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db living A magazine by Anna and Franny
THE SPRING ISSUE
Editor’s Note
…………….12
Our Favorites
………………15
Why is it called db living?
db living is a name we created together. We wanted a casual and creative name that included a personal significance. db stands for Dorsey Blanchard, our last names. The addition of living to the title
what’s inside...…
With spring approaching people are ready to throw out the old and bring in the new! The season of spring is a popular time for people to re do their homes and recreate their style. We were inspired to create our own interior decorating magazine for our senior X-‐Term project by both of our loves for designing and organization! Our goal was to develop a good sense for the decorating business, while creating an online magazine to show what we learned during our time and any helpful tips we learned throughout the week. The week of X-‐Term gave us the opportunity to further explore our passion for decorating as we met with Richmond local designers and found out what they love best about the industry and what advice they had to share with us. Whether you are redecorating your entire home, or just figuring out what color sheets to put in your new guest room, you can find all the tips and tricks for a stress free makeover for your home in this spring issue. You will find featured in this article, local Richmond designer interviews as well as fool proof decorating tips to make this spring makeover a success! We are so excited to create our first issue of dbliving and hope you find some helpful inspiration within this article!
Xoxo- Franny & Anna
Xoxo- Franny & Anna
Friday
X-Term sets aside time for
students to work on their
projects during school hours.
We are also given an entire
week (plus a day) of time for
the sole purpose of working on
your project. From Friday
March 1st to Friday March 8th,
we spent the whole day
interviewing designers,
exploring design resources and
shops and researching for this
magazine. In this quest, we
decided to make an Instagram
account to give people a look
inside our world as Design
explorers. Here is a glimpse of
our shared photos, one picture
for each day of the week we
worked. For more photos and
to see how we spent our week
check out
Instagram.com/dbliving.
Monday
We started our week by gathering our thoughts and going over our goals for the
week with our sponsor, Barrie Edlich. While at Janie
Molster’s office and showroom we were thrown into the tedious work that is masked by the excitement of
designing… we organized the hundreds of fabric
samples at the office. As you can see it was a lot harder than we expected! After a
lunch break we met with the delightful Ryland Woodard
at her office off River . It was a great first day in the
designer world!
After the weekend we started the full X-term week with our
own creative project. We were given an assignment by
Mrs. Edlich to design our own living room finding
inspiration and sources around Richmond. We
started by going to Virginia paints. It was nearly
impossible to find the right shade of paint we each
wanted! We then visited the West End Antiques Mall and
got lost in the tiny rooms filled with furniture, trinkets, and accessories. We went to a couple fabric stores and finished the day finding
guiding light from current home décor magazines at
Barnes and Noble. We then returned to the office to
interview Janie Molste. After we went on site to clients
houses.
A l o o k a t
O u r W e e k Tuesday Thursday Friday
It’s Tuesday and we are off on an adventure! We spent
the day traveling to the Washington Design Center, a
huge showroom for major fabric, wallpaper and
furniture companies. We were guided by Richmond designer, Jenny Andrews.
During the two hour dirve up and then back we chatted
with her and learned about her life as a designer. We had
tons of fun exploring the showrooms and getting samples for our design
project.
After an unexpected snowday, we started Thursday off by
exploring the beautiful home of Sarah Hurst. She gave us
her inside tips of finding great deals for your home. She
showed us how to transform a drab piece of furniture into a
useful steal. We visited a couple other antique shops
with her including Alexander’s Antiques Auction. There we learned the crazy world of
auctioning. The woman there said the auction lasts from 6pm to 4am and every single item in the huge warehouse sells! Mrs. Hurst also gaves us great tips
on creating DB Living from her experience working at major
design magazines.
From here on out we spent our time putting together all of our experiences into DB
Living. We’ve looked at other online magazines for
inspiration. The art of making a mag is tedious
and frustrating at times but all together a great visual
representation of our week.
Anna’s Wish List
3. Layla
1. Nordstrom
4. Sephora 6. Nordstrom 2. West Elm 5. South Moon Under
1 2
3
4
5 6
Franny’s Wishlist
1 2
3
4
6 1. Wallpaper Osborne & Little 2. Jewelry Tree
Athropologie 3. Dress Kate Spade Saturday 4. Coffee Table oomph 5. Painting Wolf Kahn 6. Note Cards Furbish 5
1. How long have you been interested in the decorating/ designing world? I came from a family where my father was an
architect/designer and my mom was an artist. I have always been exposed to design so when I went to college I knew I wanted to be a designer. I majored in design and art history. 2. How would you describe your design style?
New England/Swedish with a neutral/ pale palette and current twist
3. What design trend are you tired of, or would like to see more of? I never tire of a neutral palette. It is soothing and serene in this busy world.
