styled living simply achieved by Jacqueline deMontravel
The idea of putting on your buffalo check cap and chopping down your tree at a Christmas tree farm is a romantic notion that often gets put aside in a busy season. There’s also the reality of hauling the tree home and the constant maintenance of fallen pine needles. This can sour the experience like egg nog well past its expiration date.
Move over Christmas with your blinking lights and inflatable snowmen, outdoor fall porch and decor have never looked better. If there’s a fall elf under Santa’s employment, she’s been doing a great job. What was once a perfunctory walk in our neighborhood has now become a fall spectacle. And it’s not just pumpkins, there are Marvel-sized spiders, scarecrows, wheelbarrows filled with autumn flowers and, of course, pumpkins.
Here’s a fall porch roundup that can be the inspo behind your home’s outdoor design:
Try something different from expected cloth garlands and have one made from balloons in Halloween colors.
When you decorate with the color wheel’s version of Reese Witherspoon, you want to find ways to tone it down while preserving its optimism. Such was the case when designing a yellow-themed guest bedroom.
A white-painted room allows for the statement color and accents to stand out. When selecting the yellow shade, we went for a school bus yellow over a softer lemony hue. It was natural to weave in black accents to add a sophisticated contrast.
The trundle bed, the room’s main furnishing, is painted in Benjamin Moore’s glossy Decorator White. A layering of yellow linens and pillows reinforce a cozy, styled feel. There’s a mix of block prints, mud cloth and hand-painted textiles that are both controlled and add design appeal. The black patterned carpet by Hook & Loom brings in a subdued, whimsical feel while adding another warm texture.
One statement artwork piece is all you need on the walls to keep the colors from looking too manic. A Stray Dog Design chandelier that gives the impression of tamed seaweed increases the wow factor.
Whatever shade of yellow you choose, there won’t be any downer moments in a room with this bright color. From happy faces to a radiating sun, yellow pays homage to iconic emblems of cheerfulness. It’s the ideal color to design a room with impact.
Brighton Rug, 3’ x 5’: https://hookandloom.com
Chucho Chandelier by Stray Dog Design: https://straydogdesigns.com
Handwoven Fringe Tassel Clouds Pillow Cover: www.ichcha.com
Peshtemal Bath Thow: https://turkishtowelcompany.com/
Six weeks to plan a holiday event, update the dining room, maybe even organize a wedding can be done with limited nail-biting moments if you’re organized. But an entire home update, including two bathrooms? Follow these no-fail steps we used when renovating our house for the summer season with limited stress and stylish results.
After years of traveling back two decades each time our family used the master bathroom, it was time to address its needed update. Why the delay? We’ve been undergoing a series of renovations for the past year and living with construction makes a quiet morning reviewing emails over tea a luxury. Undergoing a bathroom renovation is more than a financial investment but it’s also an inconvenience. Here, we provide tips to make the process as seamless as possible to get the bathroom of your dreams with limited aggravation.
Good news for the host who enjoys having overnight guests, this season your guest bedroom can be used for more than a place to store the Peloton. As entertaining at home ramps up, it’s the ideal time to give your spare bedroom special treatment.
Let a hotel room be your guide, where all needs for a comfortable stay are provided. Personal touches that pamper visitors is a great way to elevate their experience, such as flowers and spa essentials. Here are simple tips in creating a well-designed and comfortable guest bedroom:
To secure a style you love, find inspiration in your favorite social media home feeds, decor magazines, and websites. Create a mood board of your top designs. Your desired look can be achieved simply by refreshing furnishings with a thorough cleanse and fresh paint. If the room has dated wallpaper and old carpet, have it removed for a clean foundation. For any missing elements needed to compose your design, set a budget and add current pieces. Be sure to have all the correct measurements and sketch out a room plan for where everything will be positioned. This will prevent having to deal with incorrect deliveries.
It’s the two week countdown to Halloween, which also means fa la las will be taking over the airwaves. No pressure, but with a few weekends left to fall’s unofficial end, celebrate the season by making a checklist so you can capitalize on autumn.
The front entryway has a lot of pressure. It’s a unique place in the home because it typically is in a high traffic area while also having to have a design POV that sets the tone of your home. It’s like the host at a restaurant, they have to look presentable, be cheerful, and perform their task by moving things along. For this entry, finding the perfect accent had to achieve many functions. It could not be a burdensome piece that took up too much room while also looking beautiful enough to create that first impression. The less is more approach is also in place, where every piece performs an important task.
Handmade entryway bench with leather woven straps.
We all love a good Cinderella story and, when it comes to the home, a bay window seat is ready for some fairy godmother attention. The structure is there with some of the best views in the house, while it does not demand a major overhaul or expense like a sofa.
There is something nostalgic about curling up on a bay window and watching the outdoor events unfurl before you. Bay seats are comforting, often functional–especially if it includes built in storage–and part of the decor. As we approach nesting season, the timing could not be better to give your bay window seat some deserved attention.
The grind of the buzzsaw has been my new Spotify. There are periods of intense piercing, a quiet pause, followed by the tingle of a drill that’s become the leitmotif. This is just one of the symptoms of living with home renovations but there are ways to maintain sanity.
We experienced an unexpected retro excavation in our own home
After living with natural disasters with a regularity last seen during biblical times, inviting contractors into the home to address dated elements should seem customary. What began as a simple project unfolds into a complex process. After stripping the walls, we discovered there was no insulation. Further along, the contractor removed the dated paneling to find a cheery orange, yellow and green flower patch that could have been the wallpaper Marsha Brady chose if she were given her own room.
