Pilgrim Project - Mudroom Reveal

It's been a while since I've managed to pull together a reveal post for you. Summertime. Ya know.

This reveal is from our Pilgrim Project. And the mudroom, the 3rd room we've revealed from this project, was where the relationship with this amazing client began. She called us after having hired a contractor, but before demo began. Smart lady. We highly suggest to anyone interested in using or even just consulting an interior designer to bring said designer into the fold before plans go too far down the road. So much of what we do is design the physical space itself - not just fill it with furnishings...though we do that too...and we love to do that. It's always easier to consider a space before walls come down and, especially, before new walls go up! 

Be sure to check out the blog reveals of the Pilgrim Project homework station/office and the dining room (part 1 and part 2). You can also always head to our Portfolio for photos of all our projects.

The mudroom in this older home was originally a foyer with a closet. Here's the before:

We wanted to nix the closet, which was not an original feature to the home but had clearly been added at some point over the last 100 years, as we discovered an exterior window hidden on the inside!  Relocating the closet to the adjoining office space allowed us to bring in so much more natural light to the space, which is always a plus, and to transform this once dark and uninviting foyer into a light, practical and kid-friendly landing zone for our clients' busy young family. Here's the after:

We live in New England, so clearly we love mudroom benches with double drawers - one deep drawer for shoes and such, and a more shallow drawer to store away hats, mitten, scarfs, your random Barbie...the other stuff. The double hooks are, of course, for coats and backpacks. And, the top baskets are for for all the extra hats, mittens and scarfs that are off season or simply not in high rotation that week.

The color palette in this design had a couple considerations. First, we always recommend a neutral palette in a mudroom. Whether that's on the light side with whites and beiges and grays or dark with black and charcoal and navy, the key is neutral. Here's why - all those coats and hats and backpacks and sneakers are going to bring COLOR to the equation. Of course they'll always be put away in their proper spot...of course...but even when everything is neatly hung, the family's outerwear is a rainbow. So keep the backdrop a relatively blank canvas.

Second, this mudroom is completely open to the homework desk/office. We wanted the two rooms to flow into one another seamlessly. These rooms are decent sized, but certainly not huge. When your eye doesn't have to stop and reassess a new color scheme it makes a space feel bigger. 

As with all entryway spaces, we incorporated a mirror, storage and texture. The texture in this space is found in the rustic wood trim and bench seat, the woven baskets, knotted color block pillows, and the jute rug.

Entryways and mudrooms will always be one of our favorite rooms to design - they are the ultimate marriage of form and function. Being able to create beautiful spaces that work for the people who live in them is our FAVORITE. Gorgeous is the goal, but it won't matter how pretty any space in your home is if it's unusable. 

And now, the details.

Thanks for waiting so long for this reveal. We hope your summer is wrapping up with lots of sunshine and ice cream sundaes.

- Leah and Sonia

Wednesday Five - 11

With each passing day...slash hour...I get little more teary thanks to the closeness of the first day of school. My oldest is going to kindergarten this year and I'm a little verklempt about it. Super excited for her, she's gonna rock it, but man am I gonna miss her. 

1. For those fellow parents who are dealing with similar feels about their little ones heading off to school, I have an awesome article for you. Sonia found it and shared it with me (she's the best) and now I'm paying it forward. It's a quick read with real ideas about coping.  

2. We love using plants in our designs. They're great for your mental health - nature is calming - and they're also great for the air quality in your home. If you follow us on Instagram, you know I don't exactly have a green thumb. But, turns out that some of the most air purifying plants are also the most low maintenance plants. Check out this article from Better Homes and Gardens and get yourself more plants!

This is from the dining room in our Pilgrim Project. That glorious Boston Fern (on the left) is super easy to care for and a fantastic air purifier.

3. On a previous Wednesday Five I shared an article about how frequently you should be washing your kitchen towels. Today, I have a related article about how to clean your kitchen sink sponge. It's actually really easy...phew. 

4. I sewed a couple pillows. WITH zippers. So, technically, I sewed a couple pillowcases. The zipper factor is pretty major. I've made pillows before, but I sewed them closed because the idea of adding a zipper seemed way beyond my pay grade. I'm a total amateur. But about a month ago, I found a really manageable, dare I say easy, tutorial on the blog of a fellow interior designer that I follow and love. The designer is Tara Lenney and here is the blog post with the tutorial. 

The fabrics are by Nate Berkus (blue one and white one) and I grabbed them from Joann Fabrics and Crafts. 

5. With September a week away, we have a quick round-up of some beautiful autumn wreaths to get in the spirit. A couple are on sale! Most (all but one) are under $40!

Top left (counterclockwise) - mini white pumpkins / pinecones / faux magnolia leaves / greenery and white berries

That's it for the week!

- Leah

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Wednesday Five - 10

Oh hey. How are you doing this fine Wednesday? The start of school is creeping closer and closer. According to our Instagram feed, it's already begun in parts of Texas! Early Birds. For my family it's 2 weeks from today. Eeek. So, it's no surprise that most of this week's five are relevant to the back to school mood. 

1. Getting new shoes for the new school year is tradition around here. Well...part tradition, part necessity. It's special to have new kicks for the new school year. And, my kids' feet literally grow a size a season. So, I've been shoe shopping! These are all brands we have at home. They're all quality and CUTE.

Gold ballet flats / Blue sneakers / Pink glitter Mary Janes / Washed gray sneakers / Gold sneakers / Gray and leather hightops

2. I recently discovered that when kids are learning to write, they should use short pencils and rock shaped crayons and any sort of stubby writing tool. Their little hands will gain the fine motor skills much more quickly and with a lot less frustration. So, I went to Amazon and 2 days later (of course I have Prime!) my girls were practicing their letters with golf pencils. They come in all sorts of colors.

3. Taking a break from the back to school talk, let's dip back into the world of interior design and talk mixing metal finishes. This is one of those client questions we get ALL. THE. TIME. Can I mix metal finishes? Yes. But should I? Yes. We recently found a great guide to mixing metals from Kathy Kuo Home. There's a whole bunch of really simple Dos and Dont's. Well worth a read.

I mean, when done right, mixing metals brings an extra WOW.

SOURCE

4. The first day of school picture for your memory book or photo album...or the cloud because so few of us actually print photos. Anyway, have you figured out how you want to capture the moment?! Chalkboards are pretty popular (for good reason) - they're adorable and classic. I found an awesome reusable chalkboard on Etsy that can be personalized with your child's name or not (if you have multiple children and want to use the same chalkboard and just hand write each name). And, guys, it's $14.99. 

5. I've started a new book guys! Look at me. It's a new, old book. Does anyone remember Prep: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld? It was sort of the rage when it came out...10+ years ago. New York Times best seller. The whole thing. I knew it was about prep school drama. And that's all I knew (and all I know). But I never read it. What I did read, years later, was American Wife. Now that was a fantastic book. It's, allegedly, the fictionalized story of Laura Bush's life. Whether or not that's true, I'm sure I'll never know, but either way it's one of my all time favorites. So, as I'm diving back into the world of being a nightly reader, I went through my list of old books I always wanted to read, but never did, that are probably on the shelves at my local library. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Wednesday.

- Leah

*This post contains affiliate links*