Floating Shelves & Chalk Boards

Happy New Year, design friends!

Hope your holiday break was fabulous! We spent ours bouncing between feverishly trying to finish up our basement for all of our holiday parties and actually throwing the holiday parties. This basement project has taken longer than anticipated but isn't that how it usually goes with home projects?  We are still waiting for counter tops (I always tell my clients that holiday lead times are always longer than usual).

Even with all the holiday chaos we managed to make some progress on our kitchen & eating area and I wanted to show you where we are at with it all. My concept was to create a coffee house feel (I may have a bit of a coffee obsession). So why not indulge? Chalk board wall art, wood shelves and lots of coffee cups (obviously)!

I wanted floating shelves instead of upper cabinets because I didn't need much cabinet space in my basement. I priced out floating shelves and said nope. No way am I paying that price for 60" shelves (they were an upwards of $200 a piece)! So, I went to work trying to figure out a better way when a friend told me she made her own and voile I was off to The Home Depot to buy my own wood to start my 'project coffee house'!

 My shopping list:

•  1" x 12" x 10' (I bought 2 & cut them to size) Common Board Here
•  Rustoleum Ultimate Wood Stain in Dark Walnut here                                              
•  Black pipe to rest the shelves on (I cut them down to 13") Here
•  Flanges to screw the pipe into the wall on Here 
• ***note: make sure your threads on the pipes are the same as the                          flanges // I used 3/4"***
• Black chalkboard paint Here 

 I was on my way to getting my coffee house feel spending a fraction of the cost.  When all was said and done with my shelves I spent maybe $15 on one shelf (including the pipe and flange)! Not a bad deal, eh?

Here are a few of my shots of the space so far. I also made a peninsula light using plumbing pipe and edison bulbs which you can see in one of the shots but I will explain how to do that in another blog. Enjoy!

// you can use any color stain depending on your tastes and style //

Coffee anyone?

Want to achieve this look? Contact me today for a design consult! amyterm@gmail.com

How to Finish Your Basement

So, our daughter is turning sweet 16 next week and our big home project around here has been finishing our basement. We weren't intentionally wanting to finish it for her sweet 16 birthday party (although that has been our motivator) we more wanted to finish it in time for the winter so our kids would have a place to hang out with their friends and in doing so, in theory, my first floor would stay clean(er) and hopefully a bit quieter.  Here's to hoping.

Anyways, here is a list of things to check off when you are finishing a basement. Use this as a sort of guide and/or template for when you get ready to finish your basement.

First thing you want to do is decide what you will need in your basement and how your family will be using the space. For instance, we wanted a theater/game room type of basement where we could entertain, have parties and send our kids to hang out. So, we needed comfy furniture, a nice size tv (my husband was ecstatic...something about he could now see the better quality picture of a football game), some games like a pool table and basketball net, a small kitchen and bathroom, lots of seating throughout and an under the stairway hideaway bed (pictures uploaded on my next blog with directions).

Once you decide what you need down there then you need to lay the rooms out and design the space.  That's where I come in. You can request my design services here.

Now comes the ordering part. Here is what I did for the basement and the order we did it in.

• We went to The Home Depot (a lot) and bought our wood to rough it all in first
• We grabbed a couple of friends to help rough it in.
• Once it was roughed in we brought in our electrician to wire it
• We brought in our plumber to put in all our pipes (or in our case tubes to the manifold)
• We again went to The Home Depot to order our flooring, cabinetry & counter tops.
• We went with a berber carpet throughout the majority of the basement
• Except the kitchen area and bathroom. We ordered a rustic looking tile that looked like wood flooring (it is being installed as I type and it is gorgeous!) See a sample here

•  The flooring usually comes in in 2-3 weeks and the cabinetry can take anywhere from 4-8 weeks depending on the style. We went with a basic cabinet espresso black with cream counter tops. Once the cabinets are delivered and installed then the counter guys come out and confirm measurements and order the counter tops which will take another 2-3 weeks to come in.
• Once the electrical is wired for our lighting (we are going with track lighting and a few fixtures which I will talk about later), the plumbing is installed, then you move on to hanging drywall.
• You mud and sand the drywall and now the time has come to spray paint your ceiling. We decided to paint our ceiling black and not go with a drop ceiling for 2 reasons...money and we wanted as much ceiling height as we could get.
• Now comes the fun part. The color palette in the basement. I am going with warm griege's in my flooring, furniture and accessories including rustic woods and edison bulb lighting.
• The color I choose for the walls is Collanade Gray by Sherwin Williams here
• The lighting I choose are these here here for above my kitchen island and here (hey, I had to 'girl it up' somewhere with a bit of bling).
• I chose a sectional with a slate gray blue color from JcPenney and a few other accent pieces that I will post in my next blog once it all comes together.
• Once it is all mudded and sanded, I paint the walls, my electrician comes back and hangs all my lighting, my plumber comes back and installs my bathroom shower, toilet and vanity).
• The flooring is laid, the cabinets are delivered and installed, counter top is ordered and delivered and installed. Furniture and TV are delivered and I put the finishing touches on the basement to make it look like something right out of a magazine and I'm ready to throw a party and impress my friends just like you will be once your basement is finished too.

