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                                                                                            DESIGN COMPLETION

The interior design for the Showcase House Dining Room is now complete. Our design vision for this traditional room has come to life. It is elegant, functional and the clients love it.

The subtle garden theme brings the outdoors in. Its a perfect spot to reflect the glorious spring colors. The elegant gray & silver tones completment the green walls and dark wainscoting. And the nickel drum chandelier ( Global Accents)is an unexpected finishing touch.

Here’s the before space. Quite a transformation!

A view of the table settings and the client’s Audubon prints that inspired the entire design.

The linen print chairs are so inviting in front of the soft sheers and silk curtain panels. More inspiration from the garden.

The Home Tour is open Wednesday-Sunday 10am-4pm. Stop by and see this beautifully transformed historic home. Visit the dining room and register to win a free interior design consultation from Letitia. Purchase tickets at www.mspmag.com/hometour.

Letitia Little Allied ASID , CID is a licensed, award wining interior designer in Minneapolis. For more info go to www.letitialittle.com.

                                                                                   DINING ROOM SET UP

Its time for installations and deliveries as we start the set-up process for the Dining Room in the ASID Showcase House located on Lake of the Isles Parkway in Minneapolis. Sheree Vincent and I are working hard this week to complete the interior design for this space in this historic, remodeled home.

The custom wool area rug from Woolshire is being laid on the newly refurbished wood floor.

The custom silk window coverings are being installed and the furniture is being put in place. It’s all starting to come together. Custom dining table from Sterling.

The new wall sconces have just arrived and are ready to be installed.

And we love the way they look! The elegant polished nickel  with the white linen shade complements the custom gray silk curtains beautifully. Fixture-Hudson Valley

The green/gray linen print fabric looks fabulous on the lounge chairs. Kravet chairs.

For information on days and times for the Tour and to purchase tickets go to www.mspmag.com/hometour

Watch for the final completed photos of the Dining Room coming up soon in my next post.

Letitia Little is a licensed, award wining interior designer in Minneapolis, MN. for more info go to www.letitialittle.com.

                                     THE DESIGN PROCESS continues as the ASID SHOWCASE HOME TOUR draws near.

Sheree and I are not done yet. There is more to select as we finish up the master plan design for the dining room.

Meeting with the clients to discuss the lighting needs for the dining room. There is so much to look at but our job is to keep things on track and “on style” .

I love this little occasional metal table. It adds a bit of whimsy to our design. Its called” The Cuff”.

curtains rods for sheers

Hand rendering with final selections in place.

Tickets can be purchased before hand at www.mspmag.com/hometour Or at the door: 2002 Lake of the Isles Parkway W. Minneapolis.

Watch for my next post on room set up.

Letitia Little Allied ASID, CID is a licensed, award wining interior designer in Minneapolis,MN. for more info go to www.letitialittle.com.

                                                                          THE DESIGN PROCESS

We are moving along in the design process for the dining room in the ASID Showcase House for  May 2012. Sheree Vincent and I have been busy making selections for this traditonal  room and are pleased with our choices.

The green and gray linen print is the color source for the room and will cover 2 lounge chairs.  Gray silk curtains will grace the windows along with the creamy sheers. The green “lattice” fabric reinforces our garden theme & will cover the 2 host chairs at the dining table. All fabrics from Kravet Inc.

The designers hard at work.  Sheree and I have found the perfect chairs for the linen print.

And here it is.  I love the elegant, updated take on a wing chair.

This fabulous glass fronted buffet looks handpainted, but that is actually fabric behind the glass. What a find this is and it will be stunning in the dining room. A real conversation piece. By Marge Carson

Here is the floor plan for the dining room showing furniture  and lighting placement.

The focal point of the room is this custom designed dining table. It is 54″ wide and will seat 20 people with all three leaves in place. This was a specific request of the clients as they will really use the dining room for entertainment, large parties, family gatherings and board meetings. It had to be elegant yet durable for lots of use, so we added a “bar top” finish and light distressing. The result is a gorgeous “antique” style table. Table by Sterling

For more on the Design Process see my next post.

For days and times and to purchase tickets go to www.mspmag.com/hometour.

Letitia Little  Allied ASID, CID is an award wining, licensed interior designer in Minneapolis, MN.  For more info visit www.letitialittle.com.

                                                  DESIGN INSPIRATIONS -HISTORIC RENOVATION

In my previous post, I introduced you to the dining room project I am designing with Sheree Vincent for the ASID Showcase House on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis coming in May, 2012. I always like to start a design project with a color source. It can be a piece of art or a fabric. In this  case it was both.

The homeowners had 2  Audubon rare prints of woodpeckers that they wanted to use in the dining room if possible. I happen to love Audubon prints (see previous blog post Art and Accessories Audubon Prints 3-20-12) and for this historic, tradional home they are perfect. Love the gray tree bark with the crisp black and white  birds.

The “nature” aspect of these prints got us started with a theme for the dining room’s design. The view of the lake and the mature trees and gardens outside the dining room windows  inspired that idea as well. The clients also requested  green walls if possible.

Sheree and I fell in love with this wonderful, traditonal linen print fabric. Its updated color scheme in gray and green complements the artwork while the branches, flowers and leaves speak to the  garden theme. I think it will soften the wood wainscotting in the room.

Watch for my next post on the Design Process for the dining room.

For more info on the Tour and to purchase tickets go to www.mspmag.com/hometour.

Letitia Little Allied ASID, CID is a licensed, award wining interior designer in Minneapolis,MN. for more info go to www.letitialittle.com.

