From Darkness to Light

Have you ever looked at a room and thought "this would be SO much better if only the walls were a dark semi-gloss with an even darker high-gloss trim that is completely inconsistent with the rest of the house"? Me neither.  But apparently someone did because that's what the room we call the "study" was sporting when we moved in.  

I tried to make it look decent enough: like when I introduced the desk and when the new light fixture went up.  But most of the time it looked like the photos above and below.  Dark, cluttered, and kind of gloomy. Also, notice the overflowing laundry basket in the corner?  That served as Matt's "dresser" for over a year.  Yikes.

Enter the whites from left to right:  Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee, BM White Dove, and 

BM Alabaster.

White Dove was so...white and Alabaster had a touch of pink undertones which was pretty, just not the right hue for the room.  Swiss Coffee was the warm-but-not-too-creamy color I had in mind.

The girls agreed that if I would hire a painter they would oversee the work at no charge.  In an effort to completely rebel against the gloss paint lovers anonymous group that had been the room, I went with a matte finish on the walls and an eggshell finish on all trim.  I thought about using a flat finish on the trim but then remembered that I have two dogs who shed black, white, gray, red, etc. etc. and thought better of it.  The upkeep would have been a little much. 

The trim color is BM Pale Oak and it is spot on.  Traditionally, the trim would have been the lighter color and the walls the darker color, but I had been wanting to try a tone on tone reverse wall/trim pairing and I'm so happy with the results.  The effect is striking yet subtle.  Pale Oak doesn't commit to being gray or tan or beige- it just gently anchors the white walls.  

Above photo is the room with fresh paint and an upgraded dresser, but pre-rug and still with the old couch.  Today we're looking more like the photos below...

A new desk chair in weathered oak looks so pretty against the walls and the desk.  The new bookcase sits against a formerly empty wall and serves as form and function.  It is so handsome and provides much needed storage in here for Matt's growing library.  I grouped the unruly cords in a storage tray under the bookcase. Such a necessary evil, those cords. **This is where I would like to say a word about cord covers: I hate them.  I think they draw more attention to cords by making them look needlessly gaudy.  Just thought you should know.**

The rug and blanket are Pendleton.  

All furniture {except for the desk} is Restoration Hardware.  

The chair and ottoman, I love them.  They are so cozy, but I haven't decided if they will stay in this room. The thing is, they are so much lighter than I was anticipating.  I ordered several fabric swatches and ended up choosing "natural" in Belgian linen which looked significantly darker on the tiny swatch than it does on the actual pieces.  Lesson learned.  The pair might be relocated to the bedroom once we get going in there and I'll find something else for in here, I'd like for the upholstery to not be so stark against the warm rug and warm walls.  

Birdie enjoys the chair but Shep tends to ignore it while occasionally making a snarky comment about how it was a custom order and cannot be exchanged.  I really need to get it together.  

**This post is not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned.

Down With Bland, Up With Pretty

The Study is moving right along.  This room is really a third bedroom, but since old houses don't typically come with home offices, bonus rooms, or man caves (ohhh the treasures you miss out when you don't go with new construction) it will be used as the study.

For the most part, the light fixtures in this house are pretty neat.  Some of them are original to the house and the lighting that has been updated are canned lights on dimmers, which I love.

But then we had this...

Have you ever been more bored looking at a fixture?  Did your eyes just glaze over? So bland.

The dome wasn't even glass, it was plastic.  It wasn't worthy to live in the same room as our amazing new desk.  Something had to be done.

So something was done...

Matt picked out West Elm's 3-Jar Chandelier and it fits the room so well.

It even makes the black crown molding, window trim, and baseboards tolerable.  The fixture plate against the ceiling really makes all the trim pop.  It's actually a bronze plate, but it completely reads black in this room. 

It's a chandelier presumably meant to hang over a dining table so the cords had to be shortened quite a bit.  I was home with the electrician the morning it went up and when Matt came home for lunch he said "it's great, but I can't walk under it."

Right. I didn't even think about that seeing as how I barely clear 5 feet.  I called the electrician and he immediately came back over to shorten things up, he didn't even make me feel crazy.  I think I'll only use him from now on.

The light bulbs are filament bulbs which don't give off as bright a light as regular bulbs, so even though there are three of them completely exposed it still gives off a soft warm glow.  Not too dim though, plenty of light to brighten up the room.  

The study still needs bookshelves, a rug, stuff on the walls, a chair and ottoman {that couch will be relocated}, and  some other random things; but I think we might be on track to have one room 100% completed within 6 months of moving into this house. Yeah, we move pretty fast. 

And Shep thinks 4 throw pillows is excessive. 

Desk Monitoring

First off, look at that amazing header!! Made by my she's-so-effortlessly-cool-I-don't-know-how-she-does-it friend, Becca. She was one of my Boston besties and now lives in Atlanta with her hubby and cute boys (and I can't leave out the fact that she's also the mother of Shep's Boston BFF, Bailey).

Last Friday, Shep's day went from zero to hero.  It was raining most of the day so she was stuck inside, bored. Then a truck pulled up, we were getting a delivery and there's nothing she loves more than needlessly monitoring things around the homestead.

After the delivery guy left she kept a close eye on the box to make sure of the following:

1. Squirrels weren't hiding inside

2. It didn't turn into a hunk of cheese

3. It didn't try to run away 

She was successful and when Matt got home it was time to switch to another couch to adequately monitor the assembly. 

After all that monitoring, this is what we ended up with: the most beautiful desk I've ever seen.  Matt found an Etsy shop, Elpis & Wood, who makes masterpieces like this. 

It is a solid piece of walnut on hairpin legs.  It's heavy and dark with the neatest striations and almost seems to float on those skinny legs. 

Just look at that color.

And look at those legs (not Shep's, the desk's).  

That box in the corner is the new light fixture that should be going up later this week(!).  {I'm excited about the fixture, but an exclamation seemed over the top so that's why it got parenthesis around it}.

Back to the legs, as with most older houses, the floors slant a little.  So instead of all three points coming down to the floor it was made so that we can adjust the legs as necessary. 

This room, we call it "the study," still has a ways to go {as does pretty much every room in the house} but this desk was the major player.  Everything else that goes in here will center around this beauty.

And I would like to sign off with a shout out to Shep, she monitored the heck out of this desk.  Putting those skills learned at business school to work.