Emily Henderson's Blog, page 249

A Definite List of the Only Baking Tools You Need (From Our Resident Baker Who Knows)

There’s always room in my stomach for dessert. Food goes into your stomach, but dessert? Dessert goes into your heart.

The EHD team doesn’t, in my opinion, have a healthy history of ordering dessert when we go out as a group. These morally upstanding people, who I’m incredibly lucky to call my teammates, have willpowers of steel. But every now and then I decide enough is enough and demand that the waiter bring over the dessert menu before anyone else can say “I think we’re good, thanks!” WE ARE MOST CERTAINLY NOT GOOD. There might be bread pudding with salted caramel sauce to try. Or rose water and fruit pavlovas with tangy raspberry puree. And what about the house-made gelatos featuring fresh summer fruit?!

But there is something I love even more than eating warm ginger cakes soaked in coffee and molasses syrup. Baking them. Baking is complete therapy for me. There are few things better than putting on one of my favorite quiet Spotify playlists (This Is Chad Lawson, Lute Music For Alchemists, or Coffee Table Jazz being my usual go-tos), opening up a cookbook, and emerging from my hot kitchen a little while later, red-cheeked and flour-covered, holding a plate of something new to force-feed my friends and coworkers. During the winter, I LOVE to wake up early and bake before work with a hot cup of tea while it’s still dark. And in the summer, I’ll spend weekend mornings deciding what fruit-inspired dessert I’m going to try, head to the farmers market, and then spending the rest of the afternoon making lunch and baking. I’m sure it all feeds into my Great British Baking Show tent fantasies paired with a heavy dose or Jane Austen-inspired romanticism.

I hungrily devour my Bon Appétit magazine every month, visit Food52’s site almost daily, and try my hardest to avoid Pinterest and instead resort to my small but loved collection of cookbooks (until I’ve tried every recipe at least). You don’t need to be a pastry chef to bake well, you just need a desire to try, some simple ingredients, and a few essential tools.

About two weeks ago, Arlyn published a post on her everyday kitchen cooking tools and there was a request from readers to go further on the subject but with a focus on baking-specific products, so here I am today, the “resident” baker on staff, walking you through what I personally love and couldn’t turn on my oven without.

1. Parchment Paper: Every good baker needs a roll of parchment paper in their drawer. Bake cookies on it so they don’t stick to your tray, use it to sandwich and roll out some pie dough, wrap up loaves of bread in it with some pretty twine to give at gifts. It’s an essential.

2. Pyrex 8 cup Measuring Cup with Lid: All you really need is one, big, glass measuring cup (Arlyn said this in her post, too). Not only does it measure liquids (duh), but it’s the perfect size for melting drizzly sauces or butter in, whipping cream in, or even making small batches of batter in (with an easy to pour spout). I received an extra-large measuring cup once as a gift YEARS ago, and it’s still one of my favorite kitchen tools. It also serves as a great plant waterer. 

3. Microplane: Citrus rinds, nutmeg, cinnamon, cheese, fingers—what can’t this little tool grate? You don’t need a four-sided grater, lemon zester, AND a nutmeg shaver. Just one microplane to rule them all.

4. Stainless Steel Pastry Scraper, Dough Blender & Biscuit Cutter Set: All three of these tools are essentials in a bakers drawer. A pastry scraper not only helps you scrape sticky doughs off counters, but it also helps you cut thick doughs into sections, and move unwilling cookies onto trays. Dough blenders keep your extra short doughs (extra buttery, think shortbreads) cold and crumbly when your fingers would otherwise turn them into melty mush. And a solid set of varied size circular cookie cutters will get you far in the cookie, pie decorating, and pasta making world.

5. Fine Mesh Sieve: Who needs a flour sifter or a sugar duster when you probably already have a sieve sitting in your cabinet? I use this to get lumps out of my sugar and flours, to juice citrus without having to pick out seeds (no need for a juicer), to dust cakes and cookies with powdered sugar, and to wash berries for fruit desserts (plus draining canned goods and pasta).

6. Set of 3 Glass Covered Mixing Bowls: You really only need three mixing bowls in your life. Often times when it comes to baking, you’ll need one for the dry ingredients, one for the wet, and one for making your frosting or dressing. And with lids, you can use these bowls to store leftovers or make frostings/glazes/drizzles in advance. Glass bowls can also be microwaved, or used as a double boiler (unlike plastic bowls).

7. Whisk: Some of you might be adverse to a hand mixer, and I get that. And sometimes what you gotta mix just isn’t worth the effort of pulling it out and plugging it in. I feel that in my bones. What you are going to need is an easy to clean, unmangled, never gonna break down whisk. And some beefy forearms to wield it with (just like our grandmothers before us).

8. 3pc Non-Stick Aluminized Steel Cookie Sheet Set: You gotta get your cookies in the oven somehow. Or maybe you’re making some granola bars. In that case, you’re going to want cookie trays with a little bit of depth and a lip (like these). Making pavlova? You’re a risk-taker, and I like it. No matter what, this set of baking trays is going to get you where you need to go.

9. Measuring Spoon and Cup Set: This is America, where we measure things with varying degrees of accuracy and “just kinda wing it” whenever possible. That’s essentially how I feel about using measuring spoons and cups: it’s not going to be perfect, but it’s going to get you pretty close. This set compacts nicely together and they all have the measurements etched into them, that way 12 years from now you’re not struggling to differentiate your 1/2 teaspoon from your 1/3 tablespoon because the paint has worn off the handles.

10. Set of 3 Non-Stick Round Cake Pans: If you’re going to be making cakes, you’re going to need cake tins. Get a good, simple set and they’ll last you a lifetime. There’s really no reason to get a donut pan, a mini bundt pan, or a Christmas tree mini cake pan unless you’re practicing to enter the GBBS. 

11. Silicone Baking Mat: I love me some parchment paper, but a silicone baking mat is the modern baker’s choice of tray liner. Nothing sticks to silicone baking mat. NOTHING. (I know that at least one of you is going to tell me in the comments that, actually, yes you’ve managed to get something stuck on one of these bad boys. I’ll need all the messy details.)

12. Adjustable Rolling Pin with Removable Rings: The handles of a traditional rolling pin always got in my way. Once I went handle-less, I never went back. And this rolling pin has removable rings that can help you gauge the thickness of your doughs. No more measuring what 1/4 of an inch looks like (or guessing, if you’re me). I’ve also used a bottle of wine as a rolling pin and it worked fine, so decide how much you’ll actually be rolling out dough and how much you’d rather invest in wine.

13. Silicone Spatula: Do I even need to explain why you need this? You obviously need something with a good flexible edge to scoop out every drop of extra chocolate cake batter from your bowl and promptly transport it into your mouth hole. That is this tool’s one and only purpose.

14. 2-Piece Measuring Conversion Magnet Set: Realizing that I need to figure out how many teaspoons are in a cup, and trying to look it up on my phone with dough covered fingers is one of my all-time favorite activities, but in case you don’t feel the same, these magnets are for you. Especially helpful if you’re trying to either double or half a recipe.

11. 9″ x 13″ Nonstick Baking Pan with Cover: This is what you’re gonna make sheet cakes, crumbles, brownies, and cobblers in. And the lid makes for extra easy transport to wherever it’s headed (if it can make it out of the kitchen without being devoured).

1. Bundt Pan: Okay, you like to bake. You’ve moved beyond round and rectangle cakes. Maybe the holidays are coming up. You, my friend, are ready to upgrade to a bundt pan. A lot of the same cakes, but in a new special shape that’s sure to impress with lots of nooks and crannies for glazes to settle into.

2. Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9 Speed Hand Mixer: Listen, those 10 digits of yours will get you pretty far when it comes to baking. But at a certain point, hand whipping cream for 30 minutes just isn’t worth it. A hand mixer, that’s all self-contained, can get you perfectly mixed cake batters, easily creamed sugar and butter, and nice stiff peaks in 1/4 of the time a hand whisk would take. 

3. Non-Stick Cooling Rack: It’s totally fine most of the time to let your baked goods cool right on the tray. MOST OF THE TIME. If you want to better control the finish of your baked goods (those cookies keep cooking on that hot tray until the tray itself cools down), then get a cooling rack to carefully transfer your finished goods to after they come out of the oven. Also, doubles as a good glazing rack and makes great oven bacon.

4. KitchenAid Professional 5qt Mixer: Now if you’re really feeling moved by the baking spirit there’s nothing more exciting than a KitchenAid stand mixer. I cried when I opened mine on Christmas day five years ago. REAL. TEARS. It’s fast, it can make double batches without breaking a sweat, it can knead bread for days, and it leaves your hands free to slowly add your dry ingredients, or get a head start on spilling the vanilla all over the counter. Big thanks to my cousin, who was working at Williams Sonoma at the time, and got my parents that sweet discount.

5. Kitchen and Food Scale: Okay, here’s the solution to my measuring cup/spoon issue from above. While we Americans are still struggling to properly measure out exactly two cups of flour, our more civilized world neighbors are just weighing their ingredients. And now so am I. You get your kitchen scale, you pop your bowl on there, and hit “tare” (which means the scale subtracts the weight of the bowl leaving you with a 0 weight). Then you can add as many ingredients as you need, hitting tare after each one. 150 grams flours, *tare*, 90 grams sugar, *tare*, 200ml milk. You can measure it all without dirtying a single measuring cup or spoon. And it’s going to be wildly more accurate, which generally matters when it comes to baking.

