Project Reveal - Luxury interior Design in a New Construction Home in Chattanooga- dining room and foyer

Let’s continue our tour of this beautiful new construction home in Chattanooga for a wonderful family that prefers a chic hotel look for their home’s interiors.

Although these clients are not afraid of using bold strokes of color, they wanted to work with the builder’s light neutral wall color throughout the home and they wanted classic furnishings with clean lines.

PSA: I think this is a wonderful approach to selecting furniture for your home. Clean lined pieces (meaning not a lot of curls, swirls and ornamentation) are so versatile. They easily transition from one design era to another, and they’re great for mixing in with more ornate pieces you may already own.

As for working with the light, neutral walls throughout the home, I felt the dining room was the perfect opportunity to add some bold color. Here’s why:

1. Most people don’t use their formal dining rooms daily, so you won’t tire of the bold color quickly.

2. A bold color in a contained space is a wonderful exclamation point to a mostly neutral scheme.

3. A bold color in an infrequently used space makes those special occasions a little more memorable, so those celebrations feel extra special.

Bring on the intimate dinners and special occasions!

Here’s where we started. Thanks to the builder, there are some beautiful architectural features to work with!

And here again is the finished product!

Shall we break it down? Obviously we have to start with the walls. We presented a wonderful, textural sisal grasscloth wallpaper that is at once bold and elegant. My super smart clients - who actually were a little hesitant about wallpaper in general, approved it immediately. It’s truly the star of this dining room!

Another favorite element in this space is the chandelier. The builder basic fixture was replaced by this stunning iron and gold leaf light fixture that elevates the look of the entire room.

The dining table is a timeless classic. Traditional at it’s core, the clean lines of the legs and gorgeous mahogany wood will remain relevant for decades to come.

I love to mix painted and stained finishes in dining areas, and these iron klismos chairs with the sculptural sabre legs echo the table base beautifully while providing a bit of contrast to the wood finish of the table!

We had custom chair pads made for comfort and to convey more warmth. The custom area rug has a quiet presence that grounds the seating area while providing some understated texture. The art glass bowl on the dining table is part of the homeowners’ collection.

See the sideboard in the background? We had used this piece in my client’s previous home in their living room (see image directly below). It’s marketed as a media storage piece, but it works perfectly in their new dining room as a sideboard with storage for china and crystal inside.

The dining room is to the immediate right as you enter the home’s foyer, so we placed a small entryway table there and styled it to “speak” to the dining room.

Entryway

Good gracious I just love how the bold blue hues in the painting reach out for those dining room walls. And the blue and white porcelain vase speaks to the blue and white pieces on the dining room buffet.

I couldn’t be happier with how this dining room came together, especially since it was a style stretch for the clients. And as an aside, after I had presented the plan for the dining room my client had reservations. She couldn’t quite see or feel how these unrelated items would come together, but she trusted me when I reassured her, and we’re all so happy with this room!

Hope you enjoyed this portion of the tour. Next I’ll be sharing the master suite and it’s good!

Project Reveal - Luxury Design in a New Construction Home in Chattanooga- Great Room

I’m over the moon - and also proud to share this project with you!

As the title of this blog post implies, I’m revealing a Full Service Design project for a new construction home in the East Brainerd area of Chattanooga.

First, here’s a little background info that will give some insight into the challenges we faced and our overall goals for the project.

I met with my clients regarding this project at the tail end of 2019. These clients are dream clients! They know what they like, communicate it well, and then give me free reign to imagine and implement the entire project. And generally speaking, they’re just wonderful people! Positive, respectful, trusting, warm and patient - which is key because little did we know that COVID would rear it’s ugly head just as we were getting started. Oy.

I have done several projects with these clients in their former home, so I had a good feel for their style preferences from the very beginning. These clients favor a clean, chic hotel look for their interiors. They don’t care for a lot of ornamentation, busy patterns or fussy finishes. And, as you’ll see in the “after” photos, they love the color blue!! They also trusted me to incorporate a few bold moments throughout the interiors - even when it felt a little uncomfortable. Side note: Those uncomfortable moments are usually when the magic happens!

This blog post features the great room transformation.

Here’s how the room appeared when they purchased the home:

A pretty good place to start! Gorgeous dark oak wood floors, tons of natural light, and some lovely architectural details on the ceiling and fireplace!

A most magnificent view of Chattanooga indeed! The French doors lead out to a covered deck and provide beautiful light throughout the day.

Here is the wall opposite the windows and French doors. The staircase is lovely and is part of the great room.

Here’s the view opposite the fireplace wall. The great room is open to the kitchen, which was a feature that was very important to the clients, as they wanted a big gathering space where the cook could be included in the festivities!

One of the challenges we faced was the placement of the TV. The clients preferred (and I agreed) that the TV not be placed above the fireplace. They often entertain international corporate guests, friends and family and they didn’t want the TV to be the focal point of the room.

If you scroll through the before photos again, you’ll see that there are limited options for TV placement. The wall of windows was out, and the wall opposite fireplace is completely open to the kitchen, so that wasn’t an option either. We opted to put the TV opposite the wall of windows (against the staircase wall).

Spoiler alert: you won’t see the TV in the “after” photos, but the room is laid out to properly pay homage to the fireplace, comfortably view the TV, and is set up for easy conversation among those in the living area and the kitchen. How’s that for multi-purpose?

Ready to see the finished product?

Here she is, all decked out for a gathering with friends and colleagues or a quiet night at home!

The TV is in the room, just out of camera range on the left side of this photo.

All upholstered pieces are custom and created with attention to the finest details. And those buff colored chairs in the foreground? They’re super comfy and on a swivel base which allows you to face the kitchen, the tv (which is just out of camera range on the left), or the fireplace wall with ease and style! This demonstrates why it’s so important to decide how you want to live in your home before you start making random selections!

Nothing creates calm and order better than symmetry! The fireplace the is logical focal point in most any room that includes a fireplace, and the symmetrical arrangement of the beautiful demilune console tables, mirrors and lamps makes a statement that is crisp and edited. And just to keep you on your toes, we mixed in a little asymmetry by placing a blue glass vase with branches on one side only. See the floor plant and chair on the opposite side of the branches? It creates a balanced arrangement. So there’s a tip for ya. If you don’t have symmetry, create balance.

Did you notice we swapped out the ceiling fan for a chandelier? I love this black iron and gold chandelier in the space; and it’s simple sophistication suits my clients’ style preferences perfectly.

Here’s another view facing the wall of windows , which is opposite the tv wall.

Here’s another little trick I can share with you regarding the windows/window treatment situation. If you look at the wall before window treatments, you’ll see an awkward arrangement where the lower door height is right in between the taller windows. To clean up the lines of that wall, I had custom drapery made that hangs from a single rod that spans the wall, which creates a more dramatic and cohesive look. Sadly, the lovely navy velvet trim at the bottom of those drapes is just out of camera range, but it’s a bold touch that speaks to my client’s design style and adds another level of detail to this chic space.

Thanks for looking in on this project! I’ll be sharing photos from the other rooms and I think you’ll enjoy seeing them - especially if your style leans toward a pared down version of classic interiors.

Are your interiors crying out for a breath of fresh style? The Green Room Interiors is now accepting new projects for late summer/early fall of 2021. Fill out our contact form and tell us how we can help!

New House Update - The Foyer

Today I want to share an update with you on the home we purchased last year. It’s just a little south of Chattanooga in the charming town of Chickamauga, GA.

If you recall, the home was built in 1992 and when we purchased it, every original finish was still intact. Tired, but intact.

The thing that’s so great about this project is that the updates we’ll make are mostly cosmetic. There is no need to knock down walls, increase or even modify the footprint. There are tons of windows and an abundance of natural light. Wide cased openings between rooms provide some separation while allowing the natural light to flow between the spaces.

The architectural style of the homes is very classic with a Southern twist.

Here’s a frame of reference. You can see more exterior shots on this blog post.

But today we’ll talk about the interior, starting with the entryway. It’s a beauty! The foyer is wide and has a wonderful high ceiling, wood floors and traditional wainscoting.

Here’s a photo of the foyer as it appeared when we purchased the home.

High ceilings, lots of pretty moldings, and real oak hardwoods are all keepers!

Here are some images that are inspiring my direction.

I love how bright and clean this space is. I also love the color palette and simple materials. Design by Emma Sims Hilditch as seen in House & Garden UK

Another Hilditch room. I think the British have perfected the lived in, relaxed sophistication I adore. There’s something so familiar and comforting about a room that looks collected and evolved over time.

