house tour: part 2

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

Welcome back! Hope you enjoyed last week's house tour: part 1. It's time to continue the Tour of Apologies on our upper floor. There will likely be far less apologizing in this tour since the upstairs is pretty close to finished. Or as finished as a designer's house can ever be. 

We'll start at the stairs. Nothing out of this world here. One day after we don't have a giant Great Dane tearing up our floors (God rest her future soul), we would love to run hardwoods up the stairs and ditch the carpet. But for now, especially with little ones treading up and down, these will do just fine. 

 

At the top of the stairs you basically hit the intersection of an L shaped hallway. The boys rooms, bathroom and our room are straight ahead, and the guest room to the right. Let's hang a right. 

the guest room

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

About two weeks before Max was born, this room was a 10'x11' box with a bed. No night stands, lamps, curtains, art, nothing. We had guests previously, but they had only stayed one or two nights, so it wasn't too bad (she tells herself to ease the guilt). With the nesting hormones in full force, and my mother-in-law on her way to stay with us for two blessed weeks, we furnished this room in 24 hours. 

You can't tell from the photos, but this room has no closet. At some point in the home's history, someone took it in and gave the space to the master closet. Who am I to argue? Guests are rarely staying long enough to truly need a closet, and if we are being honest, most people's guest closets are full of their own off-season junk anyway. The only big downside is that when we go to sell this house on day, we can't count this as a bedroom because of wacky real estate laws. Oh well. 

We were in need of a cheap closet-like solution. I looked for tall/skinny dressers that could house some guest clothes, but they either looked really cheap (because they were) or cost $600 (which I was not about to spend). Also, since the room is already tight, I was worried a large wood piece would visually make the room appear even smaller. I wanted something lighter in appearance that still had decent storage to offer. 

The hubby had a day off (sucker) and was sent on an IKEA run for this bookshelf. We (he) spray painted it gold, and it looks like a million bucks. We spent only $40 since we had gold spray paint laying around in the garage. Doesn't everybody? Throw in 2 baskets from Target to hold guest clothes and toiletries, a catch all tray equipped with a pair of reading glasses, and some picture frames, and call it a day. 

The bed is another IKEA treasure that has lived in our master bedrooms at three residences. I don't think IKEA furniture is really designed to be taken apart and assembled that many times, but somehow, it has survived. The bedding was also left over from our master, including this quilt that I made. It took 9 months. I was able to grow a human being in the time it took to sew this fabric together. Makes sense. 

 

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

The curtains, lamp, side table, and clock were all picked up at Target. I even used my giant belly to negotiate some discounts because the table had some scratches. You've gotta work with what you've got. 

The last detail was hanging the large mirror that we had from our old place and adding this small piano stool of my mom's. The mirror makes the room feel larger and gives you a spot to sit and do your make up without leaving the room. 

Strangely enough, the more we put into the room, the larger it felt. But you have to know when to stop.  

max's nursery

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

 

This might just be my favorite room in the house. It is so bright and airy and peaceful. It is TINY at only 8'x10'. That's smaller than most people's offices at work. But it functions great as a nursery and I think will continue to work even as Max gets bigger. We do most of our living downstairs anyway. 

Before Henry was born, I knew we wanted to have more than one kid, so we selected gender neutral furnishings. Had I known we would end up with two boys, would I have done it differently? Probably. But I'm really happy that I didn't. Keeping it gender neutral kept me from succumbing to the temptation of a "theme." And as I have said in a previous post, I don't believe kids rooms should have themes. This is not a popular opinion, but I have my reasons. Mainly because kid's interests change so quickly that you are constantly having to redecorate. You'd think a designer like me would want an excuse to redecorate every 1-2 years, but you would be wrong. I hate throwing away money, and changing out all of your bedding/curtains/furniture/wallpaper/paint colors is a huge waste of money. Better to invest in things that will last and grow with them (like an amazing Eames chair or sturdy metal bed) and update inexpensive things like framed prints and little accessories. OK, I'll climb down from my soapbox now and continue. 

This was a very inexpensive room to create. The Eames Rocker (swoon) was the most expensive item and was a gift from my in laws. Thankfully I was able to use a designer discount to get a good deal (it's good to be the queen). The crib (converts to a toddler bed) was a gift from my parents. I resisted the temptation to buy an amazing modern crib for $1000+ and found this beauty at Babies R Us for around $300. 

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography
 

The dresser was an awesome Craig's List find at $125. We spent $150 to have it professionally painted. "But Tara, that's more than you spent on the dresser itself!" Yup. Remember that whole stand-the-test-of-time thing? No spray paint job that I could do can compare to a high quality furniture finish. Especially on a piece that gets a ton of use. It is totally our style and will likely stay in our home for at least 20 years and was completely worth the investment. Also of note in this photo, a cross stitch handmade by my mother-in-law for Steven (the hubs) when he was a baby.

The tiniest and least expensive project in the room was these door pulls. I found a great tutorial on Pinterest awhile back, and it was a good one. 4 basic wood pulls from the hardware store + craft paint + tape. $8 total for 4.