6. Ceramic Oval Baking Dish: Yes, you can make cobblers, crisps, crumbles, and slumps in a cake tray. But they really want to be made in a baking dish for more even baking and better heat retention. Plus, presentation-wise, these are ready to go oven to table without any sort of fuss.

7. Icing Knife Set: Can you use an everyday knife to ice your cupcakes? Sure, no ones going to stop you. But that slightly serrated knife gets a little trickier when you’re trying to frost a cake. It’s too narrow, and the tapered, serrated edges can leave an uneven and unwanted pattern. Icing knives give you more surface area to work with, thin, flexible control, and even flat sides to use for smoothing. Plus they work great for peeling cookies off counters and trays, too.

8.  Food52 Baking Cookbook: I have a lot of well-loved cookbooks, but if you’re interested in getting into some baking-specific activities then this is a great book to start with. Food52 recipes have never failed me, they are very clear on the instructions, include both cup and weight measurements, and there’s a beautiful photo for EVERY recipe. I really appreciate this last detail, because sometimes you just need to know if you’re cookie is supposed to look that flat, or if you’ve done something horribly wrong.

9. Silicone Pastry Basting Brush: Slowly basting your clementine almond cake with the citrus syrup you made is going to be much harder with your fingers than it would be with a basting brush. Syrups, sauces and drizzles get a helping hand for the myriad of little fingers this brush provides you with. Also great for basting meats and veggies. I prefer a silicone brush to a bristled brush because it’s far easier to clean (and you won’t ever find yourself pulling bristles out of your month mid-bite).

10. 5″ x 9″ Non-Stick Loaf Pan: Small batch batters like banana bread or pound cakes fair far better in loaf pans (and often the recipe only leaves you with enough batter to fill one of these narrow pans).

11. Cherry and Olive Pitter: Have you every tried to pit an entire bags of cherries by knife and hand? It’s tedious and leaves your counter and hands looking like a murder scene. If you’re working with cherries enough during cherry season (like me—cherry pie, cherry crumble, cherry tarts), then it’s worth investing in this handy little tool. For your sanity.

12. Non-Stick Muffin Tin: MAYBE YOU NEED A MUFFIN TIN. Who knows. Some people love making muffins and cupcakes, some people don’t. This only really depends on how much you like making muffins and cupcakes. Personally, I just don’t make that many, and my muffin tin sits unloved. But maybe twice a year I pull this out to throw together some breakfast muffins or divide up my favorite cake batter and make mini versions (cakes the size of cups, perhaps). If you’re gonna make muffins or cupcakes, you’re gonna need one of these. But I personally stick to my loaves, rounds and tins.

Now some of you may have come over from Instastories, curious about those cookies I was making (and the ones photographed here). This is a wildly easy Italian Cornmeal Cookie recipe by Emiko Davies, from the Food52 Baking book I have on the list up there. I made these on a Tuesday afternoon in Velinda’s kitchen while we were shooting her house (stay tuned for that). My attention was divided and they still turned out great. Here’s how you’re gonna make them:

What You Need

1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) fine cornmeal (if you can’t find “fine” go with regular and just blitz it in a blender or processor)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2/3 cups (150g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 egg yolks
zest of 1 lemon

What You Do

In your largest bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal and sugar. Then add the butter pieces. Use your quick fingers or a pastry cutter to work the ingredients together until the mixture is the consistency of almost dry sand (grainy, but holds together).
Add the egg yolks and zest, and keep mixing with your fingers until blended. Then bring the dough together into a smooth ball.
Wrap in plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (this allows the butter to harden up a bit, so it doesn’t get too sticky when you roll it out).
Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Use your circular cookie cutter to cut out cookies. You can place them fairly close together on your tray because these cookies don’t spread very much when baking. If you find your cookies are getting too warm and sticking, feel free to pop it back in the fridge or freezer for a few more minutes. Note: I actually like to flour a sheet of parchment paper, put down my dough, throw a little flower on top, and sandwich it between another sheet of parchment paper. I then roll out the dough between the two sheets. After I have a flat parchment paper and dough sandwich, I pop that baby in the fridge and let it firm up before cutting out my cookies. This makes for some super easy cookie to tray movement.
Once your cookies are all laid out on a baking tray (either on some parchment or a silicone baking mat), put the whole tray into your freezer for 30 minutes. Again, this allows the butter to really firm up before it bakes. Otherwise, your cookies are just going to melt in the oven, spread, and turn into crips rather than cookies. During this time, you can preheat your oven to 350F (175C).
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the edges are just looking golden and the cookies have puffed up a bit. Let cool right on the tray!

Happy baking. xx

***photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp for EHD

The post A Definite List of the Only Baking Tools You Need (From Our Resident Baker Who Knows) appeared first on Emily Henderson.

Design Mistakes: The 3 Biggest Color Palette Missteps (& How to Get it Right)

image source via jungalow | design by Justina Blakeney

Hey guys, resident color expert Ryann here. Alright, maybe “enthusiast” is a more apropos term but if eagerness and excitement over the nuances of color counts for anything, rest assured you are in good hands. At any rate, what better way to initiate my one-year performance review than to have me tackle an installment of our Design Mistake series. Let’s see if I am up to the task.

When it comes to picking a color palette, it seems easy enough, right? You pick some colors you like, paint some walls, buy some things in said colors and boom, room done. But well, sadly, it’s a bit more nuanced than that. Maybe in your mind, avoiding “ugly” colors is half the battle, but let’s stop for a second to say that there are no ugly colors…just unfortunate pairings or use of color. There is A LOT we can dive into, but today, to keep it focused, I’m going to walk you through a few color “scenarios” and show you examples of rooms that didn’t quite get it right and rooms that did. And don’t worry, all this information is coming from the brain-trust of EHD, so you can rest assured all this information is designer- (and not just Ryann-) approved.

1. Boring Neutrals:

First, I want to say that neutrals get a bad rap. Arlyn wrote a whole post earlier this year that walked through the seven keys to decorating with beige successfully and if your idea of a bold statement color is taupe, go read it. And for anyone who wants to immediately scroll down to the comments to say neutrals are not color, I say keep reading because yes, around here, whites and beiges can comprise a color palette and you should know how to get it right, too. Alright, let’s look at some rooms.

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Why it isn’t working: I know for a fact some of you are not on board with a brown room at all (as discussed in the comments in this post a while back), and I get it. The 1970s were scarring to some due to the wood paneling frenzy and the ’90s only brought horrifically bland resurgences of it. Case in point, while the above room isn’t “bad” per se, it’s definitely heavy-handed in the brown that might make some of you twitch. It’s one tone of brown used over and over again. Whatever color you use (in this case brown), you need variation in tone. All your eye registers are “white” and “brown” with very little else in between and it falls flat.

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Why it works: I could quite literally stare at this room for hours, so it is safe to say there is nothing boring about this one. The architecture does a lot on its own by adding a ton of visual interest, making the brown/neutral color palette totally doable. Plus, in this case, the heavy lifting is done by all the wood tones with less stark contrast because the walls are taupey gray rather than why. I mean those doors? The ceiling? Please. And while sure, the rust chairs don’t necessarily fall under a neutral category, they almost blend right into the rich wood surroundings, and in this case, act as a neutral.

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Why it isn’t working: Let’s look at another example. I love a neutral room, but they are really easy to get wrong (because they are so hard!). Here, the amount of tan shades simply turns into one giant mushy beige room. You don’t necessarily want high contrast, but you do want variety. This is a study in making sure not everything in your room is the same hue. And although some color in a neutral room can be good, the teal lamp feels like an afterthought.

photo by tessa neustadt | from: Mel’s Home Tour

Why it works: Any time I think about a neutral room, I come back to this. This was before my time here at EHD but man do I wish I could experience this space IRL. But I digress. If you read Arlyn’s How Not To Design A Boring Neutral Room, you may remember that it is necessary to have varied wood tones which Mel does well here. A neutral color palette needs to be coupled with complexities via textures and tones so that color doesn’t need to be the main event, but the room is still not boring. The rug with its off-white and darker gray adds a bit of punch and visual interest while the white curtains set themselves apart from the linen, flaxy seating.

2. Lacking Color (and Texture) Variation:

Honestly, the lack of color variation is probably one of the biggest mistakes people make when putting together a palette. We already talked about it a bit up in the “boring neutrals” section, but let’s see what we mean when it comes to specific colors…

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Why it isn’t working: That is just so. much. light. blue. If it isn’t beige or gray, it’s the same tone of blue. I understand the intent here, though because light blue can feel calming and seemingly safe in design. BUT, every color has its limit and I think we reached ours here. This room is dying for some darker blues and grays to really balance the palette. A good rule of thumb, if you want to go mostly neutral but sprinkle in one color, is to make sure you’re bringing in a sampling of hues of said color. It’s like a long paint chip from the hardware store, right? The lightest tone on top down to the darkest hue on the bottom…use them all. You can even pull in other shades of your color of choice, but it’s best to bring in at least one more color so your room doesn’t feel one-note.

photo by zeke ruelas | from: Combining Furniture Styles In The Casa Soria Living Room

Why it works: Just like room above, blue still feels like the star here, thanks to the art and wall color, but the wood finishes create a calm and organic feel and you’ll notice Orlando didn’t run with using that peacock blue of the sofa on EVERYTHING. The throw is a softer blue, the art is a brighter aqua, the neutrals that complete the palette are varied, from charcoal to gray to neutral woods and seagrass. Speaking of, the textures are also varied, bringing in more visual interest so the colors don’t have to be the main focus without feeling like a “beige” room.

