DIY Custom Dressing Room - Progress Update

Time flies when you're having fun!  I just realized the other day that we've moved in for just over 4 months!  It's so nice to be in our own house again, and be able to just play house.  

The Mr. has been building our closet with the little spare time that he has in a day, some nights right after dinner or playing floor hockey with the little man.  Though I never rushed him (never did!), I'm sure he just wants to put this behind him.  It's a huge undertaking, and I don't blame him one bit.  

During this time while he was building the closet, I had my clothes at the seating area of our bedroom, while his were at the playroom's closet.  All of a sudden our seating area looks so spacious =)

That's because the Mr. has completed our closet to a point where we can move in our clothes.  Woo hoo!!  

Excuse the building material in the pic, they're just more handy for the Mr. while he was working in the closet.  The Mr. was afraid that I won't have enough hanging space for my side of the closet.  But after I've "KonMari"'d my clothes, I've purged bags of clothes and folded whatever I can KonMari-style.  All those bottom drawers sure came in handy with the folded pieces of clothing.  The vanity drawers are like our mini dresser for our intimates.  Last but not least are my dream-come-true pull-out racks!  The Mr. would use his side for ties and belts, and mine would be for scarves and belts.  It's great to have a spot for everything.

The Mr. has primed and painted the exterior frames and the closet interiors.  My colour inspiration was from this photo:

Natty by Design

I love this bluish grey, not too dark nor too light.   Our dressing room doesn't get much natural light, so a dark colour would make the area a dark hole.  This shade will highlight  the cabinet's detailing just right.  A close match to this greyish blue is Benjamin Moore's Sidewalk Gray, which we chose in a glossy finish and tinted down to 50%.

Benjamin Moore Sidewalk Gray

This colour is a gentle backdrop for the gold hardware we chose for the closet.  I stuck with one out of my choices of gold hardware mentioned here -  a crystal knob for the vanity drawers that we'll also be using for our kitchen cabinets.  

Lee Valley

This time around, we opted to have doors for our closet, so that our clothes aren't collecting dust while they're just sitting around.  (See the dressing room at our old house with open hanging space).  While I was shopping for gold-toned handles for the doors, I noticed the Bar Series handles from Lew's Hardware are a very popular choice amongst decorators:

Lew's Hardware

They would've been an easy choice, but I think that something dressier and less contemporary would be more appropriate for the dressing nook.  The boxy bar seems to make everything else boxy in this boxy closet.  So I continued to search for something more rounded.  Rounded, I did not find, but looking around paid off...  I found this gem:

House of antique hardware

The beveled hexagon ends really give this glass handle a gem-like resemblance.  It has a good weight and it sparkles elegantly in person!  

With this splurge for the glass handles, I sure was glad when we found plate handles at just $3 a piece at Ginger's clearance section!  They would go on the bottom drawers, giving a balanced contrast to the sparkling hardware above them.

The 3 cabinet hardware look lovely together:

Here is a hardware map for our dressing nook:

The Mr. is now working on the cosmetic fronts for the closet - trims, moldings, drawer fronts, and doors.  Over the weekend, he has put in the first trim around the top of the drawers.  I wanted a "lip" that extends just beyond the drawers to give the unit some details.  Similar to my original closet inspiration from Carrie's closet in Sex and the City 2:

CARRIE'S CLOSET IN SEX AND THE CITY 2, IMAGE VIA MARKS & FRANTZ

I thought the hardest part of building this closet was framing the structure and building the drawers, but he said the trim work and doors are just as much.  I guess my point was, if he could build this closet from scratch, the trimwork and doors must be easy peasy to him.  

And that's our little update on the Mr.'s DIY custom dressing room/ dressing nook/ closet.  No matter what we call it, it's truly one of a kind.  The Mr. is no carpenter; he's been learning as he went along, and I continue to be amazed by his skills...  and dedication to the project.

Just as the Mr. thought that he's safe to move along and close up the closet with trims and moldings, I added a special request for the closet.  Yup, the wifey requests never stop ;-) Can you guess what it is?

For the latest update, be sure to check my instagram feed!

Master Suite Series - Master Ensuite

I've come to realize that getting ready in the mornings with the Mr. is a luxury that I miss from our old house.  We were spoiled with double sinks in our previous master ensuite, making it a breeze to share the bathroom in the mornings.  Our current bathroom situation at the rental?  The master ensuite is a utilitarian space, with a single sink and vanity... do your business, in and out, not a place to linger.  The Mr. is letting me have the ensuite to myself, while he preps for his day at the main bathroom, before little man gets up.

The one space I'm lookng forward to most at our new house is, you guessed it, the master ensuite. The new house's master ensuite has a practical layout with features that I love.  

