Wednesday Five - 12

I first want to say - THANK YOU! Thank you so much for reading this blog and following along and supporting us and hopefully enjoying our client (and personal) projects and our weekly potpourri of thoughts. We had a flurry of comments on last week's Wednesday Five and it was so flippin' exciting. So, again, thank you!

If you're new to the Wednesday Five, I'll fill you in. Every Wednesday, we post about our past week. Anything interesting that we've been up to, whether it's a recipe we tried or a new television show we're watching. We pull together sales roundups and share insight about our favorite home design trends. It's a little bit of everything.

And now, all the fun and truly random stuff we've been up to.

1. Free Printables

It occurred to me recently that not everyone has heard of The Little Umbrella, which is truly devastating...somewhat for The Little Umbrella and mostly for you. It's an awesome resource for DIYers and party hostesses alike. It offers free printables for all sorts of stuff - baby shower games, Valentine's Day cards, nursery art, and a whole lot more. And it's all beautiful and even feels boutiquey. Many of the printables are also customizable. For, example, the colors and the letter/name in the print below are all customizable. So fun. It's the sort of website you can really get lost on and there goes an hour...or two.

2. Back to School and Labor Day Sales

There are a ton of sales happening now and coming this weekend for both "back to school" and Labor Day. Anthropologie has an extra 20% off sale items. H&M has free shipping on orders over $40 with code "0040". Target has a ton on sale with an additional %15 off select home items, including rugs...and we rounded up a bunch for you.

Top left counterclockwise (ish) - black and white chevron / home / home sweet home / navy and white plaid / green and teal tassel / beige and multi pom pom / jute / blue jacquard pattern

3. Peach Cobbler

Not last weekend, but the weekend before, was the annual peach festival at a local farm and I went peach picking with the fam. It was a lot of fun. But, the peaches were rock hard. Like - don't drop that peach because if it lands on your toe your gonna be in a world of pain - rock hard. But, we shrugged and picked a whole bunch anyway. We figured they would ripen in a bowl on the kitchen counter over the next week.

Then, my husband's coworker gave us some great advice - put the peaches in a brown paper bag and put the bag in the fridge. It turns out that if you let rock hard peaches ripen in a bowl on the counter it'll take forever and they might go bad before they get ripe, which almost doesn't make sense, but is apparently true. We followed this wise coworker and a week later had perfectly ripe, unspoiled peaches. One problem solved, but another problem immediately upon us because they were all perfectly ripe at the same time. Who can eat that many peaches?! And so, I made peach cobbler. I found a really easy recipe (here). I'd love some recipe suggestions for how you use a dozen perfectly ripe peaches. 

4. Armchair Expert - New Favorite Podcast

I recently discovered a new podcast: Armchair Expert. It's a big winner. The premise is really simple: Dax Shepard interviews fellow actors/singers/entertainers. They get really deep at times and really raunchy at times and really funny almost all the time. Dax has a really organic way of pulling unfiltered thoughts and stories from his guests. My favorite episode thus far is with Mila Kunis. Although the first episode, with his wife Kristen Bell, is really good too. They're all about 2 hours long so I find myself listening in 20 minute snippets while I'm doing the dishes or folding laundry. It's NOT kid friendly, so don't attempt to listen in the presence of small ears.

5. Behr Color of the Year for 2019

A few week's back we shared the PPG color of the year for 2019 - nightshade, a deep, dark green. Well, Behr has officially announced its own 2019 color of the year and it's on a little bit of a different page. It's called Blueprint and it's not as moody, although still saturated. As more and more brands announce their 2019 colors, it'll be fun to see if there are trends.

That's all for this week. By next week's Wednesday Five, we'll be officially back to school around here. Hard to believe the summer is officially over. Well, almost - enjoy Labor Day weekend! 

- Leah

*This post contains affiliate links*

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

*This post contains affiliate links*