Dreaming of a bungalow/cottage…the guest room.

I know that I have written of our wish to downsize before.  Every time Dave and I talk about this people try to talk us out of it…telling us we need our space with teens.  Well, the fact of the matter is Will goes off to college in a year and Harry will be gone 3 years after that.  Also, I don't really think we need as much space as we have.  I think we will be fine with less. I actually crave less stuff and less space. I am also craving a creative design project.

If the perfect cottage/bunglaow came up in our neighborhood we would grab it.  But they never come for sale or builders buy them and tear them down.  So, we are looking in surrounding neighborhoods with the intent to rent the house out for about 3-4 years and then remodel it to suit our needs.

Currently, I feel frustrated because I love remodeling/designing/building.  Before I ever blogged, Dave and I bought an old home in a fabulous neighborhood and we gutted and designed a new kitchen.  This was 14-15 years ago (I was pregnant with Harry:). It was stressful but I loved the creative process.

Then, we built our house in Virginia.  These were the pre-pinterest days and I had an artists sketchbook full of ideas and photos of what I wanted in that house. I had been collecting those images and ideas for years.  I took them to the architect and challenged him to design the house.  He did and it was a fabulous house.  I loved choosing all of the details for that house.

The market in Houston is tough.  Things go quickly so we have missed out on some opportunities.

So, I am going to get my creative urges out here through the blog and pinterest.  I've done it before but I intend to go room by room fantasizing about my dream home.  I want fewer room but not small rooms. We have giant hallways in our current home.  They are beautiful but they are completely wasted space.  Kate does have her balance beam set up in one hallway;)

Today I will start with what I will call the guest room.  In all likelihood our next house will be a 3 bedroom that we move into when both boys are in college so it will be their room when they come home for summer/Christmas breaks or a guest room when they are gone. Therefore, it makes sense to me to have two twin beds.

I like that this has both masculine and feminine touches.
But it might be a little too feminine for the boys.

Source

I like this simple masculine look above.  I think I'd use much more streamlined sconces though.

The cords and wires bother me.

Source

This Sarah Richardson design is also clean and simple and can be changed easily with accessories.
Plus it seems very gender neutral for the guest room/boys room.




I love this one above but I would use a different light fixture.  Something more modern and less feminine. I'd also have a dark gray  chest in the middle instead of white.  These are full beds which would be too big for most of the cottages we're looking at but I love the idea of two full beds in a guest room if they fit.




I think this is from Martin Bullard but could not verify the original source.

This one is my favorite which kind of surprises me.  I am not usually a fan of this bed style. I think I like the light and dark with touches of coral.  Plus the draped fabric over the beds visually separates them a bit.  I like the clean simplicity of all of these. I think this is the look I am leaning toward.

What Dave and I really need is either The Property Borthers or Chip and Joanna Gaines to come help us makeover one of these original bungalows.  We saw one today that we know had potential but everything needed to be re-done. Seriously, it had a pond/fountain in the dining room y'all!  It also needed more repairs than made financial sense. It seemed too overwhelming even though I could visualize it down the road.

The details

Thank you for the kind words of support. I love having such sweet bloggy friends. I had to put this office together on a meager budget.  I needed it to look professional but I did not want to invest a lot of $$ into it since I was taking a chance.  I love when people post all the details about a room on their blog, so I thought I'd do that for the office in case anyone was interested.  I am proud that I re-purposed a lot of things we already owned and bargain shopped for the rest!

Early in our marriage, Dave and I loved spending time walking around antique and art shoppes and we often picked up pieces that were of good quality for a good price.  We have lived in 5 homes in our 17 years of marriage and we move everything with us from home to home.  Some of it lives in attics and garages until the next home because we might want it then:)  I would not say that we are pack rats at all but we are practical and always thinking of the next house.

So, we had a lot in our garage and our attic and I was lucky enough to use some of it for my new office.

Here are some before and after shots of the furniture I painted.

I am such a bad DIY blogger that I actually did not think to take a "before" shot until I had already started painting...

This is a very old small solid wood table that we have had forever.  In fact, I think Dave had it before we were married.

I should have sealed this piece with Zinnser shellac since it had a water mark on the top but I did not.  Lesson learned.

And here is the after. 

{in this last one you can see some of the dark wax and the gilding paste.  It really gives it a nice antique look in person.}

 

(a close up of the gilding wax)

And an instagram close-up that shows the dark wax and gilding paste too.

For this first table, I mixed a little Annie Sloan Old White in with the Paris Grey but honestly it made no difference AT ALL. I put one coat of clear wax, then some dark wax (which made it look dirty--so I removed most of it with more clear wax).  Then, I distressed it a little and used gold gilding paste I (next time I would use rub and buff, I think).  I LOVE how it turned out.  It took no time at all to do all this.

The next table got a quick spray of the Zinnser shellac because it had a water mark on the top too (from a plant I think).  We used this as a side table in our sunroom in Virginia.  I had forgotten all about it until we looked in our attic.

Here is the "before" (again, I had already painted the bottom a little before the phone snaps)...

And here is the after...

I painted all of it (even the gold metal) with Annie Sloan Paris Gray and then did two coats of clear wax.   The I used steel wool to get some of the paint off the gold plaques. No gilding paste.  No dark wax.  I adore this one. I did distress the edges a tiny bit to reflect normal wear. So happy with it!

And then there was the desk.  I had a desk but it was too deep for the space.  I wanted something really small because mainly I will be listening/coaching clients there.  I will do a little writing and computer work but not much.  I really did NOT want to spend a lot of money.  I took the boys one day over Christmas break to a charity guild shop in town.  The boys LOVED it.  They have everything there from furniture to clothes to artifacts and jewelry.  This is what the desk looked like.  The size was right and I loved the lines but it was in bad shape.

The desk cost $100.  Dave puttied a few of the chips for me and I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Graphite.

A few days before I found this desk, Kate suggested a black desk for my office.  I had not considered a black desk at all.  I kind of laughed her suggestion off.  Then an hour later I spotted this black desk in the December issue of Lonny and was in LOVE...

I wanted that small black and gold writing desk so badly.  I love it.  My daughter has an uncanny sense of design.  I am not kidding!

  Back to reality though.  I needed a desk quickly and had a budget. SO I bought the desk from the guild and painted it Graphite.  It is a really really dark gray (like pencil lead).  It is a beautiful color.

  So here is my after....

I am happy with it for now.  Although I need to get a desk chair.

I might add some gold to it whenever I get some spare time (I have none now).

Other sources:

Couch and Chair: Ektorp from Ikea...love them!  The price is right and they are comfortable but buy a lint roller as they collect lint:)

Brass desk lamp and glass side table lamps: Homegoods

Wicker Chest: Ikea

Gold Peanut: Pottery Barn (saw it at Christmas time and bought it for myself, wrapped it and put it under the tree!)

Artwork: all stuff that we have collected for years but had no space for in our house. It was still in moving crates in our garage from 4 years ago! We did not know if it would look good together or not but hung it anyway:)

Silver pomegranate: Village Antiques, Houston.

 Pillows:  These are old and were in a closet under our staircase. I use them in our house in the summer so I am looking for more permanent ones in the same colors for the office. One is Pottery Barn and one is from One King's Lane. 

Bowl that holds my business cards: Anthropologie (after Christmas clearance deal)

Rug: Seagrass was there.  We bought this this silk Persian rug when we first got married.  It has been in different spots in different houses but was rolled up in the closet under our stairs in this house.  I tried no less that 4 rugs that we had rolled up in closets and this one looked best.

Plant Stand:  This was Dave's parents and we have used it for a bronze statue in our house but again, it was under the stairs collecting dust.  I think it is perfect here.  And the Christmas cactus on it was a gift a few years ago from my good friend, Lisa.

Diplomas:  Yes, a few of you noticed my MA and PhD are from Ohio University and my BA is from LaSalle University. That diploma is completely in Latin! They are vintage;)

I think that covers it all but let me know if you have any questions. I still have some ideas for things to hang above my desk but that will have to wait.

I read a lot and watched a lot of YOUTUBE videos before I did any of the Annie Sloan paint or wax.  I m not a really crafty painting kinda gal.  Once I helped a friend faux paint her kitchen and her husband called us "Slop job" because we were so sloppy with the paint. (her kitchen did look good though).  So if I can do this, anyone can.  It is so easy to work with but I recommend that you read up about it too. This video is great for the wax procedure.

Can't help myself

I know I said I was going to stay off the computer for a little while.  But I had to share this home with y'all.  I subscribe to most of the shelter magazines but it seems that I rarely get a few minutes to sit down and actually look at them.  I gave myself half an hour this morning to do just that and I fell in love with this home in Country Living magazine (March issue).   I just LOVE this house.  It looks so clean and fresh.  I love all the white with the black accents.

{kitchen and dining areas}

{the owner collects vintage seltzer bottles}

As an aside, I saw some beautiful, old seltzer bottles at Tuesday Morning (of all places!) in Charlottesville, VA at least 5 years ago and bought some.  They were genuinely old too (crusty and clouded).  For some crazy reason, I returned them and have been kicking myself ever since!

{living room}

Generally, I think subway art is really overdone BUT these are actually old London bus signs bought in an antique store.  Antique tea tins line the console below the sign on the right.  I think this living room is perfect for a young family.  I would probably use paintings in place of the bus signs though if this were our home.