My preferred color palette is mostly greens and blues. And no stark whites for me - I’m going with creams and ivories for a cozier feel. And wallpaper. There will be wallpaper.

Enjoy this progression of photos.

Here is an image of the dining room looking into the foyer right after we refinished the floors. We used Minwax “Weathered Oak” on our existing red oak floors. The dining room is painted Sherwin Williams “Courtyard” with the wainscoting painted Benjamin Moore Linen White. The molding in the foyer is painted Benjamin Moore “Smoke”.

I went with a classic stripe wallpaper from Thibaut. And, for a touch of the unexpected, I (and when I say “I”, I mean my wonderful wallpaper installers) ran the stripe horizontally on 2 opposing walls, and vertically on the other 2 opposing walls. When I presented the stripe directional change to my husband, he said “Why?”. I can’t say I had a good answer to this question, but I’m happy with my decision to alternate the direction of the stripes.

And here’s my foyer upon completion. A vintage demilune table was sourced locally at Southside Antiques, and all other pieces were mine from my previous home, although they were all in different places. The portrait was in the living room of my former home. The white lamps have been in my daughter’s bedroom, the master bedroom, and now they’re here in the foyer of our new home. The Chinese Chippendale chairs were in my former family room, and the chintz throw pillows were in my former master bedroom. #usewhatyougot #mixitup

Once again, for those in the back. Here’s our foyer “Before”.

And here’s the “After”, captured by yours truly with her snazzy iphone 8.

Stay tuned, as we get further along I’ll have some professional photos taken and share them here.

Thanks for checking in on my progress!

The Green Room Interiors is accepting new clients for late spring of 2021. If you’d like to experience the profound joy of living in a well designed home, email us at thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com. We’d love to help!

Sectional or Sofa and Chairs - My Thoughts

Sectional sofas have been enjoying a resurgence in popularity for quite some time now. People love them because they efficiently seat a crowd and you don’t have to make a bunch of furniture pieces/fabric decisions to fill up a room. They are the workhorse and centerpiece of the seating area!

Here’s a sectional sofa in a project completed nearly 8 years ago in downtown Chattanooga. The clients have since relocated to another state but this same sectional is now in their new living room.

Sectionals are usually thought to be at home in modern settings, but as you can see, they can work quite well with traditional decor as well..

If you’re debating whether a sectional sofa is the right choice for your space, here are my thoughts.

In my opinion, sectionals are better suited for rooms predominantly used by family members.

Think about it. Family movie night. Binge watching your favorite reality tv shows. Snow days. Blankets, pillows and popcorn.

Image above is from Emily Henderson. This is the perfect setting for casual lounging and family cuddle time!

Now imagine this set up when you’re entertaining work colleagues. Won’t we be doing that at some point in the future?

Or, your elderly Aunt and Uncle come for a visit . Would they be as comfortable on a sectional sitting between your toddler and your teenage daughter’s boyfriend?

Call me old fashioned but I think there are times when a little personal space is the way to go.

You don’t have to sacrifice comfort! I’m of the opinion that sofa and a few chairs provide the right amount of comfort and separation for family and guests. When we have them again. If you look at the reflection on the fire screen, you’ll see there’s another sofa placed in the room. The 2-sofa configuration allows for lounging with the family and plenty of seating for guests.

Same room as above image. Design by The Green Room Interiors

A cozy velvet sofa, a pair of swivel chairs, and an upholstered occasional chair provide plenty of seating and comfort in this friendly main level great room. Design by The Green Room Interiors.

Here’s another living room with a sofa and a pair of swivel chairs. Perfect for family time and entertaining guests. Design by The Green Room Interiors.

Design by The Green Room Interiors. Another 2-sofa seating configuration provides the best of both worlds. Family members can stretch out on the sofa to watch tv, or guests can utilize the sofas and chairs for a well balanced conversation area.

So, there are plenty of things to consider when laying out your seating areas, and many options for which to accomplish your goals for your rooms.

Whatever you decide, I advise you take precise measurements of your space and carefully read all of the specs for the pieces you’re considering to make sure everything fits and you have adequate room to move through the space.

Or, you can call me!

The Green Room Interiors is now accepting new clients for late spring of 2021. If you’d like to experience the profound joy of living in a well designed home, email us at thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com. We’d love to help!

We Bought a New House!

Well, let me clarify. We bought a different house. Built in 1992. With alllll the finishes that 1992 deemed fabulous.

