{pillows from the window seat that have seen better days}

Hi everyone, I wanted to publish a post about the collaborative design process that I am using for my Kitchen Make-Over. I’m kind of amazed at how quickly it has come together, from start to finish it will have taken only 4 weeks! Here’s the backstory…

After 10 years of loyal service, our kitchen is getting a makeover. The two other rooms that are visible from the kitchen (the living room and dining room) have been painted and updated and now it’s the kitchen’s turn. The amount of work is not too overwhelming. It is just different paint color for the walls and new fabrics for the window seat, throw pillows and window treatments – but the before and after will be dramatic. I’m going from soft and romantic to tailored and modern. Everything will be completed by early February and I’m excited to show you the before and after photos! In the meantime, I want to share with you how it has unfolded once I decided to get started on the make-over:

{the new fabric I am using for the window treatments in the kitchen}

1. Confer with someone whose taste you trust. When it came time to determine which fabrics to use in the kitchen, I called on my girlfriend Kirstin for advice. She’s got impeccable taste and selecting fabrics isn’t something I want to do on my own. We met in my kitchen over coffee and blueberry bread and talked about paint, daylight and color. The primary fabric that I chose has a cream colored background and is printed with a botanical theme in grey, aqua and several shades of purple (above photo). The first step was to determine which color direction to go in for the rest of the fabrics in the kitchen and get fabric samples.
2. Hire an expert. The next step was to contact Debby Ball, owner of Soft Furnishings Design, to collaborate on the details of the window treatments and pillow designs that will go on the window seat. I should mention that this is the second room that Debby is doing for me, the first was our bedroom. She made all the window treatments (drapes and roman shades) and the duvet and pillow shams for our bed.
3. Collect images. Debby asked me to show her my ideas for the window treatment and throw pillows. I wanted a crisp, tailored look and was leaning towards a board-mounted valance for the windows. As far as the pillows, there are so many gorgeous designs! I wanted to closely collaborate with her on every step of the process to make sure that they reflected my style.
4. Organize and share the images. Enter Clipix! Clipix is a simple, user-friendly tool that allows me to quickly share images of the window treatments and pillows I like. I created a clipboard, clipped the images I wanted and then emailed the entire clipboard. I didn’t have to go through the hassle of creating a special folder on my Mac, downloading each image and then attaching the images to an email. Clipix does it all for me – right from my desktop.
5. Getting started with Clipix was a breeze. I created my account, downloaded the Clipix save button and I started clipping images in less than 5 minutes. Now, every time I am on a website, the little Clipix save button magically appears (see the arrow pointing to the little clipix save button in the photo above) and I can choose to save the information to a clipboard or not. I feel so organized about this kitchen makeover because everything is in one central place. I’ve saved my fabric choices, window valance ideas, pillow designs and paint color – and I can access my clipboard from anywhere, even my iphone. I can easily add or delete any images and share the clipboard with other people. Below are some screenshots I took to show you what my Kitchen Make-Over clipboard looks like.

 

 

 

When I want to email my clipboard to Debby, I simply click on the envelope icon, type in her email address and send!

 

I started this process only 2 weeks ago and I can’t believe how quickly it came together. The immediacy of being able to share ideas, color palettes and images of the designs that I like has been such a time saver.

Clipix has many other great features that I’ve started using as well. One of the ones that I am really excited about is the Price Alert feature. I’ve created a clipboard of products that I’m interested in buying; a rug for my son’s room, lamps for the living room and a campaign desk. If or when (hopefully) the product goes on sale, Clipix will notify me. Yay! Keeping my fingers crossed that these beauties go on sale soon.

 

 

Thanks to Clipix for sponsoring this post! As always, all opinions are my own.

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