking up a remodel

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A little over a year before we moved from Denver to Portland we completed a total kitchen remodel.

via me

I loved that kitchen.

Our current house has a dated kitchen that is in need of some remodeling attention that we just can’t afford to give it now.

My taste has changed a bit in the last 6 years. In Denver I wanted warm wood cabinets, slate floors (which I would be happy with here, too), and saturated colors (you can see the red, green and yellow that was on our walls in that home).

The kitchen below is almost exactly what I would do in our kitchen if we could remodel.

white cottage small kitchen floor plan

via bhg.com

I love the crisp white cabinets, touches of chalkboard paint, the center island, and the dark countertops in the kitchen below. It’s the opposite of what we have now (wood cabinets, white countertops, and light floors). With the grey, wet winters that we get here in the Pacific Northwest I think this bright kitchen would end up being my favorite space in the house!

white cottage small kitchen

via bhg.com

I could always start by painting our current cabinets and walls white, right?!

A new sink and faucet wouldn’t hurt either…

white cottage small kitchen sink

via bhg.com

And, I have plans for our pantry/refrigerator wall in our kitchen…minor changes that would make a huge difference.

Like getting rid of this mess…

via me

This kitchen desk is just a clutter catcher and a huge waste of space!

home is…cooking up a kitchen remodel.

an etsy favorite: january jones

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Sometime last year I found january jones on etsy.

I love their stuff.

I am in the process of finally hanging artwork (after 3 years of living in this house) and some of their prints will most likely make it up on the walls.
The one above would look great with some prints of Aspen in the 70’s that I have from my grandmother.
There are choices other than yellow for the prints, too.
home is…finally getting art up on the walls.

creative cottage

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I love our backyard.

For me, it was one of the big reasons I wanted our house.

I also have big plans for our backyard.

Yes, actual plans on paper from a licensed landscape architect, but my dream plans, too.

I love our house. I also have plans for an expansion because I really don’t want to move if and when we outgrow our current space, but I digress (I’ll save that for another post).

Back to the backyard…

You all know about the plans for the playhouse/treehouse.

I also want a playhouse of my own.

A creative cottage.

All I need to do is convince my husband that we don’t need the two large dog runs in the backyard that just sit empty the majority of the time.  That 12′ x 12′ space would be perfect for my creative cottage…

home is…still dreaming.

get moving…

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…it’s Monday!

And, a rainy Monday here in the Pacific Northwest. Which means we are back to normal winter weather around here. After 5 winters here I think I am finally getting used to the rain. I love to look out my window to our backyard and watch the rain falling through the huge Douglas Firs. I really, really love living in the Pacific Northwest. It is where I am meant to be…for now.

That being said, today feels like a Monday. I am trying to be positive and embrace my new feelings for Monday, but today is tough. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Today I feel like a Southwest Airlines commercial…I want to get away.

I hoped to get to a morning workout today, but that didn’t happen. I switched up my exercise routine a bit and today was supposed to be a “run” day, but baby girl is drooly, snotty, coughing and can’t go to childcare. So, I decided to go to Stroller Strides…then I looked out at the weather and did not feel like loading the kids into the stroller in a downpour (this was after I got us all dressed and ready to go). So, I had to figure out what we could do at home.

I decided I would try to get the artwork hung in baby girls room. I got up there and decided that the furniture needed to be moved around for the artwork to work (remember I move furniture when I get frustrated). Then I got even more frustrated that I was moving the furniture and not hanging the artwork. Then I got frustrated that the kids were in the way and the room was a mess with toys, artwork and furniture everywhere. Not good.

Here is where we stand…

  • No artwork was hung
  • The furniture was moved back to where it was when I started this morning
  • I am frustrated with myself for getting so frustrated
  • Kids are sad
  • Poppa is confused (he was working from his home office this morning)

The fact of the matter is I should have just put the kids in the car and gone to Stroller Strides. I always feel better when I exercise in the morning. I am able to get through my day without my frustration level getting too high. We weren’t going to melt in the little bit of rain that we would have encountered on our way from the car to the class. I should know that by now.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Now, I haven’t exercised, I didn’t hang artwork, the kids aren’t happy, the husband isn’t happy, and I am beating myself up for all of it.

I should have remembered to get moving…it’s Monday!

home is…practicing what you preach.

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

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Look what my friend Steph (who writes the blog Gruve Mom Times) did to her dining room!

Please visit her blog for the transformation here.

I am so happy to have been an inspiration to her.  Didn’t she do an awesome job?

I agree, imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery.

Anybody else transforming rooms from one use to another?  Please share!

Next Friday I am going to do a post about the use of color in my home.

home is…sharing good ideas!

a pile of good magazines and the time to read them

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Last weekend a friend asked me what my favorite shelter/lifestyle magazines are.