                                                            HISTORIC RENOVATION /REMODEL

I am very excited to be working on the interior design for the dining room in this turn -of- the -century home on Lake of the Isles Parkway in Minneapolis. This traditonal home will be on the ASID Showcase Home Tour which runs May 19 thru June 10. I partnered with fellow ASID designer and good friend Sheree Vincent of fusiondesigned LLC. I will be sharing with you our design process during the remodeling of the home and our progress to completion, in ensuing posts.

The elegance of this 1899 home was captured perfectly in  this watercolor by one of the current owners, who is also the architect in charge of the remodeling.  Its location on one of Minneapolis’ beautiful downtown lakes makes it a real showpeice. Thirty ASID interior designers worked on the many rooms in the house.

The house is getting a facelift and a new front porch. It is a Minnesota Greenstar Certified remodel project. It will have geothermal heating, roof mounted solar panels and other eco -friendly attributes.

Most of the historic details were preserved during the remodeling process inside and out. Note the dentil molding along the roof line.

The stately dining room has so much potential. Sheree and I are excited to bring its elegant proportions to life with color and pattern. We plan to respect the home’s heritage and incorporate the wainscotting as is into our design. It will be restored to its orginal luster and not  painted.  This will be a challenge but we are up to it.

The homeowners plan to use the dining room not only for family gatherings and dinner parties, but for  meetings and board games as well. So it needs to be comfortabe and functional as well as elegant and beautiful.

Watch for the design inspiration in my next post.

Letitia Little  Allied ASID , CID is a licensed, award wining interior designer in Minneapolis,MN. For more info visit www.letitialittle.com.

The newest designer fabrics for the home are done up in bold, refreshing patterns with vibrant, strong colors.Here are a few examples in hot pinks and cool blues that I find inspirational. Hot pink and lime green,  give this linen Ikat a fresh new look. Ikats are very popular this year for interior applications.  The Ikat is a near universal weaving style common to many world cultures including Central and South America, Central and Southeast Asia and Japan just to name a few and has been around for centuries. The pattern in the fabric is created by using a resist dyeing tehnique similar to tie-dye.  ”Bansuri” from Kravet.

The  crisp, lime green floral shown on the top has a toile like feel because it is two toned. The hot pink and raspberry print on white cotton  is so detailed it looks  hand painted. More two toned fabrics in lime and raspberry complete the color grouping so popular right now. Fabrics from Pindler and Pindler.

Another Ikat in bright blue and turquoise, one of my favorites. In linen from Thom Filicia for Kravet.

More cool blues and turquoise in crisp cotton and linen from Kravet. The lower fabric is a damask pattern, another popular choice for interiors.

These beautiful, casual fabrics are suitable for curtains, bed coverings and pillows and would refresh any interior for spring and summer!

Spring is here and the birds are back! Their various songs are music to our ears. This time of year reminds me of one of my favorite painters of traditional art, John James Audubon 1785-1851. He was a French-American ornthologist, naturalist and painter, most noted for his expansive studies documenting all types of American birds. His well detailed illustrations depicted birds in their natural habitats. He identified 25 new species of birds. Audubon’s art is well known and loved even today because each piece of art is so authentic and beautiful. I selected just a few.

The pure white color and delicate tail feathers of the Great Egret are Stunning!

These little dears are the Carolina Turtle Dove. I love the soft colors and minute details. You can almost hear their gentle cooing.

This is the Little Blue Heron. The blues of this bird are amazing. Such depth!

These are members of the Wood Duck family. The intricate colors of this bird are so beautifully captured by this master illustrator!

All prints are from the Oppenheimer Edition of Audubons, Rare Prints.

Watch for more Audubon prints in upcoming posts of the ASID House -Dining Room that I designed.

Letitia Little is a licensed, award winning interior designer in  Minneapolis, MN. For more info visit www.letitialittle.com

Bookcases are one of my favorite interior design elements in a room because they reveal the family’s personality. They hold personal collections, mementos, photos of family members, favorite books etc. Bookcases add texture and variety to a room. The items in a bookcase must be arranged in a balanced way to achieve the most pleasing visual effect.

For this bookcase in a client’s family room, I added lots of books and some accessories to the family photos and mementos the family already had. When you decorate your own bookcase, be sure to have a good amount of books and not too many family photos. Mix in some smaller accessories with bigger pieces for a good sense of balance. I added the contemporary art for a colorful touch of interest to the dark wood.

In this great room bookcase the T.V. is hidden behind the far left doors and there aren’t alot of shelves.  I kept it pretty simple with mostly books for texture.  The oil painting and candles on the mantel add warmth and a focal point for the whole wall.

The rock face on this bookcase is strong and masculine so alot of small delicate accessories won’t work. A few large boxes mixed in with the books are all it needs. I added the large candle holders and lantern to provide wonderful contrast to the real stones. The red plaid chairs are part of the overall design in this client’s cosy family room.

Letitia Little is a licensed, award winning interior designer in Minneapolis, MN. For more info visit www.letitialittle.com.

These new drapery rod collections from Brimar and Kravet are so stunning they are like Jewelry for the Home! What a way to  add the perfect finishing touch to custom window coverings.

I love the two-tone look of this rod and finial. It comes in finishes like Water Gilded Silver, Bisque with Gilded Gold, Patina and Dark Walnut. Luxurious! Signature Collection from Kravet.

This rod  looks like an exotic animal skin but it is textured, painted wood. Platforms by Brimar

I love the look of this antique silver painted curtain rod. Its sophisticated styling would be right at home in a traditional setting or a transitional one. Metro by Brimar.

Go native with this exotic curtain rod set from Kravet. Its called Bamboo Metals and comes in 3 finishes from light to dark “bamboo”.  Very upscale casual.

Letitia Little is a licensed, award wining interior designer in Minneapolis, MN. For more info visit www.letitialittle.com.