before & after – Kimberly Reuther

December 23, 2014March 30, 2017

WG Holiday House Tour – Dining Room – Before & After

As you know, I was asked to assist a homeowner in decorating her home for the Webster Groves Holiday House Tour this year and I am positively ecstatic at how her house turned out, especially this knockout of a dining room! Who wouldn’t want to host a dinner party in this space?

Here are the before photos…we had a great palette to start with and unique features like her carved table and antique chandelier.

Her dining room table is complemented by a beautiful buffet with silver accents. Immediately, we thought of doing a gilded metallic theme for this room.

We went shopping for a few items and we also raided her china cabinet to set the dining room table…

Luckily, she had beautiful gold rimmed glassware and plates and they looked great with the silver accents, like the stunning Smith & Hawken wreath from Target! We also added a crisp white runner and napkins (great deals at Pottery Barn) while moving her existing runner to the buffet.

One of the days we were decorating, it started snowing huge fluffy snowflakes which really put us in the holiday mood since it was still 2 weeks until Thanksgiving!

We wanted something spectacular for the dining room centerpiece and I really just fell in love with this concept. When our floral designer for the tour fell through; I was able to call on Patti Porter of Rusted Chandelier to make me a fabulous arrangement in a hurry! Here’s our concept photo…

And here’s the amazing arrangement by Rusted Chandelier! It really makes the room!

Here are photos of the completed room! Love how it turned out!

For the buffet, we used her original linen table runner and added Mercury elements, lovely silver reindeer, pine cones along with leftover pine roping and battery LED lights.

Some close-ups of the table settings & centerpiece…

We added a bit of glitter ribbon, ornaments & gilded chargers to complete the look…

Huge thank you to Julie Tesson of Tesson Interiors for helping with this project and for all who came out for the tour! Happy Holidays & Happy Decorating!

November 27, 2014November 23, 2016

WG Holiday House Tour 2014 – Sneak Peek!

I love the holidays! So, I was very excited when my friend (& talented designer) Amy Herman asked me to be a part of the Webster Groves Holiday House Tour this year!! The tour is December 7th from noon – 4:00 p.m. and it benefits the Hixon Middle School.

I’m part of a team of talented designers decorating 3 out of the 6 houses on the tour and I’m fortunate to be focusing on one homeowner in particular with the assistance of another super talented newbie designer, Julie Tesson! Our homeowner has been phenomenal to work with and I’m very pleased with how her space is coming together!

Here’s a sneak peek at how we evolved her living room in preparation for the tour!

This is the before shot of her space…

Step 1: We rotated the chairs 90 degrees in order to line up the 2 taller chairs with the fireplace as the focal point. Immediate improvement!

Step 2: We added the companion piece of art above the TV and raised the left piece of art so that they are centered horizontally with 4 over the fireplace. Now the whole wall reads together.

Step 3: We added new pillows to the grey chairs which ties in the colors of the art and livens up the chairs. We also added loose branches to the vases on the mantel which completes the visual of the art as a whole.

Step 4: For the holiday decorations, we decided to keep the mantel simple and added pieces of pine roping in loose layers and partially hanging off the front to balance with the art.

Final look: With the tree and the beautiful red roses, the whole room looks ready for Christmas!

To see the rest of the house, attend the Webster Groves Holiday House Tour on 12/7 from noon – 4:00!

Learn more about the tour here!

February 23, 2010March 30, 2017

Before & After – Antique Sofa

Here’s a fabulous example of breathing new life into something old!

My client and I were busy searching for “vintage” Anthropologie-looking sofas (but at realistic prices). Luckily, she discovered that her grandmother’s antique sofa was not being used in her mother’s basement and we began a mission to update it for her young family!

Here’s the before photo:

We researched a variety of leathers and fabrics and decided that this mossy green velvet would be durable and maintain the vintage feel of the sofa. Naturally, a lot of work needed to be done in order to get it back “in shape” so to speak! The upholstery company had to re-stuff the cushions and reinforce the frame.

We also elected to strip the wood to its most natural state and give it a lighter stain. With the dark Victorian-era wood stain applied to the heavily-carved frame, the sofa appeared too “dated” for lack of a better word. We wanted it to feel vintage but fresh! Notice, the more subtle color that lets the carving stand out without overpowering the sofa.

Thank you Custom Furniture Works for such an amazing job!!

Here’s the finished product; now it’s time to search for beautiful pillows!