Leather Headboard || 2018 Flip List Item No.1

We’ve got a month and some change left in the year and I still have projects left on the 2018 Furniture Flip Bucket List and have only coordinated one room tour since we moved into our new place last Spring. I’ll be the first to admit it, I’m running a bit behind on a lot of things in life, but hey - who isn’t?

Let’s do a little something about that today shall we? I’m fixin’ to kill two birds with one post: item No.1 from the flip list and a master bedroom reveal!

I often use my annual Flip LIst as a declaration on intent for the year. It’s a combination of fun projects I have my eye on and personal challenges I’d like to tackle. Item No.1: Miter Corners definitely falls into the challenge category. I kind of figured I’d try to hone this new skill on a picture frame or something small, but then ended up with the idea to try a headboard shortly after we moved in.

When we moved in, the bedroom was a baby blue. It just wasn’t our style so we promptly painted it a StyleMutt favorite: Swiss Coffee.

The white allows the warm tones in the wood and the leather to pop.

The white walls also showcase the many green accents we have sprinkled around the room - the emerald velvet curtains, the pops in our artwork, and our little succulent garden.

Hanging directly across from our bed where I can look at it every day is our Laura Gunn Still canvas print - a dreamy colorscape of all my favorite moody greens. Don’t mind Thor #theotherstylemutt, the bedroom is equally his domain.

The bedroom has been finished for a few months now, but the DIYed headboard was the perfect special occasion to finally do a full room tour.

This was my first time trying to miter “properly” - using the right tools and mostly the right methods.  And I have to say, I’m darn proud of myself! 

I mitered the top corners and used a simple butt joint for the bottom brace. Then I slung some of my favorite leather across the frame and stapled it in place on the backside. 

They angles might not be perfect, but they’re pretty close for a first try. 

He could care less, but I love how the leather brings out the auburn in Thor’s coloring.

Well on that note I guess I’ll let this little guy get his nap. That leaves only one last project on the Flip List - here’s hoping I won’t slack off for the rest of the year!

Six down, One to go. Catch up on the 2018 Furniture Flip Bucket List:

Design Reveal: Ali and Brian's New Nest

Hello, friends! I won't even bother trying to hide my excitement for today's post - it's a design project I've been looking forward to sharing with you since JANUARY! And in January, all I was looking at were these photos:

While these images represent a DECADE of dudes on rotation moving in and out, the potential had my heart fluttering at first look. But not just because of the potential for some really fun design - this is the second time getting to work with our dear client, Ali! You may remember Ali's Navy Yard condo, (bedrooms here)? Ali was absolutely amazing to work with the first time around - she let me dream big and come up with risky ideas that required HER execution! She's a total go-getter and when she's happy with the design, she will make it happen. So I knew going into this one that we could do some big fun things!

But the very best part of this particular design project is that it represents an incredibly precious new chapter in Ali's life. Ali moved into this space with her fiance, Brian! They tie the knot in about 6 weeks and we sure couldn't feel happier for these two lovebirds. Brian has lived here for 10 years and when Ali came onto the scene, she wasted no time transforming this long running bachelor pad. But combining two full lives under one roof proved quite the challenge! Their many, (maaaaaany), books needed ample storage space, their desire to entertain and host friends needed room to do so, and even the task of joining their individual styles together required some creative thinking. Brian prefers warmer colors, (hence the mustard yellow walls and red rugs), while Ali enjoys a lighter, airier space with room to breath. We used a lot of neutrals and blue tones throughout her previous condo and she expressed early on that she didn't want this home to look just like her last. 

Let's take a look around!

Brian works from home a good bit and uses the bay window in the living room as his office. So while table space and comfortable seating for his meetings were important, we were also weary of the space looking too much like a dining room. It can certainly double as dining space when need be, but thoughtful chair selection and styling was crucial in executing this space as a definitive work area.

