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Renovation Update: Living Room Inspiration

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

As the temperature drops and I spend more time inside I am aching to nest and start decorating even though every last cent I have is earmarked for our amazing kitchen renovation which starts in the next month or two. As I said before designing for myself is SO hard, but I’ve committed to making this home a study in neutrals as to keep it feeling light, calm and cozy. I spent a good chunk of the week in LA speaking to women about designing their homes and repeatedly told them that the most important thing is to have patience and wait and save for ONLY things you absolutely love. Of course picking up super affordable basics is a big part of design on a budget, but make sure that there are lots of pieces with character and patina layers with those items. I need to take this advice MYSELF and wait for things like a lucite and brass coffee table like the one below. I also have been obsessed with the Mitchell Gold Major chair in leather with stain brass since it came out and so I think that might be something I start sacking away for.

sofa/ rug/ chair/ side table/ floor lamp/ tulip table/ coffee table/ art/ sconces

blanket/ pillow fabric/ candle/ shades/ tray

Proof that vintage pieces that you fall in love with don’t have to be pricey- this console was $75 at a estate sale YEARS ago and I still love it. I’ve painted the interior cubbies two colors so far and am about to change it again to a grassy green and find a finish carpenter to make wine racks on the inside to store a few bottles. I’ve been stumped as to what to put in those little cubbies forever and finally have found a great purpose! This area will be great once drapes are up- I am LOVING my Ballard Designs/ Suzanne Kasler antlers I put up on either side too.

Benjamin Moore Forest Moss

And I can’t believe I’m doing this after I was like, a zillion percent sure this was going to be my sofa for the next 10 years but I am selling my navy velvet sofa. Our new home HAS to have a sectional with chaise or else Andrew and I might kill each other. The dogs take up 75% of the sofa and so my 6’4″ husband and I are relegated to basically sitting on the arms crunched up and pissy. Email me erin@eringatesdesign.com if you are interested. Pick up ONLY.

(fabric is darker than appears in this pic)

Posted in my life, My Renovation, new home | 28 Comments »

Bathroom Renovation-Before & Plans

Monday, August 13th, 2012

It’s closing day for us on our new house. I am both excited and completely, ridiculously terrified. But I barely have time to even think about it this week as we’ve been frantically planning the first phase of our renovation, which is to redo the only full bath in the house, add a pass through hallway on the main level and do a facelift on the powder room (and thousands of dollars in updates that you won’t see at all, which kills me). We’ve chosen to work with the Wellbuilt Company on the project and will start demo on Wednesday! It’s alllllllll happening.

But let’s start with the full bath. I am SO lucky to have my dad’s amazing design firm helping me out on this one, as it’s pretty damn complicated. I have already learned that if you can ever avoid moving a toilet, DO. It’s ridiculously expensive. I can’t even deal with how much furniture I could buy for this place for the cost of moving that one damn toilet, but it has to be done. See this bath has to serve as our master (and a guest bath when we have visitors) until we can save up more for the master suite we plan to add in a year (please, please, please) or two (no, no, no). And right now it’s TINY. So we have to expand it into some closet space and move the toilet to accommodate a wide enough vanity that Andrew and I can both use it without a) murdering each other b) me branding him with my curling iron daily and c) store the INSANE amount of crap we both have (the boy likes products almost as much as me).

Here are the quickly snapped before pictures- as you can see it’s actually kind of cute in a vintage way! And since our budget is TIGHT due to said toilet move we have to keep the tile in the shower and the bath tub and have them re-glazed. Hey, could be worse. At least they are black and white and basic. I debated cutting out that arch and having it go straight to the ceiling, but now I am going to keep it and perhaps use a flexible ceiling track to have a shower curtain that splits in the middle kind of like drapes.

I actually would have kept the floor too had we not been expanding but since we are making the room bigger we do have to replace it. So down will come the wall tile, wallpaper and up will come the floor.

Here’s a bit of what we plan to do spatially… you see where the toilet was and where it will go and how we are adding about two feet of space for the vanity and swapping the swing of the door.

I went to the fantastic Waterspot showroom to pick out all the things we need for the space and went with almost all American Standard products from the Town Square Collection. My parents were so sweet and gifted me a custom built vanity designed by my dad for the room. I want to use every single inch of space for storage so this is HUGE, and we’ll top it with a Cararra marble top with a large undermount American Standard Studio sink set in it. I am pretty psyched about keeping this space both classic and sleek with a black and white scheme- here is the plan and some notes on what I have chosen:

1. Town Square faucet in chrome 2.Studio sink 3.Countertops in Cararra marble 4. Waterspot carries Visual Comfort and we are using the Bryant Sconces with silver trimmed shades 5. Pondering a mirror like this one from Horchow, or something vintage 6. I’d love a sketch with a little color like this from Kate Long Stephenson 7. White beadboard replacing the tile on the walls 8. Walls painted black (exact color TBD) 9. Glass and chrome knobs from Rejuvenation for the vanity 10. Town Square toilet (who knew I could think a toilet is “pretty”?) 11. The floor is a Cararra basketweave with black dots 12. Town Square bath/shower kit 13. Shower curtain possibility.

