Claire's New Bed

The girls' rooms are still not in order yet, and my guilt levels have been off the charts for the past few weeks. It's time to get these little ladies more settled.

My sister sent me a link to this pretty bed that was listed on Craigslist and the price was right (cheap) so I went and picked it up the same day.

The full size frame is perfect for this little room. I have a pair of midcentury modern night stands in the garage that will fit just right here also.

The wood is not worth saving (even though I love the pretty design!).

There's a cracked part on the headboard that needs to be filled probably with Bondo, which means we'll need to paint the frame. I think white will make it look too PB Kids, so maybe something like black?

I want to upholster the inset of the frame. Probably not tufted this time, but I did a similar project here.

Ever since the yellow chair experiment, I've been thinking a lot about tone on tone frames and upholstery. Maybe a bright cobalt blue on the frame with this pale blue cotton fabric I picked up during a 50% off sale for about $9 a yard?

Maybe a contrasting tape under the nail heads, too?

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What would you do? Don't you just love it when the footboard curves back in? That's my favorite part of the bed and I think it will look even better when it's upholstered and outlined with tape and nail heads!

Jenny Bedding at Biscuit

I feel as if my life is essentially complete - there is a bedding line pattern named after me. (!)

Bailey McCarthy, who I'm sure you know from Peppermint Bliss, owns a store and bedding line called Biscuit Home. I need, love, want it all.

Bailey is a classic designer triple threat - she's smart, she's ambitious and she's incredibly creative. She's doing cool, new stuff with bedding and decor and the world is noticing (did you see her in House Beautiful this month?) I'm happy to call her friend and couldn't be more thrilled to be included in her patterns namesake lineup. Check out the little interview I did with Bailey here.

How to Makeover Your Bedroom- A Guest Post

Welcome to Monday friends.

I trust you all had a good couple of days....my weekend was busy but fabulous.

I spent Saturday at Blogpodium and it was so amaze...more on that tomorrow.

Sunday was devoted to meeting a new client who PS, has a house that I literally can't wait to get my hands on...such incredible bones...more on that one later in the week.

We also did some major house de-cluttering thanks to our new dumpster friend in the driveway...have I mentioned lately that my new favourite thing is throwing shit out? LOVE.

And in other happy news, our 'new old house' has officially been rented out thanks in part to our little 

mini-reno...good stuff.

Perhaps the best part of my weekend though, was watching my red on TV...her show

'This is Scarlett and Isaiah' aired on Saturday...

..and I literally could have watched the episodes over and over and over again.

The way the show manages to really capture her personality is just so ridiculously fun to watch...what you see up on that screen is EXACTLY what Scarlett is like in real life- I know I'm incredibly biased of course but her quirkiness is hilarious to watch...so so proud.

And I think that sums my very jam packed weekend up.

Thankfully, one thing I didn't have to do over the past few days was dream up a blog post...the lovely Jessica from 4interior design sent me a note a while back offering to whip up a guest post and I of course, happily said yes...after this gorgeous post from my sweet friend Tim, I've kind of come around again to the joy that is someone else writing a post for you...going to look into that more;)

For today, here's Jessica's thoughts on the what's what of making over a bedroom....enjoy!

.......

7 Tips for a Bedroom Makeover 

The problem with redoing a bedroom is that it is our 'safe place' in the house, the one place that we can go to 'get away' from it all! The following tips will help you to get through your bedroom redo quickly and relatively painlessly!

Measure, Check and Measure again!

There is nothing more gutting than happily bringing home your new five-door wardrobe, readying yourself to build it then realising that it is too big for the available space! Discovering that the wardrobe is just two inches too big for the available space might be worse! Measure the available space before you buy any furniture, taking into account skirting boards and allowing for the walls to be uneven. Leaving extra space may be annoying, especially if it means smaller furniture; but being able to put the furniture easily into place is much less stressful!

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Scrub, Paint, Dust and Clean!

Try to arrange different sleeping arrangements for a couple of nights as the bedroom decoration is ongoing. Remove the old furniture that is being scrapped, move everything that is being kept into another room, and set to work cleaning hidden spills, dust, webby corners and getting the floor and walls as clean as possible. Paint and wallpaper should be applied, leaving enough time for both to completely dry before any work is done in the room. This is very tiring but the whole room will look amazing and fresh once everything is complete. Be prepared to sweep or mop again after the new furniture is built and ready as there will inevitably be small cardboard scraps, a light scattering of sawdust and so on. 

