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    DIY: Friendship Bracelet chevron rug

    Brittany
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    87
    DIY: Friendship Bracelet chevron rug
    You know how friendship bracelets are totally back? Well, I can’t quite bring myself to get into it after 15 years but I love the bright colors, the patterns, the idea of it….It got me thinking where else I could apply the process and I thought it’d be fun to make a huge friendship bracelet that you could walk on.  You know, given my love of all things oversized. After multiple attempts I came up with this rug for the new Chalkboard Magazine (it’s awesome. Check it out here). Any other size is too thick to actually use. The one you see here is two final rugs stitched together.
    Materials: 2 sets of 5 colors of fabric, 8-10″ wide and 3 meters long; scissors, needle, thread, tape

    Step 1: Line the 5 colors up how you’d like them to appear in rows on the rug.
    Step 2: Mirror the colors on the other side of the line so that there are 10 pieces.
    Step 3: With the first piece of fabric (mine is pink) on the left, make the number 4 with the second piece (dark blue here).
    Step 4: Put the first piece under the second piece and tie it, bringing it up to the top.Step 5: With the first piece, move onto the next piece of fabric (yellow here) and repeat the process. Continue to the center of the colors and leave the pink alone for now.

    Step 6: Work from the other side, moving from the right to the center. Make sure to reverse the number 4.
    Step 7: When the two pinks meet in the middle, tie them together.

    Step 8: Go onto the next row (the dark blue) and repeat the process.

    Step 9: Work until you’ve finished your desired length. Mine is 31″ from the outer points.

    Step 10: Begin a new one and repeat the process in the same color order.
    Step 11: Stitch the two together with a needle and thread. I stitched mine so that they go opposite ways.
    Step 12: Cut the ends off so that they hide into the first layer of color.
    Step 13: Stich the ends to the first layer so it’s secure and can’t wiggle out.
    Step 14: Voila!
    Photography by Liv Colliander

    Meet Brittany’s new rainbow office

    Brittany
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    3
    Meet Brittany’s new rainbow office

    The Before Photos

    As you recall, we moved into our new home in September. The house had no floors, bathrooms, showers, etc. There’s a general lack of storage and design features so one by one we’ll be turning each room into a work of art. While I take my time contemplating how I want to design each room along with the custom built features I have in mind, I couldn’t wait to get my office “done” for now and it feels SO good.

    Here are the before photos:

    Pretty sad, right?!

    1. It starts with a plain white room.
    2. Started adding on the calendars
    3. added in the new Mr. Kate sofa and chair and replaced lighting fixture

    rainbow calendar

    My new rainbow office

    It all started with this rainbow calendar. I bought it ages ago and intended to put it in my office in the old studio. I never got around to designing the space and there it sat in its box. FINALLY, I took it out a few weeks ago and thought it would look perfect along the wall and I was right. It was meant to be.rainbow calendar home office

    The requirements

    Now, the thing about my office is that it sits right next to the front door so I knew it would act like a reception area–a welcome space to the house, but also welcome to my company. As I’ve mentioned, in November we moved The House That Lars Built into the basement of our house. While it might seem like a downgrade (I’ve seen some of your comments 😉 it’s been the plan for a long time–it just took awhile to get to the point where we could do it because 1) we needed to buy a house and 2) we needed a house that was large enough to do it.books arranged by color

    What I envisioned

    I’ve loved having an outside office to go to–I get a lot down and I’m able to focus more. However, with COVID and a new baby, we wanted to keep things more insular. My company is an extension of my life, for better or for worse, and having something that I could invest time and money into and show how our projects fit into my lifestyle was something that felt more natural and authentic, rather than something that fit into a blank work space. Plus, putting money into fixing up our studio space turned into something I started to resent as it was something that was getting more love than my actual house. rainbow calendar blue futonblue tufted sofa

    The Furniture

    My office is also intended to act as a guest room so when DHP reached out with their new Mr. Kate collection I knew just what to do. If you recall, DHP has a lot of great clever futon selections. I say clever, because they’ve nailed the art of conserving space in their furniture. I selected the Mr. Kate teal Stella (it’s more of a beautiful robin’s egg blue!) velvet futon. The side arms pack up snuggly into the bottom of the futon (so snuggly that I had to write in to complain that they didn’t send me the arms! Nope, they were in there the whole time!). And when you extend the back down, the legs for the futon zip out of the back. So clever. It makes it easy to turn it into a bed and then back into the sofa.

