Around the Studio
Living Room Style | Modern-Traditional
This living room design came together as such a beautiful fusion of modern and traditional style, we couldn't wait to share all the details with you. Although we work with clients all over the Eastern US, our studio and home base is in the heart of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and we love it when we get a chance to create beautiful spaces right here in our hometown.
Dining Room Design: Sip and Savor with Style
It's a BRAND-NEW project, and we are so excited to share it with you! The dining room was only part of this gorgeous home design, but as the holidays approach, there's no better time to share this beautiful gathering place. Whether you are having a small gather or hosting this year, there's plenty to be said for making it a beautiful, inviting space (especially this year, as a lot of us are staring at our own rooms more than we have in years past).
Falling for Orange: Design Color Crush
Fall color is all around, and today we wanted to give some much-deserved love to orange-inspired design. While we don't always think of this hue as a traditional staple of the home design color palette, orange can be so much more than just an October one-off. When placed with creativity, art and skill, it's a design bombshell that can bring glamour and glow to any space.
Designing Wall Color: Why We Love the Paint Consultation
Y'all, we are excited! (all the jazz hands emojis over here!). It's no secret that we love color in design especially wall color. And in this time of year that is all about change and transition to new autumn hues all around, we get even more dazzled by the way color can transform a room, a vision, and an entire home. The science and theory behind the perfect color choice for each space is something that we never stop exploring, and continues to be one of the most requested interior design services in our studio year after year. So this month seemed like the perfect time to post it up about all things colorful design, and how we can help you find the perfect hues that you will love for a lifetime.
Designing Your Home Office: Cat's Pro Tips
Whether working from home is your normal routine or something you’ve been adapting to over the last few months, creating the right space makes a big difference. Especially when many of us are also navigating the tall task of converting our home into a makeshift schoolhouse, our own home work area may have taken a backseat. Giving that workspace some focused attention can go a long way toward making the days more pleasant, and we wanted to share a few of our favorite tips and tricks for giving the home office some TLC.
La Vita Dolce Part 3 - The Final Reveal
YES, the final reveal is here, and it's love at first sip for this gorgeous Chapel Hill coffee house design. We're so glad you've been enjoying these posts, and if you're catching up on this series, we've been taking a tour of the one and only La Vita Dolce Cafe at Southern Village (see Part 1 and Part 2 here!). This beautiful complete interior redesign was a collaboration of CFD and amazing local entrepreneur Annie Johnston. Along with a team of superhero industry pros, we brought vision, life, and all the chic vibes to this beloved Chapel Hill spot. Today we're going to dig into more behind-the-design challenges and solutions, design strategy, and all the details that made it picture perfect. So let's clink those cappuccinos and make our way to the final design finish.
La Vita Dolce Part 2! Behind the Design
If you're just joining in, we're taking some time here on the blog to tell you all about our custom design of the gorgeous Chapel Hill coffee and gelato sweet-spot, La Vita Dolce! Grab your latte and join us as we show you more!
Cat's Pro Tips: Throw Pillow Throwdown
It's time for a throw pillow throwdown! When it comes to design versatility, it's pretty hard to beat the classic throw pillow. It's a design staple that's been around so long it can sometimes be taken for granted, but a great throw pillow is such a workhorse for bringing together a space. There's every option under the sun for shape, color, texture, pattern, and more. It's also one of the most budget and time-friendly ways to dress up nearly any seating area. It seems like it would be super simple to just grab a few and literally throw them around (it's right there in the name!) But, like so many aspects of design, getting the combination and arrangement just right can be a little trickier than we may first assume. Often clients are surprised how in-depth the selection process can be, especially when we're looking at complete rooms or full house designs. Bringing in pillows and changing them up is one of our favorite ways to bring life, color, and flow to custom rooms, and today we're dropping some of Cat's favorite pillow strategies to know-before-you-throw.
Back to the Drawing Board: Custom Buildable Designs
Here in the CFD studio, a drawing doesn't only mean a sketch (although we do a lot of that too!). Professional drawings for custom home design have become a highly requested service and an important corner of our design-universe. We provide this skill for both clients and general contractors, as well as custom builders. We get a ton of questions about this part of our work from clients and industry professionals alike, and today we're going to to take you behind-the-scenes where we can show you more about what that is and how we use it to help our clients build their dream space. Creating custom building plans to scale, and coming at it from an experienced full-service design perspective is one of the things that makes us unique in the field, and one of the ways we make those big design dreams a reality.
Occupying Wall Space: Placing Beautiful Art
Over many years of looking at spaces both new and old, we've seen our fair share of tall walls, long halls, and blank surfaces. Large empty space can feel pretty lonely (especially these days), and even if it's just one or two walls, it usually isn't something anyone wants to stare at for an extended period of time. Whether it's a new build, a redesign, or a session of focused space planning, clients have come to us in all phases and stages for help decking the walls. This is something that comes with the territory of Full-Service Design, and one of the (many) great things about this is that it has given us a great deal of practice in sourcing, selecting, and placing unique, custom wall art. But rather than just throwing some stock pictures up there and calling it good, there's a method to our process and a lot of consideration that goes into how we make art a meaningful part of the design vision.
Follow Us to Great Design! The Perfect Style
Today on the CFD blog it's ALL about that #style. And by that we mean the art of styling, or how we furnish and finish a space. Full-Service Interior Design is a term that umbrellas an expansive scope of work- our range extends from full-house elevation drawings all the way to pillow tassels, with not one thing missing in between. We enjoy each part of the work that we do, and each aspect is equally important when it comes to a phenomenal final product for our clients. Although we'd be the first to say that styling spaces is so much fun, it's still a big ole' chunk of work, y'all, especially when it comes to multiple rooms or a full-house design. Styling and finishing is hands-down one of the services that our clients love and request the most, and one of the biggest ways we create that perfect CFD polish. So as we'd say in the studio, let's style it up!
The Right Light: Gorgeous Fixtures & Great Design
The right lighting can change an entire room, from corner to corner. And OH y'all, we have been awaiting the time when we could go full fan-girl (and fella) on some light fixtures! There are many things we love here at #CFD, but the team has a particular knack for beautiful interior (and exterior) lighting placed in just the right way- with just the right mixture of creativity and drama to take a room from amazing to stunning. In addition to that much-loved follower favorite in the image above, we're excited to round up a sampling of some of our favorite lighting installations from past projects. So let's hit the lights and get down to business on lighting scheme and scene.
Outdoor Decor: Choosing the Right Outdoor Furniture
When it comes to completing your deck, porch, or outdoor patio, furniture is the main event. Down here in the South, y'all know we love an outdoor space!
Commercial Design: Creating Business Interiors that Work
For us here at CFD, Commercial Design is all about helping business owners and supporting our local economy. Commercial Design is a key part of our own business here at the studio, and today we're giving it the spotlight on the blog. Right from the start, businesses of all shapes and sizes have come to CFD looking for help creating a more functional, beautiful, usable space. Whether it's employees or customers, commercial spaces are places where people spend a great deal of time, and where so much important connection happens- and to us, that means great design is in order. From enhancing productivity to elevating customer appeal, we believe that workspaces should work hard to make the business the best that it can be.