5 ways to bring your family history into your home

Brittany

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May 1, 2023

5 ways to bring your family history into your home

If you don’t follow along on Instagram, I shared about how I got to attend Roots Tech conference in March after I had spent some time talking about how our family heritage influenced the design of our home here on the blog, which was then featured here and here. I’ve been hearing some requests about how to do it in your own home so I’m sharing 5 ways to bring your family history into your home.

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A post shared by Brittany Jepsen (@houselarsbuilt)

I realized I haven’t shared it with you here.

Why bring your family history into your home

Let’s start with the why. Now, of course you don’t have to bring your family heritage into your home in order to love and honor your family. You don’t even have to do anything big. For me, my grandparent’s home was so crucial to my aesthetic development that I have always hearkened back to it and wished to bring it in.

My grandparents built their home in Los Angeles in 1951 and were known for their hospitality and hosted showers, weddings, out of town visitors. My grandmother had a small sewing room behind the laundry room with a cabinet full of fabrics that she had collected from all around the world. She taught me to sew all sorts of things. That room was magic.

The kitchen was French-inspired. It had hand-painted tile with delicate flourishes and little toile scenes. It was placed on the counters, on the kitchen hood along with beautiful accessories. The family room had a high cup rack around the ceiling of the room where mugs were displayed. It was covered in a beautiful wood treatment. All around the house was furniture and paintings that my artist uncle had designed and painted.

By hearkening back to this time, I feel like I am able to capture my grandparent’s essence. Like they still live on through me. They were the loveliest.

I know we do always know those who came before us or have great relationships with them, and I’ll get to that, but they do inform who we are and finding a way to honor it can get us in touch with our soul.

1. Look back to your family history origins

If you don’t have a specific idea of how to bring your family heritage into your home, look back to where you came from. Here in the States we all came from somewhere else and so there’s quite a bit to look to.

Growing up, I was told stories about my Irish and Danish ancestry and grew up really interested in learning more about it. And in school, I always selected Denmark if given the choice, for a country project. Denmark always made its way into the stories I wrote. I was fascinated! So learning about the aesthetic history of the country was something that I was always interested in and it happened to align with what I naturally gravitated to.

On a trip to Denmark to visit Paul’s family, I snuck away to the National Museum of Denmark and stumbled across this cabinet below middle. I loved it so much that I used it as the inspiration for our fridge in the kitchen. You can see how I used all three traditional Danish wedding cabinets to inform it.

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Of course, you don’t have to actually go to the country in order to be inspired by it. Look at books, videos, movies. There are more resources than ever to help you get familiar with your heritage.

You can read more about the fridge in this post about the kitchen.

2. Identify the people in your family tree

A large storyline in our episode of In With the Old was my ancestor, Patty Sessions, a Mormon midwife who delivered babies along the plains as they came over to Utah in the 1840s. I grew up on stories about her and learned to love her for her grit, business acumen, and strength. Being able to talk about her on the show was very special and we found ways to honor her throughout the house.

The staircase is one place where we honored her. I was inspired by traditional flat sawn balusters in Scandinavia, then had my friend, Jill DeHaan carve our flowers onto a few of them. We used the birth flowers of our family members along with the birth flower of Patty Sessions on them. Hers was the rose (June) so we featured it here on the balusters and on fabrics throughout the house.

Learn about them, find things out about them, make them your own!

You can read more about the staircase in this post here.

3. Work in the family heirlooms into your home

We don’t always get to inherit the things that we were really hoping for or the things that matter most to us. In fact, when my grandmother died, I inherited her globe. I LOVE the globe, but there were so many other things that reminded me of her and that I was really hoping to have. Slowly, family members have been giving us some things that didn’t fit into their own homes and I’ve been treasuring them.

One of them is this painting of my grandparent’s house. It’s actually my mom’s that she received as a wedding present and it’s just on loan, but I placed it in the kitchen where I think about my grandparent’s every single day. It’s a beautiful memento. You can see it better here:

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This coo-coo clock was also my grandparent’s that they got in Germany. It’s also on loan, but I will cherish it while I have it!

That

I know not everyone has the same style as their grandparent’s mementos and that’s fine! Work it in a place where it can be read as an heirloom and not necessarily the focus of your design.

You can see more of the kitchen renovation here.

4. Blend in your heritage with your personal tastes

Jasper’s bed was inspired by traditional Scandinavian built-in alcove beds, but I didn’t want it to read too historical. I wanted it to be slightly modern so we removed some of the decoration and left a few details here and there. We added in that mural and wanted it to shine.

We also painted in yellow as an homage to the traditional color of Danish homes, but also one of my favorite colors and the color that I use for Jasper. (I’ve more or less assigned the boys an unofficial color).

You can see more about Jasper’s bedroom here.

5. Create what you don’t have with your family history

I know it can be hard to secure items of importance like family heirlooms. In that case, create what you don’t have. My great grandmother’s favorite flowers were fuchsias so I always make sure to have at least one pot of fuchsias in the garden. And without fail, I think of her every time I walk by. It can be simple and cheap!

You can read more about our drought tolerant cottage garden here.

Bringing your family history into your home

Weaving in your family heritage into the design of your home can seem daunting, but with a bit of research it can be simple to add in some mementos of those who have based on before us. I LOVE having these reminders because it fills my soul. I actually feel things inside of me stirring.

I’d love to hear if you’ve done anything special to bring your family heritage in. Tell me in the comments!

My Life in Color: My Unexpected Journey to Being a Muralist

Brittany

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April 5, 2023

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My Life in Color: My Unexpected Journey to Being a Muralist

A bathroom changed my life, and my relationship with color, forever.

Through a combination of leaving my job, breaking my leg, and entering a global pandemic, I had some time on my hands. I was weathering the brunt of the pandemic at my parents’ house when my mother suggested I add some color to the bathroom. With white walls, white counters, white tiles, and white fixtures it had all the ambience of a hospital.

I could definitely slap some paint on a bathroom wall. But it was my mother’s innocent suggestion—“Why don’t you paint some flowers on the wall?”—that set me on a path blooming with color.

I feel like I should note here that I had technically worked as “an artist” in high school when I ran my own henna business. But it was mostly copying pre-fab designs, and the henna we used only came in one color—no guesswork needed. Also, this cow was our most popular design. Truly high art.

At this point in my life, I rarely even doodled. And if I did, I only doodled in black because I was afraid. Afraid of color, afraid of not being “artistic” enough, and struggling with the loss of confidence and creativity that many of us face in adulthood.

So, painting the bathroom meant approaching the world of color from scratch. I was terrified. I tried to explain to my mother how this was a grave mistake, but she was having none of it. She dug up pictures of the magical Maison Atelier Suzanne by Nathalie Lété to act as a guide and sent me on my merry way.

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A post shared by NathalieLete (@nathalie_lete)

I worked seven days a week for five weeks during that long, hot quarantine summer learning how to choose colors, mix paint, and get literally anything to look good on the walls. By the end, I had to repaint the first wall I’d done because it looked so amateurish next to the others.

The bathroom was completely transformed, and so was I. Did you know you have the permission to just transform spaces with color? It’s WILD.

The behind-the-scenes chaos of learning. Failed mixed palettes everywhere, endless swatches trying to get the right color, and lots of inspiration pinned to the walls.

From drab to fab, a glimpse of the finished space. Complete with my favorite part–gold paint!

From there I couldn’t stop dreaming about building a more colorful world. The fear was still there, but it was assuaged by the idea that even my beginner effort had brought joy into the world. The only permission I needed to work large and make big, colorful mistakes was my own. I took online art classes and spent hours with the Procreate app and painting projects trying to figure out what the heck to do with color.

A year and a half after my first mural, I launched my very own mural business: Anne Meredith Design. A couple months after that, I went full time. Color has helped me take charge of my spaces, my career, and my life. And now my whole life revolves around transforming spaces with the power of color!

Living the dream painting in a ski cabin.

With each new project, I get to help others take control of their spaces with color. One client had been slowly trying to make her home feel truly hers. We painted beautiful fat naked ladies in her living room—and now there is absolutely no doubt that the space is hers. Another client had a windowless “zoom room” at their corporate headquarters that was so depressing, staff would vie with each other to not use the space. After we added a wrap-around flower garden, the staff now fight to be in that space.

Now that’s how you stake a claim on your space!

Before launching Anne Meredith Design, I worked in the world of history and museums. And that side of myself needs to tell you something. For thousands of years humans have expressed themselves, their culture, their status, their dreams, and everything in-between by adding color to their clothes, walls, pottery, and furniture.

At no time in history have we had this much access to color–whether it’s in paint, dyes, inks, etc. Nor has it ever been this cheap to use it. We’re pretty much obliged to use color these days. It would be rude not to, right?

Why are we letting our spaces be less cool than this Etruscan tomb?

If there is a time to approach color without fear, it is now. I’m not saying you have to paint your whole house pink and wear yellow crossed garters. But maybe paint your room white with a tint of color in it, and let the joy of self-expression in a little (and make your ancestors jealous).

Embracing color, creativity, and pushing past fear changed my life. It’s been just over a year since I launched my business, and I’m in awe every day that this is my life in color now. Come paint the town red with me. Or even just your bathroom.

Living the dream painting a bridal boutique and playing dress-up.

You can find Anne:

Follow her journey on Instagram
See more of her work on her website

Read the first essay in the My Life in Color series here

How we made the cake-inspired tile mosaic in our kitchenette

Brittany

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March 2, 2023

2

How we made the cake-inspired tile mosaic in our kitchenette

I don’t exactly recall how the idea hit me to turn the kitchenette into a decadent layered frosted cake. Maybe it was seeing how many colors, Fireclay Tile had? I can’t recall! All I knew is that I wanted my team to be able to come to work and have the most delightful experience. A trip to the kitchen should ooze with whimsy (especially one where you don’t actually have the cook or bake anything–that is a score in my opinion). We’re never trying to be too cool around here, just tap into what makes life fun! And that’s a frosted layered cake, obviously.

Colored Tile

Fireclay had so many options of colors and I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out the combinations I liked the most.

Inspiration for the tile mosaic

I looked to classic cake frosting ideas like these over the top ones with lots of swags and rosettes.

