Bedroom – MY CHICAGO HOUSE.

Guest bedroom, flipped

Into a baby room!

MyChicagoHouse is expecting! We are in the process of flipping our guest bedroom into a baby room for our first child (a boy!) due in August. Thankfully we didn’t spend too much on the furniture in the guest room – only the Ikea bed, a needlepoint rug from Ebay and a side table from Chairish, and I’ve already sold the needlepoint rug (yay!).
I knew for this baby room I was going to need a crib AND a place for guests to sleep, but we weren’t going to be able to fit both the queen and the crib, so we had to get creative. First I plotted my floor plan in excel to get a sense of the space.

Original floor plan left with rug (green) and bed

The bottom right door is our bathroom and top left is a hallway. The closet door is not pictured but it is on the bottom right wall adjacent to the bathroom door. The old rug (that I have since sold) was too small for the changes. It was always a bit small but it worked better with the bed.

I mocked up a new larger rug. Generally, my rule of thumb on rugs is bigger is better. You want to fill up the whole room. If measuring I do 3-4” away from the walls and get as close as I can with a standard size.

New floor plan on right with bigger rug, crib and daybed

After I was happy with the floor plan, we found the Asmara rug of my dreams at http://www.rugsource.com (10′ x 12′) for <$450 and scooped that up with a rug pad, then purchased the Elsie Daybed from Pottery Barn on sale, with the trundle and matching crib.

Pottery Barn Elsie daybed with trundle and Target pillows

PB oddly has two beds called “Elsie” but this one has the spindle sides. It is amazing how much more space we have! It will still do-able for two people to sleep in this room comfortably on Tuft & Needle mattresses (the top fits this mattress, but the trundle will need to be thinner from Amazon). While I did buy new twin sheets, I kept all of our queen bedding, folded it to fit the twins, and added some throw pillows from Creative Co-op at Target.

These Target Creative Co-op pillows are lovely and <$45, pillow incl!

Our bookcase has always been a bit of a challenge because we were short on books and long on shelving. Now, we need to free up shelves for baby books, so I moved all of the books up and closed the gaps. This freed up nine shelves! The boxes that remain are empty, and I will leave them there until we have filled the space with books for the baby.

Lower shelves are filled with empty boxes, to be replaced with baby books soon

For now, you will probably notice that we do not have a changing table or chair in this room. I was planning to sit on the daybed and use that as a space to change the baby. We have all of our supplies on the back of the closet door that I customized. I know this isn’t ideal but the room is small and from the floor plans above you can see the door on the right-hand side is actually the guest bathroom, so 3/4 walls have a door on them.

There is not much space for extra furniture so we are trying to be minimal

It is possible we squeeze in a chair next to the crib in front of the bookcase but it seems tight to me. We are also in the process of getting blackout curtains made in a fabric that matches the wallpaper which, believe it or not, was cheaper than restoration hardware!

Let me know what you think about this room and layout!

Needlepoint rugs

Asmara Ferncroft a la Ebay

I’m a huge fan of needlepoint rugs and have written about them in a previous post. The needlepoint rug in our guest room is a gorgeous floral trellis design with beautiful colors but as of today I am trading it in and have posted in back for the world of Ebay to bid on.
The truth is, I have been quietly searching for the Asmara Ferncroft rug, a rug that I have admired since I first saw it in Tory Burch’s Hampton bedroom, and today I found it (for less).

Our guest room is papered in Bird and Thistle and I’ve always loved this rug pairing. I had pulled a sample from Asmara to see it in person and it was excellent, it was just out of budget.

My grandmother is an excellent decorator and I remember asking her once how she did it, decorate so well, and she said that she just saved pictures from magazines and then copied her favorite ones! In this case, I’ll admit, I am stealing a page from my grandma’s book!

Bird and Thistle paired with Asmara Ferncroft for Tory Burch

I’m a huge fan of Ebay, Chairish and anywhere I can buy second hand or for less. I found both of our needlepoint rugs by scouring Ebay and couldn’t be happier with the price that we paid or the quality of the rugs. However, at the time, I couldn’t find the Asmara Ferncroft and assumed I never would, until today! I was searching for a 10′ x 12′ rug for a friend and right on page one of my search results was a picture of the Ferncroft listed for $750. Since I can’t accept paying full price, even on Ebay, I did a search for the vendor name and found their website, and the identical rug, listed for <$450, brand new, free shipping. In fact, they even have one more if you are so keen. 🙂 I’m super excited for it to arrive and to swap out our smaller rug for the pattern I’ve always loved.

