Denise McGaha Interiors

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BEFORE :: PROJECT DORSET PRIOR TO DALLAS TORNADO OF 2019

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Being recognized by your peers is always an honor and when the Design Leadership Network chose to tell the story of a project we designed in 2018-2019 in their publication HIVE, we were so happy to see it in print “as it was”……I say “as it was” because the images here represent a project that no longer looks the same. The entire landscape and home were damaged by the devastating tornado that hit Dallas in October of 2019.

Since then, we have been working with our clients to reimagine their beloved “Dorset” to be even better than before. This post also shares the importance of documenting your projects and your home, because without these images and our detailed accounting paperwork, the insurance claims would have been much more difficult.

We are anxious to show you the new and improved “Dorset” and hope to do so this Spring. Between a tornado and a pandemic, this project and our clients have been through so much, but that makes the new results just that much sweeter.

Thanks so much to Michael Boodro, editor of HIVE and the team at DLN for featuring our work and sharing with the entire membership of the Design Leadership Network.

DENISE MCGAHA INTERIORS COVER AND FEATURE IN FLOWER MAGAZINE

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What an exciting day when one of your projects completed during a pandemic makes it way to your mailbox and you see it on the COVER!!! We were over the moon that our darling clients, who are featured in this great article, allowed us to photograph their home during a stressful time.

The gorgeous florals and styling by Jimmie Henslee were photographed by Stephen Karlisch and were the icing on the cake for this charming project. Please enjoy and take a minute to soak in the charm and beauty of this great property.

A special thanks to everyone who made this photoshoot work and especially Alice Doyle and Margot Shaw of Flower Magazine.

DENISE MCGAHA ON SCHUMACHER INSTA LIVE

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I am so excited to be part of Schumacher’s “Next Door” Series on Instagram Live with Tori Mellott Wednesday! If you would like to join us, login to Instagram and watch for us to go live on Schumacher’s Instagram (@schumacher1889) at 4PM Eastern/3PM Central. It’s sure to be entertaining!!

INTRODUCING…..Our New Website

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Wow, what a year we have had already……2020 has been a doozy. During the shutdown and beyond, we have been (thankfully) busy with work. But, before we knew what the months after the shutdown would hold, I told my team I wanted to use this time to focus on things we had been putting off……like working on a brand new website.

“Denise McGaha Interiors designs livable luxury without sacrificing style. We believe time-honored design can be beautiful and approachable.”

We teased our new logo and new branding in January and had planned a launch of a new site for the May-June timeframe. Instead, we just took that old site down to the foundation and started over with new branding, a new biography, a much deeper story and published several projects that hadn’t seen the light of day.

Some of our projects were being held for consideration for print publication and when Covid hit……crickets from editors. So doing what we do best, we decided to tell the story of our client’s homes through our own channels. And boy, am I excited about the response.

Our new website is just the beginning of some big changes coming from Denise McGaha Interiors. This time inside, coupled with some personal milestones in my life (I turned 50 a few weeks back), have helped me focus even more on what I want for our firm.

Please take a look around and let me know what you think! I hope you find it to be elevated, edited and a true representation of the work we do for our clients. I hope you enjoy my bio which tells a much broader story of who I am and why I design the way I do.

If you are here for the first time, welcome. We hope you come back time and time again. We refresh the content on the site monthly with new projects, new press and often a blog post or two a month.

It’s only UP from here!

Denise

OUR GUEST SUITE FEATURED IN FLOWER MAGAZINE

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I am so excited that we are featured in this month’s Flower Magazine! The magazine did a Q&A with me about design, how my business got started and we talked about my recently re-designed guest bedroom & bathroom. It was so much fun to do this interview  and here are a few sneak peek photos of the space.  Thanks to the talent of Stephen Karlisch for his photography,  Margot Shaw, Editor and Alice Doyle, Editorial Director at Flower Magazine for the talented writing and telling of my story.

During this time, when we are all stuck at home a figuring out what works for us and what doesn’t. I wanted to make our guest room beautiful and inviting, but also bold and representative of our own personal style.

The bed I chose was Alexa Hampton for Theodore Alexander. I wanted the fabric to be bold, so I went with a Celerie Kemble for Schumacher stripe in the teal colorway. The chandelier in the room is from Circa Lighting and while it is no longer available, they have several other pendants like this.  I love using something that adds a bit of style without being too overwhleming in a smaller bedroom.

