Blog Archives - Moonefield Interiors

Porch Life-A New Traditional Design

May 18, 2018 by Michele Wesdock Filed Under: Accesories, Blog, Design Boards, plants Leave a Comment

It’s been soooo nice here the past couple of weeks and I’m finally working on getting my house and porch ready for the season. In fact, the gutters are getting a good cleaning and the house is being power washed as I write this! Also…I have baby birds in my hanging fern! They JUST hatched overnight and I’m so excited. They are the tiniest little finches and I love watching them grow up every year.

So in the spirit of porch sitting, ice tea drinking and bird watching, I created a front porch design board in the New Traditional Style. What’s New Trad, you ask? (that’s what we say in the business by the way ;/) I like to describe it as your very stylish grandmother’s home. It’s refined but never stuffy. Polished and but also relaxed. New Traditional takes the best of classic furniture shapes and lines and tweaks them to fit today’s way of living. Always comfortable, a bit eclectic, with modern patterns and clean lines. Trends are used with caution and only those with staying power make the cut.

wreath/paint color/door knocker/planter/ceramic stool

rug/doormat/bench/green pillow/white pillow

Do you consider yourself a “New Trad?” No? I’ve got three more porch plans in my pocket for the upcoming weeks. Look out for modern, bohemian and farmhouse throughout the rest of May and June.

Need help planning your porch or another space in your home? An in-home consultation can give you just the jump start you need. Or let me do all the work and choose a full-service design plan.

What’s Missing From Your Dining Room?

February 21, 2018 by Michele Wesdock Filed Under: Blog, Dining Room, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

My girlfriend recently decided to turn her large but mostly unused formal living room into a dining room to better accommodate family get togethers. Great idea, right? I thought so, too, but the process turned out to be more of a project than she thought it would be, mostly because the new room is so much bigger than her previous dining space.

In a small or average sized dining room, you’ll usually have space for a table with seating for six or eight and either a buffet OR a china cabinet, but not both. The space and shape of the room will normally dictate where you’ll place these items. Throw up a mirror and a couple of pieces of artwork and call it a job done.

But in a large or long dining room, there are more decisions to be made. Larger rooms need larger chandeliers. Maybe even two. A large room can often feel “flat” without decorative moldings or wallpaper to give it added dimension. A large room can easily handle a sideboard and a buffet. Large rooms also benefit from larger artwork and larger mirrors.

For inspiration as I help her tackle this space, I’ve gathered together some ideas for creating drama in a dining room that might be larger than average and therefore need more decorative elements to help it feel “finished.”

First, consider adding wallpaper or a mural to give the space visual interest and dimension.

Leta Austin Foster

emily henderson design navy wallpaper dining room with white dining chairs

Emily Henderson

Check out these incredible murals from Mural Sources! This one is of an “idyllic Virginia coastline.” This would be gorgeous along one long wall in a dining room.

Grand Haven Watercolor

muralsources.com

Built-ins are always a great way to add practical storage as well as depth, dimension and a feeling of coziness.

Benjamin Moore “Harbor Haze”

Skip Sroka

A large room or long table can easily handle two chandeliers instead of one. Two lighting fixtures are practical, providing consistent lighting for large gatherings, and also add elegance and drama. Just remember to put those babies on dimmers!

Andrew Howard Interior Design | Arch Top Medium Lantern by E.F. Chapman | circalighting.com

Andrew Howard

Our dining room reveal... A traditional dining room features cloud wallpaper, double beaded chandeliers, parsons chairs and a beautiful wooden cabinet.

Addison’s Wonderland

Oversized artwork always works on a large expanse of wall. This room doesn’t have any mill work or crown molding to add interest, but the large print in the dark frame adds drama and contrast on the light walls.

Studio McGee

The dark mirror in this otherwise light and bright room accomplishes the same task, reaching all the way to the ceiling and drawing the eye upward. Imagine if the mirror were only half the size?

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Last, consider adding wainscoting, crown molding or mill work to add dimension to the walls.

Romo Kiku Wallpaper

Decor Pad

You could argue that this room needs artwork or a mirror, but the mill work adds so much interest that the wall becomes a feature.

Transitional

Kerry Spears Interiors

The dining room below, with it’s pale, neutral palette, would fall flat without the built-ins and wainscoting. With it, the room is full of architectural interest.

