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Annie Elliott Design, Washington DC

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House Calls in The Washington Post

Annie Elliott | April 16, 2018

Thanks, Washington Post and Mari-Jane Williams! It was a kick and an honor to be the guest designer for House Calls last week.

Who doesn’t love a makeover?

Basement family room with brown furniture and brick fireplace
Leah L. Jones for The Washington Post
Bright, cheerful basement family room with painted blue fireplace and orange sofa
Rendering by Rodney Co 3D Storm Studio

Be sure and click through to the article to see the specific pieces we recommended — it’s a very budget-friendly design!

And quite a dramatic improvement, if I do say so myself ;)

Annie Elliott | bossy color is a design firm based in Washington, DC. Annie’s design work and decorating insights have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Better Homes & Gardens, The Washington Post, Bethesda Magazine, and Washingtonian Magazine.

Category: Color + paint colorTag: Basement, before and after, budget, family room, fireplace, FLOR, House Calls, makeover, Mari-Jane Williams, painted fireplace, The Washington Post

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Mar 25

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It’s Wallpaper Wednesday! Today we feature Brunschwig & Fils’ Les Touches. @brunschwigfils introduced Les Touches in 1965, and the pattern soon became a Brunschwig classic. (Interestingly, “touches” translates to “keys” or “strokes…” I guess that’s close to “dabs,” which is what I’d assumed.) According to handwritten records, Les Touches is inspired by post-WWII black and white photographs, but the connection between this inspiration and the pattern remains a mystery. Referred to most often as a stylized animal print, Les Touches is a staple of the Le Jardin Chinois collection.Today, Les Touches comes in 18 colorways, but the blue colorway remains iconic. I’ve used Les Touches for window treatments and upholstery, but I can’t wait to try it as wallpaper!

annieelliottdesign

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Mar 23

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Here’s what ✨ I ✨ would do… Instead of matching everything, you balance it. Pull one color. Shift the scale. Let each piece do something different. Here’s what ✨ I ✨ would do… Instead of matching everything, you balance it. Pull one color. Shift the scale. Let each piece do something different. Bonus: Change the rug! Suddenly you’d make a completely different window choice.Did you guess it?!Watch part 1 for the challenge context and part 2 for what doesn’t work.#interiorsandhome #fabricdesign #romanshades

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Mar 23

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Let’s talk about what fabric doesn’t work ❌ for the Roman shades in this teenage girl’s bedroom with 2 big windows and a statement ceiling. Even though these fabrics are beautiful on their own… they don’t work here. Biggest mistake: repeating the same motif (moths, butterflies, etc.) across the room. It starts to feel themed instead of designed.Watch part 1 for the full context, and watch part 3 to find out what I would choose.#interiordesign #wallpaper #interiorsandhome

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Mar 23

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Here’s the challenge: a teenage girl’s bedroom. Not huge. Two big windows. Statement ceiling. White walls.Which fabric would you choose for the Roman shades?There’s a right answer… a safe answer… and a couple very wrong ones. Comment your pick before you see part 2 👇#interiordesigner #wallpaper #romanshades

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Mar 20

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Behind the scenes at an AED photoshoot! 📸. It is all hands on deck — even Tilly did her part! Shoutout to @stacyzaringoldberg #interiordesign #dcdesigner #interiorsandhome

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Mar 18

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The star of today’s Wallpaper Wednesday is Schumacher’s Acanthus Stripe. If you’ve studied Green and Roman architecture, the Acanthus motif is an old friend: Acanthus leaves were a common ornament on Corinthian capitals as early as 500 BC. Celerie Kemble’s interpretation of the motif in her Acanthus Stripe wallpaper is streamlined and clever, with the leaves serving both as capitals and as the columns themselves. @schumacher1889 has created three types of Acanthus Stripe wallcovering: paper, vinyl, and sisal, with the latter my favorite by far. The sisal roughs up the pattern a little bit, making the paint a tad uneven and the edges of the design blurry in parts. It’s a little more real, a little more appropriate for a spiky leaf rendered in stone exposed to the sun and wind for thousands of years.Acanthus Stripe Sisal in Fog and Chalk is classic (ask Mabel from the show, *Only Murders in the Building*; she didn’t want to go too crazy redecorating her aunt’s apartment, I guess), but my favorite colorways are Turmeric and Mocha. In these colors, on this material, the design couldn’t be more elegant.#wallpaperins #interiordesign #onlymurdersinthebuilding

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Mar 17

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Does your kitchen backsplash inspire you? It should! Try using patterned or textured tiles, mix bold colors, or partner with an artist to create a special design. If you have a great view or no wall at all, you won’t need a full backsplash, of course ;) Just wrap the countertop material up 4-6” to protect the wall.#dcdesigner #backsplash #kitcheninspiration

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Mar 12

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The Dorothy-Draper-designed Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia is a pilgrimage for interior designers. The edgy color combos, repetition of patterns, and Draper’s fascination with scale make it a must-visit for anyone interested in interior design. I’m not a fan of everything, though ;)Check out my blog post about the Greenbrier to see what’s ❤️ and what’s 💔.

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Mar 9

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Thanks for watching 💚 #aresenicgreen #interiorinspiration #farrowandball
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