Thursday, January 26, 2012

Wallpaper Wars

Powder room

The interior design continues! I am really blown away by how hard the architects and designers are working to get this done, confirmed, priced, and eventually executed.

Up there you see my photo of the computer view of our powder room from our laundry room. This is one of the two rooms in the house where there will be wallpaper. My husband hates wallpaper. I love wallpaper. The compromise is having some wallpaper in rooms where he is not likely to spend a lot of time. It will work out well, I think.

Powder too

We had a three hour meeting at the architect's office this week, where Sarah (architect/designer) walked me through the house's interior while Serina (designer) displayed the samples of the materials that will be used. It is a great way to get a sense of how the space will actually look.

Sewing room

My sewing room is the other room in the house that will have wallpaper. This room is, obviously, very exciting for me. I had a sewing space in our old house, but it was also the guest room and had only a sub floor, no actual floor. Plus the floor was sloped, so my large shelf of supplies often lurched back and forth precariously. This new sewing room will have shelves that are not lurchy, a closet for more storage, my existing (sentimental value) wooden work table, and the cool adjustable light you see in the photo above. It will also have wallpaper patterned with birch trees, which I am super in love with. Oh! And towel bars on one wall that I can hang quilts over for display or for storage while I'll working on them. That was my idea. I'm proud of it.

More samples

Having the sewing room be well designed and efficient plays into my idea of this house as an urban homestead. I know it sounds a little nuts, but I love the idea of taking traditional activities (growing food, making clothes, keeping bees) and making a modern, comfortable, beautiful space to practice them in.

J.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Colours and Textures

living room

We had a meeting with the architects/designers this week to go over the interior design for the house. It went freakishly well. I say freakish because for weeks Serena, who is handling the interior design stuff, had been alluding to the plan she had for the tall wall space by our staircase. I had been secretly hoping, for no reason other than I kind of liked the look of it in pictures, that she'd want to put reclaimed wood all up the surface of the wall. And guess what? She wants to put reclaimed wood up the surface of the wall. And, it turns out, everyone agreed that carrying this kind of wall covering into the living room is a great idea. Sold.

Pinterest photos

Serena also demonstrated her in-tune-ness by printing out selections of the photos I'd posted on Pinterest (choosing a bunch of my favourite shots without knowing it) and grouping them into design elements that kept showing up again and again. She used those textures, colours, and arrangements to pull together ideas for the tiles and flooring and millwork for our house.

house interior colours

It's crazy-exciting to see more detailed rooms pop up on the computer screen.

sewing room

J.

Monday, January 2, 2012

And we have windows!

On December 31st we went to see a movie and then dropped by the house afterwards to check out the recent progress. There were windows!

new house

I was most excited to see the south side of the house, where the kitchen is. It was great to see the doors that will lead to the outdoor deck area from the dining room and the windows that will bring lots of light into my new kitchen.

side windows

The windows will allow people to work inside the house without worrying about wind and weather. Already the electrician has been in to do some wiring. Oh, and all of the windows have big stickers on them that say "Marvin". Lots of windows named Marvin.

New house

Our vague move-in date of May 2012 seemed really far away when this all started, but now it's actually seeming kind of close.

J.