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography


The cool wall hung shelf is another IKEA bargain at $50. It is filled with pretty things that are totally baby, like a book from one of my favorite friends (love you, Steph Dagz) by my favorite graphic designer, Orla Kiely, some sweet personalized gifts from former clients and vendors, and a green sock monkey that was a gift from Henry that he gave to Max at the hospital when he was born (and my heart exploded). It will one day be filled with big boy things like trucks and dinosaurs, so I'm very grateful to have photos of it just as it is today.

The crib bumpers were handmade by yours truly. I found some beautiful, Scandinavian inspired fabric striped fabric for the outside and soft green and white geometric print for the inside at my favorite fabric store, City Craft. This room feels soft and restful, but if you look closely, there are tons of patterns and colors in this room. They all work together in harmony because they are somewhat soft colors in the same tonal family. The crib sheet was a fun find at Target before Max was born. The sheets from Henry's days were pretty well trashed and not re-usable. Curtains are new from IKEA. They are a hefty velvety fabric that does a great job of blocking light and keeping the cold or hot air out. Another lovely soft find is the faux sheepskin rug, also from IKEA. Max loves rolling around on it, and I like the feel of it under my feet when I nurse him in the rocking chair. A steal at only $10.

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography


Rounding out the room are the fun prints over the crib. The top right and bottom left are from a street vendor in San Francisco from my trip there in 2008. Babies weren't on the radar yet, and I had no idea where I would use them, but I had to have them. They stayed in a closet until we put Henry's nursery together in 2010/11. Top left is an Etsy find, and bottom right, wait for it, a greeting card. I bought that card about 12 years ago. It had an Eames lounge chair on it and a mom holding a martini. It had to be mine.

henry's room

 

 

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

This is the most recently "finished" room and has been evolving for the last 9 months or so. I was inspired by Mr. Lumberjack (who you may remember from his cameo in a previous post) to create a kind of vintage-outdoorsy-Americana vibe. I liked it because I can layer in lots of different items and they worked together, unlike if the room truly had a theme. 

 

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

This room is chock full of hand me downs. We have my Gandpoppy's old binoculars on the bookshelf that he made for me in college (made new with a coat of red-orange paint), my father in law's hockey sticks from childhood, Steven's childhood dresser (dressed up with new pulls and paint) and my personal favorite, the bed. This sturdy metal bed has quite a history. It was old when my parents got it nearly 25 years ago. It belonged to a childhood friend then, and her grandparents before that. My brother, Matt, slept in (and teethed on) this bed as a child. My husband slept on it in college. We added a few coats of Iron-colored spray paint, and voila. Now my little guy lays his head to rest here. Except when he sleeps in his pup tent that I made him for his first birthday. Which at this stage, he sleeps in every night. It saves me from having to make the bed and endure a tantrum, so we're going with it. 

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

O
ther handmade projects for this room include his baby quilt at the foot of the bed and his duvet cover (fabric from, where else, City Craft). The only new item in the room is the night stand from Urban Outfitters. 

boys' bathroom

 

 

 

 

This is the final frontier upstairs. Other than a shower curtain and towels, we haven't done anything to it. It has a great skylight so the room is nice and bright. Oh, and this is real life, so I didn't bother removing the toddler potty seat for the photo.

 

Stay tuned for a post on the DIY projects planned for this room in the next week (or two...or three...I'm busy). There will definitely be some painting involved. Also possibly shelf making. And faucet installing. And hardware switching. And light fixture replacement. It's quite a list.

 

 

master bedroom

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

I love this space. It's truly relaxing. A big white fluffy bed on a platform. It makes me feel like I'm crawling into bed at night at the St. Regis. 

This room was not so hot when we moved here. The main problem: an outdated (and gross) master bath. Imagine ugly pale yellow tile on the walls, never clean white tile on the floor, a very 70s vanity (and not the cool kind) with a country style mirror. Oh, and a leaky toilet. It had nothing going for it. 

As a designer, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on when to DIY and when go call a pro. Friends, when you are 7 months pregnant, call a pro. Do not lay tile yourself. Best money we ever spent. The job was done in under a week (save a 3 week snaffoo when Home Depot sent us the wrong vanity. And it got installed. Because I wasn't home and nobody else knew it was wrong. Whoops.).

 

 

 

We went with a faux limestone tile on the floor and faux marble on the wall. They are great imitations and you can hardly tell the difference. We went with real marble for the vanity, which makes everything else look more expensive. 



My cute shoe made an appearance.

 

The bed, though, is the best part of the room. We upgraded to a king sized bed in this house, and now I'm spoiled and could never go back. I can sleep like a starfish and (almost) not disturb Steven. Also, this bedding assembly (super soft sheets, duvet, not out of control amount of throw pillows) allows the bed to be made in about 30 seconds. Hard to find an excuse not to make it. Crawling into a bed that's all made up makes it feel more luxurious at the end of the day. At least for me. Steven could care less. He equates it to tying your shoes after you take them off. You'll just have to undo the laces to get the shoes back on. Different strokes, different folks.

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

 

This is where Al-moans likes to hang out. You know, when she's not peeing on my hardwoods.

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

Well, friends, that concludes the tour of our humble abode. Stay tuned for future projects up here (mainly in the boys bath) and major changes outside (landscaping galore).

 

What projects are you guys up to? Small weekend updates? Major renovations?