Teak chair

The teak chair in the image above is one that I've owned for many years. I was fortunate enough to find a pair of these vintage teak chairs about 10 years ago and had them re-finished and re-upholstered. They are comfortable and work well with many different styles. Here is a picture of how they looked when I got my hands on them (and I can't believe I actually found this old picture):

Over the years numerous people have asked to buy them, and have asked me where to get them. You can search online shops, like ebay, to see what you can find in vintage teak chairs. The other option is buying new, often Design Within Reach has versions of these chairs, and a place I love in NYC, called 'Sit Down NY' also sells some great replicas.

We're in House & Home: decorating with white

House & Home has a special edition called, Decorating with White, out until August 31, 2014. It's more like a book than a magazine, really beautifully done with thick paper and no ads. Some great inspiration and beautiful rooms inside the pages if you like white as much as me. Proud to say we have 3 spaces shown in this issue: Deb Nelson Design is featured on page 15, 19 and 63. I hope you enjoy this issue as much as me!

Before & after: kitchen pantry

In one of my previous kitchens I was really fortunate to have an original built in pantry. A few coats of white paint was all this area needed to come to life. The entire unit provided a ton of storage; and it had a closed-door lower area and open upper section. The lower area was a mix of a cabinet door and drawers. I used the upper open shelves to store all the dishes and glasses. It was accessible and easy to grab something when you needed it. I always kept it organized and styled to look like this shot above.  Here is the before picture.

And a couple of other kitchen pantries that also look great. I love the large glass vessels on the shelves in this one.

And the layered white dishes on white shelves always looks beautiful.

And a tip on styling, like the open area below, combining similar items is a simple trick to getting started. You can group glasses, white dishes, mugs, etc. to achieve a great look.

Small bathrooms

For some reason, I always seem to have homes that have very small bathrooms.  The one shown above is so small that it required the smallest sink I could find.  Luckily I was able to find a tiny vanity that also had a small amount of storage below.  In my opinion, the key to adding storage in a small bathroom is to use the largest medicine cabinet you can fit above the sink.  Or you can add a large wall cabinet like this one.

In another recent renovation I was looking for a very small wall mounted sink. This shot was my inspiration, and I managed to find a sink like this one.  I'll be showing it in a blog post in the next month or so.

I also really liked the look of this sink, however I thought it was a bit too modern looking for my current home.

today we're on thekitchn.com

Excited to see my Chester cottage kitchen reno featured on thekitchn.com (of Apartment Therapy) today. This was an easy, inexpensive kitchen update that really just involved taking down a wall and a lot of white paint.  Other than the wall coming down (with proper support beams added to the ceiling).  I was able to do the rest of  the work else myself.  Be sure to check it out here:  http://www.thekitchn.com/kitchen-before-after-a-rundown-cottage-kitchen-gets-a-little-charm-reader-kitchen-remodel-206561 And the original blog post about the kitchen progress is here:  http://www.debnelsondesign.com/?p=1350