our world came crashing down last thursday afternoon. just a few hours after we decided to be more bloggy bloggers and do this 31 days thing. just a few hours before we were supposed to go away for a fun family weekend. seriously. we live in a peaceful home. after just a few less than 31 years together, many of them completely hellish, tim and i have just about mastered the convoluted art of living and loving well. tim is a therapist, i am an interior designer. we help you redesign your world so you love coming home. our boys are teenagers who think we hung the moon despite all of our protests that they are the moon hangers. and it all fell down. on thursday afternoon. so we decided we were not qualified to write about peace. by friday morning, we knew our weekend was still a go. although it was hard to imagine it would be fun. so off we went. and fun we actually had. time away was what we needed. we had time to talk. really talk. there are no secrets in our family. we talk about it all. the good. the bad. the ugly. and this is some serious ugly. as we talked and talked we came to see that a peaceful home is not a perfect home. we all make BIG mistakes. sometimes, our world comes crashing down, just like everybody else. but we believe that all of it...ALL of the BIG mistakes and the BIG bad ugly works together for good. can't even tell you how many times this came on the radio this weekend. so sing with us... (Bastille | Pompeii) how am i gonna be an optimist about THIS? oh where do we begin? the rubble or our sins? we are not sure yet. but we KNOW this...we choose peace. the kind that passes understanding. we've built our whole wide world on peace. so we wrote this on the plane on the way home. an hour ago. on a barf bag. and we are going to keep on writing for 31 days. peace be with you... tim christina cole camden george day one | people day two | yard day three | fear day four | television day five | ugly day six | stuff day seven | kangaroo day eight | sex day nine | love day ten | books day eleven | give day twelve | mistakes day thirteen | argue day fourteen | george day fifteen | collections day sixteen | windows day seventeen | reflection day eighteen | safe day nineteen | words day twenty | funny day twenty one | kids day twenty two | art day twenty three | dinner day twenty four | keys day twenty five | invite day twenty six | perfection day twenty seven | kitchen day twenty eight | suckiness day twenty nine | swim day thirty | God day thirty one | gratitude by christina britt lewis photography by angela statzer her bedroom was already beautiful, but she was ready for a change so we updated her linens mixing in some of what she already had. the soft quilt got rolled up and tossed in a basket under the end table in the family room for cozy book reading, movie watching, and nap taking. before the redesign company... ta da... this table moved to the family room too. behind the sofa... found these in a rubbermaid bin and immediately broke into my happy dance... this desk moved to the guest room to make room for those maize chairs i told you about... she didn't want a tv in the bedroom (LOVE!) and the shelf was not especially useful or beautiful, so... mirrors bring the outside in, open a room, and are...well...sexy. way back when, i worked for this really cool couple. he is an architect, she is an interior designer, they own a firm together. i got to know them well and i love how they live. thanks to them, i know a thing or two about design, peaceful parenting, and how to live happily ever after. their home in marblehead, massachusetts will always be one of my favorites. they have a landing like this at the top of their stairs. they filled it with mirror. i watched and learned. and then i watched and learned some more... this GORGEOUS color is thanks to virtuoso painting company and our very first accent wall ever. the guest room before the redesign company... how great is that art? more great art. i mean, c'mon... the stairs to the fourth floor roof deck that we seriously hope to get our hands on next... to be continued... we hope...
by christina britt lewis photography by angela statzer she has traveled the world and collected art all along the way. her book collection made me want to stop hanging art and go sit on her roof deck overlooking charlotte reading until the sun went down and the city lit up. her four story home is as cool and hip as she is and now it tells her story. 'cause we didn't go sit on the roof deck (ahem...for long). we used all of her beautiful things to make her house her home... this is the second floor. we found that sectional on the first floor and repurposed it here. she was thinking it wouldn't work and was considering selling it. but we really love the juxtaposition of the traditional, skirted, rolled arm sectional with the modern, clean, funky space. good contrast. those maize chairs were a little small scale with the sectional. but they are fabulous in the master bedroom (coming soon)... these stairs head down from the main living area and lead to the only entrance to the home. the big mirror really opens up the space and brings natural light to a windowless room. we leaned it because it also hides the fuse box (is that what those things are called? fuse boxes? you know what i mean...). we love how her entryway now reflects what a fun person she is. does your home reflect who you are? when people walk in the front door, do they know something about you? you don't have to travel the world to have a story to tell. our very favorite designerly thing to do is to take "ribba" frames from ikea (lately we've been loving the gray finish) and hang them on your walls filled with something you love...
to be continued... by christina britt lewis photography by angela statzer this home belongs to a fun family. she sends me texts that make me literally laugh out loud. our challenge was to redesign using their beautiful old things and some happy new things to make their home feel whimsical and full of life. just like them. before the redesign company... their beautiful old things... ta da... so can you see that their old photo is actually of a foyer with a round table and chair? we thought echoing that in a fresh way was sorta clever. and the old little mirror reflects the soft lamp light beautifully. i think angela even angled the chair in the above photo to match the angle of the chair in the old photo. hehehe... it's the little things... i used to photoshop out cords like they do in catalogs. but that's as fake as the plant that used to collect dust in this foyer. and that's part of why we feel like our homes are not good enough. because they don't look like they do in catalogs or on pinterest. i'm tired of that lie... for keys and coins and whatnot... i swear i did not take that west elm pillow out of our garage and put it on that chair. i just love that pillow. i swear... 'cause look how fabulous it is with this funky modern piece! dining room before the redesign company... because something chandeliery is fitting in a dining room and that brass one had to go... because writing out a welcome and the dinner menu is fun... after the redesign company... their candlesticks, dough bowl, and pottery bowl. we think they feel important now. and it never ceases to amaze us how most of us already have what we need to make our house our home. ok, you might need a table and chairs...but stop buying so much stuff. shop your cabinets and closets instead. breathe new life into what already is... we are slightly obsessed with these industrial rods...
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