The den has been painted Railings by Farrow & Ball. It is a sophisticated color and makes for a cozy room! A flashback to where we started:
Remember where we started? The original listing photo was a bright gray bedroom.
And, where we are today. A completely refreshed base for what will be a den.
The choice of color was an easy one, working with the fireplace surround, but I was in suspense leading up to the big reveal and wasn’t disappointed. Walter and his team from Tapia’s Works did an impeccable job.
Den painted Farrow & Ball Railings matches the fireplace surround nicely
You may recall that a prior owner had painted around the mirror, leaving the space beneath a surprising shade of pink! We cleaned that up this time around.
The windows are original curved glass from the late 1980s
We sprayed paint over the fireplace with Farrow & Ball Wimborne White for a beautiful finish
A sprayed finish is the way to go for smooth surfaces like doors, and detailed surfaces like molding, with a brush sprinkled in as needed for more detailed trim. I must say that I am a true Farrow & Ball subscriber after seeing the finish compared to the prior paint.
The bookcase will provide great visible storage once we are in decorating phaseThe radiator will be left uncovered. It didn’t look as bad as I was expecting
We still need to identify a good spot to hang a television and make a decision on drapes.
The finished color is so sophisticated relative to the gray we had previouslyCozy plaid draft stoppers filled with balsam pine by SewSixThree on EtsyThe mirror from prior owner is back in place and the perfect fit!
Now that the base is complete I am considering furniture ideas and searching for the perfect plaid rug. Let me know if you have any ideas!
The Master Bedroom wallpaper has been stripped along with the front entry. Everything looks yellow and pink and smeared today, but soon it will look beautiful! Here is the gap between the bay windows where we will place the dresser, that is currently being constructed in Tennessee.
Master bedroom after wallpaper was stripped
It is always odd to see what lies beneath wallpaper. I would have expected a single color of paint, but that was certainly not the case in this house. We have found everything from pink to green, and nothing that we expected.
Wallpaper strippedSoon to be painted Wimborne White by Farrow & Ball
The baseboards were never properly finished and they don’t look good today, but a coat of paint is all these baseboards need to look fresh and new.
The lighting fixture was on sale for 20% off from Circa Lighting, but painfully back-ordered for months, as it was ordered in December and still has not shipped. We are also using a pair of the Ralph Lauren Allan single sconces in the hallway which will help pull the lighting together.
I love this master bedroom because it is tucked away in the back of the house, so it is quiet, but it also has great street views thanks to the space afforded by the side alley and the angle of the bay windows. Today it is wallpapered in this lovely floral print. This wallpaper will be stripped and Farrow & Ball Wimborne White will take its place. Here is the bedroom in the listing photos:
The master in the listing photo
Here is the bedroom today:
Cedar lined closets with brass knobsWallpaper to be stripped and room to painted Farrow & Ball Wimborne WhiteWallpaper to be stripped
The closets are cedar lined and afford plenty of space, although one of the uppers is HVAC…
A custom set of mahogany drawers are being made in TN. The drawers will look similar to this piece from Primitive. I’m still searching for the perfect hardware.
Custom mahogany dresser in process, similar to this one from Primitive
The wallpaper stripping will happen this week, followed by the painting of the entire apartment including ceilings.
The reason why we selected Wimborne White for the master is because a large colorful piece of art will be hung on the bedroom wall, away from direct sunlight, and white is the best suited backdrop. The art will be hung where the TV is placed in the listing photo. The stacked drawers will be placed between the bay windows that are unfortunately not captured well in the pictures above but are located next to each other with a gap between.
The Gucci wallpaper came today and I’m impressed. The paper came in this gorgeous gift box tied with a bow! I took a risk on this paper without seeing it in person first, but was drawn to the pattern which was inspired by vintage fabric and think that the cream backdrop with red flowers pairs nicely with the white paint throughout the adjoining rooms and the red stone that I am considering for the kitchen.
Gucci wallpaper, boxed and ready
The paper inside was just as beautiful and was carefully wrapped and labeled. The texture is woven and has a nice feel and the print is fine and clear. My only complaint would be that the cream is a slightly more yellow tone than the online photograph led me to expect, but I did compare it to the white paint swatch and it does work, which made me less worried.