Before

I am the LUCKIEST girl to have a business partner like Cate who can come in with fresh eyes and style these spaces out on shooting day. There were some odds and ends to finish up here before we got pictures and it was such a relief to know Cate would bring the shelves to life with her thoughtful touch. We've done this enough times now that she understands my style, she's prepped on the vibe of the space, and works her magic to create groupings that make sense in the surrounding room. There was A LOT to work with in here and she hit the nail on the head. It doesn't hurt that Ali herself has acquired some really fun goodies to play with! Not only does she have the greenest thumb among us, she has a careful eye for art, photography, and pretty little things. It was a lot of fun to be hands on in this space after 7 months of selecting everything from paint to picture frames!

The first thing I started brainstorming for this space was storage. I knew I wanted to add storage to both sides of the fireplace, (which is, indeed, off center -  your eyes aren't messing with you), but one side is narrower than the other. Asymmetry doesn't bother me in the least so when I plugged two side-by-side IVAR cabinets from IKEA to the left side in the digital floorplan and saw that they were a perfect fit, I decided to just run open shelving up the right side. This solution makes absolute sense given that Brian's work area is on that left side and he really needs the extra storage space there. I wanted to have the IVAR cabinets floating over the floor by about 8" for a modern, custom look, and cannot express enough how much I love, love, love how they turned out! Ali and her handy Dad hung the shelves and they created the mantle from a DIY tutorial we found on Pinterest, (which they brilliantly added a notch in from behind to hide cords)!

If this isn't your first StyleMutt Home design reveal, you might be noticing a recurring element - moody mossy green, and specifically green velvet, (examples A, B, C, D - walls and sofa for a double whammy, E, F - you get the point!). And those are only a few that we've photographed so far! As a young designer with an itty bitty portfolio, it can be risky to reuse an element over and over. Will that signature move be well received or turn people off? I've used this element both subtly and obviously in various jobs and it's just my favorite! Dark green was first inspired by my love for nature and the beautiful shades of green I see right outside my window. I view it and use it as a neutral and love how it adds a touch of earthiness! It's not right for every space, but somehow it finds its way in to quite a few!

When we got down to the final details and Ali was ready for pillows, I got a little carried away! But with all that we had going on across the room on the shelves, I wanted to balance the space with some weight on the sofa. I had A LOT of fun with the pillows. :)

And if you want to know what's behind the door that the couch is blocking, you'll need to take that up with Sweden. Apparently this old building in DC belongs to them LOL!!! All I know is that no one needs access to that door and it's the only wall in the room to place the sofa, (and with the dimensions of the room, floating the sofa is not an option). I only tell you this because I have already had one designer question this layout with a comment: "Sofa in front of a door?" I get it, it's not ideal, But this is DC living, folks. Old, quirky buildings with odd elements that you just have to work with. I worked with it by adding an oversized mirror to one side of the door and mounting a good sized sconce to the other. When the conditions are not ideal, you can always fall back on scale and at least get that right.

Before

Recognize the art? It was over Ali's sofa in her last place! She took that photo in Cambodia and framed it herself!!

This sweet alcove is right off the kitchen and is perfect for dining and game nights. Nailing down exactly how Ali and Brian wanted to use this space was crucial and I had a couple different ideas for it. But when comfortable seating and dining height table space became priority in this narrow space with only two walls, it made sense to add a banquette and round pedestal table. A Craigslisted cabinet stores games and defines the space, along with a cozy rug and soft leather chairs. And more pillows - I'm telling you, I've never had more fun with pillows!

The bedroom is a quieter extension of the main living spaces - layered texture and pattern take on a more neutral vibe with the strong statements being the brick and green velvet covered headboard.

Before

There are pleeenty of gorgeous lush green velvet headboards out there, but with a perfectly good headboard already in place and a willing Ali to recover it herself, I found this delicious mossy velvet on Etsy for her to use - this is a much more cost efficient solution but the results are dramatic!