Our guest bedding is from Peacock Alley and I recently joined them for an Instagram Live from this bedroom talking about what makes the perfect bed.  I love that all of their bedding is super soft, beautiful and adds a level of sophistication to a guest room.  The best way to pamper your guests is with beautiful bedding.

To add a little bit of personality I flanked the bed with lamps from my collection with  Currey & Co. and added custom lamp shades in Brunschwig & Fils ‘Les Touches’ fabric.

I love any opportunity for a gallery wall and I think it adds some interest on the wall next to the bed. This wall includes so many of the pieces we have collected over the years and is the perfect representation of both Scott and I with masculine AND feminine references.  Also, I wanted to add a lumbar pillow in the matching fabric that you see on the lampshades to tie everything together.

These modern yet classic bedside tables are  by Michael Berman for Theodore Alexander. They fit perfectly in the space and add a natural wood aspect.  I love the interiors of these chests and they allow me to have storage in the room as well which is a big bonus.

Patterned drapery is another area where I love to add some pattern. This Schumacher fabric by Miles Redd was the perfect textile to bring the entire space together. It has colors in the headboard, but also works great with the lampshades and lumbar pillow.  A floral that works for everyone!

Onto the bathroom… This is one of my favorite wallpapers from Cole & Son! It was the jumping off point for the entire bathroom. I selected the shower curtain and towels to bring out the blue and orange in the paper, it turned out great!  The monkeys hidden in the pattern are my favorite part.

The hardware in a space is like the jewelry that makes an outfit! I fell in love with these beauties from Addison Weeks and had to have them on the cabinetry doors!

I hope you enjoyed the tour and I will be back with more details on the beautiful Theodore Alexander pieces in the room in my next post.  To see the full interview and lots more details, click HERE!

 

Xo,

Denise

AN EVENING WITH SUB-ZERO, WOLF, COVE & ELLE DECOR

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Hello Friends!

I am hosting an event with Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove & Elle Decor! Please join us on February 27th at the Sub-Zero Wolf & Cove Dallas showroom. We will be talking about how I prepare for entertaining and all things appliances.

See the invitation below and don’t forget to RSVP!

I hope to see you there!

XO,

Denise

 

 

DENISE MCGAHA’S BEFORE AND AFTER:: THE TEEN LOUNGE

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Happy Holidays my friends!!  Today is officially Boxing Day, December 26th and we are enjoying everything that revolves around this time of the year.  Last summer, we planned a project in our home called the TEEN LOUNGE in partnership with American Leather, BDI, Truett Carpets and Rugs, Phillip Jeffries and more.  The best part about this project, is that this space is perfect for snuggling with the family, noshing on popcorn and watching movies (and a little Netflix too).  We started planning the space in April and completed the renovation and installation in July.  Our teens love to hang out in here with their friends and it is perfect for sleepovers too.

The reason I am sharing this with you now, is that I am already planning more renovation work for the coming summer months so that we can enjoy them in Fall of 2020!! It is never too early to get started and I thought it would be fun to rewind and take a look back at this family functional space we designed in our home from 2019. Start planning your projects for 2020 and you can look back on how much you accomplished this year too!!

Here is a little look back at what we did::

THE BEFORES::

This space was a collection point for old furniture and a daybed for sleepovers, but all of them had seen better days.  It was honestly embarrassing for me to have a space like this in our home, but with it being upstairs, I didn’t go in there nearly as often as I should.

THE AFTERS::

Now we have bold texture on the walls with grasscloth and wood veneered wallpapers from Phillip Jeffries, along with a comfy new sectional.  I also took the opportunity to layer on some of my favorite art prints and had the teens choose their fav prints and framed them all to create a space that feels hip and cozy for all members of our family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also added a great entertainment console by BDI Furniture below our television.  The cord control allows all the wires to be hidden in a column behind the TV and the console in on wheels so it can easily move in and out from the wall.  Our teens especially love this when they are hooking up their video games to the TV so they can reach behind the furniture without having to move a heavy piece by themselves.

This room has truly been a favorite place for everyone and we have planned several movie nights here when we have family and friends in town.  Scott and I strongly believe in using every room in our home and this was a major goal when planning our renovations for the stage of life we are in with teens.