At first I went to town with this idea only to realize that these cakes actually got their inspiration from interiors in the first place. So the idea circled back on itself.

Designing the cake mosaic

I realized I needed to modernize the idea so it didn’t feel too rococo and started to play with simple shapes. Please disregard all these color combos!

I didn’t feel like the shapes were going to read “cake” enough so our intern, Emily, came up with some frosting. I loved this direction!

But I couldn’t quite figure out how to incorporate the frosting. Did I have to customize some tile? Or Did I have to turn it into a wallpaper so I could do any shapes I wanted?

Finally I realized that the mouldings and trim could all help with the effect of the decorative cake idea. I found some ornate crown mouldings (from here) and polka dot baseboards here. They’re so over the top that they are perfect for it. Please note, our trims guy kind of bailed on us so we haven’t yet installed the baseboards.

Not knowing how to bring the frosting part onto the tile, I finally realized I could do it with the shelves. Maybe I could create some 3D component? I found this yellow pantry with the scalloped shelves and it was game over. So good. So then I looked into how to make the scalloped shelves. I figured we’d have to DIY it, but ended up finding some already made trim on Etsy here and then we just attached it to blank shelves and then painted over it. I talked more about that in this post.

Mock ups of the design

I couldn’t gauge the scale of everything so I cut out the exact shapes of the Fireclay tile in paper and made a mock up. I talked with the guy who was going to install the tile and he indicated that you could cut any of the tile down so I could really customize any shape I wanted.

That came in helpful when working with the half circle tiles. They didn’t have any blank color surrounding it so we just made some with more tile.

I hung the mock up in the space to see if I liked it and we had it there while we placed the tile order and waited the few months for the tile to be made in California.

In the meantime, I made more of a plan with some photoshop mock ups with the lighting, cabinets, and appliances.

Adding in that great crown and baseboards really sealed the deal.

Our ceilings are only 8′ tall so I had to be mindful of getting anything that would come down too low. I ended up going with a single pendant.

While we waited for our tile, I envisioned more to the design that we ended up not really having time for. I wanted to add in some paneling on the two walls.

Drawings for the kitchenette

And on the opposite wall, I wanted to add in a custom banquette. I think we’ll still be doing this at some point, but who knows!

I really wanted to have fun with some custom hardware, but we also didn’t have time for that. Maybe one day!

The day the tile arrive was a very big day. It took about 3 months to hand make all the tile so yes, I was on the edge of my seat. Our tile guy, Mike, was so great to work with. He encouraged me to lay out the design so we could see how it would work in the space.

Lay out the pattern on the ground

This is when we could adjust some measurements of where we wanted the tile to be. You can see that the circle tiles come in a square. I wanted most of the whites to be taken off.

Testing out the pattern

Then he put one row up from top to bottom to see what would be cut off at the bottom. We were able to get two of the circle rows in. I would have loved to have seen another row of blue and white in there too, but there was no room for that. Yes, I was freaking out–I was in love!

Adding in the grout

Mike put the tile as close together as possible. I really wanted the pattern to show through and that was the best way to do it. I really like seeing the spaces though. It’s kind of fun to see it without the grout in yet.

Adding on the scalloped open shelving

Pat came to the rescue once again with the shelves. She bought some from Home Depot and then added on the scallops. We used these shelf brackets.

This is the day we shot the show in the basement that didn’t actually make the cut.

What’s left to do

There’s still some things we need to do to the space like add on hardware, paneling on the walls, and the banquette on the other side, but overall, it brings me happiness every time I walk in. And it brings Jasper happiness too because he likes to climb on the shelves and get the candy. I will be taking those down and replacing them with cake stands soon.

Ok! Let me know what you think! Would love to hear your thoughts!!

Becoming Danika Herrick

Brittany

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February 24, 2023

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Becoming Danika Herrick

My company is Danika Herrick, Inc., I’m a Surface Pattern Designer located north of Boston, MA and I create and design fabric and wallpaper.

What do you consider yourself? Example: Artist, designer, illustrator, maker, business person, educator, etc.?

Designer seems to be the “umbrella” that covers everything I do. I’ve worn a lot of hats from Interior Designer, Decorative Artist, to Surface Pattern Designer. I am always “designing” something!

Where did you grow up? Were there aspects of your childhood that have influenced what you do now?

I grew up in a little town called Highland Mills, NY. It was about an hour north of NYC.

My parents always encouraged my sisters and I to be creative. This was during the 70’s and 80’s- so we would use whatever resources we had and put on neighborhood plays, had fashion shows (our entire line was made from Shop-Rite paper bags, staples and tape) and had plenty of entrepreneurial endeavors like selling grapevine wreaths and painted rocks to the neighbors. I think our neighbors hid when we would come knocking!

Our house was always under construction, and my love of DIY stemmed from this. My Mom would come up with the design and My Dad would build it. In 1st grade I asked my teacher if I could go home because my Dad was digging a foundation and I would much rather be doing that.

We also took lots of art classes. To this day I am so grateful my Mom encouraged us to do this because it really helped to build my confidence. It also fostered my love of learning. When I find myself stuck or not knowing how to do something I will seek out answers on Google or Skillshare.

Oh, one more thing that shaped me was that my parents would drag us to antique stores, flea markets, and the family trips were more Colonial Williamsburg than Disneyland. While we weren’t thrilled as kids they definitely made an impression. I find my patterns have a nod to the past and timeless design, and all the years of staring at shelves and shelves of Flo-blue plates and ginger jars can be seen in my work. Thanks Mom and Dad!

What did you dream of becoming when you were younger?

A Nun! I went through a phase when I was about 3 or 4. I would dress up in rosary beads and shrouds of lace doilies. My Mom had a bag of big of vintage crocheted table runners she bought at a yard sale and I would wrap myself in them and make my own habit. She was a great sport, and I went everywhere dressed in my elaborate headdresses and beads for a while.

What is your educational background and how has it shaped or changed your current career?

So despite having a really creative childhood and always taking art classes, I went to college for Biology. I loved AP Bio in highschool and thought “I’m good at this. Maybe this is what I am supposed to do”. Fast forward to the end of my sophomore year. I had lasted one day as a Biology major. The long 5 hour labs killed it for me. I bounced from Communications to Psychology, and finally took a required elective art class. It felt natural. I was plugged into my creative side, but also terrified! How was I going to make a career out of this? The stereotype of being a starving artist haunted me. I called my Mom in tears one day, afraid of failing and that I had no idea what I was doing. All my friends seemed to know what they wanted to do. She was so supportive and calmly told me that I have always been creative and what works for one person isn’t going to work for me. If I was passionate about something, I needed to pursue it.

Have you ever made a big career switch? If so, what prompted that? Are there aspects of a prior career that you incorporate into what you do now?

My career feels like a long road full of forks… I have had several career changes but they felt really fluid and natural. One would lead me to the next. My first job was working as a Decorative Artist in New York. I got to work on so many beautiful spaces and I really became bitten by the world of interiors. I wanted to do more than just paint the walls and floors, and I went back to school in Boston to study Interior Design.

While in school I had a few internships with fabric companies and fell in love with patterns- but it would be a while until that seed would sprout. I worked as an Interior Designer for two decades and during that time I met so many inspiring people and had lots of little side projects from blogging and starting a fretwork company. I discovered Spoonflower while I was blogging and was instantly smitten. I had always wanted to create a fabric collection, and here was this platform that allowed me to design, print and sell my own patterns.

I had to brush up on my Photoshop skills and learn how to put my artwork into seamless repeats, but I would spend all my free time from 2011-2014 doing this. I began creating collections and designs were selling. I slowly added more and more designs and it suddenly became my full time business. I retired from interior Design in 2012 and gave it my full attention.

How do you make social connections in the creative realm?

I have made so many great friends through Instagram and Zoom. I am an introverted-extrovert, and very content to be alone and work, but when I find like minded creatives I am so excited! Quite often I will be DM-ing with someone and it will lead to a Zoom chat with drinks.

What is your workspace like? Has it changed at all since the beginning of the pandemic last year?

I work from home and have slowly taken over several rooms in our house. I have a main office on the first floor where I do my painting and computer editing, and I took over half of our guest room as a studio space where I store all my art and sewing supplies. Designing patterns requires testing out scale and color, so the surfaces of our home are my constantly changing canvas.

Describe some habits that keep you motivated and productive. How do you climb out of a creative slump?

Do one thing and do it well. I have a highly distracted ADD brain, and I love to multitask and do ALL the things, but it’s usually at my own demise. I would always find myself with so many unfinished projects and just feeling overwhelmed as many creatives do. I looked at my strengths and weaknesses and realized I was great at hyperfocusing on things I enjoyed. I did a little experiment and decided I would just focus on fabric design for a month. I drew, took classes, expanded my website- and almost immediately I saw so much growth! I also felt less chaotic. I realized that while I was good at doing several things at once, I was great at doing just one. To this day, I really try to map out that one thing I want to accomplish- and if I get in a slump I take a class and learn something new. That almost always triggers new ideas.

What is a typical day like for you?

Monday- Friday are all business and then I try to go off the grid Saturday and Sunday. The weekends are when I am my most creative because there are less distractions- it’s when I paint and create the artwork fo my designs.

My average day starts with a pot of coffee and getting my emails and custom design requests organized and prioritized. I am a paper list maker so I like to plan my day and cross things off as I go. Once I get through that I will Photoshop and work on digitizing my artwork. Working from home is great, and I love what I do, but I can easily get lost in it. Quite often I sit down with my coffee and suddenly I’m like “how is it already dinner time?”

What is one skill you wished you learned when you were younger?

Delegating and time management. I am just the worst, but I am trying!

Nobody likes to talk about it, but can you share any advice regarding financing your business?

Grow slowly and organically if you can. I hate debt and try to avoid taking loans or racking up my credit card if it’s not absolutely necessary. As I’ve grown and made extra money I reinvest in myself. Start with what you need, you will always have wants (for me its art supplies and better computers or software)- just don’t put yourself into debt if you don’t need to. I set yearly financial goals for myself and when I hit them and have the extra money, I treat myself to that “want” as a reward.

What do you hope to accomplish within the next 10 years?

My goals include collaborations with a few of my favorite designers as well as creating a resort wear collection. Besides feeling like I work 24/7, I also have a husband, 2 teenage sons and a dog. My goal is to get better with my time management and be able to spend more quality time with them. Both boys are both really creative. The older one produces music and has had songs on Billboard and the younger one is an amazing artist/ entrepreneur so I am really excited to see what the future holds for them and the paths they take!

You can see read about Danika Herrick

On her website
On Instagram
On Spoonflower

How to make an alcove bed

Brittany

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February 22, 2023

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How to make an alcove bed

I wanted this bed to happen so much, but when I encountered person after person backing out due to timelines I was willing to go to plan b or plan c or even plan z. THANKFULLY, Handy Nanny Pat came to the rescue and said her magical words “to every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the job and *snap* the job’s a game”. Wait…that’s not it… “I can figure it out.” There, that’s more like it.

SO, I asked Pat if she’d be willing to share how she did it and she agreed. Before we get to how to make it, I wanted to share more insight into the design process.

Designing an alcove bed

I shared some inspo yesterday about what I was going for. I wanted a look that would feel Scandinavian, but knowing our time contraints I knew we would be able to go all out on it. That said, I didn’t necessarily want to. I wanted it to feel modern too. Here was my initial sketch:

An alcove bed with custom seating under the two windows in the corner.

I went through various details to arrive at the final including some with drawers, fancy decorative edges, some more in the scallop/wave direction, which I think would be so so fun still

I also played around with what the decorative detail would look like based on Northern European antique beds (kind of like Knosen Antique’s amazing sleigh bed collection). At one point I had even bought a sleigh bed for Jasper from Nee Nee Twig and it was so so gorgeous. Had I not found anyone to create the bed for me, I probably would have kept going in this direction.

Eventually, I settled on this simple shape based on this inspiration on the right:

I figured I could bring in patterns to liven it up. And this shape was totally doable for Pat. Ha! Or maybe I should let her answer that.

Speaking of, let’s have her answer that! Pat, how do we make the bed?!

How we built the alcove bed by Handy Nanny Pat

Brittany had several photos of alcove beds to draw inspiration from as seen above. Once we decided on a basic design, we chose to make it a full (standard double) size. We envisioned snuggle time with the family for now, and more room for Jasper, the soon to be Nordic giant, as he grows. We also wanted to include a bookshelf inside the alcove.

The basic framework of 2×4’s is attached to the studs in the walls, and the rafters in the ceiling, for stability. We also reinforced the interior joints with these brackets from Home Depot.
From the dimensions of a full size mattress (75”x54”), we added twelve inches to the length, for the bookshelf, as we determined the size. The actual platform for the mattress has an extra couple of inches around it to accommodate bedding and make changing sheets easier.
We knew we wanted to add the substantial step to the entrance of the alcove, so that determined the height of the platform. Our step is approx 12” high, and the mattress top is about 20” high. The mattress platform is about three inches lower than the main opening, so that the bedding tucks in out of site. Brittany’s idea to add a playful window to the end of the alcove turned out fantastic. The kids utilize it in so many ways. Daydreaming, climbing, hanging toys out of it, puppet shows, the whole bit. Plus, it added another side to add curtains to, making the interior view looking out quite the showstopper.
We used this ¾” plywood from Home Depot for the outside of the alcove and the platform for the bed.
For the trim at the bottom of the entrance and top of the window, we used a jigsaw to cut out the shape that Brittany designed on the faceplates, and then glued another two ¾” plywood pieces of the same shape to back them. They’re a substantial 2 1/4” thick. As you can see from the progress photos, there is wood filler in the cracks, and we took care to sand them nice and smooth, and round out the edges. We added a bit of definition trim to the exterior, and crown molding to the top of the frame. Also, beadboard to the interior ceiling and end walls, for added appeal. The supports for the shelf were bought at Lowes. You can find them here.
Building the step was fun. It’s built like a Mack Truck, and is not going anywhere, anytime soon. The frame is built from 2×4’s and covered with the same ¾” plywood. You’d be surprised how much it weighs! The boys are up and down it a dozen times a day, as expected.
A bit about finishing work. It took a full week to do the trim, add the interior beadboard, and sand smooth the whole bed. The end result is a piece of furniture that will not only stand the test of time, but has a great base for whatever future paint options may be coming its way. It’s important to do a base coat of oil based primer when you’re working with raw wood. This keeps the tannins from seeping through and discoloring the paint. We used this one here.
We used foam rollers for the paint, to keep the finish smooth. Our final coat of paint is California Hills by Benjamin Moore.
We used standard curtain rods on the inside as the last part of the construction.
The wallpaper mural inside is truly a magical touch. The whole room became the stuff of childhood dreams once it was installed.
Bedding and curtains from Spoonflower finished the transformation, making this corner of the room an inspirational place of comfort.

It’s worth mentioning, again, that all of this was done on timelines to meet shooting schedules of the production company for In With The Old. I laugh when I think about the late night painting and early morning wallpaper hanging we did, just for the show! Nothing like a deadline to keep the pace moving right along.

Would I do it all over again? One Hundred times yes. Even though my initial guess was about two weeks to make it, and it turned out to be five weeks, a house full of sawdust and some late nights!

Thank you, Pat, for sharing your wisdom with us. I’m waiting for your own show to come out ;).

A sunny nautical-inspired children’s bedroom

Brittany

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February 21, 2023

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A sunny nautical-inspired children’s bedroom

Perhaps unconsciously I’ve assigned colors to my children–yellow for Jasper and blue for Felix. They just sort of came out as time has gone by and I’ve gotten to know them–it’s one of the perks of being a designer I suppose. So when I imagined Jasper’s room I envisioned sunshine. I didn’t know how that was going to play out, but I knew I wanted some sort of built-in alcove bed for sure and it just kind of came out from there.

Thankfully, the room has quite a bit of room so we didn’t have to worry too much about the lack of space so all ideas were on the table.

Before photos of the bedroom

To remind you (from this post), here are some of the photos from before it became Jasper’s room. It’s been quite the journey in the short 2 years we’ve lived here.

This is a photo of the room on the day we first looked at the house. The owners were in the process of renovating the home so doors were being painted, window trim was getting installed. Flooring was non-existent.

As you saw from the show, we actually had Jasper in a different bedroom, the one right next to where he ended up. It’s basically a mirror of this one. Here are all the glamorous photos.

Please note the fancy black out paper shades we used as “temporary” window coverings.

These are the photos I provided to our production company when we were discussing the possibility of doing the show. Because again, I AM FANCY. In full transparency, I didn’t want to take the time to clean up because I assumed this whole thing wasn’t going to pan out.

As you can see, we were in the midst of doing a phase 1 renovation to his space and I was considering lots of wallpaper options (I LOVED these ones from Marie-Clare).

And his fancy tent to keep him in place! It worked until it didn’t.

Then we DIY’d this circus tent-inspired bed for like a Phase 1a design? Ha! I didn’t really have a plan but I got this idea for a shape and wanted to see it through.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the wall was Felix’s nursery, which then became Paul’s study, which then became a storage room while we worked on other rooms.

Jasper’s room transformation

Here it was in all its glory as Felix’s nursery.

And then as the dumping ground while we worked on other rooms.

Basically, because of the layout of the two rooms, we couldn’t put in an alcove bed in Jasper’s former room because the closet door was too close to the wall. The mattress would have blocked the door by a few inches. The adjoining room had a closet that fit better so we switched Paul’s office with Jasper’s room to remedy it.

Inspiration for alcove bed

I looked to a number of inspiration images for direction and ultimately I narrowed it down to these ones.

I had reached out to a number of people to see if they could make the bed for me, but our timeline was so tight and people were so backed up with work that it wasn’t looking feasible. Finally, Handy Nanny Pat stepped in and said “I can figure it out.”

And that’s just what she did, folks. She found something like this photo, which, to me, looks way easier than it probably is. But thankfully for me, it got her to say yes!

Constructing the alcove bed

I’m going to talk all about the actual construction of the bed tomorrow, but here’s one photo to give you some insight into the process.

Nautical Mural in alcove bed

Once the bed was starting to take shape, Paul had the idea to put a mural in it. It hadn’t occurred to me and I loved the idea so I set off finding the perfect one. I found so many amazing options but ultimately narrowed it down to this nautical themed one from Rebel Walls, a Swedish mural and wallpaper company.

It was absolutely perfect. And the best part is that you can put in the dimensions and the artwork can adjust to it. We cropped in on the best part of the mural and I love how it turned out. It adds so much character to the room.

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I don’t really love a super obvious theme or one that goes too hard, but I loved how this was working out and decided to add in some nautical touches here and there to tie it in. And turns out I already had quite a few things that tied in perfectly. I love a kismet moment.

Wallpaper

For example, I chose a star patterned wallpaper by Danika Herrick on Spoonflower. I thought it was subtle enough but also pretty fun. PLUS, she was able to change the color to brown because I love how yellow plays with brown.

Spoonflower

In fact, all the patterns you see in this space are from Spoonflower. We’ve worked with Spoonflower a ton in the past and they have become such a wonderful partner and I’ve become familiar with some really amazing options. I know it can seem overwhelming to choose from their vast collection, but if you know how to search you can find some great ones.

Gingham curtains

Included in that are the goldenrod gingham curtains. I’ve always loved the feel of gingham to reflect that of a Swedish interiors and wanted to get it in somehow. Meta Coleman had introduced me to a beautiful woven gingham that would be perfect but I knew I couldn’t get it in time, so I turned to Spoonflower once again. They make ready made curtain panels, but I actually used a sheet on these and thankfully there was enough!

I also used Spoonflower for the subtle yellow stripe sheet set as seen here and the gingham Euro shams. I collected loads of options for Jasper’s room to help me inform my decisions. If you’re interested, you can see all of them here.

Pat put in a bookcase into the inside of the bed, which is an amazing feature for a book lover like Jasper. It really is so practical and cozy and more “scope for the imagination” a la Anne Shirley.

Funky Dresser

I had spotted this dresser at an antique shop in Salt Lake, loved it immediately, and knew it would be perfect for this space in between the windows.