    I then selected the black and white Mr. Kate Effie accent chair because the room needed something to weigh it down a bit more than all the rainbow colors going on. I love it! The legs are also upholstered, which is a nice feature. The chair is great for both meetings AND nursing, because you bet I’m very much doing both. It comes in a mustard color too, which also would have been super pretty.blue velvet futon sofa

    The quirks

    While the studio is downstairs my office is on the main floor and we do a lot of shooting on the main floor so the office also serves as a photography space. I keep a lot of our backgrounds in here so we don’t have to lug them up and down the stairs all the time. Some of them are super heavy. It’s north facing so the lighting is super even and great for our videos, which we have been loving. home office renovation

    Having a place to work that’s in order has already been so uplifting for my soul. It’s only been a few days so far, but we’ve been spending so much more time in here already because it feels so good! Jasper and I have been reading books on the sofa as well as playing on his own. I’ve been nursing Felix there too. I’ve never had such a functional, yet uplifting room and I’m reveling in it!

    Mr. Kate Furniture Collection

    Effie black and white upholstered accent chair
    Stella Convertible Sofa

    Other items in the office:

    Ombre Rug, Chandelier, Rainbow calendar, hand desk lamp, purple and white pitcher from Pomelo, cardboard house boxes, 

    This post was sponsored by DHP’s Mr. Kate. Thanks to our great partners who allow us to create beautiful content for you! 

    If you liked this post you might also like
    Mary’s new leather sofa
    Designing a soulful kitchen with Eva Jorgensen
    #WFH How to Design Your Perfect Home Office

    Brittany’s Guest Room Renovation with Crate and Barrel

    Brittany
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    3
    Brittany’s Guest Room Renovation with Crate and Barrel

    Wait…a room inspired by bath towels?

    Oh, here they are. Look how happy I am because of them.

    Exactly. That’s where this story begins. But to understand the story of our newly redone guest room, we first need to take a look at where the room started. As I’ve mentioned in the past, we live in a walk out apartment. At the time we first moved in we thought it had just two rooms. After a couple of years we discovered there was another bedroom and it was the best room in the whole place! It had served as our landlord’s storage room, but we soon found out that it was the biggest room that also received the most light. Not only that, but it had a bathroom with a bathtub, which is my favorite word in the winter time (I also consider bath tubs God’s gift to birthing mothers, but that’s a story for another day).

    At the time I was working from home and after our discovery, our landlords generously offered it to us. I worked out of this room for a couple of years before moving into our Springville studio. The following year my brother moved in and lived with us for about a year and a half, and then Jasper was born and it kind of became this storage/guest room dumping ground. You know the kind of room I’m talking about, right? You’re horrified to actually let guests sleep there but you don’t really have any other choice? 

    Yeah, that’s the one. SO, yes, back to the transformation….Crate and Barrel gave me the charge to redo our guest bedroom and I have a feeling they didn’t know what they were in for.  

    Look at these before photos: 

    I mean, it’s pretty standard rental: beige carpet, walls, outdated lighting. The three storage shelving units are our landlord’s and we’ve kept it for storage. It’s pretty handy, actually!

    I’ve long admired Crate and Barrel’s company and how they originally started as admirers and importers of Scandinavian design (have you listened to the founder’s episode on How I Built This? It’s so good!) and how they basically transformed the home furnishings industry. I can get behind that. And they’ve remained true to their vision by providing well made, thoughtful design. 

    We get enough guests that I know how I want them to feel, but I’ve never been able to provide that feeling until now. Ultimately, and even though we are in a basement apartment, I want them to feel welcome, cozy, and taken care of. Most of our guests come in from out of state and the country, thus, I want them to feel like they are getting a taste for Utah and all it has to offer. When I found this Pine wallpaper from Sandberg Wallpapers, I thought it was the perfect way to establish the alpine identity. It felt like an escape into somewhere majestic and cozy at the same time. Plus, it was one of the few that Paul and I could agree on 😉 

    Bedroom furniture and linens

    With the Pine wallpaper setting the mood for the room, I knew I wanted to complement it with warm wooden furniture. I chose the Linea II Natural Bed frame. It has clean lines and works perfectly with the wallpaper. Cabin fever, catch it! 

    I paired it with the Dawson side table. I’ve never had a legit side table with a drawer in my bedroom before so I feel like this is a luxury.

    To return to the beginning of our story, I knew I’d love something that would tie in the yellow of the striped towels and when I spotted the mustard yellow comforter, I knew that was it.  (This comforter now comes in three new colors for Spring!) It’s a beautiful contrast to the green of the wallpaper. I LOVED the look of the Lior sheet set. I’ve always loved hotel linens and this creates the same look but with a touch more decoration.

    Bench

    I loved the idea of having a place to set luggage and such, so the Tate King bench in Walnut was the answer!  

    Rug

    I wanted a rug to cover up the beige carpet because it bums me out, but I knew because of the wallpaper I couldn’t do something too intense. I went with the Azulejo neutral rug that has the perfect amount of pattern for this pattern-on-pattern lover, but is neutral enough not to collide with the wallpaper. And it’s a cut and loop pile so it works just great on carpet, which was one of my concerns. 

