I love perfect timing. When the folks at Chairish reached out to me for the Mix & Chic Style Challenge a couple of weeks ago, the timing was perfect. They asked me to create a room using their rad vintage furnishings and add some of my own style. And here we are, smack dab in the middle of the bungalow series and I get to share a very cool room idea and tips with you. Yes, even if you don't have a bungalow.

First, let's talk rugs. Friends don't let friends buy ivory rugs for their dining room. I know they look pretty. I know that magazines showcase priceless ivory moroccan rugs under dining tables, but listen. Just stop thinking about it. At that next dinner party, one of your guests will drop a blob of marinara on your ivory rug. And part of your friendship with them will die.  If you're going to have a rug under your dining table, find a patterned rug. Something along the lines of this rug is a great option because it'll be forgiving of spills will save all your friendships from marinara-induced tragedies.  Ok, moving on.  Every dining room needs a good table and I love the timeless appeal of this one. The lines are classic and I love that I could move the benches into the adjacent living room for extra seating, or I could use them elsewhere (think end of bed or in the entryway) if I wanted to change up the look.   The light, the artwork and the subtle patterns on the chairs and rug pull the look together and keep the room from looking perfectly matched. That's my style right there.  The extra chairs are great to add texture & pattern, and will also be handy to pull up for extra seating. Throw in a fiddle leaf fig tree in a vintage planter and you're going to look like a design rockstar. My tips for a great dining room: -Classic table with good lines -Multi-use furniture, such as benches or upholstered side chairs. You'll be able to pull the chair over    to a desk when not in use, or into a living space for extra seating. -Patterned rug. Obviously. -Mix artwork with family photos and objects. It creates an interesting wall and also creates a   conversation piece for your guests. -Have something growing and green. It adds fresh color to a corner. -Find a great light, which is not always new or always expensive. Think of repurposing a piece or   shopping vintage finds. It's the jewelry of your room and can take your space to the next level.   Consider putting the light on a dimmer switch for a soft evening glow. -Use a storage piece for extra glasses, napkins, candles and you're able to easily set the table. My favorite of this room is the armoire. You know what I love about armoires beyond their ability to be gorgeous and hold millions of things? I love that all I have to do is close the doors and my guests would never know that I just shoved all the kids' book bags, yesterday's breakfast dishes, and a pile of unfolded laundry into it. Armoires make it look like you have it all together. That, my friends, is priceless.  Hats off to you, armoires of the world, for saving the day and looking good while doing it. I aspire to be like you. And thanks to Chairish for curating a collection of very cool furnishings and for letting us buy them.   Sources: Chairish Shabby Chic Collection  Rug // Light // Table // French Street Sign // Armoire //  Vintage Planters // Leopard Chairs // Floral Pillows // Carved Bowl  // Small Watercolor Painting // Acrylic Landscape Painting // Vase    Paint Colors, left to right are Sherwin Williams Sensible Hue, Sherwin Williams Aloof Gray, and Farrow & Ball Hague Blue

A couple years ago, I began writing this blog to tell the story of a remodel of a moldy old house into  a home: a real home with kids, a budget and imperfect piles of stuff. But that kind of blog can only go so far, because a shiny new remodel is only shiny & new for so long and really, no one really cares that much about which paint colors I used. I've been working to expand the horizons of this blog beyond the remodel to talk more about relationships, neighborhoods and family...you know, the stuff that actually matters. The stuff that actually makes a home. I don't have a limitless budget or time, although both would be nice. I have an old house with quirky room layouts, crumbling plaster ceilings and old cracked tile. In other words, it's a real house for a family of six, and I need it to function well in order for us to stay organized. With that in mind, I'd like to introduce you to a woman who is out there, being awesome and doing good work.  I met Holly several weeks ago and I instantly liked her. Holly started her own company, See Jane Work, because she saw the need organizational items that not only look great on your desktop but also takes into account how people already attempt to organize their stuff. Take me, for instance: I'm a stacker. When the bills, art projects, report cards, permission slips, etc. come in the door,  I stand next to the recycling bin in the kitchen and throw things out that I don't need to hang onto. Everything else gets stacked into piles and left on the kitchen countertop, which inevitably gets in the way when it's time to make dinner. When dinnertime comes around, my piles get relocated to the "office", which basically describes a table piled high with other miscellaneous junk in a nondescript room.  Holly wanted to know if she'd be able to help me get my office organized, and could I send her a photo of my office?  So I did what any other person would have done if an organizational guru offered to help: I said yes. Um, and sure I can send photos of my "office"...I totally have one of those.  This is the photo I sent to Holly, which is an SOS signal if I ever saw one. The plan was to have a film crew come in and show off Holly's amazingness in my, um, office. My procrastinating self didn't begin tackling this project until the weekend before the film shoot (which is yet another reason why I need serious organizational help).
So I spent 48 crazy hours trying to create a space that would function as an office for Greg & I, as well as a homework/art room for the girls.
There's a bedroom next to the kitchen that we previously used for the girls' playroom. Now that the basement is complete, we've relocated their toys downstairs and I have a space to work with. We moved the piano out a couple weeks ago and this is what I began with on Friday.

The room had white walls, a giant bulletin board, and a table my father in law built out of an old countertop we had, but mostly there's the random stuff that we don't know what to do with. Most of the stuff I moved into the closet until I have the strength to deal with all of it. If that ever happens. First, I moved the table to the center of the room so that several of us would be able to work around the table the same time. I decided on a [gulp] bold color, Hague Blue, by Farrow & Ball for an accent wall. I had some woodwork to paint where the piano used to be, which I didn't paint it until midnight the night before the film shoot. Of course. 

I shopped the house to find something that could hold the printer and hide all the cords and the router.  I hauled this cabinet down from the girls' room and Greg drilled some holes in the back for the cords.  



I scored the chair & white table at Marshalls and the air plant & terrarium at West Elm.




I reupholstered this old chair over the weekend too. It was a quick job and I just don't want to talk about it, which is why there's no tutorial and no close up shot of it.  Just keeping it real here. (Obvious tip #29: Don't upholster a chair when you're panicked and pressed for time. Obvious tip #30: Don't upholster a chair if you have no clue what you're doing).















I love these engraved clips. They bring out the brass I have in the room and they're subtle, but I love the engraving so that I remember what goes where.


These large art boxes are the perfect size for the larger papers that come home and don't fit in traditional files or letter sorters. And I love the labels & magnetic lid!