Office Update: A Peek into My Design Process

When I bought my house, I was thrilled that it had a fairly large "extra" room in the front corner of the house. It has beautiful french doors that open from the dining room, and it's really the only room of my house that gets great natural light for a good portion of the day. So of course, I quickly claimed it as my office/work space/den.

I wanted to share the plans for the office, but I also wanted to share my design process (if I can even call it that) so that others can follow the same formula and love their own spaces!

1. Pull together images that speak to you

When people come over, or I share some of my work, the most common question I get asked is "how do you come up with these ideas?" My answer - and it's a truthful one - is always the same. I steal them.

All designers/stylists/decorators/creatives are constantly immersing themselves in other people's work and being inspired by a variety of sources. I would never look at a feature in House Beautiful and decide to attempt to duplicate a magazine spread in my house. But I would take a bunch of the different elements that leap out at me and put them together in a different way or with a twist.

When I started thinking about redoing my office I scoured pictures of offices, dens, and sitting rooms without searching for anything in particular. Most of the stuff was pretty "meh" to me, but there were definitely images that peaked my interest.

A LOT

Things I like (based on those photos):

1. Bright spaces that make good use of natural light
2. Masculine "den"-type spaces. I think a lot of this has to do with having very fond memories of hanging out in my dad's den with him as he worked, or had patient, in-depth conversations with my 10-year-old self about current events or the mysteries of the world. Or how there were certain classic songs you should always play REALLY loud.
3. Lots of space to display books and other special, inspiring items and collections.
4. A mix of modern and traditional pieces.

That's a lot of info from just looking for patterns among a handful of pictures!

Next step...

2. Decide what elements you can't live without

All of those design ideas are nice.. but how do you start to actually conceptualize the room? For me, I figure out what I can't live without. This is where you switch to thinking about function instead of aesthetics.

Things I need in the space:

1. A large, clean work surface to be able to spread out on
2. A couch to do more passive work, lounging, and reading on.
3. Shelving to store and display books and treasures
4. Plenty of lighting to encourage productivity on short winter days

3. Plan the space

There are lots of great tools available to visualize and plan floor plans. My personal favorite is just good old graph paper and a pencil, but I've also used and appreciated floorplanner.com because it's free, pretty user-friendly, and has standard sized furniture built in so you can just place items and move them around your room. For people that have trouble visualizing flat shapes as three-dimensional spaces, it has a nifty feature that lets you "tour" the room.

Quick tip: Furniture always looks bigger in a 3d space than it does in a floor plan. If your floor plan feels a little sparse, it's probably about right.

If I'm really worried about the scale of furniture or making a lot of pieces fit, I take the time to draw everything to scale. But in this room I knew I had quite a bit of wiggle room, and just did a quick sketch of the layout in powerpoint.

4. Design the "look" of the room - mood board time!

So you know what you like, you know what you need, and you know the big pieces you need in the space and how they'll lay out. The best way to make all of those things start to gel into a "look" is to put a bunch of potential elements together in a mood board and start editing until you're happy with it.

Here's the mood board I created for my office space:

I did this in Photoshop by copying and pasting a bunch of images together after removing their background "stuff". I also use Pinterest and other inspiration board-type websites, but I still find that actually seeing all of the elements together in one space is most helpful.

I knew I wanted a comfortable, leather couch in a warm brown color to bring in some of that masculine-den feel. I won't be able to afford an actual Chesterfield like I have pictured here, but I'm hoping to find something in that vein.

I've decided to use a cowhide rug in the space because a) they're super durable b) to get a rectangular rug large enough for this space would be cost prohibitive (see my previous rant on expensive rugs here) and the irregular shape of the cow hide allows you to cheat the rules a little bit and c) I really need something to break up the expanse of Brazilian hardwood floor that I didn't pick but can never get rid ofbecause it's expensive and looks nice enough I guess. <-- sorry about that long run on sentence, Haley. (she's decided she's my blog editor. I think it's because she likes pointing out my faults. Little sisters, I tell ya.)

I want a large, somewhat rustic desk. I don't like the feel of working on flat, white, shiny plastic. It feels too much like actual work then. I guess it's a personal thing. BUT, cowhide, leather, rustic wood.. this is all starting to sound a little den meets dude-ranch, which of course is not what I'm going for. A sleek white chair, Moroccan pouf, and gallery wall made up of gold frames all help to add a little girl back into the equation.

The finish of the shelving was a tough spot for me... I don't want too-perfect, cold, white shelving, but I also don't want to introduce any more wood tones or masculinity into the space.

One of my favorite (but small) collections, and the one I was most excited about putting in the space is made up of a bunch of vintage jadeite bowls, candy dishes and vases. Adding some of that type of finish into the mood board spurred me to think about staining wood cabinets and shelving a girly color, and wouldn't you know it, Minwax makes a beautiful warm minty green stain called antique jade. Instead of having the jadeite contrast with the shelving, I think it will only highlight to put it on shelves that carry the color throughout more of the room.

5. Source and gather the pieces

Reasons to shop - yay! Needing money to get what you want - sad trombone. Sooo... now I'll start the process of accumulating the items I want in the space, and attempt to be patient enough so that I don't have to eat ramen noodles while staining cabinets. I'll update you on the progress of the office when there's something to update you on!

What spaces in your house have you stumped? How is your design process different than mine? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

House Tour: My DIY Eclectic Entryway

Happy New Year, everyone! When I gave you the before house tour on the blog, my first thought was "oh dang. Now I have to finish a room to have an after."

The house has been a constant work in progress since I moved in. I'm pretty proud of what I've gotten done so far, I just never feel like anything is really totally finished or perfect. But honestly, I don't know that I ever will. I'll always be moving things around as a find new treasures, or switching things up and going for a slightly different style. Andy really loves this about me - he tells me all the time how much he's looking forward to hauling yet another load of stuff and rearranging more furniture. Really.

But with this in mind, I decided it would be good to show you my entryway exactly as it is right now. There are still a few spaces I want something for, or pieces I'll switch out, oh, and it's still decorated for Christmas (I'll get the stuff down before February - I promise!).

As a reminder, here's how it looked bare bones in the listing pictures.

Now here's the after:

I found the midcentury buffet on craigslist for around $100. The wood veneer was pretty rough, but some primer and green-gray paint cleaned it up and made it look a lot more modern. The drawers provide great storage space, and the top gives me a lot of styling flexibility season-to-season.

For Christmas, it was the perfect place to display my very favorite decoration, my nativity set. I wanted to layer something on top of my large marble canvas print, and Hobby Lobby had chalkboards on sale, so I decided to hand-letter the silent night sign. The tray and bowl are perfect for dropping sunglasses, and giving a little shine to the space.

I never seem to take the extra time to hang a coat in the closet, so Andy helped me build this shelf with hooks for bags and a coat. I'm really happy with the way it looks, but it was so easy to put together. We just glued then screwed two 1"x8" pre-finished boards together, anchored it to the wall, then added a pre-cut piece of trim and the hardware.

Most benches were too wide to fit well in the entry, so I was thrilled when I found an old church pew on craigslist, and my wonderful Dad was able to refinish it with a LOT of sanding, and some gel stain. I have a big basket from Target at the end of the pew as an easy spot to throw small items like hats and mittens and scarves that would just clutter up other spaces or get scattered around.

The biggest and toughest projects in this fairly small space are also the ones that made the most impact. Here's a decorating spoiler alert for you: rugs are expensive. Most of the time, they're STUPID expensive. Like, it's actually tempting to make your own rugs out of rags expensive. BUT, every now and then a little luck and elbow grease can get you something awesome.

I found a cheap dhurrie rug on sale at esalerugs.com in some pretty awful colors. A cream rug with light pinks, blues, and green isn't exactly my jam, but it's nothing a little Rit Dye couldn't take care of!

I wish you all could have seen Andy's face when I told him I wanted him to help me dye and wring out a 12'x2' rug in the backyard in 45 degree weather. I'm sure our neighbors made similar faces trying to figure out what the heck we were doing...but like I said before, rugs are expensive, so this was worth it. We dyed the red and cream rug with navy blue dye, and it came out looking much more rich with blue and burgundy tones. SCORE!

The closet had wood veneer hollow core builder grade doors that I just thought looked cheap in the space. I took inspiration from the AMAZING Jenny Komenda of Little Green Notebook and decided to add some paint, textural fabric, paneling made foam core trim, and some new hardware. All those miter cut corners and getting the fabric smooth was a bit of a challenge, but I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and how it added a little glam to the space.

Getting the look of a pulled together entryway took a fair amount of DIY work, and a little craigslist luck, but it was totally possible on a budget. If there are any projects you want more details on let me know.

In the Beginning: Let the House Tour Begin

2015 was a pretty big and great year for me. Which is saying something...because 2014 was brutal.

2014 Recap: Got divorced. Divided stuff. Sold house. Moved in with an amazingly gracious aunt. Aunt bought a house, I packed up my stuff to move along with her to another temporary home (for me). Watched a lot of lifetime movies and pinned a lot of motivational quotes.

But you know what? God is good, and things can turn around pretty quickly.

2015 Recap: Bought a house all on my own (scary but awesome!), found a great roommate to help pay for aforementioned house, met an amazing guy (oh hey, Andy!), met a bunch of awesome new people (oh hey, Andy's friends!), extended a work trip to Hawaii into a great vacation, did a bunch of work and projects for the new house.

Needless to say, this house of mine really felt like a turning point. I think almost anyone would agree that moving is one of the most stressful and yuckiest things ever, and after buying and selling 2 houses in the prior 3 years, it was nice to have a place that I could really make my home.

I'll be sharing a bunch of projects and before-and-after type posts of the house, but it's hard to appreciate how far something has come unless you've seen where it's been. Don't get me wrong - I was incredibly blessed to be able to buy a nicely updated and well laid-out house, so this has by no means been a "fixer upper". To me, though, making a house your home means injecting a lot of personality so that it feels like you and functions how you want it to.

Without further ado, here is how my house looked when it was listed before I bought it. I know it's hard to get a feel for how the space lays out and flows from these pictures, but bear with me.

This is another view of the kitchen. It looks really tiny here, but it's actually a really workable two-butt space. It struggles a little bit if you start to try working with three butts in the space, but for me, a roommate, and an ever-present Andy, it's really functional.

The family room is one step down from the little dining area. I hope you're starting to get an appreciation for how much beautiful but very red Brazilian flooring I'm dealing with here.

The family room is pretty long and kinda skinny with a very large and very red-orange brick fireplace. When I bought the house I had grand dreams of all sorts of cozy nights in front of my wood-burning fireplace. I have yet to light it. Turns out I'm more of "I want my fire to be controlled and come with a remote" kind of girl.

If you go the other way through the kitchen, you'll encounter a formal dining room. This was one of the exciting elements of this house for me. Great room open concepts are nice, but I like having both a casual place to have a bowl of cereal, and a nicer space to host friends and family.

The dining room has pretty french doors that open toward the front of the house and into a room that I either call the "sitting room" or "my office". It's pretty spacious and gets nice light in the morning and afternoon, but doesn't have an overhead light fixture (odd), and has been sort of an awkward space to work with. Sidenote: Previous owner really did not care about light fixtures. If they exist, they're what I imagine was 80's builder grade. If you're keeping score at home, sooooo much flooring, very little effort into much else.

Tucked in front of the family room is this short hallway that leads to the garage. Just off that hallway is a long, narrow laundry room with a door that leads to the front porch, but isn't the front door (confusing, I know).

In that laundry room is a fairly cute little half bath. Let me tell you, that sink elicits more comments than almost any other feature of the house. Vessel sinks seem to be a very polarizing topic. Andy's grandpa makes jokes about how I left my mixing bowl in the bathroom, and my mother is worried about the increase in surface area that needs to be cleaned, but at least one friend has claimed it is "probably the coolest sink ever". I'm pretty indifferent.

That concludes the tour of the main floor of my house. This post is getting really long so I'll continue with the second floor in another installment. The second story is pretty standard though - bedrooms and bathrooms, so I won't be particularly offended if you're not on the edge of your seat waiting for that one.

I can't wait to catch you up on how far things have come in just one short year and share all of my plans for the future. I have a feeling 2016 is going to be a great year!

Making Christmas a Little More Special

I've been thinking about taking the leap and putting this blog out there for a while now, but had never quite had the kick in the butt to do it. That kick took on a few different forms this week (supportive and bossy insistent friends are the best!), but a little Christmas eve-eve chaos actually gave me the perfect jumping off point.

I've come to the very adult conclusion that Christmas can be magical and wonderful (cue the Bing Crosby), but is also incredibly hard. And I don't just mean if you have a family member serving overseas, or are staring down first-Christmas-after grief, or are battling through an illness, though people in all of those circumstances are the ones that make us pause and say a little extra prayer to the Big Guy, and they certainly make my trials seem trivial.

What I've been thinking about this holiday season is just the generic pulling this magic off is hard work kind of struggle. My boyfriend and I are having to navigate how to split/share family time for the first time this holiday season, money is tight and only gets tighter because our hearts our big and Amazon Prime exists, and we both have family members dealing with the stress of illnesses. Traditions are in flux, and we're both feeling the pressure of making "our first Christmas" one that is memorable for all the right reasons. Pondering all of this brought me to two important conclusions:

1. Holy cow my parents (and so many others) are even more amazing than I previously thought for pulling it together year after year.
2. If there are little things you can put a smidgen more effort into to make Christmas a little more magical for someone else, do it.

For me, that extra effort comes in the form of gift wrapping.

Every year, or at least the last few, I've set aside some December hours to haul out all the gift wrapping supplies, turn on Meet Me in St. Louis, and take the time to wrap gifts with a little extra pizzazz. I usually end up with a few paper cuts and hot glue burns (hot glue = hot. I forget every time). But later, when I give that gift to someone I love, there's always a little extra joy because it's beautiful. And maybe the gift is a picture frame or a gift card instead of Xbox One or shiny new Hunter Boots, but the recipient knows I took the time to give them a gift that I spent time on. And isn't that what giving should be all about?

And just so you can experience a few joyful, emotional Christmas tears right along with me, here's the part in Meet Me in St. Louis where I put down the tape dispenser and weep right along with Judy Garland.