mid century modern office!!

My client has THE most amazing mid century modern house, complete with stacked rock walls, wooden beams, high open ceilings, stone floors, and big picture windows along every inch of the back of the house!!! What a designers dream!  Recently we worked on this little nook and turned it into a chic office.  We started with these stunning velvet mid century modern chairs to match the architecture of the house and then added sleek and simple elements with glamorous finishes.  Resulting in a very fresh, very chic office for a very, very sweet client!

I so love this house and I especially love this office!

I sure wish my office looked like this!!!

I hope you all enjoyed!

Crystal

cinnamon spiced coffee cake!!

The cooler weather is finally here and that has me baking as much as I can. 

This morning we made this yummy spiced coffee cake.  It is very moist and perfectly spiced.  This is the perfect fall Saturday morning breakfast.  I decided I wanted to have smaller individual sized cakes instead of one big one, so I made some (like the one pictured) in small springform pans.  And with left overs I made little coffee cake cupcakes. 

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons 2% milk

For the streusel topping:

• 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

For the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 ºF. Spray a 9-inch spring-form pan with baking spray and set aside.
2. In a large stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture, and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, until fully incorporated.
4. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and mix on low speed until just combined.
5. Add the sour cream and mix for 60 seconds more, until fully incorporated.
6. In a medium bowl, combine the ingredients for the topping and, using a fork or a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until you have a crumbly mixture.
7. Transfer half of the batter to the prepared spring-form pan and smooth out so it covers the bottom. Sprinkle ½ cup of the streusel topping on top of the batter, and then cover with the remaining batter.
8. Sprinkle the remaining streusel on top of the batter. Transfer the spring-form pan onto a baking sheet and then into the prepared oven.
9. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a knife can be inserted into the center and comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Let the cake cool completely.
10. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth.
11. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and serve with coffee.

I hope you all enjoy!!!

Crystal

Stacie's Baby Shower!!

I got to be a part of this amazing couples baby shower a few weeks ago!!! I'm just now getting around to sharing the photos, but they are well worth the wait!! ;)

 Stacie is having a boy, but we forwent the blue.  We decided that black, white and gold was more HER style so we had no shame in having a totally glamorous "boy" baby shower.

 We had yummy, yummy brunchy bites thanks to Heather and Rachel and a (virgin) mimosa bar. 

Since it's one of the mom to be's favorites, we chose sweet POPcorn for the favors and Stacie's friend Jessica made this awesome chalkboard for the nursery!

Stacie will be THE BEST mommy and Brady an amazing dad! I am so excited for them and to see this next phase they are moving into.  Annnnd can't wait to meet the little guy!  

It won't be much longer!!

Hope you all enjoyed!!

crystal

rustic glamor living room

Just recently finished up this fabulous living room.  I love it so much I asked if I could move in, but they didn't seem to love the idea.... so I guess I'll just live vicariously through them and the pictures!

It was really important to the clients to have a "collected over time" look that was a little bit glamour and a little bit masculine.  So I incorporated gold finishes with rustic earthy elements.  Everyone was happy! 

 We kept the mantel fresh and simple.

We layered lots of textures with the throws and pillows and filled tables with collected items and meaningful objects. (The frame on the lower left is a collection of coins from her trip to Europe)

These antique brass horses really seemed to capture the mix of classic, rustic and collected that spoke to us so much, so we made a special place for them in the room.

Another little treasure from the Euroupe trip!  Hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you all for reading!!

crystal

sputnik lighting!!!

i am doing a little inspiration board for some really cool sputnik lighting for a client.  she lives in a mid century modern home, and she has a wonderful open dining room with very high ceilings!!! the space is just begging for a statement making light fixture!

i'm hoping to do a bold graphic wall behind the table with the sputnik light taking center stage in front of it.

there are also these "starburst" sputnik lights that i am really liking too!! gonna have a hard time deicing on just ONE that i really love!!

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so many options to chose from, but you can hardly go wrong because they are all so awesome!!

thank you all for reading!!!

crystal

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tile backsplash

we have decided to make some updates to our kitchen this summer so the planning has begun!
one of the main decisions we are really debating on is tile for the backsplash.

there are so may options i'm having trouble choosing between them!  i know that tile isn't typically the first thing you decide on for a kitchen, however i think if i decide on a tile i really like, that will help solidify the "style" of kitchen i want.  i have too many favorites, its not an easy decision.

my home was built in the 1930's so subway tile would be a great option for my kitchen because it was very popular at the time my house was built and would match the architecture of my home nicely.

however, i have a little bit of issue with using something that is SOO popular.  I don't want my house to lack personality and look like everyone else's... but i do think it would look great in there.  using a subway with a muted color is an option too like the picture below.

this black and white floral pattern is beautiful, but i don't know if its too much, i might get tired of it...

a mini marble herringbone is a top runner too, it's a little pricier but very pretty

quatrefoil is an option too

i really do love the look of these patterned tiles!!! 

i just don't know if i could commit to them long term!

we shall see... i am off to start on some design boards now so i will keep you posted

as we make decisions and progress!!

thank you all for reading!!!

crystal

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