Design by Nate Berkus Associates, Photograph by Thibault Jeanson

Marika Meyer Interiors via Decorpad

Design by Karin Draaijer via Remodelista

Design by NB Design Group

Design by Turquoise

Burnham Design

When it comes to the weekend I always feel like I want to share some interior design that’s colourful, whimsical, fun… so here’s your hit of design happy for the weekend from Burnham Design.  Enjoy!

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.

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.

Rule #2 is to create places of retreat.  I’m an introvert, and sometimes I need a place to curl up and escape it all.  As a kid I used to even go sit in my tiny closet on a pile of my shoes in the dark.  Even though I had my own room.  The house we plan to build is quite open concept - which is not usually the way I’d go, so I want to really prioritize creating places of retreat.  Things like a window seat, or a chair in a corner, or a little tent.