Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  My gifts this year are too good not to share.  Here's some of the wonderful things Santa and his helpers brought me this year!

1. This little marble tic-tac-toe board from Wisteria looks so great on my kitchen island. It's no longer on the website so I'm glad Mr. Jackson got it when he did!  I imagine my children quietly playing while waiting for home-cooked breakfast....it could happen!

2.  The cutest little brass shoe horn by CB2.  It's perfect for getting tight ankle boots on and the sale price is under $10 right now!

3.  Another CB2 find from my wonderful co-workers: the gold waste can.  Yes, I'm obsessed with a trash can.

4.  8 glasses from Shreveport's own Great Raft Brewing Company.  I've been needing to update my kitchen wares and I love the way these look and feel.  The 16oz pint glass retails for $5.00 each.

5.  The perfect little pearl earrings similar to these from Macy's.

I hope your Christmas was as great as mine!  Next Mallory will share her favorite gifts of this year!

South Highlands Kitchen Remodel

Native to Shreveport, this young couple and their two daughters have lived out of state for school and work for several years and have finally moved home! They bought a house in Shreveport’s historic South Highlands Neighborhood knowing their home would need some updating---That’s where we come in.

Energetic, excited, eager….and in LOVE with Chip and Jojo! We set out to make this South Highlands home look like something right out of Waco and right off of HGTV’s “Fixer Uppers!”

Subway tile, shiplap and brick pavers, OH MY! We ripped out walls, patched up doors, polished up old, and installed new. Together with the homeowners we rearranged a few things for a more practical flow and topped things off with a few local touches! 

Here are a few before and afters:

Hard work and great homeowners made this project successful! I think Chip and Jojo would be proud! We LOVE the way it turned out!

The two that rule the roost around the house look like they're enjoying themselves!
Mission accomplished!

A huge "THANK YOU" to the guys at River Cities Flooring and all of our other subs who helped make this project possible!

Follow us on Instagram @RedRiverRemodelers

Old Schoolhouse Antique Mall

 I try to make a stop in Washington, La a couple times a year.  It's right off I-49 just six miles north of Opelousas and the town is an antique shoppers dream.  The former high school houses a 40,000 square feet antique mall and Front Street is home to many more.  You will not be disappointed by taking this detour!

Exterior

Here are a few of the goodies I spotted while there earlier this month.

Mid-century candle sticks 

Only thing I walked away with was this pitcher from the 1960's.

Found this adorable butter dish on main street at one of the many other shoppes.
Out of my price range but so cute!

This Art Deco light fixture is only $100, what a find.

My kiddos posing as this St. Francis of Assisi statue.  Only $175!!!!

Seaside, FL

Seaside, Florida looks like it could be right out of a scene in a movie! As a matter of fact, it is! I recently visited Seaside for the first time and fell in LOVE! Besides the fact that everyone here rides their bike everywhere, the scenery, architecture and vibes of the whole town are just perfection.

 Seaside is an unincorporated master-planned community on the Florida Panhandle between Destin and Panama City! Being one of the first cities in America designed on the principles of New Urbanism, the town has become the topic of slide lectures in architectural schools and in housing-industry magazines, and is visited by design professionals all over the United States! Sweet little Seaside rose to global fame as being the main filming location of the movie The Truman Show!

(Truman's house from the movie!)

The idea behind Seaside came from 1946, when the grandfather of future founder Robert S. Davis bought 80 acres of land along the shore of Northwest Florida as a summer retreat for his family.  In 1979 Davis inherited the parcel from his grandfather, and aimed to transform it into an old-fashioned beach town, with traditional wood-framed cottages of the Florida Panhandle. Davis, his wife Daryl, and architectural partners Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ), toured the south studying small towns as a basis for planning Seaside.

Individual housing units in Seaside are required to be different from other buildings, with designs ranging from styles such as Victorian, Neoclassical, Modern, Postmodern, and Deconstructivism. (per Wikipedia, of course) 

Seaside has no private front lawns, and only native plants - no sod - are used in front yards.

Seaside is Home to one of Florida’s first charter schools---big white school houses with a perfectly groomed courtyard and what must be the greenest grass on the planet.

The house we stayed in was great---Just a short bike ride (or golf cart when we were feeling lazy) from downtown Seaside, the white sand dunes and the BEACH!

The Post Office, one of the most photographed landmarks in Seaside, was just the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen.

The food and drinks were great!

Food trucks, paddle board yoga, and record stores---We had so much fun exploring shops, admiring design and  soaking up the sun!

Trend forecast for 2016!

Trends are adopted by different parts of the world gradually. What was hot in New York or LA at the end of last year might just now be hiding the South or the Midwest (and what’s hot in Paris in Milan may make it to the U.S. in…5 or 10 years!). In their own time, the masses start to gravitate to what is “new and hip” in the world of fashion or interior design and that becomes the norm.