One of the sweetest surprises in here was when they removed the makeshift desk that had been built over top of the window seat! It was something we had spent quite a bit of time discussing when they gave me the Facetime tour during our consultation, and at the time they weren't sure it could be broken down. But they made it happen and it completely opens this room up! I have a special place in my heart for window seats so this element just puts a smile on my face.

Before

The last stop of our tour is the back room which doubles as Ali's office and their guest room.

Before

A rolling desk floating in front of some Billies, (bookshelves from IKEA), make this an easily transitional space when guests come in town.

It's bittersweet to be at the end of this amazing project and to be done working with Ali and Brian. I cannot express enough what a gift it's been to get to work with them, (and with Ali TWICE). I said this last time, but she makes us look DARN GOOD! It's so hard to get projects to the finish line as things come up in our client's lives, (as we, too, experience and more than understand), so connecting with someone who cares just as much to see things through, even moving mountains to do so, just means the world. Fortunately we have had the pleasure of working with several like minded clients this year, so this reveal is the beginning of a short chain of finished projects we will get to share with you! We hope you enjoyed this one and we can't wait to share more soon!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Two Sides to Every Door ||Reversible Headboard Tutorial||

Hi friends! While we've been busy moving forward tackling some new projects for an exciting event in August, (stay tuned for the juicy details!), our DC Apartment project has carved out a nice little wake for itself! Last Friday Apartment Therapy featured a sneak peek of the space in an article on decorating tricks for small spaces! We've been quite overwhelmed and humbled by the response to this project and are excited to welcome some new friends to our cozy blog! 

As promised, we'll be covering some of the DIY projects we tackled to make this space extra functional, chic and customized to our client. First up is the reversible door headboard! This was a brilliant idea of Cate's that will hopefully give our client long lasting use for this piece.

The first thing you'll need is a door! We found this piece several years ago at the Lucketts Spring Market, (along with a handful of other goodies)!

I, (Chelsea), bought it to give our master bedroom a bit of height variation and to cozy up a little reading nook. I painted one side in Duck Egg blue, and used that side for about 2 years before giving our bedroom a completely fresh look.

Although we had no use for this door anymore after refreshing our bedroom, I'm so grateful I kept it! **I don't typically keep things I have no use for and don't recommend holding on to things for the sake of waiting until you find a use - this piece was one of the few items over several years that struck me as special enough to hold onto, and since it was flat, it stored easily. When we started discussing headboard options for Christine's apartment, this piece was like striking gold! It was already the perfect size, and the painted side happened to be in the color palette we were using.

Although we ultimately decided to use the wood side for now, we turned this door into a headboard in such a way that Christine can always switch sides whenever she wants a fresh look!

Here's how:

So, diagrams aren't my forte, but this is how we rocked a reversible headboard! Rather than screwing the door into the wall, we made legs for it to stand on out of 2x4s. We knew how high we wanted our headboard to stand, so we took that measurement to Home Depot and had them cut two pieces of 2x4 to size., (45" in our case). By pre-screwing an appropriate sized hole through the door and 2x4s, we were able to then use 3.5" bolts that went all the way through both, and secured with a nut on the other side. If Christine ever wants to use the painted side of the door, all she has to do is unscrew the nuts, pull out the bolt, and bring the legs around to the other side of the door, then stick the bolts back through and secure with the nuts.

Since our headboard is not attached to the wall, we made sure the legs were close enough together that the bed itself could be pushed up against them, securing the piece against the wall. The legs are completely unseen, but provide a sturdy base for the piece.

The RANARP clip light from IKEA adds a snap of sophistication for a reasonable $19.99! We opted for the screw-on attachment rather than the clamp, (the instructions on how to use either option are in the box).

A reversible headboard might be a fun option for all you fellow mind-changers out there who like to switch things up at the shift of the wind! We totally get it and hope this tutorial helps inspire new ideas for multi-functional pieces!

Thank you all so much for stopping by! Stay tuned for a colorful Reader Design tour coming all the way from Germany tomorrow - auf wiedersehen!