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Why it isn’t working: This green and gray combo is a GREAT example of something we see done often: take your one color and match it in EVERYTHING you put in your room. Really look at that room. Does it feel a bit flat? Does it invite you in and make your eye want to wonder? Honestly, probably not, because a space full of the same shade of everything is just not visually compelling enough.

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Why it isn’t working: This looks like it may have been a staged room back in the early 2000s so we’ll give it a pass, but let this be a lesson for us all: too much matching does no one any good. Instead, give your eyes a treat and add variation to your color palette. Instead of six framed pieces of art containing the same color green, go for one statement piece that incorporates other shades and colors, and sprinkle those colors throughout.

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Why it works: Two words: textures and variation. I repeat: TEXTURES AND VARIATION. I get it if you don’t want a room with colors EVERYWHERE and just want to rock the mostly-one-color palette, but there are ways to make it interesting, I promise. Here, the tonal grays feel purposeful, and the couch gets to be the real wow factor. The rug appears to be a slightly different shade of green which brings in that variety the other previous rooms craved so badly.

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Why it works: I couldn’t possibly move on with my life without showing you how bright neon green can actually work. Of course, not many would lean toward that specific shade, but I can’t deny that it is working here. With a primarily green room, the secondary green hues come naturally and within a green palette, it always feels cohesive to bring in wood tones and textures, to create that good “nature” effect. The worn leather chair adds warmth, and the softer lighter greens and olives cut through the sharpness of the chartreuse.

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Why it isn’t working: Kudos to anyone bold enough to go hard with a sunshine yellow. Even in a kids room or a nursery, it is a tough color to get right. Too buttery and it can lean a bit depressing and “retirement nursing facility”…too bright and it’s frankly just hard to live with. Here, paired with dark and light blues, it comes across a bit old fashion which could be, in part, my own biases. However, with a bright yellow like that, it is easy to over do it. The room could do without the matching yellow curtain and instead go with a neutral accent or even just another shade of yellow, and I’d love to see a painting (or rug) to pull the rest of the colors together.

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Why it works: That mustard yellow is bold and so is that dark teal wall, so why does this feel so right? Because despite the intensity of both, the room is minimal throughout with just enough…say it with me…variety. No two surfaces are the same color yet still coordinate in that cool tonal way we love so much here at EHD. What I mean is, the blues here are close together on the color wheel which lets the one dramatic yellow moment shine. Sometimes all you need is variety in ONE of the color picks to get that ineffable sense of “this is right.” Every time I look at this, I fall in love with the colors all over again. 100% would have a cocktail on that chaise whilst listening to jazz.

3. Bright & Bold Overload:
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Why it isn’t working: To be honest, this room is not not working, it’s just a lot of color, which if that makes your heart sing, scroll along. But I wanted to discuss something here. Everything here is a “moment” and what I’ve learned so far this year at EHD is a room works best when you “pick your moment.” Here, the wall, sofa, chairs, ottoman, and accents are all calling out for your attention. There doesn’t seem to be a “grounding” piece where the palette is being pulled from (more on that in a bit), so everything stands on its own without a touchstone, which can leave a space feeling busy and overwhelming.

image source via jungalow | design by Justina Blakeney

Why it works: Each color present here has an anchor, which really (if you haven’t already guessed) is THE rule for choosing your color palette by the way (keep reading ’til the end for the rest of the rules). The bold orange couch anchors the orange accents in the pillows and on the shelves. The blue carpet ties in the patterned blue coffee table. The plants allow for some pops of green and since the wall color is neutral, there is room to play with the more bright and bolds on the color wheel. If I were to take a guess, maybe Justina had those two embroidered pillows to start with, and pulled out three key colors (orange, blue, yellow), then brought it back down to earth with a peppering of white, black and wood tones.

image via Jess’ Living Room Reveal

Why it works: For a quieter, minimal yet bright colored space, take a page out of Senior Market Editor, Jess’ playbook. She’s playing with oranges, pinks, reds, and of course that powerful velvet blue, and it all makes sense and is not overwhelming but is still bright and fun.

Well, as much fun as that was, I couldn’t leave you sans a concise step-by-step to color palette-ing, because what kind of EHD woman would I be if I did? We’ve talked about these before but for your convenience, I polled the office and put together EHD approved step by steps:

How To Find And Execute Your Perfect Color Palette:

Step 1: If you are completely starting from scratch, pin or bookmark inspiration until your head spins. Then, take notice of your research. What are your consistencies? What colors are you drawn to? You might be surprised by what you find!

Step 2: Once you see your color preferences, imagine how you want the room to feel, and further narrow down your search from there. (i.e. think about your uses of the room, and how you want to spend your time there, then read this post on color psychology.) 

Think Outside the Frame: Wall Hangings Are the Cure for Your Boring Walls (+ 63 Shoppable Favorites)

photo by tessa neustadt for ehd | from: sara’s living room reveal

As you may know, we have a real special place in our hearts for the “weird” or the “outside of the box” decor. I mean the EHD motto is “Normal is boring, let’s get weird” for goodness sake. So after the positive feedback from Arlyn’s non-basic sofa post and my unique coffee and accent table post, we thought next had to be…drumroll if you didn’t read the title…wall hangings. Now by no means are we denouncing framed art. We LOVE framed art and we have the gallery walls to prove it. Literally, Arlyn and I have massive gallery walls in our homes and Emily has maaaybe tackled a few as well (wink implied). But this post is about adding actual 3D dimension and texture to your probably sad… flat…lonely walls. I mean, the true purpose of interior design is nothing if not making love connections between inanimate objects, right? So let’s get these crazy kids together.

Wall hangings are kind of the “bad boys and girls” of wall decor. They refuse to be boxed in (aka framed), they usually have a cool enviable style and they feel a little risky (in a good way). The great thing about wall hangings in 2019 is that there are a lot of great options outside of the classic macramé. Not to knock macramé (it’s perfect when the style calls for it) but if you have a more modern home, you probably would like some other options, just saying. Since you all really seemed to like the combos aspect from the accent table post, I thought it would be fun to show you how a wall hanging can really add depth to even an already perfectly designed space. I chose three EHD rooms that, as I said were already beautiful, and threw in two different wall hangings to prove their genre’s style versatility.

First up the stunning Portland master bedroom…

left hanging | right hanging | room from: portland master bedroom reveal (and how to pull together your own dreamy suite)

When originally designed, nothing was hung above the bed which looked great because there was already a lot happening visually in the room (super cool buffable check love seat not shown). But then I got my greasy hands on this particular photo and thought I would add a wall hanging because why not? Let’s play. Both of these pieces fall under the “modern boho” category which works great to contrast the “modern traditional” design of the rest of the room. The shapes are simple and rounded to contrast the straight lines of the bed and the light wood tone compliments the beams overhead and colors in the art piece. I definitely wanted to keep it simple as to not take away from the beautiful MaryAnn Puls piece on the wall.

Next up is Sara’s ever-cool old living room…

left hanging | right hanging | room from: sara’s living room reveal

Sara originally had an awesome large framed photo grid of her personal photos so this experiment is just to show you some wall hanging options. I mean if Sara had fewer friends she felt the need to show off then a wall hanging could have a been a great design move.

The New Dining Room Lighting Trend We’re VERY Into (That Also Happens to Be Renter-Friendly)

image via apartment 34 | design by tom mark henry

Here’s a quick snapshot of how most “trend” conversations happen here at EHD:

Someone: “I’ve been seeing a lot of [insert trend here] lately…how do we feel about this?”

Someone else (or several someone elses): “YES love it, totally a trend” OR “Ugh no, please no. Veto.” 

Likely me (Arlyn) or Emily: “Wait, is this a post?” 

And today is the result of this general interaction, except this time, it happened on Instagram between Julie (from our design team) and me. We tend to do this thing where we’ll DM each other at random pretty rooms or cool things to consider either for life or projects, and last week, she kept sending me photos of long arm sconces in dining rooms that took the place of a chandelier. What I didn’t know at the time is that Julie and Emily had been in talks of possibly swapping out the light fixture that’s currently in the mountain house dining room (Emily talks about why here) and they both loved this idea stylistically.

image via design. / visual | design by golden

While, design-wise, it’s definitely a detail we’ve been seeing more and more (but also, maybe I’m just seeing it so much because I started looking for it and you know…algorithms and whatnot), I probably first noticed the whole design sconce thing in European or Australian home design. It’s definitely a more contemporary move but the more I thought about it, the more I also considered skipping the ceiling fixture entirely would straight up solve some people’s problems. Let’s say you live in a space with incredibly high ceilings (I’m crying for you, truly I am). Hanging a chandelier or pendant is certainly possible, but depending on the cord situation, you’re pretty limited on the light you can use, not to mention a very tricky installation. Also, if you’re in a home or rental apartment with very little overhead lighting and installing a junction box above a dining table isn’t an option, enter the oversize dining sconce. And because there are plenty of plug-in options, it’s a no-brainer that requires zero permanent decisions the way a hard install does.

image via entrance

The key is to get something that has a very long arm that can extend out from the wall over the table (even if it’s not dead center over the surface). This light shown above (and over and over again below because evidently, this is the preeminent “sconce over dining table” light fixture) is the 265 Wall Lamp by Paolo Rizzatto for Flos (#3 in the roundup below…a less expensive version, depending on how you feel about that, is #18). It’s an awesome option if your wall is at least 80 inches away (that’s how long the arm is) and it has a considerable swing to it to get the head of the light exactly where you want it.

image via reform

The one thing I do wonder about this one, in particular, is how the light actually looks when it’s ON. It would be fairly direct and not the least bit diffused, so it likely would not be very flattering sadly. I don’t know…does anyone actually have a version of this light and can verify whether this is true or not? I’m just so, so curious.

image via suite ny

I dig this bad boy in the chrome. A finish like this (i.e. not matte black) is less intrusive and while it’s certainly not invisible, it lets the furniture be the star. Granted, that marble pedestal table and mix-and-match wood-toned chairs deserve the spotlight. If the furnishings were far more subtle and subdued, the black could really sing and bring tons of visual interest to the vignette.

This is, of course, not the only overscale pendant on the market (even though Pinterest would make me think otherwise). There are a few different varieties and categories, but I’m going to break down the three most popular/common: the hardwired swing-arm oversized sconce, the plug-in sconce. and the multi-arm sconce.

The Swing-Arm Sconce
image via anniversary | design by katarina rulinskaya

I’m not privy to information about who makes this wonderfully cool lamp, sadly but man is it cool. It kind of has that laid-back vibe of a plug-in with the long cord (wait…maybe it IS a plug-in…it’s honestly very hard to tell in this photo), but the post-modern-esque aesthetic keeps it firmly in high-end edgy territory.

image and design via arent & pyke

The brass here in a dining nook from Arent & Pyke (probably one of my favorite design firms right now, FYI) feels somewhat playful and less serious that the last photo. I also like the functionality of this sconce because it’s adjustable both outward and side to side. A pivoting swing arm will give you the most flexibility in placement.

image via context gallery

Man do I love the slightly ridiculous scale (but in the best way possible) of the Lampe de Marseille by Le Corbusier. Something like this would really cut through the severity of dark, moody oil portraits, which, in this room, really balances the more modern glass and steel dining table. 

image and design via disc interiors

Here’s something I noticed: a lot of designers were using the long-arm sconce in a smaller dining area or breakfast nook. I think it’s a nice, less risky way to do this. Plus, the table in this type of situation is typically much closer to the wall, so you have more light fixture options to play with than you would a table that’s in the center of a room. Also, in a corner like this, you don’t normally have a junction box, but you might have a wall electric hookup already for a traditional sconce and this is a playful unexpected way to bring some style gravitas to a “less important” area of the home.

image via vogue living | design by framework studio

One glance up and it’s clear why this was the only solution for lighting in this space. After all, you can’t hang a chandelier from a glass ceiling.

The Plug-In
image and design by disc interiors

I’ve had a crush on this particular sconce (by Muller van Severen) for the better half of a year and the best part about it is that it’s a plug-in! The little wall brackets make it feel very…thought out. It comes in a few different shapes, too (like the arch from #8 in the roundup below) and honestly, it’s hard to pick a favorite.

image via scandinavia standard

I know a lot of people take issue with exposed bulbs, and you only ever see them in a sun-lit room where obviously, they aren’t in use, but I think something like this would be great with a frosted bulb so the light is better diffused.

image via ylighting

I wanted to show you this photo because even if you think you don’t have the wall space for the sconce placement, you’d be wrong! Just make sure the plate that you have to attach is slim and slender like this one by Andrew Neyer which would fit in the tiniest of spaces between window moldings. Also, note the silver-tipped bulb. That’s another solution to improve the light quality of an exposed bulb, FYI. Even if the fixture itself doesn’t come with something like this, you can buy them online (Schoolhouse actually has a great selection of nice, elevated looking bulbs).

image via raw design blog

This is another more “statement-making” option of oversized sconces and it works particularly well for around a dining area because you can slide the light up and down depending on whether you have a traditional table or more of a high-top counter-height thing going on.

The Multi-Arm Sconce
image via kinfolk

I consider the multi-arm oversized dining sconce the senior-thesis level fixture. Like, you’ve been around the dining room sconce block and you’re ready to get bolder, braver. This thing makes a statement (particularly the gargantuan 4-arm version made popular by Serge Mouille, above). Something like this does two things: it just looks cool (to me), but it also distributes light more evenly around the room.

Now, I know all of those long-arm sconces you saw in those rooms looked EXPENSIVE, and honestly, they probably were. But because I wouldn’t want you to leave this post with only inspiration that you couldn’t act on without some serious design funds to spend, I dug around and found some options at much lower price points (as well as some splurge-y ones) that could work in everything from a petite breakfast nook to a full-blown formal dining room.

1. Mojave Lamp  | 2. Mid-Century Overarching Wall Sconce | 3. 265 Wall Lamp by Paolo Rizzatto | 4. Mantis Swivel Wall Sconce Brass | 5. Curvilinear Mid-Century Sconce Double West Elm | 6. Lampe Gras Model 214 Wall Lamp by Bernard-Albin Gras | 7. Crane Wall Light Lumens | 8. Muller Van Severan Floor Lamp | 9. Mussla Two Arm Wall Lamp | 10. Jones Single Sconce | 11. Potence Style Otis Light | 12. Cylinder Task Double Arm Wall Light | 13. Pelle Sconce, Long Gooseneck | 14. Leighton Adjustable Wall Sconce, Bronze | 15. Orbiter II Wall Lamp in Polished Nickel | 16. Retro Rotating Wall Sconce Two Arms | 17. Waldorf Wall – Large | 18. Stilnovo Gåsgränd Wall Lamp

Alright, now it’s time to hear from you. While you might have had an internal commentary running in your mind the whole time you were reading (scrolling?) through, let’s have it. Is this something you’d try at home? Or are you more comfortable in the traditional overhead dining chandelier or pendant? Here’s the best news: there’s no wrong answer! I’m particularly drawn to this look because it strips away the formality of a dining room, but I also get that some people actually want a dining room to be formal and “grown up.” Anyhow, enough from me, let’s have it from you.

The post The New Dining Room Lighting Trend We’re VERY Into (That Also Happens to Be Renter-Friendly) appeared first on Emily Henderson.

The Link Up: An Exciting New Rug Collection From a Friend, Better Kombucha and Jess’ Remedy to Dryer Sheets

image via | design by Marmol Radziner and CHROMA

Welcome back, friends, to another installation of The Link Up. Another week has come and gone too fast (or maybe not fast enough? It’s up to you to decide). This week, we dove into the REAL cost of buying a house in LA, (if you haven’t read Bowser’s actual experience on this yet, run don’t walk), finished a REALLY fun video shoot at the mountain house, and of course experienced some heartbreak over the end of this season of The Bachelorette. As for today, we are very happy to be back to pass along what we’ve been doing, reading, buying, and ultimately itching to share this week. And as always, we want to hear all of your latest recommendations in the comments, too. Let’s get straight to it:

First up, Emily (and the rest of the team) highly recommend checking out Sara Sherman Samuel’s new pillow and rug collection at Lulu & Georgia. It is fantastic and just what we needed in our lives. Emily particularly loves this rug, this pillow and this other rug.

If you are a planner like Veronica, Timepage is THE go-to calendar app. She uses it every day and says it makes planning easy and fun with its sleek design layout, weather updates, schedule reminders, + everything that you would need to keep your life on track. The full version costs a yearly fee, but if you thrive on planning out your life like she does, she promises it is worth it.

Jess has been waiting for her huge pack of drying sheets to run out so she could buy these Five.Two  Dryer Balls. Not only do they come in her ideal color palette but more importantly they are fair trade, non-toxic, hypoallergenic and last for 1,000 loads of laundry. 

Slooooowly but surely Julie is getting back into running and has been eyeing this beautiful pair of shoes from Hoka. Beautiful running shoes = experienced marathon runner…right?

Ryann recently discovered The Outnet (a little late in the game, she knows) and has since checked the site every day for new finds. The other day, she saw these crushed velvet mules and has not stopped thinking about them since. The real question is: Should she buy?? We say yes.

Emily B. is using this article on earthquake safety by Don’t Ask Do to start organizing emergency kits/plans after the (kinda scary honestly) quakes a couple weeks ago when she realized SHE LITERALLY HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO AND STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROOM SAYING “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO” OVER AND OVER AGAIN PROBABLY ISN’T IT. 

Mallory likes to pretend she works out more than she does so she’s getting more into “sporty attire.” Her favorite (and most comfortable) sweatshirt is this Urban Outfitters exclusive hoodie which she likes to wear with high-waisted leggings and Nikes for a real athletic look. It also doubles as a great travel hoodie (she just confirmed this on the plane last week when the EHD team went to Salt Lake City).

Caitlin just moved into a new apartment with roughly one million windows (facing north, east, and south—she is very, very lucky) and now she’s finding herself spending her nights stalking stained glass pieces on Etsy to make the most of the light that presents itself. So far, her favorite piece is this super modern suncatcher from Bespoke Glass. These hanging pill shapes are is so cool, but they also offer pieces shaped like circles, triangles, and hexagons.

This hair treatment mask SAVED Chandler’s hair. She uses it as a conditioner twice a week and says it works wonders, especially if you love to highlight your hair like she does. It is a little pricey, but lasts a long time and is just flat out worth it. She has short and fine hair, and will use up about two containers a year. 

Velinda discovered a new Kombucha and her affinity for it is pretty much in its name: Better Booch. It really is just better and she is a fan.

Every time Arlyn tells people that she makes her own almond milk (she swears it’s EXPONENTIALLY better than store-bought, particularly when heated for coffee), people look at her like she’s doing alchemy. Here’s what she wants everyone to know: “Okay, it’s ridiculously easy. I do it about two times a week before work in about 5 minutes. First, you soak your almonds or whatever nut you prefer (cashews are particularly good) in some water overnight. The next morning, just rinse, throw into your blender with 4x the water (I do ½ cup of almond milk which lasts me about 4 days with 2 cups of filtered water), blend for a few minutes, then strain. The nut milk bag (I can’t say that with a straight face) is KEY here. I use this one from Amazon because it’s super easy to rinse and clean and fits a lot of milk if you make a larger batch. Once it’s all squeezed (I just squeeze it right into a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup with a spout), I pour into a glass milk jar (I’ve used these for the last two years) and store in the fridge. It keeps for about a week so I tend to only make quantities I can get through in that time.” See? Easy peasy.

Speaking of which, Sara got to cooking this weekend and made homemade pasta from this book (amongst so many other things, she is our resident chef/baker who routinely brings us homemade treats which WE LOVE). After trying for herself, she insists that homemade pasta is actually really easy, it just takes a little desire to try! 

Lastly, Emily’s friend Joanna Goddard of Cup of Jo sent the office the most DELICIOUS cookies. Their from a company called Ovenly and they make baked vegan goods that taste (dare we say) even better than the “real” stuff. If you are in NY, pop into one of their four bake shops, or order online with nationwide shipping (makes a great gift!).

Okay, that’s all folks. See you around these parts tomorrow. xx

Affiliate and partnership disclosure: Our posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, we may receive compensation (don’t worry, this doesn’t cost you anything!). Our opinions expressed here are explicitly our own, and we will never recommend anything we don’t truly love.

The post The Link Up: An Exciting New Rug Collection From a Friend, Better Kombucha and Jess’ Remedy to Dryer Sheets appeared first on Emily Henderson.

My Fashion History + I Finally Found My Style + The Current Designers/Brands That I’m Loving

My genius team did it. Last night, they unintentionally did a “style diagnostic” on ME. In an attempt to understand my fashion style better, I pitched the idea of doing a “fashion evolution” post of the last 10 years of me wearing clothes on the internet—without a clear thesis. Once the post was prepped with all the photos, I had no real clarity. I went to bed last night (Friday) without writing the post which is a bummer to everyone. (Listen, I had a big week with a lot of shoots, so after we wrapped yesterday we had friends come up to the mountain house and well, I got distracted by 4 kids and a tequila-grapefruit in my hand/throat). So when I opened up my laptop at 6 am and saw the “opener image” (above) with “UPTOWN PRAIRIE”  on it, I was like—WAIT, wtf …that’s it!!! That is my style and frankly maybe it always has been. I always knew I had some Footloose in me, being raised in rural Oregon in the ’80s, but it’s less “country” than it is, yes, prairie—which has more of Victorian, 18th-19th century bent, keep reading and you’ll see. But first, since we did all the work to find all these pics of me wearing clothes the last 10 years—let’s watch the “progression” and see how I got here, or more importantly, analyze if maybe “Uptown Prairie Emily” has been here the entire time.

2010

Exhibit A. This is one of the first photos of me ever, on the internet (hence the spectacular quality) wearing a vintage ’80s dress that I still have and love and a Ban.do flower from their first collection. It’s very “me” but certainly a younger version of me—brighter blue, pink, gold and camel leather, with princess sleeves and menswear-inspired shoes. CHECK. Check check. None of this has changed. YOU GUYS. I THINK THIS IS STILL MY STYLE AND PROVES THE “UPTOWN PRAIRIE” STYLE POINT! But let’s keep going.

image via HGTV

Same. Blue/gold/brown leather. There is always something feminine and delicate about it, ruffles, mostly, and I like having sleeves, and a neckline that dips with a hemline that rises. I still have that dress and honestly would STILL wear it, sans belt. OOH maybe I should do a post about that.

I love this look, while knowing it’s full “clown flight attendant.” My colors don’t really change (blue, gold, pink), something feminine—bow—and still menswear-inspired shoes. Sure, I added some pattern and a HEAVY dose of whimsy around my neck (it’s literally just ribbon for wrapping presents) and yes, that vest is actually a reversible vintage ’60s flight attendant vest. It’s so thick and polyester that it’s really, really slimming. I JUST realized that I actually have the vest and skirt still, too!

2011
image via Check Out My New Fashion Digs

This is what I like to call my ’70s wide-leg/wooden heel phase. I’m still in it but it’s a big one for me.

2012
image via A Lovely House Makeover in Studio City

More of the vest. And why not with green wide legs?

image via Cover Girl, HGTV Magazine

Not sure what this says about my fashion but if you ever wondered if I intentionally try to match a set, the answer is YES. ALWAYS. Sometimes, it’s subconscious but I always dress in the style and color palette of the project that we are photographing.

image via Six Month Pregnancy Update

I used to joke that I either dressed like a flight attendant or an equestrian, with a blazer and boots (still “Uptown Prairie,” for sure).

2013
image via New Product Lines From My Talented Friends

Here, I tried to match that I had designed with lots of bright colors. This actually wasn’t “me” and I didn’t feel like it either. Those big pink beads made me uncomfortable even then.

2014
image via A Guide To A Well Hung Gallery Wall | image via Oh Joy’s Nursery/Office Reveal

Here, above, was a bit of a “basic” phase. I think I had just had Charlie and discovered the “mom blouse.” This wasn’t or isn’t me at all. I think I was literally just trying to put clothes on my body so I didn’t leave the house naked.

But I kept on with the vest, which you can see below…

image via Lisa’s House: The Office Reveal | image via The 17 Most Noteworthy Things That Happened this Year

The photo on the write is continuing the elements that I love—a form of blue/pink, conservative shoes and a pattern. But no ruffle or princess sleeve.

2015
image via The ‘Work’ Outfit

2015 is when I started doing more fashion posts with actual photography and yes, I tried harder to have more of a curated look.  I also discovered that you can put a hat on your head and distract from what might have been a more mediocre outfit. I still have that red crop top by the way and love it.

image via Six Weeks ‘Til Baby | image via Modeling Maternity
image via How To Find Your Style | image via Saying Yes To A ‘No Retouching’ Policy

The above photos are from Darling magazine where a fashion stylist put me in all these neutrals, which I loved, but no, they did not feel like “me.”

2016
image via It’s In The Bag
image via It’s In The Bag | image via My New Life (And Closet) Changing Secret
images via Styling Luxury Handbags with Trendee
images via Styling Luxury Handbags with Trendee
images via What I’m Wearing.. My Favorite Fall Pieces
2017

2017 is where I A. discovered Ulla Johnson and B. realized that I’m most comfortable in a boxy top and slim pant/short.

images via What I’m Wearing (kinda)

Remember that crazy top? It’s DEFINITELY Uptown Prairie. Also, this might have been “the year of the mule” and maybe where my love for chambray really came to a head.

images from left to right via Playing Dress Up With Urban Outfitters | My Summer Wardrobe | My Fall Fashion Wardrobe

If a chambray culotte jumpsuit (or denim modernized overalls) isn’t Uptown Prairie, I’m sorry but I can’t help you. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS WAS MY STYLE UNTIL NOW? (Also, remember platinum blonde Emily? I’m still recovering.)

2018
image via A Romantic Glam Makeover with Opalhouse | image via A Boho 70’s Inspired Bedroom

The above two shots were from our Target Opalhouse shoot, and I’m fully in “matching set” action. My wide-leg pant obsession was back, except with a higher waist (which I kept buying and then never wanting to wear because they are suffocating).

image via My Summer Basics | image via Summer Soiree On The Patio

This year, I did A LOT of fashion. You guys were really engaging with the stories on both social and the blog, so we did more professionally photographed posts where it was less “this is what I’m wearing” and more “here are some outfit ideas that have been fully thought out.” That Ulla Johnson dress above is something I pull out of my closet over and over again. Flutter sleeve, high-neck…it’s like…prairie goes to prom.

images via Fall Fashion On My Body
image via My Summer Basics
images via Fall Fashion On My Body

I’m not sure if the dropcrotch pant is “prairie” but I mean, it’s KIND OF cowgirl?

2019

Here we are. 2019. I’m still mostly wearing ruffly tops and ripped jeans and now I know why: UPTOWN PRAIRIE.

images via Why I Am Suddenly Dressing Like A Toddler
image via How We Staged A House (To Sell) With Some Soul
images via Ripped & Distressed Jeans Roundup
image via My “Casual Comfortable Cool” Spring Weekend Wardrobe
image via My “Casual Comfortable Cool” Spring Weekend Wardrobe
images via My “Casual, Comfortable, Cool” Summer Wardrobe
image via 5 Fun & Unexpected Summer Work Outfits
images via 5 Fun & Unexpected Summer Work Outfits
image via A Fashion Review: New Clothing On My Body

Okay. That was a lot.

But I truly think I do have some clarity. Maybe it’s being up in the mountains (and Mountain Emily is certainly a thing, and a thing that we love). When looking back, I realize that where I still look like “me” is with less whimsy (but with some pattern), less “glam” (but still ruffly) but mostly it’s laid back, casual country, vintage-inspired, Victorian vibe, wearing blues/pink/black/white/plaids and leather in some form. It’s super fun to change up the look and I’m certainly not one to stick to anything, but I actually think that I’ve always been “Uptown Prairie” in some form, I just didn’t know it…

What this means is that I can purchase with a little more confidence if it falls in this vibe. I can know that I will wear the pieces and can mix and match them together. I suppose it’s the same rules as a home: find your style/styles, create a color palette and then you can shop with confidence.

