designed: black and white

I'm always drawn to the simple, clean, high contrast combination of black and white . It's classic and something that I never tire of. Here are a few favorites I've come across recently.

Source: merde-petit-maitre.tumblr.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: mixandchic.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: greigedesign.blogspot.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: ashleygoforthdesign.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: photoarchive.1stdibs.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: homedsgn.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: theyallhateus.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: blog.wickerparadise.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: shop-hers.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: cococozy.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Lea on Pinterest

Source: thedecorista.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: whiteandgolddesign.blogspot.com via Lea on Pinterest

There are quite a few more in my Pinterest boards. I'm working on a few projects, our office is one of these and black and white is the way I'm going to go. I feel like, when you work with pattern and color, a crisp clean black and white workspace is the best environment. 

Its a cold snowy day here in DC... here is a recipe for a little something to keep you warm 

Source: foodandwine.com via Lea on Pinterest

xo Lea Hart

designed: the backyard fence

Soooo yeah... we got a dog. And he is totally awesome and all kinds of cute. But its winter and having to let him out every morning at 6 am is a very cold way to start the day.

We've decided now would be a good time to finish the fence in the backyard.  Its a been a little tricky trying to figure out how/where to connect the fence to the house. Here is what the backyard looks like now... btw- don't judge me. I haven't done anything out there. Its sad now, but I've got a few ideas... anyway... I think this side is pretty easy. We are just going to run the fence up another 4' or so and turn towards the house with a gate. Can you believe how big the neighbor's new garage is?!? That's all I'm going to say about that monstrosity... I want to bury the white pipes that had to be added for basement ventilation. I need to figure out a patio surface too. I think concrete pavers could be cool...

The fence is in good shape. I want to plants all along the fence and I'd love to have a livestock tank pool here. Something like this would be perfect

Source: thecabinhouse.blogspot.com via Cherith on Pinterest

This is the other corner, it looks pretty bad now, but in the summer is all full of ivy and bushes. 

And here is where we keep the garbage cans for now. I'm going to have a screen for them put in when the rest of the fence goes in. Here is part where it gets tricky. Our long single lane driveway is right next to our neighbor's long driveway. I want to cover as much of that view as possible, but we need all of the driveway for car parking...so I'm going to have the fence come across, just in front of the raised bed. I want to clean up and fence in that area for a kitchen garden.

  

a metal fence like this, is what I'm thinking

Source: houzz.com via Lea on Pinterest

Here is the awesome view of our own private parking lot.  Isn't that, um... ugly! The wood pile won't stay there. I think we are going to lower the fence and put the gate opening onto the concrete sidewalk. Like this maybe

Source: kirsch-korff.com via Lea on Pinterest

I'm not crazy about the fence style, but since it's in really good shape- it makes no sense to replace it. If I were starting from scratch, I'd do something more modern and perhaps with mixed materials. I really love how these look

Source: remodelista.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Lea on Pinterest

I want to mix it up a little bit, while working with whats existing. I think I can do a more fun gate. Something a little more modern. I'm going to use these images as inspiration and see what I come up with. I'll share all the progress as it happens!

Source: remodelista.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Lea on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Lea on Pinterest

If you'd like to see more of my outdoor ideas and inspiration, check me out on Pinterest. I've got a couple of pin boards for outdoor landscaping, gardening and entertaining.

xoxo Lea Hart

loved: my Saturday morning routine

So now that my wild and crazy all night partying days are behind me... I find that I quite enjoy my early Saturday mornings. I usually let M sleep in, so its just me and the kittens. And now the puppy, too. The little black cat is Dizzy and the striped and white girlie is Blossom. They are named after a few favorite jazz greats.

I've been in love with Blossom Dearie since I discovered her in a London CD store many moons ago.

And the newest edition to the Pino clan is Zozo, he is a 1 year-old Springer Spaniel mix. We named him after Carrizozo New Mexico, the town where M's family is from and where we got married 2 summers ago. Awwwwww, he is so cute! We adopted him on New Year's Eve from the Washington DC Humane Society. He is a funny smart sweet little pup. Actually all our little critters are adopted from there. I strongly recommend/beg/plead for anyone considering a pet, to PLEASE adopt!!! There are so many sweet little buddies that need loving homes. And I think, they know you rescued them and they are always so loving and grateful. 

Ok, now back to my Saturday routine...
First, I'll play a little music and make my chocolate-y cream-y all natural latte. It is sooo good and so simple and not bad for you. It sounds weird to put maple syrup in coffee, but trust me - it doesn't taste maple-y at all. Seriously, try it... you'll never go back to Starbucks. Promise.