Felix loved it too so I took it as a sign.

The details are all a bit weird and I love that about it.

Personal details throughout

We tucked in a lot of personal details into the space too, which add so much meaning.

For example, this rack below was one that my mom had in her shop in the 90s. It was made by my uncle. He made French country furniture and she sold it in her shop in Corona del Mar. It was called En Provence and it was the most beautiful shop in the entire world. I dream about it.

I REALLY wanted this lamp that you see in this mock up below. It’s vintage from the 50s by Audoux-Minet. It was more than I wanted to pay and I was hoping that they’d accept my lower offer, but no go. I will still dream about it. Maybe one day I’ll find something similar in that French rope style. Or maybe DIY it!

In the meantime, I used a rice paper lantern from here. I love the oversized scale of it.

Rugs

I looked at a LOT of rug options to go in the space and really had my eye on this one, but didn’t want to spend that much. I ended up using the rug that he already had in his room and it worked great. It’s no longer in stock at Annie Selke, but while I was looking I saved a bunch of amazing options here so if you’re looking for something similar, there are tons to choose from.

I added in some funny details like this hand door knob. I had originally bought it for my book, Craft the Rainbow, and finally got to use it in real life.

But warning: I had to take out the hand knob because my kids kept on hitting their heads on it and it ruined the wall in the closet. Ha! The wall is a mess!

There’s a hook for all of his costumes. It’s high, but he figures out how to get up there being the climber that he is.

Nautical Decor

I bought a few things off of Etsy to bring in the nautical theme a bit more like some plates and artwork. I even made a whole Etsy collection so I could keep track of everything. If you’re interested here’s the list.

Peek a boo window

One of my favorite parts of the built-in bed is the side window. I definitely wanted a window on the side because we put in a full-size bed and the windows are to the side of the bed and it would have been so dark with no window. It’s perfect for puppet shows!

Window Coverings

We were planning out our partnership with Blinds.com at this time and I didn’t know what I would want so in the mean time, I ordered these balloon curtains and installed these tensions rods in antique brass. I wish I would have done this right when we moved in rather than the temporary paper shades that made me feel like we were living in a shack. The tension rods don’t ruin the walls and they look great.

Cordless wood blinds

You can see the cordless wood blinds that we put in afterward. I love them so much! We got the ones in Montego Bark.

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And here I had a little too much fun:

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This globe below was given to me by my grandmother. It fits in perfectly!

Colors we used

For the bed, I was super inspired by this cabinet below and set out to find something similar. After testing out a lot of Benjamin Moore colors, I settled on California Hills and made it 50% lighter. I think the colors in the photograph might make it seem a bit more golden than it actually is and I think it is pretty close to the photo below.

For the window trim, I used a contrasting green color from, what do you know, the Magnolia line. It’s called Well-Watered.

I left the bed pretty plain, just the solid color you see, but I’m considering adding more to it. Maybe a contrasting detail here and there. Maybe some decorative trim work on the side against the wall–TBD!

Ok! I think that’s it for now. If I’m missing anything, let me know! Happy to answer your questions!

Resources:

*gifted items

Carved flower balusters

Brittany

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February 16, 2023

0

Carved flower balusters

If you haven’t read about the Scandinavian folk-inspired staircase yet, I recommend you starting there first before digging into this post so you can see how everything came together.

Ok, now that you’ve read up 😉 I want to tell you all about the magic of these carved flower balusters.

It started when I was trying to think of something unique I could do for the balusters. I mean, if you could do ANYTHING to reflect your personality in your home, what would YOU do?! It opens up a new world, no?!

Since I wanted to bring in a lot of Scandinavian folk-inspired elements, I looked for a lot of flat sawn baluster inspiration and there’s a lot of goodies out there.

Baluster shape inspiration

Flat sawn balusters are just like how they sound–they are wood cut with a saw in a fun shape. They were oftentimes used for porches during the Victorian times, but were also found in Scandinavia, which is where I drew my inspiration. Here’s a few that I considered.

I started to narrow in on the above shapes, specifically the middle one. I liked the natural wood and how it would tone done the rest of the patterns and colors that I planned on using around the house (still TBD!).

Finding the right shape

Let me start out by saying that getting the right shape was not as simple as I was hoping. I did it old school by drawing it then coming up with a mock up in paper then cardboard.

And I didn’t love it. It was way too “hippy” and not in the 60s way, but more in a woman’s figure way?

Carrie on the team then put it into Illustrator and worked it out based on the sketch I made so it was much more acccurate–thank you Carrie!

Then we printed it off as an engineer print at Staples and brought that into Tanner’s, my brother in law, workshop where we cut out the shape. You can see all of this on the show. He was so so so helpful.

You can read all about this process of cutting out the shapes on this post, but suffice it to say, it was a much bigger process than we all expected. Tanner brought in Quinn Peterson, to help him cut them out and soon things were rolling.

So pretty all laid out.

This got me super excited.

Decorative balusters

As for the actual decorative carving on the balusters, I recalled some previous inspiration from one of my favorite artist/illustrators, Nathalie L’été. She designed these gorgeous wood chairs in the middle below and I think someone else carved them for her. They’ve been on my inspiration board for years. I wanted to figure out how I could combine the idea of a carved flower into a baluster.

It hit me when my friend, Jill DeHaan posted the image on the right on her Instagram. She was the perfect person to bring on this project! She’s all the best things wrapped into one– an incredible designer, illustrator, artist, and wood carver. She’s got talent oozing out of her pores.

I broached the idea and I think she must have sensed my enthusiasm because she was on board from the get go. I sent her the inspiration above with some sketches I had made.

And then she came back with her own with plenty of options, which you can see here. Notice the top design and bottom designs that I got to pick from.

I decided to go with the three dots at the top and this for the bottom:

But they were all so good and hard to choose from. What would you have done?!

Birth month flowers

As you saw in the show, I chose flowers based on our birth months and their symbols because I wanted to tie in something personal.

snowdrop for January for Jasper
marigold for October for Paul
June for me and Patty Sessions, my ancestor who we dedicated the house and show to
Narcissus for December for Felix
Poppy because I liked it 😉
Tulip because I liked it 🙂

Staining the wood

When I received the balusters in person, I realized that the carved ones were going to be much thicker than the plain ones we were also using. I got nervous that they would really stand out so I had a local carver, Jessica Adams, come in and take down some of the thickness of it.

Jessica also stained them for me. She used a method of setting them by the fire so they would soak in the feed and wax and they came out very dark.

In fact, so dark that I got nervous about how they would play with the wood of the stairs. I talk more about that in this post.

However, I found out that over time they really lighten up. In fact, right now they are so light that it kind of seems like they weren’t stained at all. I’m considering trying out a different technique or maybe doing another onto them.

Staining them a color?

Jill recently shared on her Instagram how she stained another project in a bright red and this really got my wheel turning. Could you imagine?! I’d have to hold off on making this decision until I thought through the rest of the space, but you better believe that it’s on my mind.

Newel post

Before I share the final photos I want to share a bit about the newel post. The newel post is the post at the bottom of the stairs that is oftentimes more stately than the rest. Based on my inspiration, I was more attracted to something simple. Tanner and Quinn once again pulled through and made it happen. In hind sight, I may have taken the width to something a bit smaller, but I still love it!

I love the slight indentation on the sides which creates a slightly less boxy feel.

Floral carved balusters

Ok! Here are the final photos. I could share them for days, and I just might 😉

Well, there you go! Every single detail you could ever ask for (probably more ;). Jill did such an amazing job as did Tanner and Quinn. It was the biggest labor of love and I am so grateful for everyone who contributed to it. It’s really so remarkable. I can’t wait to finish off all the other spaces so they can really shine like they were meant to!

Let me know what you think!

Before and afters of our home renovation

Brittany

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February 1, 2023

4

Before and afters of our home renovation

There’s so much to say about the experience of doing a TV show not to mention the experiencing of renovating and the natural conflicts of each. I’ll get to all of that eventually, BUT, we are going to start with the specific rooms we worked on and some basic info about each one along with all the before and afters of our home renovation.

Like I mentioned, I’ll be addressing each room in greater depth in subsequent posts along with our experience of working on the show. I’ll also get into more detail about some of the themes we talk about on the show. If you have anything you’d like me to address, please let me know! I’m doing a Q and A on Instagram tomorrow so if you have specific questions, find me there!

Specs:

Built in 1992
4550 sq foot
Federalist Revival home
8 bedrooms/5 bathrooms
.25 acres (I think? Ha! Can’t remember)

Details:

We filmed from February 2022 – July 2022
We moved in September of 2020

Brittany and Paul’s Checklist:

Exterior. Improve the exterior with a Scandinavian-inspired plaster-effect to cover the brick and new landscaping
Kitchen. Take our phase 1 kitchen to the next level by honoring Paul’s Scandinavian background and my family history
Bedroom. Make a cozy Scandinavian folk-inspired bedroom for Jasper, my 4 year old son
Staircase. Add a nod to my family history and our Scandinavian roots with a new staircase
Kitchenette. Create a whimsical kitchenette to our studio in the basement

The exterior

First up, the exterior. It was actually the last thing we worked on and possibly the most intensive, although that is very debatable depending on who you ask. To be honest, I wasn’t sure we were going to do anything at all to it because it was too much for my overwhelmed brain to handle with so many other big things going on (and that’s including running a business and two kids). Here’s what we started with:

Before and afters of the exterior renovation

Door makeover

In the fall of 2021 we gave the front door a little makeover (you can see the full post here–it didn’t go according to plan ;/), which you can see here (still my favorite fall display to date!).

The exterior plan

The house is stately but plain and I’d like it to be more true to the historical style of a Federalist Revival home although we are still considering taking it in a more Danish or English direction–still haven’t decided. In my dream world and budget, I would be doing SO much more to the exterior including raising the pitch of the roof along with a new roof, adding dormer windows, replacing the windows, adding in a portico, new lighting, a new garage door, a beautiful garden, but we had to go with what we had time and budget for, which was the following:

Paint the facade
Switch out the address numbers
Add in some more landscaping to the front and walkway
Expand the width of the walkway
New mailbox

After photos of the exterior of our house

Ta da! Of course, these photos represent so much more than a simple ta-da, but a ta-da will have to do for now until I go into more detail about it.

Landscaping for our drought conditions

Utah is a desert climate and we’re in a huge drought so I chose a landscaping plan that was more drought tolerant than what we currently have. The house had existing grass and the existing sycamore trees and some fir and apple trees in the back. While we’d eventually like to move away from grass because it requires so much water (SO MUCH WATER!!!), we had to work with it for now until we can do more with it at some point. We worked with Monrovia on the new plan and they were wonderful! I’ll get to what we did and how we came up with our plan in a follow-up post about our garden (you can read this post for now!)

Painting our red brick white

I’m going to guess that painting our brick house might be controversial choice. As you might see in your own city, it is super trendy right now to go white because of the Farmhouse trend though it is not why we chose it. I certainly think there can be beauty in red brick, but our red/yellow brick was 90s, not historic, and had funny “worms” in them as –a funny added texture probably made with nails or something. The colors weren’t great (but maybe they photograph ok?). We really wanted to take it in a more old Danish or even old English direction.

We found this great German company that has a US presence called Keim. They make mineral silicate paint that is meant for masonry. We also used their amazing primer that has a rough texture to it that gives a very authentic European feel. I’m in LOVE with it. Again, I’ll do a follow-up post about it along with a tutorial. I’ve already received many people asking about the product who see it in person.

The Kitchen

Ok! Onto the kitchen, which you can read about it more detail here. I had already begun a direction on the kitchen before we agreed to do the show so I decided to keep on going with it even though I knew there could be problems with the supply chain (spoiler: there was!).

Here’s what the kitchen was like when we first moved into the house. The kitchen is everything past the doors on the left and right side.

Before photos of the kitchen

If it wasn’t obvious: there was no kitchen. FUN!!!!!! (sarcasm).

Phase 1 kitchen

We put in a VERY basic kitchen when we moved in so we could take our time on the design afterwards. The previous owners had left a refrigerator and oven range in the garage so we had our basic needs met there. We put in unfinished wood lower cabinets from Home Depot and two Ikea islands together and voila! Ha! You can read more about this phase 1 kitchen here. I didn’t ever bother finishing it up because I was hoping to get to Phase 2 pretty quickly.

At one point we painted the cabinets to add a little bit more interest.

But as you can see, we didn’t even finish!

The Kitchen Plan

I wanted our kitchen to have an old world quality to it–like it was original to an old European kitchen, but also have color and a nod to our Scandinavian heritage. Here’s what we set out to do to achieve that:

Replace the cabinets
New appliances
New lighting
More storage
Make it a gathering place

After photos of our Kitchen

Here it is!

We worked with Cliq Studios on the cabinets. I wanted it to feel like a it was working kitchen in a stately manor so we planned on utilizing the whole room by placing cabinets on each wall. We took advantage of the window wall by placing a floor to ceiling pantry, a bench, and some desk top drawers. I love how it feels like it uses the full space completely while also maintaining sufficient room for passing into the next rooms, which are the laundry and pantry and access to the garage.

With another budget and time, I would want to switch the whole kitchen layout around by placing the sink by the window, but I wasn’t ready to spend the additional money so we worked with the existing layout.

Custom work table by Beck and Cap

Do you see that amazing work table/kitchen island? Oh, it’s a beauty! We worked with Janna and Tanner of Beck and Cap on it and it’s unbelievable. It’s completely custom and they are a dream to work with. They even surprised us with that wood carving on the end as a nod to our Scandinavian heritage! More details about that soon along with an interview with this powerhouse duo.

Bringing in antique items

My friend, Meta Coleman is an amazing interior designer and friend (you can read more about her here and here). I consulted with her on our kitchen and she found some old pieces for us to use in our kitchen like this plate rack, which I think ties in that Old World quality we were going for.

We worked with Signature Hardware on the beautiful polished brass faucet, clay farmhouse sink, and hardware and I love them all! I’ll be talking more about it all soon!

We also worked with Forte on a panel-ready dishwasher. I thought the price point is great for panel-ready and it works great!

Kitchen refrigerator to look like an old cabinet

Meta also gave me the idea to transform a panel-ready fridge into an old Scandinavian wedding cabinet. And you’ll never guess who built it…OUR NANNY! Pat becomes Handy Nanny on the show and saves the day multiple times. She built this by herself–she’s incredible. I’ll be talking a lot about her!

Wood kitchen hood

I was looking for a ready made hood and I found a great company that ONLY does hoods called Hoodsly. They just happened to have the perfect size hood for our space in stock, which was so so helpful. I love the sloped shape and how it tones down the wallpaper. I think we might be doing a glow-up to it soon so stay tuned!

Kitchen tile/wallpaper

The kitchen wallpaper/tile situation was a major situation. It went through various plans, but ultimately I had to go with something that I could get done in the short amount of time that we had. I originally wanted a custom tile, but that turned into a lot of money AND time and plus the sample came back not as expected.

I ended up finding an antique tile I loved from Portugal. Jane took a picture of it and Garet turned it into a wallpaper on Spoonflower. It’s got a sheen on it which makes it easy to clean up as a backsplash.

Marble Countertops

However, before the tile/wallpaper was settled on, I had already chosen the veiny marble countertops. I don’t like the way the two work together, but there was no time to change either of them so here they are with plans for a different blacksplash.

Vintage lighting

Meta is a big proponent of vintage lighting for its uniqueness and patina. She directed us to these beautiful French opaline fixtures, which are dainty and gorgeous. I got mine from here, but you have to check back to see what she has in stock.

Antique Looking Kitchen Appliances

We had a great 48″ oven range before our renovation, but I knew we didn’t need something so big and commercial. Instead, I wanted something that would feel and look antique. We worked with Ilve on a duel oven range. The Graphite Matte was in stock so that’s the one we went with in order to make sure we got it in time. But even though we did it out of necessity, I still would have chosen it (a la Claude Monet’s oven range!). It’s a beauty with all those brass details and we love how it works.

Notes:

You will probably notice some things ostensibly missing like hardware on the cabinets and that’s because I’m planning on changing a few things and I didn’t want to drill holes into the cabinets before I knew what handles I was going to use. More soon!

In another budget and time, I would want to switch the whole kitchen around completely by placing the sink by the window, but I wasn’t ready to spend that so we worked with the existing layout.

If you want to read more about the kitchen, you can read about it here.

Jasper’s Bedroom

Moving onto Jasper’s bedroom. It’s so funny because as I type I’m remembering all the drama for each room and it’s giving me a bit of PTSD…Thankfully now I only remember the end results!

This is what Jasper’s room looked like when we moved in. Much like the rest of the rooms, right? Nothing in it!

Before photos of Jasper’s Bedroom

A game of Musical Chairs

The secret is that Jasper’s room was actually in the room next door but because of where the closet door was situated, the bed we had in mind wouldn’t fit so we had to switch rooms with Paul’s office. A few months prior, we had made him this upholstered circus-inspired bed, which I still love, but you can see it was completely white.

Paul’s office on the other hand, had already acted as Felix’s nursery so it was painted green. This is the room that we were moving Jasper’s bedroom into.

Jasper’s bedroom plan

Switch Paul’s office and Jasper’s bedroom
Build a built-in Scandinavian-inspired bed
Wallpaper the room and paint
Replace lighting

After photos of Jasper’s Bedroom

Honestly, this is my favorite room in the house right now. I nap in it 100% of the time when I can and will continue to do so. It’s THE coziest place in the whole world. We may start renting it out ;).

Wanna hear another secret? Handy Nanny Pat strikes again on the bed! Now, mind you, I was actively seeking people out to make these custom projects for me, but there was a labor shortage in construction (not sure if there still is because I have taken a LONG break from all home projects) and I couldn’t find anyone in the time frame that I needed. Pat took a look at it and said “I can do it”. Ha! Honestly, I didn’t even doubt it even though she hadn’t made anything like it before.

Custom built-in niche bed

It turned out to be a more intense project than we were both anticipating (6 weeks!) but she completely NAILED it! She even created that adorable puppet-theater style side window along with the custom details because she is from another planet–unreal.

Built in bedroom furniture

I found a wood bench on Facebook Marketplace that we painted the same color so it felt like it was built-in too. We added on a pad with this fabric from Spoonflower. It was perfect for the maritime theme that we settled on.

I found this drawer at an antique warehouse in Salt Lake City and I love how beautiful that wood if not a little bit weird with the adornment.

Wallpaper and fabrics

We worked with Spoonflower on ALL the wallpaper and fabrics in Jasper’s room and I’m in love with it all! The wallpaper is by Danika Herrick, who was kind enough to put her star design into a new color for me (that’s one good bonus to Spoonflower–a lot of artists will take on custom work!).

Custom curtains for the bed

I wanted the bed to have a Swedish quality and a big gingham brought some whimsy and fulfilled the job. Meta had introduced me to a similar woven but it was going to cost me thousands of dollars. I ended up finding a very similar color and size on Spoonflower, hallelujah so Carrie on our team DIY’d some curtains.

I also found some sheets and a duvet cover in a similar color in a small stripe on Spoonflower, which I thought was nice, though I’m considering switching everything out for the same large yellow plaid.

Mural in a built-in Bed

NOW, let’s talk about that mural, huh? This was Paul’s idea! He thought it would be cool to add one in and I’m so glad he thought of it. I knew exactly where to turn to–Rebel Walls. They are a Swedish company that has a ton of kind of wild wallpapers and murals. I found this one called Safe Haven, which was perfect and added in a deepness to it. I love that it took it in a maritime direction. More about that soon!

The staircase

Before we ever bought our house, we dreamed about owning it. We would walk by it on walks and I’d dream about what I’d do to it. After awhile I realized that it was vacant so I snapped some pictures from the window. This is what the staircase looked like before we bought it.

And this is what it looked like once we bought it.

Removing the banister

The banister was removed once we replaced the flooring but I didn’t know what direction I was taking the rest of the house at the time so I didn’t immediately put one in. I knew it was a big hazard for my 2 year old, but somehow, thankfully, we never had a problem with it. Once Felix started crawling we had to act FAST and it coincided with the timing of the show.

We had worked with Stuga on all the wood floors, which you can read about here. We have loved them!

The Staircase Plan

Add in a banister
Add some Scandinavian folk personality!

After photos of the staircase

Add this to my list of projects that I make as complicated as possible. Ha! But I LOVE the heart that went into it. You can see it all on the show, but it really was a labor of love with so many people involved.

Flat Sawn Balusters

I went with traditional flat sawn balusters. The problem was, to my knowledge, you can’t just buy them anywhere, at least not in the shape I wanted. So, my generous and talented brother-in-law, Tanner Boyes of Specter Design, took on the project. He worked with his good friend Quinn Peterson, who is also very handy and talented. Together they cut out all the shapes and made the newel posts. I’ll talk more about this process in a follow-up post.

But I wanted something a bit more to go with the shape. Cue Jill DeHaan, an amazing artist and illustrator. I noticed some of the wood carvings she was doing on her Instagram and I knew it was the perfect way to add more meaning and depth into our home. I LOVE how they turned out. Again, more about that soon! There’s a lot to tell!

The office kitchenette

The kitchenette in the basement for my office was one room that didn’t make it into the edit. Actually, we filmed a whole storyline about my team and some projects we were working on that didn’t make it into the edit, which I’m disappointed about, but I’ll tell you anyway!

Besides putting epoxy on the floors and dressing up one room with wallpaper, we hadn’t done too much to the office in the basement. I was getting antsy to make the space totally Lars. I started with the kitchenette because everyone really needed a place to put their food.

Before photos of the kitchenette of our home renovation

Here are some of the before photos of the kitchenette. It’s a three walled space about 8′ wide that you pass by like a hallway into the main crafting room.

Please notice the lovely lighting 😉

The kitchenette plan

Add in a kitchenette–sink, fridge, counter, no dishwasher needed
Add in shelves to store our props
Add in a backsplash
Add in seating
Replace lighting

After photos of the office kitchenette

Modern kitchen cabinets

I LOVE how the kitchenette turned out! I was inspired by a retro frosted layered cake with piped icing but in a more modern, playful way. Once again, we worked with Cliq Studios on the cabinets in a more modern silhouette. I didn’t add in hardware because I was hoping to create our own hardware, but I couldn’t get it done in time ;).

Frosting-inspired tile

We worked with Fireclay Tile to create the frosting-inspired tiled backsplash and added in some frosting/scalloped shelves to complete the look. My friends Julia and Evelyn Bigelow made the matching cake–are you kidding me/! So cute!

Kitchen accessories

We worked with Signature Hardware on the brass bar faucet, which I adore, along with the sink.

Sitting area

We didn’t get time for the custom bench that I was hoping to put on the opposite wall so we added in some chairs and table for the time being, but I’m hoping to do it soon!

Before and Afters of our home renovation

OK! That’s all the before and afters of our our home renovation. Like I mentioned, I’ll be sharing more detailed posts of each room so hopefully that will answer some questions, but in the meantime, feel free to leave your questions in the comments section. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Sources

Exterior: Masonry Primer and paint from Keim-USA, address numbers from Drop Cap Studio, all landscaping from Monrovia

Kitchen: Cliq Studios for cabinets, Tile wallpaper from our wallpaper shop, Ilve USA oven range in graphite and brass, Hood from Hoodsly, Dishwasher by Forte, Fridge by Fisher Paykel, bench cushion fabric from Spoonflower, calacatta viola countertops, sconces from Shiny Things London, Work table by Beck and Cap, Faucet from Signature Hardware, sink from Signature Hardware, fridge hardware from Signature Hardware

Jasper’s Bedroom: Star wallpaper from Spoonflower, Blue Paint, Yellow Paint is Benjamin Moore, bed duvet and sheets from Spoonflower, Yellow check curtains from Spoonflower, Mattress, bench fabric from Spoonflower, Mural wallpaper from Rebel Walls , Citra rug from Dash and Albert

Staircase: Floral wallpaper from Sandberg Wallpaper, staircase runner from Textile Trunk, paint by Benjamin Moore

Kitchenette: Cliq Studios for cabinets, faucet and sink from Signature Hardware, tile from Fireclay Tile, Scallop trim, crown moulding, pink dishes from Year and Day

Other spaces of the other spaces

You can read about the kitchen here
You can read more about our antique-inspired oven range here
Read more about the kitchen hood here

In With the Old is on Magnolia Network available to stream on Discovery+ or HBO Max.

DIY headboard

Brittany

-

November 30, 2021

0

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A post shared by The House that Lars Built-DIY (@houselarsbuilt)

Jasper’s New Bed

First, I have to say that this was more of an undertaking than I had anticipated, and I definitely can’t take all the credit. I had a lot of help from the amazing members of team Lars. Carrie, our designer/maker, and Hailey, our project manager, both took on the challenge to design and sew the bedskirt and duvet cover, and I was thrilled with the result. A special shout out also goes out to my brother in law, Tanner, for helping me tackle the challenge of that tricky, atypical headboard and doing such a splendid job.

It’s amazing what a good bedspread and headboard will do to spruce up a room and make it feel complete. The decision to cover the headboard, duvet, and underside of the bed was definitely driven by the desire to have something distinctive, loud and eye-catching, but also appropriate for a child’s bedroom. It needed to feel cozy, fun, and warm, and the cabana stripe did just the trick for Jasper’s new bed!

I had been challenged by Waverly Fabrics to make something from their collection at Walmart and it was so easy because they have a wonderful collection of stripes and toiles. It was just hard to narrow it down! AND, the fabric is $3.99/yard so all the fabric for the headboard, duvet, and bedskirt cost less than $60! The plywood cost about the same price (lumber right now, amiright?! With the foam, bias tape, and batting it came to about $150 total for everything.

How to recreate Jasper’s new DIY headboard

We had so much fun designing Jasper’s DIY headboard. It was hard to narrow it down! I knew I wanted something I had never seen before so Gwen sketched out a bunch of designs. She sketched one out and that was it–a circus tent-inspired shape that paired SO perfectly with the fun, striped, cabana fabric we chose. With some patience and a little effort, we feel totally confident in your ability to make this children’s bedspread work! The trick is accurate measurements. Let’s do this!

Prepping the materials for a DIY Headboard

Fabric

Pre-wash the fabric you’ll be using for the duvet cover. It’s probably not necessary to wash the headboard fabric, as you won’t really be removing it later to wash it again, anyway. You can decide if you want to pre-wash the bedskirt fabric, but it’s probably not the end of the world if you don’t.
After the fabric is washed in warm water and dried on a low heat setting in the dryer, iron or steam out the wrinkles. This makes the measuring process much easier. Don’t forget to get the wrinkles out of the fabric you didn’t pre-wash!

DIY headboard

If you’re not familiar with upholstery, this might be the trickiest part of recreating Jasper’s new bed, but you can do it! We’ll walk you through it.

Prepping the understructure

First, use butcher paper to make a template for your headboard. Use the mattress and bed frame as a reference so you get the dimensions right.

Using a jigsaw or handheld router, take your piece of plywood and cut out your desired shape for the headboard. The full width of the headboard should be the same width as the short side of your bed.
Cut out the thick foam piece (it’s a camping foam from Home Depot) into the same shape as the plywood. The bottom of the foam should rest right above the mattress when set up right.
Using quilting batting, wrap the portion of the headboard with the foam and secure with a few staples. Make sure to extend the batting all the way under the foam. We slip stitched it to the foam.

Prepping the fabric for the DIY headboard

Measure the dimensions of the cut-out, batting-wrapped headboard. You’ll need four sections of fabric: one for the front (this piece will extend from the top of the mattress all the way to the top), one for the thin middle section between front and back, one for the back, and one for the bottom front section below the mattress.
In your dimensions, make sure to add 1/2 in (or desired amount) of seam allowances to all three sections of fabric.
Now, with your desired color of bias tape (we used a periwinkle blue), make piping to line the front and back edges of the headboard. To do this, take your cord (1/8″ wide is good), and wrap it into the center of the bias tape, wrong sides together.
Sew along the open edge with a zipper foot so you can get nice and close the the cord.
Next, align the front piece of fabric with the middle section’s fabric, right sides together. As you pin, carefully align the edge of the piping (the edge without the cord) with the edges of the fabric sections, slipping the piping between the two pieces of fabric as you go. Sew in place with a zipper foot, trying to keep as close to the cord as you can.

Assembling the headboard

Now you’re ready to put everything in place!

To make sure everything is aligned right, line up the point of the fabric with the understructure.
At the base of the batting on the headboard, staple the fabric in place, making sure to pull it taut.

3. Now, pull up firmly and slide the sewn pieces over the front edge of the headboard and pull them towards the back so the corners are nice and taut against the frame.

4. Pull taut at the back and staple in place. Work from both sides and the center evenly to avoid puckering.

5. Now, take the piece of fabric you measured for the back and fold under 1/2 inch. Now line up with the edge of the back and staple in place to cover the raw edges of the front pieces.

6. The headboard is complete! Whew, the hardest part of Jasper’s new bed is done!

Sewing a bedskirt

Taking the measurements

For the bedskirt on Jasper’s new bed, you’ll want to start with measurements. The measurements you’ll use will depend on the size of bed you have, and whether or not you have a box spring. Here’s what you need to do:

Measure the length, width, and height of your bed frame. If you have a box spring, include the height of the box spring in the total height measurement of the bed frame. For example, if your bed frame is 12 inches tall, and the box spring is 7 inches tall, the total height you’d need would be 19 inches. We didn’t use a box spring, so our dimensions were 12 inches for the height, 74 inches for the length, and 38 inches for the width.

Cutting the fabric

For the fabric, you’ll need a basic, white (or other solid color that won’t show), woven fabric. You’ll also need the patterned fabric of your choice for the bedskirt, duvet and headboard. Here’s how to cut the fabric:

First, take the plain fabric and cut it into the length and width of your twin bed. Add on 1/2 of an inch to each dimension. For example, since our length was 74 inches and our width 38 inches, we cut a large piece that was 75 inches by 39 inches.
Next, cut out your bedskirt pieces. This takes a bit of thinking, especially if the pattern on your fabric needs to go a certain direction, like our vertical stripes. To cut out the bedskirt, think of it this way: you need one long piece of fabric that has a width of 13 (the height of the bed frame, 12, plus a seam allowance). For the length, you’ll need a piece that’s the length of three of the sides of the bed (74+38+74=186). You’ll also need to add in the length of four pleats, which are 12 inches each (12×4), then (186+48=234). Then add 1 inch to each end, so you can hem it under. The total length=236 inches.
Now, because we wanted vertical stripes on Jasper’s new bed, we pieced together a bunch of pieces of fabric to get that length (the width of the fabric was definitely not long enough). It will look pretty seamless if you just match up the stripes, making sure to alternate stripe colors when you sew on a new section of fabric.

Assembling the pleats

the first step in sewing the pieces together is to hem the bottom of the long strip of fabric you’ve already sewn together (roll under 1/2 in, then 1/2 again).
Hem one end of the large, rectangular piece of fabric. (Again, roll under 1/2 in, then 1/2 again).
Next, you need to pin the pleats in place. To do this, start from one end of the long strip of fabric and measure in HALF the length of the long dimension (74/2=37). Mark that spot with a pin. Now, keep going in that same direction and measure 6 more inches. Mark that with a pin, then measure 6 more inches and mark that.
Now, take the two pins on either side and bring them to the center pin to make the pleat. Secure the pleat in place with additional pins.
Repeat the steps above for the pleat on the opposite end.
For the corner and center pleats, simply calculate how far over the next pleats need to be, based on your bed’s dimensions. Pin them in place the same way you did the first two pleats.

Sewing the pieces together

You’re finally ready to sew the pieces together! This is really simple:

To sew the pieces together, line up the raw edge of the long, pleated strip of fabric with the large rectangular piece of fabric all along the border, with right sides together. Sew in place, and finish the raw edge of the underside with a zig zag or serged finish to prevent fraying.
Done! Now you can go ahead and slip this bedskirt on the bed between the bed frame/box spring and mattress.

DIY duvet cover

The duvet cover is the finishing touch of the bedspread that really gives it the oo la la! It also happens to be the easiest to make, which is a big relief after that headboard and bedskirt! Here’s how to make a simple duvet cover:

Taking the measurements

Make sure you have the right size of duvet, then base the length and width off of its dimensions. Our duvet was a standard twin, which was 66″x 86″.
Leave these dimensions as they are, rather than adding on additional seam allowances. This will make the duvet fit nice and snugly inside of the cover, for a nice, full appearance.

Cutting the fabric

If you have custom fabric that’s extra wide or made for bedding, you’re in luck! You’ll just need two, big pieces that are both 66″x 88″ (leaving room for extra hems at the bottom, so you can slip the duvet inside).
If your fabric is like ours was, and is more of a standard width (ours was 44″), you’ll simply need to sew it together to make it wider. Ours has a very subtle seam in the middle that’s hidden because the seam is exactly in line with the stripes.
Once you have your two pieces cut, you’ll prep them for the rest of the sewing by hemming one short side of each piece.
Now you’re ready to sew it together!

Sewing the pieces together

Now, simply line up the edges, both hemmed sides matching up and right sides together, and sew around the three, un-hemmed sides. Backstitch at each end for extra strength.
To finish the seams, zig zag or serge the edge to prevent fraying.
If you’d like to, you can add a few buttonholes and buttons to the open end to keep it closed once the duvet is inside.
The last step is to simply arrange everything and make the bed. Voila!

This bedspread is so cozy and perfect for Jasper’s bedroom, it was totally worth the time and effort it took! We are in love with Jasper’s new bed. We can’t wait to see what you do in your kids’ rooms!

More inspiration

Did you love this tutorial featuring Jasper’s new bed? You’ll probably love these, as well: Felix’s new nursery, our new closet system, before and after master bedroom, and designing our main bathroom.

We’ve got more plans for his bedroom. Stay tuned!

Our new closet system

Brittany

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November 11, 2021

3

Closet Design

Once again, I worked with my friend, interior designer Meta Coleman, on the main closet system. The closet is an extension of the bathroom so it was important that they flow well together, but they didn’t have to match exactly. That’s how I roll, flows but not too perfect. Perfection is boring!

The closet is a walk in, but not too big so it just needed a bit of paint, a rug, and a chandelier, but you can make a big impact with just those things. But first, the before pictures.

Before pictures of our closet system

As you can see, the room was totally fine. Basic storage with those long shelves, rods. Basic. It was going to serve the function well. Meta came in with the idea to draw from the colors of the bathroom. I wanted a pink peach because I had read somewhere that Jackie O always painted her bathrooms a peach to reflect well on her skin.

Trying out paint colors for the closet

Meta tried out a number of pinks and we held them up in different lighting. we tried it on a foam board and then directly on the walls themselves.

Meta is so good with color that a lot of them are custom colors that she came up with. She also picked out a perfect refreshing green for the window trim. I love it. and it looks so good with the wallpaper from the bathroom.

I got to painting the closet walls the pink and the shelves the green and love how it looked. This was taken at night so the lighting is funky, but hopefully you can get it.

Change of plans

But then, Modular Closets reached out and asked if we wanted to work together on a closet and I said “STOP EVERYTHING!” and stop is just what we did. They make customizable closet solutions. They even have a design system that you can use yourself to pick out what you want and I spent a good deal of time coming up with different solutions. It was right before I gave birth so I was in a frenzied nesting mode!

We immediately tore out the existing shelving.

Repairing the walls

We ripped out the shelves to prep for it and had to repair the dry wall that was removed. I had hired someone to install it thinking it was outside of my skill level, but then we got COVID in July and after so much time staying indoors I got desperate and spent my nights putting them pieces together and putting them up MYSELF! Paul held them in place, but I did everything else and honestly, I feel like I can do any home improvement project. It’s absolutely not true but try and stop me!

Types of closet space for our closet system

When evaluating what type of storage we needed I jotted down what I owned and what I anticipated owning. I wear only dresses so I asked for mostly full length units. I also don’t want to have a dresser in my room so I wanted some drawers so I can put everything away. Modular Closets came up with some different arrangements for me and the process was great. There was one small thing they didn’t send and after a short chat with customer service they sent it right over. Such a breeze!

And voila!

Hardware for my closet system

The Modular Closets system came with gold hardware, but I wanted to try something different. As you can tell by the photos, I’m still trying to think of what that might be. I’m thinking acrylic maybe…Any ideas for me?

Additional Storage

I don’t love the look of plastic so I got all rattan and grass baskets. Here are some of the exact ones I got:

How I use the closet

I’m not the best at creating systems, but I have found a few things have worked for me:

The dresses I wear on repeat I change out by season and place the closest. Those are the ones I grab first.
The closet came with the ability to do washer/dryer hook up. I thought I would want to use as much of the closet as I possibly could so I didn’t even consider the option, but now seeing how much we go up and down and up and down to the laundry room, I’m kind of wanting to put it in. Anyone have any thoughts about this?
I added in my own shoe rack that I already owned onto the floor for additional storage and it’s working great.
I tied my scarves to one of the rods since I don’t really use the short hanging units.
On the middle shelf featured here, I put jewelry in those boxes. I’m thinking of doing a DIY where I paint or wallpaper some basic wood boxes instead, but I have these for now.
The more wood baskets hold travel bags, hats, and more hats.

Toleware Chandelier

I’ve always LOVED toleware because I’m a floral fiend and I thought a toleware chandelier in this space would be the perfect amount. I love it! It’s so cute! I found mine on Etsy here but there are a lot out there.

If you’re looking to do the same thing, try and find something in the US if possible. Because I bought it from Europe, I had to get it rewired for the states, which was an additional $100.

Art

I bought this teeny tiny oil painting from one of my favorite painters, Leslie Duke ages ago and found the perfect home for it in the closet. Meta paired it with this gorgeous handmade rosette from Australian artist, Leila Sanderson of Skinny Wolf who makes the most incredible work. It’s honestly exquisite.

Green checkerboard rug

I was pretty ecstatic that this green checkerboard rug was so perfect for the space. I ordered a custom size on Etsy and was surprised with how easy and spot on it was. I ordered a 3×7″ and it came out a big larger but that was great for the space so it’s a win. I love having something so plushy on top of the hardwood Stuga floor because it feels so luxe.

The ottoman was a quick and convenient find from At Home that I didn’t think we’d keep, but I kind of love having something in there.

Shoe Rack

This project made me realize that shoes kind of aren’t my thing. I like shoes, but I’ll always buy a piece of clothing over shoes any day.

I didn’t realize how much a closet with a system would impact the use and efficiency of the space but it really did. You can fit more in and spot things quicker when they’re prominently displayed. I’m such a scatterbrain that it’s helped immensely. I really want to do it to all of our closets now!

Ok! That’s it! I’d love to hear your thoughts about our main closet. You can also read more about it on Domino.com.

And if you’re interested in seeing more of our space:

Check out the house tour here

Main Bathroom reveal

My rainbow office

How to paint a folk art cabinet

Brittany

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October 28, 2021

5

Cabinet for extra storage

Because our house was gutted when we bought it, there was absolutely no storage. Part of the plan from the beginning of the renovations was to add in as much storage as possible. Having an extra storage space in the main bathroom means we have a great place for our medicine cabinet, toilet paper, towels, and more. It’s been so helpful! You can see the full bathroom renovation here. This lead the way to painting in the decorative folk art style.

How to paint folk art style cabinet

While the unfinished cabinet was beautiful on its own, I knew there was so much potential to make something customized to the space. You know I’m a glutton for color and pattern and I tend to think that it’s always possible to make it work so I had to try it out in the folk art style.

Scandinavian Wedding Cabinet

When I lived in Denmark I got to spend a lot of time going through antique stores and their museums learning about their folk art (all thanks to not being able to get a job for awhile–it had some perks ;). I fell in love with the traditional Scandinavian wedding cabinets where the couple would paint the year on the cabinet. Here’s a couple of beautiful examples from The Tolstoy Edit.

With that in mind, Gwen made a sketch inspired by these wedding cabinets in the folk style and also taking into mind the existing Mission style of the cabinet itself.

