The Children's Rooms

I am just back from our family vacation to Indianapolis (where my husband is from) and a family reunion in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. We had a great time with the kids driving through the corn and soybean fields and seeing a different side of the America we live in. The weather was also fantastic, nice and cool, quite a change from the scorching, humid heat we are now experiencing in Miami.

As promised, I have photographed the two children's rooms for your viewing pleasure. First we will be begin with the girls' room.

It began as Cecilia's room when we moved into the house and became Paola's as well a few months ago. Cecilia's nursery, at our previous house had been painted yellow and had rather gender-neutral decor so when I got the chance to start over I went super girly. I painted the room a very soft pink--very light as to not be overwhelming. Her bed, is antique (of course!), a French iron daybed.


One of my close friends gave her as a "house warming" gift the opportunity to have custom bedding made at a charming boutique that used to be in downtown Coral Gables called Kate and Leo. I worked with them on the design and they had it made in Brazil. I was very sad when they closed as I would have liked to have matching bed linens for Paola.

Anyway, there is a hot air balloon light fixture, not old, but charming and handcrafted in Italy.


An antique marbletop nightstand with an old porcelain handpainted lamp that was a gift from a fellow antiques dealer. Over that there is a pastel of an angel, a study of an Annunciation by Da Barocci.


On the other side there is a collection of two drawings and an engraving of children and/or angels collected during my travels.


As we live in an old house with little to no closet space, we needed a practical piece of furniture for all of baby's clothes, bed linens, etc. We had this armoire whitewashed with a light pink paint to go in the room. It is very roomy and has room for everything from books to socks.


The window treatments and rug are from Pottery Barn Kids---easy and convenient--- and I fell in love with the animal-themed pink and green toile drapes.

Now on to Marcelo's room.

His bed is a mahogany Empire period sleigh bed, circa 1820.


Just like Cecilia, it is smaller than an American twin-size bed so I had to have mattresses custom made but they are close enough that I can just purchase twin sheets. I use his old crib bumper (also from Kate and Leo) as a railing and it works great! Plus, I'm not ready to give up those sailboats yet. He has a mobile with little wooden sailboats hanging from the ceiling and a wooden oar with his name painted (PBK).


As a dresser and changing table we have a antique chest that is painted with a nautical theme as if it had been on a ship--I always thought it would be perfect for a boys' room.


There are some framed vintage maps on the wall that I purchased from the booksellers on the banks of the Seine river in Paris.


I left everything as it is and didn't stage these photos too much so that you could see that we and the kids really live with all these antiques everyday.

During our vacation we had more than 30 potential buyers and brokers view our house and we received two offers. We have accepted one and will be having inspections today. I'm looking forward to starting over and decorating another house soon!

A Room Transformation- Part II

Here are the photos of the living room after the new furniture additions and some clean up. I have to take off some of the books on the coffee table, but other than that, this is what my potential buyers will see.



Then, to my horror on Saturday, my realtor reminded me with these pictures, that my bedroom looked like this:
I confess that I've always neglected our own room, spending a lot more time and creativity on the kids' rooms (I'll have to post photos of those next.) So I did a little more work and rearranging, and now it looks like this:

It is a small room, so tough to get a decent angle, but we took out the two dark mahogany pieces in favor of tables with open legs. The room looks a lot more spacious. We considered bringing some art in to cover our bare textured walls but didn't want to start making holes in 90 year old plaster, so instead we turned the bed so that the window is the focal point instead of the wall. Here are close-ups of the tables:

Official listing goes out on Wednesday---wish me luck!

Bedrooms and Chaises

One of the oversights people make in bedroom décor is that they focus on the bed and forget about creating a comfortable place to sit, read, or relax. In order to make a bedroom feel inviting, consider having a daybed, chaise longue, settee, or a comfortable chair. Reserve your bed for sleeping and use this area just for reading or relaxing. Make it comfortable with nice pillows and good lighting. Your bedroom is your individual space. Add your personal touch to the room by exhibiting special keepsakes or photos where you can see them daily.