And then I read design magazines, design blogs and online magazines to my heart's content! Here are a few of my favorite online magazines:

Lonny

Est

Rue

Matchbook

Perfect for a lazy Saturday morning. 

xoxo Lea Hart

designed: plaster walls

After we finished the floors, we moved on to the walls. This is my first time living in a house with plaster walls, and they crack... a lot... 

I tried hanging a piece of art on the wall right when we moved in and the hole just kept getting bigger and bigger... and then I quit. Turns out I was using the wrong kind of nail. Plaster nails are sharper and another trick I learned is to put a thumbprint of oil ( I used olive oil because its what I had on hand ) on the wall and then a piece of tape over the oil where you want to put the nail. That works pretty well, fyi

Anyway, we hired a handy man to patch all the cracks; the cracks I made and the ones that were already there. Here is our Mr. Fix It working away... it twas a DUSTY DUSTY mess of job. 

 Here are some of the paint colors I'm considering for the inside and outside of the house. For the living and dining rooms I went with Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter on the walls, Benjamin Moore White Dove on the ceiling and Decorators White on the trim. I want to use an inky navy for the front door, and grey for the lower part of the house outside. The greens are possible kitchen colors and the blue is for the bathroom... I think, unless I change my mind again...

That's all for today chickadees. xoxo Lea Hart

designed: hardwood floors

Before we moved in, we decided the carpet had to go. The day the previous tenants moved out, we started pulling up the wall to wall and prayed that the floor would be in decent condition. Here is what the place looked like just after we thew all the old carpet into the porch.

 It was pretty easy to do. The time consuming part was pulling up like a million little staples... but its pretty mindless and with some good tunes and cold beers, its not too bad.

 I swept up and they cleaned up pretty nicely. They were actually in excellent condition! There were 2 small spots that had very minimal water damage, and the boards were simply replaced. Now these puppies are ready to get stripped and stained.

 So, one of the perks of being an Interior Designer, is that we work with the best trades people. Premier Floors is one such gem, and they sent over a crew of guys, the sanded down the whole first floor and called me to come over when it was time to pick a color. I wanted to go dark, but not too dark. I didn't want the floors to look dated in a few years. I also wanted some drama. So I went with the stain on the top right. Rich Walnut. This is our test patch in the Dining Room.

And now... Taaa Daaaa! Don't they look beyond gorgeous?!?!? I love love love them. I think they make the room look so much bigger and richer...and walnutier...
BEHOLD the Living Room

and the Dining Room... pretty much a blank slate...

before...

after... soo muuuuuch better, right? 

Moral of this little story? Fear not the dark stains, because they look freaking awesome. 

xoxo y'all

the New House Saga

And so it begins...
We moved into our new house last week! I've been obsessing about it since we moved from NYC. Its a great house in an amazing location. Arlington is where its at, just check this out 
It's a bit different from Bushwick, eh? Moving from a small apartment in NYC to a 2 story house is going to be a crazy, fun, time consuming, awesome adventure.


Before we even moved in we took up the wall to wall carpeting. This is what the house looked like pre-move in. Sorry for the blurry photo, I'm standing with my back to the front door looking into the Dining Room and beyond into the Kitchen.

This is from our Dining Room and the archway leads to the Bathroom and 2 almost identical Bedrooms on either side. And randomly, there was a Tide bottle left behind...the small door next to the Tide leads down to an unfinished basement where the laundry is.

 Bedroom #1 - currently the storage room

 
 Another view from Bedroom #1, notice the tiiiiiny closet...

Bedroom #2 - kinda hard to tell the difference... We are actually using this room as our Master Bedroom. It's not the biggest bedroom but we don't have a TV in this room or any other distractions, so its going to be our cozy moody (with the new paint colors) little cocoon. The main reason why we didn't pick the largest bedroom with the en suite bathroom, is because we wanted to make that whole are our home offices.

This is the upstairs Office. Its actually a converted attic space with 3 different sections under the eaves. The left side is M's domain. We are going to build in an 8 foot long desk with moveable storage solutions underneath. I thought this was the best use of a narrow, probably otherwise unused, area. The stairs lead down to the Kitchen.

This is the middle section of the Office, we are going to put a sofa and chair up here. The small doors lead to a large, short closet.

This picture is pretty bad too, but this area is my office. I'll have my giant antique drafting table and I've already started to "merchandise" my shelves into my very own paper store! Eeek!

I'll save the bathrooms and Kitchen for tomorrow. If you want to see my ideas for the house check out my Pintrest NEW HOUSE IDEAS board.

xo Lea