October 31, 2015

Top Hardware Picks for Our Dressing Room

October 31, 2015/ Classy Glam Living

Top Hardware Picks for Dressing Room | Classy Glam Living

Have you been following along the progress of our dressing room/ walk-in closet? It's on Instagram, and the Mr. has been making great progress.

Just to give you some background of our dressing room, its design is inspired by Carrie Bradshaw's huge walk-in closet in Sex and the City 2 (her side). Similar to the dressing room in our previous house, we love the trims and moldings details of Carrie's, and the bottom section that's extended just a touch beyond the upper hanging units. Not to mention, all those bottom drawers!! One can never have enough drawers!

Carrie's closet in Sex and the City 2, image via Marks & Frantz

This time around, we're not hacking any IKEA PAX wardrobes; it would entail too much customization and hacking to fit in our new closet space. So, the Mr. is building our closet from scratch! That also means we're free to add all those bottom drawers to suit our needs.

Here is the most updated status of our custom-built closet by the Mr.:

DIY dressing room walk-in closet progress shot | Classy Glam Living

While the Mr. goes about tackling the design and build of the closet, it's time I busy myself with looking at the little details to complement his huge undertaking. One such is of course the gems for the closet - knobs and pulls.

The Mr. will be building shaker style doors and drawer fronts for our closet. With this generic style, we would rely on the hardware to add a personal touch. Instead of using only one kind of hardware, I would prefer separate styles of door handles and drawer knobs. Not only is that less overwhelming visually, it also creates a layer of interest.

Classic and timeless styles of hardware would suit us best. Nothing too tacky - no rhinestones and no "crystal" knobs that are too diamond-looking.

There're literally thousands of choices out there, but I'll know what I want when I see them. And so, I went searching at my favourite hardware online sources: Lee Valley, Ginger's, Anthropologie, and Etsy.

Drawer knobs

These brass knobs are timeless classics, and their subtle details add interest so that they're not just a blob of metal.

Ever since going with glass knobs with our DIY refinished night tables, I've fallen in love with their versatility. They offer a touch of glam, and are a nice pairing with either intricate or sleek handles.

1.-3. From Lee Vally, 4. From Gingers Bath.

Pull handles

The cabinet doors for the closet will be quite high, going from the ceiling to the top of the bottom drawers. We would need pulls that are at least 6" in length to keep proportions in check, otherwise a tiny pull would get lost in the height of the door. Anything 4" or less would not do!

The dressing room can handle the traditional look of these brass pulls, which I may not use for a contemporary kitchen. While their designs are intricate, the handle parts are wide. Aside from being ergonically friendly, they would also look proportional on a large cabinet door.

1. Lee Valley; 2. Anthropologie; 3. A Rose Rambling Etsy

As much as I love classic style hardware, these contemporary pulls have understated details that don't render them too plain-Jane.

While there's no right or wrong way to pair cabinet door handles and drawer knobs, my preference would be to pair one with an ornate design with one of simple. When in doubt, pairing both with simple designs would always be better than having both handles and knobs with too much detailing.

Pairing of Handles and Knobs | Classy Glam Living

Perhaps these are details so minute that nobody would notice. So why put so much effort into mixing and matching of the knobs and pull handles? Cabinet hardwares can make or break the design of a room. Carefully chosen hardwares add your personal stamp to your space, and make using them on a daily basis a joy. Make sure they're ergonomical and in a style that you love!

I'm glad I got this post out, because it sure did help me in narrowing down my choices. I think I now know which ones I would go with. Let me just run them by the Mr.!

April 24, 2015

Master Suite Series - Dressing Room

April 24, 2015/ Classy Glam Living

We went for our new house's pre-drywall inspection last month and it was an amazing feeling to see the bones of the house in place. It gave us peace of mind to see that the builder didn't miss any of our changes to the layout. Although we were walking on sub-floors, it gave us a good idea of how everything will fall into place once it's completed!

When we got to our master suite, the site supervisor commented on how he appreciated we planned it out. That's such a nice compliment! When we got to our walk-in closet, which we opted to remove the wall between the "his and her" closets, he bellowed out, "love how you're turning it into a big closet, put in some closet organizers, bada boom bada bing, love it." OK, I added the bada boom part, but in my mind that was how he would've flowed as he shooted out his vision for our closet =)

Layout Change | Dressing Room | New House | Classy Glam Living

Closet organizers are great - they ensure there's a place for everything and everything in its place. They make the morning rush all the more efficient and laundry sorting a joy (ya right). But if you've been following along, you know that installing closet organizers is seemingly undermining the Mr.'s love to build. He's always up for a challenge, and knowing him, he now wouldn't settle for anything less than our previous dressing room.

The new dressing area isn't as large as our previous dressing room, and we would need to make some design adjustments to enhance the storage layout and esthetic of the storage units.

