Kristin Drohan Interior Design

HGTV Green Home

Before I get to the HGTV Green home, I need to thank Nicole Haddad from New York Spaces for the article on the Kristin Drohan Collection on the Edge blog.  You can read it here. 

A few days ago I decided to check out the HGTV Green home in person since it is only an hour away in Plymouth, MA.  Lets get to it.  I loved the color palette of Black, Red, Blue, and White.  I know... shocker.  I thought the decorating was nice.  I think Linda does a great job with these homes even though she takes some serious criticism from the bloggers.  Here was my disappointment.  Although the house was a "Green" build, only a portion of the decor was.  They didn't even source the upholstery.  Now, I'm not a Green fanatic, and there's definitely shades of Green, but I expected to see some cutting edge eco friendly stuff.  I was a little disappointed. 

I love the outside architecture of this house, but the pic is a little deceiving.  The house is only 2100 sq ft and other houses are in close proximity.  You don't have a lot of privacy or land.  This may be a positive for people like my Mom who can then chat with all the neighbors and passer bys.  She is the ultimate social butterfly.  Personally, I like a little more space.

 

 
This is the main living area.  I love the colors. 

 
The master bedroom was interesting. I like the decor and love the bedside light fixtures, but I gotta tell ya, the room is a little tight.  This is a queen bed and as you can see, there isn't a whole lot of room.  My 6"8" hubby would miss his Cali king bed.  Maybe he is such a minority that for most of us that works. They designed this house to be a second home for a retired couple with visiting Grand kids. 

 

The master bath was really pretty but again the function was weird.  The tub was tiny and my husband hit his head on the doorway into the bath and the water closet.  They must have lowered them from a standard height to accommodate the decorative interior roof.  

 The only other bedroom in the house was for the kids.  Super cute decor. Loved the galvanized pipe they used for the bunk beds and the lamps.  What's up with the wall mount sink in the middle of the bedroom (you just see the edge in the alcove in back) and no closet?  Even if the kids are just visiting, I think a closet would be a nice place to hide their stuff. 

 
The outdoor space is nice and especially if you like your neighbors. 

So what do you think?  Did you watch the show?  Are you entering to win? 

High Point Update Sping 2010

I'm back after a long week launching my furniture line at High Point market while trying to still be a buyer and shop my current accounts. The Kristin Drohan Collection made its debut and far exceeded my expectations.  We had great traffic through the showroom, wrote some orders and have many potential clients to follow up with.  It was exciting!  I already had one interior designer, Vicky Serany from Southern Studio Interior Design, cover it in her Favorite High Point Market Finds blog post.   Here are some pics of the show room. 

 

Isn't the dog Triptych awesome.  My friend and artist, Storey Ellis Robins of SER Studio did those for the showroom.  It is available for sale if anyone is interested.  I had the Sydney lounge chair, Reed faux slip covered sofa (looks like a slip without the hassle of one), Anthony ottoman, Kathryn Barstools, Marie dining chair, the Charles head board.  The head board drew a lot of people into the showroom but I think the lounge chair received the most praise for style and comfort.  

     
 The guy filming was from The Home website.  They do video posts of market finds. 

I'll be officially launching the furniture website soon.  We still have some pieces to shoot this week and some tweaking to do to the website, but we are getting close. 

I was able to hit some of my favorite showrooms while at market and uncovered some interesting  decor info.  Linen, Hemp, limed and cerused wood, re purposed items, and the whole Parisian Flea market look, continues to be strong.   I saw this in several showrooms but Dovetail  seen below, seemed to be one of the best. I especially liked their lighting.  Check out the floor lamps and metal drum chandy over the dining table.
 

 
 
  
  
I'm not so sure what I think about the next emerging trend I encountered.  Like it or not the  whole "lodge" look is getting some play.  Just before market, I received some new Robert Allen fabric books. One whole book contained southwest, lodgey, mountain themed fabrics.  Then I walked into the Hickory Chair showroom and saw this.

What do you think?  It was such a departure for them.  I love the zebra print hair on hide, but since I don't have a mountain retreat, I just don't know about the rest.  Here are some other pics from their showroom. 

Suzanne Kasler did some Pink, which I am really digging right now.  I chatted with her a bit and found out her daughter is a freshman at Miami University (my alma mater) and pledged my sorority, Delta Gamma.  I'd post a pic of us, but sadly,  it isn't that fab of either of us even though we really tried (we did a few takes).  I've blogged in the past about my affliction with taking bad photos, so it isn't any surprise this one isn't great either.  A year ago I posted a not so great photo of both of us at the Safavieh rug launch.  It was flipping hot and humid and we were both melting.  I just don't think we need another not so flattering photo floating around out there.  We'll try next fall, Suzanne.  Here is her Pink room inside the Hickory Chair showroom. 

