Major life update alert!

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you already know that I’ve started my first big COCOCOZY design house project! And now that I’ve got my footing, I want to bring you all along on the journey with me in hopes we can learn a thing or two together!

Basically, I bought this house as an investment property a few months ago in an historic area here in Los Angeles called View Park. The Spanish Style home is 1860 square feet and was built in 1931. It sits on a large, magical lot surrounded by palm trees and birds of paradise. It was 3 bedrooms and 3 baths — but now we are morphing it into a 4 bedroom and 3.5 bath home!

The best made plans…often go awry.  When that happens, I use spider mums!  This lovely spring centerpiece I used for an Easter gathering actually came together by mistake.

It ended up being the perfect, bright and fresh addition to the table setting — and it’s so simple to make, you could throw this together for any occasion!

So here’s what happened… I had 12 members of my family over earlier this month. The *perfectly-planned* plan was for a lovely garden filled with blue hydrangea.  If you caught my girl boss luncheon post… kinda like that! And my menu included barbecue chicken, lightly dressed kale salad, fennel and tomato salad, corn bread and from my Caribbean background the family gathering staple, Haitian rice (red rice and beans).

Time for another micro makeover!

I found these iron chairs at the Long Beach flea market years and years ago. I can’t remember exactly, but let’s say they were $100 for the pair. They were purple and pretty beaten up, but had great lines.

With a little love and inspiration from my favorite Casamidy, I was able to get these chair living room ready!

Take a look at the transformation (below).

Introducing my cozy breakfast nook!

I love having a special space in my home that is bright and inviting — the perfect place to have a cup of coffee and start my day!

Whether you have a whole room or just a corner, these ideas will help you create a charming place to grab a quick bite before heading out or dine with the whole family. Have a look (below)!

Ladies who lunch!

I recently held a spring luncheon for four fantastic women to discuss a project we’re all collaborating on. There is nothing more inspiring than being surrounded by fellow girl bosses supporting each other and being able to create together!

I invited everyone over to my house for a gathering on my patio – which ended up being the perfect way to celebrate the beautiful spring weather!

Follow along (below) to see how I pulled it off!

I recently had the privilege of sitting down with my friend, Linda Grasso of the SheSez podcast, for my first ever on-camera interview (Eek!) about how COCOCOZY came to be. It was super fun to share my story and talk about this passion project of mine — but I was also a bit nervous and self-conscious to go on camera. 

A little background, Linda and I worked together in entertainment years ago, and she’s always been an incredible journalist and interviewer. Because of her warm professionalism, I immediately felt comfortable and open. Thank you for your patience and coaching, Linda!

Slowly but surely my room is coming together!

As you probably have experienced, picking out a rug is truly a process! For my bright master bedroom, I went back and forth between having a rug… having a colorful rug… or having no rug at all! Ultimately I decided on this muted grey COCOCOZY ring rug — and I couldn’t be happier!

I know, I know — straying away from a Moroccan or vintage worn Persian style rug is a design risk, but I’m choosing to step outside the box! This is me in 2018!

Welcome to my guest bedroom!

I absolutely love having a special place for my visitors to stay — and I want to make sure they feel right at home while in town!

My intention was to create a warm and inviting room by having attention to detail but ultimately keeping things simple. So far I’ve gotten the stamp of approval from my mother and best friend — so that’s how I know the transformation was a success!

Things are coming together over here in Beverly Hills!

Many of you may remember my old patio from my tiny cottage in Hollywood Hills — and now I’m taking elements of that space and incorporating it into my new oasis!

Welcome to my personal sweet spot… the upstairs patio of my home that is nestled in the hills and surrounded by beautiful palm tree views. An instant calm!

Is it just me or did January fly by? I wrapped 2017 by throwing an over-the-top winter dinner party for about 30 of my family and friends — and I’m just now getting around to sharing it with all of you! Better late than never!

If you watch my Instagram Stories, you know this was definitely a design-as-you-go project… so this one goes out to all the readers who are willing to fly by the seat of your pants!

I have been off the blogging grid for weeks!  Now I am back.  Basically, I have been running around getting settled in my house and having lots and lots of guests.  It has been so much fun.  After months and months of not having a place, it is so nice to settle in my lovely Spanish style home here in Beverly Hills (during my house hunt, a very stylish friend of mine at work said he imagined me living in Beverly Hills…he dreamed it and I made it happen!!).

Thanks to my sweet friend Hilde Leiaghat, owner of chic bedding line Pom Pom at Home, my master bedroom is becoming a serene dream. Overall, the decor for the room is still a work in progress. The bed, however, is fully and beautifully decked out with stunning linen bedding. Here’s how I got the bed of my dreams…

This is where I live now.  A charming Spanish style home nestled in a Beverly Hills canyon.  I couldn’t be happier to finally settle somewhere.  Long story on how I ended up here…that will be for another day.  Today, before work, having a cup of tea and enjoying the lovely courtyard view.  If you follow me on Instagram and watch my instatories, you know that at the beginning of the month, I moved in.  I have totally stressed myself out trying to get everything looking good immediately.  One of my friends at work, KS, told me to calm it down and enjoy the process of decorating.  I couldn’t…I spent the last few weeks obsessing over details and changing things around…and now I am partially satisfied…but the tweaking will continue.

Today I wanted to give you a glimpse of one of the outdoor living spaces at the house (Case de COCOCOZY I am calling it).  The white Spanish style exterior with blue trim is sooooo charming.  I have brought in all of my plants, outdoor furniture, lights, umbrellas (not shown here) and even COCOCOZY Tower Court outdoor rug!  Here’s a tour of how it looked yesterday on the day of the solar eclipse!

I am so proud of this little makeover design project I have been working on for the past few weeks. It’s a cute little California girls’ room makeover for my dear friends Barry and Samantha Nugent’s adorable daughters C and S.  The mom, Samantha, is an amazing realtor with a very good sense of style.  My design challenge was to create a shared room for two girls 12 and 7 years of age that they both could grow into – a room young enough for the 7 year old but adult enough for the preteen…and most importantly, a room their mom liked too!

For this fun decorating project, I partnered with BEHR® Paint to create a delightful girls’ bedroom. I wanted to use paint creatively in the space to make big impact.  My “clients” had one desire…”use pink”!  With that in mind, the first step to this room makeover was picking the right color…

I am so proud to present my latest rug collection.  This year I bring you COCOCOZY Color Block Rugs!  I was inspired last year when I did this post on color blocking in fashion and in the home.  Noticed the trend of using big solid blocks of color had been used on the runway or in paint colors or even drapes, but never in rugs…so I decided to change that with this amazing line of customizable rugs.  Custom wool rugs that can be delivered in as little as 45 days!

I am so proud to present my latest rug collection.  This year I bring you COCOCOZY Color Block Rugs!  I was inspired last year when I did this post on color blocking in fashion and in the home.  Noticed the trend of using big solid blocks of color had been used on the runway or in paint colors or even drapes, but never in rugs…so I decided to change that with this amazing line of customizable rugs.  Custom wool rugs that can be delivered in as little as 45 days!