Mood Board

Updated Big Boy Room

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We were lucky that the paint colors in Wesley’s bedroom didn’t completely clash with all of his stuff, but now that we’re wrapping up Elsie’s room and our room it will soon be time to whip his room into shape! We’re using a lot of the same stuff from our old house, but updating it a little for the space (and Wesley’s opinions because oh boy do three year olds have opinions…).

I asked Wesley what color he wanted his room to be and his answer? “Rainbow!” Challenge accepted! I like me some color so this suited me just fine. I spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking for inspiration and what I discovered that a lot of rainbow rooms are stereo-typically girly–hearts, princesses, ruffles, etc. Now don’t get me wrong, if Wesley was into those things I’d have no problems go that direction but he is much more into stereotypical boy things (cars, dinosaurs, destroying things). I’d show him pictures and he wouldn’t be impressed. Until this one:

Via Historias de Casa

His exact words: “That’s the rainbow room I’m talking about!”

Perfect! It’s colorful, it’s fun, and it’s not too theme-y or trite. I can absolutely work with that! So here’s the plan:

I was already playing around with the idea of a big triangle wall accent in a corner. The walls need something bold, but to cover all the walls with an intense color would be a LOT with everything else going on in the room. We already have a solid blue comforter, and the mostly-blue rug so I’m currently thinking yellow for the wall accent while the bulk of the wall stays white. The plan is to break up the white with lots of colorful pillows (reading corner!) and artwork. The map decal arrived the other day and the colors are just what I had hoped for! I haven’t found any patterned curtains that have jumped out at me, but we already have some white curtains I can hem and add some trim so they pop from the wall a bit.

In terms of functionality, I’m thinking of adding drawers under the bed (because otherwise it turns into a black hole). We can also use that storage for extra sheets and such because our linen closet space is pretty small. In a moment of optimism I figured a toy basket would be good for all his stuffies, but if I’m being totally honest they’ll mostly live on his bed… We have a 2×3 cube shelf that I’m hoping to update with a little more color. I’m going to experiment with contact paper since I don’t think paint will stand the abuse without chipping and craft vinyl is only 12″ wide but the cubes are 13″ (bonus though: if it works, it’s significantly cheaper than craft vinyl).

Baby Girl Nursery Plans

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Because who doesn’t wait until their child is already year old before planning the nursery?

Elsie slept in our room when she was an infant…then we decided to wait until she was sleeping reliably through the night before having the kids share a room…then we were moving…then we had some construction work to do on her bedroom here. Basically that all just sort of spiraled out of control, but now she has her own bedroom at last! Matt and I are psyched, Wesley doesn’t really care, and Elsie is just unhappy whenever she’s not co-sleeping.

Did I go full on girly with nursery design? YOU BET I DID! I happen to like pink, especially a nice blush pink, so I embraced it. Matt’s big on themes for baby rooms, so we’ll go ahead and call this “Enchanted Garden.” It’s got florals, that’s garden-y.

I started with a print from Society 6. It’s got a girly vibe and pinks, but it has some bolder colors too so it’s not too precious if you know what I mean.

We’ve been using the same crib Wesley used and I already had the vintage dresser (that I snagged off the side of road a couple years ago). The dresser has been waiting for the right spot and it looks like this is it. It still needs a coat of paint and I’m still debating if I want to go with a lighter aqua, or a darker teal. Because this is a pretty large room we still have a guest bed in here as well so I need to sort out the linen situation to make it look a little more intentional.

We currently have the room painted and Elsie is moved in, but the final touches still need to go in. In need to get some black-out shades, finish picking art, and finalize some storage, but we’re on the home stretch!

Mood Board Monday: It’s a….

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GIRL!

(Also, the start of my third trimester–home stretch baby!)

I realize I haven’t actually shared the gender of our soon-to-be addition here on the blog. We’ve actually known for a while… whoops! Anyway, yes, we’re expecting a little girl in January!  Probably anyway… the ultrasound tech wasn’t 100% confident, but she was at least confident enough to give a “most likely.” If she was actually unsure I doubt she would have given us anything.

We’re also planning on the kiddos sharing a room (once the baby moves out of our room).  But just for kicks, I’ve put together a mood board of my would-be baby girl nursery.

This isn’t the most practical second baby nursery since I’m not bothering to re-use anything we already have (because the room isn’t actually going to be created by us).  If we had an extra room* I’d be making this, or very similar, happen.

My ideal baby girl room is something feminine, but not overly preshush if you get my drift. Here I tried to balance the blush and florals, with navy and leather.

