Tom Leighton/Homes & Gardens, via
Melanie Turner
Melanie Turner
Fabric, Robert Allen
I mentioned the other day that I want to use some green in my office (wallpaper). I’ve never been a huge fan of the color for my own spaces. However, I find these days that I am really drawn to it.
See anything you like?
In our remodel, I wanted our floors to be as dark as possible. Now, as I start to think about my office space (in our back-house above the detached garage) I want to replace the carpet for bleached/cerused oak floors.
Bieke Van Houtte
Details A Design Firm, via Houzz
When I think of bleached oak…..I am not talking the shiny blond stuff of the 80s that sort of makes me cringe. I am thinking a more rustic light wood with movement. I haven’t gotten too far on the plan for the space. I know I want a huge work table that will double as a fabric cutting table. And, I know I want to incorporate in this green wallpaper from Quadrille (which will be sold in my shop when I launch). I am thinking of using it on the ceiling….or perhaps in the kitchenette/bathroom area (where I am hoping the budget will allow the swap out of formica countertops for marble).
Katie Rosenfield
Currently, the space has two twin beds for overflow visitors. Those will swap out (relocating to Harry’s room when the crib goes) for a neutral sofa with a nice pull out bed (anyone have brands they recommend that are comfy?) And I know I want to do a chair or two in this fabric from Schumacher.
Finally, this new table that Worlds Away introduced this spring is begging to be used in a project…..so it might find its way into my plan. (It comes in white and navy lacquer as well).
This project will probably not kick off until at least August as we have some hectic months ahead, but I am anxious to get my office set up properly (you should see the shambles it is in at the moment) so I can do a better job of separating the space between work and personal time. I am not good at this at all…..and my goal is to get to a point where the office door closes and so does work! I can hope, right?
Happy Monday!
Sorry for the crazy error messages on the website and blog over the last week (I particularly loved the one that said to “Contact Billing” to resolve the issue.) My website was hacked and injected with several viruses but thankfully my web company was able to fix it eventually. Fingers crossed that is behind us! I’ll be back with a post tomorrow assuming all goes well.
Where to start. You may recall that during our remodel in 2011 we had initially planned to add a mudroom off of our kitchen. In the end, we decided to pass on this…..modifying the house but adding no square footage. We are pretty conservative, and didn’t want to bite off more than we could chew. We told ourselves we’d save and add one if we needed it.
Fast forward to Saturday. Kids were napping…..husband and I were hanging out and I checked my email to see someone was trying to find a home for their 1 year old goldendoodle. We called them immediately and almost hopped right in the car to go look. We have a lot of travel coming up and the timing couldn’t be worse but in the moment we thought it was a good idea. Long story short, we got on the phone with a dog trainer we know (who trains service dogs and lots of the politicians dogs in the DC area) and he completely talked us off the ledge….
But……it brought back to the front burner the discussion around the need for a mudroom off the kitchen. Surprisingly, my husband isn’t just on board, but is enthusiastic. So of course, I’ve gone back to my inspiration files to get some ideas while we crunch some numbers and talk to our builder (who I happened to run into at the grocery store during the whole back and forth with the dog’s owners).
Anyways, long story short….here is what is really speaking to me. In addition to a spot to sit and put on shoes and hang jackets, we want to do a half bath, a broom closet and a place to charge computers/ipads/phones…..nothing too crazy. This next image looks perfect. I might do pull out trays or drawers for the shoes…..but really, there isn’t much I’d change.
via Flickr (anyone know the source?)
Here is an image I’ve shared before. See the drawers for the shoes….and the flooring is probably the route we would go…..we have the same material in the entrance to our back-house (my office) which would be about two steps from the mudroom door.
Suzanne Kasler (photo by Thibault Jeanson for Veranda)
On this next one, I like the tall cabinets on each side. Good for keeping things like step stool, vacuum, sports equipment, etc. I am all about storage these days! I’d add a cushion on the bench and our ceilings are 8 ft, so we couldn’t do the arch….although it is nice.
Mark Darley Photography
This last image intrigues me. I do like how the furniture gives it more the feeling of a living space than a mudroom. We probably need something more utilitarian….but it does appeal to me.
Warmington and North
See anything you like?
Any Mudroom “must haves” to share?
Happy Monday!
With my website still being migrated it has been nice to be forced to take a little slowdown on the work-front and the result is that it has freed up some time to focus on the house a tad. After getting help from a reader last week by identifying an artist I’d admired, I was delighted to learn that his studio is a stones throw from my house.
I am going to do a set of four of his images and we played with combinations earlier this week. I drafted this post before I’d made a decision, but I did finalize my selection yesterday. These will be on two walls facing each other from across the room. Apologies for the quickly snapped iPhone photos. Do you have a favorite combination from the photos below? Any idea which set I chose? All original artwork is by Don Bodine.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
Option 5
Option 6
Option 7
Option 8
Later that day I ran into Schumacher to pick up some memos for the front porch swing and chairs and saw this Mary MacDonald fabric on display in the front of the showroom.
I immediately knew the fabric would be perfect for pillows on our living room sofas. The drapes in the room are a Manuel Canovas silk (see below) and the sofas are a neutral linen with a touch of metallic sheen.
I am thinking of doing two larger pillows on each sofa with a neutral linen and fun trim or edge detail and a pair of the Schumacher flamestitch pillows as accents. Slowly but surely around here these days.
Hope you have a great Weekend!
High Point Market is upon us and the catalogs and email teasers have been on overdrive. Chris has been nagging me to find new outdoor furniture for our back patio for a while….and I have just been too busy to think about it…..but now that the weather has been so nice and I am out there a lot more….it’s been on my mind as well. Then yesterday, look what arrived in the mail……Outdoor Chippendale goodness…
This is a new outdoor furniture line from David Francis with powder-coated aluminum frames and UV-resistant wraps over welds. They offer Sunbrella fabrics or COM (customer’s own material). They have other great styles as well……but you know me and Chippendale. These are definitely on my radar now.
Do you like them?
