Before: Peninsula Separating Kitchen from Great Room

When you picture a home in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, you might imagine rustic spaces, a roaring fire and cozy furniture. Well this house was so not that! The previous owners seemed to think they were in Palm Beach.  Lily Pulitzer pinks, lime green and yellow were everywhere!  This 70's era home needed a serious facelift.  It was a close contest, but I think the award for the ugliest room in the house had to go to the kitchen.

Before: Looking Into Kitchen

Before: Original Cabinetry and Appliances

The kitchen was terrible. When I say terrible, you’d better believe it was awful. Bright yellow and brown cabinetry, mismatched appliances, orange-hued pine paneling, closed in corners, wavy vinyl floors, yuck! And even though the space is right off of the main living area, upper cabinets and a single opening, made the kitchen feel closed off and separate from the rest of the house. We immediately went to work (or my contractor did), gutting the whole kitchen.  We planned on opening up the space by getting rid of some upper cabinets and adding an island.  This gave us a nice "U" shaped layout and good flow.  To save on costs, we kept appliances in their original places, adding a vented hood over the stove and tucking the microwave into the new island. We also gained a nice bar area for casual dining.

Midway

I love color, it’s true, but yellow was not doing it for me, and while the overall color scheme for the house is blue and green with touches of brown, I decided that this room needed to be bright so that meant white.  All white cabinetry is a classic, and quartz countertops with a soft gray limestone look gives a little contrast.  The gray tones look great with the new stainless appliances and relate to the gray stone fireplace in the adjacent space.  We eliminated the paneling on the walls and added a wood plank ceiling for warmth.  The wood ceiling continues into the adjacent space which visually ties the spaces together.

Almost There!

Finally, we added our color with pops of blue on the countertops, pretty accessories, and cookbooks in the built ins. The wrought iron lights and bronze finish on the hardware bring a touch of that rusticity that seems so suited to a mountain home. A pretty curtain for the window will be the finishing touch. Quite a transformation!

After: The new brighter, more welcoming space.

When people see beautiful pictures of a professionally decorated home they often think that they could never afford to hire a decorator. Many people believe that to afford a decorator you have to be wealthy but a home can be beautifully decorated on a small budget with smart choices and carefully selected pieces. Good decorators work together with their clients and their client's budgets to create a beautiful and functional space.

Recently I had the opportunity of working with a wonderful young couple buying and furnishing their first home. They had a small budget and they wanted to hire a decorator to help with much of the first floor of their house. The wife told me that she had interviewed several decorators that didn't want to work with her because the budget was too small but I was up for the challenge.  I am glad I took the job because they were wonderful clients and we all loved the results!

To furnish the living area, dining area and foyer within our budget, we used readily available pieces from a variety of retail and resale sources, nothing custom. We skipped drapes in the main area, but brought them into the front hall for big impact. These ready made drapes bring in some color and accentuate the height of the two story foyer. A large hanging light fixture also emphasizes the ceiling height while adding a bit of 'wow'.

In the dining space, two host chairs were placed at either end of the dining table for color, and antique store chairs (only $40 each!) were used along the sides of the table allowing seating for up to eight people. The oval table has a soft gray finish which relates to the gray sofas in the living area. Replacing the builder-grade chandelier with something prettier was the finishing touch.

We chose two sofas for the living area, a bit of nailhead trim makes these budget friendly sofas look more high end.  One pricey accent pillow on a sofa is surrounded by more budget friendly finds. An accent chair in a bold floral pattern brings in a bit of fun.  The media console was our biggest splurge and way over budget but we all felt it was the perfect piece for the room.  Finishing touches include a trellis pattern rug, blue-gray lamps and a silver garden stool to bring in a little shine.

 Overall, we came in right on budget.  We were able to offset our media console "splurge" by staying under budget on other pieces. I think this project proves that a space can be functional, pretty, and affordable!

So can you afford a decorator? The answer may be "Yes"! You don't know until you ask. If you have a room that needs decorating, you have to be realistic about what furnishings cost. But, with some savvy shopping, you can work within your budget, and have a better result, thanks to a decorator. Think of a decorator as an investment in your home. You want your investment to look its best, and a decorator helps you to accomplish that, even on a small budget.

Before Painting

When my daughter first moved into her little rental property it had just been entirely renovated by one of our neighbors (her new landlord). Predictably, he painted all the walls in the entire house the same peachy beige color. Now, if you know anything about me you know that I love color, and this preference has rubbed off on my daughter. Luckily, we have a landlord who is very accommodating, and he gave us permission  to paint the walls.

The Primary Wall Color

After: Walls Painted In Living Area

The first room we went to work on was her bedroom.  Often bedrooms are saved for last in a home, but we didn’t want that to happen. So before we did anything we painted her room a soft, green color to match her bedding and style. With that easily completed in an afternoon, we moved on to the living area. Here we decided to go with a light aqua blue. This soft blue can appear to be almost robin’s egg in the daylight, and at night appears sea foam green. Finally, we painted an accent wall in her dining area to create separation from the main living space. Here we got to have a little fun with color. While it’s obvious from my decorating that I love blue and all its variations, it’s safe to say that my daughter loves blues and greens as well. She chose a vibrant teal for the accent wall.

The addition of a mid-century modern dining set (an antique store find) updated with some vintage fabric (also an antique store find) gave her a cute and colorful dining space for her tiny 50s home.

After: Accent Wall

A fun project was presented to me recently in the form of a home office. The original space was overwhelmed with a desk and chair in the center of the room, allowing for no other activities in the limited space. To maximize the space, the client wanted to make the closet into an office, allowing the rest of the room to be a cozy relaxing place to hang out.

Before: Desk is literally in the center of the space.

Closet before

To start, all of the previously stored items in the closet were removed. The client, a young, design savvy, professional woman shared some pictures she had found on Houzz of built in desk areas.  She had some great pictures with some clever design solutions.  My challenge was how to give her something different from what she had already seen but not make it so "designed" that it was more about form than function!  I knew I wanted to do something interesting with the wall because this is what the client would be looking at as she sat at her desk. My brilliant assistant and I started brainstorming ways of making the small space interesting. We discussed some standard solutions for office closets, and came up with unique paint applications, wallpaper, and creative shelving solutions or cork boards, but what really inspired us, and caught our clients attention, was the idea of a mural. 

Mural after installation

My client came to me with an established color scheme of gray and pink, which I loved. The gray walls led me to settle on a black and white mural on the closet wall. Now to find the perfect photograph. I had it in my head that I wanted a Parisian street scene and after surfing the web, we found what I think is the perfect picture. The mural is what makes this space interesting and unique while not sacrificing any function. The other inspired purchase was a reproduction ghost chair.  I give credit to my client (I told you she was design savvy) for suggesting it. The chair's classic french shape subtly ties into the Parisian mural. A desktop and shelving were installed next. Pink accents and accessories really pop against the gray and white background.

This room is still a work in progress, but in the weeks to come we will add a sofa, draperies, and fun accents to bring this room to a spectacular finish. What had been a functional but uninspired office, has now become a fun and stylish workspace for this young client. 

After 

Those who know me best, know that there are two activities that I am passionate about ---- decorating and singing.  Now, I'm no Carrie Underwood, but I have a little talent and a lot of enthusiasm.  The (public) place I get to exercise my passion for singing is in church.  This past Sunday was Palm Sunday which is a Sunday of celebration before the solemnity of Good Friday and the joy of Easter.  We have a new choir director this year and for her first Easter season in our church she chose some beautiful and difficult classical pieces that we performed on Palm Sunday.  These along with some readings by the pastor told the story of Easter.  Now, I don't know why but composers of Easter music always throw in a lot of high notes.  Hmmm, maybe they want us to end the Easter service on a high note, literally. Anyway, as a first soprano, it is up to me to try and sing those high notes.  Let me tell you, they don't get any easier as I get older!  I did my best but I am sure I didn't do the music justice.

