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Wise Design Tips: Updating Your Dining Room On A Budget
Tamara Wise
  • Nov 21, 2019
  • 4 min

Wise Design Tips: Updating Your Dining Room On A Budget

Well, here we are in November again all of a sudden. (I don't know about you, but this year, it really snuck up on me!) Anyhow, soon it will be time for friends & family to gather for the holidays. That can only mean one thing...it's time to make sure all the most used spaces in your home are ready for guests. SW Modern Home Now, it may seem like a daunting & expensive task to give your home a holiday face-lift on such short notice, but there are a few ways to pull it off eve
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Reveal: SW Modern Final Kitchen Design
Tamara Wise
  • Oct 10, 2019
  • 3 min

Reveal: SW Modern Final Kitchen Design

It's time to finally reveal the SW Modern kitchen! It's been awhile, (we've had a very busy start to the fall, hurray!) but we're so excited to share this amazing space with you! We love this light & sleek kitchen for it's super efficient layout and warm, cozy feel! Here is a bit of a recap from our Before: SW Modern Kitchen & Preliminary Design post. The clients had thought about expanding the footprint of their kitchen, but in the end decided they liked the cozy feel of it.
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Wise Design Favorites: Our Go-To Greys
Tamara Wise
  • Aug 30, 2019
  • 2 min

Wise Design Favorites: Our Go-To Greys

At Wise Design our next favorite neutral paint color after a clean & bright white wall, is a calming, soothing grey wall. Grey is a paint color we return to time and time again, when we want a bit of contrast with the trim color, particularly in historic homes. We have a few shades of grey that we return to over & over again, because they're versatile with just the right undertones. Besides these go-to greys, we have a few that we love and have yet to use on a project, but in
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Reveal! Funshine Girls Room Install & Styling
Tamara Wise
  • Aug 14, 2019
  • 3 min

Reveal! Funshine Girls Room Install & Styling

If you've followed along on our journey of space planning & designing the Funshine Girl's Room, then you'll be excited to see the final install & photos! We're so excited to share the behind-the-scenes story of our install AND reveal all the final photos! Just to recap, we introduced the project and shared the backstory in this post. Next, we shared the before photos and talked space planning for the room in this post. Lastly, we shared the design, mood boards and renderings
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Before:  SW Modern Kitchen & Preliminary Design
Ryan Harkrider
  • Aug 7, 2019
  • 2 min

Before: SW Modern Kitchen & Preliminary Design

As much as we LOVE historic homes and restoring/maintaining the original design, sometimes you do have to throw in the towel. Sometimes, it's not worth saving. (But please don't take out that original built-in! I said 'sometimes!') The SW Modern home's kitchen was original to the house. Our clients discussed how they had some big plans for it initially: walls would be taken down, the dining and kitchen would merge into one, etc. However, as they went through the conceptual pr
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Wise Design Picks: Outdoor Spaces + Our Roundup of Outdoor Furniture Favs
Tamara Wise
  • Aug 2, 2019
  • 2 min

Wise Design Picks: Outdoor Spaces + Our Roundup of Outdoor Furniture Favs

Here in Portland Oregon, we are very fortunate to have the most beautiful summers! After raining pretty much solidly for 9 months out of the year, Summertime in the beautiful Pacific Northwest is lush and inviting! The sun finally graces the land with it's glorious rays and with the longer days and warm nights, Oregonians are outside in full force. Image Source: The Roof Deck at Revolution Hall Be it in the rivers, ocean beaches, mountain trails or city parks; Oregonians take
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Reveal: Introducing a Sleek Update for a SW Modern Home
Tamara Wise
  • Jul 3, 2019
  • 2 min

Reveal: Introducing a Sleek Update for a SW Modern Home

This week we are excited to introduce you to an amazing project - updating this beautiful mid- century home for a lovely family in the SW Hills of Portland! Our SW Modern Home was just featured in DWELL and now we're delighted to share each step of our design story for this spectacular project!!! SW Modern Kitchen: Photo by Meagan Larsen We first met this sweet family two and a half years ago, when they approached Wise Design to help them with some renovations and furnishings
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Behind-the-Scenes: Designing the Funshine Girl's Room
Tamara Wise
  • Jun 20, 2019
  • 3 min

Behind-the-Scenes: Designing the Funshine Girl's Room

Now comes the fun part! Just to recap on the design story for the Funshine Girl's room thus far: a few weeks ago, we introduced this super fun little girl's room we are designing for our long time client's daughter. She sent us her likes and interests, and we pulled together some inspiration photos. Her favorite colors are: pink, turquoise and purple and her favorite things are: horses, butterflies, fairies, sunshine and swimming pools! Image Source: Four Cheeky Monkeys We al
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Behind-the-Scenes: Funshine Girl's Room Before Photos & Space Planning
Tamara Wise
  • Jun 6, 2019
  • 2 min

Behind-the-Scenes: Funshine Girl's Room Before Photos & Space Planning

For those of you following along, a couple weeks ago, we introduced a super fun little girl's room we are designing for a long time client's daughter. She sent us her likes and interests, and we pulled together some inspiration photos. Her favorite colors are: pink, turquoise and purple and her favorite things are: horses, butterflies, fairies, sunshine and swimming pools! Image Source: Four Cheeky Monkeys We loved these photos from Four Cheeky Monkeys for their use of the fu
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PDX Picks: Local Vintage Shopping Favs + How to Incorporate Vintage Pieces in Your Space
Tamara Wise
  • Apr 26, 2019
  • 3 min

