portland interior design | A WELL LIVED HOUSE

ORC FALL 2016 – WEEK 1 ~ HALLWAY & STAIRS

by studiotullia | Oct 7, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta

Well, here I am again, taking the challenge. Along with hundreds of other designers, I am committing to 6 weeks of design starting today! This bi-annual event, sponsored by Linda from CALLING IT HOME, is super fun to follow along.

Here is the link for the ORC DESIGNERS …

And here is the link for the ORC GUEST PARTICIPANTS, who are free to join in with their own projects.

A little history…Our house is an Arts & Crafts 1906 Bungalow style house. Grandma used to live upstairs in our house, which was converted into a duplex a long time ago, but she moved out a little over a year ago.The kids (two 9 year old twins) have moved upstairs so they could each have their own rooms. We are slowly transforming the space into a lighter, more kid-friendly zone.

Last Spring I did my DAUGHTER’S ROOM as part of the ORC SPRING 2016:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

This time, I am going to spruce up the UPSTAIRS HALLWAY & STAIRS.

Here is the BEFORE:

The walls and carpet have got to g0! I am also rethinking the furniture and its functionality. And the lighting.

Here is the chair I have there now which is not that comfortable and the wrong color.

My daughter needs a dresser just outside of her room, where the large trunk is so I am planning to paint an old heirloom piece that we have. I like the idea of a punch of color. Here’s an example:

The banister and post are looking warped. The woodwork on the upper level is kind of wobbly and in a perfect world, needs to be replaced.

We recently stripped the carpet on the stairs to see what we were dealing with underneath.

This is what we found under the carpet at the bottom of the stairs. Pretty bad. So, that needs to be replaced and painted also.

BLACK & WHITE with COLOR ACCENTS is pretty much the direction I am headed.

Here are a few inspiration pictures I have found by the firm, ASHE_LEANDRO. Boy do they have the BLACK & WHITE motif down:

Photo Credit: ASHE_LEANDRO

I need to put some artwork up on the wall going upstairs and in the hallway. This salon style hung artwork could work.

Photo Credit: ASHE_LEANDRO

There is a possibility I might tint the white walls slightly. I like the way this yellow piece looks as an accent color (for the heirloom dresser).

I should probably mention The BATHROOM, as it is off from the HALLWAY and is the next item on the list when this is done. We were going to do it for the ORC, but weren’t sure we could get it done in time.

I would like to continue the BLACK & WHITE motif into this room as well.

Here is a BEFORE:

I really like these bathrooms:

And some kind of black/white tile, but I don’t know that I will get too far with the BATHROOM just yet.

So, to summarize my tasks in the next several weeks, here it is:

	ORC FALL 2016 TO DO LIST
Date	Task
10/9/16	PAINT HALLWAY & DOORS
	Reoccur walls and trim and paint
	Select Door colors and paint – black or color.
10/16/16	REPAIR/REPLACE WOODWORK ON STAIRS
	Paint stairs and wood work
	Possible replace column/post at top of stairs
	Repair floor at base of stairs and paint
10/23/16	PAINT STAIRS AND WOODWORK
	Paint Selection, possible design motif/stencil
	FURNITURE SELECTION
	Replace Chair and Chest with more functional furniture
10/30/16	Paint heirloom Dresser for Charlotte
	Select a new piece of furniture or spruce up the one I have
	FLOORS & CARPET
	Replace wall to wall carpet
	Select a Runner for upstairs
10/6/16	LIGHTING
	Select a new light fixture and install
	SELECT ARTWORK, FRAME IT & INSTALL
	Select art work, family photos and have it framed and hung up on the walls
	Select artwork/mirror for over the dresser and piece of upholstery.
	ACCESSORIZE & STYLE
	Accessorize with plant, throw, pillows.

Nothing like a little accountability to get things rolling. So I am off….

Thanks for reading my post!

Best,

Suzanne

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE 2016 -WEEK 6 of CHARLOTTE’S ROOM FINAL REVEAL!

by studiotullia | May 13, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta, INTERIOR DESIGNERS THAT INSPIRE

Well, we managed to finish up just in time! Here are the results. We were lucky to have a bright sunny day for these last minute pictures, thanks to my amazing assistant, Amanda. Everything is smelling like roses and I am drinking a gin and tonic as I write this (it is after 5 pm West coast time, FYI).