So what brands do I look to for inspiration (or to purchase) in this style? Well, I have a few. Some of these I follow for inspiration and some yes, get my repeat business. Most of them are yes, high end but these designers are, in my opinion, setting the trends, designing the clothes that every other brand is knocking off. They are artists and creating special pieces (hopefully sustainably) should be expensive. While I love Madewell, I know that they are literally just copying every season of The Great, and while I buy from Free People all the time, I know that they are heavily “inspired” by Ulla Johnson. I think it’s important to buy within our means, but it’s important to appreciate the designers creating the beautiful, forward pieces. I feel like I just gave a “Devil Wears Prada” cerulean blue lecture. I also know that this conversation is a lose/lose as I’m criticized when I buy boutique clothing and also when I buy mass market. My general thesis is always this: buy smaller, local, American-made brands that will last and you’ll wear over and over if it’s in your budget. I’ve drastically reduced my fashion consumption this year and only buy/keep anything that is a “hell yes.”

Alright, lecture/apology over.

Here are the brands I’m currently LOVING and watching for inspiration.

Ulla Johnson

Gemma Blouse | Alessandra Dress

Liv Dress | Romilly Dress

I just realized that Ulla Johnsons is my brand. I think I discovered her in 2017 and every single piece that I’ve bought from her, I still have and wear consistently, 2-3 years later. Why? Because it’s beautifully made, with incredible patterns and colors, and I feel like a million bucks while being super comfortable. She plays a lot with volume and proportions, which can be really slimming on certain body types by enhancing areas that I personally like showing off. I also really look to her for inspiration with pattern, color and style in general—for instance I bought that red dress (and have been wearing it non-stop) but would have NEVER put it with snakeskin boots, but I love it. So if it’s in your budget or not, check her out for inspiration (and yes, Free People has more affordable versions of her vibe).

Zimmerman

1. Espionage Silk Utililty Shirt | 2. Sabotage Bell Sleeve Top | 3. Espionage Lantern Sweater in Lilac

Zimmerman is a brand that I’ve never bought but I always admire and follow on social media. It’s total fantasy, and over the top in a really fun way. Sure, it’s a bit more “pirate” than “prairie” but still from the same era and the same Victorian vibe. If I had a really special occasion, I would consider shopping here. It’s impeccably designed and in person, I was so impressed with the details.

The rest of these brands are still in the vibe, but more everyday, wearable than Zimmerman.

Doen

I love everything they design, and boy does it sell out fast. I have to try things on because not everything fits or flatters me (and size down, for sure). I’m very excited that they are opening a store so that I can actually try things on before ordering. But the vibe is a HUGE thumbs up and every piece that I have, I wear consistently and even the pieces I bought three years ago I wear all the time.

Christy Dawn

The Theo Dress | The Lottie Dress

Christy Dawn is in the same vein and I’ve never actually ordered her clothes because I don’t know what size I am here (they have a store in Venice, but that’s over an hour away). I’ve promoted this brand a few times because they use deadstock fabric so it’s much more sustainable. Plus, their pieces come in the most beautiful packaging. I just love their ethos, and vintage vibe, so I follow, but now I’m going to start trying some on.

Nili Lotan

Shon Pant | Shon Jean

I discovered Nili Lotan when I bought my first dropcrotch pant 2 years ago (which I wear 2-3 times a week), and while I don’t actually love a lot of the other pieces, I’m a HUGE fan of those pants above. Yes, they make you look bow-legged, but UPTOWN PRAIRIE EMILY actually rides bulls so it’s very appropriate. Brian hates them, I love them. Kristen Bell DM’d me that she loves them, so there’s that.

The Great

The Western Smock | The Cowboy Boot

The Eyelet Apron Dress | The Ranch Dress | The Song Top

The Great is a brand I discovered 3 years ago and love very, very much. Again, everything I’ve bought from them I still have and wear consistently so I can trust that it’s timeless. If $180 sweatpants aren’t in your budget (!!) skip those and go for what I love, like the pieces above that feel more special (but yes, the casual basics are strangely good). They are made in America and designed by Emily and Merritt who are two women/best friends whose ethos I love and appreciate. They are also a brand that I look to for trends and inspiration, even if I’m not purchasing.

Trovata – Birds of Paradis

Brett S/S Bohemian Blouse Multi Stripe | Colette L/S Bohemian Blouse Antique White |

I just discovered Trovata’s newer brand “Birds of Paradis” and I have loved a few of the pieces (they are oversized, so go smaller). I have been wearing both of those shirts, above, over and over and over.

Rachel Paley

Willa Top | Chiffon Eros Top

I haven’t purchased anything from Rachel Paley yet, but it’s certainly fitting my vibe, so I’m going to start checking it out and seeing if anything is an actual fit.

So there we are.

I’m very excited now to embrace this Uptown Prairie, Modern Mountain Emily and I feel more confident shopping knowing that I know my style. I’m going to start combing the flea market for vintage ’70s dresses and ripped Levi’s asap and I think some modern cowboy boots are in my future.

A huge thanks to my team for helping me come to this conclusion. It will likely shift and change as styles do, but I feel a strange sense of relief and pride seeing that I’m not THAT different than I was 10 years ago.

Would love any other brand recommendations that fall in this vibe, or if any of you have a style that you’ve always been (just different/updated versions) I’d love to hear it.

Happy Saturday….:)

The post My Fashion History + I Finally Found My Style + The Current Designers/Brands That I’m Loving appeared first on Emily Henderson.

The Coffee & Accent Tables That Will Save Your (Boring) Living Room + 6 Tips To Ensure Success

photo by sara ligorria-tramp for ehd | from: reveal: a budget rental-friendly living and dining room (with 80% thrifted finds)

I am not traditionally a risk-taker. Same hairstyle for 10 years, same eyeshadow for three (I should probably throw that out) and my closet is progressively becoming a sea of white blouses and slightly ripped jeans. So when it came time for choosing a sofa for my living room, I decided on a simple cream, single cushion beauty. Yes, I toyed with the idea of getting a dark mustard velvet sofa instead but the practical side of my brain kept saying, “Jess, what if your style changes and that mustard sofa doesn’t work in the future? That is a big investment for something so bold.” But wait. Let me back up for a moment. I just painted myself as really boring. I mean I’ve made cross-country moves (and cross-ocean moves), I’ve skydived and one time I wore red lipstick on my top lip and orange on the bottom lip TO WORK. I can be crazy guys…but in moderation. Anyone else feel me?

So despite my drooling over Arlyn’s post about “non basic sofas,” I thought that we needed a post for those readers like myself that are slightly less risk-averse but not boring (I mean, the girl has a , so we know she’s not riddled with fear like so many of us might be). Or maybe even those that aren’t ready or able to drop money on a sofa but could get a new side table. You are my people and this post is for you. But also if you have a bold sofa and want to keep the bold times rollin’, you are also welcome to this post and we are happy to have you.

photo by erin francois | from: tour a stylist’s mid-century-meets-traditional “farmhouse” full of thrifted treasures

I feel as though the power of the accent table is underrated. The sofa may be the Beyoncé of the living room but would her concerts be as show-stopping if she didn’t have her fierce backup dancers?? Sorry for comparing Queen B and her dancers to living room furniture but that is how strongly I feel about the issue.

We thought it would be helpful to show you what I mean rather than just talking about it. I pulled four average-looking sofas and paired them with visually interesting coffee and side tables (and walk you through why we think they work because pairing apples with oranges isn’t always intuitive). But before we get into the combos, let’s go over the six rules you should think of when buying your next piece and then check out this post for all your other burning coffee table questions.

1. Vary shapes: Mix it up with round, oval, square, rectangle, triangle or live edge shapes. It is the quickest and probably easiest way to instantly create visual interest and breakthrough “samesies” syndrome.

2. Mix up materials: Stay away from using the same material for all your accent tables. When you vary, for example combining a metal coffee table and a fabric side table, it gives your room texture. Texture is GOOD. But if you are dying to use, say, all wood, then vary the stains and yes, also shapes.

3. Look for interesting details: I think the key to having your coffee and side table as the “unique” furniture in your living room is interesting details. It could be a pattern, color, material or fun accent. Anything really that makes it extra special to you.

4. Visual weight is important: I know we have said it before but balancing the visual weight of your pieces is crucial to make your room look put together and interesting. So for example, if you have a bulkier coffee table then consider a more delicate side. Or if one piece has legs, making it look more “airy,” then the other piece could be “legless” and look more rooted.

5. Make sure they speak to each other: Okay, so I’ve spent four other points talking about all the ways these tables should be different, but this is where I talk about where they still need to relate somehow. Something about the pieces should talk to each other. This could be the shape if the materials are different, the era they are from, a common detail, or color palette. Think cousins, not siblings.

6. Consider your sofa: While your sofa may be on the more neutral or basic side, you still want everything to look cohesive. Look at the style, shape and color of your sofa. You don’t want to go so far off the style rails that the pieces don’t make any sense together. Have at least one thing about at least one of the pieces speak to the sofa’s style.

Okay, now I will show you what I mean…

Round One: Four Basic Sofas, Four Interesting Combos

combo 1: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 2: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 3: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 4: sofa + coffee table + side table

1. Here, we have a modern traditional boxy sofa. It’s visually heavy so it needs a coffee table that can stand up to it but also “lighten the mood.” Enter in that very cool vintage coffee table that is also boxy but footed so it gives the visual illusion that it’s airy. Then the side table has a contrasting shape, color and material but the style era and drawer accent of the two speak to each other.

2. This dark sofa needed a lighter, fun friend. Both the sofa and table have a MCM feel but the table’s wood tone and circle cut out detail relaxes the mood. Funks it up if you will. Then the side table’s circular shape talks to the circles of the coffee table but nicely contrasts it in terms of material and visual heft.

3. The gray sofa is just asking for some color to liven it up. Here, both of these work because they gel with the more contemporary vibe of the sofa. And while they themselves are pretty visually different in terms of material, they are both tonally rich and the wood ties it all together.

4. This sofa has a relaxed feel which is a great pairing for a more natural style of tables. The coffee table is both modern in shape with its chunky legs but natural in material. It’s black color contrasts and grounds the colors of the sofa and side table. Then the side table brings in more texture with its ceramic material and line detail. The two tables complement each other in both texture and the varying heights of their three-footed bases.

Round Two: Same Sofas, Different Tables

combo 1: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 2: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 3: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 4: sofa + coffee table + side table

1. A modern sofa doesn’t mean you can’t pair it with more natural pieces. But like I said before, make sure something about one of the pieces talks to the sofa. In this case, it’s the coffee table. The black marble and modern base (open and airy for varied visual weight) plays off the sofa’s traditional style. BUT the live edge shape of the marble talks to the natural style of the wood stump side table. There is also of course color and material contrast to keep the combo interesting.

2. All three of these pieces are a bit modern but cool. The color palette is varied but tonal, bringing in some much-needed warmth. Then the tables have the same round top-shaped but different and unique bases. You may also notice that they have very different visual weights which help make the whole combo balanced.

3. Boy, is that caning PRETTY and is kind of the showstopper of this trio. That being said, there wasn’t a need for a detailed said table, so this brass cutie is simple but interestingly shaped which makes it a perfect pick. Because it’s brass, the material and color really contrast and living up the whole color palette here.

4. Postmodern neutral heaven. While black-and-white, this combo is anything but boring. The bulkiness of the coffee table is toned down by its light color and the opening under the arch (and we love the tonal pairing which is unexpected). Then to make sure it’s not too neutral, the side table’s bold yet small stripes give the illusion that it’s more delicate than it really is (it’s a big block, ha). And while the sofa and tables are slightly different styles, the color palette keeps it all in the family.

Round Three: “One More For the Cheap Seats In The Back”

combo 1: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 2: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 3: sofa + coffee table + side table | combo 4: sofa + coffee table + side table

1. This sofa doesn’t know what hit it. That insanely cool coffee table speaks to the shape of the sofa but its materials and unique legs make it interesting. But to make sure we stay away from “rectangleville,” the side table has a contrasting fun shape and design. Why do they work together? Well, the brass and wood colors are in the same warm tone family and both pieces are very structural. Plus, all three of the pieces have a natural variance to them. The marble has some veining, the brass is aged/has some color variation and the wood has some tonal changes. Cousin best friends!

2. To brighten up this sofa, brass and blue were an easy choice (very EHD). The styles are all contemporary but from slightly different eras so they complement each other well. Then the coffee and side table once again have different visual weights, contrasting shapes and colors BUT both have a lined detail to connect them.

3. This combo is funky but muted, so it’s perfect for us (the risk-averse). The round shape of the coffee table contrasts the shape of the other two pieces. However, the curved rod detail on the side table speaks to the curve of the round coffee table. Then the small scale “pattern” of the side table contrasts nicely with the larger scale stripes of the coffee table. Also, notice that the black on the coffee table is picking up the black from the feet of the sofa. Lastly, adding that seafoam pop makes this combo anything but boring.

4. This combo is pretty darn pretty. The color palette is neutral but the movement in the burlwood and in the base of the coffee table make it anything but boring and keeps that pair cohesive. The contrasting shapes and weight keep the eye very interested.

photo by david tsay | designed by jessica helgerson | styled by emily henderson for STYLED the book

Do you feel confident enough that you could go out on your own? Well, I am confident in you and have provided a mere 66 different accent table options for you to mix and match with. But also, if you are just looking to switch out one of your pieces then that is equally as great and you are sure to find something.

What It REALLY Costs to Buy an Income Property in LA (& Why I Thought It Was a Good Idea Even After Near Financial Ruin)

Hi all. I feel like I need to formally introduce myself. My name is Emily Bowser, henceforth called “Bowser” as to not confuse anyone! I am a stylist and a creative producer here at EHD, and I’ve been lurking for almost three years now. I first came on as an assistant stylist on a project by project basis around the same time I bought this hunk of junk income property you’re about to hear allllll about. I clearly remember having to leave in the middle of a shoot to deal with one of the many “the sky is falling down” moments while renovating. Emily was very understanding and I was really trying not to cry at work (something I do more openly now, ha). The past three years have been a whirlwind, I figured out what I wanted to do when I grow up and pretended to already be grown up and bought a house at basically the exact same time. The reason you haven’t seen me doing Makeover Takeover is that I’ve been financially and emotionally in reno recovery (keep reading). During this trauma, I would have given anything to have someone give me real actual numbers, timelines and facts surrounding the insanity that is the Los Angeles real estate world, someone who would make me feel less crazy and less alone. If you’re looking for that person, or you just REALLY like to look inside of someone’s private financial dealings (same, same), you’ve come to the right place. Sh*t is about to get REAL. 

Sara recently wrote a lovely and informative post about buying a house in LA. What follows is my slightly different path of being wildly more naive and frankly, reckless, but that pretty much describes the difference between Sara and me anyway :).  Mine is a tale of TWO houses (because being reckless with one wasn’t quite interesting enough for me). That’s right, I willingly bought two unlivable houses (on one lot) for $22,000 down, zero savings, in Los Angeles, with hundreds of thousands of dollars of work that needed to be done and I’m still alive (and live in one!) today. I’m getting ahead of myself though, read on for the whole story…

Buying a house in LA: Is that even possible?

Good question. Yes. It is. You’re about to hear all kinds of crazy things. Numbers and decisions that don’t really make sense—BUT—I want to say this right at the beginning, the purpose behind me writing this isn’t just a warning (although it’s not NOT that), it’s more an “if I can do it, you CAN do it, too. And maybe you should, but maybe also you shouldn’t?” What you need is information, and then you need to know yourself (or selves) and make a decision based on your gut (is it obvious I’m a 9 on the enneagram yet?)

A tiny bit of my history.

My husband Andrew and I have been together for a long time. I’m throwing in that little fact because honestly, you should be in a good place relationally if you are buying a house with anyone. We started dating in 2000, married and moved to LA in 2009 (he would want me to note he moved here in 2007 ::insert eyeroll::) and decided to start “looking” for a house in early 2016 at the urging of my wonderful and entrepreneurial grandmother and supportive parents. This somewhat surprised me because my dad is also my CPA and he knew our financial situation very intimately. Regardless, I didn’t think it was possible and their excitement about it made me start looking into it and ultimately have laser focus until the deed was done. 

We wanted to own for all the obvious reasons but mainly: 1. the stability of a mortgage in an increasingly expensive city and 2. as people who came into adulthood during the recession, a way to invest and make some money as quickly as possible (retirement who? what?). Los Angeles is known to be a fairly safe housing market, if only you can get into it. Specifically, income properties do well because when house prices flatline here, rent generally goes up. This is the first of a few disheartening things you will hear me say in this post. “Capitalism! It’s great if it works for you; let me show you how!!”

FHA loans and investment properties, a somewhat educated layman’s guide.

My research brought me to a 2-hour phone conversation with a mortgage broker after going to exactly one open house and falling in love and moving in in my mind (first of many times, turns out). What I learned is this: you can barely have any money at all and qualify for a loan IF you have good to great credit and a few years of showing that you’re bringing in decent money. You don’t have to save that money per se, you just have to make it, keep your debt low, and pay things on time. 

At the time of applying for a loan, we had to use our 2015 tax returns. Luckily, in 2015, I had a full-time job. Ironically, by the time I was applying, I had quit the job but they did not care SO tip #1: have a full-time job the year before you want to buy a house and then promptly quit because finding a house is about to become your full-time job (I’m joking). My husband also had a salaried job for a few years. In 2015, our gross income was $120,000. At this rate, you’re going to know my social security number by the end of this post…KEEP READING. 

Obvious decision #1: FHA Loan

In Los Angeles, in order to have a conventional loan with an income property, you have to put down 25% (20% for a single-family home). I don’t think I saw one house sell for under $600,000 in my year of looking. 25% of $600,000 is ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. Also, your $600,000 home is probably a POS and needs work. I found out that with an FHA loan, I could put down as little as 3.5%. That was more our speed. We could handle a little bit of a higher mortgage payment because of mortgage insurance, what I was not going to have any time soon is $150,000+ sitting in a bank account. 

Obvious decision #2: Income Property

A $600,000+ FHA loan breaks down to about $4,000/mo (including taxes and mortgage insurance). I technically qualified for a loan this large but I knew the reality of paying twice as much as I had been paying for rent was insane. Just because you “qualify” doesn’t mean you can “afford” (read and repeat). You need to take your lifestyle, comfort level and the city you live in into consideration when making a decision this large. I was okay with paying a little more than we were renting, but I knew anything over $700 more/month was going to get uncomfortable fast. I needed help paying my mortgage. Enter: The Income Property.

Here’s a quick low-down on why this was an option for us (and can be for you): 

When you buy an income property, they take the rent you will make into consideration and think of it as a part of your projected income, therefore making your overall loan you can take out larger OR if you stay on the lower end of “what you can afford,” it makes your loan less risky. 

