We came across Stephanie’s work for the first time at an exhibition in Chicago called Note G at Chicago Manual Style. The first piece I saw was in a ceramic frame.
Stephanie Hier, It’s time to pay the fiddler (2018), Oil on canvas with glazed stoneware frame, 15 x 10.5 inches. Chicago Manual Style, Note G Exhibit.
I love this painting and I especially love how technically detailed it is. I thought about the work after the show and almost immediately went down a rabbit hole to find more works by this artist, and learn more about her, and maybe find a piece I could buy. And, I found two! The first is an edition that is really beautiful with unique, hand-applied, temporary tattoos. I got first pick and chose the strawberry and cherry because I just love them! I bought this edition from David Dale Gallery in London.
Stephanie Hier, With a belly full of the classics (2018), Digital print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, hand finished with temporary tattoo, 69 x 53 cm.Variable edition of 12. Private collection, from David Dale Gallery.
I separately found a stunning piece from Downs & Ross in New York. A perfect fit in the dining room. The second I saw it I knew it was the one. It couldn’t be more perfect for the green room in subject and color and size and depth – I couldn’t love this more.
Stephanie Hier, Step into the light (2017), Oil on linen, 60 x 49 inches. Private collection, from Downs & Ross.
Both pieces have been hung – one in the den and one in the dining room. Both making me happy! 🙂
One of my closest friends is pregnant with her second and I was so excited when she asked me to help decorate her baby room! We don’t know if the baby is a boy or a girl so we are keeping this design gender neutral. I’m working remotely on this project until I fly to Raleigh in two weeks, so I have relied on photographs until then to plan and buy.
Here is the room today:
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The room is messy today so it will be easy to make this room look stunning!
This room is freshly painted Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter, has new carpet and all of the necessary furniture is already in place from her last baby, so we are in a good place on furniture. However, we will add some accessories to refresh some of these pieces like new ceramic drawer pulls and a fun throw pillow for the chair!
I mocked up each wall of the room in photoshop using the exact Benjamin Moore color on the walls and got to “decorating”, virtually.
New drawer pulls from Anthropologie freshen up dresser: $6.40 each (on sale)
The mirror we already had, so wanted to work that into the design. The drawer pulls here are from Anthropologie, but we ended up ordering our pulls from Etsy where they cost less than $2 each and were only $17.65 total for 7, including shipping.
West Elm frames with art by me: $48 + Zebra Pillow from Lulu and Georgia: $36
These frames are a steal and with DIY art you can fill a wall for <$50.
These curtains are from Pottery Barn, but we will do ours DIY
We already have a set of white curtains, so will DIY iron-on pom-pom fringe to jazz them up.
My favorite – a wallpaper mural from Lulu and Georgia: $175 / panel (we need 2 to cover 12′)
This DIY mobile is from Etsy and is made with felt. We will make our own. The mural is from Lulu and Georgia and can be found here.
Mood board for the space including the Nasra Rug from Lulu and Georgia, $163
This rug from Lulu and Georgia is a really great price for 5×7 and will add a nice cushy layer to the room and brighten it up. So excited for this to all come together in Raleigh!
Restoration Hardware Nea rugs and furniture layout
We’ve made progress on the living room layout since I last posted about it here. It is a particularly challenging floorplan because this room is effectively 1.5x size with 1.5 seating areas and a fireplace. Initially I had arranged the furniture with a chaise couch in the center, but ultimately the back of the couch was too high and it was awkwardly splitting the room. This was made most apparent when the rugs were delivered.
Before the rug was delivered, our layout looked something like this
The rugs are from Restoration Hardware Teen, called “Nea”. Strangely, while they are on sale, they are also back-ordered for months, which makes me wonder if they are the made-for-sale type rugs that are never intended to be full price and are perpetually always on “sale”. In any case, they are priced better than all the other RH rugs I saw, so I bought them and they look good. I bought two, 9×12 rugs for this room. The intention was to provide for two seating areas and to save money by not buying a custom rug to fill the whole room.
First RH Nea rug in place is already poorly framing my intended layout
I was committed to make this green couch work because it is ❤ years old and was intended to be a flexible piece of furniture that could fit “anywhere” because it is a chaise, and a smaller profile, etc. I first bought this couch from Room & Board in 2016 for a rental loft. I wanted something that would transition into any home and not be “too big”. However, this room was probably one of the more challenging spots to fit this couch and I found myself thinking more than once we’d have to get a new one.
Initially intended that this couch would divide the room, but the room is slightly too small
Thankfully, the new layout finally clicked into place and it works great. In hindsight, the layout is obvious, but it wasn’t initially so.
This layout is more open and proportionate
There were many false starts on layouts that looked terrible. I stepped away, looked at a few decorating books and magazines, and it finally clicked into place. We made one last transition and it worked.
The throw makes a world of difference!
A throw from Barney’s, purchased with a wedding gift card (thanks Cayla, Brad and Jeff!) softened up the room and tied in the Bowood chairs that are currently placed out of frame ( on the second rug).
Barney’s throw pulls in the Bowood chairs (out of frame)
To embrace or reject fake flowers in design (embrace!)
I’ve noticed that many of the most beautiful homes in magazines share one thing in common – beautiful flowers – no big surprise. This got me thinking – are these flowers all REAL? I did some extensive researching on how designers are using fake flowers and found a spectrum of “never” to “love them”, but my favorite was a use-case in between that blends the real with the fake. Buy a few fake stems and tuck them into greenery. I like this idea.
NDI Flowers – love them, every day!
Now the question is – do they look fake? Take a look for yourself. These flowers were purchased from NDI. NDI is a family business and have been selling beautiful silk florals for 50 years. The flowers are made to order and I think they look great. I have a number of individual stems to rotate through and greenery for the holidays. These arrangements were made by NDI and even the water is faux.
The dining room is coming together with beautiful tulips from NDISmaller NDI arrangement on the mantle
MY CHICAGO HOUSE. 