4. If you had money to decorate any room in your house, which would you choose?
I don’t consider one room more important than another. A house has to work as a whole. I am always fine tuning rooms.
5. What is the paint color you love?
Farrow & Ball; off-white is my favorite at the moment
6. Who are your designer inspirations? Two designers whose work I respect, both of whom I
worked with, are John Saladino in New York and Hugh Jacobson in Washington DC.
Designer Scoop An inside look into a decorator’s design
secrets
Check out one of Pier’s
favorite designers!
Pier Haffenreffer
7. What is your favorite piece for a room or in your own home?
I like to bring in a good quality antique in each room with a fresh, current piece. 8. If you had $100 to spruce up a room, what would you buy?
Pillows can make a big difference in a room. They can change the mood.
9. Where do you look for inspiration? Pinterest and travel. 10. What is your favorite living space to design and what elements do you use to make the room stand out?
I like to design the house as a whole. I don’t focus on one room, they all have to flow together/ I think you have to get the architectural elements of a house right first and then start decorating. Good hardware is important too.
11. If you weren't a decorator, what would your dream job be? I would love to be a writer or an archaeologist.
Abchome.com has a great
selection of fun pillows that will
brighten any room in need of a
facelift!
“I don’t focus on one room, they all have to flow together”
Peculiar Paint Colors!
Soft Chinchilla
Marshmallow Bunny
Woodstock Tan
Mayonnaise
Grandma’s Refrigerator
Janie Molster We sat down and interviewed Richmond designer Janie Molster owner of Janie Molster Designs. Check out her newly redesigned website: Janiemolster.com
1. How did you come into the design field? I backed into by accident. I studied literature in college and always thought I would teach English. When I was in my late twenties and had just had a child, my friend asked me to help her pick out paint colors. Then another friend asked. Then a friend of a friend called me and insisted on paying me. I was telling my friend about that and for my birthday they took me to lunch and gave my business cards. So that’s really how it started. 2. How would you describe your design style? Eclectic, in Richmond I would say I’m a little more contemporary and modern. In a bigger platform I would probably be a mixture of historical and contemporary. 3. Who are your designer inspirations? I have a favorite, Bobby McGalpine, who is really an architect but he does design as well. Also Darryl Carter. 4. Where do you look for inspiration? Whether they admit it or not all designers at each other for inspiration. Everything I’ve done has been done before, I Just trying to put a fresh face on it. I also think travel is fun for inspiration. I race to my front door to get those new shelter magazines and my family knows not to talk to me if I have got a decorating magazine. (Her favorites include: Elle Décor, House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, Veranda) 5. What is your favorite paint color? Hot Spring Stones by Benjamin Moore
6. What is your favorite room to design? This is probably unusual but the thing I have done so much in my life are boy’s rooms. Living rooms too--bedrooms tend to be soft furnishings but in living rooms you have the option of mixing chairs with pretty legs and antiques, and lamps and tables. You have the most flexibility in living rooms and family rooms. 7. If you had $100 to spruce up a room what would you buy? A huge bouquet of pink roses 8. What is the biggest mistake people make when decorating? People choose lamps that are too short so that the light hits too low. The second thing is people try to cut down on the yardage of curtains because they are so expensive to make. If you don’t have enough fabric for them to close, even if you don’t close them, you can tell. The proportions are off. Just buy less expensive fabric. 9. What are the trends you are seeing this season? Yellow was a huge color in fall. We are seeing a bunch of purple and lavender. Mixing periods and styles is something people are now doing automatically. 10. What are trends you are tired of seeing? Red dining rooms, dark jewel tone living rooms. Navy sofas with big oriental rugs. Overdone curtains. 11. What would you be doing if you were not a decorating? teaching English
Ryland Woodard
1. How long have you been interested in the decorating/ design world? I always loved moving my bed around and setting up my doll house rooms. I have had my business for the past 7 years and got my experience from working with other designers as well as classes. 2. What design trend are you tired of, or would like to see more of? I try to stay away from the typical Richmond décor; coral, monkeys, Kelly green… Once you see something in Target, you know that those styles are over 3. What is the paint color you love? November Rain by Benjamin Moore 4. Who are your designer inspirations? Suellen and Jeffery Bill Hooer 5. If you had $100 to spruce up a room, what would you buy? Art! 6. Where do you look for inspiration? Elle Décor/ any fashion magazine. I also enjoy flipping through Harper’s design. You can find a lot of inspiration in big cities and foreign towns; they always have new looks. 7. What is your favorite living space to design? The living room
November Rain
“I’m only as good as my client is”
A Fool Proof Makeover!
1. organize your work 2. do not rush 3. do one room at a time- and finish it! 4. room should resemble you not what you saw in the latest article in ElleDecor 5. know your budget 6. check local stores and markets for deals and sales 7. do not feel like you have to get rid of your old things… put a new face on them 8. have fun!
