A design enthusiast renovating a 1920s Tudor home.

Shopping

Black Friday Deals I’d Share with Friends

November 23, 2018

I’ve worked in retail, e-commerce, or e-commerce-adjacent internet for my entire working life. Because of this, I have mixed feelings about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and how stressful these events are for the people that put them together and the people that shop them.

That said, I still like a good deal. I found myself combing my email as deals arrived in my inbox, archiving most emails but saving some to check out. And then I found myself sharing specific deals and new products with friends and I thought, maybe I’ll do a post to share deals I’d send or have already sent to my friends.

You’ll see a lot of Black Friday + Cyber Monday deal roundups this weekend, so here is mine also.

My Favorite Home + Personal Care Deals

[ Double Oven Mitt | Ceramic Match Striker | Steel and Wood Blanket Ladder ]

The Food52 shop is extremely well curated and has become one of my favorite spots to find gifts and kitchen items. We have Farmhouse Pottery Double Oven Mitt in Oatmeal Chambray (that’s the light blue/gray one in the middle) and LOVE it. I highly recommend a double oven mitt because they provide extra protection, are easy to drape over an oven handle, and it’s always easier to find one thing than to find two things.

I’ll take any excuse to buy a pretty ceramic thing so as our candle and palo santo collection grows, a nice looking matchstick holder and striker seemed justifiable. Each Farmhouse Pottery Ceramic Matchstick Holder has grooves on the bottom to act as a striker and comes with a simple glass jar full of matches.

You’ll probably recognize the Steel and Wood Blanket Ladder from both our Guest Bedroom Reveal and the Master Bedroom Reveal. It’s just that great.

Get 20% off $100 with code EXTRAHELPING

[ Pine & Cypress Wood Wick Candle from Leif ]

My favorite winter candle is 20% off through Cyber Monday with code ONCEAYEAR. I love the sound of a wood wick candle – I would probably buy a sound machine if it just made that noise – and this one smells amazing. The Pine & Cypress Botanist Candle is the perfect winter scent with just enough pine and woodiness without smelling like one of tree-shaped car air fresheners. Leif is a great shop all around with a variety of price points and goods makers of all sizes. It’s a great place to find gifts when you remember you should probably be shopping for other people instead of just yourself (this is me talking to me, here).

[ Left Top $397.80 with coupon | Left Bottom $130.20 with coupon | Middle $264 with coupon | Right Top $234 with coupon | Right Bottom $280.80 with coupon ]

The vintage rug in our living room and many others in my home (including the BIG rug in our new master bedroom) are from eCarpetGallery. For Black Friday, they are offering an extra 40% with code EXTRA40. I’ve gathered 5 of my favorites above – I’m am extremely tempted to grab that runner in the middle, please someone else buy it before I do! I find the best things on their site by searching by color – I usually try pink and then blue – or by narrowing down the search by looking for a specific size. I also frequently check their clearance.

[ quip All-Black Metal Toothbrush ]

When I sent this to the first person I knew would care, my friend Marne who already has and loves her quip, she said: “WHY DID YOU SEND THIS TO ME.” And then “Well, it’s been done, I just paid $55 for a goth toothbrush.” I knew I wanted to repeat that experience for as many people as possible, over and over again.

I have a quip and have used it for probably close to 2 years now. The refills are affordable, though I can’t say I can get through the toothpaste fast enough to keep up with the every-3-months refill schedule. I broke my quip and customer service was great – they educated me on how not to break it again and sent me a new one for free.

Bonus good feelings about buying this goth toothbrush – “Every All-Black quip sold will help provide oral care access and education to disadvantaged families in collaboration with the ADA Foundation.”

The All-black quip is not eligible for discounts but if you want to try a regular plastic or metal quip for 20% off orders of $65 or more you can use code GET20.

[ Oatmeal Check Pillow | Bed | Quilt | Lamp | Nightstand ]

I used Juniper Studio pillows in both of my One Room Challenge bedrooms and I highly recommend them. The quality is excellent and for Black Friday, they are 30% off with code GIVETHANKS now through Monday. I have the Oatmeal Check pillow cover in our master bedroom and the Rose pillow cover in our guest bedroom. Remember that these are just the covers, inserts aren’t included. I used this hypoallergenic pillow insert.

Andy has the above pictured Fellow Stagg EKG+ kettle and he LOVES it. I love it because it looks sooo good. It has variable temperature control, an LCD screen, option to hold temperature and an app (the EKG+ has app access, the regular EKG does not) for extra control. If you’re looking for a kettle but don’t need that fancy pour over spout, they also offer the CORVO EKG with a traditional spout. Fellow is offering 20% off your order + free US shipping on orders over $100 until 11/30, no coupon code required.