Closet makeover

A guest closet makeover with Elfa, DIY

Our guest closet was not optimized for space and cluttered. We decided to take advantage of the Elfa 30% off sale at The Container Store and DIY a makeover. I didn’t spend a ton of time upfront on The Container Store website, but I did take a quick spin through and was confused about the exact components that we would need. Once in the store, the salespeople made it easy for us to choose only the needed items and nothing extra. In our case, the salesperson helped us save money as there were so many small components that we would have otherwise confused as required and inadvertently purchased.
We decided on a simple stack of drawers to upgrade our closet and it cost <$450 with the sale discount – (still pretty expensive, so need to take advantage of the 30% off!!).

Our closet “before” was cluttered and not optimized for space

The drawers are affixed to two vertical metal strips that hang on one master horizontal bar that is mounted to the closet wall. The only component that is attached to the closet wall is this horizontal bar (with 4 anchors).

First I drilled the anchor holes to attach the horizontal bar

I measured and ensured that the holes were level BY MYSELF, so you do not need a buddy for this project (although it would be helpful…. hello out there!?). I decided to mount the drawer support beams above the baseboard, which lifted the design by about 12″.
If we later need to raise the closet bar, we have room to do so under the shelf, but for now will leave as is.

The vertical support beams freely hang from the horizontal attached bar

The drawers are affixed from bottom to top. We have room to add an additional drawer! I am planning to wait and see exactly what additional drawer I’d like. Our system includes 1 shelf, 1 large drawer, 2 medium drawers, 1 small drawer with 1 pack of drawer dividers. For mounting you need the shelf / drawer brackets, the horizontal mount and the vertical mounting strips. The shelf liners are sold separately from the wooden frames.

I had to fuss with the positioning of the drawers but it was relatively straightforward to reorganize as needed

The most challenging component of assembling the drawers was connecting the wooden frame to the brackets that hang from the vertical bars. I watched a youtube video to get the hang of it and it went smoothly from there.

We added a mount to the back of the door for more storage and even have room for one more drawer!

I’m excited about this close and the extra space we have. The hardest piece was purchasing the correct components, but once the horizontal beam is installed, the rest is relatively straightforward once you get the hang of it, and it is possible to do this alone. The drawers glide smoothly and I like that they are lifted from the floor so I can dust underneath.

Raleigh baby room surprise

I remotely planned a baby room design for my friend Meghan in Raleigh. You can see some of my planning here. Last night, while Meghan was sleeping, I made it happen in 4 hours. The best part about this room? All of the major ingredients to make it fabulous were less than $600.
As a reminder, this is what the room looked like before. It was basic – nothing particularly special about this room, but it is a room everyone can relate to. It is a basic bedroom!

A very basic baby room – the “before” shot

Meghan had recently carpeted and painted the room so there was a nice base to work with, but decorating wasn’t a first priority with the baby only 4-weeks away. The baby gender is unknown and Meghan wanted this room to “last”, so the design is intended to be gender neutral and sophisticated so it will be age appropriate for many years.
When working on a budget, the best way to make a big impact for less dollars is to hang a mural wallpaper. Lulu and Georgia has beautiful choices. I needed 2 rolls for this project. I began at 9PM and started with wallpaper.

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It was my second time installing wallpaper and I did it alone, so I trust anyone could do this. The paper is pre-pasted so all you need to do is use a sponge to spread water on the back of the panel, hang, and push out the air bubbles. The pre-pasted glue is a bit “slimy” in texture once it is activated, so you have some time to maneuver the panel and slide it into place so it matches up. I trimmed the base, top and around the outlets with a sharp x-acto knife and a straight edge (the same tool I used to smooth out the wallpaper).

After the wallpaper was done I worked on the curtains.

DIY Pom-Pom Curtains: The curtains are Threshold from Target. I bought pom-pom trim from Amazon and 1 roll of HeatnBond hem tape. This is all you need, plus an iron. These curtains were less than $50, TOTAL, for BOTH panels! All you need to do is iron the pom pom trim to the inside edge of the curtain with the HeatnBond hemming tape. I had to set my iron to a much higher steaming setting than the directions recommended, but that worked fine. This took ~20 minutes.

Iron on pom-poms, make fabulous curtains for <$50 total

The finished panel from the front. So beautiful and so easy and so inexpensive!

