Heritage Hills Home Tour

The Ferris' Heritage Hills English Cottage

This weekend is the annual Heritage Hills Home Tour in Oklahoma City, and you don't want to miss it!  I always enjoy a good home tour and looking forward to this one in particular, because it features the beautiful home of our longtime "friends slash clients" David and Merideth Ferris.  Their charming 1907 english cottage is sure to be a darling of the tour and you won't want to miss it.  It is the perfect blend of historic architecture and pretty period pieces, punctuated with lots of personality... making it uniquely their own!  See the living room featured in Slice Magazine.

The Ferris' home featured in Slice Magazine || photos: Carli Wentworth || styling: Brie Dorr

The Ferris' moved into their new OKC home not long before we moved to Norman and I was so excited when Merideth asked me to help her with design work in the powder bath and kitchen.  Let me start by saying that Merideth knows her own style and has some major decorating chops to begin with! She just needed help turning her vision into a reality.

When working with a registered historic home that is over 100 years old, I knew it was important to honor the architecture of the home, so the pre-design phase started with a little architectural history homework.

After establishing some basic design ground-rules, the first order of business was to address the powder bath, since it is the only downstairs bath and was already gutted!

Step one is always to identify design challenges: low ceilings, lack of character, funky mirror set into what used to be a window.

Then comes the fun part... creatively coming up with design solutions!  In this case they were: to embrace the low ceilings with an interesting wallpaper we had imported from England, add architectural interest with wainscoting and crown molding, and to remove the existing window/mirror in order to re-orient the focus of the room.

We were also able to salvage a fabulous antique sunburst light fixture from another part of the house.  It was in a big open hallway upstairs and was swallowed up due to it's petite scale, which was perfect for the small powder bath.

After a pricey bid from a trim carpenter, Dave decided to tackle the wainscoting himself, leaving more budget for the "fun stuff" i.e. fixtures, mirror and wallpaper!

To make sure the wainscoting height was perfect, I drew the room out with everything exactly drawn to scale... I wanted to make sure it hit above the pedestal, but below the mirror.

And good thing Dave is a perfectionist / engineer, because it turned out beautifully!  Let's just say if my gifted-in-other-areas hubby attempted this job there would not be a home tour going on in our house (love you honey).

mirror: Restoration Hardware  ||  faucet: Rohl  ||  toilet and pedestal: Kohler  || wallcovering: Cole & Sons

I am happy to report that the powder bath has officially transformed into a stunner, and is now a feature point of the house.  And Merideth, who has a serious knack for art walls (seriously she should go into business), finished off the room with a cool collection of wall art that will get her guests talking.

"Sneak Peak" of the art that fills the powder bath walls, including a historic black and white photo of the home. 

To see the finished powder bath, you'll just have to venture out to the home tour!  You can buy tickets here.  It should be a great time complete with food trucks, live music, OKC ballet performance and pop-up shops at the Overholser Mansion.  And for a unique way to view the neighborhood, you can even ride the trolley!  See you there!

Young "House" Love

For couples heading down the aisle, there are a million things to think about... life as they know it is about to change and there are so many details that lead up to that amazing day!  While tons of time often goes into choosing the perfect color of bridesmaids dresses or the flavor of wedding cake... many new couples overlook much more lasting decisions like the perfect colors for their new home and the "flavor" of their first house together!  I have recently teamed up with Bella Flora Dallas, as a part of their Lifestyle Experts program, to help guide young couples through the process of creating their first home together.  

Here are a few simple tips for new couples on how to make a big impact for a reasonable cost...

PAINT & PAPER - Be bold when choosing paint colors and wallcovering... steer clear of too much beige and instead chose your palette from gray, ivory or gold tones or use a pleasing version of your favorite color.  Notice I didn't say SHOCK, I said BOLD.  Don't use overly bright colors (dark is still great though) that are going to dominate the room.  Instead use an interesting color that is subtle enough to keep your eyes moving, but bold enough that it will be remembered!  As for wallcoverings... small scale graphic patterns, woven textures and the look of hand-painted are my favorite options.

ELEMENT OF SURPRISE - Don't let your walls have all the fun... any surface can be painted to add interest (floors, ceilings, cabinets, doors, trim, etc.)   Don't be afraid to try something different.  UNLESS you are painting over stained wood floors or cabinets, you can always change it if you don't like it.  As my mom always said "Nothing ventured, nothing gained"!

WALL ART - Another great way to be bold is by selecting oversize or otherwise dramatic wall art (paintings, photography, tapestry, sculpture).  A large collection of works will give the same impact.  Natural Curiosities has a great collection of reproduction art pieces that are unique and affordable.  (Dallas shops that carry the line include Calypso Home, Gray Living, Vintage Living and I am happy to order a piece for you as well).

SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS - And I have recently stumbled on a few great local artists who specialize in contemporary pieces... you can even send an artist fabric swatches or samples of color in the room and let them come up with a custom piece tailor made for you!  Lindsey Meyer, Sonya Edwards, Carol Benson-Cobb, Charlotte Seifert are all super talented artists with approachable price points.  Check out these links to see more of their works.  And another great source for original artwork is SCAD.