Monday, November 26, 2012

A homecoming (of sorts)....

I am feeling so fresh and renewed lately. It sounds so superficial but sometimes a change of pace, or in my case space, can put that extra little umphf in my step. 


It has a lot to do with re-calibrating my design compass. Sorry if you are confused, I think Sean is still whirling from some of the recent changes too. So let me explain. I have always LOVED white interiors. Love, love, love them. My favorite design book of all time is called Living With White by my design-hero: Atlanta Bartlett. And while I have ALWAYS loved time-worn and well loved items as well, my original vision for my home was a balance of the two (which Atlanta does exquisitely). When we bought this house it was a big house for two 24 year olds with little furniture and lots of expensive renos to do. Meaning furniture was not in the budget.

As many of you know, that is how WhiteBerry Reinvented came to be. The only way I could get this house feeling like a home was thrifting, garage sale-ing and dumpster diving for furniture I could refinish on the CHEAP! 6 months later I was doing it as a full-time job. While I always stayed true to my vision of white, our house became a constantly evolving 'show room' of pieces, coming and going as they sold and I finished new ones. Obviously I managed, and found myself enjoying the whole process (if you are a design junkie it is addicting to constantly reinvent your spaces). But as WhiteBerry wound down over the past year as I ventured on to bigger and more time consuming projects (aka Lexington and now ParkView) I took a look around and realized that while I loved every item individually my vision for a fresh, yet warm, lived- in interior was not my reality.

I know more and more moms are venturing into the painted furniture business, and if you have then you know that right now distressed furniture is HUGE. Whenever I finished new pieces the first ones to sell were always the most distressed. So before I knew it I was distressing things left and right! Which is a good thing for some people, but for me I need a little bit of that new-sparkle. Some crisp, straight lines to play off my still-insanely-loved old items. And now that we don't live in a 'showroom' I am getting back to it.

This is my homecoming. To embrace the idea of designing a room and *gasp* then live with it! So slowly, bit by bit Sean and I are tweaking a few things. Not starting from scratch, just shifting a few things in the direction we always envisioned our home to be. 

So we started with our dining room/living room. I have rambled about it endlessly here. How I have never been content in here, hence the constant work in progress. 

_MG_1614


Just because we are finally making our space our own, it doesn't mean we can break the bank, so you know I hit the thrift store when I went looking for a new table.

I found this tacky, dated table for $45 (of course my original before shot disappeared mysteriously from my camera). It had good lines, but most importantly it has really awesome chrome legs. So I unscrewed them from the table top to save myself a ton of taping during the painting process. Thanks for the support during this project mr. garbage can!

_MG_1584

The table was not special or all that great, in fact it is what I call a 'particle board special' with plastic veneer. The lesson here is you don't always need to buy solid wood furniture to paint, so long as the veneer is in good shape and you use a paint that adheres to plastic. For this table I just used a can of krylon spray paint.

_MG_1583


30 minutes and $8 of spray paint later this is what the outcome was. I left it in the Garaga
 to 'cure' for a few days then we hauled her in and used a little stainless steel polish on the legs.

And Voila, I finally have that little bit of sparkle I've been craving.
_MG_1590 

I played around with bringing the wing backs around the table but in the end I feel like I simplicity won out.
_MG_1592


As things stand.
_MG_1752 

The one splurge we have made in our tweaking is the Stockholm rug from Ikea. 
_MG_1678 

There are 2 sizes they make but the largest size is almost ALWAYS out of stock. It is massive people, you don't get this much rug for under $500 very often! 
_MG_1757 

It is just the perfect punch of fun for us. We are negotiating what we want to do for a coffee table still because we've always known the trunk was both too high and not substantial enough for our big room but loved it enough to look past those flaws. So who knows what will happen there...
_MG_1758

But for now we enjoying the luxury of feeling like we are actually creating the home we insanely adore. 

And if you read this whole post, thanks for listening, and more importantly thanks for not laughing (at least to my face) that we've changed the dining room... again. 

