Kathryn Lemaster

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Archives for October 2013

New York, New York

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

As I mentioned in my previous post, here are a few of my other favorite shots I took on our recent trip to NYC!

Hope you enjoyed this little snapshot tour of our trip to NYC. There’s so much more beauty where these came from accompanied by more history and culture – not to mentioned mesmerizing architecture around every corner. (I still have a crick in my neck from walking around looking straight up for hours on end just drooling over all of the mouldings.) I highly recommend a trip to NYC, especially if you’ve never been!

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No related photos.

Don’t you just love New York in the fall?

New York City is dear to my heart. I used to visit every chance possible while my sister went to school in the heart of Manhattan for 4 years. It became especially special, however, in March of 2008 when my now husband completely surprised me on one of those visits to see my sister, showing up on top of Belvedere Castle in Central Park and proposing to me.

Sneaky AND romantic!

Well, our 5 year wedding anniversary was a week ago today, so Will and I flew out first thing last Saturday morning for an extended weekend in NYC to celebrate. Of course we had to return to the spot where it all began.

This is us at the scene of the surprise, five and a half years later:

What a wonderful 5 years it’s been!

Of all of my visits to the Big Apple, this was my first visit in October, and my was it lovely! Temperatures in the mid 60’s, sunshine and blue skies, and the leaves had already begun to change for fall. We strolled through Central Park for about 3 hours one afternoon and soaked in the symphony of colors and critters that unfolded around every turn.

These were just a few of my favorite shots from our stroll in the park. It was an amazing trip and I can’t wait to share more of my favorite photos from around the city, soon.

The week of celebrating isn’t over yet, because tomorrow brings another favorite day of my year – my birthday! šŸ™‚

Hope you all have had a great week and are heading into a wonderful weekend, too!

-K

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MORE TO LOVE:
Cafe Lalo
Tybee Island
Savannah

Master Bath Progress

So I’ve been missing from the blog this week – sorry about that! But I can promise you it’s been for a good reason.

As some of you may know, when we purchased our home last year it was a foreclosure. Needless to say, it needed alot of TLC and updates. We’ve been on a mission to bring it to it’s full potential ever since.

We took this last week to focus on Ā finishing up some house projects that we’ve been needing to get to for awhile, including landscaping, trim work, light fixtures and touch up painting. The biggest undertaking, however, was bringing our master bathroom from about 30% to 98% completion!

So are you ready to see what our master bath looked like before we got started last year? The below picture was taken by one of our neighbors (and now good friends) before the house was even ours:

(before)

Yikes! I’ll just point out a few of the problems with it that were apparent right off the bat.

The vanity was only 22″ deep and 28″ high, so small and low, not to mention a dated yellow oak finish and cultured marble moulded sinks and counter top.

The forest green walls were dark and depressing for such a small space and made the room feel smaller than it already was.

Come to find out, it was dark green paint over TWO different layers of old wallpaper. Yes. That was fun trying to take off.Ā When it stopped responding to all traditional methods of stripping and started damaging the sheet-rock in the process, we ended up sheet-rocking over with a thin layer to get a Ā fresh, smooth surface.

Here was a picture from a couple months after we started remodeling once the new walls, floors (minus the grout), and 24″ deep by 36″ high cabinets were in:

(during)

Looking better! Now, ifĀ you remember from my previous post, Designer House Reveal: The Process, the inspiration for that project actually started with Dwell Studio fabrics I’d original picked out for our master suite. As we hadn’t finished our master project at the time, I used the materials in the show house instead and decided that if the items didn’t sell, I would re-purpose them in our project as originally planned.

So if you followed the Designer House project, you’ll recognize that some of the original items used are now in our master bath, including some of my original art!

Here’s how it looks after our big push this past week:

Quite a transformation so far, right?!

It still needs a few finishing touches including the final light fixtures over each mirror, drapery panels under the valance, and crown moulding. All in good time. Right now I’m just basking in the joy of having working sinks just feet away from my bed! Not to mention thick, coke bottle-like glass sinks. Ooo la la.

So that’s a sneak peek of what we were up to all week. Hopefully it makes up in some small way for my absence. šŸ™‚

Have a wonderful rest of the week and stay inspired!

-K

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MORE TO LOVE:
Heights Remodel Project Featured in At Home in Arkansas Magazine!
Guest Room/Office Before & After Reveal
Kitchen Remodel Before & After Reveal, Part 1: Before

The Farmers Market

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We went to visit our friends, who moved up to Columbia MO a few months ago, so it was the best of weekends! One of my favorite things that we got to do with them during our stay was shopping at their local farmers market.

