Max's room featuring Riley Sheehey, Juniper Print Shop, Danielle Oakey & more! There's no doubt that there is still work to do in the broader scope of promoting female empowerment & protecting our rights. However, I firmly believe that we can make a difference by doing simple things like lifting up & sharing others. So today let's celebrate the influence, innovation & creativity of some of my favorite female-owned lifestyle & home brands and makers! Sharland England The wicker furniture alone is worth a look. Founded by Louise Roe. Huey Light Shop Every piece is handmade & gorgeous (I have the Prairie Sconce in our kitchen). Founded by Bret Williams. Lavune Emily Schuman launched the candle brand at the end of 2022 and won me over instantly with Nightcap and the latest release Rosewood may be my favorite scent...ever. Statuette I've sourced these handmade intaglios for clients & my own house. Founded by Sheri Killackey. Carleigh Courey Design I'm not sure when I discovered Carleigh but I'm forever smitten with her floral art (I've used her calendars to create a gallery wall!) Juniper Print Shop I've been shopping Jenny Komenda's art shop since before it was even named Juniper! They offer downloadable & printed art, including vintage pieces, originals from Jenny, and many female artists. Riley Sheehey I am positively smitten with everything Riley creates. Max especially loves the Nutcracker print that's framed in her room (seen above)! Parterre Founded by Julia Berolzheimer and Hanna Seabrook, Parterre has some of the sweetest pieces for your home, holidays & tablescape. Lina Gordievsky Another artist I have in my own home as well as clients', Lina creates nostalgic pieces focused on nature and has both prints & originals for sale. Lulu & Georgia Sara Sugarman founded one of my go-to online shops for myself & clients. You can find exclusive collections from Sarah Sherman Samuel and Ginny Macdonald and shop everything from outdoor furniture to vintage rugs to pillows. Alice Palmer Alice, a trained Interior Designer, created the first of her signature lampshades to fill a gap in the market and has since grown the collection to include fabric, wallpaper, pillows & other home decor in festive & colorful patterns. Heather Taylor Home The OG gingham queen. Heather 's products evoke a sense of nostalgia but with a contemporary twist. My first purchase were tissue box covers that I love to this day. There are so many more and so many I don't know. Let me know in the comments who else I should know about! 👇🏻 emily PS. Don’t miss a post. Subscribe to our newsletter! Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase a product I've linked to, I may receive a small commission at NO additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business. mStarr design is a lifestyle studio that provides Interior Design and Content Creation services, inspiring others to embrace character and real life by helping them elevate the everyday through charming & curated details. We’d love to work with you! 0 Likes

This post is sponsored by Ferguson Showrooms. As always, opinions and words are my own. It's been a minute huh?! The past few months have been a blur between the holidays, 3 flooded basements (!). wrapping up 2 projects, and getting our Norfolk project through most of Phase 1 in time for our client to host Christmas! The first floor has seen some major changes already including paint, wallpaper, new hardware, and carpentry projects (a built-in window bookcase, a room divider wall (which you can catch up on here if you missed it.), and ceiling treatment in the Kitchen). And that ceiling treatment paved the way for a lighting update courtesy of my friends at Ferguson Showrooms! Above is from when we started the project. The house is a 6 year-old new build and beautifully done. It's just a bit "boring" so the primary goal has been to infuse more character, add coziness & warmth, and create more defined spaces amongst the (large) open concept Kitchen/Dining/Living areas on the first floor. For Kitchen lighting, swapping out the existing island pendants was a given but I also wanted to do something over the sink. Initially I thought a sconce on the wall but when the electrician was re-wiring in preparation for the beams, it would've been a real hassle to extend the wire down that far so we pivoted to a flush mount. Armed with my design concepts for the house, I visited Ferguson's recently-opened showroom in Newton in search of inspiration...and brass fixtures! The selection in the showroom is vast, and more than anything, it was so helpful to see finishes in person. There are even more options online and the specialists in store can help you place any order! We ended up ordering products found on Ferguson's website but got to see the Heritage Brass finish in store which was most important to me given how different photos can look online vs. in real life. So what did we go with?! The old island pendants were replaced with Hinkley's Keating Pendants in Heritage Brass. I just couldn't resist the ribbed silhouette and those cross knob details! An especially nice feature is that it comes with an optional flat glass lens to hide the light bulbs. While it's often unavoidable, seeing the light bulbs & strong glare from the light itself is not awesome. Aren't they prettttyyyy? For the new light over the sink, we ended up choosing Hinkley's Oliver 14" Semi-Flush Mount, also in Heritage Brass and I couldn't be happier with it. I was worried at first it wouldn't have as much impact being higher above the sink, but I knew I didn't want to do another pendant so close to the island ones. The size is actually perfect and I'm smitten with the contrasting metal bands. Both fixtures are timeless and the ribbing on the pendants add a perfect touch of whimsy. My client is thrilled with how they look & function (both are dimmable), and I'm thrilled with the warmth and sophistication they add to the space! Cannot wait for Phase 2 in here, which will include new backsplash, faucet & counters among other things but in the meantime, lots to revisit or catch up on as this project has unfolded...my visit to the Ferguson Showroom (book your visit here!), a look at the lighting on the Feed, and lots more found in our Norfolk Update story highlight! Thank you to Ferguson! emily PS. Don’t miss a post. Subscribe to our newsletter! Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase a product I've linked to, I may receive a small commission at NO additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business. mStarr design is a lifestyle studio that provides Interior Design and Content Creation services, inspiring others to embrace character and real life by helping them elevate the everyday through charming & curated details. We’d love to work with you! 0 Likes