    Dresser

    A high priority for the room was a dresser. There are two small closets in the room, which we have to use because we don’t have enough closet space in the rest of the rooms, so we needed additional storage. I chose to go light with the dresser so that the room wouldn’t be too dark, so I chose the Gia Ash-7 drawer dresser, which fit perfectly under the window.

    Desk

    The same goes for the desk, which sits against the opposing wall. Paul will also be using the space as his office so he needed a work space that could contain all his equipment. I went with the Kendall Desk in cream and paired it with the gorgeous leather Lincoln Round office chair.

    Lighting

    I also was tickled to find a gorgeous table lamp, the Arenson, in a similar color way as the bedding. It’s uneven finish makes it feel so rich. Plus, it’s super sturdy and feels luxurious.

    Artwork

    Though I tried so hard to keep with the natural, woodsy vibe of the Pine wallpaper and accompanying wooden furniture, I couldn’t help but throw in some color. I just had to! I collected quite a few prints from our trip to Denmark last year to visit Paul’s family and the room was begging for it! The exhibition poster by Walton Ford added the much needed dose of unexpected whimsy I was going for in bright pinks and kingfishers, Paul’s favorite.

    I needed to balance out the bold colors with another bold color, so I added in a print from my friend, Lisa Grue, a Danish illustrator, whose 20 Birds in a Tree print was perfect. It’s colorful touches like these that make me feel more at home. 

    Other items of note: 

    Crate and Barrel Guest room selections: 

    Bed  | Bench  | Yellow comforter |  Bed Linens | Yellow table lamp  | Side table | Dresser | Desk  | Office Chair | Rug 

    The day we finished installing the room, Paul and I immediately decided that we couldn’t keep this to our guest room and we moved into the room that night. Ha! It’s larger than our real master bedroom and now, so much more comfortable. It feels like that hotel experience that I long for–you know…sturdy, clean and well-built. But don’t worry! When guests come, they will still be staying here and we’ll just trade rooms lucky ducks!).

    Thank you to our brand sponsor, Crate and Barrel for working with us on this transformation. I’m a C&B lover for life! 

    DIY Celtic Knot Pillow

    Brittany
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    DIY Celtic Knot Pillow

    DIY Celtic Knot Pillow Tutorial

    You can find the Celtic Pillow instructions in our e-book here.

    If you don’t feel up to sewing, though, you’ll want to check out a few of our favorite pillow picks from our roundup! There, we’ll walk you through selecting the perfect pillow accent for any room design. We are ALL about keeping as many cozy, pretty pillows on hand as we can!

    Shop the look:

    Mustard futon  |  Blue and green artwork by Abby Clawson Low  |  Teal Tea set 

    Be sure to tag us with #Luckylars so we can see your celtic pillows!

    Our Office Makeover with Spoonflower

    Brittany
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    0
    Our Office Makeover with Spoonflower

    You’ve seen our house slowly coming together, but what about the teams’ office spaces?  Fun Pink floors? Check. But along with those fun pink floors? Boring white walls. We knew we wanted some more pattern and color down here so that’s when we started looking at wallpaper.  (Have you seen our studio mood board yet?)

    This is what we were starting from:

    Well, first when we moved in, the pink epoxy floors took a week to dry and cure so we had to work from the living room of our house. NOT ideal! Here’s a little glimpse. Poor guys.

    Interior shot of a rom with office tables and chairs shoved in. There's clutter around and someone is sitting in a chair.

    The foundation: Pink floors

    Once the pink floors were in we could start moving everything down. A couple of months later though we added in baseboards and painted all the walls white. It became a nice white canvas.

    The team added in some things we already had to make it feel better like the chandelier and floral rug that I got on sale from like 15 years ago. 

    Shots of a basement space with pink floors and bare unfinished walls, then shots of the space with a plant, then with a rug, some simple furniture, and a brass light fixture. Some of the team is working in the background of the images.

    Inspiration for the new office

    This is what we sent over to Spoonflower to give the vibe of what we were going for:

    A mood board featuring the floor color, an image of the office, some wallpaper samples, and images of other eclectic, colorful rooms and office spaces.

    We ordered a few samples from various artists:

    Five wallpaper samples in shades of green, gold, and yellow. There's an overall botanical theme.

    From top left

    Wallpapers we considered

    1. Holli Zollinger vines in rust. I love this print and wanted it to work but thought it didn’t go great with the pink floors.
    2. I LOVED this floral print of native Australian flowers but it was a bit too romantic for the vibe we were going for. By Das Brooklyn
    3. The lemons by Holli Zollinger were super on brand but it felt a little too contrasty.
    4. Loved the simplicity of the green pattern by Holli Zollinger (big Holly Z fans here!). I love green and pink together! 
    5. Vines in green by Holli Zollinger.
    6. You can see the rest of the patterns we debated over and still might use somewhere in our collection here. 