Gucci Herbarium wallpaper is beautiful and has 115+ sq ft. / roll of coverage
The coverage of this roll is not insignificant – it is 33 feet long and 3.5 feet wide, or, 115.5 square feet of coverage. It is $190 per roll and can be found here.
The master bathroom demo is underway and all floors and the privacy wall have been removed. The master bathroom previously had hex tiles and a very traditional look and feel with 1930’s style fixtures that will be kept.
The master bathroom floors and privacy wall are goneThe Perrin & Rowe fixtures will be updated to an unlacquered brass from WaterworksThe floors will be replaced with a custom Kelly Wearstler for Ann Sacks geometric design
All fixtures will be replaced with Waterworks unlacquered brass Highgate and Easton Classic fixtures.
Waterworks Highgate Faucet with White Porcelain Lever HandlesWaterworks Highgate Thermostatic Valve Trim
The hand shower will be removed and an in-wall shower head will be added. The fixtures have been delivered as we wait for the ceramic trim and baseboards to arrive with medicine cabinets, lighting, ceiling fan and geometric floor design to be ordered.
The plan for paint has evolved slightly since Julie came to visit. When we last parted ways we agreed to continue to think through the wallpaper choices and the color of the dining room, which will be high gloss. While we have decided on Bird and Thistle wallpaper for the guest room, the front entry and the back console are still to be determined and the dining room is still on hold. However, we have some options to consider. Here is the updated floorplan:
Wallpaper choices for the entry from Farrow & Ball
We found the perfect grass cloth from Brunschwig & Fils that we will use in the back console and purchased the Bird and Thistle for the guest as well. The front entrance choice changes every day, but we are getting closer to final decisions as the work continues to progress.
Grasscloth with a dark background for the back console, from Brunschwig & Fils, ties the Farrow & Ball Railings den together with the Wimborne White master bedroom.Continuing to consider which paper we select for front entry. Here is a Kelly Wearstler design.
I always keep the entire home in mind when selecting colors so that everything flows, even when using a lot of pattern, colors and texture.
We are planning to paper the guest bedroom in Brunschwig & Fils “Bird and Thistle” wallpaper in the Green colorway. We removed a bookcase from this room and it is looking less than perfect these days with lots of color patches.
Many colors happening in this room today, with our chosen swatch of the future, Bird and Thistle by Brunschwig & Fils.Close up of Bird and Thistle, Brunschwig & Fils
I’m working on placing an order for this paper so we can be ready for Walter to install in the coming months. As a reminder, we are working on the guest room, highlighted below.
Floorplan of Guest, with built ins
I have found a couple of different resources for estimating the number of rolls needed. The bookcase helps us out because we do not need to paper the majority of that wall. I checked Lowe’s = 6 rolls. I checked Amara Living = 6 rolls. I checked Omni Calculator (this site has a calculator for everything!) = 6 rolls. Three for three! We will go with 6 rolls and get this order placed.
The kitchen of this apartment is in great condition, but feels a bit dated. That being said, so many elements of this kitchen are timeless, so I want to preserve the beautiful Bolhuis cabinets, the Sub Zero and Miele appliances and the Perrin and Rowe hardware while giving the kitchen a bit of a lift.
Here is a reminder of what the kitchen looked like:
Listing photo
Here is a photo of what the kitchen looked like this morning:
Taken on an iPhone 🙂
In person, and somewhat illustrated by the non wide-lens camera, the space is a bit cramped. The area between the hanging cabinets and the sink is only the width of a four burner stove. I want to visually open this space up by removing the hanging glass cabinets.
The space feels cramped (and not just because the ladder is there)
Of course my biggest mistake was not taking more “before” photos, but everything moved quickly once the work got started! My dad is helping me here! He built the house that I grew up in, laid all the floors and spun every spindle by hand.
Part of the challenge of the hanging cabinets is that they took up a lot of counter space. If you refer back to the first photograph you can see that 1/3 of the counter space was monopolized by the base of the cabinet. At the base was a hollow opening that included an electrical strip. The opening was suited for storing breads, but a microwave would not fit.