After I finished the curtains, I arranged the furniture around the edges of the room, accessorized with a $36 Lulu and Georgia Zeba pillow, a $48 trio of West Elm frames filled with my own animal watercolors and laid down a $163 Lulu and Georgia Nasra 5×7 rug.

West Elm gallery frames with watercolors by me

Lulu and Georgia Nasra rug, 5×7, brightens up the room and adds a nice extra layer

While I initially planned to make a DIY mobile, I found this Blabla mobile on eBay for $40, so I went with that given retail is $170+. Whenever I’m looking for something special, I always check Ebay first and I always bid under list. Even if the item is an auction item (and doesn’t have a buy it now option), I will message the seller and ask if they will take a lower price. Why? Because negotiating is fun! 😉 This one was listed for $60 and I got it for $40, muahaha.

My Ebay Blabla mobile is FAB and entirely handmade! Fits jungle theme perfectly.

I finished at 1AM. Surprising Meghan was the best, she loved it. 🙂

A 4-hour makeover, complete! Lulu and Georgia Mural

Jellycat doll, Pehr bag, Target Lamp, Wayfair chair, Lulu and Georgia pillow and mural and rug

Potter Barn crib, BlaBlah (Ebay) mobile, Target side table, DIY pom-pom Target curtain, Lulu and Georgia Mural

Paintings by me! Lulu and Georgia jungle mural

The drawer pulls we planned to update are delayed from China, but they are en route and will be mint green porcelain.

Love you Meghan and baby S to-be! Lulu and Georgia jungle mural

It was such a fun project and I’m so lucky that Meghan let me express all my ideas freely and completely trusted me with this room after a half bottle of wine. Love you Meghan, and baby S!

A baby room, in Raleigh

Remote planning!

One of my closest friends is pregnant with her second and I was so excited when she asked me to help decorate her baby room! We don’t know if the baby is a boy or a girl so we are keeping this design gender neutral. I’m working remotely on this project until I fly to Raleigh in two weeks, so I have relied on photographs until then to plan and buy.
Here is the room today:

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The room is messy today so it will be easy to make this room look stunning!
This room is freshly painted Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter, has new carpet and all of the necessary furniture is already in place from her last baby, so we are in a good place on furniture. However, we will add some accessories to refresh some of these pieces like new ceramic drawer pulls and a fun throw pillow for the chair!
I mocked up each wall of the room in photoshop using the exact Benjamin Moore color on the walls and got to “decorating”, virtually.

meghan 1 complete copy — New drawer pulls from Anthropologie freshen up dresser: $6.40 each (on sale)

The mirror we already had, so wanted to work that into the design. The drawer pulls here are from Anthropologie, but we ended up ordering our pulls from Etsy where they cost less than $2 each and were only $17.65 total for 7, including shipping.

Meghan 4 final — West Elm frames with art by me: $48 + Zebra Pillow from Lulu and Georgia: $36

These frames are a steal and with DIY art you can fill a wall for <$50.

Meghan 3 final copy — These curtains are from Pottery Barn, but we will do ours DIY

We already have a set of white curtains, so will DIY iron-on pom-pom fringe to jazz them up.

Meghan 2 final copy — My favorite – a wallpaper mural from Lulu and Georgia: $175 / panel (we need 2 to cover 12′)

This DIY mobile is from Etsy and is made with felt. We will make our own. The mural is from Lulu and Georgia and can be found here.

Meghan Baby FINAL — Mood board for the space including the Nasra Rug from Lulu and Georgia, $163

This rug from Lulu and Georgia is a really great price for 5×7 and will add a nice cushy layer to the room and brighten it up. So excited for this to all come together in Raleigh!

Decorating with Chairish

“Old” is new nightstand, for $113

I love Chairish, as you may have assumed from my previous post. What I am most excited by is the opportunity to give something “used” a new life, and to find great quality pieces at affordable prices, that are also unique and different!

I found this nightstand while searching Chairish and paid $113 for the nighstand + $80 shipping (negotiated down to UPS from white-glove). It is prettier in person than it was in the listing and there are two operational drawers that were not initially highlighted that made me so happy to see.

Chairish nightstand: a beautiful alternative to a big box store for $113

Am now searching for a new lamp with more color to add to this room – potentially an emerald green or a painted floral base. TBC…!

Master Bedroom

Relaxed roman shades

We decided on relaxed roman shades for the master bedroom in a privacy-backed linen. The shades are a perfect fit and match the walls well. They are from Restoration Hardware, were custom fit, and took approximately one month to arrive. We completed the install ourselves and it was easy.

Each of the shades have a chain continuous loop that has been mounted to the window frame.

