Shannon Berrey Design Blog

Happy 2015 {or early Happy Valentines Day}

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Welcome back to real life!! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are ready to tackle the '15. Here in the mountain valley, we had a great time together! Mom came in from Clemmons and she and Jack showed up in the same shirt on Christmas morning.

Really cool when you are a rad Grandma, not quite as awesome when you are a 16 year old boy...

and let's just take note of how tall my baby has gotten in the last 6 months. If he is still for a minute, I swear I can see that neck actually stretching.

Apparently dressing in gray is really, really cool. Just call us trendsetters.

Or really boring dressers -- you pick.

And this beautiful bunch of pretties was delivered to me New Years Eve.

I can't remember being this excited about starting a new year in a loooooooonnnnng time!!!

I did an install over the break. This is a sneak peek of a major element of the room! It is a huge painting - any guesses on who it is??

hint -- it is my 10 year clients favorite singer

This was her reaction when she saw the room for the first time.

I am still waiting on a few smaller pieces and then I will do a post on it.

There is a ton of painted vintage furniture that I worked on for this room. While I was outside last week painting a chest with some horribly smelly spray paint, I started hearing crazy loud beeps. It took me a second to realize it was my house beeping - more specifically, every smoke detector in my house. Panic stricken, we ran through the house trying to figure out where the smoke and burning smell was coming from. Every door was thrown open, yelling and barking was happening, every floor was thoroughly run threw, the fire extinguisher was located, the electrical panel was flipped off...but we couldn't find the source!!!!!!

And then we did.....I was boiling water for some tea.....I started it when I first started painting the furniture {I had been painting a long time, ya'll}. It evaporated and the pot was cooking. Not tea to drink, mind you, tea to stain some fabric for another project....obviously.

If you are ever super bored and need some cheap entertainment, make sure all 6 of your cats and your 3 dogs are in the house and then set every smoke detector in your house off. Be prepared for some ridiculous panic to ensue....

Here's to a new year of chaos, fun design and new projects!!!!

Neon Christmas at The Public House

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The exterior of this historic 1818 Federal style home is beautiful. But, it certainly offers no insight on the eclectic, fun Christmas decor that is going on inside!

The Public House, as it is referred to, is the Huntsville, Alabama home of interior designer, Lauren McCaul.

I love her use of neon pink to decorate for Christmas! This fabulous banner was made with pink and orange flagging tape.

{It's called 'tape', but it's not sticky. It's a super thin plastic and it's cheap! Remember when I made chandeliers with it for the Prom??}

I'm in love with her decorating style. And I'm also in love with the use of Lindsay Letter's holiday artwork scattered throughout!!

I am a long time fan of Lindsay's and I always look forward to her holiday collections. Speaking of....

Check out this year's 12 Days of Christmas paintings that she is offering as printables.

LOVE!!!!!

Until Christmas, this complete download is only $15{!!} and then it will be $50. You get the option of different sizes, as well as gift tags. These would make great gifts!! I have already purchased mine and I have a million different ideas on how I'm going to use them!

{images via Department of Agriculture via Lauren Tomasella}

The Rock at University of Tennessee

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Hello friends!! I have had major blog problems and have not been able to get into my blog or my primary email since the weekend! But, finally.... we are back in the saddle!

While ya'll were shopping and eating the last of your turkey and dressing leftovers, I set off to Tennessee to be a part of a super fun baby announcement.

I have known Krysta for well over a decade. I remember watching her cheer at both Smoky Mountain High School and at Western Carolina University. She started dating Zeke when she was a Sophomore in high school. They continued dating while she was at WCU and Zeke was at University of Tennessee. Then in 2008, they finally tied the knot! Zeke went back to UT for Graduate School - he was gone all week and back home here in the NC mountains on the weekends. After 14 years together, they are {finally!!} growing their family!!!!

Krysta always knew that one day, when they were pregnant, she wanted to announce it on The Rock at UT.

If you google The Rock, you can see that it has worn lots of different facades over the years and thousands of coats of paint. When we arrived, this is what it looked like.

And after about 20 cans of black spray paint, some sore fingers, and a little fear that we might get arrested, it transformed to a blank canvas.

{photo bomb!!}

It was sooooooo windy on Sunday which made spray painting and curly hair, go a little cray-cray. And trying to get straight lines on a big bumpy rock is not the easiest, but it sure was fun!

And here it is all finished!!

And a collection of my favorites.

I was so honored to be a part of their special announcement and I can not wait to meet Baby Cooper!!

aaaannnnnnnndddddd......we made the Knoxville news!!!

Congratulations Krysta and Zeke!!!!!!!!

Woodpile art

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

We have had record low temperatures in what may be documented as our coldest November in decades. It's not even winter and yet, my fireplace has been in good use! I wish I could say that this was the woodpile I got to visit.

I am a HUGE fan of stacked wood {check out my Pinterest board!} and love to see the creativity of other folks who also appreciate this natural art. This woodpile belongs to 82 yr old Gary Tallman in Montana. He cuts all of his wood from his property and then separates it by color and size. Then he is able to 'draw' the mosaics by using the natural colors of the different species of wood.

Gary starting creating these about 5 years ago as a way to entertain his grandchildren. He spends about 20 hours on each design and always takes his inspiration from the many owls that make their home in the trees of Little Belt Mountain.