It was just the funnest thing ever – so beautiful and inspiring, too! Everyone had their products displayed so nicely in their booths. Everything looked like fall and smelled like fresh coffee and baked goods. I’m not sure how I’ve managed to miss out on the local farmers market experience at home, because I absolutely loved the one up there. Note to self: go to Arkansas farmers markets. Like, now.

(photo cred: Laura)

My take-aways from our market trip were an amazing cup of freshly pressed french-press coffee by the Fretboard Coffee, Inc. and a giant basil plant that cost a whopping $3. What?! It matches Laura’s basil plant (above) she picked up on an earlier visit, along with some tomatoes and farm fresh eggs. Omelette, anyone?

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MORE TO LOVE:
Ikea Love
Altar’d State
Look-alikes: Glam Living Room

Trevor Thurow Custom Furniture & Design

Today it’s my pleasure to introduce to you the incredible Trevor Thurow Custom Furniture and Design! Trevor and his lovely wife, Jenni, are based out of Austin, Texas – a state near and dear to my heart. Ā (I was born in Dallas and let’s face it, once a Texan, always a Texan!) šŸ™‚

Trevor is ridiculously gifted at was he does – his work is simply spectacular! Everything from the furniture style to the variety of materials used is precisely my cup of tea. Check out some of my favorite pieces of his work below!

Awesome, right? To read more about the above pieces and see more of Trevor’s work, be sure to check out and like theirĀ FacebookĀ page and visit theirĀ website.

Now that you’ve met Trevor Thurow Custom Furniture and Design, I’m so excited to share that I’ve been asked to work with them to design a piece of furniture from these amazing old barn wood beams! What?!

I’m extremely honored to be teaming up with them on this one-of-a-kind project. It’s going to be a blast!

Stay tuned to my blog and Trevor’s blog to follow the design and production process over the next month.

Back to sketching! šŸ˜‰

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MORE TO LOVE:
Reclaimed Barn Beam Table Design Reveal!
Furniture Design Progress Report
Ikea Love

YOU’RE INVITED TO KATHRYN’S E-PARTY!

Join the e-party below to get personal notes, news, decor advice and inspo from Kathryn and receive a FREE copy of Kathryn’s new e-book, “7 Steps to Design + Decorate like a Pro” as a party favor for joining!

YES, I’D LIKE A PARTY FAVOR!

The coziest air bnb in Hot Springs, a couple of ou The coziest air bnb in Hot Springs, a couple of our favorite couples, icecream cake for all, hiking date for us complete with cupcakes + rosĆ© in a cave… only for  @forrest_addison_roberts ā€˜s birthday!! 🄳😘 

I couldn’t let the year end without narrowing down a few favorite captures from such a special weekend earlier in December (which overlaps with our elopement anniversary now, but anniversary photos wouldn’t fit here too ha!) celebrating the love of my life. 

Thankful for such sweet friends to laugh and celebrate with. Thankful for keeping our birthday tradition of cake + wine in a cave, come rain or shine. Thankful to get to celebrate my favorite adventure partner for another year! Thanks for picking me to host your parties for the rest of your life. It’s a grande honor, and you’re the easiest to want to celebrate. I love you!

PS: if you’re traveling to Hot Springs, you absolutely need to check out @thewoodlawntudorandcottage and @thepaddockhotsprings - love these properties by @kaligoldenharris !! We didn’t want to leave and can’t wait to go back! šŸ”
October highlights in 10 snaps (and a motion to in October highlights in 10 snaps (and a motion to increase the 10 slider limit as all the joy this month held couldn’t be narrowed to such a small smattering). 

This is merely a fraction of sweet memories from one of our two most festive months of the year: October brought:

- a road trip to Comfort, TX for my cousin’s wedding fest 
- Liam’s 5th birthday 
- my 34th birthday 
- Halloween parties, dates, and costumes book readings (not even enough room for all of those here!)

I can let perfectionism lead to procrastination in sharing, sorting, favoriting, editing - and then months escape me without letting a few favorites make it here to the grid, which is the closest thing to a scrapbook I have these days. So doing my best to let these few float up here like balloons to the sky before another month escapes me. 

So incredibly thankful for all of the sweet memories and grande adventures with my two fellas. 🄹 This first year together as a blended family is one I’ll always want to remember, for the treasures it’s held and the growth we’ve all experienced. 

