MISS MOOX: 
Search results for Mary McDonald

Did you watch Million Dollar Decorators last night?

Well I did and it was just what I wanted! Totally cliche and over the top Hollywood designers who are so ridiculously in love with themselves I can hardly stand to watch! But I so so will. I think my favorite part was when Mary McDonald's client called her over to tell her that she was getting a divorce and selling the house and Mary said "Ok thank God, I thought you were gonna tell me something terrible like you lost all your money." (I'm paraphrasing but you get the idea).

I do like that they are all friends. Nathan Turner and Mary McDonald are bff and Nathan said that Mary McDonald is who the character Karen, from Will and Grace is loosely based on. Not sure if that is true or a total joke but regardless, I like it! I do hope they show more of the actual design process and these talented designers work as the show goes on.

I really liked designer Nathan Turner's personality so I wanted to highlight some of his design work.

nathanturner.com

Be sure to tune in Tuesday at 10:00 on Bravo!

I mean just when I think you can't get any better with your trash, I mean quality, programing you announce Million Dollar Decorators! Holy Mother Load! I cannot wait. Set to debut Tuesday May 31 at 10 pm.

Here is a sneak peek to wet your appetite...
(On a related note, who can tell me how to upload a video? How do I get it from Bravo's site to this post? I really didn't think I was this technologically challenged.)

This motley cast includes: Lawrence-Bullard along with Kathryn Ireland, Jeffrey Alan Marks, Mary McDonald and Nathan Turner. Let's look at some of their work, shall we?

Designer Lawrence-Bullard

Designer Kathryn Ireland

Jeffery Alan Marks

Designer Mary McDonald

Nathan Turner

Go ahead and set your dvr because I have a feeling this is gonna be goooood!

Is it bad that I am so obsessed with Bravo that I heard about Bin Laden's death from Andy Cohen? He was like we will all remember where you were when you heard this news. Um, I was in bed watching Watch What Happens Live. Oh Sidney! Rest assured I switched to the news for full coverage.

I love when people think outside the box and get creative! Especially in an unexpected area like the floor. We often think that the "shell" of our rooms should be pretty neutral and basic since it can be a large investment but what a great spot to make an impact! Here are some floor patterns that I thought were really cool. I am a huge fan of a chevron pattern (although it always reminds me of Charlie Brown's shirt) which designer Mary McDonald rocked in this photo. If you aren't quite as daring, try doing one of these patterns in a tone on tone material so you can still appreciate the interesting design but with much less of a POW! Or try it in a really small area like a mudroom, child's bathroom or laundry room. ~Images: 1) Mary McDonald featured in Domino Feb 2009 2) Country Home March/April 2009 3) Domino April 2008

When stripes are bad: horizontally on your clothing, on your body when you missed spots with the sunscreen or if you find yourself wearing prison garb. When stripes are good: on the American flag, Stripes: The Movie, The White Stripes (some might say) or the bold stripes in these amazing interiors! Painting stripes on a wall (or ceiling) is not for everyone but as you can see, the technique totally paid off in the rooms featured above because it was well thought out and perfectly executed. By using contrasting colors, you can create a shocking amount of interest in a room but you have to totally go for it! If a subtle look is more your style, try doing a tone on tone treatment instead. After studying these images, I am feeling daring and kinda want to go paint something totally unexpected in stripes...like the interior of my coat closet! (I know, I know, I'm W-I-L-D!)

~Images: 1) Mary McDonald's Office Featured in Domino Feb 2006 2) Mary McDonald's Domino Feb 2009 3) Unknown 4) Domino Oct 2005 5) Domino Nov 2008 6) Unknown

Brother and sister-in-law in Ireland

Before I get to it, I want to wish my sweet brother a Happy Birthday!

If you are a design enthusiast then here are some books to add to your Christmas list. Now I own thousands (ok, might be a slight exaggeration) but these are my Top Five books that I refer to often when I need inspiration.

Suzanne Kasler's Inspired Interiors

Celerie Kemble's To Your Taste

Kelly Wearstler's Hue

Darryl Carter's The New Traditional

Victoria Hagan's Interior Portraits

With an honorable mention to...

Domino Magazine's The Book of Decorating

And these are on my Christmas List this year!

Mary McDonald Interiors

Bobby McAlpine's Home Within Us

Allegra Hicks: An Eye For Design

Do you have any "go to" books that you love? Leave a comment!