One of the fun things about sitting in the choir loft is being able to look out at the congregation.  Of course, the bad thing about sitting in the choir loft is we are always looking at the back of the preacher's head during the sermon and every one can see you so you always have to be on your best behavior. But I digress.  It is the tradition in many churches, including mine, that on Palm Sunday, whilst carrying palm fronds, the children of the church progress down the center aisle from the back of the church to the front, right toward the choir loft.  It is always entertaining to see the kids marching in with their palm fronds waving. This past Sunday they were singing as they came and lined up in the front of the church to finish their song and wave their branches.  It seems that child singers either have talent or enthusiasm, but rarely both! Regardless, I always enjoy the joyful noise.  I was really entertained by one boy with a palm frond in each hand.  His energetic waving made me wonder if he was trying to land some imaginary jet liner.  He was certainly more interested in waving than in singing which is often the way with young boys.  God bless him!

Happy Easter to you all!  Wishing you and yours an Easter basket filled with gooey Peeps, colorful jelly beans and chocolate bunnies!!

Hello, again! Wow, so far this year has been a busy one for Gail Barley Interiors. In addition to many decorating projects with some great clients and interesting spaces, here’s a quick update to let you know what we've been doing.

Gail Barley Interiors was a featured designer on Wayfair.com in their Inspiration Gallery. I was asked all kinds of questions about my design process. I was honored to be featured on this nation-wide site.  If you would like to see the article, here is the link: www.wayfair.com.

Another exciting moment for me was when Houzz, a popular decorating and home website, gave me the Best of Houzz 2014 Award in Customer Satisfaction. Here’s a little bit about what that means as described by Houzz: “Chosen by the more than 16 million monthly users that comprise the Houzz community,” Gail Barley Interiors was awarded, The Best Of Houzz. “Customer Satisfaction honors are determined by a variety of factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2013."  If you would like to check it out, feel free to click the link: www.houzz.com.

Late in March was the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers Annual Meeting. The meeting was attended by 1400 people and, as the AFPM website describes, it is "the world's premier refining meeting, assembling key executives, decision-makers, and technical experts from refining businesses, technology providers, contracting and consulting firms, and equipment manufacturers around the world". I know this doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with decorating but I was chosen as a speaker for the Spousal Event on the first day of the three day convention. I spoke to this group about how to use color in your home instead of falling back on "safe", neutral colors. In my seminar titled, “Beyond Beige” we discussed how to decorate with color to give your home personality and to make a home a personal reflection of the people who live there. After the powerpoint presentation, there was a Q & A time followed by a hands on session where participants used fabric swatches, wallpaper samples and paint chips to create an inspiration page for their own homes. Each participant left with a custom journal, created and designed by Gail Barley Interiors, to help her on her way to designing her own home, hopefully, without defaulting to beige! It was a wonderful time and I met some amazing women.

Suffice it to say it’s been a busy winter, not that I’m complaining!

Before

   Upon moving into her new rental space, my daughter found that turning a house into a home takes a considerable amount of work. As she was moving into her house she spotted some kitchen chairs on the side of the road and having a very small furniture budget and knowing potential, she picked them up. These four little chairs had seen better days, wooden, with an outdated finish, and hideous, worn, green plaid upholstery, they had been left for dead. The following weekend she started the process of bringing these chairs back to life. With some decorating-mother tips, she was able to do just that. We went online and found some sale fabric with a cute, hip design. For $30 she had enough fabric to reupholster the chairs herself. 

Fabric from Greenhouse Fabrics

   With a fabric sample in hand she ran out to the local hardware store and quickly snatched up an entire inventory’s worth of light blue spray paint, the perfect match to the accent color in the pattern we had chosen. Armed with a spray can and a face mask, she worked diligently in the backyard on a Saturday afternoon and turned the chairs from pine-y brown into a bright and fun aqua. With step one a success, she took her fabric, staple gun, and new batting and set out to recover her chairs with our new fabric choice. Two busy days later, she had her end result: a set of chairs that matched her home and personality while providing plenty of space for her friends to sit while chatting and playing ping pong on the back porch.

After

    Sometimes the answer to "should I leave that in the garbage" is an easy and obvious "yes", and sometimes it takes some discernment. My advice, if you have a place for it, you have the skills to bring it back to life, and you have the time, then grab that "trash" in a hot second. But if you don't answer yes to all of these, it really is garbage so leave it for the trash collector.