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Think ahead

While in the planning stage, think about the future of the room. Your little girl may be seven and sweetly in love with everything pink, but in three short years she may well morph into the complete tomboy and hate pink and frills! Choose basic colours that will not age in this way, and let the soft furnishings add the thematic touches – they can be changed very easily, without too much expense! 

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Soft Furnishings to Suit 

Use your soft furnishings, curtains, rugs, cushions and bedding, to describe the theme and tone of the room. There are a wealth of fabulous bedding options, in a wide variety of fabrics, colours and styles, just begging to be allowed to transform your bedroom! Have a look and you are sure to find the perfect bedding that will make your bedroom a perfect and comfortable haven; one of my favourite places to shop for this happens to me my aunt's store Yorkshire Linen Co :)))

Save Space and Go Up!

In children's rooms you can opt for loft beds or high sleepers. These innovative beds effectively give you back the space taken up by a regular bed, space that can be used to hold a chest of drawers, desk, or even a play frame. As children usually end up with the smallest bedroom, making the best use of space is a must.

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De-clutter

This one is obvious! Having taken everything out of the bedroom, make sure that you only put back everything that you want to keep.

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Lighting

Bedrooms should have a bright overhead light – or pair of lights to soften shadows, but should also boast a couple of softer, warmer lamps, usually, but not always, bedside lamps. Uplighters work well in bedrooms as they make the room bright enough to see comfortably, without dazzling your eyes.

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Aim to finish the room so that you are not too disrupted by the work but do work carefully; poor workmanship makes itself apparent in a surprisingly short time.  Most of all, enjoy making your bedroom into the perfect haven that you crave........A big thanks to Jessica for this super duper post and a happy week to you love fritters.xo

The Coolest Built-In Bunk Beds (and DIY Brass Hardware)

Christina is one of my favorite people. She is as kind, talented and gorgeous as the day is long. The last time I was in Arizona, I swung by her new house for a little tour. I'm going to beg her to let me share everything here on LGN when she's finished (I'll probably have to arm wrestle the editors at Elle Decor for it - it's SO good!).

In case you haven't seen these yet, and since we were talking about cool bunk beds the other day, I thought I'd share the built-in bunks Christina did in her triplet sons' room. So, so cool right? That railing is unreal.

One of my favorite parts of the bed is the DIY hardware Christina made by spray painting pipes! I've made curtain rods out of pipes before, but never oversize pulls. The brass spray paint takes them to a whole new level.

I love how chunky these are. Anything smaller would have been lost on the beds. 

See what I mean by talented?! 

PS Christina shared a little tour of her twin daughters' bedroom here, back in the day. Still love that room. :)

Hotel Bedding Source

A few of you asked where I got the three-lined embroidered hotel style bedding when I posted about our bedroom here.

I found the duvet + pair of shams set at HomeGoods more than six months ago. There was only one package left when I bought mine, which I was bummed about. I totally would have bought an extra set to keep on hand. But! I stopped in to my local HomeGoods a couple days ago and they had more in stock in black and a couple other colors! I'm such a fan of this style of simple embroidered bedding and at $50 it's a steal for the look and the quality.

PS They also had this (very popular) mirror back in the store! 

Mattress Recommendations

Happy Memorial Day! We've been out of town all weekend, and we're having the best trip! :)

It seems like we've been traveling and sleeping in hotels a lot this year. Whenever we sleep on a different mattress it reminds me that it really is time for us to get something new this year. I'm ready to invest in a special mattress at this point, and would love your recommendations if you have any!

We slept in this pretty room at the Four Seasons DC a couple weeks ago and I loved the mattress (though it looks like they sell their mattresses only over the phone?). We've also loved the Westin Heavenly Bed. Do you have a favorite?

(This photo below has nothing to do with mattresses, but seriously, how amazing is this lilac grasscloth and the mirrored closet doors in the hotel room? I especially loved the combo with the Biedermeier chest and the modern art.)

PS If you're looking for a really affordable and decent mattress, I totally recommend this latex mattress that we're using in Heather's room upstairs. It's delivered in a large box (so no delivery charges!), and once you unwrap and unroll it, the latex expands back to its full shape.  

It's really a pretty nice mattress for the price. Great for a guest room!

A New Leather Source

I've really been wanting a chair in our small bedroom. I looked around for a while and then remembered the Plycraft chair that I had tucked away into storage. It fit perfectly in the small nook by my closet.

