New House Update: Modern Kids Room + Nursery

Oh my goodness, I really owe you a catch up. For the last year and a half, Rich and I had been looking to buy a house in a great neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The real estate in the area was super competitive and after months of looking at places above our price range and below our expectations, we started to feel discouraged. We knew we couldn't afford something completely "move-in ready," but we loved all the DIY's and renovations we did at our old house, so we confidently bought a big old fixer-upper. Let's call it the Yellow Brick House.

We thought the renos we wanted to do would take a couple months, so we planned on staying at my parents' house in the interim. I found out I was pregnant with our second daughter on the day we moved out of our old house. I had packed away all of my maternity clothing in a storage unit, thinking we'd be in our new house by the time I started showing...and you know where I'm going with this, right?

We had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into. Once we dove into demo, we realized we had/should do some pretty major overhauls. ALL of the ceilings were drop ceilings, wall-to-wall carpeting covered original hardwood floors (that were in rough shape), the plaster walls were covered in wallpaper and needed cracks repaired and glue removed. And the icing on the cake is that we needed to do almost all of the work ourselves in an effort to stay in budget.

I'll go into more details later, but the short story is that nine months later and one WEEK before our second baby was due, we finally moved into the Yellow Brick House. We've been here a little over a month now and it's starting to feel like home. We still have so many finishing details and projects to tackle over the next few months/years, but we feel spoiled to be in such an awesome area and place.

This very first (yay!) Before and After is the girls' bedroom. It was (and is) the only room in our house that feels somewhat finished. We prioritized it so that Emerson, our toddler, would feel right at home when we moved in. And even though we have enough bedrooms for both kids to have separate rooms, we love the idea of the girls sharing a space. Marlowe won't be in the same room as her sis for awhile, but she has a crib ready and waiting for her. Here's what we've done in this space so far.

DIY White Woodland Christmas

Last Christmas, our living room walls were dark paneled wood. I tried my best to decorate for the holiday and lighten up the mood in the room, but I just couldn't get over how dark and cavernous the dark wood panels made everything feel. It was right after the holiday that we decided to paint the paneling white. And this year, I couldn't wait to decorate our space. Everything came together quite nicely and I went with a white woodland theme. Some of my favorite details include our tiny gingerbread woodland animals on the mantel, cinnamon scented pinecones in the tablescape, and the amazing DIY customizable wall plate from adorne by Legrand on our wall.

To create our tablescape, I used live garland from Trader Joes (cut down to about 5-6 feet), cinnamon scented pinecones from our local grocery store, clementines for color, and a mixture of candlesticks and ivory candles.

 

To create the mantel display, I used more of the live garland as a swag and made a gingerbread woodland forest with IKEA DRÖMMAR and Vinter cookie cutters. 

This is the custom wall plate from adorne by Legrand that I decorated using metallic cardstock, boxwood twine, a tiny plastic deer head, and thin red ribbon. It's the perfect addition to our decorations and provides a lot of visual interest to an otherwise empty wall. The coolest thing about it was how easy it was to decorate. Almost all the DIYs I tackle end up taking more time than I anticipate, but designing this wall plate took about a half hour start to finish. Decorating the plate (not the electrical set-up, clearly) would be a great project to do with kids. 

Click through to see the full DIY and more details! 

Emerson's Nursery Tour

I am so very excited to share Emerson's nursery. This room was months in the making and quickly became my favorite room in our house. It was so fun creating a space with a little one in mind and I LOVED experimenting with playful feminine accents and colors while still maintaining the peaceful and minimal aesthetic we have come to love. We splurged on a few items, but this room is filled with DIY projects that started with, "Oh I LOVE that shelf...but it's $400... Rich, we can make that, right?" 

In addition to all the DIYs, many items were given to us by generous friends and family. The Steiff Animals were lent from Rich's mom, who played with them when she was a child. And my sister-in-law Chelle made these adorable moccasins for Emmi and gifted them to us for our baby shower. I can't wait until her little feet fit into them. Until then, they hold a special place on her bookshelf. 

See our entire nursery reveal and sources after the jump!