 
Thomas O'Brien launched his new collection for HC this market and this upholstered bookcase was my favorite piece.  I just loved it.  I gotta find a project for it.  It has flannel and velvet options for the fabric and I died over the Red flannel.  I want it sooo bad!

I'll be honest, I didn't see a dominate new color trend.   The natural neutrals were still very strong and of course Global Views showed some true color.  The featured color in that showroom was the Pantone color of the year, Turquoise.

 

Paired with a bit of Orange or Lime Green it was certainly bright. 

 

The funniest moment at market came at the Howard Miller Ty Pennington party.   They had Ty doing a paint demo in the showroom while filming a promo. 

 

Just to the left of this photo is a window that looks into the hall outside the showroom.  This is what was going on in the hall.

The woman were freaking out over Ty.  It was a crack up.  I know he is great, but it was crazy with them screaming and yelling.  He was egging them on as you can see.  Good thing there was some glass there. 

Thank goodness I didn't have to battle the women for this pic. 

So that is my Reader's Digest post of market.  What did you think? Like? Not like? (don't say my furniture). I'm joining Paula Grace for Timeless Tuesday, hop on over.

 

New Before and Afters

This past Monday my fabulous photographer, Bob Narod did these two shoots in Northern Virgina.  I think my clients and Bob do a pretty darn good job of styling the shots since I am in Boston and couldn't make it to DC.  Bob, shoots the who's who of designers in the DC area as well as all the show houses, and has taken all my Northern VA photography for the last 5 years. 

Centerville Dining Room Before:

Centerville Dining After:

 
The bones of this room were fantastic with some great built in bookshelves and beautiful hard wood floors.  The wallpaper came down and new paint went up.  The piano was moved to the living room and the cabinet you see in the "before" was moved to the wall where the piano was.  We added Sky Blue and Citron Green silk stripe curtains, custom art,  a  new custom dining table, Candace Olsen chandy and rug, Southern Living Couture Cover side chairs, and the Kristin Drohan Collection, Jack host chairs to complete this After.   

Brambleton Sun room Before:

Brambleton Sun room After:

In this room we painted the walls Chocolate Brown.  This is an unusual choice for a sun room, but it added warmth and worked well because there are so many windows.   We added some custom animal print plantation chairs, a Hickory Chair ottoman, the Kristin Drohan Collection Eileen curve sofa in Red Crypton suede, a custom sisal rug, pillows, curtains and a mahogany side table.  We did this room on a modest budget and almost everything in it is custom.  I have some great resources.  I'll be joining Met Monday at BNOTP and Blue Monday at Smiling Sals, so hop on over to see more Monday transformations.   I'm joining Paula Grace at her Timeless Tuesday party too.

Free Advice Friday... Fabrics in Red, Gold, and Green

A reader comments:

 

Hi Kristin,

Wondering if you have any favorite fabrics that would look good with yellow golds, greens and reds. I need some inspiration and your design style is just amazing! Thanks, Julia

As a matter of fact, Robert Allen just sent me some new fabric books containing their new Lifestyles Collection.  In the Dockside book they had some great  fabrics in that color palette.  I threw the swimsuit and starfish fabric in because I think they are fun, although not applicable for all.  

Robert Allen Corn Maize

Robert Allen Recliner

Robert Allen Sea Lace

 

Robert Allen Diamond Cable

Robert Allen Sally's Shells

   

Robert Allen Granny's Quilt

 
 
 Robert Allen Swimsuits

Robert Allen Lilith

I recently just finished a project for a client that I've worked with for over three years.  The Lilith fabric was the inspiration we used for the jumping off point.  This was the last room in their home for me to decorate.  I'm featuring the before and after of that room on Monday's post so be sure to check it out.  The little swatch doesn't do this fabric justice so I'm showing the finished pillow to illustrate how pretty and happy it is.  I am surely going to miss working with this family. They have been great clients.  I think they have given me more referrals than any other client.  How do you say "thanks" to that?  So, thank you thank you Heather, Brad, Ainsley, and Preston.  Look for the sun room Monday it turned out awesome.

 
Much better in person huh?

I hope one of these fabrics inspires you, Julia.