A great bedroom full of DIY that doesn’t LOOK like it’s full of DIY. By Mandy Gubler

I’m writing about my “House Rules” this week - a few things I want to keep in mind when it comes to creating our future home.

Doing It Yourself has been a huge trend over the last decade, as TV makeover shows and home blogs have flooded our consciousness and provided ideas. No doubt the proliferation of Pinterest will expand this even more. For me, it’s one part creative outlet, one part cheapy-cheapness (both from my personality AND some necessity), and one part perfectionism (being able to create what I want so that it look like what I want.)

But let’s be real. Sometimes it can all look a little… like you did it yourself. So my goal is to continue on the current course of creating my home from scratch (and spray paint, and fabric, and sand paper…) but to create something that doesn’t look shoddy. I have a few thoughts on how this happens:

-When I have the money to splurge, go for something I could never make myself. For example, at Christmas I had money that I had to use to buy a gift. So I chose this acrylic Louis-style chair. Because there’s no way I could DIY that thing, or find it cheaply secondhand. Adding in some pieces like this that look high and non-DIY will balance things out.

-Improve my skills at DIY.

-Pay attention to good design so I know what I’m going for.

This isn’t for everyone, but that’s how I’ll create my home!

art by Suzy Krause

Suzy writes a blog that I thoroughly enjoy.  And she had a guest blogger, Carmen, whom I also love.  And Carmen wrote a delightful post on men and their coffee.  You should read it.  (And from my experience: my husband Sean - a black coffee man, Carmen totally nailed it.)

One of my favourite images from Country Living

I’m writing about my “House Rules” this week - a few things I want to keep in mind when it comes to creating our future home.

 Some of my fondest memories of the house I grew up in are not visual at all.  My mom was very good at creating a visually attractive home, but there was so much more than that.  It was the cool smell of fresh air in the morning.  It was the sound of Christmas music ringing through the house.  It was the warmth of sitting on the carpet in front of the radiator snuggled in a soft blanket.

I really want to pay attention to the other senses when creating my home: open windows for fresh, cool air and the sounds of rustling leaves and singing birds.  lit candles that fill the room with warm scents.  scents of yummy baking and cooking to greet those who come in the door.  music played to dance to, clean to, relax to.  quiet times.  warm soft blankets at arm’s reach.  each bed kept with crisply cleaned sheets that smell like fresh laundry.  warm fragrant drinks offered to talk over.  bare windows to bring in sunbeams to snuggle up in.  fresh flowers or evergreen boughs to leave a fresh scent lingering whenever possible.

Image from Pottery Barn

Design by Brad & Kendra via Apartment Therapy 

Image from Period Living

Image from Benjamin Moore (Paint colour, Alaskan Husky)

 architecture by Shed via The Style Files

Image from Niki Jones Home

• Designer: Stacey Smithers, Photographer: Tracy Shumate for House & Home

Aeon Glass Doors

I’ll resume with the rest of my “House Rules” next week (you can check out all of my inspiration photos here.)  It was interesting, though, watching how the pictures I posted for this reblogged on Tumblr.  Though there are a lot of factors to whether a picture I blog gets lots of traffic (if a blogger with many followers reblogs a picture, or if I also pin a picture to Pinterest, etc.), I do notice a pattern.  Certain pictures emotionally connect with people - window seats, welcoming chairs in the corner, or walls of windows flooding a room with warm sunlight.  It’s something that is about more than design, it’s about feeling safe, and comfortable, and cozy.

That being said, I have a spot like that now. (Hooray!!)

Though this chair was (and maybe still is?) intended for our master bedroom I have a few things I want to touch up, so it’s been sitting in our main living area, set back from the living room area beside the balcony doors.  And it’s made itself comfortable.

And so have I.  It’s turned out to be such a nice cozy spot to settle into.  And can I get a “holla” for wingback chairs?  (Or not.  A polite golf clap will suffice.)  I know, I know… if you’ve followed me for a while you may know that I’ve sworn off ever reupholstering a wingback chair again.  But it’s deep comfortable seat and hug-like embrace are swaying my judgement.  I love it.

I’d love to give you the step-by-step tutorial run down.  But I can’t.  I was too busy sobbing into a pile of foam, fabric and staples to take any pictures.  I’d previously nicknamed this chair “The Beast”, because reupholstering it was so terrible.  It was large, and difficult, and quite a puzzle to put back together.  The thing was clearly not made by human hands.  Rather, it was fashioned by evil alien robots.

I did follow, as best as possible, a couple of quite good blog tutorials for wingback chairs but they have both since disappeared from the world wide inter webs. (weeeeeird.  Aliens, again, perhaps?)  But you may find this one (that I found AFTER I was done my chair.  Gee, thanks a lot.  But gawrsh that chair’s pretty.  I love me some Dwell fabric.) and this more general one very helpful if you’re looking for a tutorial.

But 98.7% of you just want the “after” picture, anyways, am I right?  So here you go:

And this Beast, much like another familiar tale of a Beast, has won me over.  It was once a terrible tyrant, but now… now you might say:

There’s something sweet
And almost kind
But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined
But now he’s dear, and so unsure
I wonder why I didn’t see it there before

That’s right.  I just quoted that.  Don’t hate.  (And now I’m totally singing it in my head, aren’t you?)

It’s become such a lovely little spot to curl up and read a book.  Especially with two sweet kiddos sharing its seat.

P.S. You can read more about my adventures in DIY upholstery here, here, and here.

Design by Caroline Allison

I’m writing about my “House Rules” this week - a few things I want to keep in mind when it comes to creating our future home.

I love pattern, and I love colour.  But over and over I find myself drawn to interiors that aren’t quite as bold with these.  Rather, the interiors use pattern’s more sophisticated and subtle cousin: texture.  Texture takes time and layers to create.  It means waiting for the right piece.  It means a variety of natural materials together: worn leather, beautiful wood grain, sparkling glass, interesting stone, woven grass fibres, warm and cool metals, breezy linens, soft silks, and sumptuous velvets.

While I’ll never stay away from colour or pattern completely I would like to pay attention to textures and create a subtle complexity of materials when designing our next home.