FINAL REVEAL:

Below is a painting of our backyard fig tree that Charlotte and her friend Alex painted together last year. I floated it in one of IKEA’s shadow box frames.

As you can see we have a little woodland theme going on with the deers and bunny rabbit. I know the rose floral shade on the sconce and bed linens from IKEA are a departure from the neon splatter, but it was such a lovely pattern we bent the matchy matchy rules. Perhaps bold colors or solid colored linens would have worked better, but we wanted to make these work. They’re cozy and a little English or something. The framed deer art is hand cross stitched by a very patient Oregonian: a vintage find that was in perfect condition. The antique bed is an heirloom from my grandparents that my Mother stripped and refinished years ago.

The large splatter pillow was a trial run before the curtains and the hand drawn critter pillow Charlotte drew awhile back as a prototype for a school auction project. The cross pillow was from STUDIO TULLIA inventory and we liked it in the room.

You can see a little bit of the furry stool we created by covering an IKEA stool. It is the perfect little occasional stool for this tiny room and adds some much needed glamour.

I want to show you a close up of the white bunny painting by Oregonian artist ELIZABETH SEE because she is so talented.We have come quite a ways in just a couple weeks. Here are a few before shots:

Getting that pink the right color took some work. Between BENJAMIN MOORE PAINT and METRO PAINT we got it done.

The IKEA curtains were perhaps the funnest part of this project and they really set the tone for the room.

This IKEA PS 2014 ceiling pendant is very cool in its design. The pull factor really is fun at night and gives you a diverse range of visual effects. Her twin brother Arthur is a little jealous when it comes to the light. Thank God they have lego building experience as they put this thing together all by themselves. Whereas that project might have put me right over the edge.

This is her bookshelf which I have staged for this shoot. The camellias ,roses and hydrangeas are from our garden. The amethyst cut crystal vase was her great grandmother’s and the other vase is a hand painted vintage vase as well. The flower etched globe light is from IKEA. And we all know that’s an AMERICAN DOLL in a wheelchair. The one thing in the catalog Arthur liked because it had wheels.

HARRY POTTER books without their covers aren’t so bad looking next to the collection of NANCY DREW books.

All of the pillows in this feature have been provided by my primary sponsor ~ STUDIO TULLIA! Vintage ones (like the cool beaded rose pillow above) as well as other vintage oddities are available through TULLIA MARKETPLACE, which is not fully off the ground, but should be by this Summer.

Here are a few more pictures of the flowers up close because they are just so pretty. The vase is by who else…IKEA. The little painting is by Charlotte.

A FEW MORE NOTES…

We decided last minute to switch out her side table form TARGET and it needed to be white. The finish was antique gold and it just fell flat in the corner. We almost painted the gold framed mirror, too, but decided it added some bling and was ok as is.

This room was a quite a challenge because in all honesty this room is a dog. The room is tiny, the ceiling is slanted, the windows and trim work are funky, and many more issues I don’t need to bore you with.

The good news is that this is the room she wants to be in and is a very happy girl. She could not fall asleep last night she was so excited. I hated to wake her up this morning. This room is her safe haven, compared to the larger guest room where she was temporarily staying during this project.

Sweet Dreams, my Sweet Charlotte.

I am excited to grab a cup of coffee tomorrow morning and indulge myself in the many final reveals as part of the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, thanks to CALLING IT HOME.

This was a great challenge for me and 6 weeks was just about right. I am excited to do another room in the Fall.

Here is the link to twenty very talented designer bloggers’ final reveals HERE

And if that’s not enough, there are over 1,000 Guest Participant Final Reveals to view HERE:

Thanks so much for following along!

Best,

Suzanne

ORC, SPRING 2016 WEEK 3 – IKEA TRIP

by studiotullia | Apr 22, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta

I put a little collage together of all of our IKEA purchases for Week 3. See previous blog post for greater details about our shopping adventure HERE.

Grab a cup of coffee and follow along with all the amazing projects going:

ORC Featured Designers

as well as the: ORC GUEST PARTICIPANTS

See you next week!

Suzanne

ORC, SPRING 2016 – IKEA Shopping Spree

by studiotullia | Apr 21, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta

We decided to get some shopping done for the essentials of the room: lighting, hardware and curtains. I wasn’t sure how much input to let Charlotte have, but for the most part she picked some essentials I couldn’t find too much fault with. I just had to keep reminding her that the room is small so we couldn’t go too loud or crazy.