My wishlist for the new dressing area includes these enhancements from our previous dressing room:

Make the area appear larger with the use of mirrors
A counter for our trinkets
A valet hook for prepping next day's outfit
For the Mr., a pull-out tie rack (just because I also want a pull-out for my scarves)

We've drilled down to 2 options to complete this dressing area.

Option 1 - Installing storage units with architectural details

With a large entrance to the dressing area, the best design would be to play off of the room's symmetry. And since it would be nice to have some counterspace to put our trinkets, the perfect option to achieve this symmetry is to have a chest of drawers in the middle. We can then install the hanging units symmetrically on either side of the chest. The Mr. came up with a quick design sketch for the long wall facing the entrance of the walk-in:

New House Dressing Room Long Wall Sketch | Classy Glam Living

The Mr. is quite an artist, at least compared to me. That complements me perfectly, since I can't draw at all. ;-)

Armed with his design, I headed to my beloved Pinterest to search for the vision that I have. I want to use mirrors to give the illusion of a spacious dressing area and also to reflect some light from the master ensuite across the hall.

Of all the dressing rooms that I've pinned, I think this one below speaks to me the most. Its colour tone is so serene and elegant, with the full length mirrors reflecting light all around the room. The built-in dresser in the middle of the room provides ample counter space and drawer storage for easy access to daily essentials.

Here's another dressing room that illustrates the use of mirrored doors on the storage units, which are placed on either side of the middle built-in chest of drawers. Ours won't be quite as large!

We may choose to go with our reliable IKEA PAX as the main storage units again. As for the middle chest of drawers, the Mr. may have to custom build them, depending on the actual measurements of the room.

Option 2 - Boutique style walk-in closet

MirrorS, MirrorS, on the WallS... Option 1 was all fine and dandy, but then who can forget this moment from the movie "Sex and the City 2"?

SEX AND THE CITY:  THE MOVIE, VIA KYLE KNIGHT DESIGN — SEX AND THE CITY: THE MOVIE, VIA KYLE KNIGHT DESIGN

Yup, my jaw would drop just like Carrie Bradshaw's and hear the music of heavens at the sight of such a beautiful dressing room. But don't be silly, this is not a request to the Mr.! It does, however, give me another inspiration. Instead of the closed storage with mirror doors, how about we go with a boutique style dressing area? One with open hanging racks, storage and display shelves, and brightly lit hanging areas... who wouldn't want to go shopping right in the morning?

Instead of using mirror doors, we can install mirrors behind the hanging racks and shelves. Keeping everything open and backed by mirrors would also give the illusion of a large area.

So, which option do you think we should go with? Open or closed? Dust or no dust? Traditional organizers or boutique style?

September 12, 2014

My Current Obsession - Capsule Wardrobe

September 12, 2014/ Classy Glam Living

Brr... There's still a bit more than a week until fall officially arrives, but we're already getting a sneak peek of the golden season these couple of days. I've finally, albeit unwillingly, put summer behind and started digging into the storage for my thicker layers. This kind of in-between weather had me standing in the closet in the mornings, unsure of what to wear, and then I would declare "I've nothing to wear!" Yes, unbelievable right? That's what the Mr. thinks too, as he would look at my closet full of clothes and shake his head.

As I started gathering outfit and style ideas for fall and winter, I stumbled across the idea of capsule wardrobe. It's essentially building a wardrobe out of a few pieces of basic essentials and then branch out with accent colours and textures. Hey, isn't that what interior design is all about? I think I can do this!

I've always been mesmerized by how people come up with numerous different outfits with just a few pieces of clothing, dressed-up or down. Little did I know that's the essence of a capsule wardrobe!

The key here is a FEW. Did I refuse to learn about the capsule wardrobe concept when I've been shopping online all these years? How I just discovered it is beyond me, but it couldn't come more timely. I can't ignore the fact that I've NOTHING to wear despite a closet full of clothes. The problem is with a changing body, I still hang onto clothes that don't fit, or no longer fit my style. I would grab my few beloved pieces out of the many. I still shopped, and the Mr. can attest to that with the occasional comment of "you've got a parcel at the door". I can't help but ask myself, have I been buying clothes that I loved or just felt that it looked ok and was on sale?

I'm a bargain hunter at heart, but I still look for quality pieces (just like I do for our home decor pieces). My aging process has made me impatient with inferior pieces with poor cutting, and opted for better material and fit. The capsule wardrobe idea fits my maturing sense of style, and forces me to look at need vs. want in a whole new light. It gives me further incentive to shop! As in investing in fewer, better quality pieces that represent who I am and my lifestyle - pieces that will last several seasons.

I think the Mr. will be glad to know that I'm planning to purge more pieces from my closet, perhaps not down to the bare minimum. The dressing area at our new house isn't the size of our previous dressing room, and he's obviously concerned that I won't have enough storage for my clothing. Or that this would happen again at the new house: