Kitchen storage – it’s always a hot button when Sally and I work on a kitchen design with a client. They all seem to be storage obsessed. Terrified that there might not be enough storage for all their stuff… KITCHEN STORAGE : CASE STUDY 1 We first encountered this behavior when we worked on a...
If a house could talk, what would it say? Quite a bit, if you make time to open your eyes and ears and listen. Thanks to the generosity of the Peabody Essex Museum, I recently had the opportunity to visit the Cotting-Smith House, located in Salem’s McIntyre Historic District, and field measure architectural details and photo document...
What is Coastal Style? Is it a look? A feel or vibe? A place? What is it? I found myself asking these questions after Sally and I had received notification from Ocean Home Magazine that Wilson Kelsey Design had been named to their 2019 Top 50 Coastal Interior Designers list – for the fourth year...
Sally and I covered some of the hidden costs of construction in our most recent post about our bathroom renovation. In that post we discussed why you need a contingency budget, which is intended to protect you from two major sources of hidden renovation or construction costs. Unforeseen conditions Scope creep There are other hidden...
“A construction contingency budget? Why should I need one? I mean, what can be so hard about this? It’s four walls, a floor and a ceiling?” our client asked in disbelief. Then the contractor opened up the walls… CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL As I wrote in our most recent post, a proper set of construction...
A renovation project, whether it’s a bathroom, kitchen or entire house, is complex, disruptive and can be filled with unknowns and uncertainty. Virtually all of our clients have never undertaken a renovation before. Since most renovations have a life cycle of 25 – 30 years, they may never undertake another again. It’s called a Low...
Please join Sally and me as we tackle our own family bathroom design. Take a peek behind the shower curtain with us as we share our design thinking and decisions. In follow up blog posts we’ll break down the contractor’s pricing for you and tell you the good, the bad and the ugly of our construction...
Want the secret to taking the Bah Humbug out of your Christmas decorating? Keep it simple. Based on your past experience, it sounds easier said than done, right? In this post, Sally and I will share our Christmas decorating secrets, as we take you through how we decorated one of our favorite client’s home. We...
Scenic wallpaper may seem to be a strange material choice for a bathroom. Yet, Sally and I knew wallpaper was to play a major role in our DXV Design Panel bathroom from the moment we began designing the room. To create our scenic wallpaper, we also knew that Doug, Lena and Brooke of Zoe Design were the...
How many formal place settings will fit around my dining table? That question came up the other day during a meeting with a client who loves hosting formal dinner parties. It gave Sally and me cause to think and ask ourselves two questions. RUMINATIONS Should a dining table’s size be based on the number of chairs we want around it? Above...