above: Old Silver Shed It's admittedly been wayyyyy too long since I've shared anything client related here. Yes, mStarr has client design projects! The pandemic has certainly been interesting for the home industry, providing lots of new opportunities for designers and interior enthusiasts...however it also threw a wrench in finishing & photographing any existing projects. It's hard to believe we're 3 years in (!) but 3 years ago I had just a few interior projects and one went on hold and one was outright cancelled once lockdown started. While the on-hold project started up after a couple months, most of the others felt incomplete piecing things together and/or sold before I could photograph! It's so nice to now be in a stage with many exciting projects and wonderful clients, and you bet we will be photographing every last detail to share as they wrap up. The Norfolk Update is a special project. The house is just 6 years old and it's well-built. There's even some character already incorporated (crown moulding, pretty window casings etc.). But our goal for this home is to up the charm factor...to layer in pattern, color, and texture. For it to be curated and collected, and to feel comfortable. Ultimately, we're looking to expand on the existing character which will help balance out the newer construction and some of the more standard builder grade details. above: a view of the kitchen leading into the living area (to the right is the dining room) below: the rest of the living area There are several bigger carpentry projects in the works and our first big one is something I'm most looking forward to bringing to life. The first floor does have some separate rooms (entry, playroom, mudroom etc.) but the primary space is open concept, including kitchen, living, and dining. I want to create more defined areas and the most practical location is between the kitchen and living (as seen above). I've been long inspired by the glass partial wall in Old Silver Shed's home and know this is the perfect home and perfect situation to create a similar one. This will create separation, and certainly serve as a a stunning design element, but with so much being glass, it will keep the rooms feeling light & airy and won't interrupt the flow in and out of the kitchen. above: sources unknown via Pinterest above: Jean Stoffer Design's The Madison From a design standpoint, we want this wall to look older, bespoke, and like it's been there all along. We are exploring both antique glass options and custom if we can't find the right style, size etc. and debating whether to do square mullions or perhaps diamond shape (which would provide some contrast between existing glass transoms in the house). In order to keep things feeling open, we are limiting each vertical part of the wall to 24" wide (one on each side of the room), keeping the entire wall 18" deep and 8" thick including the casing around the glass. I'll share more details at a later date but the idea is to create a seamless transition on the ceiling by carrying through the existing crown moulding. Below is a very quick and messy sketch to get an idea of where it's going and what it could look like. Clearly left side shows square glass panels and the right shows diamond! Above is the only real picture I have that shows the transition from the kitchen area to the dining (clearly need to take some additional photos). We are using the existing wall below (next to the slider door) as our starting point and to keep things symmetrical, it means leaving like a foot or so of existing wall seen above (to the left of the console). I was a bit worried about it at first but it eliminates the need to move electrical and I'm thinking through ways to ease the transition...perhaps it's as simple as some pretty art! above: taping things out Let me just say, it is SO nice to be able to work with a skilled and communicative carpenter who sees & contributes to the overall vision AND knows the house because he did all the finish work when it was built! Such a treat. Stay tuned for the next phase and so much more on this project! Make sure you're following on Instagram to keep up with things behind the scenes. emily PS. Don’t miss a post. Subscribe to our newsletter! Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase a product I've linked to, I may receive a small commission at NO additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business. mStarr design is a lifestyle studio that provides interior design and content creation services, inspiring others to embrace character and real life by helping them elevate the everyday through charming & curated details. We’d love to work with you! 0 Likes

Walls

Valentine's Popup No. 03 Return to Creative Direction & Content Creation Photography: Henry + Mac

Minimalist Valentine's Tablescape with EQ3 No. 03 Return to Creative Direction & Content Creation