I also finally had an excuse to use some pieces I’ve been seriously in love with, but haven’t had a place for.  See the ceiling light and bird foot side table. And yes, I highly reccomend having an end table by your nursery chair! If you’re breastfeeding it’s a great place water/snacks or your pump. As the baby gets older you can stash some books there so you can have reading/snuggle time without having to constantly get up and down.

Other items I think are important in a nursery:  Two light sources, one with a very low-watt bulb so you can see enough for nighttime feedings/changes without blinding everyone. High-contrast mobile.  Besides the fact the the fluffy, pastel-y mobiles that perfectly match a bedding set are just much too cutesy for me, an infant can focus on something bold and high-contrast much better.  If you can’t stomach primary colors in your pastel haven, black and white is always classic.

Wallpaper // Ceiling Light // Curtains // Mobile // Crib // Rocking Chair // Pillow // Side Table // Dresser // Lamp // Blanket // Rug

 

*Ok, so technically our house is 3 bedrooms, we’re just not willing to give up our study/guest room just yet. Especially since the kiddos should be able to share for a least a couple years.

Mood Board Monday: Living Room

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Who’s excited? I’m excited!  I feel like I’ve been agonizing over the living room design forever!

One of my big struggles with this room was the chairs.  I scored some pretty comfy (and dirt cheap) slipper chairs off of Craigslist a while back and had planned to reupholster them.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find a fabric that was really speaking to me.  I did, however, find some really awesome looking chairs at World Market!

Chairs that were no longer actually available anywhere.  Whomp whomp.

After a bunch of searching I was able to find very similar in black leather (instead of the white I had originally found).  Whoohoo!  I set up an email alert in case the World Market chairs ever come back in stock, but the black is starting to grow on me.

I’m hoping to find a properly vintage cabinet for storage since we have a great store down the street. If not, I have plenty of other options that would work.

The bookcases were another sticking point. We have several IKEA BILLY bookcases right now, but they’re not super attractive and not holding up to my book collection. I’d also like to make use of our tall ceilings in this room. Turns out it’s hard to find affordable bookcases over 6′ tall… In the end I decided to cobble together a ladder bookcase with an IKEA cabinet base.  Wish me luck? This should end up going almost to the ceiling, while still being visually light.  I’ll still probably be forced to pare down my book collection a little bit..but I’m a book hoarder so it should be good for me.

The living room opens directly into our TV room, so I had to tweak my plan for that room a bit.

The chevron rug I initially picked out was a little overly casual against the living room design. The pin-stripes seem like a  nice combo of classic but not overly prissy, but I’m still working on final decision. I’d like to keep the leaf rug to designate the play area since it’s fun without being overly childish (and it’s a practically perfect size for that space).  A predominately blue rug will also balance the blue sofa in the living.

I’m also considering switching out our current TV stand.  I really like it, but IF we end up painting the paneling the white stand will probably get lost against the white paint. We’re still on the fence about painting the trim/paneling in this room, but leaning towards doing it since the room is very dark.  It doesn’t help that our house is only about 5′ from our neighbor’s house so the windows in the room aren’t terribly helpful.

 

 

 

Moodboard Monday: Kitchen Brainstorming

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We met with a kitchen remodeling company last week! I think we could have managed a decent kitchen remodel on our own, but the presence of a toddler and the fact that I’m steadily growing in size and decreasing in mobility make it much harder.  Plus, pulling in professionals will allow us to fix some more technical issues like the window and effed up electrical.

My big goals for the space are:

  • Replace all the cabinets
  • Replace the sink
  • Replace countertops
  • Replace the overhead lighting
  • Shorten the window and fit cabinets under it
  • Redo all the cabinetry in the butler pantry
  • Add recessed lighting in the butler pantry (space permitting)
  • Replace the tile in the mudroom

As far as design is concerned, here are my thoughts:

I’d love for the new cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling, with glass doors on the uppermost cabinets.  To add a little bit of interest, I’m thinking of backing the top cabinets with wallpaper (which will also get used in the mudroom). I’m a little concerned that two-toned cabinetry may be trendy and go out of style…but I LOVE the current color of our cabinets, but want to brighten them a little bit. My dream sink is a simple, apron-front sink. As must as I like the functionality of double-bowl sinks, we have so little counter space on that side of the kitchen that I think it makes more sense to shrink the sink a bit (plus, double-bowl apron front sinks are pricey AF, especially since I do NOT want an acrylic sink).

My plan for the counters to get a marble-look quartz composite. Real marble stains very easily and while I love the look of marble, I don’t want to deal with the upkeep. I’m having some fun with texture for the backsplash–visual texture that is, since a textured backsplash in a kitchen would be a beast to clean. Since there’s not much area to cover, I think it will be a fun accent and not overwhelming.  In the butler pantry I plan on using a simple white subway tile since that space is more of a hallway.