I will be posting pictures of the finished basement in a couple of weeks when it is all done. I will give a list of "how to achieve this look" for the furniture and decor but until then here is my color concept.

Until then....happy designing, friends! Have a fabulous Monday!  As always feel free to check out some of my designs, tips and inspirational pictures on FB here and Instagram here or email me at amyterm@gmail.com with questions, comments or to set up a design consult to finish your own basement today!

Amy Elizabeth
Color. Design. Inspire
586-255-5135

The Art of E-Design

The art of E-Design.

Amy Elizabeth Designs is now introducing E-Designs to our clients. What is E-Design, how does it work and more importantly how can you benefit from this new design service?

What is it?

E-Design is simply electronic design services now offered to you, my client. In addition to my traditional full-service interior design, I now offer this quick hit of design service and advice, that can set the design framework for just a single room, for a set fee. In most cases, I don't even need to visit the room. As my client, you share your room photos, measurements, and inspirational images and all the work is completed through phone and e-mail. Whether you call it e-design or virtual design, these services are now offered to you who may not otherwise have the time or resources to work on a room using my full service interior design.

How does it work?

Using E-Design I will focus on a single room at a time. As my client you will submit your own photos, room measurements, and inspirational images of rooms and styles you absolutely love so we can achieve that look for your room! I will send you a design questionnaire to fill out when we start the process. You also submit a budget range, so that we can be sensitive to that. 

Communication is critical when working with a client through E-Design. We will communicate primarily through email and phone calls. To begin with, you email me all of the above information (photos, measurements, inspirational room images and your budget). Once I have all the information, we set up a phone consult to confirm that we are on the same page and then the design process begins!

Typically, the whole design concept process from beginning to end will take from 2-4 weeks to provide a comprehensive design concept for a room, including images, a floor plan, furniture selection, samples of suggested materials and finishes, and shopping lists for accessories. This is simply providing you with all the information you need on your room to get started. This is not hiring me to implement the design but rather it is hiring me to give you all the design components you need to implement the concept Amy Elizabeth Designs provides you with. If you would like further help by hiring me for that next step of implementing the concept, I am available for that as well.

Pricing

Ok, here is how E-Design benefits you! You get to choose what part of the design you need and want from me.

The beauty of E-Design is that you can set it up as an a-la-carte type of design service to fit your budget needs. You can buy only what you need for each room in your home or buy the entire full comprehensive design concept for your room. Your room. Your choice.

Furniture/space planning & 1 floor plan: Range from $150-$300 depending on the square footage of your room.

Furniture & accessory selections: Range from $300-$500 for an entire shopping list for your room. Pricing dependent upon square footage.

Selection of paint colors: $75 flat fee per room. Includes a swatch selection and picture from me of color. You purchase the sample paint to see how the lighting in the room
affects the paint color.

Advice on the placement of existing or purchased artwork and accessories or holiday decorating advice:  $200 per room. 

As my client, you are free to choose whichever component of the design process you desire to achieve the look of your room you want.

The Final Touches

Once you email me (amyterm@gmail.com) to inquire about the process and you send me all your information on your room as to what you are looking to do I will require a 15% deposit to begin. You can make that payment either through my Square account or Google Wallet and then we begin your design adventure to make your room HGTV ready!

What are you waiting for? Your dream home is waiting. Email or call me today to get started or pass this along to a friend who you know would want to use this service.

Amy Elizabeth
586-255-5135
amyterm@gmail.com
www.amyedesign.com

Repurpose

I love everything design, color and art.  My favorite thing to do right now is take something that most people would deem ugly and transform it into something beautiful.  I take old ugly things, re purpose them to give them a new look making it an interesting piece of art.