I like them all, but here is what I subscribe to now:

Natural Home March/April 2011 cover

I think at one time or another I have subscribed to every kind of shelter/trade magazine out there. Now that I have two kiddos, I find that I barely have time to read them, but I also crave them.  My dream night would be spent alone in a bed with my laptop, wine and a pile full of good magazines (and I plan to have one of those, soon).

What shelter/lifestyle magazines do you read?

home is…a pile of good magazines and the time to read them.

our living-room-turned-play-room-sometimes-guest-room

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Call it flexible.

Call it multifunctional.

I call it our living-room-turned-play-room-sometimes-guest-room.

It is my belief that just because a floor plan or home builder calls a room by a certain name does not mean that you have to use it as said space.

We technically have a 4 bedroom house, but one of the bedrooms is small, downstairs, and used as a full-time home office for my husband.  That leaves us with 3 bedrooms upstairs…one for baby girl, one for the little guy, and the master.

We also need a guest room. We moved away from all of our family, so when they come to visit we like for them to be able stay with us.

One year after we moved into this house that we thought would have plenty of room for our family and guests, the little guy was moved out of the nursery and into the room that was the guest room. Baby girl was on her way and we no longer had a dedicated space for our guests to stay.

When baby girl came along she stayed in our room for the first couple of months while we had visitors in town to help us out. Our visitors were able to stay in the nursery (where we set up the old guest bed) and have a bit of privacy. When our guests left, we set up the crib and baby girl took over the nursery. That is when we really no longer had a guest room!

At some point in the nesting frenzy that took place before baby girl was born we invested in an IKEA Ektorp sleeper sofa to fill the void in our empty living room (along with new carpet, new entertainment system and storage, new family room furniture, and new furniture for the little guys room).

We also invested in some storage solutions (also from IKEA) for all of the toys that we were accumulating.

When baby girl turned one, I decided that we no longer needed a dedicated living room and needed to move the toys out of the family room. So we turned the living room into the playroom.

Through all of this, we have had visitors come stay with us. I use the red storage ottoman (also from IKEA) to store all the bedding for the sleeper sofa.

Sometimes they choose to stay in a hotel (for a bit more privacy) and sometimes they choose to stay with us in the living-room-turned-play-room-sometimes-guest-room space. The kids love it when we have guests and they can go snuggle with Nana or Meme or whoever happens to be in the guest room. It’s definitely not a private space for our guests, but it works.

What do you think? How have your spaces evolved with new additions to the family? What kind of flexible spaces do you have in your home?

home is…using the space you have to meet your needs.

on a lighter note

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Yesterday’s post was hard for me. I got butterflies in my belly when I posted it. And, believe it or not, I am still scared that some of those “mean girls” from high school will read it and post mean comments on my blog. I am also worried what you all would think of me if you read them! Seriously?! Ugh!

The good news is that this is MY blog, so I can write what I want and delete “mean girl” comments if I wish.

Moving on.

So, on a lighter note…no pun intended…

Edison Chandelier, Black

I think new lighting can make a big difference in a room.

Our master bedroom is in need of a makeover.  Seriously people, we sleep in what we call the “duck blind”.  I have no idea what the people who lived here before us were trying to do with this wall finish, but it is horrendous. Of course, the only rooms we have painted in the whole house in the almost three years we have lived here are the kids rooms, but I digress.

I would love to add this to the ceiling…

Edison Chandelier, Black

What do you think?  Do you think lighting can make a big impact in a room?

home is…moving on.

the being an interior designer part of my bio

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Thanks for those of you who gave me feedback on Facebook and the {get moving…} post on Monday.

It sounds like a lot of you want to hear about the “being an interior designer” part of my bio.

It’s interesting to me that most people mentioned that they want me to blog about interior design, yet I get the most visits to my blog on the days when I post {the little guy said…} or a {wordless wednesday}. I’m hoping that by writing about interior design and answering some of your questions you will all visit my little old blog a bit more frequently!

That being said, I will try to make a point to blog about interior design once a week.

I can pick topics that interest me to start, but I would also like to answer your questions or write about topics that are of interest to you…my readers.

Leave an interior design comment or question on this post.

Or, better yet, email me (homeis at stephanytaddeo dot com) a photo and explanation or question about a design dilemma that you have.

I will plan to post about interior design on Friday’s.  I will work on answering your questions, post ideas about what you are interested in, or just share information that I am excited about!

Lastly, any ideas on what I should call my Friday posts about interior design?

If I like your name I will give you credit for it in a blog post. You could become rich and famous!

home is…the being an interior designer part of my bio.

being a diva

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Well, technically, a former diva.  We called ourselves diva’s at the design firm where I worked before I left to be a stay-at-home-mom.  I don’t exactly know how it started as I began after the fact (maybe one of the original diva’s can fill in the blanks).  In the last couple of years some of us have left, some of us have stayed, and some new diva’s have come along.

Last week, we had a diva night.  Needless to say, it was too much fun…

home is…being a former diva.