As promised, here are some inspirational offices from some design icons...I bet you can guess who they belong to! As well as some other dream office spaces that I would love to have as my working environment. Mine however, is still a work in progress...as I am sure it always will be because a room (in my opinion) is never really "done."
~Images: 1) Laurie Smith's office from her book Discovering Home 2) Celerie Kemble's office from InStyle Jan 2008 3) Amanda Nisbet 4) Mary McDonald's office in Domino Jan/Feb 2006 5) Jonathan Adler 6) Domino Feb 2007

I don't know...I am iffy on the circus/prison stripes. I feel like everyone did this like 8-10 years ago. But, I have seen some images lately that haven't looked so dated. Maybe the key is to keep the decor simple? And keep the stripes tone on tone so it doesn't look like a circus tent? Or better to just go for it? What do you think?

I like that they took it to the ceiling. Makes the image above look unfinished. Although I do hear "dodododidaloohooo" playing in my head...(that is "Entrance of the Gladiators" for those of you that couldn't get my humming).

Now stripes on the horizontal...that I could get on board with!!! PRO, PRO, PRO!

Bravo to you Mary McDonald for taking it to the next level!!!

I love you Lonny but if I were a man bathing in this room then I would definitely be scared to drop the soap!

Considering doing some horizontal stripes...who knew there were so many options!

*All photos from Pinterest.

Which one is your favorite?

Eclectic has been nominated as Best Interior Design Blog by JDR Annual Blogger Industry Awards, please click on the link and take a second and vote for me! Many thanks!!!

Country Living did a great story on turning a reach-in closet into an office space. Not a new trick but I think they had some clever ideas. My favorite of which was spray painting the blah metal file cabinet a color that coordinated with the wallpaper.

+

= Brilliant

Martha suggests having an auto body shop paint it for you (she is such a lazy ass).

You can even paint the wood variety.

Better Homes & Gardens

Perhaps even updating the hardware to something like this...

Van Dykes Hardware

Or you could knit a "file cozy" (just kidding). But I do like the skirt idea that just hides the whole darn thing.

Better Homes & Gardens

Here is another genius idea by designer, Mary McDonald, who covered her ugly metal file cabinet in a photocopy of her favorite wallpaper. I imagine you could use actual wallpaper, scrapbook paper, contact paper, whathaveyou.

Domino

Have any other ideas? I'd love to hear them!

In honor of Domino's Special Edition Quick Fixes coming out today, I thought I would show some of my favorite pics from the magazine. I still have every magazine. I can't seem to get rid of them...wonder if I ever will??? Probably not.

I think this was in the premier issue...Ruthie Sommers.

Mary McDonald's Office

This always reminded me of what Barbie's office would look like if she was real.

Jena's nursery

I talk about these people like I know them personally.

This door inspired me to paint my front door Peacock Blue.

Just brilliant styling...

I think I might go curl up with a bottle of wine and read through all my Domino's, cover to cover. See you in about 16 hours...

I know I am not the first blogger to cover this topic but I was sourcing a garden stool today for a client (to use as a shaving bench in her shower) so they were on my mind. An interior design trend for the past few years has been to use these stools as side tables, nightstands or extra seating in a pinch. It is always nice to break up massive amounts of wood furniture by having another material like ceramic to add some interest. Likewise for adding a shape other than square or rectangular furniture.

I love layering them in front of other tables like this...

Garden stools as side tables, coffee tables and nightstands...

I also like to layer them under a console table like this...

My favorite source for ceramic stools is Emissary (available to the trade only). Their varied collection is what put this company on the map back around 1989 . If you like anything you see, email me at sidney@eclectic-idg.com for a price. Or you can get your own knock-off version for cheap via any of the companies below, many of which are having end of summer sales. Beware however that most versions are heavy as all get out!

Wisteria Metallic Chinese Garden Stool for $129

Ballard Tuiles Garden Seat for $99

Overstock Ceramic Hexagonal Stool for $160

~Images: 1) styleathome.com 2) Designer Mary McDonald 3) Designer Jennifer Marsico Domino April 2007 4) House Beautiful Oct 2009 5) Domino Dec/Jan 2009 6) Domino April 2008 7) Coastal Living May 2009 8) Ashley Whitaker courtesy of Little Green Notebook

Designer, Kelly Wearstler's Office

Designer, Mary McDonald's Office

Designer, Celerie Kemble's Office

Designer, Laurie Smith's Office

Bare with me...I have been going non-stop since the beginning of December. I am behind in every aspect of my life right now-work, blog, gym, mail, laundry, grocery shopping, catching up with good friends, you name it! I am excited for the cold weather and impending rain this weekend so I can nest and get myself back on track. After seeing two of my organizing clients today, I am motivated to get myself all neat and tidy too. So one of the items on my massive to-do list is to clean out and re-organize my office. I do this every January and it feels...well, as Monica (from Friends) would say...orgasmic! Anyhoo, here are some photos to inspire me (and hopefully you!).
~Images: 1) via decorpad 2 and 3) Kelly Wearstler 4) Domino 5) Pottery Barn 6) Celerie Kemble 7) book Discovering Home With Laurie Smith 8) Unknown