My Favorite Fashion Deals

COS is offering 20% off select items until midnight tonight. This is one of my favorite stores for clothes but I almost always wait for a good sale to purchase. Their end of season sales are usually deeper discounts (40-50% off) than what they’re offering today, and with a larger selection, but that didn’t stop me from ordering a few things. COS typically has a quick 14-day return window but it has been extended for the holidays. My experience with COS is that their ship times are quick and they process returns and refunds quickly, which is helpful because I almost always ship a few items back. Some of my favorite sweaters, cardigans, and dresses are from COS. I ordered the Speckled Oversized Cardigan (I already have one I ordered a couple of years ago but I am worried about ever being without it so I ordered another one today) and the Oversized Wool-Blend Cardigan.

Everlane has partnered with the Surfrider Foundation to remove plastic from beaches before it gets into our oceans. “For every order placed, we’re donating $13 to Surfrider to fund beach cleanups across the country. They did the math, and one order will get a pound of plastic off the beach. Our goal: $260,000 (or 20,000 pounds).” I ordered the Easy Chino in Washed Black and Ochre.

A List of More Black Friday Sales:

Framebridge – 20% Off Black Frames with code BLACK20
Minted – 20% Off Holiday Cards, Gifts, Fine Art, and Home Decor orders over $150, 15% Off Everything + Free shipping with code BF2018 (expires 11/23)
World Market – Get 40% off ALL Furniture with Code FURNDEAL
Rejuvenation – Buy More Save More with up to 25% off $1500 or more + free shipping with code FREESHIP
West Elm – Free Shipping + Buy More Save More (up to 30% off $3,000 or more) with code SAVEMORE
CB2 – 15% Off Full-Price items INCLUDES FURNITURE (almost always excluded in these sales!) with code SAVE15
Crate and Barrel – 40% Off 700+ Furniture Items

Happy shopping, bbs.

Hey heads up: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

3 Comments

Before and After One Room Challenge The Scenery House

One Room Challenge Week 6: Master Bedroom Reveal!

November 7, 2018

Hey heads up: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

It’s a wrap! I successfully finished our One Room Challenge master bedroom makeover JUST in time for today’s reveal. If you’re not familiar, every spring and fall, 20 featured designers selected by the ORC team participate in a 6-week challenge to decorate one room. The event is hosted by Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens. In addition to the featured designers, hundreds of other folks with blogs (and Instagram this season!) join in on the challenge as Guest Participants <— that’s me.

If you’ve hopped over to this post from the ORC website – welcome! I’m Emily, this is my blog, and I’m working on undecorating the 1929 tudor-ish home I share with my husband, Andy, and our corgi, Penelope. This is my second One Room Challenge (last season I made over our guest room). I am glad you’re here!

If you’d like to travel back in time and see each week’s progress:

Week 1: The Master Bedroom Plan

Week 2: The Fireplace Plan

Week 3: Curtains + Rugs

Week 4: Gallery Grid

Week 5: The Last Details

These last 6 weeks flew by and I am so happy with how much we accomplished. I can’t stop smiling at the fireplace I built with my dad – it’s the focal point in our the bedroom and I love it. And upgrading to the most beautiful king size white oak bed has been amazing. Ok, let’s take a quick look at where we started and then I promise we’ll get to the good stuff!

The Master Bedroom Before

6 weeks ago our bedroom was cute but under-furnished. We had a queen size bed paired with mismatched lamps and nightstands and art hung just a little too high. The fluffy shag rug was great underfoot but not easy to keep clean. Our Dyson had trouble handling it and our new Roomba, Clementine, wouldn’t even try it.

The room had already come a long way from what it looked like in the listing photos and from when we moved in. We had the floors refinished, removed a chair rail, and painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s Simply White in matte. Our master bedroom was also much improved by switching out a frilly chandelier for the Cedar & Moss Conifer Flush Mount from Rejuvenation.

This was the view looking into the room. I had a small 3 drawer mid century dresser that I still love and haven’t been able to part with. The dresser and mirror combo is nice and all but I couldn’t help but wonder, what if it was a fireplace instead?

The New Modern Traditional Master Bedroom

This view! I love it so much. I’ve always dreamed of having a fireplace in my bedroom so my big project this season was building one! I designed a fireplace surround that was a modern nod to the craftsman and Tudor style of our home. My dad and I spent about half the challenge building the fireplace on weekends (plus some weekdays my dad gave up to work on this solo because he’s the best). I picked a pale blue irregular tile with a crackle finish that mimics the original tile in our blush bathroom. The fireplace is painted the same color as the walls, Benjamin Moore’s Simply White, in a satin finish rather than matte.

I added a midcentury chair from our living room and small drink table to create the perfect spot to enjoy a cup of coffee while basking in the heat of the fireplace.

I originally planned on adding art above the fireplace but at the last minute asked Andy to lean this arched mirror on the mantel instead. I picked it up at a thrift store almost 10 years ago and it used to hang in the entryway of our apartment. You may recognize it from my Pinterest-popular SVALBO hack. I styled the mantel with my favorite gray vase from Pittsburgh-based ceramicist Bombabird along with a vintage brass vase, a candle holder from CB2, and a vase and tray from Target. I clipped a branch from a tree in our yard and popped it into a vase to add the perfect touch of greenery.

For the electric fireplace insert, I chose a 23″ insert from Dimplex. It acts as a space heater with the added ambiance of a fire. I can control the temperature and the robustness of the flames via remote control. I like that I can choose to just have the flames on without the heat for warmer months.

If you are thinking about adding an electric fireplace to your home, I have a few pieces of info for you that I learned during this process. Electric inserts like these can be directly wired or plugged into an outlet. Essentially, electric fireplaces are just fancy space heaters and space heaters like this should be on their own dedicated circuit for safety. If you have an older home like ours, you may not have grounded, 3-prong outlets and that’s also a problem. We are addressing these issues with an electrician and won’t be using the fireplace for heat until we have a safer electrical solution in place.

Just like in our guest bedroom, our master bedroom works best with a layout that places the bed under/in front of the windows. The trick for placing a bed in front of a window and having it look intentional is picking the right bed or headboard. A piece that lets the light shine through (think spindles in wood or metal or a woven rattan headboard) will complement the windows. Alternately, you can choose a low bed or headboard that hits just under the window or at the same height as the window sill. I have wanted the Perkins Spindle Bed from Rejuvenation since I first saw it in Emily Henderson’s bedroom reveal. I chose the white oak because I wanted to add lightness and contrast between wood tones and in this room.

A new king-size bed means a new mattress and there are so many mattress-in-a-box companies to choose from! We picked the Leesa Sapira mattress because I like anything that’s described as luxury. We are really liking it! The bed is dressed in my favorite Target sheets, Dobby Ladder Stripe Duvet Cover, Belgian Linen Quilt, and oatmeal check lumbar pillow from Juniper Studio.

For our new and improved bedroom, I originally wanted 2 rugs for the two “zones” in the room – the bed area and the fireplace area. A few kind internet friends asked me – hey – why not just 1 rug? And then I asked everyone to weigh in on stories and the answer was “please, just 1 rug!” So I set to searching the internet high and low for the right giant rug. It wasn’t easy but I found a great vintage overdyed rug at my favorite traditional rug source, eCarpetGallery.

I still can’t believe we have matching nightstands. For the first time. Our guestroom got a set of matching nightstands in last season’s challenge and now I’m hooked. I’m also hooked on furniture with secret electricity. These nightstands from Crate and Barrel have outlets and USB ports hidden inside a drawer. Technology!

Just like last season, I gave IKEA curtains a major makeover just by adding a good pleat. I removed the tabs and sewed a Euro Pleat into basic LENDA curtains to give them a tailored, modern traditional look. They took forever but they were so worth it.

For the curtain rods, I chose Pottery Barn’s PB Standard Drape Rods in the .75″ diameter with an antique bronze finish. The finish is nearly black and the brackets have a nice curved shape that echoes the casement fasteners on our windows. If you choose these rods for your home, know that you’ll have to purchase the finials separately, I picked the simple Endcap option. To save some cash where I could, I ordered these curtain rings in black from Amazon which matched the antique bronze finish extremely well. I ended up removing the clips (but keeping the wire hooks) from the rings and attaching them to the curtains using pin-on drapery hooks.

Finding the right lamps was another challenge for me. Andy doesn’t like reaching inside a lampshade to turn it on because that’s where spiders live. I wanted something large that was the right scale for the large nightstands and big king bed. It was a challenge to find lampshades that weren’t too bright white or weren’t too close to the color of the curtains. I ended up finding these Roar + Rabbit lamps at our local West Elm just in time and am so happy with them. They have a crackle glaze that nods to the crackle finish on the fireplace tile AND a little dangle pull that means secret spiders are out of luck.

