I am so excited to be able to be a part of this series that Julia and Kim put together! Tonight we are showing you our favorite room to cozy up and lounge in at night after the kids are in bed. It’s a place we can unwind and (tightly grasp onto) a little quiet. You will have to check out the rooms of the other bloggers involved to see some of the cozy spaces for ‘A Night In’! Here is a little more about our space…
The master bedroom…..a place we spend little time, but the time we do spend there is valued. It is the place we unwind from the day, and re-charge for the next. In recent months it has been filled with boxes from our move back in May due to our downsize in closet space. It was actually a welcome change considering it forced us to get rid of anything we didn’t use or need. Our bedroom wasn’t a priority when we first moved in, but we soon realized the disheveled clutter that was consuming it was not contributing to a peaceful day’s end. It was doing quite the opposite. Every time we walked into our room our anxiety levels rose from the clutter. So we decided to bite the bullet and make it a focus.
We are all pretty jazzed about the upcoming holiday months in our new home. Gabe already has the designated spot for the Christmas tree. If you know my husband, this should not surprise you. In between approximately 12 nap times, I managed to get the house festive for fall. It makes my little ones so happy, so it’s worth the effort for me. I mainly used items we already had, but found some fun items to add to the mix as well. Here’s a little autumn home tour of our humble abode…
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I had a few posts prepared to go up this week, so excited to be able to share those with you as I continue to re-coop from delivery! As you remember from our Dining Room reveal, I got to team up with my friend Lesley Graham for a style swap challenge with Home Decorators Collection. Today I finally get to unveil her living room overhaul! Lesley’s whole home is a dream. Built in the early 1900’s, her and her husband totally gutted and rebuilt the home to reflect the history and charm in deserved. I had such a fun time getting to dream up this modern farmhouse style living room with her, and felt so lucky to team up! All of the details are on the Home Depot Blog today.
When it comes to finding the final details to a room, I tend to tackle textiles and wall art last to pull the room together. Trying to find items that have a unique spin and a little character is always my goal, and the hunt is half the fun. Most of the finishing touches I found at Lulu & Georgia, so I had a lot of fun teaming up with them to finish this space.
A coffee table isn’t really a safe option with active little ones who love to flip, spin, and jump, so I decided to go with a few moroccan poufs from Lulu & Georgia. They make for perfect foot rests, and I fell in love with the stitched design on top. They are probably my favorite pieces in the room!
And how about that octagonal end table?! I must have looked at hundreds online, and due the space constriction between the divider and the couch, this ended up being just the right fit, with just the right amount of sass. Can furniture have sass? Absolutely.
I have had the Audrey Lamp on hand, and luckily it complimented the other floor lamps in the room. Threw in a faux aloe plant because I feel the amount of live plants overtaking my home is more responsibility than my four children combined. (Just a little stressful keeping the real plants alive….) The plush sheepskin rug was just a fun way to layer the rugs, and add a cozier look and feel. The circular mirrors are a super easy DIY.
Pillows can be really difficult to envision without bringing them home and seeing how they work in the room. I made one too many return trips finding the right pillows, so I have learned my lesson…..wait till the very end and pick your pillows last. They can pull things together beautifully. I will probably slowly add more pillows in. I love when they are large and soft like this Biru Pillow.
We’ll talk wall art next and how we chose and hung the gallery wall. Stay tuned!
Alas! After months of buying and returning pillows (wink), we have finally finished our living room makeover. Just in time for me to get the re-arranging fever all over again. Kidding….maybe.
I can’t wait to share all the details over the next few weeks, but for today, here are the before and after pics! It is incredible what a fresh space can do for your whole family. It has cleared up some mental clutter and become a favorite place to hang for our family. Gabe is particularly fond of the old school feel news reading nook it provides him. I am thankful for the ample couch space for naps;) We basically just had the basics in this room for the last few years. You may remember the last update… VIEW FULL POST
As you all know, we have been renting this little home for the past few years now while we figure out where to settle. I decided not to put making a home on hold, and make the most out of the home we had. I have been taking it room by room and refreshing the spaces from scratch!
Our guest room had many holes in the wall from re-arranged and half hearted attempts at artwork and decor which I started, but never finished. So when you see this before pic, it is probably more accurate to call it a guest room overhaul! I knew I wanted our guest room to feel comfortable, inviting, and on the bohemian side. Thankfully, Anthropologie has that edge to it, and it seemed like a pretty good idea to me to team up again for a room refresh;)
Wall color
The wall color was the first thing I chose for the room. The previous paint color was a pretty dull brown, and I was hoping for a fresher neutral with a subtle hue. We went with a light grey (Valspar’s White Pepper in eggshell finish), and it had the slight blue undertone I was looking for. When the room is small with one main window, it is tough to pull off a dark wall color. I would have loved to try a dark charcoal, but decided I’d keep it light on the walls and go for the dark color in the rug. I really like the result of the grey since it provided a good base to work with varying colors.
The Rug + Quilt
I chose the rug and the quilted coverlet simultaneously to compliment each other. I was smitten for Loloi Rugs, and found exactly the bold pattern I was searching for, but in a more unique design than I had anticipated to find. (I wrote more on choosing the right rug for a room here.) Since there was some pattern in this design I kept the quilt simple. It is a reversible coverlet, and had the tones I was looking for. Not to mention it is incredibly silky soft.
The Headboard
Gabe has been stalking lumber yards in the area for a good live cut piece for a headboard for months, but it seems they are extremely hard to find in the size we were hoping for. They are also extremely HEAVY, which created a hanging problem. I remembered my friend Kristin of The Hunted Interior created a genius live cut headboard tutorial made out of plywood so we based this design using her suggestions. I drew the edge on the plywood and we used a jigsaw to cut it out. We designed the headboard so one side could hold a sconce light as well as a shelf underneath it in place of a bedside table. Gabe used a biscuit jointer to attach the shelf, and drilled out a 2 inch hole underneath the sconce base to string the cord through. We used a light oak stain and semi-gloss varnish to finish it. Tip: put a minimum of two coats of the varnish on, and use tack paper to get all the dust off. We both had fun with this project, and hopefully will get to work on another together soon.
The textiles
Choosing pillows and curtains are next to impossible before you have your main pieces figured out. I have made so many pillow purchases and returns before realizing it is just better to wait till everything else is in place first! Since I wanted to keep most of the textiles in a neutral base, I went with the ivory cut out curtains and pushkar pillows that had some interesting texture and tones in them that worked together well. I am not into being too matchy-matchy, and love a looser organic vibe, so these are probably my favorite pieces in the room! I can’t wait to try the linen sheets, since those have such a soft and comfortable material. A blanket or throw is also a great way to pull colors together and add texture to a space. I used this through to pull out more of the charcoal and ivories in the room.
The Bohemian Chandelier
I couldn’t find a bohemian chandelier/hanging piece online or at any markets in my price range, so I got fed up and made one! I will share the EASY tutorial tomorrow! *UPDATE: Tutorial here!
The details
The fun part is finding the quirky details that really bring a room together. I bought a bunch of different solid and patterned knobs and pulls to re-vamp a simple white dresser. For the shelf, I found the animal face vase here, and the bottle neck vase here. It’s nice to have some magazine options for guests so these two vases were good bookends for keeping them in place.
The giant plant and planter I picked up at Lowes. I realize it is a risk for me to keep anything green alive in my home, but I find it so much more energizing to have real plants if possible. I mixed faux and real for the dresser top though. No one needs to know;) The admiral hanging mirrors I found at Anthro and the larger wooden one I found at HomeGoods. Mirrors can be a nice alternative to artwork to play around with!
Whew! Did I miss anything? I told Gabe I might leave our master bedroom and move in here…almost serious. We use this room as a guest room when family or friends come to visit, We are still figuring out room situations for when the new baby comes.
Happy almost weekend!
*Anthropologie so kindly sent the bedding, pillows, and curtains for this post. The rest is purchased and created by IHOD. So happy to have been able to work with one of my very favorite companies for this project. You can see the last bedroom we teamed up on here!
Items featured:
*Photos by Chelsey Heidorn Photography