Have not thought about a window treatment yet, but I think I’ll do a great print fabric pelmet with a woven roller shade underneath. Or perhaps a sheer roman. One thing at a time….

Here’s an elevation of the vanity area…

Some inspiration:

While i am really psyched to be getting a bathroom designed by me (my very first ever) I am scared. You open walls and who knows what you’ll find. So everyone cross your fingers and keep checking back to see the progress!

Renovation Sponsors:

(Interested in working with us as a sponsor? E-mail erin@eringatesdesign.com)

Posted in My Renovation, new home, renovation resources | 33 Comments »

I Bought A House, Y’all.

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

(our house)

OK, so we don’t close for three more weeks, but I think by now I can finally share properly that Andrew and I bought our first house. We’ve owned two condos before, so first time home buyers we are not, but this is the first time we will own all four walls and a roof (that needs replacing, of course). And it’s in the burbs. Ok, it’s not like the BURBS burbs, it’s in Newton Center, a mere 10-12 minutes from downtown Boston, but it’s still not the South End, where I have lived and LOVED living for the past few years. While I did not want to leave the city yet, the rents are INSANE and there isn’t anything on the market we can afford that we can stay in long term. Cue housing conundrum. The real estate recession is no where to be found in these parts. It’s a total clusterfuck, to be honest. Rents are super high and inventory low and decent homes of sale under $1 million are being bought for over asking prices in desirable areas within days of being on the market. What is one to do?

Leave the city apparently, for some space, an actual driveway and garage and absence of noisy neighbors.

Well, we have been scouring open houses in close the the city towns for months and months. Open houses where 50 people would be waiting in the driveway 10 minutes before it was scheduled to start. Nothing to pressure you like a crowd of young moms staring you down like “Bitch please, I have a KID and another on the way, this house is MINE! I will cut you!” So a few months ago we saw our dream house. Like, Father of the Bride dream house. I nearly punched Andrew in a fit of joy in our car when we drove up to it. It felt right. And it was really expensive, but we put in a low ball offer…and after negotiations we actually GOT IT. It was amazing and terrifying, but I had already begun renovating in my head.

And then we had our inspection.

It. Went. Horribly.

Like, one of the worst our agent has ever seen. Mold. Water. Bad electric. Old water pipes. Poor construction. Foundation damage. Termites. Roof problems. Need I go on?

We backed out. It was 300 grand in damage to repair and I am not Beyonce. I can’t afford that. I felt pretty gutted and really hopeless that we’d find something I loved as much. Our wonderful agent told me about a place she wanted me to see, and after looking at the pics online I wasn’t sold at all. Charming, not so much. Not like the other house. But the location was amazing- a place that offers me a yard but the ability walk to Starbucks and shopping in 5 minutes. Since I was a bit freaked about leaving the city pre-children, I loved that feature. So I agreed to put in an offer. And we were outbid. OF COURSE. But something in the universe shifted and the deal fell through and we got it. For under asking, which is rare in Newton.

When it comes to real estate I always look to my dad for advice. He’s saved us from investment disasters and has had unbelievable luck (and skill) with investing in property his whole career. So when he gave it his blessing, and enthusiastically so, I was psyched. So we are working on it together- designing the renovation inside and out (in phases, of course) and I am uncharacteristically calm about it. Which I hope is a good sign. But just wait until we open walls and I figure out how much my new kitchen is actually going to cost… that calm will go right out the new front door.

The place has not been touched since 1941, I swear. Except for the systems, which is HUGE. Wallpaper from the 50′s EVERYWHERE. Original kitchen cabinets. ONE FULL BATHROOM (and one half, but STILL, this will be interesting!). But it does have pretty hardwood floors, dentil moulding all over, a sunroom and POTENTIAL. And a location to kill for. So join me in the coming months on a new blog series chronicling the in, outs, ups and downs of my home renovation from the closing day until the day we finish. I really am excited to have your opinion and support through this process and hope you find it interesting and funny and can keep me from walking in front of a soccer mom’s minivan.

Wow. Onto the next phase of life. In the burbs. And as the previous owner said with tears in her eyes, having spent her entire life in this house, ” I hope you make as many wonderful memories here as we did”.

We plan to.

Wish me luck,

Erin

Posted in my life, new home | 152 Comments »