Thankful

Hello again.  It's Thanksgiving week.  What are you thankful for?    

I am so grateful for you, my clients, who have entrusted me with your homes this past year.  I feel you are an extension of family.  Thank you for allowing me the privilege of being in your home.  Thank you for also sharing with me that you enjoyed the process of making your house a home.  I know the process isn't always easy so when you can say that you find it to be enjoyable, that means I've accomplished my goal.

For whatever reason, God has allowed me to continue sailing my little boat into it's third year in my brick and mortar on Pickwick St.  That doesn't mean the sails haven't needed adjusting here and there.  "a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor."  

I definitely owe a lot of thanks to my family, neighbors, The Rountree community, and my neighboring merchants on Pickwick Street.  Your support means a lot.  I love being a part of this amazing and unique neighborhood.  I would not be here if it wasn't for you.  THANK YOU!

Here are a few more things I am thankful for.  'Words of Good' that I love from pinterest page.  These words remind me to be thankful for journeys, challenging choices, creativity, art, life AND music.  Life is beautiful, is it not?

I'll leave you with some Coeur De Pirate. She's a good reason to learn french.  Eleanor, Sylvia, and I love her. Also, this sweet video made me realize that beautiful music is sometimes all you need to beautify an empty room.

Happy Thanksgiving week to all of you and yours.  I have a special announcement for Pickwick House coming up this week...

Love and Joy to you!

xx
sharon

LOVE AND JOY!

Hi All!  I'm happy to finally be returning to this happy place once again.  It feels so good to be back after over six months!  

Doing great here and have to give you a big Thank you, oh, Thank you for your continuing support of my work at Pickwick House and the facebook page.  

Need some fast, fresh, revamping at your house for the holidays? Let us {me and side kick Neely} come and work some magic at your house. Loving fresh flowers, fruits, and seasonal greens.  And those aged marble urns of my friend/client's are perfection.

Limited time offer $50 service fee for any of the following areas in your home. Your choice of entryway, mantle, and foyer. Inquire about our other full service decor needs as well. We make it easy, and affordable for you. 

Nathalie Bearden Photography

A current project that makes me so happy with all of it's vibrant colors.   Last week, I stylized this console for a little party she was having.  Need some of those star candle holders?  We got 'em.   This client was amazing to work with.  All the pieces pictured here were vintage, revamped {painted or reupholstered}.  Don't forget, we have a library of wallpaper that is continuing to grow.  Also ask about our upholstery services.  It's all in house now!

Twin Town Studios

We've been booking some upcoming holiday bashes, cookie exchanges, crafting and birthday parties.  Call today to inquire about our amazing prices for a stylish and intimate gathering place.  

417-459-8988 

Love and Joy Come to You!

xxxx

sharon

HOUSE UPDATES: Wainscoting, Stairs, Hallway

Hi All!  I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.  We sure did!  Will's mom made an incredible meal as always and we had good times with both sides of the family.  Here's an update on the house.  A before and after.  I'll start with the 'after' first, because it just feels SO good:)

80's style brass fixtures before.  This picture comes nowhere close to letting you see the muck that was on the walls and floors.  Dark, dark, nicotine stained walls and ceilings.

Notice the cut out in the left wall.  That was for the door bell system and gongs.  We took that system out and drywalled over the cut out.  

This is right after Will ripped out the nasty hunter green carpet that ran the length of the hallway and stairs.  I'm sure Will has a nastier 'before' pic somewhere.  I'll have to dig for more of those yucky befores.  Anway, I'm laughing at the tensed hands in this pic, {those are Will's hands}.  I'm sure he was giving a house tour to someone, here, and he's explaining the severity of the grossness of the house.  Haha!  See those dark spots on the floor in the background and also the one in the foreground.  Those are just some of the dog pee stains.  The dogs were mostly holed up in the background hallway.  The owner had the dogs mostly barricaded back there, which is one of the main reasons we chose to go with darker floors. 

Justin getting started on the wainscoting.  

This pic was taken from the back hallway looking toward the front door.  

All the baseboards were ripped off, but we saved them and re-used them.  

First coat of paint on the risers and the wainscoting.  

After the floors were stained and the most of the paint touch ups are done!

Sorry this pic is so blurry.  It was evening time.  Notice the baby waterfall chandeliers.  Will found those.  I think they are perfect!  Also notice we painted the front french door black.  We have a matching baby chandelier in the little foyer just beyond that door that didn't turn on.  That's why it looks so dark.  

Anyway, I hope to have pics up soon on the blog.  I hope you enjoy seeing the progress we're making.  

Have a wonderful springy week!

xx

sharon

Easter Week Updates

Hi there. There's rarely enough time in the day to update you with all that's going on w/Pickwick House.  I have been running on fumes and thought I'd take a quick moment to update you with some eye candy.  

The kitchen faucet at our house was finally installed yesterday.  I love it so very, very much. I know Jesus turned water into wine, but I really think this faucet could too.  haha.  Maybe even chocolate {as one of my friend's mentioned}.  Chocolate's a more suitable option with it being Easter and all.  Haha.  