I hope this inspires you to use all the rooms in your home and work to create spaces that inspire and restore you!!

xo

Denise

 

NOTE::  This is a sponsored post, which means that I worked in partnership with the brands listed to design this space.  They donated items in return for allowing me to design and install it as I saw fit for my lifestyle.  I think this is a great way to share with you, my readers, the wonderful products that are available to our clients with the brands we use.  It also allows me to share with you authentically how I use these products in my own home.  I only write about and share products that I would be willing to use and keep in my own home.

DENISE MCGAHA’S HOME OFFICE DESIGN STUDIO RENOVATION WITH BDI

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Over the summer I had an opportunity to tackle the renovation of my home office/design studio.  I haven’t had a proper space to work from home in many, many years, even though this is the space I used when I launched my interior design firm in 2001.  Once we moved the studio out of our home and into a design studio in Dallas, I never really used the room for work.  It has been a catch-all for childrens projects, a video gaming room for my son and his friends and basically a dumping ground for old papers, gift-wrapping supplies and the room where the cat box (and the kitty) reside.  It is located over our garage and accessed through our gameroom (also known as the TEEN LOUNGE) and had SO much potential.  When I decided to partner with BDI Furniture on the “reclaiming” of the space, I wanted function, style and display.  They offered it all in spades and I am so proud and excited to share with you this great space!!

 

I was able to use many of the great pieces of furniture and objects I have collected over the years in this room to truly reflect my design aesthetic.  This includes collections, color and original artwork.  I am so excited to be able to hang sketches by P. Allen Smith and also street art sketches of my children on a trip to New York many years ago.

 

Of course, I needed a spot to hang my favorite inspirations and I made sure they were front and center in the space.  I love the joy they bring me and you will also find these inspiration boards in our main design studio in Dallas too.  I love what they do for the life of a room and I cannot wait to change them out in December for our next round of projects.  They help me corral my ideas into a cohesive vision and are so fun to put together.

 

The glass top desk from BDI is a motorized standing height desk which has been a lifesaver.  It helps me maintain my healthy commitments to myself to continue to move when working long hours on project presentations or Skyping with my team and collaborating on new product designs.  I also have a great desk chair from BDI as well that keeps me comfortable on long work days and has so many great ergonomic features.

 

This view is probably my favorite and includes the small area under desk drawers on the built-in credenza.  It houses the litter box for Angel the cat and keeps the room tidy and also softens the space acoustically.  The artwork is a collection of pieces from vintage fashion ads and also a wonderful tapestry that was a gift from a client.  I always have fresh flowers and greenery in my office and these ferns are surprisingly easy to care for and happy with the natural daylight that floods the room.  The lamps have been with me over 20 years and I changed the shades years ago.  I still love them so they got to stay when we re-imagined the space.

 

Here is the desk and standing height….as well as a view of the wonderful wall units behind me.  These great storage boxes hide and store a multitude of collections, children’s artwork and the shelving units give me a space to display our books which I swear continue to multiply.

 

 

And here is the desk and desk chair at the seated height.  I love the cord tray and cord control hidden underneath the desk and how I feel inspired every time I walk into my home office.  I have a 30-45 minute commute to my Dallas Design Studio and having a home workspace on those days when I don’t need to travel has made me so much more productive and I am actually excited to walk upstairs and get to work.

I hope you love this space and are inspired to create a special space for yourself to work and be productive.  I can speak from experience that it is truly life changing to have an office that operates so well and is also so incredibly beautiful to me.

All photography by Nathan Schroder.

 

To read more about BDI and their home office solutions, click HERE.

*This post is sponsored and the items listed from BDI were a gift as part of this sponsorship.

BOOK SIGNING FOR ENTERTAINING AT HOME FEATURING DENISE AND SCOTT MCGAHA

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Join Us For A Book Signing with Ronda Carman

Ann Mashburn and myself will welcome author & designer Ronda Carman for a signing of her new book, Entertaining at Home.

Come shop for your fall attire, meet Ronda, Ann and I and get a signed book, bubbles, and light bites. The book is perfect for gift giving this holiday season!

Thursday, November 21
3-6:30pm
Ann Mashburn Dallas
3319 Knox Street
Dallas, TX 75205

 

Scott and I were lucky enough to do a photoshoot for the book and it even ended up on the cover! We had a garden party celebrating my sister-in-laws birthday and Scott did the cooking. See below for some photos!  All photography by Matthew Mead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xo,

Denise