    Once the samples arrived, we added them to the wall (they were peel and stick!) so we could think about them. We had a few factors to consider like the pink floors (everything must go with them!), scale, liveability (we didn’t want something so busy because Jane and Hailey work in there).

    Two photos of the wallpaper samples stuck to the white office wall. In one you can see a bit of the doorframe and in the other you can see the top of a broom and some exposed light switches.

    Foliage as a neutral

    Our biggest limiting factor was, surprise surprise, our bubblegum pink floors. Who knew it would dictate so much of our design going forward, ha! 

    We decided on the Green Vines. Anything with green foliage tends to act like a neutral since it’s in nature, yet it was also interesting, modern, and whimsical. A good vibe all around!

    A sample image of Holly Zollinger's La Ville Vine Mint, which we used as our wallpaper in the office.

    Coordinating trim colors

    Next, the tricky part was figuring out what to paint the trims. I knew I wanted a few colors going on but when working with color, you have to be careful not to go overboard. I picked out a palette of a blue, yellow, green, and pink with a dash of tomato red, which you can see in these photos here:

    Progress shots from testing out various paint colors. The green vined wallpaper is taped up with paint samples in pink, green, yellow, and blue around it.

    I literally tried out dozens and dozens of different colors and got a few samples to try along with them. As you can see, I did it all at night (the bad lighting!) so we evaluated the next day. I decided to keep it to the same pink as the floors so that it would feel simple. 

    Hailey got to work putting it up and she did a terrific job!

    Hailey stands on a stepstool and installs the green vined wallpaper. She's wearing a striped t shirt and a tan skirt.

    Removeable wallpaper

    The best part about this wallpaper? It’s removable! And I know we’ve all had bad experiences with removable wallpaper, but this isn’t the case with Spoonflower’s. It’s sturdy enough to not stretch when pulled on and it’s quite simple to apply.

    Interior shot of the finished office. The wallpaper is up, the doorframes are painted pink, there's a blue art print with colorful flowers on the wall, and yellow chairs are in the desks. It's vibrant, light-filled, and fun.

    Interior shot of the finished office. You can see the wallpaper, the blue art print with colorful flowers, and the desk with an orange paper house and yellow chair, and you can also see a shelf installed in the closet that's filled with a rainbow of books.

    Some of our application tips are shown below:

    1. line up 2 feet of the right edge first before working your way down. This prevents the piece from accidentally getting crooked. 
    2. 2 is better than 1! Grab a partner!
    3. Always measure, then cut a couple inches extra before putting on the wall. When you’ve got it all lined up, use an Xacto knife to cut off the excess.
    4. Don’t pull off the entire backing or you are sure to get into a sticky sticky situation. Unroll it as you go.

    If you’re looking for more help installing your peel and stick wallpaper, this video that Spoonflower made goes through all the details. Check it out!

    And there you have it! Some instant art and color in our offices, and we didn’t even need to call our wallpaper guy in!

    Interior shot of the finished office. The wallpaper features prominently, as does the bookshelf with a rainbow of books and a poster from Craft the Rainbow.Shot of the finished office. On the left is the wallpaper and a corner of a desk with an orange paper house. Then theres a pink painted door frame, then a bookshelf full of rainbow books and objects.

    Interior shot of the finished office. The wallpaper is prominent, and you also see the edge of a rainbow-filled bookshelf. Theres a desk with some office supplies and a yellow chair, and a poster from Craft the Rainbow. Interior shot of the finished office, featuring the wallpaper, a desk with a yellow chair, a laptop, and an orange paper house, a paper plant, and a blue poster featuring modern colorful flowers.

    A brightly colored office. There's green floral wallpaper, a pink floor, a yellow chair, a white table, pink-painted doorframes, an orange paper house, a blue poster with colorful abstract flowers, and office supplies.A brightly colored office. There's green floral wallpaper, a pink floor, a yellow chair, a white table, an orange paper house, a blue poster with colorful abstract flowers, and office supplies.

    As relieved as I am to finally get another room in my house done, it doesn’t compare to my team’s relief of not having to work in a white walled office anymore, phew! 

    Thanks to our sponsor Spoonflower, for making this room happen! All opinions are my own.

    Lars Gardens: Planter and Pot Roundup

    Brittany
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    0
    Lars Gardens: Planter and Pot Roundup

    I have big dreams of landscaping my yard one day, but let’s be honest–it wasn’t going to happen in year one as a home owner. After all, there’s so much to do in the house that I couldn’t get myself to prioritize the outdoor space just yet. Instead, this year I’ve turned to my old standby of making a container garden on the porch, so I wanted to round up some statement planters to get you excited about planting flowers in your space!

    Brittany steps out the door to a porch garden full of container plants in bright colors.

    Even when I do get around to planning out and designing my whole garden, I’ll probably keep filling my porch with planters and pots because it looks so good and planting is such a great activity to do with kids. Whether you’re a homeowner or you’re renting in a small space, growing a garden in planters is an accessible way to cultivate joy in your space.

