the mother we share.

i'm about to visit the upholstery shop and then install some black-out drapery this morning LIKE A BOSS, but first, let's listen to this new CHVRCHES (churches?) song a few more times. i've pretty much had it on repeat for the last 2 hours. SOMEONE PLEASE MASH IT WITH USHER ASAP.

and also, if you need a visual of what the one-man dance party at my house has looked like this AM, here are some photos of me acting a fool on the dance floor at sugarbear's sister's wedding (aka SBSW). i'd be mortified by these photos, except they seem to get taken every time i attend a wedding. good grief.

please note maggie and james' reaction to the dance explosion happening before their eyes.

poor, poor b-rad. the dancing is only going to get more embarrassing as i get fatter and older, but here we are when people still thought i was normal. happy marriage meagan and rainey!!

wednesday pep talk.

personal projects: solange's neighbor.

recently i hit you with the earth-shattering news that a good friend of mine lives in the same loft building as THE solange knowles (but solange be movin', y'all); however, i failed to mention that she (not solange) and i became friends while i was designing her home (which was really the cherry on top because i love making new friends, girl).

it's tough not to envy my friend's loft. for starters, the balcony views of houston's skyline are stunning. lofts in general are a fairly rare type of space in houston and this also doubles as her photography studio (uh, super hip). in addition to having a great sense of style, she shares my love of wallpaper and was open to some pretty crazy concepts. speaking of walls, we had loads and loads of stunning images from her portfolio to hang, as well as her fancy collection of photography from colleagues and mentors. she's into vintage, which is uncommon amongst my clients, so we even got to go on some flea marketing adventures. it. was. a. blast. and the best part is, i get to hang out there whenever i want.

the search continues: a dining room story.

the least cool part about being a designer is that your own house goes untouched for large swaths of time whilst you crank out interior after interior for your fancy clientele. as a general rule, i've found most designers are hesitant to even let people come into their homes because the expectations are so high. or is that just me? rill quick, please, would some designers back me up on this? because i hate to think i'm the only one living in squalor with this problem.

a hundred million years ago, i pitched (and sugarbears hated) this idea. and as a married woman completely dedicated to compromise and peace on earth, OF COURSE i offered to search for something else! that we both love! that is in our budget! and it only took two years to agree on new chairs, so see? PROGRESS AND HARMONY. these puppies are backordered until the Seventh of Never, but i think we'll wait for them anyway.

here be the table, in some very amazing iphone photos:

so the end result, when said chairs eventually arrive, will be something like this, sans the wallpaper and the hutch and the crystal chandelier and the wainscot and the parquet floor, so PRACTICALLY IDENTICAL. cross your fingers for me, y'all.

when it rains, it pours: a PR story.

Y'ALL. after what seems like ages and ages of working my spindle-y fingers to the fingerbones, two articles have come out in less than a week featuring my interior design projects. for a little farm girl from vinland, kansas, i feel RILL FANCY DOT COM. (backslash: your mom.)

actually, the articles, both extremely well-written, are super humbling in a way i could never imagine, because they are open for comments. i had forgotten there are commenters who are just. not. nice., but that is okay, jerks! it was very eye-opening to read some of the feedback, some of which was mean; some of which very constructive and helpful and some of which was kind, thoughtful and defensive of this very hard profession. thank you, kind people like jan moyer, for getting how hard it really is to do this job.

so here are those articles, girl. read 'em and weep.

CULTUREMAP : 
Houston designers head for the Hollywood Hills to freshen up 1920s home

HOUZZ : 
Playful Luxury Infuses a 1929 Houston House

and because i am fan of keeping it real and because i do not like posts without pictures, here are some photos of me sitting on a pink toilet in a temporary outhouse in kansas with my uncle larry, wearing sequins and holding a feral kitten. uncle larry constructed the outhouse on his farm for his 30th wedding anniversary party (SHOUT OUT TO AUNT LADONNA), and that thing had hand sanitizer and running water flushes from a garden hose, making it the fanciest non-fancy thing ever. my aunt and uncle also figured out a way to make a soda machine serve rum and cokes. they are amazing.

iris apfel: the documentary.

TWO WORLDS COLLIDE: iris apfel (style icon) as captured by albert maysles (documentary icon, see GREY GARDENS). re-posted with a full-on ZOMG from if the lampshade fits (raina always has the hot tip on this shit).

personal projects: moroccan modern.

the great white buffalo of the design world (at least mine) is the moroccan interior. moroccan style is easily recognizable: beautifully layered, wonderfully detailed and extremely colorful. it's a style so specific that it's really best suited on moroccan soil. encountering clients who are interested in a full-on moroccan interior is rare, and (i find) most are either scared to commit or don't want to get into the construction involved to give an existing structure a mauretanian facelift. it's really a lot of work, y'all.

my clients had traveled extensively and wanted to infuse their residence with moroccan flavor, so for the first time in as long as i can remember, i got to flex my moroccan design muscles. the first major challenge was that their new home, purchased for it's fantastic location, had been a french country townhouse chateau in a former life. LE YEEPS, y'all--the 'before' pictures would blow.your.mind. the end result - massive renovations and all - is a fun, colorful retreat where morocco meets modern.