PDX Picks: Local Vintage Shopping Favs + How to Incorporate Vintage Pieces in Your Space

This week we're introducing yet another new series on our blog (don't worry, our WD Favorites series isn't dead...we're just on a break ; ). Our new series explores some of our favorite local spots around the Portland area. We're really excited to share these with you! Our local PDX Picks this week are some of our favorite vintage shops in the Portland area. We love incorporating vintage/antique pieces into our designs and a great way to do so is by shopping at our local spot
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Wise Design Favorites: All About That Wallpaper
Tamara Wise
  • Apr 18, 2019
  • 3 min

Wise Design Favorites: All About That Wallpaper

We're not gonna lie, we kinda have a thing for wallpaper. I mean it's not a like a problem, we've got it under control...honest (haha). Wallpaper is definitely one of the best ways to make a big (or small) statement in a room! Lucky for all of us, wallpaper has made a HUGE comeback in the recent decade and can now be found in all different colors/patterns. It doesn't always work for every space (kitchens & bathrooms can be tricky), but sometimes a space is just calling for it
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Wise Design Favorites: Totally Lit - Our Top Picks for Accent Lighting
Tamara Wise
  • Apr 11, 2019
  • 4 min

Wise Design Favorites: Totally Lit - Our Top Picks for Accent Lighting

When it comes to lighting, there is so much more than ambient overhead fixtures to consider. Wall sconces, floor lamps and table lamps are a great way to bring more specialized lighting to areas either for specific tasks or to accent a design feature. Often under-utilized and under appreciated, these fixtures add an important layer of livability to any space. When we are designing a space, we like to layer several different types of lighting to give the client options dependi
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Wise Design Favorites: Lighting Picks - Overhead Fixtures
Tamara Wise
  • Apr 4, 2019
  • 3 min

Wise Design Favorites: Lighting Picks - Overhead Fixtures

Lighting is one of the most important factors when designing a room. Sometimes it can be overlooked, but if you have a well designed space that isn't well lit, how can anybody see it!?! We're only half kidding...but seriously, a well designed room needs several lighting options. Overhead lights, reading lights, sconce/wall lighting, table lamps, task lamps, etc. etc. Depending on the space, your lighting needs may vary. At Wise Design, we definitely have some favorite lightin
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Reveal: A Bright & Cheerful Space for the Whole Family | NW Nob Hill House Family Room + Foyer
Tamara Wise
  • Mar 21, 2019
  • 5 min

Reveal: A Bright & Cheerful Space for the Whole Family | NW Nob Hill House Family Room + Foyer

Next up in our Reveal Series is another vibrant & cheerful space from our NW Nob Hill House project. This week we'll be revealing the behind-the-scenes design process for the Foyer & Family Room in this home. These spaces transformed into lovely and functional spaces for the whole family to enjoy! These spaces were a bit challenging as the clients needed a lot of function from both rooms. As a busy family of four with two active boys, they had a lot of gear, bags, shoes, coat
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REVEAL: A Vibrant Space for Elegant Everyday Living | NW Nob Hill House Living & Dining Room
Tamara Wise
  • Mar 14, 2019
  • 4 min

REVEAL: A Vibrant Space for Elegant Everyday Living | NW Nob Hill House Living & Dining Room

The next home in our Reveal Series belongs to a lovely family who had been through an unfortunate flood and called us in to help refurnish the main level of their home. This beautiful and private home is nestled in the hills of the Alphabet District in NW Portland. A truly serene setting for such a special home. This project was unique primarily in its use of color. Wanting to combat the grey of Oregon winters, our clients invested in painting their walls before contracting o
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Reveal: Cozy & Sweet Alberta Arts Bungalow Kitchen and Den
Tamara Wise
  • Mar 7, 2019
  • 2 min

Reveal: Cozy & Sweet Alberta Arts Bungalow Kitchen and Den

Our Alberta Arts Bungalow kitchen and den went through a total metamorphosis, without a huge expense! This space now totally reflects the style of the young, globe-trotting family that resides here! It didn't happen overnight though... When the clients bought the home, the kitchen & den area had a nice open layout, which functionally worked for their young family. However, they weren't crazy about the dated aesthetics of the space. It featured (A LOT) of wood cabinetry, which
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REVEAL: A Collected Alberta Arts Bungalow Living and Dining Room
Tamara Wise
  • Feb 28, 2019
  • 3 min

REVEAL: A Collected Alberta Arts Bungalow Living and Dining Room

The next home in our reveal series is a sweet Portland bungalow that belongs to a fun, young family. After living in Brazil, Canada, Russia and the UK, our globe-trotting clients settled in the vibrant Alberta Arts district of Portland to raise their family. They wanted a space that highlighted the unique souvenirs from their travels, yet still felt cozy and kid friendly. Here's a bit of the backstory... Our clients had lived and traveled all over the globe. However, now that
210 views0 comments
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