Dwell Magazine put together a little list of interior design trends to look for in 2016!  From things we love online to things we are installing in our own projects, we put together a few examples of how you can implement these trends in your own home! Follow these trends now and you’re sure to be ahead of the curve when everyone else catches on!

Interior Design Trend forecast from Dwell Magazine!

No. 1: Bringing The Outdoors InFrom decorating compact apartments with greenery to turning expansive backyards into glamping adventures, consumers are experimenting with how to bring nature into every aspect of their homes. HGTV’s David Bromstad explained that this means that consumers will be buying furniture they can use indoors and outdoors. In terms of interior decor, lifestyle expert Justina Blakeney shared that wall decor, accessories and small plant life inspired items are going to be hot. 

Driftwood, rattan, succulents, coral, and pinecones, Oh my!

No. 2: Source Artisan GoodsFrom tassels and basketry to macrame and crochet, weaving is in. To embrace this trend, lifestyle expert Justina Blakeney advises consumers to be inspired by local finds. LG Studio artistic advisor Nate Berkus encourages shoppers to buy locally made and globally crafted goods. Berkus also states that consumers should not be afraid to mix vintage and artisanal items with mass produced goods. Consumers should not miss the opportunity to pair a Mongolian lambskin pouf and Moroccan rug next to a Target coffee table, for example.

If you're looking for local art that speaks to you directly, Shreveport Farmers' Market, The Agora Borealis, or Texas Ave. Makers Fair would be a good place to start looking!

No. 3: Minerals Are InWhile polished geodes attached to lucite bases have been all the rage, minerals are going au natural now. Watch for bowls of pyrite on tables, big chunks of quartz used as display pieces and unpolished semi-precious stones turned into door pulls. 

Lamps, tables, etc. This mineral decor ROCKS.
(Pun intended---let me be a dork, OK?!)

No. 4: Tiles Are Going GeometricDecorative backsplashes have gone strong for a long time. Designers are expecting to see consumers gravitating towards more geometric patterns that feature fluid movement. Cement and even wood are going to play a significant role in achieving this. Whether it is a backsplash, an intricately patterned floor or a countertop, fluid geometry is coming in strong.

Geometric tiles do NOT just have to be black and white!
Any pattern with repetitive lines--any color--will work!

No 5: Mix Metallics and MetalsThe 1950s and 1970s are hot trends in fashion design collections right now, and it is no different in interiors. Midcentury Mod with brass, gold and metallic finishes are popular right now. Get ready to embrace some retro bling.

Bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, dining room---you can try mixing metallics and metals in any room of your house!

Original Blog Source: Dwell.com

Image Sources: Pinterest, Pencil & Paper, Co,, Katie Brisco.com, and Agora Borealis

Nest Fest 2015

This past Saturday Red River Remodelers attended Nest Fest 2015!

Nest Fest was established to raise funds and awareness for "Renesting Project, Inc." a non-profit organization providing reclaimed furniture and household goods to families and individuals  in the SBC moving from homelessness, to more independent living arrangements and rebuilding their lives. The event, "Nest Fest", was started in 2010, by "Lauren's Nest Egg" a non-profit foundation in memory of Lauren Colvin, with the purpose of raising funds for Renesting Project, Inc. Although Lauren's Nest Egg is no longer responsible for production of Nest Fest, Lauren's memory continues to live on!

"CHAIRished Beginnings" Design Competition will adds another dimension to this lively evening of fun. Local professional designers, design enthusiasts and design students will all will be expressing their creativity and raising funds for Renesting Project, Inc.!

The guidelines for the vignettes in the competition competition were:

• At least 50% reclaimed items that could be refinished, recovered, repurposed
• Fit within a 10x10 space
• A living, dining, sleeping, or miscellaneous space
• Contain (at least, but not limited to) a chair, a transformed item, a table top surface, a light source, and a floor covering

Renesting Project has a fantastic collection of items that have been donated to be used in local projects---each team was also allowed to choose one item from The Nest to use in their vignette!

In our case, we based our whole space on the item we chose from The Nest! We went in with a completely different idea in mind, but upon visiting Renesting Project headquarters, things changed quickly….I fell in LOVE! How awesome is this 4-paneled 1950s Teak wood room divider?!

After snagging this gem, we decided to take our vignette in a different direction. Additional inspiration? This adorable little guy.

Everyone played their part from there. Sean whipped up this fancy lounge bed,

Super-Angie made all of the pillows,

I stained Sean’s palette bed and painted our retro chandelier this sassy rose-gold! 

Angie let us raid her collection of knickknacks and rugs, Sean rewired our chandelier and Barrett’s Stone Gallery nicely donated the round granite piece to top off the rattan footstool Angie found at an estate sale for an end table!

Chris, Sean, Angie and I all set up our vignette together on Friday for Saturday’s event!

And, voila! Our Bohemian reading nook was complete!

And guess what?! We even won Best Professional design! It really was “A good time for a great cause!”

From designing, to setting up and attending Nest Fest 2015, we had a blast! We will definitely be participating next year!