Fly My College Girl and A Few Other Summer Highlights

I’ve been little sporadic blogging this summer, but that doesn’t mean lots of exciting things- personally and professionally- haven’t been going on. I don”t know where to start, so I thought I would give a few highlights.

I have been super focused right now on packing up my middle daughter, Ellie, and moving her into college TOMORROW. Lots of mixed emotions as I don’t think a move with my second child will be any easier than it was with my first.

We are doing a mix of custom and store bought finds for her dorm room. I’ve tried to spend a little more on the items that can be reused and go more for “look” on the basic items.

The girls want to be surprised, so they haven’t seen anything yet. I am a little nervous about not having feedback from them but I’ve had a hip, college intern this summer who approved. Hopefully, they will feel the love that has gone into creating their room by this old, not so cool (at least in my daughter’s eyes) mom.

I will try to share some picture on social media so you can see how it turned out. Be sure to follow along here on Instagram……

Our office closed the week of the Fourth of July and I headed to the beach. My oldest, Lucy, is working in New York this summer and Ellie was at the lake, so Danny and I took Ann and friends to Watercolor in Santa Rosa, FL, for the week.

I loved having some time (well, as much as they would give us) with these girls, and the rest was good for all. The one on one time with my hubby was icing on the cake.

Am I not like an old person? Sitting in the sun all covered up :). How times have changed…..

It’s a good thing we rested as my team and I came back to a huge install. This is a new construction we have been working on for over two years, and the cute couple, who built their forever home, were moving in that week.

The scope of the project covered all of the finishes/ details in the house, and the beginning of the summer included lots of attention to making sure all went seamlessly. We selected all of the upholstery, furnishing, accessories, window treatments, etc…, for the entire downstairs and a few things in the media room. The home is stunning with custom touches throughout.

It’s these custom touches that make a house go from pretty to pretty incredible. Lots of fabric cuttings going back and forth, creating a “catch your eye” focal point in each room, blending of finishes, making sure everything works with the piece next to it without being too perfectly matched….. You get the point. It’s custom what we do and attention to detail is our specialty.

Upholstered doors against the slab of Calcutta Gold marble turned out beautifully in the bar, Dana Wolter Interiors

Custom banquette fits JUST right in the breakfast area, Dana Wolter Interiors

It’s been a fun project as we’ve blogged about it here if you’d like to read more.

I headed to the Hamptons at the end of July to celebrate the opening of the Traditional Home Showhouse in Southampton. It was a lot of fun and the two homes are gorgeous. Lots of stunning details shown on Traditional Home’s Instagram here. Be sure to look for more pictures of the homes in next summer’s issue.

Pictured here with Jill Waage, Editor In Chief, and Vicki Carra of Traditional Home

We’ve also been diligently working on a few new rooms that have been added to the scope of a current project. It is a stately house with great bones with a cute, active family that lives in it. Lots of beautiful stone throughout- but it needed some softness and layers and unique details added into the mix. We’ve brought in an architect to make the rooms flow better. It doesn’t matter how pretty a space is if it doesn’t function well for your family. Right??!

Curating a few fabrics for the foyer, Dana Wolter Interiors

Stay tuned as we are sharing some exciting news soon. In the meantime, wish me luck moving in my girl.

I am going to miss her infectious laugh and the relaxed feel she adds to the house. Wondering if crying when dropping off college kids is embarrassing to them. I am only asking for a friend 🙂

Have a great day and thanks for reading,

Dana

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While a dorm room isn’t something I create every week, I have been involved in one this summer, and it’s been on a budget.

It’s different than what I normally do- the rooms I design are usually designed for a specific space- custom bedding, custom upholstery, true wood, etc…

I have been pulling together my daughter’s room for college (yikes- it is really happening), and we wanted to watch what we spent. We want it to be cute, but because she won’t use most of it for more than a year, our budget was ~~challenging~~ low.

So after hitting West Elm, Target, and a few other sources around town, this is what we created.

The quality of the pics isn’t great, but you get the idea. We mixed in a little custom with home store finds to make it as budget- friendly as we could.

Here are a few tips to follow when working on a budget-friendly room at any age…

1. According to the space, buy the best upholstery you can for what it is.

Even for a dorm room, I created a custom headboard. A nice, weighty piece of upholstery makes such a difference, the quality is much better, and I knew she would use it for three years. This leads me to my next point……

2. Mix your pricepoints based upon the piece’s use.

While we spent more on the custom upholstered headboard, we bought a Target bookcase (and the cute baskets) to go in between them. The bookcase only needs to last a year, and if we end up using it for longer than that, it is a bonus.

The euro, draperies and headboard are “to the trade fabrics” because she can use them again (and we didn’t need much yardage), but the dust ruffle- yes, please don’t tell, is a Target drapery panel reworked with a gray banding added to the bottom of it. The solid fabric and Greek key trim for the front pillow was found at a local fabric store.

3. Find your color way.

I gave my daughter and her roommate two colorway options, and they voted for the indigo blue and gray one. As you can see, I let the blue be the “pop” and repeated the soft gray throughout. You see it in the rug, the headboards,in the Target baskets, banding on the bottom of the dust ruffle,etc….

4. Mix patterns.

I love to mix patterns in a space, and the key is to use different scales. Even for a dorm room, I threw in a solid (a fabric from a local fabric store) to break up the patterns.

Everyone shows love in different ways, and I showed my love language to my little girl by leaving a little bit of me behind with her.

Cheers to showing how you care in your own special way-

Dana

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Tag: dorm room ideas

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