Live Beautifully

I am officially in love with Maria Beck's blog, Live Beautifully, and I am not ashamed to admit that I want her life.  She is a prominent Texan interior designer, who owns her own company.  Her taste is flawless, and her renovations are absolutely stunning - we are talking serious transformations on some of these - tearing down walls, gutting entire floors of homes, etc.  After discovering her site, several hours disappeared a little too quickly as I scrolled through page after page of beautiful design.

What I especially love is how she aims to preserve the integrity of the homes she revamps, and stays true to the era of the home.


This is her most recent kitchen renovation where she made a much smaller kitchen an open functional space for a large family who entertains.

The before and after is really shocking.  She opened up a wall to open the kitchen to the living space, knocked down a wall to expand the kitchen into previously un-used square footage, expanded the island, and extended the cabinets up to the ceiling (one of her favorite tricks, and I have to say, one of the biggest impact changes to every kitchen remodel she does!)


This is one of my favorite dining room transformations - the room is small (compared to some of the expansive Texan homes she works on) but feels grand at the same time.  You wouldn't know to look at it now, but the room had painted cement tile floors before the transformation (woof).  Thankfully these were replaced with french herringbone wood floors - so pretty (see below)


Her rooms are peppered with all my favorite styles - neutral colored core pieces, lots of dark wood, nail-head trim on everything, high mounted curtains, classic subway tiles (in kitchens and in bathrooms), animal print, lots (I mean LOTS) of white, natural fiber fabrics, grand chandeliers, deep tufting... oh my!  The list goes on!  These rooms look livable, but elegant.  I would not hesitate to sink into the deep fluffy furniture or cook in these kitchens.

Enjoy some of my favorite transformations from her blog, and be sure to check out Live Beautifully - you will fall in love!