Back in July we shared a glimpse into the behind the scenes "design" that filled many spaces of Ashley Murphy's home! Believe it or not, being organized isn't the only thing that she has a passion for. She's sharing with us today a fun tour of much more than just organized spaces of her home….
* all photos c/o Courtney Cimo
Ashley :: It's no secret that I'm a Type A perfectionist! Hence starting a Professional Organizing company. The desire for everything to be perfect though, can definitely bite you in the you know what though when it comes to decorating your home. With a house that was built in 1873, I had to throw all desires to be perfect out the window and learn to embrace old character and imperfections. I quickly learned that I love the challenge of transforming something that's a bit out of date into something that tells a story. Our whole house definitely needs a little face lift, but my husband keeps telling me that it doesn't need to happen over night.
My only rule was that we had to keep the original hardwood floors. After much trial with ideal stain/color and proper application to old creeky floors, we finally found someone willing to help us maintain the integrity of the old, but allow for the fresh update that I desired. My next challenge was coming up with a design aesthic that I felt was exactly what I wanted in this old house. So, I enlisted the help of a local Chicago designer, Jeff Jones and one of Neat's girls, Lauren Combs and quickly discovered that I had a thing with Modern meeting Traditonal design. I knew I wanted it to be fun and playful, but also polished and simplistic. I just didn't know how to pull it off without being boring!
We will save the before pics for another post, but trust me when I say…it was bad! The walls were literally lime green and brown (no joke), so it definitley took much imagination to see that the house had much potential! There will be many more stories to tell down the road, but for now…here's a peek into some of the main rooms of our house!
I was more than happy with the first chapter of our renovation and couldn't have done it without Jeff and Lauren. Thanks to both of you for convincing me to let my hair down and trust that color and patterns are a good thing! Ha! As mentioned, there will be many more stories to tell in this home of ours, but for now…back to playing with these two boys who are busy destroying my polished and perfected plan!
xx
Ashley Murphy
