A Boys' Room

A project update! 

I think I shared this design plan a few weeks ago on the blog. I know I talked about it some on Instagram. This is a shared boys' bedroom! The client wanted a vintage baseball theme. So away we go! 

I started out with this plan to show her. I started out by jotting down different elements that came to mind when thinking about "vintage" and "baseball". Rugged, rustic, texture, antique. 

But, it's also got to function as a boys' room and have plenty of storage. 

So, here goes.

METAL: industrial letters, metal bed

LEATHER: leather benches at the end of the bed serve double purpose as storage and a place to sit and play video games, read books, etc.

COTTON: sheets, also in a pinstripe!

RECLAIMED WOOD: dresser and nightstand

The client has several Cubs pennants that we will have framed and use as art in the room. For the curtains, I wanted something boyish but not too themed (for example, I didn't want an actual baseball print). I found these at West Elm and thought they'd be perfect. They sort of read as a stripe, but it's abstract enough to keep the room feeling modern.

The rustic nightstand and dresser just feel like an old school dugout and baseball stadium to me. You know like League Of Their Own, but for boys.  Can you tell I'm a GIRL mom? :)

And here's the plan in action today! The furniture has all arrived along with the curtains and bedding! 

We've got to get a curtain rod to install the curtains yet, and still need to accessorize and frame the art. 

However, isn't this so cute! My client said her boys slept in here on their new beds for the first time last night and slept THROUGH THE NIGHT. 

HOORAY!

I decided not to do a literal baseball theme. Without the art and accessories that are to come, this could easily be a teen room or even a neutral guest bedroom. That's the key to kid spaces!! 

Be sure to choose items that they can grow with, not grow out of. 

I can't wait to share more when this project is complete! 

Finished Guest Room & Nursery

With about 2.5 weeks to go before my due date, I finally got around to finishing and organizing the guest room/ nursery! It's mostly a guest room as we likely won't have Mae Caroline sleep in here until she's 3 months old or so (or whenever I feel like going through crib training again, ha!). And then it seems like she'll be right back out of here and sharing a room with her big sis. The plan is to have twin beds in Evans' room, so hopefully by the time MC is around 18 months or so she'll be ready to make the switch to a big girl bed like E did. We'll see.... For now, though, this room is done! 

For the record, Hubs HATES the hats, the birds, the coral... I think he likes the paint color and the white bedding? HA. He has another thing coming about to live with THREE girls, doesn't he?? Poor thing. He's entitled to an opinion (so long as it's the right one). HA HA. 

I like that the room is still functional as a guest room without being too baby-baby. Really, once MC is out of her crib, we'll just need to move the crib to storage and maybe just fill that corner with a reading chair. I never really get to do bright colors so this was a fun way to get creative. Mostly I'm drawn to neutrals and textures (and so are my clients) but we DO live in Savannah now on Isle of Hope. How could I resist something a little more whimsical and less predictable? Like my boss says, we could do the blue-gray-seagrass scheme in our sleep... and sometimes we do. HA. 

Hopefully Mae Caroline likes it and hopefully guests will, too. One more thing off the mommy-do-list! 

Embracing What's Old

I shared our guest room/nursery's most recent updates here. I'm back today with another new feature in the room. 

Our house is circa 1953. Also the year my mom was born (sorry for the out, Mom!). So, naturally, she has some old features. The house that is, my Mom still looks good (wink). 

Would you believe our house in Atlanta had walk-in closets in EVERY bedroom? So, moving to this Savannah cottage has forced us to get creative (and donate lots). I've never liked the closet doors. They just feel totally dated (60+ years, to be exact)  and well, cheap.

The best advice I can give if you find yourself in a similar situation with a similar budget, embrace it. I'm a firm believer in mixing the old with the new in every room. By doing so you'll achieve a collected look rather than a catalog sterile feel.  Whether it be mixing antique furniture with new accessories, new furniture with vintage oil paintings, or aged brass lamps with fresh funky patterned wallpaper, the balance of old and new is sure to give your space big personality and a timeless style. 

My plan of attack in embracing these old doors? Make them look even older. Chalk paint to the rescue. In order for the old doors to live in their skin, I wanted the old bumps and wrinkles to come through. Rather than leaving them stark white with a smooth surface, why not allow for them to be cracked and aging? Perfect way to bring in more texture to this space as well. 