DIY Colorful Cubes | Nursery Closet Organization

Our nursery is the smallest room in our house, so one of the biggest goals of this space was to maximize every square inch to handle the onslaught of baby gear, toys, and clothes. I really wanted to create storage areas that look awesome and are highly functional (I often sacrifice functionality for form). So we started with adding additional storage to the closet.

Closets are such an easy-to-overlook space and ours get disorganized quickly. I'm positive once the baby arrives this closet will get messy and my perfectly styled space won't be photograph-worthy. But for now, I get to relish the order and pristine nature of the nursery and smile every time I peek in at this little space.

We started this project by finding these 6-cube organizers on Amazon. When we measured the closet, we discovered that two organizers placed side-by-side would fit perfectly in the space (that never happens, so we were psyched!). If these organizers don't happen to fit your space, you could check out Ikea's shelving storage options for this project as well. 

After assembling the cube organizers and placing them inside the closet, I started looking for affordable cube bins and fell in love with all the Land of Nod choices, but didn't love the idea of spending over $150 for 12 bins. So I found these on Amazon ($6.29 for 2 green bins) and came up with the idea to add new front panels.

Get the rest of the DIY details and sources after the jump...

DIY Circle Wood Shelf

I've had my eyes on the round dorm shelf from Ferm Living for quite some time and have seen more and more circular wall shelves popping up again and again in stylish spaces I drool over. The price tags on most of these gorgeous shelves is hefty and way out of our budget, so I took the liberty of creating a budget-friendly version that retained the modern minimal look of the originals without breaking the bank.

One of the most challenging problems was where to find large circular wood pieces that didn't require a carpenter's know-how of bending wood. When I can't think up a solution (or Google a solution) to a DIY problem, I'll just go to a local craft or home improvement store and wander the aisles until a material stands out. This is the approach I took with the round wood circle and I found my answer in the quilting aisle... 23" round quilting hoops.

I couldn't use the outside hoop that screwed together since the wood wasn't connected, so I had to rely on the inside hoop that was already a full circle. I picked through the eight hoops they had in-store and picked out three that had similarly-colored wood and lined up evenly.



Get the rest of the DIY details and sources after the jump…

DIY Changing Pad Cover

My DIY inspiration usually arises after trying to take on a new project, looking high and low for good tutorials, and having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. At that point, I'll just wing it. And if the project turns out well, I share it with you all.

Putting together our little one's nursery has been one of my favorite projects to date. I've really loved exploring new colorful decor styles and incorporate a soft feminine vibe into the space without going over-the-top girly. I couldn't find a changing pad cover for sale that had the modern boho vibe I'm going for. So when I came across embroidered mustard yellow curtain panels on clearance at Target, I thought it may look awesome on a changing pad. Here's how I did it...

DIY Modern Vanity

I had this antique mahogany vanity in our bedroom for quite some time. And even though it was gorgeous, it was too large for our space and wasn't comfortable as an everyday makeup table. So we found it a new loving home and went to work creating a more minimal modern vanity more suited for our space.

I wanted something sleek and able to organize my makeup. One, among many, surprises of pregnancy has been my insatiable desire for order and organization. Maybe it's part of the whole nesting thing, but I suddenly want, no NEED, systems in place for everything. Closets, cabinets, drawers, you name it, I want to organize it.

I saw the EKBY ALEX shelf awhile back and thought it may look cool paired with tapered wood legs. Rich spray painted shelf brackets white and stained tapered legs with a cherry oil stain. And ta-da! A pretty rad looking set up for minimal cost and efforts. Here's how we did it...

6 Modern Eclectic Ways To Think Outside The Frame

I'm always on the hunt for new ways to incorporate natural elements into our home and onto our walls. I love framed art, but too much of one thing takes away from the beauty and intentionality of that item. Varying the types of items you hang allows each piece to stand out and hold court on its own. Here are the six modern eclectic wall decor items I'm digging lately.

Above: Kilim rugs combine beautiful rich colors with geometric patterns and always add eclectic character to a space. Since they're low pile, they look lovely on walls. 

Above: This space is so artful, unique and functional with its display of straw hats. Using a bleached piece of driftwood, as seen in the styling above, created a beautiful bending shape and I love the driftwood peeking through the hats. 