“Your House is your second skin, and the environment you create is an extension of yourself – your ultimate self portrait.”
Tips from Ryland Woodard
Franny and I had the opportunity to go to the Design Center in Washington DC with Richmond
designer, Jenny Andrews. We were very excited to check out all of the new patterns, furniture, and designs
that are expected to be popular this spring.
We both had very little clue what to expect at the Design Center. Jenny told us that there was a lot to
look at within the 7 floors, so we would just take it floor by floor and stop at anything we thought look
interesting. The problem was, once we got there we wanted to stop at every showroom! Our first stop was on
floor 5, Ruth&Ollie fabric. We gazed at the thousands of fabric samples in front of us in awe. They had
every color and texture you could imagine. With a pencil and paper to mark down our favorites, we divided
and conquered. Each of us wrote down a few numbers of the fabric we liked, but it was hard to narrow it
down. I applaud all of the designers that can go into these overwhelming show rooms and easily decide what
wall paper would go best with the room they are redecorating.
Featuring Jenny Andrews
We continued to peek our heads into
various rooms and gaze at the gorgeous
furniture and various other pieces. My
personal favorite room was American Eye.
This specific show room had various
furniture pieces, lighting, and accessories for
the home. Walking amongst the furniture
was like a maze as we squeezed in between
the strategically placed pieces in the room.
They had a great selection of unique pieces
that were characterized as “American Casual”. All of the items were the perfect balance of style and function.
Something I personally always look for in furniture!
The trip was a great way to dip our toes into the process of shopping for a client. While shopping for
anything, whether for a room or clothes for myself, I like to be able to try whatever I am buying out. I want to
know exactly how the fabric feels or what color the wooden legs look under the light. While designing a room,
it is important to get a feel for how each piece will fit in the room and fit your family. Unfortunately, the design
center was a lot less busy as it has been in the past due to the increase of Internet sales. I encourage you all to
go out and support the local showrooms and shops and I know you will not regret it.
Jenny Andrews of Andrews Design has been adding color
and style to the Richmond area for the past 22 years. Her
design firm specializes in resort and residential design,
construction and interiors. She has helped many families
update their living spaces as she also manages to juggle her
3 younger boys, husband, and dog! Thank you Mrs.
Andrews for adding so much to our X-Term experience!
http://www.andrewsdesigns.com/
Bargain Beauties our exploration of finding stylish
furniture all for a killer deal
Sarah Hurst’s beautiful brick home nestled on the outskirts of the CCV golf course is just as stunning on the inside as it is on the outside. It does not come as a surprise that Sarah spent years working as a home décor magazine editor, writer, and set stylist for years in New York. She even brought out her old articles and gave us tips and tricks to wowing your readers and setting a scene. Her Richmond upbringing, London living, and life with four boys are all evident in home. But the most amazing part of her gorgeous home, is the story that comes with each item. Each piece of furniture is a work of art with a quirky tale as to how she found it or what she did to make it special to her life. We walked through each room in the house and compared the room now to
obnoxiously colorful rooms from the past owners plastered with loud patterns and inescapable green carpet. Each room was transformed into light, neat, and trendy rooms based off of natural colors and textures. The detail that we decided to focus on was Sarah’s talent of finding quality pieces for amazing deals. In every room there seemed to be a piece of furniture that looked great and was inexpensive. A chair found at a estate sale, lamp found at Ikea, or a bench found on eBay. What we discovered is that most often Sarah finds a promising piece of furniture and has painted of reupholstered, an example is her amazing headboard found on eBay for a couple hundred dollars. She had it painted white and it became the most unique piece in her bedroom.
Sarah swears by searching for a good deal by spending time browsing mid century searches on craigslist or eBay, thinking creatively, and always stopping for estate sales! She also taught us the tricks on how to get someone to lower his or her price. Other creative things we learned from Sarah were to mix textures, don’t hesitate to say no to your decorator, create a neutral backdrop to allow you to add colorful art, rugs, and pillows, and to brighten dark rooms with wallpaper. It would be impossible to write everything we learned and discussed in a paper, but I can tell you that we were truly enriched by spending the day learning bargaining and design tips for Sarah.
An often under appreciated design trick is the power of the lamp. Lamps are not only a source of light and warmth but are an outlet for structural creativity and uniqueness in design. Here are our favorite amazing table lamps…
Hand-‐Painted danagibson.com
Recycled Glass shopcandelabra.com
Earthy vivre.com
Simple crateandbarrel.com
All White laylagrayce.com
Funky straydogdesigns.com
Emerald The color of the year
We would like to thank everyone who helped us with our project especially….
Barrie Edlich
Jenny Andrews
Constance Costas
Pier Haffenreffer
Sarah Hurst
Janie Molster
Ryland Woodard
Mrs. Lehman and Mrs. Jenkins