Bittersweet

I have a personal post for you all today. It is mostly all good news, but there is a little bit of sad too.  After talking about moving up to New England for years now, my parents have finally listed their house for sale in New York.  
Very exciting, but at the same time there is something sad about the house you grew up in selling and not ever being able to go back.  I should be fully over this with how many moves I have made personally, but this house has always been there for me to return to throughout them all. Its literally been a home base. 

So in an effort to help them get it sold I am posting it here.
Located in the Hudson Valley, about 50 minutes north of the city in Highland Mills, NY.
(If you have ever shopped the Woodbury Commons Outlet Mall, it is minutes away from that.)

 They have been here since they got married in 1972, raised three kids, put on numerous additions and landscaped the heck out of the place...
 Open floor plan, pumpkin pine floors, and built-ins/ storage galore via my Dad's amazing skills...






 There are tons of patios, gazebos, even a pool to lounge by...


$319,900
See the complete listing if you are interested or know someone that might be here.
Buy it so I can get their butts up this way faster!

xo
Danika

When I say "a" you say "ha"...

The "Aha!" Moment.  We all have them.  It could be a flash of inspiration, a coincidence or a simple connecting of the dots.  Its a defining moment where the light bulb goes off and you gain clarity, and maybe even a bit of knowledge that changes or strengthens the path you are on. 
While attending Blogfest, House Beautiful did a presentation pertaining to this, and they asked us bloggers to give them our own personal "Aha Moment".  
 I only had to think for a second of the image that has changed the direction of my path in design, and my career for the most part.  These wardrobes:

I know you have all seen them about 100 times on the blog here, but let me tell you the rest of the story. 

 It was Summer 2010 and I was working the above guest room for a client.  My good friend Cheryle Rhuda had a workroom and was helping me with all the soft treatments.  We got along great and often toyed with the idea of starting a joint business together.  We would frequently sit on a rock in my yard after a tough install and toss around ideas, but nothing ever took root.   Every idea seemed to have been done already or felt too forced.

 Back to the picture.  I had just painted and dressed up a pair of old IKEA Pax wardrobes with a piece of mirror, some crown molding and some vintage fretwork panels found at a flea market for a client's guest room.  When Cheryle came over to deliver the pillows and draperies and I showed them to her.  Neither one of us couldn't get over how these fretwork panels transformed the once drab inexpensive cabinets into something so high end and custom looking.  We had other clients that we wanted to do this for too, but we couldn't find anymore panels.

And just like that the lightbulb went off, our unexpected "Aha" moment.  We had found our niche. We would make fretwork panels that would fit standard flat furniture.
It took about a year of designing and scouring for resources, endless road trips to IKEA measuring drawers and doors and a whole lot of wine until O'verlays were born.  We realized that we could still be sitting on that rock searching for inspiration, but it was those two cabinets and some flea market panels that accidentally led to our big "aha!" moment and forever changed our paths.  

So, what is your moment? I want to know.

Blogfest- In small doses


Its been a crazy fast exhausting week folks. I have lots to share with you, and I am still in processing mode for the most part.  
SO... Monday, I landed in NYC with my partner in crime Cheryle for Blogfest 2012.  It kicked off at Kips Bay Show House where the bird in me was immediately drawn to the shiny stuff.  The Lumiblade in Charles Pavarini's room was by far probably my favorite thing.  

Sorry folks, my brain is a disco tech and this made me very happy.  This massive wall of little mirror like lights equipped with cameras that reflected the color and shapes in front of it.  I sadly could have stayed here all night, and I hadn't even had a sip to drink yet. 
I want one.
(p.s. I finally took the plunge and chopped my hair short)

Other shiny stuff that warmed my heart:
this ginormous giraffe...



lots of lacquered walls...


this mirror...


and this wall sculpture...


The house was packed with 160+ bloggers.  It got super hot and crowded quick!  
The first person I met was Daniela from Aesthetic Oiseau.  Let me tell you, she is just as cute and sweet in real life. 
(Cheryle, me and Daniela)



I was also so excited to finally meet Kathy fom My Interior Life and Barbara Franceski
These ladies are so nice and I had such a great time with them! 

OK, back to Kips Bay. I knew this was going to be hard to stay focused! Here is a quick montage.
Insane kitchen...
 Alexa Hampton's room... got to hear her speak the following day, 
she is hilarious & I love her even more now.


 Scott Sanders in his Cabana Room...

 Bits of Alexander Doherty's room...

 Found this fabric paneled hall intriguing. Might have to paint something like this.
(Coffinier Ku Design/ fabric Missoni through Stark)


fabric on the doors


Also loved the similar feel of this wall paper in the public bathroom...
seriously, next room I paint is going to be all horizontal fabulousness.