I love washi tape for many reasons, and uses, but wall decor is one of my favorite. The options for creativity are endless and temporary, making it the perfect option for apartments or dorms. This example of black crosses is modern yet playful and a fun idea for a child's playroom. 

See the rest of the list after the jump!

DIY Breakfast Nook Reveal - Before + After

When we first moved into our house, dark wood paneling was EVERYWHERE. It completely overwhelmed our small rooms and created a cavernous vibe. We knew the breakfast nook, a room right off our kitchen, was a space we would spend a lot of time and both craved light-filled minimalism.

We spent a few weeks debating the concept of painting real wood paneling. Were we ruining perfectly good wood? Should we just live with it? Can we take down the wood and use it somewhere else in the house? We came to the conclusion that the most important thing was us loving our space. And we love white walls. So we painted them white. And afterwards, we realized how much we love not only white walls, but white paneled walls. The texture is so cool and adds a dynamic visual. We loved them so much that we recreated a faux paneled look in our upstairs hallway.

Here are the before shots of the breakfast nook. If you can believe it, these photos are actually much more light-filled and exposed than the room was in reality. If I were to put up a true representation, it would look like I shot this space at night.


Check out the full breakfast nook reveal after the jump!

THE KITCHEN

The day is finally here! I am so excited to share our kitchen. It has been a LONG time coming and this project felt, at times, as if we tackled more than we could handle. All of the work of this remodel was done by Rich, myself and gracious friends and family willing to lend expertise and muscle. Despite its challenges, we finished. And all of the blood, sweat and tears (yes, literally) were worth it because we ADORE this space.

Here's the before shot of our kitchen. The photo quality isn't great, but they are the most forgiving and appealing photos I could track down. I don't need to explain the cons of our previous kitchen, but our main issues were the fluorescent lighting, dark wood cabinetry, beat up/burnt laminate countertops, butter yellow brick accent wall, and fake brick as backsplash. I also had a hard time with all the upper cabinetry. Since it's a galley kitchen layout, I didn't have anywhere to do all of my food prep, so some of the upper cabinets had to go to give it a more open feel with additional work space.

And in case you missed that...
 

See our full kitchen reveal after the jump!

Interior Inspiration: Modern Catskill Retreat + Geometric Art

I have a little interior inspiration for you this morning that has me completely smitten. I am such a sucker for warm modern interiors paired with geometric art. Toss in some sheepskins, warm wood and leather and I'll move in. I am really drawn to the print on the living room wall, so I did some searching and stumbled upon Esther Stewart's similar style work, which is unbelievably gorgeous. Who wants to come to Australia with me to attend her upcoming exhibition and snag one of these beauties?

Images via 1 + 2

Home Envy: Modernist Sydney Beach House

This Sydney beach house is to die for. The floor to ceiling windows that flood natural light onto the white walls, floors and wood accents make me want to break out the white paint. All of the details of the home are so artfully arranged and intentional, even down to the greenery and stem displays.

See the full home after the jump!

before + after: our bathroom reveal

One of the first projects we tackled upon moving into our house was the upstairs bathroom. When we moved in, it boasted a nautical theme with baby blue beadboard wainscot paneling and heavy drapes. It was the farthest thing from our style. Plus, this is one of the most light-filled rooms in our house, so we wanted to take advantage of the flexibility to do something creative with paint colors. We are so happy with the results. Check out the full before and after bathroom reveal after the jump!

Makeup Vanity

Design Outdoors: Backyard + Patio

This is the first summer living in our house and we are eating it up. It's like we've been bracing ourselves, clenching our teeth and tensing our muscles, for the duration of that long harsh winter and are finally, slowly, loosening our grip and relaxing into the soft pillow that is summer.

The private patio on the back of our house does a nice job cradling us into relax mode.

I am a big fan of the Ikea Brommo (as seen above) patio chair. I had my eye on the X36 folding chair from Fab, but couldn't stomach the idea of spending $90 on chairs that would need additional work and seasoning, so these are a great substitute/dupe for ~$60 that are both comfortable and seemingly well designed.

Now all this patio needs is to be filled with friends, laughter and music. Party anyone?