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Dear D'Arcy

By D'Arcy Vandenberg

serving tray for entertaining
Entertaining is one of my favorite things! Come enjoy our kitchen with us! White dress= Standards & Practices, White blazer = Downtown Chic, Earrings = Victor & Marc
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Easy and Affordable Tips to Remodel Your Space!

Before and after living space

Our client wanted an updated look with an affordable budget. She also wanted a modern feel and liked the soft feel of grey but loves color, she also doesn’t like much clutter or collectibles. With this in mind we created a space around these needs. I love the pop of color with the grey it works well with each other. Note how the color is in the accessories, this allows for an easy change to the look affordably buy switching out the accessories for new colors and trends.

Before and after living space

The finished look. Note: the dresser painted silver to take something old and make it new again.

Before and after living space

This space was created to sit and work/read have a cup of coffee or wine and chat. I created a couple of areas to sit and large pillows for the kids to lay around, gather and chat.

Before and after living space

Before and after living space

Before the space in the front room was used for an office. The space was dark, furniture placed wrong and the flooring was a strange vinyl padding.

Before and after living space

Before: boring, furniture placed wrong, no color and doesn’t reflect the owners personality or style .

Before and after living space

The entry walking into front room prior used for office. New space living/sitting area. Note the dark dresser, see what a little paint did to it! We did paint this space the same shade of Sherwin Williams grey and added a beautiful new light fixture. (sorry I forgot to take a photo of this.)

Before and after living spaceAs for the molding to help with budget, we re-used the existing molding, painted it white and placed a smaller molding a 1/2 inch space above, leaving a gap that we painted white to give the look of much more expensive wider molding. This give a big budget bang and a fraction of the cost. Molding is like jewelry to an outfit, it really finishes it off. It’s a detail that finishes the job.

Before and after living space

This is the before on the two floorings and the baseboard. Sorry for the bad photo! (it was the only one I took and I didn’t realize it was blurred until it was too late.) I really felt it was important to show the up close detail.

Before and after living space

The after… refinished hardwood floor to give it an update without the cost of a total redo. Added a fun patterned carpet for detail and a unexpected pop! I think it turned out so sharp.

Hello Beautifuls, 

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. My hubby surprised me with a weekend away to Salt Lake City for some pool time alone. Cheers to weekend dates!  I wanted to share some news with you, My hubby and I have been a designer & construction team for years. In California we had a business B&D properties, interior design and construction specializing in remodels and makeovers. We were doing flips and spec homes as a team. While he also owned & operated ski shops for 25 years and I had Pages of Tyme, a home decor and scrapbooking store for 10 years. Business was great, we were really busy and life was moving fast! My hubby was burned out and wanted to slow things down….We decided to move to Utah where we had had a second home.  So we sold everything and moved to Utah. Our plan was to take a year or two off enjoy our family and then we would start up B & D Properties in Utah on a smaller scale and x out any retail business and then housing market crashed… Needless to say our plans changed… B&D properties went on the back burner for Utah.  My hubby stayed in the construction business and took on all kinds of jobs. While I recreated my career (I needed a break and I needed to do something creative on my fashion side). I had always loved fashion and always wanted to open a clothing boutique as fashion and design have a lot in common. The birth of Chic Style was born. Having grown the shops to 3 shops in 6 years after 9 years, I had really been missing design. I had taken a huge break in design while living in Utah and decided to take on a couple projects while still owning the shops…. Now talk about busy but I loved doing both while also growing my blog and social media. In December 2017 we decided to sell the clothing shops not really knowing for sure what I was going to do for work (I promise there’s a point to all of this!) I knew I didn’t want to do ANY type of retail anymore, I knew my blog and social were growing and I LOVED sharing tips and advice on anything fashion and lifestyle & design related. But I also knew I needed to work until I could make a living at this blogging & influencer job.  To be honest I’ve been trying to find what that job would be… I’ve been searching, applying for all kinds of jobs (which I constantly get told I am over qualified!) from corporate manager jobs, retail and even big firm interior jobs. In this process I became a long term substitute teacher which I adore and have been picking up interior design side jobs! Reminding myself I’ve been self employed almost my whole life, why would I want to work for another business while I am capable of doing it on my own? After having to bring my hubby back on as the contractor to my last 4 jobs I realized a dream we hadn’t fulfilled, B&D properties, Interior design and construction in Utah has not been fulfilled! It finally all made since and came back around…that’s what we’re supposed to do, team back up and make that dream a reality. (God I hear you!) So B&D properties, interior design and construction is up and running. Our business license and insurances are all in the works or finished. We have a Facebook page HERE and an Instagram HERE and you can email us at bdproperty@icloud.com  Don’t worry I will still be running Dear-Darcy, I will just be adding more design and home projects to the blog with a tab you’ll be able to search. My plan is to come up with a content calendar so you will see an even amount of fashion, lifestyle, travel and design. Stay tuned as I am really working on blogging 5 days a week to give you all the content you want to see. 

Now.. Do you need some remodeling, organizing, personal shopping or your closet reworked? Email me because this is MY NEW JOB!   Thank you for following along & supporting me, D’Arcy.

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Junior League Gala….(Decorator Chair)

My outfit and accessories 

A couple of pictures of mt hubby and I…

Junior league Member’s that could attend…We have 80 member’s

The center pieces for 30 Tables

 

The entry into the venue ….Is in the details, You should have seen the face of the venue manager as I was pouring sand! (I promise we cleaned it All up!) The glow of the lanterns walking up and the detail of sand just set the tone.

 

A little facebook message from our President, after the Gala! I was excited she loved how it turned out!

