For When You Need a Break

Its summertime and I’ve been in need of a break. I’m learning the balance between work and play, remembering I’ve only got 18 summers with them, but also knowing I need a little time for myself carved out in there too.  

Something had to give and it ended up being the blog for a time. 

I’ve still been working a bit and have a few projects to share with you.

I’ve been reading a ton (summer reading is the best!) and want to share those with you too.

But we’ve mostly just been going to the pool, staying up too late, watching too much TV, and taking a few little trips here and there. I’m stunned when I realize June is over and before we know it school will be back and the busyness and schedules will start up again. 

It’s funny how seasons are like that. Ever-changing. It’s been nice to just relax into this one.

  

   
 
So I’m still here, just doing my best to soak up this summer. Giving myself permission to take a break.  

Xoxo

Bethany

The Montgomery House Living Room

Today, its the last installment of The Montgomery House series.  If you’re new here, this was my first professional job, and it was a big one!  It started with a friend asking me to help her with her custom home and turned into something so amazing for me and that launched the business that I have now.  My friend and client had SO much faith and trust in my vision and the ideas that I had.  I know at times she felt a little crazy telling her contractor my ideas- this home is so different than any other home he had ever built!  In Texas, so many of the homes are dark and built with a Tuscan sort of theme to them.  This craftsman look with the white cabinets is pretty different for a new construction home around here, though I know for those of us on blogs and Pinterest its nothing really that new.  Anyway, on to the living room!

The TV wall is one of my favorites in the whole house.  Its vintage art pieces collected from various places.  One was even given to the family by my client’s grandfather!  Its something they can add to throughout the years and cover that entire wall with.

 I’m so grateful to have been a part of this project and to my clients for believing in me and investing in me the way they did.  Their house is really something special and while I thought I was done- I’m so excited to tell you that they’ve invited me back to work on the upstairs now!  There will be a playroom and guestroom to show you sometime in the near future. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bethany

Contemporary & Casual, The Spring Valley House

I’ve been working on a home for a former client that recently moved to a new home.  I say new, but its actually an older home, built in the 1950s.  While the home had been remodeled in the past, it still felt pretty dark in some places and needed some remodeling to the kitchen as well as some paint updates.  Here you can see some before pictures.

    

Even with that wall of beautiful windows, the kitchen still felt dark and somewhat closed off from everything else.  To really make it light and bright, the contractors had their work cut out for them- there was a bit of wall knocking down to do and then everything went white.  We decided on Benjamin Moore’s Abalone at 50% for the walls everywhere else. Below is the kitchen and breakfast room plan we came up with.

Here’s the moodboard for the rest of the living area- the dining room, entryway, etc.  They love blue and we added in some coral, grays, lots of white also, and a little black for contrast.  

I went last week for the first part of the install and while they didn’t have all their furniture and the electrician hadn’t been by to install all the light fixtures yet, things are definitely coming along!  The kitchen looks beautiful with its new marble countertops and I can’t wait to finish everything up and get Paul in there to take some real photos.  For now, these “after” iPhone shots will have to do.

 My absolute favorite part of this house?  This little vestibule entryway covered in this beautiful wallpaper from Hygge and West.  The contractors were installing it when I arrived and they did an amazing job- see how it even covers the lightswitch plate?  Just stunning!  I’m not finished styling this area and in fact we ended up switching this print for a mirror to really reflect the light and that beautiful pattern, but I just wanted to share how its coming along.

    

I’ll keep you updated on this house because of course I can’t wait to show you this kitchen in all its new white and bright-ness!

I’m slowing down the blogging a bit right now as I prepare for the switch behind the scenes to my “new and improved” site. Thanks for your patience and for your continued support!!  ❤  I’m hoping to make the switch in August and will keep all of you updated.  The web address will stay the same and if you’re already subscribing via email you will continue to receive email updates with hopefully no interruptions.  If you are not subscribing and would like to- you can do that in the sidebar to the right of this post by clicking the “follow” button.  Thanks so much for reading!

Bethany

The Montgomery House Dining Room & Kitchen (and a little about choosing countertops)

Are you tired of seeing and hearing about this house yet?  I hope not because I seriously have saved the best for last. 😉  Today I’m sharing the dining room and kitchen.  Both are open to the living room (which I’ll be sharing with you next week).

Because the kitchen is a big eat in kitchen, the clients chose a smaller dining room right off the kitchen.  They didn’t want the feeling of a “formal” dining room, but just more of a casual place that is right there in the heart of the home.

One of the coolest pieces in this room (and also very hard to photograph-ha!) can be seen above- its this giant antique mirror that’s leaning against the wall.  My clients bought it at an auction a while ago and were looking for the perfect place for it.  Its so unique and brings in so much charm, character, and light!

Right off the dining room is the kitchen, one of my favorite rooms in the house (do I say that about almost every room??).

We went back and forth over granite vs. marble for the countertops for a long time.  My clients and I both love the look of marble but after they researched the upkeep and also the price, they weren’t so sure.  We stood in the countertop store staring at different slabs of stone, looking at every vein and color for a long time.  Finally we settled on this lovely grayish granite.  It has some brown, some gold, even a little blue in it.  It occurred to me as we were looking, that we would never again be looking at those slabs of granite vertically like that.  When you walk into your kitchen you don’t see a wall of granite the way you do in the store or quarry or wherever you go to pick your slab.  What you notice more are your cabinets, the overall colors, and (my favorite) the lighting! So we decided together it was better to put their investment into those types of things rather than the marble.  Though I’m not against marble!  In fact I’m working on an install this week with some clients that have chosen some beautiful marble countertops.  I’m just saying its just not for everyone.  Here’s a really great article for when you’re considering marble countertops:

http://www.lifeingraceblog.com/2013/04/living-with-marble-countertops-a-cautionary-tale/

Okay, on to more pictures of this kitchen!

The view below is from when you’re standing in the dining room.  You can see into the foyer and also catch a glimpse of the butler’s pantry.  Its really not a huge house!  The floorplan just makes great use of space.

While we did go with white cabinets and a white backsplash as well as light countertops, the husband had concerns that the kitchen would feel too light and washed out.  Our solution to that was using a gray grout in the backsplash and also a darker gray on the island.  Those choices along with the floor really warms everything up.  Another thing we went back and forth about for a little while was how big to go on the lighting.  In my opinion, bigger is always better when choosing a light fixture.  You can never go wrong having a HUGE light fixture.  It will never be TOO big.  Please, someone try to find me a picture of a light fixture that is too big for a table or a space.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that I thought was too big.  The pendants I chose are the Eldridge pendants from Ballard Designs.  They come in small, medium, and large.  I knew the medium would just get swallowed up by this huge island and it had to be the large.  I’m no artist, but Paul is, so one night I asked him to do some drawings.  Sometimes we just need to visualize things to see the balance.

He drew a couple of different pendants of different shapes and sizes so you can see the erase marks, but this is the one we landed on.  I snapped a pic of it with my phone and texted it to my clients.  We were all in love and knew these were the ones.

Last glimpse, looking in from the mudroom.  This one gives you a peek into the living room as well!

 I’m still working to get my new blog up and running and when I do each picture will have its own Pin It button, but until then, if you see anything you like here, there’s a button down below where you can pin any of these pictures on Pinterest!  Thanks so much for reading. I’ll be back next week with the living room!!

❤

Bethany