We added a grid gallery to the long wall beside our bed using black and white prints of our travel photos and frames from Amazon. We had the oversized mats custom cut to add extra breathing room around the prints. It can be hard to figure out what to do with a big blank wall like this but a tidy, monochromatic grid can make a big impact.

We are still shopping for a new dresser for Andy (we love this mid-century piece by Kent Coffey but are looking for something with larger drawers) but gave this side of the room a little bit of a spruce up. I put together a quick and easy DIY art project by sketching out art on my iPad, having it printed at FedEx Office, and popping it into an IKEA frame from our dining room. Sorry, dining room.

The lamp is from CB2 from a few years ago and the vases are both from Target. The blush necklace on the wall is from Sasha.

The small pink vase is from Bombabird and the taller spotted vase is from Studio Arhoj. I borrowed the blanket ladder from our guest bedroom and hung some of my favorite ceramic knot necklaces on it from Oatmeal.

I am so in love with our new master bedroom. While we didn’t make huge changes with the wall color or layout, we now have a room that is much cozier. Our bedroom felt large and empty before but now feels comfortably furnished. I’m so glad I was also able to bring in some of my favorite vintage accessories to round out the space and add age to the room.

Remember to check out the Featured Designer reveals as well as the Guest Participants reveals!

37 Comments

One Room Challenge

One Room Challenge Week 5: The Last Details

October 31, 2018

[ photo by Andy Cosnotti ]

I don’t have a pretty room picture or even an in-progress picture to share with you this week so you just get this picture of me smiling at wood glue.

It’s week 5! There’s only 1 week left of the Fall 2018 One Room Challenge! If you’re not familiar, every spring and fall, 20 featured designers selected by the ORC team participate in a 6-week challenge to decorate one room. The event is hosted by Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens. In addition to the featured designers, hundreds of other folks with blogs (and Instagram this season!) join in on the challenge as Guest Participants <— that’s me.

If you’ve hopped over to this post from the ORC website – welcome! I’m Emily, this is my blog, and I’m working on undecorating the 1929 tudor-ish home I share with my husband, Andy, and our corgi, Penelope. This is my second One Room Challenge (last season I made over our guest room). I am glad you’re here!

This week and the coming week are all about wrapping up loose ends, finalizing the last details, and making sure things are as finished as is reasonably and humanly possible in time to photograph the room for the reveal. This is the time where I make compromises and usually, a bit of zen falls over me as I realize what is really important and what is not.

So what have I been up to?

I spent the weekend working on the fireplace with my dad. I think my favorite part of this challenge is finding an excuse to spend a lot of time building things with him.

[ photo by Andy Cosnotti ]

We’ve been putting the surround together over the last couple of weekends. It’s really starting to take shape and I can’t wait to see it in place in our master bedroom. To get a head start, I started priming it as soon as we were able to sand it. See me above, tiny paint roller in hand, definitely wearing pajamas and laughing at one of my own jokes.

[ photo by Andy Cosnotti ]

My nail gun skills are questionable which explains the face I’m making. But look at that beautiful arch going in! I love it. We set the tile, but still need to apply the grout. And once that’s all done, the fireplace surround has to make a 2-hour journey from my parents’ house to our house in Pittsburgh.

But there’s more! Because finishing up the fireplace, making a lot of important last decisions, decorating, and photographing the full reveal wasn’t enough, I’ve also got a quick DIY art project rolling around in my brain. So we’ll see about that.

If You’re Prepping for Your Reveal or Just Want Some Styling Tips…

Last season I wrote up some tips on How to Style Textiles Like a Pro that also includes some great photo tips on getting the best photos of your finished room for your reveal.

And remember, do what you can but don’t stress yourself out too much (I’m saying this to me just as much as you!) You’re gonna do great.

Still to-do

Finish and install the fireplace
Put furniture in place
Lamps
Finish sewing curtains and hang them
Art for above the fireplace
Selling/hoarding existing bedroom furniture
Decorations and last touches
Photograph the reveal

To catch up on the previous weeks’ updates:

Week 1: The Master Bedroom Plan

Week 2: The Fireplace Plan

Week 3: Curtains + Rugs

Week 4: Gallery Grid

Remember to follow along and see what the Featured Designers and Guest Participants are up to!

9 Comments

DIY One Room Challenge

The One Room Challenge Week 4: Gallery Grid

October 24, 2018

Holy crap it’s week 4. Week 4 of the Fall 2018 One Room Challenge that is! If you’re not familiar, every spring and fall, 20 featured designers selected by the ORC team participate in a 6-week challenge to decorate one room. The event is hosted by Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens. In addition to the featured designers, hundreds of other folks with blogs (and Instagram this season!) join in on the challenge as Guest Participants <— that’s me.

