Marimekko Coated Cottons

I just finished up a project for a client that I thought I'd share with you today as I just received some beautiful pictures of the finished project in action!  

Merimekko makes beautiful sunny fabrics that just beg to be used outside and inside for festive summer fun! My client found this beautiful coated cotton and asked that I make some fun tablecloths for her outdoor picnic tables.

Outside & Ready for a BBQ

And inside

You can also see one of Merimekko's Coated Cottons as the seat upholstery on the custom made chairs that we did for this Maine Camp Dining Room.

 

First Floor Plans

As I am just catching you all up on the work we have done so far and where we are going from here, I thought I would give you a clearer picture of what we started with and where we are headed.

Original First Floor Plan 

This is where we are headed for the first floor plan

We have already completed the family room construction by taking down the wall between the study and the office/guest room.  We have also completed the construction of the office. We did lose a bedroom and a full bath when we did this renovation, however the plan is to add the bedroom and full bath back into the house on the second floor above the future sun room addition. 

I am starting to plan out the kitchen now and am currently working on the cabinetry and appliance layout.  I will fill you in when I have those plans finished but will give you a sneak peak of my inspiration kitchen:

Mandarin Kitchen from Smallbone of Devizes

I found this kitchen in Architectural Digest right around the time we bought this house and I love the light airy and open feeling. I like how it is clean and simple yet timeless. I love the built in banquette, although I am not sure I am going to go that route.  I am excited to start thinking about what this space can become! 

Early Jenny Lind or Spool Bed

So right before we moved I bought a beautiful turned bed for my daughter at a flea market and sadly it is still sitting in the storage room waiting to be attended to.  I am guessing that it was made in the early to mid 1800's as all the turned pieces are straight and the headboard and foot board are the same height.  It needs gluing and refinishing and while all the spindles are intact there are some large gouges, which in my mind just adds charm. It is 3/4 size (48"x75") but it's still pretty easy to buy a mattress that size online, however I will have to adjust full size sheets down to size or go with custom bedding. 

As I grew up in a house where it was a federal offense to paint beautiful wood, I am having some difficult deciding what to do with this. I have two ideas in my head:

The first is to clean it up and restore it to its original beauty, which my father would completely agree with and my grandmother wouldn't look down on me from heaven and scream. 

The second would be to fix it up and paint it in a high gloss fun color that my daughter would love, like RAL 5018 from Fine Paints of Europe- RAL Collection

So what do you think? Would you paint or restore?

What I look for in a house

Once again, it's been awhile and I must say I have no excuse other than it has been exhausting to exist in this house. It's been just about two years since we picked up and moved into this new project and as I now sit in my usable although completely undecorated office (floor plans on trace and vellum serve as my current window treatments) I am marveling at the simple miracle of having green grass in the backyard. For the first year we had a gigantic swimming pool that was home to hundreds of frogs, a daily lunch spot for a family of ducks and the favorite brunch spot for the local blue heron. The second year brought a dirt field and now finally green grass! It has been and continues to be a long haul, even as I write this I can hear the clinking of tile going up in the master bathroom, which has now been without a toilet for a year and completely non-functional since late January.

Most people I know never saw this house before, those who did know how far we have come, but most people just ask me how and what I saw that made me know. How could I see past the 70's paneling and mirrors, the funky painted bathrooms and the purely 1960's brick exterior. How could I get over the mouse stench and the massive overgrown shrubbery?

My answer is simply three things:

1. Location- it is right where I wanted to be

2. Layout and flow- the major spaces made sense, were the right size, and had the amount of openness that I wanted.  Sure, we made a few adjustments as to the use of different rooms. I decided that what they used as the family room made more sense as a dining room and then I combined two smaller rooms to make a great family room, but the plumbing made sense where it was and the bigger spaces all worked as I wanted them to. Also this house had the amount of space we needed, sure we can add on and yes we looked at ranches that we could put a second floor onto but working within the existing shell is so much easier for us. 

3. Light- This one was a little harder to determine with this house with all the overgrown shrubs but I knew which way was north and then could figure out what trees would come out  and leave open spaces for light to come in. Also, looking at the sight lines throughout the interior of the house helps. For example, if you stand in the dining room (those windows face north and east so not the best for light) but there is a big opening to the living room that has a massive western facing window which makes tons of beautiful afternoon light. 

The house the day of our inspection (there were snowshoes involved)

sceond floor bath- everything that looks like white tile is actually lavender tile painted white with flat paint and yes the tub is strangely shoved into the wall and in the middle of the bathroomThe kitchen was "updated" in the late 90's when the house first went on the market. All appliances are original 1966 , the cabinets were refaced and the countertops replaced. Believe it or not the kitchen was one of the better rooms when we moved in.the master bath, this was the other "renovated room"fireplace in the family room (our dining room). the walls were wood paneled with painted textured wall paper overa hall of mirrors to go with the living room of mirrors, dining room of mirrors, and basement of mirrorsStay tuned and I 'll show you how far we've come and how very far we have to go!!!!

Wow, it's been a long time

Where have I been since April 19th? I have been a bit MIA, but seriously, saying things have been a bit crazy wouldn't even start to explain what has been happening on my end.  I guess it all started when we moved at the end of April. Sold the house, packed up everything into storage, and moved to temporary housing for a month. We closed on the new house at the end of May and then the fun really started! We emptied all the storage into the basement, and started by clearing lots of tall trees that were on top of the house. Then we had to replace the roof and the second story windows. We moved some closets, battled some mice, replaced all the walls, insulation, and ceilings, re-plastered (that's messy), ripped out some bathrooms, had the inside painted, moved a few walls, replaced some doors, and moved our stuff around a lot! Now we are getting to the fun part of the actual decoration, and I can't wait to share! Stay tuned and sorry for the absence.