    Lest you think that container gardening is a step-below gardening in the rest of the yard, look at my current gardening hero: Claus Dalby. Claus Dalby is a Danish gardener who’s going to be publishing a book soon, and I’m so excited to read it! He also is the king of container gardening. I love the way all the flowers look when they’re stacked together. Check out Claus Dalby’s instagram @ClausDalby

    Sunset-colored container gardenPastel pink container garden.Purple container garden with lots of tulips. Orange container garden by Claus Dalby

    Planter Roundup

    A few years ago I shared some of my favorite places to buy planters in this post. They’re still excellent resources, but some of them are only in-person shops. Well, this year I’ve put together a big list of planters and pots that you can buy online. Now you can build your own collection of planters, whether live across the globe or across the street from me!

    An exterior shot of a porch container garden with lots of flowers and sunlight.

    Pre-potted plants

    First up, pre-potted plants!  We partnered up with Plantquility to show you that anyone can (and should 😉 be a plant person, especially a houseplant person.  Plantquility’s pots come with fully grown healthy pre potted indoor plants.  Their site even showcases a comprehensive Care Guide for any of the plants you can purchase on their site. This means no guessing when it comes to your plant maintenance and care. 

    Their pots come in nice, neutral colors so fit in with any room design. And with a premium and durable fiberglass material, these pots are sure to last! 

    Here are some of our favorites:

    pre-potted plants Tranquility

    Colorful Planters

    It wouldn’t be The House that Lars Built if I didn’t guide you to something colorful! There are colorful planters for every budget here.

    Terracotta Planters

    A display of geraniums in terracotta pots

    Terracotta is a go-to for container gardening, and for good reason! Not only does it look beautiful, terracotta has a porous texture so it keeps plants from staying too wet. There’s nothing wrong with the standard terracotta pot look, but I found a few terracotta statement planters that are extra special.

    Hanging Planters

    Brittany holds baby Jasper up to a hanging flower pot full of pink flowers.

    Hanging planters are a great way to get height and variety in your garden design. They look especially good with flowers or vines that spill over the sides. Once it gets too cold for plants to live outside, you can bring your hanging planters in and use them with your houseplants.

    Unique-shaped Planters

    Planters and pots come in so many unique shapes. From modern and sleek to abstract to even puppy shaped, there’s no reason not to incorporate some interesting shapes to your collection of planters and pots.

    Patterned Planters

    Planters with interesting patterns look great with ornamental grasses, greenery, and houseplants.

    Textured Planters

     

    If you’re looking to liven up your collection of planters without going all-out on the decorations and designs, interesting textures can hit the spot.

    If you’re still looking for gardening inspiration, check out this post where I fantasize about my dream garden and this post where I show you how to plant a rainbow container garden.

    Thanks for shopping through this planter roundup with me! Every time you buy something through one of my links I get a small commission, which helps me bring you more great projects and designs.

    This post is sponsored by Tranquility though all opinions are mine.

    #WFH: How to Design Your Perfect Home Office

    Brittany
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    1
    #WFH: How to Design Your Perfect Home Office

    Welcome back! By now you have taken our quiz! Scroll down to find the section that matches with your quiz response – there you will find design ideas, products chosen just for you, and tips on leveling up your home office while social distancing!

    The Cozy Coworker

    cozy coworkera colorful and minimal home office

    Hey all you cozy girls! We know you are wearing sweat pants just out of sight on all your zoom calls.

    We are not against working from the couch, but if you take some time to make your home office just as warm and welcoming, your energy levels (and your lower back) will thank you! There is no need to sacrifice comfort in your home office, fill these floor baskets with throw blankets, light a candle, hang some comforting prints. And best yet – we have already pre-tested this office chair for you – and it passed the comfy test.

    Which Lars Prints match your home office

    Moodboard image sources: 1 | 2 | 3

    The Boss Babe

    a bright and exciting home office

    If you are the boss (or have a Boss Babe personality) maybe not much has changed for you during social distancing. You have just as many meetings, just as many emails to respond to. Your home office needs to be a place where you feel at your creative peak. And some well branded touches to make your office look professional in the background of your video calls.

    During this time, your great ideas are needed more than ever! Keep yourself inspired by hanging a brand moodboard in your office.

    a fashion and design mood board

    Which Lars Prints match your home office

    Moodboard image sources: 1 | 2 | 3

    The Type A

    a stylish and bold home office

    There is room here for a Lars Girl with any personality! Professional and organized does not mean lacking in color and unique style! With your type a personality you’ll find clean lines and bold colors keep your thought process going. We recommend playing with surprising shapes matched with more muted tones – the outcome will be a stunning office that compliments your work ethic and doesn’t distract.