Another Junior League Gala in the Books…If you just starting reading or following me, I have been in the Junior League of Ogden for 3 years and the last 2 I have been Decorating Chair for the Gala. The Gala is our biggest fundraiser of the year needless to say it a big event! If you haven’t heard of the Junior League, in a quick response… it’s a wonderful organization across the country that helps empower woman through charitable work in your community. I love being part of such a wonderful organization that really GIVE’s back while building friendships. This year’s theme was LOBSTER UP… (there is a whole story behind it) The President each year picks a theme, which is normally something they feel strong about and sets the tone for the year!  This theme set the tone HUGE for this years Gala (a Night in white at the Cape)  A Fancy way to have a Nautical Themed GALA!   

A big challenge in many way’s…     You don’t want it to be decorated to casual (it’s a Gala)  The budget is close to 0 and it’s a party for 300.  Beach party wasn’t the goal it’s not a Luau or birthday party. So my goal was to feel like a dinner party at a  house on the cape, on a summer night. Knowing we asked guest to wear white ( we knew we would get casual white to fancy white attire) I didn’t want it to feel like a casual Beach party.  SO sticking with white linens Layered with Natural colored Burlap and fish net. Then accents of gold, natural’s and blue & green sea glass. Helped give it the feel of the Sea without the Bright primary’s of Beach balls.  Another challenge was we don’t live near the beach so finding objects to barrow was basically another 0… SO I did a lot of DIY projects! The center pieces were bottles & jars I have been collected for years (knowing I would need one day!)  93 bottles total, 30 of which were wine bottles a fellow member had saved.  I will share my DIY project with you at another time…  I think they turned out Darling for 30 centerpieces on a major budget!     

I have told you guy’s I love to collect item’s ( I am not a hoarder..HAHA)  I love to entertain so I have a pretty big collection of items for party’s…. I really didn’t own much for this type of party…But I did have Longaberger Basket’s, Vintage Ice chest, Vintage Ironing board, Adirondack chair’s , Vintage coke crate and bottle’s, succulents, white flower pots, A big Boat book shelf and some outdoor lanterns, fire pit, 2 wooden pallets, Burlap and Burlap table clothes. 30 table frames (TIP: look to see what you could use to help with the theme even if it doesn’t scream the theme!)   This really helped fill in a lot of area’s at the venue. Then I only had to purchase some key Item’s to really help tie it ALL together.  SEE it does help to collect!

Items I did purchase: At Homegood, TjMax, Michael’s, Amazon, Lowe’s….

Fishnet, shells, sea glass, pebbles, white flowers, anchor, nautical flags, nautical flag banners (4), rope… lots of rope, 2 posters & frames, rope knots, fishing bobs, Lobster pillow and beach towel, 30 big battery Candles and 50 votive candles, Ribbon, Strands of lights, Taffy for Party favors!  

Donated or loaned: White linens from Model linens & Large tropical plants J&J nursery …..

Above I showed groupings that I placed through out the Venue to have a pop of THE CAPE everywhere you looked. Have any questions or need tips on planning a party with what you have on hand? Leave a comment I will be happy to help

My love of entertaining and decorating is how I can give my time and give back. This is how I use my talents to help others. Being able to Do something I love helps this charity raise money to give back to the community. We ALL have a talent or a gift that we can use to GIVE BACK…I Hope I inspired you to use your talent’s & time in a way that can help others.  OX, D’Arcy

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Getting ready for New Years Eve ….Nails, Champagne & clothes

New Year’s Eve nail and Diy Glitter Champagne bottle

Sparkle and Glitz

2016 is coming to an end….  Later this week All post My 2016  resolutions and how it turned out

(It was the first year I made any Resolution’s)  As we get closer to New Years Eve I thought I would share a couple things I did to get ready for the night. First thing was I had my cute nail girl do my nails In a fun champagne toast theme… I hadn’t decided what I was wearing so we went with a mix of  things. Red on 3, 1 white with rose gold & silver  glitter over white and a black nail with a hand painted silver flute….. Now I can pick any outfit and it will work knowing my festive clothes are All in those tones….

2nd was to create a DIY project with a bottle of Champagne ….. Everything looks better with glitter 💕 You’ll need a bottle, mod podge,  a brush and glitter of your choice ( I did gold , rose gold and silver)  spray sealer .   cover bottle in mod podge roll or sprinkle fitter on and let dry… Repeat if layering colors , let dry  then spray with sealant or cover with mod podge again let dry… Voilà a pretty Bottle for your New Year’s festivities 🎉🍾

3rd.  Finding a festive outfit in your closet…. Funny thing, I went into my closet and pulled all my sparkle or festive tops, any thing with beading, sequins or flash…. It all happened to be in the same blush, gold, white, cream family…. I am drawn to sparkles, beading and metallic so I had a few good choices to pick from out of my years of collecting. TIP it’s good to save classic dressy pieces.  I was only pulling tops or vest to see what I could come up with. I found some cute items that would go perfectly  with Black leather pants and heals…. Add some fun accessories and your set. Knowing  we are probably going to a house party , Where you want to look festive but not overdressed. (we were invited to a black tie cocktail party as well and will show that outfit tomorrow)  hope you find inspiration in this post and can dig up some great treasures in your closet.

Happy Last week of 2016 ❤️D’Arcy

D’Arcy

D'Arcy
I Created Dear D'Arcy as a place to Document the things I love & Share things that inspire or changed my life. To help encourage and inspire others to add Beauty into your everyday life. It's A creative outlet where I Share my Personal Fashion style, Beauty secrets, outfit inspirations, Life Style tips & tricks and My Home designs. Little pleasures in life are important and I can't wait to start sharing mine with you. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy sharing!
oxox D'Arcy

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