If you’ve hopped over to this post from the ORC website – welcome! I’m Emily, this is my blog, and I’m working on undecorating the 1929 tudor-ish home I share with my husband, Andy, and our corgi, Penelope. This is my second One Room Challenge (last season I made over our guest room). I am glad you’re here!

We’ve got this big blank wall in our bedroom that we’ve never done anything with. You may remember it from my One Room Challenge Week 1 Master Bedroom Plan. I tackled a big blank wall in our guest bedroom for last season’s ORC by DIYing abstract art and building custom canvas frames but this season, we’re showcasing our photographs in a grid wall.

How to Make a Budget-Friendly Gallery Grid

Sources and Supplies

Frames – $29.99 each
Mats – $8.95 each (with shipping)
Prints – $5.00 (with express shipping)

Each frame cost us $43.95 with all 8 together totaling at $351.52. That seems like a huge number but for art that takes up an entire wall, that’s not bad. And you can always get cheaper frames with coupons at Michaels or Jo Anns.

For our gallery grid, I wanted a custom look without the custom framing price. Custom framing is totally worth it (Framebridge is great and even has Gallery Walls), but I needed a quick project with a very short lead time. I found 16×20″ thin metal black frames on Amazon and ordered 8 of them. I wanted a chunkier mat to give the prints more breathing room so I quickly customized mats from MatboardandMore.com. I chose the Arctic White mat color with a white core with the 4ply thickness. I decided to center my photos in the frame but you can totally do a bottom weighted mat where there’s more mat space below the print than above it. Then I played around with print sizes and landed on 8×10″, setting the mat window size at 7.5×9.5″. When you’re choosing your mat window, make sure your window is smaller than your print size so you have room to tape it in.

My husband, Andy is a skilled nature photographer and has seen the prettiest mountains and trees and sights this country has to offer. This means we have access to an impressive library of beautiful photographs ready at a moment’s notice – perfect for this project! We took a family trip to Yosemite in September and I snapped a few photos too as proof that I was a good sport and went outside. We selected 4 of Andy’s photos and 4 of mine for this black and white gallery grid and had them printed by Mpix on their True Black and White Paper.

How to Hang a Gallery Grid

Of course, I planned this in SketchUp because I can’t make a decision without it. Putting the frames in my SketchUp plan helped me decide on the size of the frames I needed, the number, the spacing, and where to hang everything.

My plans put the center of the grid at 57″ high centered horizontally on the wall with the frames spaced 2 inches apart. Andy used painters tape to help perfect the spacing and placement.

I am so happy with how the grid turned out!

So where are we on that big ol’ list of to-dos?

Things that are done:

Gallery grid is finished
Curtain rods are up
A mattress has been ordered!
Fireplace tile has been ordered
Fireplace building has begun!
Bedding

The still-to-do list:

Rug(s)!
Lamps
Hem + pleat curtains
Other art?
New dresser
Selling/hoarding existing bedroom furniture
End of bed bench?

If you’d like to catch up on the previous weeks’ updates:

Week 1: The Master Bedroom Plan

Week 2: The Fireplace Plan

Week 3: Curtains + Rugs

Remember to follow along and see what the Featured Designers and Guest Participants are up to!

Hey heads up: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

8 Comments

Interiors Inspiration One Room Challenge

One Room Challenge Week 3: Curtains + Rugs

October 17, 2018

[ nightstand | lamp ]

Welcome to week 3 of the Fall 2018 One Room Challenge! If you’re not familiar, every spring and fall, 20 featured designers selected by the ORC team participate in a 6-week challenge to decorate one room. The event is hosted by Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens. In addition to the featured designers, hundreds of other folks with blogs (and Instagram this season!) join in on the challenge as Guest Participants <— that’s me.

If you’ve hopped over to this post from the ORC website – welcome! I’m Emily, this is my blog, and I’m working on undecorating the 1929 tudor-ish home I share with my husband, Andy, and our corgi, Penelope. This is my second One Room Challenge (last season I made over our guest room). I am glad you’re here!

Week 3 is a weird week where some things have been ordered, others have not, many decisions have been made, yet others have not. I’m trying to think through each decision, to share with you what I learn along the way, and that’s just what this week’s update is: an exercise in overthinking in curtain and rug form.

I can’t remember just when it happened, but I’ve fallen in love with a certain kind of curtain. I was seeing these beautifully styled curtains, deeply compressed, tidy but just slightly untidy. And then I found myself scrolling through Pinterest, seeing those perfect curtains and holding my laptop mere inches from my face saying out loud “what is that pleat?!”

