Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Pinch of Spice


In the shadow of today's cool celadon greens, neutral "greiges" and stark white walls hides the warm, welcoming shades of your spice rack. They are unassuming and under appreciated and yet provide those in your household the biggest hug and most hospitality. Call them coral, paprika, brick or terra cotta, they work in a variety of situations and seasons. In the summer, they feel fresh and vibrant. In the winter, they instantly heat up your tabletop or windows. And as far as your own clothing goes, earrings with a coral burst give you an instant glow or a clutch in a burnt orange livens up the dullest day. But spice can be strong so a little goes a long way. Keep your spices in check by toning it down with pale blushes, sandy creams or, yes, even pool blues...bordering on celadon.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Red Carpet Roundup: The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

Last night's Red Carpet finally presented us with some achievable creativity and color to beat the band! If the Globes were all about metallic hues, then the SAG Awards flipped the script and brought a rainbow of pizzazz and even pattern.


"Game of Thrones" actress Natalie Dormer wins my Best Dressed of the night in her beautifully painted Naeem Khan gown. I'm such a sucker for a painterly print but everything about this dress was right on her. Those gorgeous purples, corals and pale pinks looked lovely with her complexion and hair. I couldn't tell if this gown was actually white or pale gray but regardless, her look was sweet and demure and a nice change in pace from gowns we've seen of late.

In a close second to Dormer's painted print comes "The Theory of Everything" star Felicity Jones in her sugary sweet pink Balenciaga. If you haven't seen her film yet, you will fall in love with her after you see her performance. She delivered in her role as Jane Hawking and she also delivered us some high fashion last night. Selecting Best Dressed was a tough decision because she is such perfection. Keeping with the sweet vibe were Reese Witherspoon in Giorgio Armani and Kiera Knightley in Erdem. Witherspoon's figure looked amazing in her asymmetrical white gown. I love that it had a bit of a cap sleeve. Knightly redeemed herself from the Chanel catastrophe at the Globes with this gorgeous tiered eyelet gown. Loved everything about her look last night! 





We also saw a lot of contrasting bodice gowns where the tops of the dresses had some sort of embellishment and fabric differentiation from the skirt. Sarah Hyland rocked the look in Vera Wang with gorgeous stones sewn in to the top of her daring plunged top. She always looks so fresh and like she is having so much fun. Natasha Lyonne did it with metallic embroidery and a heavy black skirt in this Proenza Schouler number. If she didn't have so much attitude, I might not like this dress as much...



Finally, we saw more pattern and even a respectable risk on the Red Carpet. I love Rashida Jones's Emanuel Ungaro dress with the contrasting blue piping. I actually feel like this dress is something people would throw on here to go to the beach. Maybe it was a little casual for a Red Carpet event but I still thought she looked fabulous in it. "Orange is the New Black" star and SAG Award winner Uzo Aduba looked AMAZING in her Angel Sanchez gown. The color and the fabric are so interesting. With her very simple hair and makeup, it was the perfect amount of complexity. Loved this risk!



Who were your favorites from last night? I can't wait to hear whose look you loved!

all images via Vogue.com

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A Perfectly Punchy Playroom


If you're lucky enough to have space in your house for a playroom, then you know this type of room can be both a blessing and a curse. Having one room to contain all of your kids' stuff is awesome. It's usually the one and only anything-goes place in a house where children can let their imaginations run wild. But the playroom can still really stress parents out- it's almost always a mess, it's cluttered and we all know who really cleans up six days out of seven. Yet the endless possibilities and the creativity that this space is supposed to envelope made me and my client really excited and inspired. What a fun project to take on as one of my first outside of the film industry! 

Here is a look at what the clients already had in the room. It was long and skinny, very orange, had huge windows and got tons of hot afternoon sunlight...




 
The homeowners have three super cool kids under the age of six- two boys and one girl. They wanted a room that was all about the children but was still a space the whole family could enjoy. It is right off the kitchen on the house's main floor so it had to flow with the rest of the home. Storage was important as well as having a huge couch to build forts on, flip over and eventually collapse on to watch a movie. My client was considering a chalkboard wall but wasn't really sure how to combine all of these wish list items to create one cohesive space. So we got together and came up with a design scheme...


 Please ignore wonky "blind" lines! 

