H. Camille Smith

"Trends come and go but good design is timeless."

Camille is a managing editor for HGTV.com, fine artist and antique furniture devotee. As a former interior designer and Nickelodeon animator, she has a real passion for balanced, beautiful interiors with a touch of whimsy and punch of color. Camille shares a mid-century cottage with two exceptionally pampered pooches and rooms filled with vintage finds.

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Surprise Dad With a Handmade Leather Valet for Father’s Day

by H. Camille Smith June 12, 2013 6 Comments

Father’s Day is this Sunday — are you armed with a gift for dad? No? Well then, we’ve got you covered — from his favorite recipes (hot beer cheese and homemade pretzels — yum!) to fun, free printables and handmade gift ideas like this easier-than-it-looks dresser-top leather valet; whip up a surprise for your dad just in time for Father’s Day celebrations.

Handmade Men's Leather Valet for Father's Day Ready to make your own? Get the complete step-by-step instructions>>

Not only is this monogrammed leather valet easy to craft, you probably have most of the materials on hand like an old frame, some batting or foam and a spare bit of leather – this is a great project for upcycling a past-its-prime jacket or purse. The steps are simple, just disassemble the frame then use the backing as a template to cut out a small piece of leather and batting. Place the leather, suede side up, on top of the batting and secure it in the frame with strong tape. Step by Step images for making a leather dresser-top valet for Father's Day

I used an old trick from college printmaking classes to create removable registration marks on painter’s tape that would help me find the tray’s center before placing the adhesive stencils (these things are awesome, btw, you can find them with the glass-etching supplies at your local craft store). Fill in the stencils with a permanent marker and voila — a handy catch-all for dad to keep his keys, change, watch and anything else he needs to grab on his way out the door. Using a Sharpie to Monogram Leather

Crafting this handy DIY gift for dad is easy — but be sure to check out my complete step-by-step instructions for a materials list and lots of helpful tips first>>

Budget Beach Cottage: Make a Nautical Rope Mirror

by H. Camille Smith June 5, 2013 3 Comments

When I say “budget beach cottage,” I ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie. Upcycling is far from the latest trend in my family — if we can find a way to repurpose or reuse something, we will. Check out our beachy kitchen, living room, candles and built-in bookcase transformations to see what I mean.

Enter a plain-Jane, oak-framed mirror my sister and I bought at an estate sale intending it to serve as a vanity mirror for the hall bath. The rounded shape of the frame reminded us of a ship’s port hole and at just $5, the price was right. Sadly, the wood-framed mirror was too small for the bathroom — but it was just the right size for a narrow wall in the master bedroom. We hung it but the stained oak frame just wasn’t doing it for us. Luckily, my 18-year-old nephew found an old boat cleat at a yard sale for just 50 cents (clearly he’s been well instructed in the ways of the bargain-hunting force) and that was the inspiration we needed to wrap the frame in rope and “tie it off” to the cleat.

And … voila! Here’s our once plain-Jane mirror after its nautical makeover: Beachy Rope Mirror Ready to make your own? Get the complete step-by-step instructions>>

Covering the frame is easy; the key is to start on the inside of the frame and really secure the first few rows with a super-strong epoxy (like Gorilla Glue) to prevent the remaining rows from shifting. Once you have a solid start, you can switch over to just tacking the rope with brads every few inches.
Beachy Rope Mirror Step-by-Step

And … inevitably when you’re taking photos in a small beach house with 5 nosy little dogs around (2 are mine and 3 are my sister’s) you end up with quite a few shots featuring a cute pup in the pic. Everyone, meet my sister’s furry little shadow, her 6-lb rescued Yorkie, Gracie: Cute Yorkie Dog and Beachy Rope Mirror

Giving a blah mirror a coastal makeover is easy — but be sure to check out my complete step-by-step instructions for a materials list and lots of helpful tips first>>

*Three years later, the beach house is still a work in progress, keep checking back for more thrifty transformations.

MORE BEACH HOUSE MAKEOVERS:
Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Built-In Bookcase
Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Kitchen
Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Living Room
Adventures in Antiquing: Easy Beachy Candle Update

Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Built-In Bookcase

by H. Camille Smith May 29, 2013 9 Comments

If you’ve read my antique posts then you know that I’m a big fan of finding new uses for old things – but I also believe in reworking a room’s architecture to better suit the way you live.

My sister’s beach house had a tiny closet filled with shelves in the main living room. How tiny you ask? So tiny that getting anything larger than a puzzle box into and out of it was a challenge. Initially, we had plenty of projects to keep us busy but once we had the kitchen and most of the painting covered, it was time to get creative!

Typically, “getting creative” in my family involves my Daddy’s excellent woodworking skills, a hastily sketched plan and lots of paint — and this time was no different. We decided to turn the mini closet into a built-in bookcase that would provide both decorative and hidden storage and fit in with our beach bungalow’s cottage charm. A weekend worth of work, @ $125 in materials and several trips to the hardware store later … voila, we’re all pretty proud of the finished project: Beach House Built-In Before and After Photos First, I should note that a closet is typically wider than its door – go ahead, peek inside a closet and you’ll see what I mean. In addition to the door’s framing, there’s usually a small amount of wall surrounding the framing. So even though the door was only 18 inches wide, the boxed-in recess of the closet was actually 24 inches wide.

We wanted to create as large of a built-in as possible so we first removed the door, molding and paneling above the closet then my dad used a jigsaw to cut away the few inches of paneling on either side of the door opening to fully open up the space. Next, we headed to the hardware store to find a stock kitchen cabinet to fit our opening and lumber to use as shelves and as a top for the base cabinet. You can see in the second image that the cabinet is just a little deeper than the opening but it doesn’t stick out so far that it’s obvious. Once everything had been primed, caulked and painted, it looked like a built-in that had always been part of the house’s architecture: Beach House Built-In Step-by-Step Photos

After the paint had dried, my sister and I set to work filling the shelves with our budget beachy finds. The cabinet’s drawer holds all our pups’ harnesses and leashes while the bottom door conceals a stack of rainy-day puzzles and games: Beach House Built-In After Photos *Three years later, the beach house is still a work in progress, keep checking back for more thrifty transformations.

MORE BEACH HOUSE MAKEOVERS:
Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Kitchen
Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Living Room
Adventures in Antiquing: Easy Beachy Candle Update

Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Kitchen

by H. Camille Smith May 22, 2013 17 Comments

Three years ago, my sister bought a rundown fishing cottage on the NC coast. While any beach house is certainly better than no beach house (I’m not complaining!), this particular cottage was in pretty bad shape. Check out more before-and-after photos here to see what I mean.

Before: Dark, mismatched and cramped, the kitchen was a mish-mash of colors and materials. The yellow cabinets were constructed with the house in the ’70s while the previous owners added a few white pre-fab cabinets (front left) in the ’80s for extra storage. In addition to being just plain ugly, the sheet vinyl flooring had definitely seen better days and was cracked and peeling up. Dark, dated and dingy beach house before makeover

The yellow kitchen cabinets put up quite a fight, it took no less than 2 coats of primer and 4 (yes, 4!!) coats of white semigloss to make them over. Other than A LOT of paint, shelf liner and caulk, the cabinets stayed the same. If you look again at the before photo, you’ll notice we had a board cut at the hardware store to fill in a pointless empty space above the sink. For less than $10 for the brackets and board, we added a cute shelf that gives the cabinets the cottage look we wanted.

After: We briefly considered laying tile in the kitchen but decided to continue the wood flooring from the adjacent living room for better flow. Isn’t it amazing what a few gallons of paint (and A LOT of elbow grease) can do?! Paint works wonders to brighten up this beach house kitchen

Before: The fridge was tucked into an L-shaped wall that concealed it from the dining room on one side and the living room on the other. This also meant that the kitchen felt really cramped and wasn’t fully open to either room. Paint works wonders to brighten up this beach house kitchen

After: Moving the fridge and water line to the opposite wall allowed us to entirely remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room and turn the wall separating the kitchen and living room into a small bar area. Bonus: Moving the water line meant my brother could plumb in the dishwasher so we no longer need to roll it over to the sink to run a load of dirty dishes (which was a serious pain in the butt).
Paint works wonders to brighten up this beach house kitchen

After: Here’s another view showing how open the kitchen is now to the dining and living rooms after we removed the partial walls. The column conceals a necessary steel support so it stayed, my dad boxed it in with leftover paneling and trim to make it a design feature. A thrifted brass bell (just $3) lets everyone know when it’s dinnertime.
Removing walls opens up this sunny beach house kitchen

*Three years later, the beach house is still a work in progress, keep checking back for more thrifty transformations.

MORE BEACH HOUSE MAKEOVERS:
Adventures in Antiquing: Easy Beachy Candle Update
Budget Beach Cottage Before and After: Living Room

Adventures in Antiquing: Clinch River Spring Antiques Fair

by H. Camille Smith May 15, 2013 16 Comments

This time of year is my favorite for so many reasons: warm weather, spring flowers, longer days…but the thing I love most is spending sunny weekends outdoors hitting the local antique fairs. Thanks to the favorable weather, most fairs take place in the spring and fall — check this list to discover one near you.

The closest antique fair to HGTV’s Knoxville HQ is less than 20 minutes away in the Mayberry-esque hamlet of Clinton, TN. Each year in early May and October, this sleepy Southern town draws antique and collectible dealers from throughout the Southeast for their Clinch River Antiques Fair. Best of all, mixed in with the professional vendors are lots of locals who’ve cleaned out Grandma’s attic, barn or basement — so, although the prices and quality of antiques vary dramatically from booth to booth, there’s so much to choose from that I never leave empty handed.

Here are a few of the goodies I spied:

A coat of bright green paint and a liberal sanding give this 60-year-old dresser a kicky update — $150: Distressed Green Dresser

Mixed in with the antiques were a few crafts. How clever are these?! Old Reader’s Digest books cut into initials — such a great idea for a kids’ room or nursery – $15 .

Make an Easy-to-Craft Jewelry Box for Mother’s Day

by H. Camille Smith May 8, 2013 6 Comments

Mother’s Day is sneaking up fast (it’s this Sunday!) but you still have time to craft a handmade gift — especially one as simple as this sweet little jewelry box. Best of all, the materials for this project cost less than $20 and you’ll be ready to surprise her with your thoughtfulness in no time flat!

Get the step-by-step instructions>>

All you need is paint or stain, a decorative knob and a pair of fence post caps (1 flat and 1 raised). Yep, just plain old fence post caps. You can find them in the fencing department of your local hardware store and they look like this: Wooden Fence Post Caps

Thanks to the flat cap’s stepped design, it fits nicely inside the raised cap to create a lid – like so:
Easy Jewelry Box Made From a Pair of Wooden Fence Post Caps

Finish your jewelry box with the paint or stain color of your choice, add a knob and surprise Mom with a charming personalized box filled with a small trinket or sweet surprise. Stain Fence Post Caps and Add a Knob to Create a Wooden Gift Box

Ready to get crafting? Get the step-by-step instructions>>

MORE MOTHER’S DAY CRAFTS TO TRY:
Block-Print Napkins With Simple DIY Stamps
Make a Simple, Floral Mother’s Day Centerpiece
Hand-Painted Wooden Bracelets for Mother’s Day
Make a Fingerprint Table Runner for Mother’s Day
Make an Easy-to-Sew Lined Tote Bag

KBIS 2013: What’s Hot in Kitchens

by H. Camille Smith May 1, 2013 18 Comments

If you saw Kayla’s bathroom trends post then you know that we recently spent a few days in the Big Easy for the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show checking out the hottest new products before they hit shelves. Trendspotting at a trade show is always fun but unlike other shows we attend where design is the only focus, kitchens and baths are spaces where form and function are equally important so technology is key. If you’re in the market for a new kitchen, or just thinking about a few upgrades, here are the freshest trends/technologies to make your kitchen really cook!

Wondering what color to paint your cabinets? I polled a few manufacturers and while white cabinets continue to be tops, gray is the shade they’re betting on to break white’s top spot. This kitchen by Wellborn pairs soft gray cabinets with richly stained wood — combining cabinet colors is another kitchen trend that’s holding strong:
Wellborn Cabinets Kitchen in Soft Gray

Not only is the color of kitchen cabinets changing, but hardware manufacturers like Blum are changing the way cabinet doors and drawers function. These hydraulic, easy-close doors fold up and out of the way with the touch of a button: Blum Hydraulic Kitchen Cabinets

Adventures in Antiquing: Charleston Garden Tours

by H. Camille Smith April 24, 2013 9 Comments

After recently spending a few (blissful!) days in Charleston’s historic peninsula touring private homes and gardens, I can attest that gardening is a full-contact sport in the Holy City. From manicured formal gardens to rambling flower-lined paths, Charlestonians definitely know how to rock their green thumbs.

In addition to full gardens, flower-filled windowboxes were everywhere: Window boxes in Charleston

Formal gardens boast mounds of color and charming weather-worn statuary: Charleston formal garden

Charleston’s sub-tropical climate provides ideal conditions for South Carolina’s state tree, the Palmetto Palm, and camellias whose ruffly flowers are synonymous with the South: Pink camellias and a palm tree in Charleston

Adventures in Antiquing: Charleston Home Tours

by H. Camille Smith April 17, 2013 10 Comments

If you’ve been following my earlier posts (here and here), you know that I’m one lucky online editor who recently took a trip down to gorgeous Charleston, S.C. to attend their annual antiques show and tour a few of the peninsula’s centuries-old private homes. With over 2,800 historic buildings, Charleston is one America’s oldest and best-preserved cities. Founded in 1670 as an English colony named Charles Towne, the city’s peninsula features homes that range from pre-Revolutionary War and Antebellum to Gothic Revival, Italianate and Victorian that were added in the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Although these architectural styles differ, one common thread of all Charleston’s historic homes is the strong desire to preserve the buildings that make this city so unique.

I saw so many beautiful interior and exterior details during my tour but here are 5 of my favorites:

Wood Paneling: Interior walls covered in raised wood panels are a common feature in Charleston’s historic homes. In the years before plaster (and centuries before sheetrock), wood was a functional and decorative wall covering that helped to insulate interior rooms from cold seeping through the home’s stone or brick exterior. In this cozy living room, the home’s current owner meticulously stripped layer-after-layer of paint to restore the almost 300-year-old cypress panels to their original warm finish. Paneled parlor in Charleston historic home

A “Hyphen”: Due to the very real possibility of fire, Charleston’s kitchens were housed separately from the main house. Thanks to advances in cooking in the early 1900′s (food could be prepared in a stove instead of over an open fire) many Charlestonians began to connect the detached kitchen to the main house with a room called a ”hyphen.” These connecting rooms provided additional living space and made cooking less of a chore. Many hyphens, like this one, still feature the old brick exterior wall and pathway that led to the former kitchen. Fireplace and brick floor in historic home in Charleston

Haint Blue Paint: Another common feature of the city’s historic homes is blue paint on the ceilings of piazzas (Charleston’s term for covered side porches). Commonly called “haint blue,” this soft turquoise shade is thought to keep ghosts or malicious spirits from entering the home. Here’s the iconic shade on the Calhoun Mansion, the city’s largest private residence: Piazza ceilings painted blue in Charleston

Hinged Shutters: Although we use shutters on the exteriors of our modern homes solely for decoration, Charleston’s early inhabitants put them to work. Paneled shutters were hinged so they could securely close to protect pricey glass windows from hurricanes. Windowboxes in Charleston

Lush Gardens: Charleston’s subtropical climate means short, mild winters, hot, humid summers and plenty of year-round rainfall resulting in an ideal gardening environment. Peek through any gate in the historic district and you’ll be rewarded with the view of a stately home surrounded by either a formal or informal garden. Although the plot surrounding each home isn’t large, Charlestonians take pride in filling their yards with masses of blooming plants. Plantation house in Charleston

*Check back next Wednesday to see highlights of the gorgeous gardens I toured in Charleston.

Adventures in Antiquing: Charleston Antiques Show Part 2

by H. Camille Smith April 10, 2013 5 Comments

So, have I mentioned lately that I love my job? No? Well, I do! I recently spent a few (blissful!) days in Charleston, SC touring historic homes and checking out their prestigious annual antiques show. I shared a few of my favorite antique finds last week; here are a few more goodies:

I’m obsessed with gilding — shiny gold objects draw me to them like a magnet. Gilding is the process of covering a surface, typically porcelain, wood or metal, with a thin layer of gold. Also known as gilt, gold-leaf and ormolu (from the French or moulu, literally ground gold) this technique is centuries old – early examples decorated the homes of Greek, Chinese and Egytian elite. Left: The mirror in the foreground is one of a pair of George the Third, English Regency mirrors from the early 1800′s – $17,500. G. Sergeant Antiques To demonstrate the (top notch!) quality of antiques offered for sale at this show, the mirror in the background is the mate to one on display at NY’s Metropolitan Museum of Art — wow! Right: The massive horse’s head is a French trade sign from 1870. The gilding was applied over cast lead and is in amazing condition considering this piece would have been displayed outside a business and spent decades exposed to the elements – $4,500. Cunha St. John Antiques
Antique gold mirror and horse's head at Charleston Antiques Show

Storage that’s both practical and beautiful is not a new idea. Left: What looks like a really tall hat box is actually a cheese keeper. Refrigeration is a technology we take for granted but 100+ years ago, this beautifully embellished pottery dome prevented cheese from drying out while keeping it cool and mold-free, circa 1875 — $9,500 Jerry S. Hayes Majolica. Right: For centuries tea was a luxury that only European, and later Amercan, elite could afford. To protect their stash from rodents or light-fingered servants, small locked boxes were used. Soon, the boxes that held the precious tea became a status symbol in themselves employing exotic and rare materials like ivory and tortoiseshell. English tea caddy, circa 1830 — $5,300 Sallea Antiques
Antique majolica and tortoiseshell tea caddy at Charleston Antiques Show

My two pups are the center of my world and judging from the high number of antiques I spied featuring man’s best friend, dogs have long been considered members of the family. Left: This sweet pencil sketch of greyhounds by artist Felix O.C. Darley may have been a study for one of the many books he illustrated. Darley was one of the 19th century’s top illustrators; his work helped classics by Dickens, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Washington Irving and Edgar Allen Poe (to name a few) come to life — $750, American Eagle Antiques (no website). Right: A pair of skillfully carved mahogany whippets support a Carrara marble top on this Neapolitan console which was crafted in Italy, circa 1820 — $46,000 from Yew Tree House Antiques. Antique pencil sketch and wood furniture at Charleston Antiques Show