I'll probably do more sanding and throw on another paint color in a few days once this dries completely. The colors are Annie Sloan duck egg blue and paris gray. Savannah locals, you can get all of your Annie Sloan products from Lily Bay downtown. They are very helpful and will guide you on your chalk paint journey. 

Another look at the before. 

And one last after. A little paint and sand paper will get you places! 

Working with what you have does not always mean settling for less. 

Have you embraced anything old in your home lately?

Linking to Savvy Southern Style for Kim's Wow Us Wednesdays party! 

Guest Room / Nursery Updates

We made some progress in the guest room/ nursery this weekend. Hubs finished painting! One more thing off the to-do list for this house. We also cleaned out closets and made yet ANOTHER Goodwill pile. Seriously, how does it just add up! I am so good about tossing stuff, and yet there's always more to toss.

So, my plan was to use coral in this room. I wanted it to function (because it HAS to in this 3 bedroom house) as a guest room AND a nursery. So, nothing could be too baby.  I usually like designing kid spaces that can grow with the child and won't need to necessarily be done again once out of the childhood phase. This is especially true for this room. I plan for my girls to share a room and allow this one to be used for guests once Mae Caroline is big enough to bunk with Evans.

I found some great inexpensive pillow options at Steinmart in the shades I wanted. 

Everything in this room was coordinated around this bird fabric that I fell in love with. It is indoor/outdoor and can be wiped down with a cloth. Score. I made drapery and a crib skirt using it.

The difficult things about this room are the size and the layout. There are two doors plus closet doors  leaving not much wall space for furniture, and there's also a bay window area that creates awkward angles. Although this dresser turned at an angle uses a little bit more space than having it flanked right against the wall, it also softens that corner's hard angles and allows for TV watching from the bed.  Oh, that big black box that's so ugly when design is in mind. But, it's a necessary evil isn't it?

Confession, this TV isn't even pugged in and never gets used. 

I mentioned a few weeks ago I bought Hubs an old transom window from The Citadel. It may or may not stay above the bed. 

This lamp needs a redo for this room. I'll probably end up doing something fun with the shade and changing the color of the lamp base. I'd also like to find a smaller round table to use rather than his rectangular side table. All these straight lines give me slight hives (the headboard, the wall paneling, the many doors, the crib, the windows). The space needs a little more softening, and a round table will do just that. 

This lumbar pillow is made using remnants of Quadrille fabric I got from work. Yes, I'm probably crazy to use Quadrille in a nursery, but it's not like the baby will sleep with that pillow. It was too pretty to pass up. I have problems.

I've just got the crib skirt fabric resting under the mattress and still need to finish that. 

The trick to using bright colors or bold pattern is to pair them with neutrals throughout your space. By having very light walls and white bedding, the neutrals in this room give visual relief from the bright coral pillows and colorful curtains. You want your eye to be able to rest somewhere in every room.  By streamlining your design choices through accessories, color, and pattern, you'll gain a cohesive look. Here, the bold pillows and drapery carry the room, allowing for very minimal wall decor.  Design tip of the day :) 

There's still a few things to be finished in here. The lamp, the side table, over the bed could possibly be changed (or at least the transom window frame lowered a bit)..... But overall, it's done! Now to wash all these baby clothes and put them away.... That may have to wait another month. I've got time, right?

Guest Room + Nursery

My original thought was that Evans would be moving to a big girl bed and would inherit the guest room queen to serve those purposes. I had planned to move the bed to her room, and the crib into the current guest room. Therefore, losing a guest room altogether. When we found out it was a GIRL, I thought a little more about the whole no guest room situation. That just won't do. SO, the plan now is to get Evans a twin bed around her 2nd birthday in December, and eventually the girls will share that room in twin beds. The crib is moving to a corner of the guest room (where a desk used to be that's now been moved to the laundry room for extra storage and counter space). I figure the baby (can I just start calling her Mae Caroline? I think I will :) ...)  will most likely be in our bedroom for a while before moving to her crib. Once she's actually in her crib in the guest room, and we actually have guests, we'll just give up our bedroom and sleep in the guest room with the baby (so our guests don't have to worry with waking the baby or smelling a dirty diaper mid sleep, ha!).  Hopefully MAE CAROLINE (my husband might kill me for continuing to call her this before we've decided, ha) will be ready to share with Evans (and vice versa!) around 18 months to 2 years old. That's not TOO long I guess to share a guest/nursery. We'll make it work!

