vintage

3 Ways to Freshen Up an Older or Historic Home

April 27, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 18 Comments

This week I got to stage a beautiful historic property to sell. It was a Bed & Breakfast for years, and formerly served as a girls’ academy in the early 20th century. Staging a home like this is a challenge. While you want to make it appeal to the widest audience possible, you have to realize that most of the people interested in buying that type of home are attracted to historically-decorated interiors.

DSC 6144 3 Ways to Freshen Up an Older or Historic Home

Staged Historic Property

So, a balance must be struck. I’m going to share 3 things that were important to freshening up this older home. These tips are applicable whether you are selling your home, or you just want to update without losing the character of your older home.

If the wallpaper [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design Intervention Tagged With: adams gold, bed and breakfast, benjamin moore, georgian green, historic, historic colors, home, paint colors, palladian blue, real estate, stager, staging, victorian, vintage, wallpaper

Where Mad Men Really Vacationed – Hotel Valley Ho

April 4, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 20 Comments

The new season of Mad Men FINALLY aired while I vacationed with my family in Arizona a few weeks ago. We got to stay in the delightful Hotel Valley Ho for a couple of nights, which is exactly the kind of place Don Draper would have chosen if he were on vacation!

mad men 31.jpg via agentcoop wordpress Where Mad Men Really Vacationed Hotel Valley Ho

Betty and Don

Check out the colorful exterior of the hotel: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Decor Addiction Tagged With: arizona, betty draper, celebrity mid-century, decorologist, don draper, hotel, mad men, modern, natalie wood, retro, robert wagner, scottsdale, southwest, style, vacation, valley ho, vintage

Baby Shower for Heather Spriggs Thompson of Gathering Spriggs Magazine

April 2, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 29 Comments

This weekend, my home was the setting for a baby shower for a dear friend and fellow blogger, Heather Spriggs Thompson. We met several years ago online (haha, I love to say that) and connected on both a personal and business level. Her friends and family wanted to help welcome her baby boy into the world with a party that would be perfect for this artistic, creative, nostalgic, beautiful mother-to-be.

DSC 5423 Baby Shower for Heather Spriggs Thompson of Gathering Spriggs Magazine

Baby Shower Tablescape

Since the nursery’s theme will be “Vintage Travel,” the other hostesses and I put on our thinking caps to come up with decorations and props to style the event. Heather is a decorative painter, stylist, and designer, so you can imagine how important is was to us to create just the right setting for her shower! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Party Prescriptions Tagged With: baby boy, baby shower, decorologist, gathering spriggs, heather spriggs, hot air balloon, luggage, maps, nursery, party, stamps, theme, travel, vintage

Ode to Downton Abbey: Table Transformation

March 30, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 18 Comments

I know it’s been a long time coming, but I finally got around to painting my barley twist coffee table in Ralph Lauren’s fabulous Golden Candlesticks metallic paint.

DSC 5320 Ode to Downton Abbey: Table Transformation

Ralph Lauren’s Golden Candlesticks Metallic Paint

Do you remember the “before”?

DSC 34461 Ode to Downton Abbey: Table Transformation

Coffee Table “Before”

OK, I know it was lovely before, but look at it gilded! Ahhh, I’m so in love with gilt . . .

DSC 5319 Ode to Downton Abbey: Table Transformation

Coffee Table “After”

I blogged my love of gilt and of Downton Abbey here. Gilt was all the rage during the British Edwardian Age. And it’s all the rage in my house! Here’s the table after a few coats of Ralph’s Golden Candlesticks (don’t you just LOVE the name of that paint?)

DSC 5352 Ode to Downton Abbey: Table Transformation

Ralph Lauren Metallic Paint – Golden Candlesticks

One last picture – let’s back up a little. My living room with my newly gilt coffee table:

DSC 5339 Ode to Downton Abbey: Table Transformation

I am pleased. Maybe this will keep me satisfied until the next season on Downton Abbey . . .

Filed Under: Decor Addiction Tagged With: decorologist, downton abbey, gilded, gilt, gold paint, golden candlesticks, metallic paint, ralph lauren paint, table, vintage

New Ideas for a Crappy Cedar Closet

February 17, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 18 Comments

I am really starting to get excited about my closet project! I loved all the ideas and advice you guys offered here. Since my bedroom is a grayed-down lavender, my closet is going to be something similar. I really love the feminine colors of this little bathroom, so I’m going with lavenders, purples, and a touch of pink. I may need that Keep Calm print, too!

via Pinterest

I’ve decided that since my home is old and I love vintage, it wouldn’t make much since to rip out ALL the cedar and make it feel too “new.” So, I’ve decided to rip out JUST ONE wall so that we can update some plumbing and tuck that ugly pipe into the wall. This is the wall you see when you walk into the closet:

Even a Compulsive Collector Can Be Organized

February 10, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 16 Comments

I began working with a professional organizer yesterday because my life seemed to be teetering on the edge of disarray! I am really good at making the surface of my home look lovely, but there’s a lot that lies beneath the surface . . .

You have no idea what all is in those drawers . . .

In preparing for our next appointment, my head is spinning thinking of all my collections and what she is going to challenge me to part with. Of course, this gets me thinking that I need to be even more mindful and creative in making those collections functional and beautiful, otherwise they may be headed to Goodwill!

source

Decorating for Valentine’s Day

February 1, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 12 Comments

Well, it’s that time again. I just put up my second annual Valentine’s tree! It’s a small flocked tree that sits on the entry table as you come through my front door.

Valentine’s Tree

My decorations include some glittery hearts, small pink and white Christmas balls, and some vintage Valentine’s cards tucked into the branches.

This year I added a few new decorations, including these precious little golden owls that my friend, Lezlie, gave me for Christmas!

Glitter Owl

I found this cool old painting at an estate sale and tucked it in the background – I love the winter scene and the pinkish hues in the sky and tree buds.

Vintage Winter Landscape

In the mirror behind, I tucked in a vintage wedding photo I found years ago – as well as one of the paint chip Valentine’s cards I made last year.

Paint Chip Valentine

Sometimes it’s nice to devote a small space to decorating for the minor holidays.

DSC 3990 Decorating for Valentines Day

Do you decorate (even just a little) for Valentine’s Day?

Filed Under: Seasonal Meditations Tagged With: decor, decoration, decorologist, mirror, owls, paint chip, paint chip craft, paint swatch, tree, valentine card, valentine decoration, valentines, vintage

A Victorian Christmas

December 19, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 7 Comments

The Christmas festivities have begun – my family and I travelled to my husband’s aunt and uncle’s home yesterday for our annual family Christmas get-together. I just have to share a little of my aunt and uncle’s historic home.

DSC 3040 A Victorian Christmas

They have lived in this lovely Victorian home for the last 20 years, and it has been a popular Bed and Breakfast for several of those years. It even has it’s own fancy name: Academy Place – named for the girl’s school it used to house a century ago.

One of my favorite things about this home is the amazing fireplaces in many of its rooms.

DSC 3015 A Victorian Christmas

Christmas with The Decorologist

December 12, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 45 Comments

Today I’m opening my door to give you a tour of my home at Christmas. I’m not big on traditional Christmas color schemes, so get ready a heavy dose of pink and gold!

Serial Furniture Rearranging & Other Disorders

November 18, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 17 Comments

As many of you know, I switched out my living room and dining room a few months ago and enjoyed a change of scenery in my home. As the holidays approach, I decided I wanted enjoy the fireplace (sans books – see here what I’m talking about) so I switched them back.

That doesn’t mean my living room looks like it used to, since I traded sofas in the living and enclosed sleeping porch. This is where the red sofa used to sit: