Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 25

Behind the scenes: ORC guest room makeover

From bland to guest-ready in just 8 weeks! Have you wondered how much money and time it really takes to make a guest room look nice? I am sharing it all this week on the Your Home Story podcast!
In today’s show, we chatted about:
Decorating with HeirloomsSpy the original sewing chair look in Ashley’s Vintage Dining Room Reveal How to do an ORCAll my ORC postsSee the full Updated Midcentury Modern Guest Bedroom Reveal!
You can find us on our blogs or connect with each of us on Instagram:
@suzannahst...

Favorite Spring 2020 One Room Challenge makeovers

The spring 2020 One Room Challenge season is about wrapped up, and there were some fabulous projects as usual!! I went through and saved a handful of favorites you should definitely check out! There are so many good ones, it's hard to choose, but...
You can see all the guest designer projects here (here's mine) and featured designer projects here. Honestly so many of them are fantastic. I admire everyone who put their efforts into a room/space/rooms these past 8 weeks and transformed!! Some incre...

40-50% off sale & clearance faves - natural fibers, classic pieces, & more: WEEKEND SALES!

I basically never do these posts! But I just came across some sale and clearance pieces that are just too good not to share.
So many good ones from Pottery Barn, Target, and more--I favor the wool and other natural fiber ones, and classics like versatile end tables.
I was also so excited to see so many great wool rug choices for $100-200 for 7'x10' and $225-265 for 9'x12'!! GO BIG on rugs--choosing a too-small one is a very common decor mistake and can make your space feel smaller, cramped, and mo...

Updated midcentury modern guest bedroom reveal! One Room Challenge Week 8

It's One Room Challenge reveal day!! Along with many other designers, I've been working the past 8 weeks on transforming one room. This event happens twice a year, and I've participated several times. This time I made over a guest room, with a midcentury modern plus updated traditional vibe, and I'm so happy with it!!! 
New here?
If you're new to this blog from the ORC site, welcome!! I'm Suzannah, a longtime DIYer and design lover currently making over our 1937 Tudor revival style home, our secon...

Top 5 tips for planning an outdoor or patio space!

I have been taking it up a notch in my outdoor spaces lately and am sharing my top 5 tips for creating a beautiful, functional patio or other outdoor eating, lounge, or play area! Image Source (just one of my fave outdoor spaces!!)

This week on the Your Home Story Podcast...

Resources mentioned: 
My gazebo makeoverAshley’s patioEpisode 31 on exterior home maintenanceWaterproof mountable indoor/outdoor speakersPair of bluetooth rock speakersJulia from @cuckoo4design hid her pool pump under a faux roc...

How to order custom window blinds! Week 7 ORC guest room

Window coverings can be so hard! Aside from the curtains vs. shades vs. both decision, once you decide to go with blinds or shades, shopping for them can be really difficult. If you're looking somewhere like Amazon/Wayfair/Home Depot read-made, you won't have a lot of options for lengths or features. If you shop with a custom blind company that comes out and measures for you, you can spend a fortune! If you shop at an affordable custom online blind company, you can get exactly what you want at a...

Healthy home tips, indoor air quality, and more

I just learned so much on this topic!
Indoor air and water quality can have a huge impact on our health! But we don’t think about them most of the time, except maybe when buying a new home, or during a pandemic.

We had an expert on the Your Home Story Podcast this week and learned so much!! Including some great FREE things you can do to improve indoor air quality, plus some interesting things to think about regarding solid vs. engineered wood flooring and bulk size personal care products.
Links to ...

DIY kitchen reno 1-year anniversary: what we'd change, what we still love

 A year ago around now we were wrapping up our biggest, most expensive room project yet: a full kitchen renovation in our 1937 house, removing all of the 1980's and 2000's cabinets, lighting, flooring, etc. We lived here almost a year with the funky old kitchen (which had some function issues as well as aesthetics) and planned long and hard for this project.
We had a 14-month-old at the time but Jason had some time off school and we did ALL the work ourselves with the exception of installing the ...

Living room update: new layout and rug!

A couple months back I realized I had never "finished" or shared the latest on our living room. I cleaned it up, put some fresh branches on the mantle, and took these photos. But the process made me think about improvements we could still make. This room has evolved over time, not been an all-at-once decor effort like the other rooms we've finished in this house. 
I started really questioning some big elements of the room--the layout, for one, and the rug (also huge!)! I still have a few things t...

14 unique affordable upholstered beds. Week 6 guest bedroom One Room Challenge!

I know I shared in week 2 about how choosing a rug is the first step for most designers, but I'll admit... the first specific product I got really excited for in this project was the bed! Another large, critical, tone-setting element of a bedroom... and I love the one we chose for this space this One Room Challenge.
However, shopping around for this one has me thinking about our next bedroom update (we might be moving upstairs sometime in the next year or two, so might have room for a king bed).....