For the awkward space above the radiator, I’m think of adding some floating shelves and coffee cup storage. I like the faux roman shades I have right now, but I’m thinking of replacing them with a navy linen for a little more texture. The wood shelves and jute rug will also add some natural elements which I think help warm up any space.

It’s funny… the overall look of the mood board is much more farmhouse than I usually go.  I do think it will look really nice in our house in the end though. Plus I purposely chose permanent fixtures that are a little more vintage/neutral so they’ll look good with the bones of the house vs our specific decorating style.

Moving to the mudroom…

The only thing we’re planning on having the contractors do is replace the existing pinky-beige floor tile with (my favorite!) white hex tile. After that’s in place, I want to build some custom storage for shoes/jackets/etc and paint the door.  The same wallpaper accent from the kitchen will get used here on a larger scale to tie the rooms together.

Plans for the Micro-Bath

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While I’m working out the final details for the living room and TV room, it seems like a good time to knock out the downstairs micro-bath.

I don’t think I’ve ever posted a good picture of the micro-bath…possibly because it’s nearly impossible to photograph…so apologies for crappy angles and awful lighting. The truly depressing shade of brown on the walls does not help matters.

When I say “micro-bath” I’m not really exaggerating–this is the smallest bathroom I’ve seen outside of Europe. You can wash your hands while still sitting on the toilet.  This was actually immensely helpful while I was pregnant because I could use the sink to hoist my ginormous self off of the toilet.

I’ve actually had a plan for our minuscule bathroom for years, I’ve just never gotten around to it. The other week Spoonflower was having a free-shipping event so I decided it was finally time to buy the wallpaper I’ve been eyeing for practically forever…but when I went to the site I immediately saw a different wallpaper that really jumped out at me.  What to do?

FACEBOOK POLL!

I asked, you answered, and the overwhelming response was that the new print I found caught your eye too!

I have a sample of the wallpaper on the way, because it’s always a good idea to get a sample of things like this, especially when they’re on the spendier side.

The wallpaper will just be on the wall behind the toilet.  I actually think that a crazy wallpaper could look cool on every wall in a small space…but I think that might frighten Matt a little bit, so accent wall it is.  The paint color will probably change once I get the actual wallpaper sample, but I’m currently thinking a light, blushy, pink.

One of the best tips for a space is to always make sure you bring a but of warmth into a room.  An easy way to do this is use some natural elements, like wood, plants, or even woven baskets. Here I’m planning a wood shelf behind the toilet and a wood-framed mirror. Since this room gets zero natural light it will need a fake plant for any greenery.. I’m hoping to find a good-looking, fake string-of-pearls succulent, but any dangley plant would work here.

How to Create a Design Plan

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Now that we’ve wrapped up the master bedroom, it’s time to move onto the living room/TV room.  This is more-or-less how I approach a room design, but remember that there are no set rules when it comes to your own space.  The ultimate goal is that YOU are happy (your home = your rules).

Fix on a Focal Point

This could be a piece of artwork, a rug, a piece of furniture, an architecture detail….pretty much anything. Hell, it could be your TV, I won’t judge. What’s going to be the “star” of the room?  Where do you want the eye to be drawn?

You may also have an inspiration piece for you room that’s not going to be your focal point. Heck, it could be a magazine clipping that’s not exactly about to framed and hung in the room at all. Some sort of inspirational image is incredibly useful at this point.

Technically this print is planned for the living room and I’m going to be only focusing on the TV room here. Because my 2 rooms flow into each other, they really need to relate to each other so this piece serves as a great inspiration for both spaces.

Pick Your Palette

Using your focal point or inspiration piece, determine your color scheme. If you’re feeling minimal, you could opt for a monochromatic (different values of the same color) color scheme.  This can end up a little flat so I’m always a fan a making sure there’s some good contrast going on. You can always use the internet for inspiration and search for “blue rooms” and see how other people have handled it.

Personally, I like a variety of color.  The absolute easiest way to accomplish this is to start with a focal piece that already has multiple colors in it. Not to worry if the star of your room is your solid pink chair though! Internet to the rescue again! If you search google or Pinterest for “pink color schemes” you’ll get a ton of results and you can pick one that resonates with you.

See what I mean by finding something with multiple colors? This print provides a variety of options! Navy and blush make for a more formal base (along with some gray and creamy neutrals) and accents of aqua, bright coral-pink, and bright green funk it up a bit.

Now, don’t go buying your wall paint just yet.  This is just a rough color idea at these point.  The exact shades may change, plus, you’ll want to have your main pieces already in your home so you can match paint swatches in the most accurate lighting. Pro Tip: never bank on accurate color representation from an online image–monitors and color settings are way too varied.

Bring in the Big Stuff

So you have a focal point, you have a rough idea of a color scheme, now you want to look for the main items that will fill in the room. This is going to be pretty much furniture, rugs, and dominant light fixtures. They may not all be physically large items either, but they’ll probably be your spendier items. They may also be pieces you already have an definitely want to keep in the room.

Why the two rugs you may be asking? A corner of the TV is going to be a play space for Wesley and the rug helps define the space.

Add in Accessories

To really make a space feel like you, and not a staged show-house, shop your house for accessories.  Things you’ve naturally acquired overtime will have more personality than something you’ve bought just because it looked good in the room.  This isn’t to say you can’t by new things, just see what you already have first and pick items that truly resonate with you even if they’re not “magazine perfect.” You’ll be happier and that’s the most important thing for you to feel about your home.

Accessories don’t necessarily mean knickknacks. Plants, accent lighting, throw pillows, wall art…all of these are options for accessories. I don’t bother adding every little thing in when I’m creating a mood board either–I usually stick to pillows and wall art.

Wake up your Walls

You may already have an idea of what color you want your walls to be.  Now’s the time to pick your exact paint color.  Why wait until the very end of the design process? There are practically unlimited paint color choices so it’s much easier to find a paint that will complement your rug/upholstery/throw pillows/art than vice versa.

 

Now, for the record, it’s not as easy as pick this, pick that, bam you’re done. There will be changes and frustrations, and maybe your entire plan will morph into something completely unexpected. Just go with your gut and don’t try and force things. Maybe the rug you picked as your focal point isn’t meshing with the other items that caught your eye. It’s ok to completely rethink your rug choice. That’s why it’s a good idea put together a mood board before you start shopping.

Don’t feel like you have to make decisions on every single thing in the room either. Your mood board isn’t set in stone, but it’s a good idea to get the overall feel for your room before you start spending money.

 

Brainstorming: Master Bedroom

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This is probably super optimistic since we now have a demanding baby in our household, but our next project room is going to be the master bedroom.  This room is way overdue for some TLC since we’ve done nothing to it since we moved it.  Heck, Matt just fixed the closet door so it actually stays closed!

There are a couple reasons I chose to tackle the bedroom next.  Part if it is because we now have a kiddo (whose toys will gradually start taking over the house) it will be nice to have an adult retreat space.  I’ve also been spending more time in this room lately and it’s really hit me just how blah the space is.

masterBefore2

masterBefore1

Yaaaaawn. Also, please pardon the mess.  I didn’t even get a nap in today and had no motivation to style a Before shot.

So what’s the plan?

masterMoodBoard

Thankfully this room only needs cosmetic work so the bulk of the work will be painting. We also need to replace our mattress so we’ll be upgrading to a queen sized bed (and actual bed frame). I also want the headboard to really be a focal point of the room and the entire wall behind it will be painted a bold accent color. After that it’s a matter of replacing pretty much all our existing furniture and getting a rug that’s the proper size for the space.

Not gonna lie, but this makeover will probably take a while.  I’ll hoping we can at least make a start on the painting while Matt and I are still out on leave.  We’ll see since we’ve got a couple other (smaller) projects we’re trying to finish up too.

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Stairs + Hallway: Concept

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The weather’s been pretty nice so we’ve been focusing a little more on the yard, but our entry/stairs/hallway is still very much on the to-do list.  It’s not getting a huge makeover* but it’s going to get a paint-pick-me-up and styling to make it blend with my look for the rest of the house.

stairsConcept

For the walls I’m going to stick with my go-to neutral of Benjamin Moore Paper white.  It’s a nice, fresh, ever-so-slightly-cool gray that should help brighten things up.  The trim is going to be Benjamin More Simply White (like all my other trim).  This should also really help brighten things up since our stairs are a tad dark at the moment.

I’m a little torn on what to do with the stairs… the caps on the newel posts need to be replaced (half of them are missing trim), and we need 2 spindles replaces (one’s missing and one’s broken) but I don’t want to paint the whole railing.  I like the idea of a two-tone railing because I feel like it will keep a lot of the wood but blend into the white trim everywhere else, I’m just a little afraid it’s more of a trendy look.

The plan for now is to paint everything else and leave the railing for the very last.  Paint on the other surfaces can make a huge different in how a single element stands out.  The railing will for sure being getting some refinishing work either way because not only will I have to try and color-match any new pieces, it’s kind of worn in spots and could use a little pick me up.

Because the stairwell has a nice big, open wall, it’s will be getting some art work for sure.  We have a handful of pieces that I’m not sure will work in other rooms, but the stairwell should be a nice blank canvas for them.

 

*At least by my standards