<![CDATA[FULL CIRCLE HOMES - Blog]]>Mon, 06 May 2024 09:02:42 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[The Grandma Chic House!]]>Wed, 19 Apr 2023 21:07:39 GMThttp://fullcircle-homes.com/blog/the-grandma-chic-houseI have been accused many times by past boyfriends (not current one ha) and others that I decorate like a Grandma.  Well thank you! Yes, I wish I had as much taste as Lorraine did or the generations before her!  She believed in quality and kept  the same milkglass light fixture over her dining room table since the 1940s atleast.  For myself I do tend to go with nostaglic items, found items, and things that mean something to the client or house.  I love color and patterns. Lately though I have seen it catching on and so happy to see this! 
For this house - it was an estate and with some of the contents left.  The family is just lovely.  They were feeling a bit overwhelmed so of course Mike and I were happy to take on more antiques. It was struggle to let go of items, so we didn't!  We meticulously went through each item.  We found the mother's first bicycle and returned it to the family (sorry they cut that in the show). We also found a perfect New York world's fair map from 1964!  It felt a little intrusive but you could tell this family had a fun time over the years - camping trips, christmas decor, tons of dolls and tea sets and more.  It was like an amazing time capsule.  Many items you see in the finished home are from the house and it was fun to decorate with them!  It was fun to decorate with items that had some meaning to the house such as the hutch, desk, old radio and more!
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Grandma chic is a design trend that celebrates the charm and elegance of vintage and antique styles. It combines the cozy and comfortable feel of traditional homes with the whimsical and quirky touches that define retro and nostalgic aesthetics. .
If you're interested in incorporating Grandma Chic design into your home, here are a few tips to get you started:
  1. Embrace Color: Don't be afraid to use bold and vibrant colors in your decor, especially if they have a retro feel. Think bright oranges, yellows, greens, and pinks.
  2. Mix Patterns: Grandma millennial design is all about mixing and matching patterns, so don't be afraid to pair florals with stripes or polka dots with plaid.
  3. Vintage Finds: Hit up thrift stores, flea markets, and antique shops to find vintage furniture and decor pieces that will add character and charm to your space.
  4. Play with Textures: Add cozy textures, such as faux fur, velvet, or shag carpeting, to create a comfortable and inviting atmosphere.
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A little more personal - When my Grandmother passed away I was heartbroken ...it was so sudden though she was almost 90. Unfortunately it is a part of life and we all go through it.  I admired her and I have not let much go of her things - why would I? I think she had good taste and every item is sentimental to me.  When is letting go ok? I am not sure but these days but I love to sometimes sneak in an item into the house staging.  In this case the design was Grandma Chic so of course I had to sneak in her chair she was so proud of purchasing not that long ago and the milk glass cake platter that always sat in her kitchen with a cake on it of course!  It is always fun to incorporate meaningful antique items and more into every design! I save items to not forget her.  I am thankful I had her in my life and she will always be an inspiration to me.  Michael's grandmother was also an amazing person and a hard act to follow - they just don't make them like these folks!  Who is your inspiration?  What items do you keep that are sentimental to you?  It is lovely to be able to hang on to things that remind us but also keep us moving forward and inspire us!  
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]]><![CDATA[The Fairhaven House - A 1896 Colonial Revival]]>Wed, 12 Apr 2023 21:11:27 GMThttp://fullcircle-homes.com/blog/the-fairhaven-house-a-1896-colonial-revivalWe just finished filming after 300 days!  Yes, it does take that long to film a season of Houses with History.  The planning actually starts way before the show filming starts.  For this house we started planning with our clients last winter of 2022 before we started the work in the spring.  We completed this house in November of 2022.  It was the entire house which includes many rooms not shown on the show due to just fitting it all into a one hour show. 

​How the process works - We start with a list of priorities from our clients.  In this case we had some basic plans to start with and then I drafted those into our system called Chief Architect - 3d cad system.  I played around with all the spaces, designed the kitchen space, laundry and all the details onto cad.  The challenge with every historic home is making it functional for the client but not loosing the details and character of the old house!  This was no small task on this house.  Our client here loves a more modern look, black hardware and modern lighting.  She also did appreciate the antique windows, trim and fir flooring in the house.  She likes elements of wood, blues and greens  and the details.  In this space now called the dining room I wanted to keep the consistency of the arched gothic windows from the foyer and carry them into the space.  There was a foundation ledge we had to work with and our client loves plants so why not expand that for more functional usable space too!
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For the furniture and inspiration I was thinking Jacobean revival pieces fit perfectly in this space The Jacobean Revival started in the 1870s and combined the trend for factory-made furniture with the Jacobean period. The designs were adaptations of 17th century Jacobean strapwork, and the furniture details would be wide and flat, with ornamental moulding twisted into the designs.  The Strawberry thief print from William Morris (textile genius of the mid 1800s) was the perfect inspirational print for the chairs.  Soft blues, gray blues and whites are found throughout the house so the paint colors in here are consistent with Cloudy Sky by Benjamin Moore Paints and my forever favorite white that goes with all warm and soft colors is Mountain peak white. The light is handmade  burnished brass (so black look) by a local company called Sandwich Lantern.  The fir floors are natural with no stain.  
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Let's just talk about the ceilings, floors and more in this space!  We brought this space back to its original form like much of the house.  There was fake parque floors covering up real wood fir floors.  There was a drop ceiling covering up the crown molding and beadboard.  The walls were beadboard behind the fake paneling also but much was damaged.  So our team built the built-in with the original beadboard back.  We gained a full last 2 feet of ceilings and kept that original beadboard on the last two feet.  We spent a ton of time and patched the beadboard ceilings.  We even found where there was a door opening and brought in an antique glass door to complete the space.  I love keeping and saving all these elements.    The clients were not sure how it was going to all work out, but in the end they were surprised and loved it also!  
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