I was up bright and early this morning so that our local Fox station could broadcast live from our wall!

This beautiful little idea Sebastien and I had has blown up, and I honestly can’t believe it.

Over 100 people have shared their #biscuitpaintwall pictures on Instagram, and we are so happy that everyone loves it as much as we do.

Amidst all of the excitement on the store opening we have been working away at a new batch of client projects. One of our clients we are calling Project Lex is coming together pretty quickly. The couple came to us having already purchased most of the big pieces in their home, but needed help pulling it all together. Projects like this can be tricky, we work with existing furnishings all the time, but when items are newly purchased you don’t want to suggest something be recovered or moved out. It can be hard to create something cohesive when so much is already established, but luckily in this case all of the pieces they had chosen were on point and it’s a treat to add another layer of pretty onto a good base.

And it occurred to me that more than our more full makeovers- this is a project that would be the most relatable to most of your situations. So here is what we are working with:

The had just purchased the chartreuse velvet couch and hot pink chair- and I love both pieces individually. Together, without much else going on in the room, that is a lot of solid velvet. So the challenge becomes bringing in pattern and texture that will tie these together, working with the colors already in the room.

They already have some pieces of art, and these chairs that we will be recovering. On one hand it is nice that the major things are in place, we can focus more on layering and decorative touches- but on the other it is a challenge to make sure that whatever we bring in enhances the choices already made by the client and doesn’t fight with anything.

So how do we do that, and where do we start?

Everyone does things a little differently. I have heard Miles Redd say he starts the design for a room with the rug and everything else flows from there. I am a decorator who relies on textiles to inspire me, so usually my first step in the design process is finding a fabric or wallpaper that will guide me on everything from the paint color to the furniture choices. That initial fabric isn’t always an obvious star in the end result of the room- sometimes it ends up being an accent pillow rather than an entire upholstered piece- but for me that is almost always the jumping off point.

Here, we had to backtrack to find something that tied the green and pink of the couch and chair together, while also bringing in some new colors, and fitting within the vibe of the clients inspiration pictures.

Two inspiration rooms sent over by the client

While the furniture choices in the family room are more traditional, the rest of the house reflects a mid-century eclectic vibe that they wanted to carry through. Looking at the hot pink and chartreuse, I immediately thought of Chaing Mai Dragon- a print that was nearly killed by over saturation a few years ago, but that I now love again after taking a breather. It fit their eclectic vibe, and offered no shortage of new colors to pull in. We presented that along with several other options, and they loved it to. We decided to use it on the shades, and started layering in rugs, and other textiles for pillows, the window bench, and the two white chairs at the entry.

The next step will be choosing some accent furniture, art, and lighting and this space is going to come together pretty quickly. I can’t wait!

ALSO!

Don’t forget this is the last day to receive 20% off everything online at Biscuit to celebrate our re-opening! The code is “biscuit20” at checkout.