I'm Featured in Bungalow Magazine!

Big news, friends. My house is featured in Bungalow Magazine! Bungalow is a new Texas shelter mag and you can read all about me and my house HERE, including some secret redecorating I've been undertaking. I'm planning to do a full post next week all about the shoot and interview because it was a really interesting experience, but I am currently bouncing a cranky baby, making 800 client mockups, and managing my social media "empire" (ha). So for now please be satisfied with a few of my favorite shots. Then get yourself over to Bungalow and check it.

erin williamson design

erin williamson design

erin williamson design

Come back next Tuesday for the full scoop! You know you want to hear all about the seedy underbelly of magazine styling and photography.

Anything could happen.

One Room Challenge: Week Six -- REVEAL!

Hi everyone! Welcome back for the final installment in the One Room Challenge series, wherein I and a host of talented bloggers aim to transform a space in six extremely short weeks. Feel free to catch up on previous posts HERE. Before we get started, I just want to give Linda of Calling it Home a big shoutout for organizing this challenge. Without the threat of public failure, I probably would have flaked a month ago. So who's tired of looking at an empty green box where my dining area should be? If you've been following along, you know that I started with a fleshy peach disaster of a charmless room that housed sad chairs, a hideous table, and wicked dirty grout. I planned to push myself into designing something bright, edgy and polished, yet still breakfast casual. I had big dreams to resurrect my cracked marble Saarinen table in hopes of creating greater seating flexibility, but that plan failed and I was left bereft. What's a tableless girl to do when the world is waiting for a dining area makeover?

arsenic austin interiors

Bust out the sandpaper and spray paint, that's what. I waited and waited for St. Craig to reward my fervent prayers with an oval top for my leftover tulip base, but Frankensaarinen table was not to be. I investigated many fabrication options but was stymied by cost and lead time. So my sad, flaking, peeling old table got a coat of semi gloss black paint on the apron and legs. Then, we sanded the top finish off and wiped on about five coats of dark walnut Danish oil.  It actually looks not too shabby, and I love the matte quality of the finish. Plus the fruitwood inlay really pops now.

That left me with the art conundrum to solve. This was a toughie. I really have too many choices and I like them all for various reasons. What I chose surprised even me...

arsenic austin interiors

Say what? Maybe it's because it was PITCH BLACK and pouring on shoot day, but the acid yellow of this 70s abstract painting appealed to me. Let the sunshine in!

arsenic austin interiors

I tried lots of art in multiple situations with tons of different styling options, and somehow this dark horse ended up the winner. When I paired it with the crazy Clarence House fabric I used to upholster this vintage ebay bench, something clicked into place for me and I saw things differently. It really is so important to shift your perspective and keep an open mind. Wine helps.

arsenic austin interiors

I know I kept saying I was going to use that red Robert Allen fabric -- I do love it and I even ordered a yard. But me and Clarence House have a thing going on. Don't tell Robert... I don't want him to be jealous.

arsenic austin interiors

So far the brassy bench is popular seating -- like elbow your baby brother out of the way popular. I'm pretty happy with the way it opens the dining area to the kitchen, in that it feels less fenced off.

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And then there is the vintage head vase... it's 80s deco eurovibe o'clock up in here, with a Fornasetti twist. Say that 20 times fast.

arsenic austin interiors

Everything on the table is thrifted -- from the $5 flatware to the fringed napkins, cobra commando candlesticks, glassware and Bavarian china.

arsenic austin interiors

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I have TONS more china, flatware and glassware, but I just put way too much work into the table to completely cover all that sexy woodgrain up.

arsenic austin interiors

In case you were wondering, the other half of the room still exists.... Of course my ugly door has been properly rejuvenated with a shiny brass doorknob. And what's that on the kitchen side of things?

arsenic austin interiors

Oh, it's just a creepy haunted mirror. No biggie -- apparently I have to showcase something haunted in every room. I have no idea what this thing is, but my hunch is turn of the 20th century central European. The hammered brass vase came from Round Top and it is far cooler than pictures give it credit for.

arsenic austin interiors

This picture is supremely awful... it was the end of a (literally) dark day and the kids were (literally) three seconds from walking through the door, but I wanted you to see the whole humble setup.

arsenic austin interiors

Even the china cabinet got a mini restyle. Notice all the gold glassware that didn't make it to the table...

arsenic austin interiors

I bought the unicorn for a client kid room, but little Susie may have to live in a land of shattered dreams. Or maybe I will let it go... I am a giver, after all.