Corner China Cabinet

Decor Pad

And here we have the ultimate in stunning mill work and lighting. I. Can’t. Even. with this dining room. See this entire INSANELY gorgeous 1920s colonial here.

Janet Gridley

Wanna take your dining room up a notch? Contact me to make an in-home appointment!

Affordable Blue and White Striped Rugs

August 5, 2016 by Michele Wesdock Filed Under: Bedroom, Blog, Budget Design, Dining Room, Living Rooms Leave a Comment

After spending a good part of this summer working on a dining room project, carting kids to camps and lolling about the pool, I’m finally back with a round up of classic blue and white striped rugs. These flat weave rugs with their nautical flair work well in a casual space but can also sway a little more sophisticated, like in the traditional room below.

Image credit : Bountiful

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I love everything from Tom Sheerer. Those beams!

blue rugs, blue rugs for sale, blue oriental rugs, blue geometric rugs

Tom Sheerer

And who can forget Diane Keaton’s stunning Hamptons beach house in A Good as it Gets (one of my favorite movies ever!)

Hooked on Houses

blue-rug-blue-and-white-rug-enclosed-porch-amos-house-in-maine-by-Suzanne-Kasler-Les-Cole-architectural-digest-July-2016.jpg

Suzanne Kasler and Les Cole

Madeline Weinrib Blue Vice Cotton Carpet, Interior design: Anne Miller, Photo: Michael Partenio, Via New England Home:

Anne Miller

HGTV

Want the look? Here’s a roundup of affordable blue and white striped flat weaves.

Top row: 1, 2, 3

Middle row: 1, 2, 3

Bottom row: 1, 2, 3

Hope you’re enjoying the summer!

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The Art of Clutter

October 14, 2015 by Michele Wesdock Filed Under: Accesories, Art, Blog, Living Rooms, My Home, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Who’s had this experience? You go someone’s home and maybe this person doesn’t follow design trends or spend much time rearranging things or reading decorating blogs…And maybe for this person, the word “domino’ refers to a game and maybe they wouldn’t know how to pronounce “ikat” if you paid them. But, there’s something about their home or maybe just that one room that is so comfortable and relaxing and maybe you can’t put your finger on it but you want to curl up with a cup of coffee and just stay a while. And even though it’s not your “style” or even very “stylish” by Elle Decor standards, you just love being in that room.

Nate Berkus/The Things That Matter

My grandparent’s library is just this sort of room. I don’t have a photo because my grandmother would think I was a kook if I wanted to take a picture of this cluttered room where they read their mail and lounge with the newspaper, but it’s that very word clutter that I think gives a room personality and appeal. My grandparent’s floor to ceiling bookshelves are quite literally stuffed with books and the walls are covered with paintings and collections from their travels. The round table in the center of the room is covered with books, magazines and plants and surrounded by chairs that don’t match in either size or scale. But this room is so darn cozy and most importantly, you can learn so much about my grandparents just by looking around the room.

P. Allen Smith... Lovely:

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As design enthusiasts, it’s so easy to get caught up in the idea of perfection that it’s easy to forget that room should represent the people who live there. Decorating is about beautiful colors and fabrics and shapes and textures but at it’s heart, it’s about people. Artful clutter, clutter that’s intentional and purposeful, can add life and warmth and personality and that “certain something” to a room that might otherwise be beautiful but somehow bland. Artful clutter sends the message that rooms are for living in and that “things” are meant to be enjoyed and touched and loved. Books, plants, collections of stones or shells, pottery, vintage perfume bottles, whatever you like to collect…all of these things say “welcome to my home, this is who I am and I’m sharing myself with you.”

source

Emily Henderson via Apartment Therapy

So what’s the difference between “artful clutter” and just plain clutter? Here’s some takeaways.

Clutter should be intentional. Dirty dishes in the sink are not a collection. A display of hand glazed pottery is.
Clutter should be controlled. Mail thrown on the table is not controlled. Mail in a hand carved wooded bowl is.
Clutter should be unique or special in some way. Although I have millions of Legos and Star Wars men all over the house, sadly they are not an artful collection.
Elevate everyday objects. A collection of shells in a purple dollar store sand bucket is not an artful collection. Put them in a handmade pottery bowl and they become something special.