The plan was to add the date on. We tried it, but it wasn’t quite working for me. Thanks to the power of paint, we could easily repaint over it.

Selecting a color palette

Working with an already busy wallpaper, a green vanity (also from Signature Hardware), there was already a strong color story going on. I wanted to use a palette that worked with the dark green of the vanity but also brought some depth.

At first we selected a brighter red that I can only describe as cranberry, but it was a little too close to the wallpaper red but not different enough.

Re-painting your cabinet

We painted the whole thing before we discovered that it wasn’t really working SO, we tried out something deeper and we ended up a color that had some purple in it. We added in a yellow to the inside of the wood panels. I’m the one who took over the paintbrush at this point. I knew we could repaint anything so I was super sloppy, but take my advice and don’t do this–try and be as clean as you can while you go. You could go into a never ending state of painting and repainting.

THEN, I decided that the yellow wasn’t quite working either so we had to try a few other yellows out and finally settled on something with more mustard in it.

Paint your own antique-inspired decorative cabinet

We learned a lot from painting this cabinet in the Scandinavian folk art style. It took A LOT of time and honestly, there’s a lot of details to clean up. BUT, Gwen is sharing what she learned.

Painting tips and tricks

If you’re starting with already-painted furniture, prime it before adding more paint.
If you’re starting with untreated wood furniture like us, just make sure it’s smoothly sanded and dusted before you start.
Make a plan! Sketch out the colors and designs before you get started, either on paper or in illustrator or a similar software.
Choosing colors–establish a color palette before starting and stick to those colors.
Tape tape tape! Use lots of tape and make sure you get a good seal. Make sure you read the instructions to your brand of tape.
Don/t be afraid to repaint things–and if the paint is too layered, sand it down first.
We used flat or matte paint so that there would be no gloss at all.

How to add paint perfect dots

We thought about adding in some dots down the vertical panels. I think there’s still hope to it but I think there would need to be more of them and they’d need to be closer together. What do you think? Well, I think something could go there, not sure if it needs to be polka dots exactly. We used a

To achieve the perfect dots, we used a circle sponge paintbrush. It was perfect! Maybe a little too perfect? I’m even wondering if I’d like it better if they felt more handpainted. Maybe with a contrasting shadow? I don’t know!

Painting folk art decorative flowers

Gwen added in some loose flowers to the larger panels and I love them! She added in a contrasting shadow element for each plane of color and it was the perfect amount of detail.

I love how the cabinet turned out. It’s still missing knobs so I do need to figure that out. It definitely needs some because the magnets are seriously so so strong that you can’t open it otherwise.

Our home renovations

If you want to see more of the house renovations check out these posts:

I’d love to hear your adventures with decorative painting in the folk art style. Let me hear your tips!

Lars’ DIY Geometric 3D Wainscoting

Brittany

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September 29, 2021

6

The inspiration for my DIY wainscoting came from a picture that my friend, interior designer, Meta Coleman, saw of a door frame in Paris. You can see it in the collage below (bottom right). She presented the idea to me in her mood board below: and though I didn’t totally get it at first, I never saw no to Meta. I say yes and then I figure it out!

You can DIY wainscoting, too!

Look. I know that any time a room remodel starts means bringing out the power tools a lot of you probably sigh and put the project on the shelf. DIY wainscoting is pretty involved, and it can seem overwhelming! Fear not, though, because I’m here to show you that it’s actually totally doable.

The first step in our remodel was the flooring, which we got from Stuga Studios. I mention it here because it made a HUGE difference in our space, which was truly unfinished. Being able to walk through your house without shoes on makes a big, big difference!

Things got really exciting after the floor was installed and it was time to take care of the walls. I knew from Meta’s original design that I wanted the bottom half of the walls to be a light blue color to offset and cool down the red Josef Frank wallpaper that would cover the rest of the walls. So one night I just started painting!

The circle/square pattern

One of the trickiest parts of my DIY wainscoting installation was mapping out exactly how tall I wanted the chair rail to be, how I would fit the wooden cutouts, and where I needed to cut some of them down to size. I taped up paper diamonds and circles to figure out the wainscoting height as well as distance between columns.

I highly recommend making paper mockups whenever you do a DIY like this, because they’re so easy to adjust and tweak. I tried a few variations: each column with the same pattern and then switched it around so every other one was the same. I tried an ABA pattern as well as an ABBA pattern and decided to go with every other row being the same and starting at a different point.

I also had to play around with how big each one would be and how many shapes I would need. All of them were made from maple plywood 1/4″ thick. The circle was 3.5″ in diameter, but the square had to be slightly smaller at 3″. I worked with Zach at Laser Lingo and he was wonderful. He even gave me a 20% discount for ordering so many. The circles were a ready made product he already had here. It came out to about $200 for the shapes.

How many do I need?

First, I had to figure out about how many columns I would have in the room. I spaced them out every 9″ and drew a line. I figured out how many squares/circles each column would have and multiplied that by the amount of columns and then added 10% more to make sure I had enough.

Figuring out the height

First, I placed the shapes at the bottom of the baseboards and realized that they would look better if they were cut in half at both the top and the bottom. Chair rails feel best when they are about 1/3 from the bottom so that’s what we were aiming for, but we also had to take into account where the shapes were going to end. We took into consideration the width of the chair rail too, so we stopped the pattern at around 32″ and then the chair rail took up another few inches leave it at around 34″ ish.

Trim and finish painting

Once I decided on a height, it was time to install all the trim and finish painting. Don’t you love the feeling of a space progressing with every step? I remember walking into the bathroom once it was painted and breathing a sigh of relief. It was coming together!

Prepping the squares and circles for paint

You will paint the squares and circles before applying them to the wall. My painter, who is the absolute best, took him the squares and circles, sanded them, sprayed them lightly from 4 different angles with an airless gun (you can rent them for cheap!) two different times. He placed them on plywood to spray them. He said it’s all about the prep! We had 280 pieces total so it was a bit of a process.

Applying the squares and circles to the wall

After painting and verifying my design, it was time to start the installation. We had a great team installing molding and trim to the exactly correct height. Then came the fun part: gluing up the wooden cutouts!

How to do a DIY geometric 3D wainscoting

Materials:

- Standard construction adhesive (He used Liquid Nails)
- pencil
- ruler/measuring tape
- circles and squares (I got mine custom sized from this Etsy seller)

Instructions:

Draw a straight line on the wall of where you will be installing the squares/circles. Make sure it’s level and perfectly straight.
Use standard construction adhesive (he used Liquid Nails) like 3-4 dabs per square/circle. You don’t need too much of it. The squares are easy to affix because we placed them on each points like a diamond so we could align them perfectly. The circles were eyeballed.
He used a saw to cut off the bottoms prior to painting so that the ends were nicely finished.

Because I knew that I’d be installing wallpaper after we finished the DIY wainscoting, I didn’t worry about any paint that reached above the waist-level wainscoting. It all got covered up once we wallpapered!

Why Custom Design

I know that some of you are wondering why I insisted on installing my own custom wainscoting design instead of using a pre-made one. It certainly would have been easier! But I love living in a space that I designed myself. There’s just something about seeing something develop from the very beginning and tweaking it along the way so that it’s just right. Having Meta’s help was also very encouraging, because she has such a talent for making a space really reflects its occupant. I knew that with her help, we could make my custom DIY wainscoting dreams a reality.

More Bathroom Remodel Inspo

Remodeling the bathroom took a lot of time and turned out to be a lot of steps. You can read more about everything that came together for our remodel here, so even if you aren’t ready to install DIY wainscoting there’s lots of bathroom inspo for you on the blog!

Wallpaper from Svenskt Tenn

Before and After Makeover

5 ways to bring your family history into your home

Why bring your family history into your home

1. Look back to your family history origins

2. Identify the people in your family tree

3. Work in the family heirlooms into your home

4. Blend in your heritage with your personal tastes

5. Create what you don’t have with your family history

Bringing your family history into your home

My Life in Color: My Unexpected Journey to Being a Muralist

You can find Anne:

How we made the cake-inspired tile mosaic in our kitchenette

Colored Tile

Inspiration for the tile mosaic

Designing the cake mosaic

Mock ups of the design

Drawings for the kitchenette

Lay out the pattern on the ground

Testing out the pattern

Adding in the grout

Adding on the scalloped open shelving

What’s left to do

Becoming Danika Herrick

What do you consider yourself? Example: Artist, designer, illustrator, maker, business person, educator, etc.?

Where did you grow up? Were there aspects of your childhood that have influenced what you do now?

What did you dream of becoming when you were younger?

What is your educational background and how has it shaped or changed your current career?

Have you ever made a big career switch? If so, what prompted that? Are there aspects of a prior career that you incorporate into what you do now?

How do you make social connections in the creative realm?

What is your workspace like? Has it changed at all since the beginning of the pandemic last year?

Describe some habits that keep you motivated and productive. How do you climb out of a creative slump?

What is a typical day like for you?

What is one skill you wished you learned when you were younger?

Nobody likes to talk about it, but can you share any advice regarding financing your business?

What do you hope to accomplish within the next 10 years?

You can see read about Danika Herrick

How to make an alcove bed

Designing an alcove bed

How we built the alcove bed by Handy Nanny Pat

A sunny nautical-inspired children’s bedroom

Before photos of the bedroom

Jasper’s room transformation

Inspiration for alcove bed

Constructing the alcove bed

Nautical Mural in alcove bed

Wallpaper

Spoonflower

Gingham curtains

Funky Dresser

Personal details throughout

Rugs

Nautical Decor

Peek a boo window

Window Coverings

Cordless wood blinds

Colors we used

Resources:

Other articles:

Carved flower balusters

Baluster shape inspiration

Finding the right shape

Decorative balusters

Birth month flowers

Staining the wood

Staining them a color?

Newel post

Floral carved balusters

Before and afters of our home renovation

Specs:

Details:

Brittany and Paul’s Checklist:

The exterior

Before and afters of the exterior renovation

Door makeover

The exterior plan

After photos of the exterior of our house

Landscaping for our drought conditions

Painting our red brick white

Before photos of the kitchen

Phase 1 kitchen