Thanksgiving is the perfect day to remember to remember and hold it all a little closer. šŸ™šŸ¼šŸ’›

Much love and many more sweet memories moments to be thankful for to you and yours! šŸ’
Happy Son’s day to my sweet Liam love. Brightest Happy Son’s day to my sweet Liam love. Brightest little light of my life, teller of the most original jokes, giver of the silliest lick-kisses, imaginer of new games, snuggliest bug, the bravest boy with the strongest heart and fastest feet - and so many endless more magical things to me. Getting to be his mama is the greatest honor and a most unbelievable gift. šŸ„¹šŸ™šŸ¼šŸ¤ I love you Liam! And I will always be so incredibly proud of you. Keep being you! The world needs all of your wonder, enthusiasm, kindness and joy. ✨ And all those ā€œgreat ideasā€ you’ve always got brewing. ā˜ŗļøšŸ˜˜ 

šŸ“· @brittanyrigganphoto
Cooking with Liam and ā€œMichael Bubelyā€ā€¦šŸ•·ā¤ļøšŸŽ¶šŸ˜‚šŸ™šŸ¼ While he’s loved the Spider-Man theme song for awhile, we recently discovered this version and it has been on repeat and we are happy about it. šŸ˜… 
 
#boymomadventures #thatsdarling #kitchenconcert #singingvideo #fouryearolds #cookingwithkids #thefoodnetwork #videooftheday #momlifebestlife #michaelbuble #spiderman #spidermanthemesong #kidsareawesome #childprodigy #michaelbublƩ #michaelbubleduet
Glorious, precious memories from ā€œpart 2ā€ of o Glorious, precious memories from ā€œpart 2ā€ of our wedding celebration - our reception this summer, 6 months following our elopement! Thank you to our sweet friend + amazing photographer @brittanyrigganphoto and to our friends at @reservehotsprings !! šŸ„¹šŸ™šŸ¼šŸ¤

@forrest_addison_ - I am filled with wonder yet again as I look through these, trying and failing at narrowing down favorite moments, still in awe of this love of ours, beyond all we could’ve asked or imagined. šŸ„²šŸ™šŸ¼

There’s a consistent calm + quiet in walking alongside you in this life, with the sound of puns + giggles, plans being made, hearts being shared, being the blessed echo for miles around. 

I’m thankful for all the space for us to learn and grow as individuals and together. Thank you for your willingness to learn with me. I love partnering with you in cultivating the kind of relationship and life we believe in! 

I’ve yet to see anger, bitterness, jealousy or other turmoil take up root in the sacred space we share, and somehow I know we never will. Your unending generosity of spirit, steady patience, and a truly unassuming heart that’s always believed the best of mine, softens mine more.

Watching and learning from you is an honor and joy. I’m still trying to wrap my head around your genuinely pure kindness. You’ve prayed for those who’ve persecuted us. You’ve ā€œrejoiced with those who rejoiceā€ even when they’ve wronged you. You keep no record of wrongs like I’ve never seen. You simply carry on loving well.

Thank you for being my safest place. For being to me among many things, one long exhale after years of oscillating between holding my breath and hyperventilating. 

Even as I have those moments still, you listen to my heavy heart and witness my weary tears without judgment I’ve known before, because like Jesus’s ā€œbanner over me is loveā€ always - you, too, judge me forever and always as ā€œbelovedā€. I’m learning to remember and rest in that to counter the self consciousness that comes with learning to be truly seen. 

Thank you for by your very presence and heart posture, inviting me to be myself, even when I am a taco level hot-mess.

I love you to the moon and back, to infinity and beyond! ♾
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It is a delight to work with Kathryn LeMaster. She is a good listener who has been able to help us transition into a smaller home while still keeping the essence of our family intact.

- CINDI C.

My husband and I decided to update our house focusing on the kitchen and bathrooms. We were so impressed from the beginning with Kathryn! She was easy to work with and took our vision and made it all come together! She was extremely professional and we highly recommend her. Thanks Kathryn!! We couldn't be happier!!!

- LAURA D.

I have been doing business with Kathryn for several years, where she had played an integral role to enhance the quality and appeal of the visual impact of our furniture in TV commercial s. She independently picks products that perfectly match each commercial. She is also an absolute pleasure to work with. She is flexible when needed, and always has a positive disposition.

- LAWRENCE ZIGERELLI, PRESIDENT/CEO, FFO HOME

We asked Kathryn to create sets for a food shoot with multiple items. She created sets with for each dish and had them passed them off with the client who was out of town. She was extremely organized and methodical about how she purchased and approved each set. Not only was her work exceptional, her presence made the client feel at ease.

- DERO SANFORD, OWNER, THINKDERO

We highly recommend Kathryn. She listened to us as her clients and executed ideas based upon our design style. We had bought a new house and asked her to help us furnish, design, and style It. We appreciated her detailed drawings and ability to "show" us the vision and plan. She is quick to respond and allows for flexibility based upon timeline needs. Once deciding together on budget, she works toward that goal. She is a lot of fun to work with!

- CHRISTY H.

Kathryn assisted me in styling and accessorizing our new home. She nailed my design ideas and style based on the questionnaire and my comments. I was amazed at how she was able to match my style exactly! It would have taken me years to accomplish what she accomplished in one day. I would highly recommend her and look forward to working with her again in the future.

- BEVERLY R.

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