So here’s what we accomplished in less than two hours at IKEA:

LIGHTING:

She picked this floral etched glass KNUBBIG globe, which is a pretty accent light for the bookshelf. It has a subtle cherry blossom motif which is in keeping with our theme.

We finally decided on this chandelier by DAVID WAHL. I am curious to see how it looks installed. We chose the turquoise inside rather than the orange.

I like that you can easily pull on the cords to control the amount of light into the room.

Then we chose this RODD sconce that we paired with the EMMIE BLOM shade which has a nice floral pattern:

They had it on display and we liked it. We are from the City of Roses afterall.

Next we moved onto…

HARDWARE & CURTAINS:

This is the look we were after with the grommets. We chose the MERETE cotton curtains which are a nice weight cotton.

We also wanted sheers so we picked the LILL lace curtains:

We went with the VASENTLIG ball finials and double curtain rods:

Pretty basic choices, but I feel good that we got those items taken care of. It gives my husband some time to install the pendant and sconces as well as the curtains rods.

We are still painting the walls and hoping to have that done soon. And, Charlotte plans to splatter the curtains…oh boy.

I loved this chair but it is too big.

We also considered this one at VINTAGE VINTAGE on Division St, but again too big.

Would you look at all the carts at IKEA! We were leaving as they were closing up.

Well, thanks for reading and we will see you next week!

Best,

Suzanne

ORC, SPRING 2016 – HERE WE ARE AT WEEK #2

by studiotullia | Apr 15, 2016 | BENEFITS & GREAT CAUSES, DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta

Well , here we are at week two of the ORC. Old houses always require more prep than you think. My husband and I agreed to not spend a month on the ceiling like we did in our bedroom. Still, there were some cracks on the ceiling and a few holes in the walls that had to be addressed. My husband got that done and the floor prepped for painting.

PAINT

Charlotte has chosen lilac walls and light cherry blossom pink for the ceilings with white trim. This is where we are headed:

First Light #2102-70 by Benjamin Moore

First Light BM.jpg and, Spring Iris #1402 also by Benjamin Moore Iris BM.jpg

We started with METRO PAINT, which is a local paint supplier in Portland. There paints are all recycled and very affordable. My father in law (who is a contractor) uses their paint all the time and recommended I give it a try. I love their MOUNTAIN SNOW – which I used for my HOME OFFICE.

So, we bought a gallon of CARNATION (for like $12!) and we have been methodically adding MOUNTAIN SNOW to try to get close to light pink we might like.

FYI, Metro Paint has a limited palette of colors, but in reality if you have the time and gumption, you can mix and match and come up with some pretty nice colors. They haev lots of examples and formulas in their store. It can make painting a house almost affordable.

Charlotte with CARNATION, untouched. Too pink as is as you can see.

After painting the entire ceiling with a lightened pink, it is still too pink. So, we’ll add more white. I think we are close though.

SLIGHT TANGENT

The lilac bush is blooming outside of our house – I used the flowers to decorate the twins’ birthday cake this week. A little much for Arthur. Oops. Charlotte and I tinted the icing lilac. I guess we are in a custom color mixing mood. The lighter part of the lilac petals are such a perfect color.

I came across this cherry tree in bloom the other day and had to share this. There really is nothing like Portland in the Spring.

There were 3-4 inches of pink petals on the ground!

LIGHTING

So, I am also thinking about lighting. She needs a pendant light and a bedside lamp. Or ultimately a sconce by her bed. I am a big fan as they leave your bedside table free and provide nice light. Here are a few possibilities:

With a gold sconce from Visual Comfort:

Here’s a sconce from IKEA:

A new pendant light from IKEA:

It does cool things at night:

Is this vintage glass pendant light stunning or what?

I even like this Chinese paper lantern for $12:

CURTAINS

And here are some basic white curtains with grommets for a modern look. Grommet curtains are super easy to use. And these curtains will be used daily.

I am leaning toward sheers behind the curtains rather than shades. The windows are sort of odd and need to be replaced ultimately so the sheers should offer some coverage for now.

Charlotte has some ideas of her own about the curtains. She wants to splatter them in a ROTHKO-ish way. I have my concerns, but nevertheless, we bought the paint at COLLAGE in Portland:
k2-_467dad27-25cb-4d22-add8-ba0a64eb7242.v1.jpg