One of my clients is getting a whole home overhaul.  Today, we are making progress on her little girls bedroom and here's a sweet little daybed we purchased from Talula's {a new antique store right next door to Pickwick House}.  Anthonette, the amazingly talented owner of Talula's, reinvented an old canopy bed.  It will be perfect as a reading nook and also for her and her friends to cozy up on with stuffed animals and sweet bolster pillows.

Anthonette also paints furniture to your specification if you wish.  She does it for a nominal fee and I think this color pink called {pink gypsy} from Benjamin Moore makes it for an even more fantastic reinvention for Anna's room.  

The roman shades came back too short from the work room, but the panel top edging is the creme de la creme, don't you think?  So tailored and crisp.  

I was unable to make it to the second install of these puppies yesterday, but this is the picture sent to me from the client.  Do you notice something different?  Something very, very wrong?  If you guessed the edging, you guessed right. Sigh. Not such a happy install, especially since we waited weeks for these to come back.  But, hopefully third time's a charm.  Sometimes you just have to wait for a good thing.  

Hope you are having a good week.  Can't wait for a spring like return of weather, can you?

xx

sharon

FRIDAY's Mixer

Happy Friday!  I have been a day behind all week.  I thought yesterday was hump day and I forgot that tomorrow is St. Patty's!

I'm totally loving these details above.  NAVY.  CORAL. CREAM.  STRIPES.  FLORAL.  IKAT.  MOROCCAN. GREEK KEY.  SMALL CREATURES.

BTW, I'm crushing hard on jcrew's spring colors and mixing of patterns.  Stripes with florals and polka dots is totally fresh to me.  What about you?  Do you like mixing patterns?

You can shop this look here.

What are you doing for St. Patty's day?  We're parading it up.  Not marching.  Just catching the candy:)

Have a great weekend and

xx
sharon

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

SPRING NEWS & TREND Predictions

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  

Need help finding cool things to spring-ify your home? I'll make it happen for you. My eye muscle is trained well and my kids have been teasing me that my online shopping addiction is my own version of 'gaming'.  Haha.  I may not be knowledgable on a lot, but I do know I have some great current and colorful sources on things.  And if we can't find what you're looking for, we can usually customize something for you!

Here are my hot picks for spring.  With Easter coming up real quick, I'm loving this mix of MINT, PEACH, Ombre wheel of HOT PINK, and ICY BLUE.  If you'd like to shop this look, you can go here.  Can't find what you're looking for there?  Maybe you'd like me to create a board to suit your style?  Or have something customized to suit your needs?  I'm happy to do that.  Just give me a call:)

Here's a virtual room above that I put together using those items in the board on top.  What do you think?  I love the peach to pink ombre.  OMBRE is still hotter than ever.  Did you notice that House Beautiful 's magazine cover page text was ombre last month?  LOVE it!  For spring, I predict we'll see a lot of ombre in varying shades of spring colors.

IN OTHER NEWS...

I told you we have chickens, right?  We inherited them from Will's dad who passed away just before Christmas.  This is a pic of Sylvia when the chickens first came to the new house property.  She looks thrilled, huh?  You can tell we're city folk.  I wasn't quite so sure about doing this chicken thing either. But, it's actually really easy, and fun.  They are so pretty, too.  They didn't lay too many eggs at first, and Sylvia was shy with them,  but now she and baby John-John love taking care of them.  John clucks at them like crazy and then laughs.  We like to go check on them every day after school.  Sylvia gets so excited to see how many eggs they've laid.  A good day is four to six, but lately, it's gone up to nearly a dozen eggs per day!  We have an abundance as you see here below.  Now we just need to move in and get to scrambling some eggs on the new stove. 

Will did a little reading up about the chickens and feeding them. We've been giving them scraps of veggies, fruit, and peelings.  I think that's why they are producing so many.  

In other news, I HAD to share this sweet little invitation below with you all.  A young girl threw her dear friend a baby shower here at Pickwick House over the weekend.  It was library themed shower and the invitation is an old library check out card.   Isn't it adorable.  I thought it was such a sweet idea for a shower.  Babies can't have enough good books, can they?

Tea Bar and Bites catered the party with their yummy spread!

Speaking of Tea Bar...Eleanor {my girl} whipped up a most delish new blood orange cupcake recipe last week.  She filled the pastry case with this amazing delectable.  I kid you not, these are THE best cupcakes I have EVER, EVER had!  There is a homemade curd surprise in them too!   And, just so happens that the beautiful oranges are from Home Grown Foods.  How 'bout all that for a batch of local goodness from all our wonderful neighborhood market vendors here on Pickwick street!  I feel so blessed to be here.  I hope you do too.  

Be sure to stop by and say hi to us if you see us at the new house, or Pickwick House...and come see the chickens too.  Cluck, cluckety, cluck! haha.  

Have a great week, everybody:-)

xx

sharon

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

PSST!!!

Morning Lover-lies.  Thank you all for voting for my olioboards for the get published camp!  There were a LOT of amazing boards submitted.  I'm pulling for Jennifer Reynolds, an interior designer based in Atlanta, Georgia.  Her entry board was titled, 'Crazy for Stripes'.   The judges will be announcing the winners soon.  I had unrealistic hopes for winning, but that's okay, mine are not even close to being in the running.  I am now familiar with the wonderful olioboard tool, and now I am familiar with the rules to the contests. I will try, try, again:):)  Thanks again for voting!

While I am on the subject of voting for things, I have a dear friend's daughter who always makes strides to make a difference for the less fortunate.  She's a 19 year old asking for our votes so she can take part in a traveling campaign to help kids in Africa.  It would be so wonderful if you could take a minute of your time to read her short entry bio here and vote her in to the top 50 people who deserve to go on a Tom's Giving Trip.  Thank you in advance!  Btw...PSSST!!!! she's currently #79 out of 9,000 applicants as of today.  That's so close to the #50 mark!  GO ALEX!!

I'll leave you with a quick board I put together for a client recently.  It's very traditional.  While it's not the typical design style I choose for myself, I DO enjoy reading different people's/client's styles and wishes.  A home should be something you love, and if traditional is what you love, we can do that too!

xx
sharon

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.


417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

COME ON!

Spring cannot get here soon enough! Baby is STILL mending.  I don't remember a time where my littles were sick this much and for this long.  I strongly believe it's because they are subjected to much more stuff when they go to preschool.   Preschool is a good thing, but the sickness it breeds is not.  Just as I was sending Sylvia off to school this morning, she got sick, and started crying when I told her she couldn't go to school.  Haha.  {A real good indicator of how much they have enjoyed being cooped up with me for the last few days!}  Any of you moms out there relate?  

I really hope this means our spring and summer will be healthier and more productive.   I have so many projects and deadlines waiting on me and I'm anxious to show off some really cool things that we have going.

That said, we are we are still seeking internships.  Please send email and resumes to sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

Sorry for the boring, sickness posts you've heard over and over.  I hope you all are feeling well and happy to see the sunshine as much as I am today!


To see my latest kitchen board for a client, go here:  olioboard.com/boards/181796-d-s-kitchen.  It's going to be a bright and cheerful change up from what it once was.   Think marble countertops, subway tile, all white cabinets, colorful furnishings, all new appliances, apron front sink, and gold accents.

xx
sharon

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

LOVE DAY Obsessions: FASHION, MOVIES, HOME GOODS, POETRY, & TREATS

Happy Valentines Day to all of you, dear friends, family, and readers!  Here's what I'm obsessing over today.  

Red Smeg fridge.  West Elm is selling these now along with a myriad of other great kitchen necessities, including some black and white enamel cooking ware I'm obsessing over.  {Locals, there is no distributor here for the smeg fridge, unfortunately.  I tried to order one for a client:(}  

source 

Light blue grasscloth wall.  With the raspberry upholstered chair.  SO sweet.  

I spied this amazing geronimo balloon creation over on IG.  Couldn't find it on their website, so I'm assuming this one is hot off the press.  Is it not beautiful???!  No local deliveries here either.  Wishing a local floral shop would make things like this.  

Now locals, and any other connoisseur of fine delights, my daughter, Eleanor, is the master baker at Tea Bar and Bites.  This is just one of her many IG photos she takes of the delectable treats she bakes daily for them.  I've got to go GET ONE in my mouth, and you should too.  

Also, obsessing over the 2013 fall collection of Alice and Olivia.  #NYFW has the skirt of my dreams, as well as work day/cocktail attire one could only wish for.  To see the collection hot off the runway, go here.    It's retro, brocade, sophisticated, romantic yet modern, and big into flower prints.  I love the shapes and fabrics so much.  {This ensemble pictured above is from Stacy Bendet's spring collection.}

I'll leave you with a poem by John Keats to Fanny Browne.  It made me dream of floating away in a hot air balloon, gifting some blue heart balloons to my girls and boys, and watching a fun movie like Bright Star, A Royal Affair, or Out of Africa.  Three MUST-SEE movies!

"I am sailing with thee thru through the dizzy sky!  How beautiful thou art!"~John Keats

Happy thoughts, and day, LOVES.  

xx

sharon  

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

Living Thankfully

Hoping you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We certainly did! I documented my day on instagram. (Instagram is my favorite.) It's my personal locket.

This past week, Martha Stewart Living encouraged instagram users to post pictures of what they were thankful for and to use the hash tag #livingthankfully alongside their picture. I loved that title. We can all say we are thankful. But do we 'live' it?

Here's what I'm #livingthankfully for.

Mostly, as you can see it's family, and family time. My kids. Will. A roof over our heads. But I'm also thankful for YOU!

My work, a storefront that is right up the street, my vendors, my clients, my projects that end beautifully as well as my difficult project experiences that dont go so smoothly and have taught me things. Friends, and my interns who donated their time this past year. Stormy, the contractor who has fixed all of our doors time and time again.

Last but not least, the beautiful Ozarks, and the best neighborhood in the Midwest--Rountree.

Sorry if I overloaded you on pics or doubled up on them. (I'm blogging on the go!) But I will tell you...My heart is SO full. Thank you again my dear ones!!

What are you living thankfully for?

Hope you eat lots of pie today!

xxxx
Sharon