Enjoy these exterior photos from a previous real estate listing.

We love the Southern cottage style of the exterior and the big front porch. The color scheme? Not so much.

And this is the back side of the house. We love the deck that’s overlooking a very private, mostly wooded back yard. Apparently the gardens out back were quite spectacular! Over the past few years the weeds have prevailed and we’re doing battle with some very prolific English ivy. It may take a few years to get the gardens renovated.

How cute is the x detail on the deck railing? And this gives you a better idea of how wooded and private the back yard is.

We love the covered area on the back deck too! it’s a good depth for an outdoor lounge and eating area. The siding color and the deck stain are not at all sympatico. This is a good example of why you don’t combine clean pastel colors with muddy neutrals.

For the exterior colors, I’m leaning toward something in a classic white with either the darkest green bordering on black shutters - or possibly black shutters . The front door color is open for debate.

What a charmer

This one feels really classic old South to me. Which I love.

A yellow front door is a strong contender. And I love that it would be a subtle nod the home’s previous exterior color palette.

For the back yard gardens, I’m envisioning a southern style shade garden, with lots of hydrangeas and azaleas woven through the existing hardwoods.

Azaleas would provide some spring color and the filtered light from the hardwood trees would give them the perfect growing environment. And they shouldn’t require much maintenance, which is important to us.

I would also weave some hydrangeas throughout the back yard since they like the filtered light too. The combination of azaleas and hydrangeas would give us a long season of blooms - from early spring through mid summer. Fall interest would be provided by the leaves on the existing hardwoods.

Here’s a photo of the leaves in the fall. We get beautiful shades of gold, russet and buff. It’s so beautiful!

So there you have it! We’ve moved in and we’re making good progress, but there is still tons of work ahead. I’ll keep the blog updated with plans and progress as we move forward with the renovation.

Hope you’ll check in for updates - it should be lots of fun!

Project Reveal - Dining Room in a New Construction Home in Ooltewah

I have a real treat for you today, because I’m going to share a completed project for a wonderful couple who relocated from Texas to Chattanooga (Ooltewah, to be specific!)

Their home is newly built by local builders Waters-Holland, and the dramatic architecture and neutral color scheme created a wonderful backdrop for the direction we planned to take.

My clients’ previous home was very traditional and somewhat dark, and she envisioned a lighter color palette and a not so fussy aesthetic.

I instantly knew this project would be a good fit because I love to create classic, light hearted interiors with a mix of timeless design styles that will be relevant for years / decades to come, and this project checked all the boxes.

Also, the clients are wonderful - kind, trusting, and open to fresh ideas.

Here’s where we started:

As you can see, there is an abundance of natural light , beautiful white oak flooring, high ceilings and generous moldings all working in our favor!

My clients and I set a goal to create a warm, simple and timeless dining space for friends and family.

But first, we planned. The footprint of the room is more square than rectangle, so a round table would be a good fit for the space.

In an effort to create a curated look, we mixed a stained wood table with painted chairs. To create good functionality, we added a small server that would be used to display barware and and store pieces used for entertaining.

It’s also important to note that the opening to the dining room is the first room you see upon entering the home, so we wanted to create some eye candy right off the bat.

We couldn’t be more thrilled with the finished product!

The mural sure brings the drama, but the color palette is earthy, which makes it easy to live with.

Classic square back Louis chairs in a painted finish will always be in style, and the chic distressed leather upholstery makes for care-free maintenance and adds a masculine touch.

The server is new, and it was selected for it’s size compatibility to the available wall space and it’s weathered finish, which contribute to the relaxed feel of the space.

The gold mirror came from my clients’ previous home, and it worked perfectly in the space. The alabaster lamp is a vintage find from a local antique mall, and I had the block print shade custom made to add another level of detail.

Other finishing touches were curated from my clients’ personal collection and styled by me.

We also had some custom roman shades made for the windows. A simple linen and cotton blend fabric accented with neutral tape trim doesn’t compete for attention, but adds more quiet sophistication to the room.

Warning: Iphone photo to follow:

And there you have it! A sophisticated, custom dining space that will easily transition into the future!

In my next post I’ll share the living room project - you don’t want to miss it!

Ready to live in timeless comfort and beauty? The Green Room Interiors is now accepting new projects for winter 2020/2021. Contact us at thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com and tell us how we can be of service to you!