Euro Pleat Curtain Inspiration

[ source: Style by Emily Henderson ]

[ source: Amber Interiors ]

Tailored but lived-in. Modern but traditional. Just a dang dream.

That perfect pleat is called a Euro Pleat or Top Tack. And it is being underserved in the DIY internet. If you google DIY euro pleat you’re going to be bummed when you find a youtube video titled “how we create euro pleat drapes” and where you’ll just find a poorly edited, eternally long video of a woman pointing at euro pleats but never telling you how they’re made.

How to DIY a Euro Pleat

I know a lot of what I’m seeing are custom panels. I’ve splurged on the furniture in my room and don’t have room in my budget for custom curtains so I’m DIYing this. My plan is to double up on regular panels so I can get that rich volume and add that sweet euro pleat held up by curtain rings with clips. Magic. The best resource I found is a helpful PDF from Rowley Company on how to sew Euro Pleat Drapes. It has detailed info on how to create two and three finger euro pleats and helped me get a close visual on exactly how the pleats are … pleated. Plus, now I know exactly how much fabric should comprise my pleats (about 6 inches) and how much space there should be between pleats (about 4 inches.)

For my curtains, I’m using curtain panels from IKEA – my favorite budget source for long curtains. I grabbed the LENDA panels in light beige (I pronounce LENDA in my head like someone yelling LIIIIIINNNHDDAH!) which are also a favorite of Young House Love who recently wrote about making cheap curtains look more polished. They are so affordable at $24.99 for a set of 2 but just need some help to look polished. They are improved ten-fold by removal of the top tabs and a proper hemming. Pleating will remove a lot of the width of the curtains so I’ll be doubling up – there will be 2 panels on each side of each window, sewn together to make one wide panel. And if that’s not enough, I’ll add more until the curtain rods fall out of the walls.

Let’s Talk About Rug(s)

The clock is ticking on a rug decision. My hangup has been choosing the right number of rugs in the right sizes. Do we go for one rug or two? And what size? Is it ok to have a rug that is narrower than the total footprint of the bed+nightstands?

I was pretty set on doing a 2 rug layout in my initial plan, but a very nice commenter said, hey, why not 1 big rug? And at first, I thought, “impossible!” I didn’t want to cover the original footprint of the fireplace and I didn’t think I’d be able to find a rug in the right giant size. But I’ve realized that the footprint doesn’t matter, it’s flush with the rest of the floor and finished the same, so if a rug overlaps it, who cares? And heck, big rugs exist. I think?

I’ve been thinking this through in the best way I know how: messing with my SketchUp layouts. The big pink rectangles are rug placeholders.

Option 1 solves some my anxiety around having the nightstands grounded by a rug, but it is a tight fit. The 9′ x 12′ rug just hits the edges of ends of the nightstands. The 2 rugs in this plan help to create different zones (a sleeping zone and a dressing/staring into the fire alone zone) and lets me properly ground the big furniture elements, but seems choppy.

Option 2 means that the width of the rug doesn’t extend to match the edges of the nightstands AND means that they don’t stand on the rug at all. The dresser lands mostly on a rug but not entirely. Despite these drawbacks, I think it seems like the better solution. Finding the right 11′ x 14′ rug that costs less than a car is going to be its own challenge.

Which option do you prefer? Would the ungrounded nightstands drive you nuts? Would the 2 rug situation make you itchy?

Things that are done:

Nightstands are here
Bed is in transit
Curtains are here
Curtain rods + rings are here
Electric fireplace has arrived
Fireplace surround plans have been tidied up
DIY gallery grid frames and mats have been ordered

The still-to-do list:

Rug(s)!
Mattress
Bedding
Lamps
Hem + pleat curtains
Hang curtain rods
Photo prints for gallery grid
Tile decision + order
Begin work on fireplace surround (eek)
Other art?
New dresser
Selling/hoarding existing bedroom furniture
End of bed bench?

If you’d like to catch up on the previous weeks’ updates, check out:

Week 1: The Master Bedroom Plan

Week 2: The Fireplace Plan

Remember to follow along and see what the Featured Designers and Guest Participants are up to!

24 Comments

Interiors Inspiration One Room Challenge

One Room Challenge Week 2: The Fireplace Plan

October 10, 2018

Welcome to week 2 of the Fall 2018 One Room Challenge! If you’re not familiar, every spring and fall, 20 featured designers selected by the ORC team participate in a 6-week challenge to decorate one room. The event is hosted by Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens. In addition to the featured designers, hundreds of other folks with blogs (and Instagram this season!) join in on the challenge as Guest Participants <— that’s me.

