New Pillows for Our Sofa + Caitlin Wilson Textiles Giveaway!

I thought it was about time to show you some summer touches in our home, seeing as we are halfway through summer now! Where does the time go?! I'm super excited to show you some our new pillows for our sofa for a few reasons! 

First, pillows are one of the easiest ways to update your space on a budget. They also do WONDERS for adding texture, color, and pattern to your space. I can never understand why people don't have pillows on their couch ;) My husband is one who throws all the pillows off the couch, except for the one he's using, when he plops down...and that's fine with me, but during the day while I'm working, you can bet the sofa looks just like this. Karate chopped pillows are my jam. They just make this little apartment of ours look more put together than it actually is! Mess on one side, perfectly chopped pillows on the other...that sounds about right ;)

The other thing pillows do is make a living space feel inviting and homey. And I'm all about creating a warm and inviting environment for us + our guests. I loved the pillows we had before, and will be keeping them to change out every now and again, but these watercolor floral pillows have me swooning big time. They have just the right softness, while still providing a pattern that mixes well with our lattice print curtains and work well with the seaglass colored accent pillows.

Lincoln insisted he get in on the photo action ;)

The final reason I'm over the moon with these gorgeous pillows is because this watercolor pattern was designed by my sweet friend Jenny of Graceline, who designed our wedding floral pattern, envelope liners, and did all of our calligraphy!! How special is this, that now her work is also on our sofa?! Jenny did this GORGEOUS collection of floral pillows for Caitlin Wilson Textiles, my favorite textile designer, and the result is stunning. Gold zippers, linen fabric, perfect attention to detail. I would expect nothing less of these ladies! 

Our wedding invitation suite (see more here):

Our pillows:

I love how recognizable Jenny's beautiful art and illustration is! I can tell something is her work from a mile a way.

DETAILS | similar coffee table / sofa with a chaise-- thank God it's slipcovered because we may need to order a new slipcover after Lincoln's puppy stage / wood sign -- custom piece, they take custom orders! / curtains -- on sale now! / similar garden stool -- under $30 / gold moroccan pouf / rug 

I can't even handle this last picture. The hairs in front of his eyes kill me!! Look at that blurry tail wagging!

Okay, want to know the REALLY exciting part about this post?! Not only does my couch look really pretty with these pillows, but one of yours will look equally as beautiful with the Graceline Collection for Caitlin Wilson Textiles soon! That's right, the next giveaway are these gorg pillows!

One lucky winner will get to choose 3 pillows (either in blush, gray or navy) for their own home. You can enter the giveaway on my Instagram. It will start around 12pm EST.

blush / gray / navy

Do you like the pillow combo in our living as much as I do? Hopefully this sparked some inspiration for minor updates in your home that bring you joy!

Happy Tuesday,

Michaela

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Client Progress: Pillows with Personality!

You might remember back to a few weeks ago when I showed you some progress on one of my client's living rooms. If not, you can check out the post here. Today I'm excited to show you the finished pillows for the room, made by my grandma. Together, we run a custom pillow cover shop. You can buy ready-made pillows in our Etsy shop, Lilac & Grace, or you can hire me to help you find custom fabric, then my grandma will sew them especially for you. She's an amazing seamstress and also an interior designer! It's fun to share this passion with her.

Anywho, back to the client reveal. My client, Brittani, wanted to keep their dark gray leather sofas and because the walls are also a deep gray (something she might change later, but is keeping for now) really wanted to find a way to brighten up the living room. After hearing about what colors and patterns they wanted to corporate, we sourced tons of gorgeous fabrics for them to choose from. After I presented all of them, we landed on these beauties! I can't believe what a huge difference the pillows make in the space. 

We did two, solid turquoise pillows for this pair of patterned chairs:

We chose a colorful, floral feature fabric, accented with a subtle ikat chevron print and a solid seaglass pillow.

On one side of the living room is the staircase down to the basement. There's a ledge at the middle landing, so we brightened it up with some mirrored frames. 

I absolutely LOVE this print! 

The couple's sweet pup, Elsie, couldn't help but jump in one shot :) She loves the pillows, too!

The custom draperies are arriving this week (also made by my grandma) and once they are hung, we will be back with the final room reveal. I can't wait to show you!

*Need some interior design help?! Get in touch with me to find out about my services and pricing. I'd love to work with you! Contact: hello@michaelanoelledesigns.com


Happy Tuesday!
xoxo

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Don't forget to enter our $100 Stella & Dot Giveaway HERE! 

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3 Steps to Mixing Pattern in Pillows

Well, it's a brand new week! I'm feeling rested from the weekend. My guy and I went to lunch at the same spot we had our first date, which was so sweet! We also went to a museum down town for a fun afternoon. After church on Sunday, I took a little nap and got some work done to get ready for the next week. Sunshine is on the forecast, so I'm a happy girl :)

I find one of the hardest things for people to pull together in their homes is how to mix patterns; specifically in pillows. Pillows are an essential part of the sofa (side note: I had a professor in college who corrected us every time we said the word "couch". Apparently, the proper term is "sofa", so that is what I call it now! It's be ingrained in me...) They provide texture, color, pattern, and a cozy feeling that make people feel invited to sit down. So when you have multiple pillows touching each other, the patterns obviously have to mix and play well off of each other. Here are my 3 steps for mixing patterns and a little peek into my own sectional sofa with my new pillow covers made by my amazingly talented Grandma. We run an Etsy shop called Lilac & Grace where you can by ready-made pillows or get us to help you find custom fabrics for your home!

1. Emphasis: use more of one fabric, making it dominant, and use supporting fabrics to accent. In this case, my dominant fabric is the floral pattern. It's bold and graphic, so I have one on either end in larger pillows.

2. Character: styles of 2 or more patterns need to be compatible in the following ways:

* Color: hues within patterns should be similar (not exact!) or should be complimentary to one another. Repeating colors within patterns helps unify the look.

* Scale: If you have three different patterns for your sofa, they need to be of varied scales. One can be your large scale print (my floral pattern seen in the photos), the second can be half the scale as the largest print, and the third can be a complimentary color palette to the first to and either in a small scale or a solid fabric.

My combination is this:
 - Large-scale graphic pattern for my dominant fabric.
- More subtle, slightly smaller scale geometric print for my supporting fabric.
- Solid sea glass color fabric for my third fabric.

3. Consider patterns that pair well: It's crucial to pair patterns that work well together. Typically floral and geometric prints pair extremely well together (and create visual harmony!) Here are some other favorite pairings:

- polka dots and organic graphics (florals)
- polka dots, stripes, florals
- plaid and paisley
- ikat and polka dots
- chevron/herringbone and floral
- animal prints and fabrics with a tactile texture

I'm really excited about my pillows, and hope this visual and a few tips will help you pick patterns that mix well together for your sofa pillows!

Let me know if you have any tips down below in the comments!

For more tips and styling tricks like these, register for The Bloom Workshop in a city near you.

Happy Monday!
xoxo

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How to Spruce Up Your Home for the New Year

January is always a great time to think about the decorating you wanted to do in 2014, but just didn't get to it. It's a month of fresh starts; new beginnings. And a lot of us are on budgets (Hi! I definitely am!) so I'm showing you one of the best ways to spruce up and decorate on a budget. Your wallet will thank you...and so will your inner decorator :)

My number one tip when you want to add new life into your home on a budget is to change out your pillows! They are relatively inexpensive, don't require any HUGE changes that are time consuming (like painting, remounting new artwork, knocking out walls, etc.) and make a big impact depending on what fabrics and prints you choose. Pillow covers have the ability to totally change the look of your space!

These photos are from a client install I did a few weeks ago, using all custom made pillows made by my super talented Grandma. You can buy some of our ready-made pillows in our Etsy shop, Lilac & Grace, OR you can email me for custom pillow design help! We love to work with people to give them unique, beautifully sewn and affordable new pieces for their home. We can also do curtains, in case you're interested :)

I loved these gorgeous turquoise pillows for my client's bedroom. 

This beautiful palette is so serene, yet fresh for their living room. We just love mixing prints and finding fabrics that compliment each other perfectly!

This chevron ikat is probably my fabric crush right now. I can't get enough!

Our feature fabric pulled all the colors together and gave the room a pretty pattern, perfectly suited for the scale of the couch and other accent pillows.

If you want any of those pillow covers pictured above, email me: hello@michaelanoelledesigns.com. They aren't in our shop because they were custom pillows for a client, but we can easily make some for you, too!

Shop my favorite pillows:

DETAILS | Flower Pillow / Textured Metallic Pillow / Trellis Pillow / Silver and Gold Metallic / Boho Pillow / Scalloped Diamond / Washed Velvet Pillow / Chenille Pillow / Herringbone Pillow / Indigo Ikat Pillow / Lattice Mint Pillow /

Which are your favorite?

We are offering 15% off all the pillows in our shop, Lilac & Grace, for the next week! Use code SPRUCEUP15 for your discount at checkout.

Have a great day!
xoxo

interior design website / services / portfolio

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Big News: Our Custom Pillow Cover Shop Launch!

It's an exciting day over here, friends! My Grandma, who a lot of you know is an interior designer as well, is also an amazing seamstress. She has always made custom pillows, draperies, and napkins for her own clients, as well as all my fancy dresses when I was a little girl! Over the summer we came up with the idea to start an etsy shop, full of fun designer pillow covers to dress up your home. As I've always said, if you start with a neutral foundation (sofa, coffee table, headboard, dresser, kitchen table, etc...) you can play around with color and pattern, according to what's on trend at the time, in your accessories. One of the most cost-effective ways to update your space is by adding a few fun new pillows into the mix. Viola! Your sofa or bed is totally transformed :)

Lilac & Grace is your newest resource for custom, designer pillow covers and other pretty linens. When we were naming our shop, I immediately came up with Lilac & Grace.  I couldn't get it out of my head! If you couldn't already tell, purple is my favorite color (specifically, the soft lavender/lilac hues) and Grace is my Grandma's middle name.  We thought it was a fun combination of what the two of us could bring to our custom pillow shop.

In our etsy shop, you will find pillow covers that are already made. Right now we have a bunch of affordable pillows, done in playful, bright fabrics. We will be adding new collections often, including a more exclusive high-end designer line. As both of us are interior designers, we also offer custom design services. You can email us with your specific needs for the space -- what color palette, function, and look you are going for-- and we can help source the perfect designer fabric, then sew the custom pillows for you. Lilac & Grace is a one-stop-shop for beautiful and unique pillow covers, and we are just so excited about it.

Yep, that's my Grandma. All I have to say is I darn hope I get her good genes! 

Stop over to our shop and feel free to use the code GRANDOPENING to receive $5 off your purchase. Valid until next Wednesday, October 8th.

Thank you so much for always supporting the new ventures I share with you here on my blog. I am so grateful for your encouragement, inspiration and support along the way! 

Happy Pillow Shopping :)
xoxo

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Apartment Update: Pillow Talk

It's no secret that I love color. I couldn't wait to infuse pops of color into my new apartment. With soft tones of gray and light blue in my bedroom, I chose to accent it with a splash of berry and pink. Hey, I got to get out this pink obsession. Who knows when I'll have to begin thinking about what colors a guy actually likes?! ;) Pillows are a great way to spice up the room with color, texture and pattern. It's also a very small item in the grand scheme of things, so if you want to change it out in a few months, you can definitely afford to do that.

I recently picked out these Caitlin Wilson Textile Fretwork Pillows. I just can't decide where they should stay! (Do you have that problem, too?!) I love them in my bedroom and love them in my living room! Here are some photos of them in both locations. 

Bed Pillows / CWT Fretwork Pillow / CWT Berry Fluer Pillow / Blue Pillow / Headboard / Lamp

Isn't the coral oh-so-lovely?! :) Where do you prefer the pillow?

Happy Wednesday! One more day of work and then a long, fun weekend of celebration!
xoxo

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