And that's about it for my teeny tiny dinette makeover. Let's have a proper before and after, shall we?

BEFORE

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AFTER

arsenic austin interiors

arsenic austin interiors

arsenic austin designer

I think I accomplished what I set out to do. The room is functional and finished, plus there are a few surprise moments. Nothing like a little shock and awe to go with your morning cereal, right? By relying on thrift stores, craigslist, and ebay I was able to keep the budget in check. The bulk of my funds was spent on simple window treatments and a cowhide rug that can be used in different decorating schemes. Content to play supporting roles, neutral basics allow color and quirky accessories to take center stage in the dinette drama. And of course I can always switch out the cheapie flashies when my fickle side takes hold.

As Leonardo da Vinci said: art is never finished, only abandoned.  I read that in Parent's magazine or something. Hey, I'm no snob -- inspiration comes from everywhere.

It's been a blast hanging with you fine people throughout the challenge! Thank you for your support and comments -- they have been the wind beneath my wings. I read each and every word and I love them all, good or bad. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me all about what you think of the new old dinette. Maybe you can even talk me into doing the kitchen next... Maybe.

Please don't forget to visit the other participants to see how their rooms resolved. There is some amazing work taking place!

one room challenge

It's been real. Signing off and taking a nap.
xo,
Erin

That Time I Auditioned For an HGTV Show

Sorry for the light (to no) posting, but things be crazy up in here. As you may have oh so cannily surmised from my title, I've been a little busy doing things I swore I would never do. Things like trying out for a reality show that involves competing for money on national freaking tv. I must have huffed too much lacquer remover because that's just nuts... right? So, here's the scoop -- I spent a week of my life shooting self portraits and portfolio pictures and filling out MASSIVE ridiculous mountains of paperwork so that I could attend a local HGTV casting call for a house flipping show. Hilarious/not hilarious side story: I was almost done laying out 15 pages of said paperwork drama on a program I don't normally use when I left for literally five seconds and turned around to find Luke standing at my computer, playing it like a piano... 15 pages totally jacked up. Hahahaha kids are so cute. Sort of.

Anyway, head shots happened:

hgtv headshots

What? I didn't tell you that it's a team challenge? The plot thickens. So if we get on the show we have to renovate an entire house with no subcontractors. By ourselves. All of it. This is Matt, he's Karly's husband and he's a contractor. So basically my plan for world domination involves me bossing Matt around while he lays acres of teeny tiny tile in a herringbone pattern all over the walls, floors, stove... anything that will move. I can't wait for him to read this news!

instagram hgtv

So Matt and I head to the casting at a hotel with terrible carpet. I'm not very good at selfies or apparently even at the ubiquitous instagram foot shot, because it looks like I have cankles and there's a big ugly scab with a flashing filtered arrow pointing towards it. But check out that fugly carpet! I have photo priorities.

In between nitpicking the delightful decor we're just sitting there, assessing our competitors. It seems like virtually everyone but me has spent more than five minutes on their (very large) hair and makeup, and I bet nobody else got puked on that morning after arm wrestling a 13 month old all night for four hours of sleep. Other businessy people are setting up installations for clients. We are playing (and winning) iphone physics quiz. Did I mention priorities?

To make a long story short, we waited three hours for a three minute interview. We did our silly dog and pony show, and then we went home.

And got called back.

Fast forward to a couple of days later, when I still have not slept or ironed the tired wrinkles off my face. We are then subjected to an hour long interview under lights and camera with a pair of adorably adorable ladies. I'm pretty sure I aced that shit -- just being honest (I hope). I mean I could always always always do better but I think I interview well thanks to years of teaching and many more years spent talk talk talking at my husband. Meanwhile I have no idea what Matt said because they split us up and interviewed separately for a while... like at a police station. Hopefully he didn't mention the dead bodies.

So that's what's been happening. We should know in October if we will be famous and stuff. Wish us luck!

On another tv front, Little Miss Amy Hadley and her fancy YNN crew (or maybe just Jesse the camera dude) came over Tuesday to film another House Proud segment on rugs. My favorite!!!

austin interior designer

I really wanted to take pictures of our house all blissfully clean and styled up, but I only had 2.2 spare seconds to shoot so this is what you get.

Can you say giant amazing lucite coffee table? Can you say it five times really fast?

Now say, Erin you're not too old to be on tv. Because apparently I have gone from shrinking violet to total fame whore. Soon I will assuredly become insufferable and direct all inquiries to my publicist, so please leave a comment now while you can.

You dudes rule.