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Real Design for Real Life
Blog Authors
  • Stephanie Andrews, chief designer and owner, has been working in the field for 9 years and believes that good design can fit with your lifestyle and doesn’t have to break your budget, especially when you creatively use what you already have.

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  • Irene Foran, mother of 2, is an associate designer with Balance Design. She finds inspiration in nature and brings its balance and organization to her design.

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  • Sarah Carpenter, design coordinator, takes great delight in bringing order to your home and life by organizing your closets, bookshelves or workspaces.

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  • John Hunt, Associate Designer, is a long-standing merchandising and design professional. He prides himself on a strong sense of style and the ability to make a cohesive statement out of the unexpected.

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  • Master Bedroom reDesign by John Hunt
     

     It was my first trip to the Berkley Lake area of Atlanta. It was a beautiful early spring day, a time of rebirth and renewal. And we were on a mission, an important mission. Our mission that day was to quickly transform the master suite of one of the lovely lakeside homes, luckily at the end of the lake that still has water. As we walked into the room for the first time, my cohorts and I surveyed the project at hand. What would be the fastest and most aesthetic way to dramatically change the room for the better?

    Luckily, the painters had been in the day before and done their handiwork, transforming the space with a soothing pale aqua. We had a clean slate to work with, and that is exactly what we began to do: work. We re-oriented all of the furniture, moving the bed to a more prominent wall, flanking it with nightstands and newly acquired lamps with mother-of-pearl cylinder bases. A pair of rectangular baskets to hold reading materials were placed on the shelves of the nightstands. New crisply-ironed bedding in shades to complement the walls was placed on the bed, along with a custom-made rectangular pillow of velvet and silk. A curtain rod was installed above the sliding-glass doors overlooking the lake, and four drapery panels with a banded bottom were hung with care, softening the harsh lines of the glass. A favorite family landscape print was hung above the bed. Meanwhile, a quick but thorough cleaning and reorganization of the bathroom was underway as well. But looking around the two rooms, even after these improvements, we could tell we needed more.

    And so it was time for us to go back to our animal nature, time to do a bit of hunting and gathering like our ancestors. A glass rose bowl from the kitchen was perfect holding cream roses by the bed. In the office, a wooden multi-picture wall frame was found feeling unwanted in the corner. Hung on a small wall beside the bed, it pulled in the warm tones of the bedroom furniture. Two small framed pictures appeared, one a seascape and the other a portrait. Luckily, the colors matched the tones of the print above the bed perfectly. These were hung beside the mirror above the dresser to counter it’s weight and create a more pleasing arrangement. A couple of art books, also found in the office, were placed beneath the pictures, their covers and spines matching the prints above and creating yet another layer. A clock, a couple of small statues, a few smooth polished stones, a starfish, and a miniature cream teapot completed the peaceful tableau. The only thing missing was something for height, something with another texture. Thankfully I had noticed some fresh bare-branch prunings in the yard on the way in…perfect when trimmed to the correct lengths and placed in a vase atop the highboy, giving a final touch of interest to the room.

    A thorough vacuum, a practiced dusting, a final tweak of the curtains, and our goal was completed. I only hope the end results were as pleasing to the customer as our efforts had been enjoyable. From what I hear, they were.

    　
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  • John's thoughts on the unwrapping of the decorations

    And so I find myself at the crossroads of the Holidays, just past Christmas but not quite New Year. This time of year has always been a bit difficult for me, but not completely in a bad way. I willingly and gleefully embrace my blatant love for the Holiday Season, a love ingrained by a mother, may she rest in peace, who some would say had an almost unhealthy love for Christmas. I will, however, always defend that love of the season which she gave me. Not to mention her age-old and largely Southern tradition of “if it doesn’t move, decorate it.”

    This year is a bit different, of course. Like many, I pared the decorations and presents down in this economy. Instead, I tried to concentrate more on the true meaning of the season. I put up the first real tree of my adult life, having always used an artificial tree which I could easily persuade to hold all of the lights and ornaments my over-eager hands could hang. A Frasier Fir is my partner this year, because that is the kind I had always wanted…just like the trees in the antique postcards and old-time books my mother so cherished. And the presents glittered even a bit more brightly and warmly under that tree, although there were fewer of them. This was the year of “getting the presents right,” not “getting the right presents.” And not every room got the “full treatment,” no decorated garlands on all the mirrors lit by the unsightly extension cord hanging down the wall, no four-foot wreath on the front of the house drenched in the artificial daylight of a floodlight. Just some real greenery sprinkled about with a minimum of trimmings, greenery supplied for free with a smile and a “Merry Christmas” by the gentleman at the tree lot. But the candlelight sparkled just the same, if not even sharper and more pure.

    And now I am at the point where the glitter on the floor makes me think about how many weeks it will take to actually clean up, and the crunch of the evergreen needles on the carpet makes me remember how long I have borrowed this tree from nature. It is time to release it, it is time to pack it away, it is time to finally deal with the stack of gift boxes empty of treasures but still full of the tissue my “green” self fears throwing away.

    But not quite yet.

    I still have a few days, a few days to try and remember why it is so important to me. Not the work, not the expense, not the stress, not even the gifts which I have begun to incorporate with the rest of my belongings. It is the love, the warmth, the spirit of the season which is important, regardless of WHY you celebrate it. It is that simple extra smile of a friend or loved one, or better yet of a complete stranger, even if it happens only once a year. It is that warm feeling you get when you open a greeting card from one you had not thought of in a while. As corny as it sounds, I do truly believe that Christmas IS the most wonderful time of the year, and that if every day COULD be just like Christmas, what a wonderful world this would be. We all know the songs.

    And so I will hold on to it all just a few more days, a few more days until my heart tells me it is okay to let it go, until the New Year reminds me it is time to start anew. Then I will pack it away with a smile and remember I have new memories to cherish. And I will look forward to doing it all over again.

    Always,

    John

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