Master Bedroom

Art finds a home in a traditional space

The master bedroom was painted Wimborne White and is a great fresh slate for art, which was installed last weekend!
As a reminder, this is where the master bedroom started:

astor bedroom 2 — The master bedroom was all floral in the listing photo

Today it is a fresh slate, painted Wimborne White, for art, and for a more modern aesthetic, in a traditional space.

Farrow & Ball Wimborne White wall, perfect for hanging art

My favorite piece of art that we own has found a new home in this room. This piece is by Charles Mayton, who is represented by David Lewis Gallery.

A great improvement from the faded florals of yesterday!

DIY: An IKEA hack

A Gjora bed painted Farrow & Ball

Everyone loves a good IKEA hack, like my last leather woven chair hack that you can find here. This one is much simpler. The prices of the beds at IKEA can’t be beat. This bed was $359 + tax and delivery and can be found here. For this project, I am only 1) painting and 2) tweaking the design a bit by leaving off the top cross beam. Easy!

The bed that I selected was the Gjora bed because it has a nice height off the ground (more traditional) and it is simple. It also doesn’t hurt that it ” doesn’t look like Ikea”.

The Gjora Ikea Bed is traditional with nice height off the ground

The bed came in 5 thin and tall boxes that were relatively easy to wrangle into the elevator. I laid out the primary wooden pieces and immediately started to paint the exterior of the platform support and the bedposts Wimborne White from Farrow & Ball (leftover wall paint) to match our guest room trim. I quickly ran a clean towel down each piece to pick up any dust (there didn’t appear to be any).

Ikea Gjora frame pieces laid out for painting

I did not prime the pieces or do any prep work and used a brush to apply the paint. I applied the paint only to the outer surface of the support boards and painted the top edge AFTER the bed was assembled. This was easier than having to hold each board on its side. It also helped to conserve paint as no edges that do not show were inadvertently painted white.

Two coats of Wimborne White from Farrow & Ball gave great coverage

I debated setting up the bed directly onto the hardwood, but decided to lay down a basic rug to give some texture to the room and a soft place for feet to land. This rug was from Houzz and was not expensive. It can easily be changed out in the future.

Houzz rug is basic and looks best with a bed on top

After I painted the bed, I left off the top cross-bar that the Gjora features because I felt like it appeared too high and a bit strange. It also gave me less to paint! I will add finials to these posts once I identify which finials are best.

Final Ikea Gjora bed with Company Store, Frette linens and Brooklinen pillows (still waiting on 1)

I will add additional pillows once they arrive, finials on the bed posts and a quilt to the foot of the bed. Will post additional pictures once it is complete.

The total cost of this bed was ~$980 start to finish, including the mattress from Tuft & Needle and the frame from Ikea.

Guest bedroom, wallpapered

Bird and Thistle, for the win!

The guest bedroom has been papered in Bird and Thistle by Brunshwig & Fils, and I’m excited that the entire place is coming together as planned and on schedule.
As a reminder, this is where we started:

astor bedroom, kids — From the listing photo, the guest room before we started work

astor bedroom kids 2 — The small bookcase behind the door was one of the first things we removed

And, this is where we are today!

Bird and Thistle wallpaper by Brunshwig & Fils, in the guest

I am thrilled with the results. Walter’s team at Tapia’s Works in Chicago did a great job installing this paper with no waste. We completed this entire job with our budgeted paper and will use the remaining strips to cover wooden tissue boxes (craft project!). The room is painted in Farrow & Ball Wimborne White. The original moldings and doors are spray finished. The doorknobs are antique brass.

The window boxes were painted in Wimborne White by Farrow & Ball

The wood floors will be revealed this week

The leftover paper will be used to cover wooden tissue boxes!

The build-in bookcase is great, but it wasn’t finished particularly well. The middle strips should be covered with molding, which we will add.

The bookcase face will be cleaned up with new molding

For lighting, I chose the Aerin, by Visual Comfort, Modern Rosehill Semi-Flush Brass and White Strie-Glass light fixture. I’m a bit worried it will be too small, but it is the same size as the flush mount previously installed, so it should be okay. There is a larger choice, but I didn’t appreciate this until after the order was placed.

Aerin Modern Rosehill Semi-Flush Brass and White Strie-Glass Fixture

The Bird and Thistle paper is set off perfectly by the Wimborne White finish

The lighting fixtures and drapes will come next. I am planning on a bamboo shade paired with Bird and Thistle matching drapes.