Nursery Sneak Peek

Our new little guy will be arriving sometime in the next few weeks, and we have been having a good time with giving Emmett's old baby room a facelift for its new occupant.  We are still awaiting a lot of the accents and details that will give the room some more color and pattern, like the bumper and crib skirt, fabric for the roman shade, changing pad cover, and lots of other art work and accessories.  But here is a little peek at how it is looking right now, which feels very calm and serene.  The basic bones are the same as Emmett's nursery (the crib, nursing chair, white walls and giant wall shelf) But TH painted the wood floor and wall shelf grey, and we have a new wool rug from Ikea as well as a new wider dresser to hold all of the baby things as well as act as the changing table, also from Ikea.  Our design theme seems to be thrift store finds meets Scandinavian, which was partly conscious choice and partly what we can make fit within our budget.  I took a page from what we learned from doing Emmett's new room regarding the use of color.  Once the room is full of books and toys it can be quite cacophonous, so we are keeping the bigger pieces very minimalist in order to preserve a calm feel.

Once we have a few more of the little details in place I'll do a more complete post including a few before and after pics.  But this is as far as we have gotten so far. . .

Hallway Renovation Featured Today on the Barn Light!: a Peek at the Before and After

 There is a nice feature of our hallway renovation on The Barn Light today, which is the style blog for Barn Light Electric, where we sourced the fixtures we used in our renovation.  It is always so nice to take a moment to step back and take a look at where we started, and all of the hard work we've done!  Here are some highlights from the feature, and you can always click over to read the full piece.

We love what our fixtures do for our space, and how they help accentuate the unique character of our converted barn home.  Thanks so much to the folks at Barn Light for getting in touch with me about a feature, and for encouraging me to finally take some photos of the finished hallway before we mess it up!

Oh, and shield your eyes a little, but here is the before image, just for fun.

When we first pulled up the carpet and discovered this green floor I kind of loved it.  But man did I get sick of it, and I sure don't miss it at all!  Sometimes I don't really realize how much my surroundings effect my state of mind, but looking at this old photos make me remember how I think I kind of closed my eyes in the hallway a lot, to pretend it wasn't there.  But since it is the central part of our home, there was really no way to avoid it, and I'm really glad that we have now fixed it up.  It is a relief to the eyes!

Emmett's New Reading Corner

We have been continuing to put together Emmett's new room, and this weekend we finally got to put up the picture ledges for his books in his reading corner. The design concept behind this idea was both aesthetic and practical.  On the practical side, he has trouble putting his books away on a tight bookshelf, squeezing the books between each other and making space can be very frustrating.  So this way I thought it would be a snap for him to be able to pick up his books and put them away. (wishful thinking? quite possibly) Also, I think they look cool, visually striking, and it gets the point across about what the space is for.  It is also a great way to fill up a big wall, and if you are light on big pieces of art, and heavy on books like we are, it is a great way to fill the space.

And I think the fact that Emmett was really excited to help us put his books up on his new shelves is a good sign for their appeal and functionality.

I'm starting to feel really glad that we went with very minimalist and soft colors, like grey, white and a little yellow for our basic design scheme for his room.  As soon as he started adding his own things, like his books, games, puzzles and toys the room is suddenly filled with a fiesta of primary colors.  If we had done the room with wild patterns and paint colors I wouldn't be able to stay in there for more than 30 seconds.  This way it will keep the room feeling a little more calm and restful.  Oh, and in case you are curious, the triangles on the walls are decals from urbanwalls on Etsy. They couldn't have been easier to apply, Emmett even helped, and I love the effect.  And since I used a random pattern I didn't have to worry about lining anything up.

So it's not done yet, we still have to get the right rugs and bedding, lighting and bedside tables.  But he is very psyched about his new room, and I think we'll move him in there next weekend.  Next project: the redesign of Emmett's old room for the new baby!  And I think we'll continue the soft color theme in there as well.  Sometimes there is just something so nice about white. . .

Studio Sneak Peek - Works on Paper, Paper Conservation

The other day my friend Carolyn asked me to come in and take some photographs of her at work to be used to help explain to people what she does.  As a paper conservator, her job is pretty unusual, and not something that most people know a lot about, but it is so interesting that she is constantly fielding questions.  So she is building some informational panels to hang in her studio to help people get a sense of what she does.  I had a great time getting to see some of the many the beautiful projects she is working on, as well as getting a better understanding of the various processes she uses.  Below is a little insert of in-painting, cleaning, tape-removal, and tear-mending. And then a little further below you can see a butterfly print being pulled out of a bath, and a print being humidified in a plastic tub covered with plexiglass. 

If you want to get more information about Carolyn and what she does at Works on Paper, please click here.  I really enjoyed my little peak into Carolyn's studio, and some of the interesting work she does there.  And I think it is so cool that she has been able to make a successful business out of it in rural Vermont.  I am always so interested to find out how people make a go of it up here, where there is really very little industry to participate in, and few 9-5 jobs to be had.  Thanks so much for the fascinating tour Carolyn!

Imagine the Possibilities

I fell into the Ikea inspiration blog this morning, and it a little bit made me want to throw away everything I own and start from scratch.  Sigh.  These pictures also made me feel very sad that summer is slipping away, and I didn't have any garden parties.  Of course with all the rain and mosquitos Vermont isn't the best place for a garden party, and who really has garden parties anyway, right?  Especially not during the day.  But I just love the inside/outside feel of these spaces, and the bright open airiness of it all.  I bet those rooms smell like sunshine and herbs.