 Speaking of fab painting...
got to meet the super talented Chuck Fischer.


After Kips Bay we were shuttled off to a great party at Savant's Experience Center.  Amazing space loaded with high tech everything.  I was just waiting for my technology-curse aura to fry something as I walked through.  I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy stuffing my face, drinking and mingling.  

Need to take a break now, this is starting to sound like a book report
 and I haven't even left Monday.
Be back with more people/stuff I found inspiring soon.

Hope you are having a relaxing weekend!










Going there...


To NYC/ Blogfest 2012 that is.  
The mecca of all things design blog and glossy magalicious.
If you don't know what I am talking about click here, but I am sure you are getting an earful from all of us bloggers going.  Its like a 3 day bender for designaholics.  I leave Monday morning for three days jam packed with eye candy, shindigs and mingling. 

Reality.  I am giddy and nervous and quite frankly a ball of nerves.  What to wear? I raided my closet and I realize I own a ton of boring black.  My accessories are bleh too. No time to shop. Need to get the house clean and kids set up so I can leave with peace of mind. Need a haircut/color fix.  
I also have a ton of work to get done for
(like my new logo? feeling it!)

EEEEEEE!  Can you tell I haven't taken a trip ALONE since kids?  I am going to have to keep myself in check or else I will be dancing the robot and unleashing 7 years of pent up motherhood on everyone.

Despite all the nerves I am so excited to finally meet so many bloggers face to face!  
I also have high hopes for lots of blog inspiration/ mojo building.  I so need this.
 (The sporadic post have been far and few lately) 
I will be Instagraming (danikaherrick), FBing and Twittering (probably in that order since I really stink at Twitter) so be sure to pop over for a peek of the happenings.  I might go crazy and squeeze a blog post out, who knows.  I will be back with lots of good stuff fo-sure!

Be back in wink and for all my fellow bloggers going, see you Monday! Can't wait to meet you.

Now go weekend it up!
xo
Danika


Top 10 Room Prozac

Just got the latest Coastal Living in the mail today and I figured I share some a couple of their 
Right now my house is a sty and I have no idea when I might have a moment to clean, so let me wallow in the pretty here. 

 My favorites from their batch are:

This closet. 
Mostly because I decided to clean mine out Saturday and there is still shit piled all over my bedroom.  
I want this to happen somehow. And I want all the bright pretty clothes.  
Magic. Closet Elves. Sorcery. Bring it.
 This is A-O.K in my book...

and this makes me pretty happy too...


then top it all off with a banquette... done.


see the rest here



DIY DRIFTWOOD FINISH and some hacking

I have the easy peasey of painted finishes for you that happens to fit into my "Beach Month" theme.
(Remind me to never "theme" out again- I have no focus or attention span so this is hard.)
SO... it is driftwood.  
Yes, it has been shoved down our throats hard by the likes of Restoration Hardware and company, 
but it still is soft and pretty and beachy, so I still like.

I have a new IKEA Tarva in my possession. It is awesome and it might possibly be the best of both IKEA worlds. I'm talking Malm and Rast had a baby.  It is big like Malm, but made of wood like Rast so you can paint the holy hell out of it. It is also 20x better constructed than Rast.  I approve.

This finish works best on raw wood, but if you want to do it on a painted surface I recommend not adding water to your paint in this first step.

#1- Mix up a 1 part water, 2 parts paint (Grayish brown- I used C2- Barnacle, it was left over from my office walls.) Don't use a Semi- Gloss finish- you want matte or eggshell.


#2 Brush it over the entire piece.  Go with the grain, and move quickly so you don't get a  lot of overlapping brush marks.  


 You don't want it to be too heavy, you should still see some wood grain.
( If you are doing this over a painted surface, you will want to make sure you have decent coverage and the old color isn't visible.)
 #3 add 1 part white to 2 parts remaining brownish-gray...
 Using a wide flat brush "dry brush" this new color over the entire surface, once again going with the grain. Just dip the tip of the brush in and wipe off excess on a rag, and drag the brush along...

#4 Add 1 part white to remaing paint and repeat.
You are progressively getting lighter with each step, and leaving darker streaks from underneath...
#5
Repeat if you want it lighter.
Here is the end result.  The wood grain actually shows through still in some parts...


 I added some mother of pearl knobs my Mom found for me at Homegood's...

And then I had to test out some new "Fiona" O'verlays that were sized for the Tarva.

(P.S. 15% off O'verlays with coupon code YOURMOM15, good til 5/15/12).

These were spray painted with Krylon "Nickel" 
and then dry brushed with the last batch of paint.

Super easy, and it has me wanting to driftwood my linoleum floors.
All in moderation...


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