As mentioned before in the first master suite post, an alley separates the closet to the right and ensuite to the left.  That makes the ensuite a long rectangular room, and a bit longer than the closet.

I was actually able to find photos on Pinterest that look similar to our ensuite's layout and size.   The entrance to the ensuite faces the double vanity, which is flanked by a stand-alone tub on the right side, with a window facing the tub as such:

Coastal Living

And a full length shower to the left end of the ensuite, with a window above the toilet.

Black Band Home & Design

Amazing what you can find on Pinterest!

Modern day master ensuite is not only a room for "personal business", but more so a relaxing spa-like space to enjoy.  That is my goal to turn this builder ensuite into our sanctuary at a reasonable budget. 

The one main change we did for the ensuite was replacing the double swing-in bathroom doors with a pair of pocket doors.  I struggled with this change for a while, because I have always envisioned changing out the pair of original solid doors to a pair of beautiful french doors.  The brass handles on this pair are simply divine:

Source unknown

But our house has an "open door policy", such that no doors should be left at less than wide opened, for fear of monsters hiding behind the door... (and let me tell you, it wasn't my request nor the little man's).  If I've to leave our ensuite doors open flat at all times, then I wouldn't be able to put anything at the walls behind them, losing out on valuable space.  After looking at the layout of the ensuite for the millionth time, I checked with the Mr. if he would be open to a set of pocket doors instead.

And he was!  Here's a photo of our ensuite taken from the closet across.  You can see the framed slots for the pocket doors on either side of the entrance.

With the pocket doors in place, now I can turn the left nook behind the pocket door into a stylish usable space.  I can decorate the space with an etagere, or install a train rack on the wall and pair it with a stool.

Etagere mrs. howard personal shopper; train rack restoration hardware; stool union lighting

With the vanity facing the entrance of the ensuite, I wanted it to be a beautiful piece.  Here are some of my favourite vanities of different styles:

Vanity Styles | Classy Glam Living | clockwise from top right:  Belle Vivir, Brian Gluckstein Design; home adore, Restoration Hardware.

As much as we love the open bottom style, we'll have to go with a vanity with storage, since we've made another change to the floor plan to delete the only linen closet in the house.  The Mr. doesn't quite like the floating style, so my compromise would be the furniture look.  It provides the storage we need, with a slightly open bottom on furniture legs to make the bathroom appear more spacious.

We're installing white glossy floor tiles, so we would go with a grey vanity for some contrast.  We asked the builder to install 3 light boxes for our sconces.  In place of the builder's large wall mirror, we'll have two individual beaded vanity mirrors.  I love a light crisp colour on the walls of the bathroom to add some contrast against all the whites and greys.  Last but not least, I think the Mr. would LOVE to add some wainscoting to our bathroom!

New House Master ensuite design board | vanity view | Classy Glam Living | Sources: Vanity Muti; mirror Home Depot; Single and Double Scounces Restoration Hardware; wall colour Benjamin Moore Marilyn's dress; crop of wainscoting Lowes

Another design feature in our master ensuite is the wall by the free-standing tub.  It's like a blank canvas that spans the length of the tub.  We can either take the modern route, with bookmatched marble wall as such...

Sophie Paterson Interiors

Or a more classic approach, with a marble ledge that is supported by corbels, going across the length of the wall. 

New House Master Ensuite | Tub Feature Wall Design | Classy Glam Living | Marble ledge image (VIA); Tub Home Depot; Chandelier feiss; side table Joss & Main; Corbels home depot.

The wainscoting that the Mr. will install would continue to the wall behind the tub as well.  A small side table for a drink to enjoy in the soaker tub, dimmed light from the mini crystal chandelier above the tub, would be the perfect ambiance at the end of a day.

I can't wait to plunge into the deep soaker tub in our new master ensuite, and I won't get up even after my skin turns wrinkly like a prune.  Afterall, I've waited long enough to enjoy this bathroom! While the Mr. hangs out at his workshop for the numerous projects at the new house, I'll be...  right here.

New House Living Room - Design Board

*** CHECK OUT OUR LIVING ROOM REVEALED HERE! ***

I just love hanging out at the mall these days!  All the stores are looking so festive with their Holiday decorations, that sometimes I'm not sure if I'm looking at the products or checking out how they decked the stores.  I love decorating for the holidays, but I guess I'll have to skip it this year and save the hassle of going through boxes to find the Holiday accessories.

For now, I'll just have to satisfy my craving to decorate for the Holidays by putting together some design boards for our new house.  Earlier this week, I shared some inspirations on our living room's furniture placement.  We've done some virtual shopping to come up with a design board for it.

Remember how my Mr. LOVES trims and mouldings projects at our previous house?  One of the first projects that the Mr. is longing to start is the wainscoting for our ground floor.  This project will be different from our previous dining room trims, as he'll be building out on the wall instead of just adding trims.  We'll also ditch the chair rail and have a single pane from floor to ceiling, similar to this but without the gap midway:

image via panellingireland.com

The wainscoting will create depth along the walls of the living and dining areas, and the single pane will help to emphasize the height of the space.  I will make sure I take more in-progress photos this time around!  

I mentioned in the previous inspiration post that we want the living area to be an elegant, yet somewhat casual sitting area where we can plop down on the couch.  PLOP DOWN is the key, so I went in search for a couch with nice lines that looks comfy enough to sleep in!  I kept coming back to this one...

DUMONT LINEN SOFA | ONE KINGS LANE

It looks very ordinary, but the indented curve at the arms makes this casual-looking couch more refined.  I love a couch with a single seat cushion - it takes the ordinary out of a couch, and nobody has to sit on a crack between seats.  The grey piping is also a nice pickup of our grey kitchen cabinet (whichever grey that may happen to be) from just across the living room.  Tell me this couch doesn't look comfy enough to nap in!

For our narrow living area, adding a pair of armchairs on either side of the couch will provide more seating when we have guests over.  The tufting on this chair exudes a sophisticated air that enhances the elegance of the couch above, and the open arms make it oh-so-welcoming!  The grey brings out the grey piping of the cream couch and gives the room some contrasting colours.

Cardiff Tufted Upholstered Armchair | POTTERY BARN

With the living area right off of the pathway next to the kitchen, we decided to go with a coffee table with an open bottom.  The wiry legs of this coffee table helps to give an illusion of a wider pathway.  The bronze metal colour provides a nice contrast against the cream couch and grey armchair, while the mirror top adds the sparkly element to this otherwise rustic looking piece.

Bliss Studio Arbolo Cocktail Table | LAYLA GRACE

To complete the look of symmetry, we would have a pair of side tables on each side of the couch.  It would be a great spot for some knick-knacks and a pair of table lamps for ambiance lighting.  A pair of round side tables would lessen the stiffness of the straight edges of the coffee table,  We also prefer a more airy piece to balance the chunky armchairs, and this side table below fits the bill..  The deep antiqued gold frame of this side table works well with the dark iron frame of the coffee table.

Clairemont Side Table | CRATE & BARREL

If we have enough space in the living area, these stools would be some nice-to-have extra seating...  you know, in case we throw a huge party.  The wooden legs add some warm tones to the coolness of cream and grey seating, and are a nice contrast to the metal legs of the tables.  The carved detailing on the legs also adds an elegant feel to complete the living area.

Karline Ottoman | JOSS AND MAIN

Here's is a glimpse of the basic pieces mentioned above put together in our living room to-be, in perfect symmetry.

You didn't think I would leave it at this, did you?  Well, it's the holiday season, I can't leave the room bare!  Let's shop for some accessories!

The floor looks like it can use an area rug.  A light coloured rug would liven up this living area against our dark floors..  I especially love this rug, with its silvery blue zebra pattern.  It's my subtle take on a daring pattern =)

WILDERNESS RUG | ONE KINGS LANE

Let's continue filling up some empty spots.  Artwork on the wall would be a great addition of some much needed patterns.  The architectural photographs of Lisa Russo have a neutral hue that works as a nice backdrop for the living area.  The stone detailing on this print will accentuate the panelling and mouldings of the space.

LISA RUSSO FINE ART

We can't miss ambiance lighting to enhance all the details of the living area.  This pair of elephant lamps add a bit of whimsy, while playing on the bluish-grey tones found throughout.

Hathi Table Lamp | JOSS AND MAIN

And there, we've covered a set of basic accessories to dress up our bare living room.  Now we can take that up a notch by winterizing the accessories, and jazzing up the space with some simple Holiday decor.

Sources:  water colour cushion - Craftberrybush; all other cushions - Indigo; fur throw - Restoration Hardware; faux Holiday arrangement - One Kings Lane; antique brass reindeers - Etsy.

This is the look we hope to achieve for our living area - an inviting tranquil space that will be an elegant focal point through the entryway.  By pulling the kitchen cabinet colour to add contrast in the living room, it creates a nice transition between the two spaces that are just across from each other (see layout in previous post).  The Mr. said he can be see himself being a happy Chef Honey looking into this space from the kitchen.

For me, I'll just be on the couch, taking a little nap while he's enjoying his new kitchen.  Just call me over to do the dishes after you're done cooking up a feast, dear.