     

    Your highest priority when it comes to your home office is organization. This is a place free from distractions, where you can do your best work. Above we have gathered plenty of stylish desk organizers and planners for you to explore to your hearts content.

    Which Lars Prints match your home office

    Moodboard image sources: 1 | 2 | 3

    The Social Butterfly

    a bright and happy home office

    We know you miss your friends and coworkers! Trust us, we get it! The best part of the day is getting the whole team together on our video meetings. We have some bright ideas to help make the time in-between meetings more fun and colorful!

    As an extrovert who is used to the work day flying by having fun chatting with your coworkers every chance you get, it is important that your home office is a place you look forward to spending your time every day! Go all out with this floral wallpaper and fill your room with new plant friends!

    Which Lars Prints match your home office

    Moodboard image sources: 1 | 2 | 3

    Mary’s House Renovation with Crate and Barrel

    Brittany
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    7
    Mary’s House Renovation with Crate and Barrel

    Here’s what the room looked like before:

    As open as the new space was, it still was small; so, Mary wanted to focus on creating plenty of seating options without bulky pieces of furniture. A simple color palette completed her vision, with pieces that were both architectural and artistic.

    Enter, Crate and Barrel, the royal family of clean and functional. They partnered with us to make the transformation happen and turns out, they were the best marriage partner for Mary’s more color subdued yet architectural style.

    The constraints of the space led to the selection of the Knurl Small Coffee Table. It turned out to be the perfect solution, with thin legs and clean, refined lines that created a distinct but unobtrusive shape. The Fernando Accent Table was an ideal pairing with the Knurl Coffee Table, as it balanced the lighter elements of the coffee table with a solid and interesting geometric shape.

    For seating, Mary chose two pieces with distinct shapes and artistic textures. The Gabo Leather Wingback Chair provided height with slender, architectural lines. Lightly colored legs contributed to the wingback chair feeling less bulky in the small space. The Mimi Vegan Lambskin Chair provided contrast with cozy, light upholstery and a low back. A square cutout on the back of the chair creates an interesting shape that adds to the texture of the room. Together, the two chairs fulfilled Mary’s vision for a room that had plenty of seating options without cluttering the space.

    Now, this space continues the timeless, sleek style of the kitchen into the living room. Each piece of the room underscores Mary’s artistic intention for the space, while still creating a welcoming environment for anyone who enters. 

    Would love to hear what you think of her living room transformation. Are you more of a color lover or lack of color? Dish!

    Thank you to our sponsor, Crate and Barrel, who made this transformation happen. 

    Best Affordable Rugs Under $1000

    Ashley Isenhour
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    Best Affordable Rugs Under $1000

    Go Bold or Go Home

    You know we love statement pieces, like upholstered headboards, graphic art prints, or throw pillows galore. And a great rug is probably the best place to start when planning a new interior makeover. Rugs instantly cozy up a room, make it feel complete, and sets the tone ALL without taking up any extra space! It’s the dream decor piece! But due to their price tag, we know how easy it is to put a new rug last on your list of priorities.

    However, hear us out – A rug can truly make your room, and leaving it out can be a big interior design faux pas. Plus, splurging a little on a rug can allow you to tone down the other purchases without sacrificing your end goal – a thoughtful, specific, and well-curated space. That is truly the power a good rug has! Why? Because a statement rug instantly conveys what look you are going for (vintage, boho, minimal?), sets the main color scheme, and makes everything look more finished. Trust us, don’t skip the rug. And if we still haven’t convinced you, you’ll find even more ways to use a rug to complete the look below!

    Of course if you are in a creative mood, we have some DIY rug options for you. Like this Matisse inspired cut out rug above! Or for something even simpler try this DIY “friendship bracelet” inspired rug that will keep your hands busy during your next Netflix binge.

    But if you’re more in the mood for some online shopping, we feel you! Explore the links below to find the best affordable rug of your dreams.

    Continue

    Home Organization Tools and Tips for Spring Cleaning

    Brittany
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    Home Organization Tools and Tips for Spring Cleaning

    We are in such an organizing mood right now, we arranged our favorite spring cleaning tools by room! Search for exactly what you need to make your home organization a million times easier.

    Home office organization

    There has never been a more vital time to update your home office. Click here to check out our tips on creating a home office that matches your personality and work style! And use these products below to turn your office into a space where the amazing ideas will just keep coming!

     

    Our favorite organization tool

    If you know anything about Lars, you know that we’re susceptible to piles of crafting supplies all over our studio! Creativity surely needs a little chaos! However, creativity needs structure as well, and that’s why we’re delighted to showcase our favorite organization product, our very own Dreambox from Create Room.

    Perhaps you saw our earlier post about how much we love our Dreambox? We stuffed it full of craft supplies and it made our crafting a million times better, no exaggeration. That’s why we feel fully confident in recommending this product to you, to expedite your spring cleaning organization overhaul. You can fill it with crafting supplies, like we did, anything from paper and pens to sewing supplies!

