Girls Style- British Style

London is the center of attention right now!  Queens Jubilee, the Olympics and the Doherty trip celebrating our son's graduation. We made our plans to go to London  during one of those really dark days in February. I never really thought about London in the context of the Summer events. Wow, now I realize how sparkling it will be at the beginning of July. British style is all the rage! London is the" it" city. This week I started working on a little girl's bedroom,  that will celebrate one of England's finest  home decor exports, wallpaper. We will use this English wallpaper below with the pretty pink flowers. Interestingly, we would like to mix in some contemporary pieces which I think would look great with this paper.

I love how the British mix their patterns and use wallpaper as a staple in rooms.

Designers Guild is always over the top with layering of patterns from ceiling to floor.

Betsy Johnson from Elle Decor UK.

Other British bedrooms...

Celebrate British Style!

See you,

Christina

Nursery for a special baby girl

I got a call from a dad who wanted to do a surprise nursery for his wife and new baby daughter. Both mother and daughter were having a bit of a rough go, and were in the hospital when he called me. I could hear his worry and love for his family over the phone. His wife admired a little girl's room, that I had decorated and blogged about.   There was no one to make design decisions. He wanted a nursery like the little girl's bedroom and it had to be pink. Be positive and move quickly forward. We got much of the room together in 6 weeks.  It was entirely custom. A huge feat, which I must really thank my vendors for making such accommodations. It was a nursery that would grow into the little girl's bedroom.  The changer would be very temporary. They needed adequate storage and a comfortable glider to feed the baby.

This was the room before...

I decided not to wallpaper the entire room, as the wall's quirky angles  would hinder the look of the paper. We did one wall. It looked like an outline of a house. Perfect. I chose a sunny yellow crib to welcome the little one home.

This very traditional armoire  looks a bit more transitional, when we added the lattice fabric.  It will be nicely centered against the wall when additional muscle arrives. It is a solid piece.

So sweet...

It was really a very rewarding job. Baby is just thriving and I've gotten to finally know the lovely mom.

See you...

Christina

Girl's bedroom with lots of Flair

A mom asked me for help in finishing the decorating of her daughter's room. She already purchased the furniture and some fabric and wallpaper. Now she asks me to make it all work. This can be a very difficult task and  sometimes it can really work out smoothly. Her new furniture  is fairly modern, but the new wallpaper is pretty traditional. Here are her items. The top piece is the wallpaper and the fabrics below the wallpaper  are all very raspberry.

I chose some  fabric, trim and carpet to pull it together. The new carpet to me is so very important. The client is  unfortunately on the fence about it.

I would really like to use this lamp that I did for another customer. This client loved the lamp. She described it as a girl in a ball gown..

I chose some additional pieces that would complement the client's pieces.

A great ball chair...

And a nice bench for the foot of the bed...

There is a dressing room that is sandwiched between the bedroom and bathroom.  It is somewhat small and has a built in vanity with a green marble top.

It is a great little space that right now looks so ordinary. I want it to pop. Like opening a jewelry box of fun little  trinkets. I want it to to be Dorothy Draper inspired. I chose this crazy fun  wallpaper..

I love this Frances Elkins chair

It's definitely an interesting and challenging project. See you...

Christina

Warhol and the Poodle

It is true that our tastes change over time. I am seeing more clients that would like to refresh their current, relatively newly decorated rooms. The rooms are currently traditional, but they would like to make them more transitional. Add more modern. Give the room lightness. Add something that is unexpected. Ok the last sentence is my theory.  My current client has a little girl that is growing out of her crib. The nursery was very traditional. We will have to keep some of the furniture from the nursery.  Her  crib bedding, named Greta,  was from Serena and Lily. All very lovely.

The pink in the Greta bedding is a bit dusty. It is a tough pink to work with, since it is hard to find complementary pink fabrics.  The old decorator made a valance out of the same damask pink fabric and the walls are also the same pink. Lots of pink!

Realizing how difficult the pink was to match, the mom bought the complimentary sheets for the big girl bed in the same Serena and Lily pattern.  Called Gracie, Serena and Lily has since discontinued it.

So now, my job is to change the nursery into a little girl's bedroom  and add a modern feel to the space. So lucky that this Gracie bedding  can easily harmonize  with some modern elements.   The mom also  bought this fun Andy Warhol print that we will use as inspiration.

For the bed, I would like to do a high headboard upholstered in white faux patent leather.

I found these pillows at the last gift show that will add a little sparkle to the bedding. They are so delicate and sweet. From one of my favorite companies, Sivaana.

At the end of the bed I would like to put this upholstered  brown and white linen storage bench .

We will keep the nightstand.

I found a crazy fun lamp to put on it.  We may change out the shade.  But how fun is it!

We will keep the simple white dresser

And add this mirror.

A nice bookshelf is needed...

A loveseat will sit underneath the Warhol with a very cool fixture

I wish I could blink and it would be done. How easy that would be....

See you...

Christina

Honeysuckle bedroom welcomes the new year!

A gutsy pink called Honeysuckle was named 2011 color of the year by Pantone. Ok I am kind of puzzled by the name, honeysuckle, but I will go with it.  It is a color that is very familiar at Cici Crib.

A room that I worked on is almost complete. It is for a little girl who loves pink.  I believe in creating rooms that grow with the child. The little girl is lucky to have enough storage space in her double closet. I just added a little bit of style to the room. Even the inside of the lamp shades are swathed in pink to create a little glow.

We  reupholstered the tufted bench in a faux pink croc..

The window treatments are sheers with touch of sparkle, to keep the room light and airy. The vanity is anchored by the custom bulliten board.

The bulliten board is covered in rasberry linen.  An inexpensive starburst mirror serves 2 functions...

The wall opposite is long and framed with fashion prints.

Yes it is a pink room, but not too overwhelming. Just sweet as honeysuckle...

See you..

Christina

Flecks of gold

A customer came into the shop this week to work on her  daughter's new room. As we worked,  I was  reminded of Anna Shea‘s chocolates.  Anna Shea used to have a tiny shop in Tarrytown. Just for a moment you could imagine you were in Paris.  Her chocolates are delicate and dusted with flakes of gold like it was made by a fairy. So lovely, yet another recession casualty.

Back to decorating… The mom was inspired by Zoffany wallpaper that had speckles of gold and raspberry on a light pink background.

Elizabeth Allen bedding had the right vibe.

The bedding she chose  for her little girl was as delicate as the wallpaper.

Her bedding would work well with these new pillows from Sivaana that came into the shop this week.  It would just add a little twinkle. They are handmade with Swarovski crystals and gold fabric.  They have already created such buzz. See Hamptontoes did a nice post about them. My pictures do not do them justice. They are just beautiful.

Another Sivaana pillow..

A little sprinkling of gold for my customer's little girl.

See you...

Christina