The first step was to remove the heavy glass cabinet doors
First, we removed all cabinet doors and shelves. Since these cabinets were more decorative, and less everyday, the hardware was in perfect shape. We will replace the more tired hardware in other areas of the kitchen with these. This will save money since each of these knobs cost $45.
The “like new” cabinet knobs and hardware will be repurposed in other areas of the kitchen
Next, my dad removed all of the small lights running through the cabinets. We tossed the lights (one already had broken glass) and kept some of the electrical elements for use on other projects.
Dad hard at workCabinet doors carefully stowed away
We removed the crown molding around the center cabinet in order to drop it down. The molding was an interesting recovery for two reasons. First, it can be re-used to patch now remaining gaps from the hanging cabinets. Second, it appears as if each of these little teeth were individually nailed to the molding (wow! so much work!).
Recovered molding will be used to finish the gap left by the end cabinet we removedIt appears as if each of the teeth on the molding were applied individually (wow!)Once the molding was removed and stored, we took down the cabinets
This project took almost a whole day, but it made a big difference. We successfully removed all the hanging cabinets and opened up the kitchen.
This made a huge difference in opening up the space!
The only thing we changed was removing the hanging cabinets, and the kitchen looks dramatically different. The work that remains includes: replacing any tired door hardware with the knobs that we retrieved from the glass cabinets, professionally re-painting the kitchen cabinets, updating the backsplash and countertops and incorporating the La Voliere chandelier so we can eat breakfast with the birds!
Some of my best friends threw me the most beautiful bachelorette in Calistoga, California this weekend and we had the best time! We got to spend a full half day antiquing in downtown Calistoga and had some very good finds between the group of us.
It was love at first sight when I saw this gorgeous mirror hanging in the back room of Lincoln Street Market in downtown Calistoga. The mirror is approximately 4 feet in diameter (our guess) and beautifully carved with flowers and leaves.
The origin of the mirror was unknown, but it was on consignment and marked down from $275 to $175 (!!). The price was unbeatable and I bought it on the spot. It will be shipped (yes, come to find out, the shipping did cost more than the mirror for everyone who may be wondering). We took a closer look at the mirror off the wall and it is in great condition.
The mirror is painted and glazed and may actually be made of plaster, or a light wood, but in either case it is going to look great in this pre-war apartment and $175 is tough to beat for a mirror of this size. I can either hang the mirror above the fireplace in the living room or the dining room. The pictures here are the listing photos of the apartment.
If it isn’t the right size for these spots, I am sure I can find the perfect home for it. If not, I will list it for sale on Chairish.
Julie Diorio specializes in light, space and the nuance of color and is very good at her job.
I spent weeks visualizing color schemes and finalizing a plan for this space, and only one hour with Julie refining it – It was a great use of time. Before I met Julie, this was the rough plan for paint and wallpaper:
Original plan for paint and wallpaper
After spending an hour with Julie, my plan was refined. We selected the color of white that we will use across all of our white spaces to maintain a beautiful and traditional look. We chose Wimborne White by Farrow & Ball. We selected a beautiful putty color for the kitchen, Skimming Stones by Farrow & Ball, and a couple of paint choices to consider for the den. The wallpaper choice in the entry will be a “moment” that will influence the choice of color on the hallway ceiling, the back console and the dining room. Since the entry console is curved, it is not a good place to showcase large artwork and a large pattern may get lost between the five doorways that line the space. I am already working on wallpaper for the entry, back console and guest.
Post working with Julie
Julie and I talked a lot about WHITE and the various tones of white, and the “whiteness” of white. But seriously, we discussed in detail how paint quality impacts the quality of the results, the depth and richness of higher quality paints and the appropriate tones of paint to pair with the tone of the natural light in a space, based on the orientation of the room and the time of day. We talked about the flow and story of a space, told with color.
Our selected white, Wimborne White, Farrow & Ball
The prior homeowner put a lot of work into the renovation of this apartment and the restoration of the beautiful molding and doors. I am planning on carrying all of this hard work forward and maintaining the historical details and natural wood finishes, like the pocket doors.
MY CHICAGO HOUSE. 