    Sale Alert

    And the best news is, they’re having a sale RIGHT NOW! You can save over $600 on the Dreambox, including pre-built services and accessories. We smell a Mother’s Day gift! Click here and use code “LARSDREAMBOX600” for $200 off your Dreambox, $200 Pre-Built service (automatically applied and available in the DreamBox Design Studio), and Up to $212 off accessories (automatically applied and available in the DreamBox Design Studio.)

    Honestly, there is no limit to what you can store in the Dreambox. It is the perfect tool to greater element of organization to your office, craft space, or homeschool stations. If anything, you should perhaps be planning for what you’ll fill all your freed-up space with after your spring cleaning! If you need more ideas, dig into our archives for decor-oriented crafts after you get organized!

    Bedroom and bathroom organization

    Your bedroom will become a calming sanctuary when clutter is out of site and out of mind.

    Kid’s room organization

    Your children will be begging to tidy their rooms with these fun new storage tools. At least, that’s the daydream, right?

    Kitchen organization

    The center of the home, and the biggest sign of the state of your mind. A tidy kitchen makes a world of difference!

    Living room organization

    With all family members at home more than ever before, add in some simple storage options to get everyone on board with a quick clean.

     

     

     

    Nativity Craft Along

    Brittany
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    Nativity Craft Along

    Christmas is a perfect time to join up with our community and do something fun together, so we dreamed up a craft along. After all, there’s no better time to get out your glue and paints than during the holidays! And what’s more classic and meaningful than a handmade gift? I definitely don’t know of anything.

    Well, as the Lars team continued scheming and dreaming, our craft along plans got better and better, and now we’re SO EXCITED to make this Mid-Century Heirloom nativity craft along with you!

    unpainted wooden angel figure from a midcentury nativity against a pink and red background

    We’ve teamed up with a few celebrities and crafting heroes, and to be quite honest, I’m already starstruck. Like, let’s just say that I’m going to meet my childhood hero and that we’ll be wearing pink on Wednesdays from here on out. We’ll be releasing our star crafters through our mailing list (sign up here!), but I’d also love to hear your guesses in the comments. 😉

    You’ll also be able to meet our star crafters through weekly Instagram Live events, where we’ll be working on a character from the nativity every week.

    Heirloom Nativity

    So what’s a craft along?

    A craft along is a way of building community with your fellow crafters while all working on the same (or a similar) project. Our nativity craft along is a perfect opportunity to get ready for Christmas (because we all know that it sneaks up on us every year) and get to know your Lars community a bit better. We’ll all be making a midcentury heirloom nativity together, and it’s going to be so lovely! Even though summer’s still on its way out, we wanted to jump into our handmade holiday plans early because this is a project that you’ll want to begin waay in advance. Get a head start on your handmade holidays and join in the fun with this nativity craft along!

    Crafting with a cause

    As I’ve mentioned in these two essays, I recently partnered with Nest and I’m now part of their advisory board. I really believe in Nest’s mission to support woman makers in the global economy, and I’m so grateful to be part of their amazing work. We’ve set the very exciting goal to raise $50,000 for Nest through this nativity craft along, and we’re doing it in three ways:

    1. Ebook sales: for each ebook sold, we’re donating $5 (with an option for you to donate even more at checkout).
    2. Donations: we’ll collect donations during Instagram Live events with our famous crafters (think a 21st century twist on a classic fundraising telethon). During these Instagram Live events you’ll get to know some of your favorite crafty celebrities a bit better, and you can work on your heirloom nativity alongside them and me! Doesn’t that sound dreamy? You can donate to Nest over here!
    3. Auction: After all these Instagram Live crafting sessions we’ll auction off our two completed midcentury nativities! There will be one made by me and one made by our favorite crafting celebs, and all the money we raise by auctioning them will go to Nest.  So even if you’re not a big fan of crafting, you can get your own gorgeous heirloom midcentury nativity (and it just might come with some star power).

    Heirloom Nativity

    However you do it, your participation in this nativity craft along will help us reach our fundraising goal and help Nest support woman artisans all over the world.

    Make Your Own Heirloom Nativity!

    Years ago when we first released our Midcentury Nativity project, we used a combination of vintage, found, and purchased wooden pieces. While I love the way our old set looks, it’s impossible to replicate exactly. That can be so frustrating! So this year we’ve worked hard to come up with an excellent set of wooden pieces that you can buy to make your nativity match with ours. If you buy these materials, your pieces will also align just right with the templates we made in our ebook! Convenience and unity for the win!

    unpainted wooden finials and candlesticks in the form of wooden nativity characters

    You can find all the materials we used over in the e-book including the specific wood pieces for the right combinations.

    Here are the colors we are using for the set:

    unpainted wooden wise man figurine from a nativity set against a pink and red striped background

    To get templates and tips you can download our ebook!