As you will see, we pretty much started from scratch in this room. The carpet was removed and hardwood floors installed. I really loved the valances that were already up but unfortunately the color scheme wasn't quite right for this space. However we did leave their green couch, which I could have had reupholstered, but since the youngest child is still only two, I felt like recovering the couch/getting a new one in a few years was a better use of their budget. The biggest and most exciting change was the addition of the chalkboard wall. As you will see, the kids can not only write on it but since the chalkboard is also magnetic, they can also display their artwork on the wall and easily switch out as they create new pieces! We also had the television installed in the center of the chalkboard wall so that the black tv wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb anywhere else in the room. The results are nothing short of fun AND functional!

  





We are all so thrilled with the results in here! The kids are loooooooving the chalkboard wall but I am not ashamed to admit that I learned the hard way about magnetic paint fumes. In fact, the metallic smell from the magnetic paint was so intense, the family almost had to spend the night away from the house. It was horrible; however, the results were amazing and I'm so glad they didn't give up. We also had a goal of setting up a dressing room somewhere in the playroom but we have yet to find the perfect size and shaped drapery rod. Finally, we purchased the ceiling fixture from Ikea you see in the concept artwork but the room gets so hot in the summertime that the family couldn't part with the fan. All of those bumps in the road aside, the children have a fun place to play and store all of their toys. Their mom can be one room over cooking while all three kids are entertained on the other side of the wall. I am so glad we opted to use poufs covered in indoor/outdoor fabric at the play table instead of wooden chairs because the kids use them not only as seats but also as bumper cars and building blocks. The tall bookshelves give them tons of storage and the collapsible green fabric bins corral the teeniest toys. On a personal note, I love seeing the colorful pendants hanging on the chalkboard wall. They make the wall feel like a big celebration of kid art! And no playroom is complete without a little Dr. Seuss reference- we just HAD to have the Oh, The Places You'll Go decal!! 

The best part of the transformation has been that the entire family of five has been using the room to cuddle up and watch movies or get together and play. Turns out that playrooms can be just as fun for parents as for their kids!

If you have any questions about the space, please don't hesitate to comment below or send me an email- lsuggsinteriors@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by today!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The First Signs of Spring

I was enjoying my seasons, as I like to call it, when after Christmas what should appear on my Instagram feed but tons of people on tropical vacations. Ommm...what are you people trying to do to me?! It's cruel to boast your sunny vacations to those stuck in chilly places. You may reply that I live at the beach, which isn't a lie, but it certainly isn't warm enough to enjoy it right now. In defense, today I share with you a spring-ish fashion post. In actuality, this look could easily be worn right now with the addition of a blazer and swapping the sandals for boots...if you're not off on a tropical vacation, that is...

Monday, January 12, 2015

Red Carpet Round Up: The 72nd Golden Globe Awards


When an awards show is named for a precious metal, why would we expect anything besides metallic gowns to rule the Red Carpet?? Metals certainly made their statement last night at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards but there wasn't one metallic shade in particular that we saw on repeat. Gunmetal, silver, champagne and even bronze stole the show. Hollywood's sirens looked gorgeous, as always, but I have to give my best dressed of the night to Julianne Moore in her ombre Givenchy. STUNNING! What a major movie star moment. Dakota Johnson came dangerously close to stealing Moore's look but her Chanel gown traded the feathered skirt for a center slit. Crisis averted.


My two favorite redheads served us some serious style. Props to Emma Stone for taking a risk by wearing an unexpected jumpsuit with beaded bodice by Lanvin. The giant bow gave the edgy look a playful nod. Jessica Chastain was simply sexy in her bronze Versace dress. I would almost dare to say her dress looks comfortable if it weren't for the knotted plunge.



Speaking of the plunge, Jennifer Lopez and Sienna Miller showed off some major décolletage- one more than another- in their opulent frocks. Zuhair Murad designed J. Lo's dress, which reminds me a teeny bit of one of her other famous Red Carpet looks, while Sienna looked perfectly fresh in Miu Miu.



Emily Blunt and Quvenzhane Wallis brought a bit of brightness and freshness to the Red Carpet. Blunt accessorized her Michael Kors gown with resort worthy turquoise jewelry while Wallis looked sweet and age appropriate in Armani



There were many other gorgeous looks last night but I left off most of the gowns that I felt like we had seen before. ***cough cough Kate Hudson*** 

But more than that, I must say that I appreciated the serious cultural and political undertones to the evening. I won't hop on my high horse here but I want to just say one thing:

Kindness matters and the world is watching. Each of us will be held accountable for the way we treat others in life.

But that's an entirely different blog post...

Who was your best dressed at the Globes? Please leave me your comments!

all images via InStyle and US Magazine