If you’ve hopped over to this post from the ORC website – welcome! I’m Emily, this is my blog, and I’m working on undecorating the 1929 tudor-ish home I share with my husband, Andy, and our corgi, Penelope. This is my second One Room Challenge (last season I made over our guest room). I am glad you’re here!

For this season’s challenge, I am making over our master bedroom. Sometimes I like to think of the One Room Challenge as the Great British Bake Off of interior design blogging and if you’re following me down that path, I’m about to talk about what I like to think of as my “showstopper.” In last week’s master bedroom plan post, I talked about my overall vision for the room and the most important, most labor-intensive DIY part: building an electric fireplace surround. But where did that idea come from?

On my list of “one-day house hopes” (we all have one of the those locked up in our brains, right?) is a bedroom fireplace. So many of the Victorian homes I drool over have them along with some of my favorite Tudor and Craftsman homes. Our bedroom actually used to have one – the brick chimney and firebox have been plastered over and the surround removed, but the footprint is still visible – and I figured that was the end of the story. It seemed completely impossible to me to restore the old fireplace, to dig out the firebox and make sure the chimney was safe for use. And so, that was the end of it.

DIY Fireplace Inspiration

That was until I saw some of my favorite home bloggers adding electric fireplaces to their homes.

[ Vestige Home via Instagram ]

Nicole built this beautiful surround with a modern take on a traditional fireplace style.

[ Chris Loves Julia ]

Julia and Chris Marcum built a recessed modern marble surround fireplace with the most beautiful view into their stunning new master bath. Be sure to read their excellent post on how to DIY a built-in electric fireplace.

Classic Fireplace Surround Inspiration

[ from the home of Michelle Smith via Rip & Tan ]

Once the internet gave me the courage to build something similar, I had to think: what do I want this thing to look like? How can I make it appropriate to our house with its Tudor-ish and Craftsman-ish and Colonial-ish style? My dream is a beautiful stone surround with an arch in the middle like the one pictured above. But as I do not know how to make a single thing out of stone, I figured maybe I’d better try to capture similar design elements with wood and tile.

Fireplace Design Building Plans

This is what I’d like the view of the fireplace to look like when all is said and done. It would be nice to have 2 chairs or a small chaise or sofa near the fireplace but honestly, we don’t need more furniture to trip over on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Here’s a look at the back of the surround. The plan is to build some framing to both hold up the electric insert and to support the surround. A piece of cement board will be secured to the framing and then tiled. Next, the framing and tile combo will be secured inside the surround. Last, the electric insert is slid in from the front of the surround.

The electric fireplace insert vents through the front and doesn’t need extra venting or clearance in the back beyond its actual depth. I’ll just need to make room to pass the cord outside of the surround so I can plug it into the wall.

Here’s how the 3 main components look on their own.

Tile

I love the aged crackle on the tile in our blush bathroom and want something similar for the new fireplace. I want to add a little bit of color and age with the tile and have ordered a few samples.

Which would you choose? Tundra, Arctic Blue, or Deep Emerald? There are some obvious color differences in the examples above pulled from the TileBar website but they are all beautiful in person. I am leaning strongly toward the Arctic Blue!

Master Bedroom Makeover Checklist

So how’s it going with the rest of the One Room Challenge?

~~Order bed~~
~~Order nightstands~~
~~Make complex plans for the fireplace surround and run them by Dad~~
Order electric fireplace insert
Order tile
Build fireplace
~~Buy curtains~~
Pick curtain rods
Choose and order rug
Pick and order a mattress
Order prints and frames for photo gallery grid
Other art
Find new dresser for Andy
Get king size bedding

The fireplace project isn’t a weekend or even a week-long project but instead will come together over the course of the challenge. My dad and I have talked through the plans and are ready to get started, but since we live about an hour and a half apart, this will be an extra tricky build. I’ll keep you updated but will probably save the fireplace reveal for the whole room reveal! So stay tuned.

Remember to follow along and see what the Featured Designers and Guest Participants are up to!

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Before and After One Room Challenge The Scenery House

One Room Challenge Week 1: The Master Bedroom Plan

October 3, 2018

It’s the first week of the Fall 2018 One Room Challenge! If you’re not familiar, every spring and fall, 20 featured designers selected by the ORC team participate in a 6-week challenge to decorate one room. The event is hosted by Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens. In addition to the featured designers, hundreds of other folks with blogs (and Instagram this season!) join in on the challenge as Guest Participants <— that’s me.