{twin 9 year old daughters' bedroom}



{home office}

How beautiful is that natural light and gorgeous view?  Her desk is a pottery barn dining table.



{bathroom}

I love furniture in the bathroom.



{a peek at the master bedroom--love it!}

 Homeowner/Designer, Kendal Agins Friedman did a great job of mixing in modern pieces with antiques and light with dark to create a warm, casual and modern living space.  What do you think?

All images courtesy of Country Living Magazine.

Dreaming of downsizing..our (dream) Bungalow {the kitchen}

We live "inside the loop" in our metropolitan area. We are fortunate enough to live very close to all the museums, theaters, hospitals, shops and restaurants. That means the lots are small and the houses used to be small too. Over the years, that has changed though. In our neighborhood, there are original bungalows or ranch style homes that were built in the 50's (not my favorite architectural time) and then there are the newer homes that are more "super-sized" and built to the edges of the lots.  We live in one of the latter homes. But Dave and I often dream about trading in our bigger home for one of the smaller ones. In fact, about a year ago a television producer saw my comment about downsizing (by choice) on another blog and contacted me about a possible reality/interior design show.  We had some talks and Dave and I even did a taped Skype interview for the production company.

It did not work out-- which was probably for the best.  I was hesitant to expose our family that way (although they were going to focus on some neat things too like adoption).  But also we cannot find a house in our neighborhood because despite the failing real estate market everywhere else, our hood is booming.  People scoop up those little houses in days (sometimes hours).  A lot of the time, they are torn down and new houses are built.

Anyway, we still look.  We think that we have too much stuff and probably more space than we need.  We would like a bigger yard with a pool and less house.  We yearn for fewer rooms but rooms the whole family would use on a daily basis.  Please know that I am so grateful for our lovely home.  I do feel very fortunate. I am not complaining. I think Dave and I get restless once we have been in a house for a few years.  We have owned 5 homes in 16 years of marriage.  Four of them have all been within a 2-3 mile radius!!!  We like to design, build, decorate.  

So, I often daydream about finding a smaller home in our neighborhood and completely updating/ remodeling it (and that would have been the premise of the show with a lot of DIY stuff).  I want a home with less stuff.  I want a more casual, lived in feeling.  I want to really use each and every space.  I want cozy chic. So, I have been collecting inspiration images of what I would like should we ever find our cozy nook. Here are some kitchens that I think would fit our dream bungalow. Some of course would be scaled down.

Would love to do one big kitchen/dining room rather than a kitchen with island, breakfast area AND formal dining room.  Something like this would be perfect...

{source unknown-have had in my files for a long time...let me know if you know the source}

I LOVE the black steel windows/french doors in the one below....LOVE them!!!

This kitchen is so charming and seems like it is from a small yet chic house.
Although it might be a it too small for our family.  Still I like the vibe.





source

This kitchen below is probably in a bigger home but I love the sunny space and warm touches.

Another view of that same space...

   

Source: aperfectgray.com 

This one below reminds me a lot of my Virgina kitchen…

Source: lauracaseyinteriors.com

Sophisticated and compact….

Source: pinkwallpaper.blogspot.com 

LOVE the herringbone wood floors and the fireplace--- so  impractical in TX though)…

Source: pinkwallpaper.blogspot.com 

This one is gorgeous but large for our {imaginary} bungalow. Plus, I would want it a bit warmer.  There are beautiful elements here though…

Source: keepitsimplekeepitfresh.blogspot.com

I LOVE this kitchen and the house is actually very close to our home. It is an older Georgian style home a few blocks from our old house. It is not a very big house for the particular neighborhood but not really small either (maybe 3,000 square feet).  I think that is a perfect size home.  Ideally, I would have less stuf on my counters but I adore everything else about this space....

In sum, I realize I like the juxtaposition of light and dark (white with black or dark wood touches).  I like worn wood with industrial finishes mixed in.  I adore marble.  And I love white tile.  I currently have all these things in my own home too.  I could post 100 more inspiration photos here but will leave it at these for now.  I will however, share more of my {imaginary} dream bungalow in future weeks.

One thing Dave and I would never do again is a white farmhouse sink.  We have owned two.  We had one in VA for 4 years and one in our current house for 6 years. Both were the expensive and reputable Shaw brand.  Both have chipped and cracked and stained even though they are not supposed to.  I LOVE the look of a white farmhouse sink but I hate seeing the chips and wear every day.  It NEVER looks clean.  I would so a stainless steel farmhouse sink next time.

P.S. I realize these kitchens are not all small.  In our next house, there will be no formal dining room.  We hope to knock out walls and have one large kitchen area with a big farmhouse type table that would be for everyday eating and bigger get-togethers.