    Follow Along

    The best way to stay on top of all our craft along content by following us on Instagram and subscribing to the newsletter. Now enter the giveaway, order your materials, and let’s get crafting!

    baby Jesus unpainted wooden figure on a pink and red striped background

    Looking for more nativity projects? If you love this, you’ll also love our DIY nativity puppets, this clothespin nativity, and this nesting doll DIY.

    All the renovations we did to our rental

    Brittany
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    7
    All the renovations we did to our rental

    All the changes we’ve made to our rental

    Admittedly, it’s not the tiniest of apartments. In fact, when we first moved in we thought it was ginormous, by Denmark standards. We moved here from Copenhagen 7 years ago and did leaps around with “all the space” we had. We started out renting 2 bedrooms and they had another bedroom in the basement, which they rented out to me after about a year for my home studio. It was the biggest room in the house so it was such a step up for me and Lars at the time.

    In 2015 I got a studio space in the neighboring town (I should show you all the changes we did to that space, because that’s also a good one!) and then we had a baby in 2018 and things have become CRAMPED! And since COVID we’ve REALLY been feeling cramped in. It’s probably what motivated us to start looking in the first place. Anyone else experience this?

    WHY change your rental?

    A lot of people have asked us why we’ve done so much to our rental and sometimes I’ve wondered the same thing, but ultimately, it comes down to this: your environment affects your well-being and I was feeling the need to catch up our space to how I wanted to feel. We knew we wouldn’t move until we bought a house so we wanted to make it a home in the mean time. PLUS, our landlords, who own the house and live upstairs, have become our second parents so we haven’t considered anything a loss. We love the idea that we can improve the space for them.

    Kitchen

    1. Here’s the timeline of the kitchen. We started out with the top left photo: oak cabinets, laminate flooring, laminate counters, stainless steel sink and faucet, fluorescent lighting. Everything was functional and nice but not our vibe.
    2. Next, our landlords surprised us by painting our cabinets white. Score!
    3. Then, we did a partnership with Pergo flooring and they replaced all of our flooring, besides the bedrooms, with their wood laminate flooring. We’ve loved them! It really improved the space.
    4. Next, we did a partnership with BEHR paint and we did the two toned painted cabinet trend–white on top and blue on bottom. We also changed out the hardware and our landlords replaced the appliances.

    Details of my New Kitchen

    Finally, we worked with Caesarstone to replace the laminate countertops with the quartz and we LOVE it so much!

    Blinds.com

    Living room

    Our living room is basically our living and family room combined. It’s definitely where we spend the most time and it’s gone through a transformation for sure!

    1. Once again, we started with beige carpet.We initially replaced the lighting fixture with this gold one from Schoolhouse and that made an impact. We also replaced the vertical blinds with curtains.
    2. Next, we got a new green sofa and that changed the whole tone of the room. You can also see when we switched to the laminate flooring.
      Living Room Reveal
    3. Two years ago we updated the living room with this wildflower wallpaper and got a new sofa to go with it. This is the state we’re currently in
    4. You can see the furniture combos I was looking at for the living room here.
    5. Here’s our first iteration of the gallery to showcase our Frame TV, which we LOVE!!!!My new TV looks just like a painting!

    Jasper’s bedroom

    We used Jasper’s room as our office before he was born and didn’t touch it, clearly! So, we had a bit of work to do.

    Baby boy nursery mural

    You can see the transformation of his mural in this post when we worked with Behr paint.

    And then the full nursery reveal here. We changed out the blinds (worked with Blinds.com), added furniture (care of Crate and Kids).

    The only changes that have come to his nursery is the AMOUNT OF STUFF that we’ve somehow accumulated. We are bursting at the scenes here.

    Master bedroom

    The master bedroom was PITIFUL. I’m so sad looking at it.

    And I’m still in love with the results. We did our partnership with Spoonflower and I used them from head to toe, well, from the wallpapers to the bedding to the matching curtains. I love this room! I think this is the one I’m most sad about leaving. I just love the vibe. You can see the full transformation here.

    Guest bedroom

    The last room that we did before we bought our house is our guest room with Crate and Barrel earlier this year before COVID.

    The guest bedroom we added in an alpiney feeling and lots of accents of color and art. You can read about it here.

    Ok, that’s it! Looking back, that’s 5 rooms we switched up, some larger than others. Some were just decorative like wallpaper and curtains, while others, like the kitchen, were more involved and more expensive like switching out appliances, countertops, sinks, etc. Would I do it again? For sure! Yes, they were mostly all for sponsorships so they were considered work and we were paid to do them, but even then, I definitely would suggest customizing your space in some way or manner even if you don’t plan on being there for very long. A happy space creates a happy space in your mind too and that’s soooo important!

    I’d love to hear if you’ve done changes to your rental and what they are! Tell me more!

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