If you’ve hopped over to this post from the ORC website – welcome! I’m Emily, this is my blog, and I’m working on undecorating the 1929 tudor-ish home I share with my husband, Andy, and our corgi, Penelope. This is my second One Room Challenge (last season I made over our guest room). I am glad you’re here!

We loved our guest room makeover so much that we decided it was time for our master bedroom to get the ORC treatment. What I love most about the One Room Challenge is the community and accountability. I have the support of my fellow participants and the pressure to actually finish a project – which is not always my strong suit.

Our bedroom is large (about 19′ x 13′) for the age and size of our house, with two closets and an ensuite bathroom. I’ve really only photographed small corners and vignettes in this room because overall, it feels a bit empty and unfinished. Let’s take a look at what it looked like when we first saw it in the listing photos and where we are now.

[photo from real estate listing]

The walls were painted a purple-mauve-gray and there was a chair rail around the room. The canopy bed and very low hung curtains make the ceiling look so low. I hope you’re counting because there are FIVE rugs in here. And not one is anchored by a dang thing.

[photo from real estate listing]

And while you’re counting, see 2 more rugs in the bathroom. The floors in this room were in bad shape, probably the worst in the whole house which is probably the reason for all the rugs.

Ok, so what does it look like now? After having the floors refinished, we went functionally sparse and a little minimal in the space, using furniture from our much smaller apartment bedroom. As soon as we moved in I removed the chair rail and after a few months, painted the walls my favorite white – Simply White by Benjamin Moore. We swapped out the chandelier for a much simpler fixture by Cedar and Moss and put up our favorite IKEA SKOGSKLOVER shades (more about our roller shares here). And that’s about it.

We placed our bed in front of the windows to make the space feel open with lots of room on both sides. So much room, we could totally (and will totally!) fit a king size bed here PLUS bigger night stands.

My 3 drawer dresser (part of an amazing Kent Coffey Tableau set I scored for less than $200 at a thrift store many moons ago) is placed in front of what used to be a fireplace. The brick chimney has been plastered over and sits directly above the fireplace in our living room. I have always wanted a fireplace in my bedroom – there’s just something so classic and cozy about such a thing – so I decided why not just add one? So I will! And I’ve got plans! More on how we’re going to add a fireplace surround with an electric insert to this room in the coming weeks!

This side of the room (opposite the windows) has Andy’s closet and the door to the ensuite bathroom. I replaced the pulls on the closet doors but did not give them the fresh coat of paint they deserve.

To the left of Andy’s closet is the door to my walk-in closet. And I know, I know, that small floating rug! It used to be our living room rug in our apartment and then was in the record area in our living room until we replaced it. It landed up here because we had nowhere else to put it and Penelope (our corgi) really appreciates rugs.

This is Andy’s dresser which is part of the Kent Coffey Tableau set I mentioned earlier. It’s in great shape but Andy’s wishlist for our room includes a 6 drawer dresser with smooth, soft-close drawers.

What a nice big blank wall. And what’s that blob at the top? That’s where a vent for the old AC system used to. We started ripping out the old unit, vents, and ductwork over a month ago and haven’t finished skim coating and painting all the patched holes. My plan for this wall is to create a tidy gallery grid of Andy’s photographs.

Master Bedroom Design Ideas

My design starting point was that beautiful white oak spindle bed from Rejuvenation. I’ve had my eye on it since I first saw the walnut version in Emily Henderson’s Bedroom. It’s just gorgeous. It’s definitely a splurge item but when I looked around for other options I just couldn’t find anything I loved as much.

I really want to find an 8×10 rug that has a modern traditional look with some blush, blue, and gray tones – the one in the mood board sold out before I could get it! The shag rugs under our bed (what we have now is actually 2 IKEA rugs side-by-side pretending to be 1 single rug, so secret’s out: we have 3 rugs in our bedroom) are super cozy to walk on but very difficult to clean. Even our Dyson has trouble with these shag rugs and now that we have a Roomba, we want a lower pile rug that is Roomba-friendly.

Master Bedroom Layout

To-do List

Pick and order furniture
Select the perfect king-size mattress in a box
Buy king-size bedding and pillows
Curate gallery grid from Andy’s travel photography
Art!
Design and build fireplace surround
Get curtains (and maybe figure out the elusive euro pleat)
Find the perfect large and slightly less large rug combo
Finish patching old vent hole and touch up paint
Shop for a new dresser for Andy
Transfer my clothes from the 3 drawer dresser into the built-in dresser in my closet