So, then I had to get to thinking about how to design a nursery that also has to function as a guest room. Can't be too kiddish or whimsical (which I really wouldn't do a complete baby-baby "theme" in a nursery anyways, just not my thing). I want a FUN guest room that makes you feel like you are staying somewhere coastal. Most of the main house is done in aqua, lime, gray or somewhere in between, so this is my chance to do something a little different. The hall bathroom is going to be coral, so I went along with that into the guest room.

Coral, birds, and pink. Why not? 

The drapes are made and hung. 

The walls still need painting. The walls will be Benjamin Moore Gray Lake. My new color love affair. This is a GREAT color for a ceiling, too if you are looking for a good not blue not gray. We use it on ceilings for clients quite a bit, but it's also a wonderful bright neutral for your walls. 

I've got some major organizing to do before we can say this room is "done". The dresser and closet in this room are currently used by Hubs. He wears about 8 shirts, so we really need to make another Goodwill run. 

So really, just painting, tidying up, and getting things moved around is all we need to do now. I've also got some fun ideas in mind for over the bed. Hopefully this room will work both as a sweet little girl's nursery, but easily transition back to full on guest room when she's big enough to bunk with Evans. We'll see! 

Rental House: Guest Room Updates

Our guest room at the rental house has finally taken on some resemblance of an actual room and not just a storage unit. Hooray! For months, we had the queen sized bed centered right in front of the large bay window in the room, but on a whim I decided to try it against the far wall. I had to lose a nightstand to make it work in this small room, but I really like it. How often do guests use your end table anyways? Sorry mom and dad! We gained much needed floor space and room to walk around (AKA more area for Evans to run and push her baby doll stroller.... which is so important).

I finally got around to washing and making the guest bed in all white bedding from Pottery Barn. I've had the bedding (it's the everyday essential white duvet and euro shams) since we lived in Atlanta and just never did anything with it! In this cottage I think it totally works! Screams beach to me. Living in a rental makes it way more difficult to decorate in my opinion. You can't change fixtures, you can't change paint colors, can't change anything really except for your own furniture and arrangements. So- none of my stuff really worked with this bright blue bedroom, until I gave the white a try. Somehow, it even updates Hubs' old headboard. I had considered painting that headboard a million times, but I love the contrast of the warm wood with the bright white linens. Less work for me- score!

Once the bedding was in place, I realized the room needed a major POP. I love neutral spaces, but I've been wanting to paint a large colorful piece. Most of my clients have wanted something subtle or serene, (except for Sweet Caroline who let me do a super colorful abstract for her!!). To be able to do something really bold was exciting to me. And what else could I do for a cottage bedroom than BOATS!

These are 36x36 and make me oh so happy walking in the front door! I really like that our foyer and front living room is coastal and a bit more neutral, but a look to your right walking in the front door and BAM. Oh happy day! My mom said she loves this room big time, and she's our usual guest... so there you go. Mission accomplished.

I started working on the old desk of ours as well. I painted it with Annie Sloan in paris gray and did a wash of french linen. This desk was my dad's when he was growing up. It's been yellow, white, blue, yellow again, back to white... then when I got it in college I painted it black. It remained black for almost 12 years until now. Keep on truckin', old desk! It's funny to think my dad studied here, I did my homework here, and Evans probably will one day as well. A keepsake for sure!

I kept the drapes we've had forever (from World Market). They are casual and breezy. Plus, I already owned them. Money saved.

I did scoop up a bedskirt. It was time to get rid of the cheap one from Steinmart (that was see-through and falling apart!). This one is Pottery Barn (yay rewards bucks). 

 That's it for updates around the rental casa. Pssst- I'm running a sale in my art shop trying to make way for new paintings! Enter the code "summer" at checkout to receive 15% off your order. There's a few paintings left. Happy summer people! It's finally here!

linking up with Simple Details Best of The Nest Link Party!