My House Reveal: Dining Room

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” 

Virginia Woolf

The open floor plan combines the dining and adjacent living area into a single, large gathering space where family members and guests can interact during the entire course of a visit, not just during the sit-down meal. 

Admittedly I am not the best cook on the planet. I can make a mean tater tot hot dish (as we call it in Minnesota) or a respectable pot of use-what-you-have-in-the-pantry soup. But when these culinary delights are shared in the ambience of a beautiful dining room, somehow they just seem to taste better.

The biggest challenge I had in decorating this space was finding a table the seated six while comfortably filling the space in front of the floor to ceiling windows. After a frustrating game of this table is too big, that table is too small, I found an old, inexpensive trestle table that was ahhh, just right. 

My husband and I spent a Saturday afternoon stripping, sanding and staining it to its natural perfection.

Keeping with the light, monochromatic palette, I also found an open shelved hutch (with a cute ladder!), perfect for displaying dishes, baskets full of linens and assorted vases and jars.

 I have a few more rooms to reveal, so as always, stay tuned...

{photos by Sara Boulter}

My House Reveal: Powder Room

"Never underestimate the power of a powder room...

the small size of a powder room gives you the ability to really make a statement."

Shane Inman, Houzz contributor

I chose a bold floral pattern wallpaper and a decorative ceiling light for my small, windowless powder room. The bold turquoise leaves pull in the subtle variations of the same color throughout the rest of my home. 

Dare to be bold in the powder room! The tiny, often windowless, room is the perfect space to add a pop of pizazz in your home. Patterned wallpaper, distinctive art, and dramatic lighting are all simple ways to make an eclectic statement.

Artwork, flowers and a contrasting floor pattern add to the eclectic feel of the space.

Not quite sure how you feel about making such a bold statement? Here are some other inspirational powder rooms:

Brown Design

Elle Decor 

Elle Decor

Massucco Warner Miller 

Still not convinced? Check out the latest LIV Showroom blog post with some great resources and additional insight into using wallpaper. 

As always, stay tuned...

My House Reveal: Den and Study

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” 

Cicero

Welcome to my den and study, the combination of two formerly small bedrooms united into one magnificent area for watching TV, reading, and working from home.

One of the initial disagreements my husband I had when we were renovating was where to place the TV on the main level. My thought was that it should go in the living room so that the family could enjoy the TV in the main living area (e.g. living room, dining room, kitchen). My husband, on the other hand, did not want a TV to distract from the incredible views from the living room, and felt that the TV should be a secondary focus rather than the main.

Our solution? We created a den. I'm so glad I let my husband win that argument *wink wink*. 

Likewise, the study serves as our family work area. It is connected openly to the den to encourage family together time. The study is decorated with an eclectic mix of personal mementoes like an oversized canvas portrait of my husband in his rodeo days. Yeehaw!

The functionality of the two-rooms-in-one serve our family well, and the diverse mix of furniture and accessories keep the rooms informal and fun.

As always, stay tuned...

My House Reveal: Master Suite

"In the end, I think that I will like that we were sitting on the bed, 

talking & wondering where the time had gone."

Brian Andreas

As the last room we see at night and the first room we see in the morning, the master bedroom is one of the most important spaces in our home. In order for a master bedroom to feel as grand as it's purpose, there are several things to take into consideration when planning this space. 

When we purchased this 1960s rambler, one of the unusual things about it was the size of the master bedroom. It was LARGE. Homes from that era are typically know for smaller bedrooms. So with that in place, we only had to make minor architectural changes to make it into our dream bedroom.

The first thing I wanted to do was to salvage the hardwood floors. They were in impeccable condition even after 50 years! Unfortunately, the unique size of the wood slats were not available, so we opted to install wool carpet in the bedroom instead. 

The second thing I noticed was that there wasn't a large enough wall to comfortably accommodate our king size bed. I decided to replace the existing patio doors with a wall and replace the window with a large set of sliding patio doors that would walk out to a private deck. 

Although the room was relatively large, I still wanted to expand the space. Since moving walls was not an option, I chose to coffer the ceiling to add height and install faux beams for visual interest. I had a custom barn door made to prevent the door from swinging into the room and impeding the bathroom walkway.

Finally, a master suite wouldn't be complete without a master bathroom. We opted to forgo the bathtub in lieu of a large walk in shower, a trend I'm seeing more and more of lately.

More house to reveal coming soon. As always, stay tuned...

The White House

"So white is the mother of all colors
The churning of all yellow, blue, green
Colors sacrifice their egos
To the eternal white."

John Matthew

Strangely, I've had an obsession with white for the past few years. For those of you who know my tendency to use color everywhere, it's been an interesting personal evolution in design style.

White serves as a blank slate, an empty canvas when used in design. White is timeless, and works with all styles from tropical to traditional, classical to contemporary. White provides contrast to the world around us.

So during our quest for an exterior house color, we decided on white. 

Here are a few of my inspiration images:

This week, our house is gonna get its white on. Oh yah.

As always, stay tuned...

It's Been A Long Time Comin'

"It's been a long time comin', my dear, It's been a long time comin', but now it's here."

Bruce Springsteen

It's been nearly two years since my last post and so many things have happened! But, for the sake of keeping this conversation relatively short, I will post glimpses of the best and biggest moments:

We sent our oldest son (the tall guy to my right) on a two-year 
LDS Mission to San Bernardino, California.

We moved into our unfinished home.

I opened a full-service interior design showroom in Bountiful called LIV Showroom with
Kristen Holm, Deboni Sacre and Pam Jensen.

We finished our kitchen... yay!

I began working for Rainey Homes as their Interior Designer.

The girls and I from LIV attended a couple of furniture markets.

My husband wrote and released his first book, I Knew Their Hearts.

I appeared on local talk shows Fresh Living and Studio 5 for LIV Showroom.

I wrote a book called Room Recipes: A Creative and Stylish Guide to Interior Design 
to be released September 19, 2013.

My two youngest boys became *gasp* teenagers.

And most recently, we began landscaping and renovating the exterior of our home
(more on this to come).

Oh, and I did some interior design in between all of that
which I'll start posting about on my blog!

Stay tuned...

Progress

"Progress is the attraction that moves humanity."
Marcus Garvey 

After many months, the house renovations are coming close to completion! We are scheduled to move in one week from today. That's assuming that everything goes as planned. Here's what gets to happen this week:

Sand and stain floors

Sand and seal fireplace

Grout all tile

Install laundry room floor

Install interior hand rails

Install interior light fixtures

Install cabinets

Install toilets and sinks

Install carpet

Install and paint front doors

Install all interior hardware (doorknobs, etc.)

Install underside of deck roof

Paint portion of exterior brick

Finish paint touch ups

Clean out garage

Paint storage lockers in garage

Install exterior light fixtures

Service HVAC

Clean out vents

Clean house

Do you think it's possible? I do! That is unless the wind storm that is expected to blow through tonight knocks out the electricity again. Wish us luck! 

Here's a sneak peek: