Sleeping on the job

Wow, where does the time go?!  I cannot believe it's almost the end of July and I haven't posted anything since last Christmas.  Sorry about that.  Sometimes time and I do not see eye to eye.  To get myself back into the groove of posting, I thought I would share some of the sets that I have created recently.

I receive a lot of requests for bedroom sets to showcase sheets, blankets, computers, and home decor items.

Dorm Room

Loft

I could easily recreate a bedroom over and over again, but I try to make each one look different.  I am usually given a direction to go -- modern, traditional, cottage, teen, masculine, etc.  But the rest is up to me.  I like to create a story for the room, such as who lives there, where the doors or hallways lead, etc.  It helps me create a more realistic look, in my opinion.








Two things that I change in each room are the night tables and what's at the foot of the bed.  You do not always need to get the matching tables when you buy a dresser. I've used all kinds of tables, trunks, stools, and chairs as end tables.  I usually stack books on the seat of a chair, but this time I went for a softer approach.

Cottage

Traditional 

Country

Farmhouse/Country

Girl's Room

I thought this color combination was interesting --grey, green, and hints of orange. I used an outdoor urn with round frosted glass top from another table as the nightstand.  It turned out to be the perfect height and looks great.














The combination of blue, yellow, and tan create a soft and serene bedroom that's comfortable for everyone.
















Collections always make a room look more personal and lived in. Clocks on the mantle or small chairs hanging on the wall; a big impact with only "one" item.  The round green night table doubles as a place to have morning coffee or write a thank you note.

Modern loft/hotel

Teenage girl

Cabin/Hunting Lodge

I really like how the headboard frames the lamp. Placing a simple tray on the ottoman turns it into a night stand.

Traditional

One of the best ways to make your room look pulled together and professional is to spread out the accent color(s).  In this neutral room I used blue as the accent.  The blanket on the bed, the chairs, lamp, art, and vases spread the color around the room and make it feel complete.  Even though the shades are slightly different, the room reads tan and blue and calm. 

Day at the beach

Over the past few months, we have had to shoot a lot of lifestyle footage for bedding items. And that usually entails creating all types of bedrooms.  Some are modern, some are traditional. I've built dorm rooms, little girl's room, and tween's rooms.  Urban lofts and country cottage rooms. For a recent sheet set, we were asked to showcase the blue set in a beach home. Since we were not able to travel to a true beach home, we had to recreate one. I think beach houses tend to overdo the beach theme.  Just because you are at the beach does not mean you need to hang flip flops and "Life's a beach!" signs on every wall.  There are sophisticated and subtle ways to tell a beach story.  I came up with this:

I think of this room as relaxed traditional.  The paneled headboard, french doors and mantle with fluted moldings, are the traditional architectural details. The matching night tables, lamps, and curtains are some of the details I added to keep the traditional theme.  I also used a duvet cover that matches the curtains.  If you are having custom window treatments created for your home, why not purchase extra fabric and have it made into a duvet cover. This will give your bedroom a great custom, yet traditional look.  Because I needed to use the steel blue sheets, I picked a fabric that would keep the room light.  The floral fabric was perfect since it had some of that blue in it and I could use the coral color as the accent color for the room.

To give the room a more relaxed beach feel, I added two sisal rugs that overlap. They bring the look of the sandy beach indoors.  The weathered wooden beach chairs replace more expected club or wing back chairs.  The coral colored pillows on the chairs help to balance the colors in the room.  The wooden stool acts as a small table for the chairs since a large coffee table would not fit and is nice contrast to the night tables.  The weathered wooden star-burst mirror brings the relaxed feel to the bed wall.

For the traditional mantle, I could have hung a nice piece of art, and created a nice vignette of books, candlesticks and other objects.  But to keep the casual beach feel, I simply lined up books from end to end.  I faced the spines of the books against the wall.  This kept the mantle neutral in color and would not distract from the bed.  Would I do this in a real beach house? Why not?! You are heading out to the beach to relax and you just grab a random book and go.

The best beach accessories come from nature.  I used a lidded glass urn with sand and shells and piece of driftwood on the mantle. A large clam shell on the table and a starfish and conch shell on the night tables. I also added some small potted grasses to mimic dune grasses.  These simple items turn this bedroom into a beach house bedroom.  So rethink the boardwalk accessories, and take your beach house up a notch.

Books and ladders

This living room set has two interesting ideas:  lighting and book storage.  Chandeliers are not just for the dining room.  I hung a funky modern chandelier over the end table.   If you are someone who likes to rearrange your furniture every six months, I wouldn't recommend a hanging fixture.  But if your room has limited furniture layouts or you prefer great style for long periods of time, I say call that electrician!  A chandelier keeps the table clear, and adds vertical interest. I've seen designers add chandeliers over night stands, free standing baths, end tables, coffee tables, and beds.  There are so many great fixtures for every style that it would a shame to just buy the cheapest table lamp you can find.  Be as discerning about your lighting as your were for your sofa.

 

As for the books, I used an old farm ladder.  Now, since this was a TV set, it's just leaning against the wall.  If I were to do this in a real home, I would securely fasten it to the wall with "L" brackets or hinges and anchor bolts.  Adding some extra supports to some of the rungs may also be needed.  (*Side note -- If you have little kids roaming around, I wouldn't recommend this! A ladder and kids are a disaster waiting to happen.) Notice I didn't formally arrange the books .  I mixed sizes and stacked some vertically and some with the pages facing forward instead of the spines.  This stacking method adds to the informal nature of the ladder.   

It's little things like these that make impressions on people visiting your home and help make your room just as unique as you.  "I never would have thought of doing that!" is a great compliment that all designers secretly love to hear.

Let's get acquainted.

Every time someone asks me what I do, I always give a little sigh and chuckle.  It's not that I have a difficult job, it's just not easily summed up with a label, like doctor, accountant, or actor.  My official title is Content Production Stylist.  Huh? First off, I don't cut hair. Basically, I make things look pretty.  I am one of 3 people that make products look good for an electronic retailer that starts with a Q.  We dress models, "build" sets and decorate them, create table top environments for a slew of products (beauty, jewelry, accessories, collectibles, linens, food, and anything else), and work with producers, videographers (who double as Directors of Photography and Lighting Directors) and a bunch of office people, all in the name of selling you a product.  What we do is video, so it's seen on air and on the web.  There are 4 photo stylists as well working on web and paper publications.  

Here's an example:

I arranged the wall flats and decorated this living room set.  The camera tripod is behind the sofa in the foreground.  The tops of the flats were never seen, so on camera it looks like a living room with an office alcove. The product, a printer sitting on the desk.  The action was a model with a laptop sitting on the sofa and sending a document to the printer. This probably took 6-8 hours to set up, was shot the next day, and torn down as soon as we wrapped.

We do some interesting setups and can experiment with different looks for interiors, fashion, etc. I thought there might be someone out there who could translate that into their own life.  So I will be posting things from work, my home and neighborhood, travels, and wherever, that I think are interesting or of good design. Hopefully I can give some tips and hints so you can create some beauty in your world.

Enjoy!