I went to a baby shower for a good friend of mine on Saturday who is expecting a little girl and so I have been in a super "girly" mood all week! I adore my three nephews but boy (ha!) do I appreciate some girly-ness and let me tell you this shower was all about the pink, ruffles, bows and frills! So fun! With that being said, I don't think pink has to mean "little girl's room" as artfully displayed in these photos. Pink can be super classy when paired with grey, ultra mod when paired with purple or fantastically chic when paired with yellow. Kinda makes me want to eat some cotton candy or chew some Bubbalicious gum!
~Images: 1) Angie Hranowski 2) Designer Mary McDonald 3) Designer Phillip Gorrivan for Elle Decor 4) Traditional Home 5) Unknown

As I was decorating my house for supper club last night, I got to thinking about my love for the color orange. I grew up a Georgia Bulldog and therefore was forbade to wear the color orange because it represented all of our SEC rivals-Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, Clemson, etc. And personally, I am a cool colored type of gal but I really do love to color orange! It reminds me of some happy times-carving pumpkins with my brother as a kid, picking oranges off the trees at my grandparents place in Florida, sunsets on the beach, watching Real Housewives of Orange County...

Need help picking out a good shade of orange to paint your walls? Check out this article from House Beautiful's October issue in which top designers gab about their favorite orange paint colors. Have a go-to orange paint color that you have used before? Let me know!

~Images: 1) Designer Tobi Fairley 2) Designer Mary McDonald 3) Designer Palmer Weiss 4) Designer Celerie Kemble 5) Designer Ashley Whittaker 6) Designer Sara Story

Domino

via decorinspiration

via HighHeeledFootInTheDoor

Designer Toby Fairley

Designer Mary McDonald

This last room is from a past Charleston Symphony Orchestra Designer Showhouse designed by a good friend of mine, Lauren Muzekari Lennon, with Morris Muzekari Interior Design. She is crazy talented, go check out her website and see for yourself! The 2010 Showhouse opens this week and runs March 18th-April 18 and you can get tickets here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here goes, Decorganizing Wednesday...

If you are really popular (like me) and having a hard time figuring out what to do with all of your party invitations, take some cues from these creative folks.

Designer Lindsey Harper

Designer Mary McDonald for Domino

Use an old door or shutter.
P.S. I tried this once and the tacks wouldn't penetrate [pause for giggles] the old wood so check first!

Designer Kay Douglas for House Beautiful

I have a random wall in my kitchen that is about 30" wide and I have filled the entire wall, floor to ceiling, with invites and photos. I tried using the chalkboard/magnetic paint but it wouldn't hold a magnet (despite three coats) so they are just tacked in. I am real excited about the day when I get to spackle this wall![she says sarcastically] Therefore, I highly suggest using cork instead.

When you are done displaying your invitations, you can cut them up and use the pretty printed parts as tags for gifts (or so says my inner Martha). Anyone have any other creative ideas for displaying party invitations? Leave a comment!

My nephews are big on a few things right now: "How old are you?," "How are you related to my dad?" and "What is your favorite color?" I think they ask me these questions several times per visit. Cracks me up. My answer is always the same to all three. I am 24 (which is a lie). Your dad is my brother. And my favorite color is blue...always has been, probably because it is reminiscent of my love for the sea.

The shade of blue however, has varied over the years. As a child, I had a Williamsburg blue bedroom with a very traditional mahogany antique furniture as well as a floral comforter "set" complete with matching wall border (gag!). Then I went through a painful phase in high school where my entire wardrobe was navy (I blame The Gap because that was their signature color the few seasons I worked there). Next came the infamous royal blue LL Bean Pancho that I wore every day of college (whether it was raining or not) until my wise friend advised me to retire it...three years too late mind you. Now I would say that my favorite shade of blue is more of an aqua like the soothing Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue in my bedroom. Today I have an appreciation for all shades of blue and I am especially fond of the blues in the images above as well as the fresh, modern take on the classic blue and white color scheme!
~Images: 1) Unknown 2) Unknown but believe it is by Designer Mary McDonald 3) Deisgner Tom Scheerer 4) Ralph Lauren ad 5) Unknown 6) House Beautiful June 2001 7) House Beautiful 8) Designed by Amanda Nisbet 9) Designed by T. Keller Donovan