25 comments:

Sherry @ No Minimalist Here said...

Gorgeous!! I love your style.

Emily Ann said...

I love the rug and I agree that it adds just the right amount of fun!

Elissa said...

LOVE that rug-- it's the perfect punch for your living space along with the wood dresser... beautiful pictures as always!

Emily Ann said...

I love the rug and I agree that it adds just the right amount of fun! It feels so good to get a room the way you have been wanting it (even if it wasn't what you thought you needed in a space)!

Unknown said...

Ladies, thank you all for such kind words. They give a girl just the right boost to keep going. Many many thanks
xoxo
Holly

1 said...

Love the pop that rug gave your room.

Your trunk is perfect for the space. If it is too tall could you flip it on it's side and add a larger piece of glass or old wooden top to it (if you need a larger surface)? The mix of color and texture is so great in your space.

Really loving the mix you have.
Simone

Sarah Cotton said...

Your home is my favorite in all of blog land & you continue to get better & better...I love the changes you have made & that rug is perfect. Thanks for posting!

Valerie@chateaualamode.typepad.com said...

I love your changes your making. It all looks so beautiful. I especially love the new table! It looks gorgeous. You continually amaze me. I would have walked right by that thing. I probably wouldn't have even thought it was a table, HA! Looks really pretty now. I agree, sparkle is a good thing.

Unknown said...

I love your blog so much and whatever you do in your house it will be beautiful.

Michelle Richardson said...

That table turned out just fabulous, I can hardly believe the transformation! I feel like when I thrift my eye would never see the potential, honestly I am one of those people who would only look at wood thinking that a veneer wouldn't produce a quality item. If only I had someone with your thrifting eye to thrift with!

Cindy @ Creating at Home said...

You are the reason I paint things white!! I love how you're personalizing your home even more now. You've got a real eye for design.

Navy Morrisons said...

I love your space! I could totally see a trio of large tree stumps as your coffee table!

carli said...

Love this look! The change ups are awesome! So unique. A very different look than anything I've ever attempted in my own home, and I think that's why I like it so much! Its very unexpected and original. Great inspiration for me to keep trying new and different things in my own home. Great work Holly!

erin said...

I love the warmth and depth that you've added with the new changes.

Laurie said...

Chrome.....white....great rug....fabulous wooden chest.....BEAUTIFUL!

Andi of My Beautiful Adventures said...

I think my heart just skipped a beat. GORGEOUS!

Jen said...

Any news on Parkview? Will you updating us with any changes soon?

Fiona, Lilyfield Life said...

It looks fantastic. I love the white and chrome mix. You did a great job refinishing your table.
Fiona xx

Teresa said...

I love, LOVE the direction you're going with your decor. I thought your white-ish style was very pretty, but this mix of textures and styles is something I hope to work towards in my home as well.

bagfashionista said...

i've been waiting for that rug to come back in stock..will be heading to ikea later today to see if i'm as lucky!

Cristin said...

Hi Holly!

Love your design style! Are those white covered chairs from Ikea?

Thanks!
Cristin

Julie said...

Now I love what you did with that table! Job well done. You know, it's so easy to fall into what's popular vs going with what you truly love. I just recently discovered that I was doing that and it was no wonder that I felt lost and that my house wasn't "me". It's so nice to now be making the house my own by bringing in pieces that I love and it works! Your home is beautiful, everything is perfect!

Bea said...

I love the new table! Glad to hear you are getting to where you want!

jeana said...

Your home is deliciously perfect! I just love all the natural elements! I've come to recently love bringing the outdoors in with sticks and branches and those sort of things. And I love the crispness of the white :-)

Dawn @ Inspired Living said...

Hi Holly -

I've read your blog for years and love to see your home evolve. Thanks for sharing along the way...

Oh, and yes, I'm a follower on instagram and love the sneak peaks every day.

Dawn

 
Blogging tips