But the vinyl on the chair is all ripped up and in bad shape, so obviously it is time for an upholstery job. Because the walls are so dark in here, I thought something a little on the lighter side would be pretty.

I started hunting online for a hide of leather in a light shade and I stumbled across Leather Hut on eBay. They had a ton of great options at really affordable prices. Then I realized their showroom is in Brooklyn! It's open to the trade only and only by appointment, and it did not disappoint. I found two identical hides of navy leather for a client's dining chairs and this half hide in a really lovely pale camel, almost blush. I love the color and the sheen so much!

I think the color will be perfect on the dark rug and against the charcoal walls.

I've got some mink oil that will help protect the finish and it will probably darken it a little bit or at least make it look a little more broken in. I'm so excited to pull off the wood shell on this chair and get to all that tufting! :)

New Headboard for the Master Bedroom

I've been planning on making my own upholstered headboard for our bedroom for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Then recently I was looking on Wayfair for frameless mirrors for a project when I stumbled across this headboard. It was less than $250 for a queen, which is not a whole lot more than the cost of supplies for making my own tufted headboard.

I was seriously so impressed with the quality of the headboard when it arrived. I thought I would have to mount it on the wall like some of the cheapy ones out there, but this one comes with two height-adjustable legs, which is great because it's a pretty heavy piece. The color is a sort of khaki brown (a little more olive than these photos). I actually don't mind the color in the room, but I bought a couple of yards of this deep oxblood velvet remnant from my upholsterer, and I'm thinking it would be a breeze to recover this thing in like an afternoon.

I was wearing one of my favorite nail polish colors (Essie's Wicked) when I bought the velvet and my upholsterer was like, "soooooo... you really like this color, don't you?" #awkward

The color is pretty in here though, right? With a brighter brass on the nailhead I think. Or maybe polished nickel nailhead...

Waxed Cotton and How to Upholster an Antique Side Chair

Some of you asked about the little antique black chair in Heather's room. I got it at the flea a couple months ago for $10! It's super old and the floral fabric was kind of cool as is, but it was pretty sun bleached. 

(You can tell how long ago I bought this chair - the console hadn't been refinished yet) :)

I pulled off the top layers of fabric without much effort - the fabric basically disintegrated. But it  was so thick that the inside was pretty pristine and wouldn't need to be replaced (which was lucky because this chair had springwork and I didn't want to deal with that!)

For the new fabric, I wanted something with a sheen to it, but I didn't want any color or pattern because there is already a lot going on in that room with the neon desk and the patterned green rug.

I'm a pretty big fan of waxed jeans, so when I stumbled across this black waxed cotton at Graylines in the garment district, I thought it would be cool on the antique chair. It actually kind of looks like leather a bit.

I used the old padding as a pattern for cutting out the new fabric. (the padding was a little stretched out, so it didn't end up working as well as this approach normally does, but at least I didn't cut the piece too small)

I cut out notches so the fabric would sit around the back pieces.

And then I started stapling. I always start upholstery projects in the most difficult area, which was the back in this case. I swear by this inexpensive stapler, especially if you use the same brand of staplers. The staples I had on hand were too long and that's why they're sticking out a little, but it's no big deal at all to tap those in with an upholstery mallet.

Once the back part of the chair fabric was secured, I started on the front of the seat and pulled the fabric as taut as I could. It was a little tricky to pull the fabric enough while also getting the scallop shapes right, but that's the great news about upholstery projects. It's hard to really screw things up. If you put a staple in a the wrong place, you just pull it out and try again.

The sides and then the corners of the chair are stapled last, again, pulling tight and smoothing with your hand the whole time.

I trimmed the excess fabric and then tapped in the staples that were sticking out a bit.

I was going to do a self welt for the trim, but I fount some of this really cool vintage woven leather for sale at JEM fabrics in Tribeca. It felt all Chanel-y to me with the alternating black and white flowers. 

I started the trim in the back (it's a good idea to start your trim in the least conspicuous place) and used a not-too-thick line of my beloved Magnatac to secure the trim and cover the staples.

I love how the trim adds just a little bit of texture and interest to the desk area. The black on black upholstery could have been a little stale without it.

And doesn't the waxed cotton look a bit like leather? I'm thinking it would be a great choice for dining chair upholstery since it's water and stain-resistant, but looks way better than vinyl in person. I'll have to poke around online to see if I can find any more colors.