Design Process - Who Orders the Furniture?

Today I want to dive a little deeper into our Design Process and address the procurement of furnishings.

A Signal Mountain, TN living room Designed by The Green Room Interiors in 2018.

There is no hard and fast rule about who orders furnishings when working with a design professional, so today I will address how I work.

Custom items and most large furniture pieces are ordered by The Green Room Interiors for our White Glove Decorating by the Room Service option. There are several reasons for this:

1. In an effort to deliver a client-centered design experience, this is a big time and sanity saver! It takes more time than you would imagine to contact each vendor for all of the design elements and go over the specifics of your order.

2. We order furnishings on the regular, so we know the ins and outs of construction, quality, fabric content and scale. You can rest assured that whatever we order for your space has been vetted and approved for suitability for your particular project.

3. My responsibility to your order does not end once the your orders are placed. The unexpected can and does happen. Lost orders, wrong orders, back orders, and damages happen, and I will be your advocate to resolve any such issues along the way.

4. In most cases, your furnishings are sent directly by the manufacturer to our local receiver. Once the furnishings arrive the receiver uncrates them, inspects them for damages, and lets me know what has been received and in what condition. The receiver will house your furnishings in their secure and climate controlled location until everything we need for our room makeover has arrived. When installation day arrives, the receiver will deliver your goods and place each piece under my supervision to ensure that our Design vision is realized. They will also remove and discard all packing materials - and that’s a pretty big deal.

5. The resources I use to order your furnishings are , in some cases, custom pieces that are available exclusively to the design industry. They didn’t exist until we dreamed them up. This elevates your entire room and takes the design well beyond what you could order from Pottery Barn.

In this image of a Chattanooga living room, the custom sofa includes inset box trim, the framed chinoiserie panels are custom sized and framed, and the wool flatweave rug was custom made for the room..

So to summarize, furnishings are ordered, managed, received, inspected, stored, delivered and placed by us. It’s the ultimate luxury and also makes for a most memorable and joyful installation day.

The Green Room Interiors is accepting new client work for Winter 2020. Please email us at thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com and tell us about your project!

What Goes Into Those Design Fees? Part 3 - Installation

For those clients who have allowed themselves the luxury (necessity?) of engaging our services for a Full Service Design project, the big payoff comes on Installation Day.

In most cases, we try to install an entire room in a single day (aside from drapery, wallpaper, paint or any other type of physical alteration to the space itself).

We respectfully request that our customers leave their homes in our capable hands on installation day, so we can work our magic and they can return home to an entirely new and much improved look!

Here is a classic blue and white dining room on Signal Mountain we implemented several years ago. The white ironstone and silver pieces are family heirlooms we used to style the antique sideboard. A classic Southern vignette!

Here are some of the tasks that happen on installation day.

• Rugs are placed to perfectly anchor your furniture

• Furniture arrives via our white glove delivery and installation service providers. If needed, the white glove delivery service will put together any furniture that requires assembly.

• Your much anticipated furniture is placed under our supervision to ensure that the flow is right and that our vision is realized.

• Stylish accessories are strategically placed around the room to add the final layer of personality, interest and warmth. It’s truly this final layer of accessories that make your house feel like a home. We love to incorporate souvenirs, family heirlooms, and any items of interest that reflect your personal style and tell your story.

• With the help of professional installers where needed, we hang your art and mirrors so everything is level and safely anchored to the walls.

The installation and styling of a room is never formulaic. Each room is a blank canvas and how we approach the finishing touches is dictated by your room’s architecture, the abundance of or lack of natural light, and how we want the room to “feel” when it’s all said and done. Each room is unique to the client we are working with.

This level of attention to detail requires a little experimentation. Arrangements are tried, reconfigured and retweaked until we leave you with a space you can be proud to share with family and friends or savor all by yourself.

Here is a Full Service Design project we did in the Black Creek development in Chattanooga. Majolica plates create a happy and simple display. We incorporated our client’s marble lamp and glassware to finish off the styling. Antique books are a favorite design element - they always lend an aged and collected feel to any space.

When we are ready to turn the room back over to you, our goal is to leave you with a space that exceeds anything you could have imagined or executed on your own, yet feels completely “you” down to the last detail!

If you’re ready to transform a space in your home, send us an email via our “Contact” tab on the top right corner of our web page. We’d love to exceed your expectations!!