For example: at the time of buying our house, we “qualified” for a max $630,000 mortgage if we were buying a single-family home. Depending on the income property we looked at, that number shot up, sometimes over $200,000 more. Here’s how that breaks down in a real-life scenario: 

There was a triplex (2 two bedrooms, 1 one bedroom) on the market for $830,000 in the neighborhood of Atwater Village. Two of the units (the two bedrooms) were occupied and already bringing in $3,700 combined (way under market value at the time but nothing to scoff at either). $3,700 x 12 = $44,400. That number gets added to our projected income: $120,000 + 44,400 = $164,400! It’s like having a third person in our marriage that is bringing in $$ (isn’t that what we all want/need??). Also, an $830,000 FHA mortgage at the time was around $5,700/mo. 
Factoring in the rents we would be getting upon moving in, that means we would only have to come up with $2,000/mo, so the mortgage company was comfortable that we would be able to handle the responsibility of the monthly mortgage. The somewhat tricky part of this is that each and every property was different so the mortgage company would have to input all of the information each time depending on the number of units, if they were occupied, how much rent was either coming in or projected to come in, etc. etc. and sometimes made the process a little slower. In general, I knew if I looked at places in the $650,000-730,000 range for duplexes (or two-on-a-lot) I was pretty safe to assume I could make an offer if I wanted to.

Reality check: Buying with an FHA loan in 2016 in Los Angeles.

On paper, it made sense. We qualified for a decent loan because we make okay money monthly and don’t have any big expenses (ah, the good ole days) but the reality of being in such a competitive market without cash was NOT an easy one. I’m happy to talk about the process of looking for an FHA income property in the comments, but let’s CliffsNotes this thing so we can get to the actual buying of the house/income property: 

Assemble a supportive and reputable team. When you don’t have cash, you need to look legit. Make sure your people are LEGIT.
Competition is an obvious hinderance. Expect it. The lower end of the market is the most competitive and income properties are flipper territory in LA. We lost out on many houses because we didn’t come in $100,000 over asking with all cash. There is hope: there are still people out there that want to sell to actual people.
Trying to buy a house is (at least) a part time job. If I wasn’t filling paperwork, I was dropping everything to look at whatever house came on the market that was in the general area I wanted to be in, within $500,000 (RARE) – $800,000, and was an income property of any type even if they weren’t zoned as such (think Airbnb opportunities). I saw a lot of places by myself and would take Andrew later if they were worth looking at because he had a normal day job. I even made an offer on a house when he was out of town and he had only seen crappy iPhone pics. It took seeing the places as soon as possible, before the weekend open houses, so that you could get ahead of the crowd.
Income properties sometimes (almost always) come with people living in them and no, you cannot raise their rent if the house was built before 1978 (which is most of LA). This fact SHOCKS people. I saw so few properties that came vacant that I think I could count them on one hand. We have intense renting laws to protect people from being displaced. This being the case, you have to consider when buying a property: Are you cool if they never leave? Can you get a good enough price that you can afford to pay for them to leave (around $30,000 in most cases and yes, that is a thing and all renters in LA should know it)? If you don’t have the cash, can you negotiate the sellers paying for them to leave? Are you a horrible person that’s displacing people? Maybe don’t buy that one then? AND FINALLY
Expect heartache. We put in a lot of offers. Some were long shots we didn’t expect to get but others hit a little closer to home (pun intended). Home buying is emotional and it should be, you’re looking for your home, if you didn’t care that would be weirder.

There she is. | image via redfin
Found the house!

I was in a bad place emotionally when I first saw our house. I was alone, again, looking at an overpriced dump. We walked through and it smelled weird, they didn’t even try to clean it up, the ENTIRE lot was concrete, THE ENTIRE 5,000+ SQ FOOT LOT. Trees popped out of holes just big enough to fit their trunks through, “How are they even alive??” I think as I walk from the front house to the back house. My negativity was so dense that I barely heard my realtor explain that the back unit tenants are in the process of moving out, so it may be a bit in flux and different from the pictures online. 

The concrete jungle of the lot. | image via redfin
The “strategic” placement of furniture to cover termite damage! | image via redfin
The master bedroom “before.” | image via redfin

The thing about seeing a house when it’s furnished is that you don’t see how they have maneuvered all the furniture to cover the holes in the floor because of termite infestation (which it turns out was the case with the front unit). The back unit had less furniture which you would think would make it look bigger but instead just showed more of its flaws. I left feeling blah. We’d “never have enough cash to do what needed to be done to that property,” I tell my husband on the phone (in retrospect the most truthful statement I’ve ever uttered). However, a few short hours later, my mortgage broker is convincing me on the phone that I should really consider this property…I was shocked! He assured me that because the house was on the lower end of my budget that I could then most likely get a renovation loan tacked onto my mortgage. It is surprising even to me, now, even after knowing myself for 35 years, how quickly I can become optimistic about almost anything. 

The house is a two-on-a-lot fixer for $600,000, in a good investment neighborhood in the east side of LA. Both units are 2 bedrooms, the front unit is a little bigger at less than 900 square feet and the back unit is under 700. The way the lot is set up, there is a front unit, a small backyard and then the back unit with its own small (gated) outdoor space. I liked the idea of separate spaces with no shared walls, a luxury I had not enjoyed since I lived with my parents. There were also 2 one-car garages and with the spaces not being huge, it was a big plus to have storage space.

A barely educated layman’s guide to buying a house with an FHA + renovation loan (somewhat, but not totally, successfully).
A very “creative” flooring situation. | image via redfin
Living room and kitchen of back unit. | image via redfin
The private outdoor space of the back house. | image via redfin

This is how I remember everything working (read: maybe consult an actual professional and fact check me). First, you make an offer on the house and they accept. That’s kind of important. Then you spend the next five months of your life doing nothing but sending random people your personal financial information, signing papers, meeting 1 million different contractors and inspectors, paying them money, appeasing angry sellers by giving them extra money to help pay their mortgage because the process has gone on way too long, send more financial information because the initial ones are out of date, do that three more times, find out while on the toilet that your sellers put the house back on Redfin (illegally), angry cry in the aisles of Target on the phone with your broker, give them MORE money, eventually sign more papers and then you own the house.

I wish I were joking.

The slightly more official/told in plain English process is this: 

Find a contractor (this is a blog post in and of itself) and walk through with them and explain your renovation plans. They will give you an estimate of projected work to be done (about how much it will cost you).
The appraiser will calculate how much value will be added and based on that, how much projected rent you can get in the area you live in and come up with a new appraised value of the house.
Based on the appraisal, your mortgage company will decide how much of a renovation loan you can afford and it gets tacked onto your mortgage.

Sounds simple right? It was the most not simple, frustrating experience of my life. The appraisal you receive for the reno loan is NOT the same as the one you have done at the beginning of the buying process, the one that says “the offer you made on this house either matches or doesn’t match what it is worth.” That appraisal came back just fine. They wanted $600,000, we offered $600,000, the appraisal came back at $600,000. We were moving and grooving, everyone was happy! We started all the inspections and I found a contractor, all that takes awhile in and of itself. Later, when the second appraisal (different guy) came in, the one described in the above paragraph, THAT is the one that screwed us.

Buying in an up-and-coming area, I understood as a renter in LA, that I would be able to fix up the back unit and rent for at least $2,000. There was parking, a storage space, no shared walls, 2 bedrooms, private outdoor space and I was fully renovating it and adding a dishwasher, washer and dryer. Our appraiser said I would never get over $1,300/mo in my area and his opinion was that if I bought this house for $600,000 and put the $100,000 of renovations into it, it would be worth…$600,000. You may be asking yourself, “HOW IS THAT @#(*&@# POSSIBLE??” Same. Saaaaaaame. He would not reconsider his appraisal even after my realtor worked hard to get him rent comps in the area. 

This is where my life started unraveling and maybe a different (smarter?) person would have walked away. I would like to say it was “too late” because I had spent thousands (I had) and countless hours (I had) but it actually was really just this: I had set my mind to the thing and this house was mine. I have no one but myself to blame for what transpired after the moment I decided to push through…and it really was ME. You may be able to tell by the way I’ve written this, but my husband was along for the ride on this one. 

Life: “Emily, NO.”

ME:

During the phone call when my mortgage broker convinced me that this fixer would be worth it because of the reno loan, he was assuming an extra $100,000 or close to it, would be possible. After the bad appraisal and the back and forth, that dropped…a lot. For reasons that I still don’t fully understand, I didn’t know until I WAS SIGNING FINAL ESCROW PAPERS that my reno loan was only for $38,000. There was a miscommunication that I am going to go ahead and take responsibility for, but that was a lot lower than what I thought I had agreed to. Everything took forever and then went SO fast the last few days. I was convinced I just wasn’t understanding all the paperwork when I saw “$38,000” on the page. If you haven’t done it, you can’t imagine the amount of signing you do on closing day. It was just me, my husband, a notary, and my cat in a carrier (long story) in my husband’s office at 10 pm (also long story). I tried calling someone, anyone, to get some answers. No one answered, it was late! Here is the craziest thing: I SIGNED THE PAPERS ANYWAY. I told you, laser focus, only myself to blame.

Buying a lemon: How it’s possible and why you maybe should(n’t?) do it and how to (kinda) avoid complete and total financial ruin.

Alright, whether or not I should have been in this situation, this was the situation I was in the morning after I woke up from that fateful evening in my husband’s office: In mid October 2016, we bought a house for $600,000, our reno loan was for $38,000 for a combined $638,000. I received my first mortgage statement 10/27 (not due until 12/1) and here is the breakdown:

Principal: $863.26
Interest: $2,219.13
Escrow (for taxes and insurance): $1,174.74
Monthly Payment: $4,257.13

My interest rate was 4.25%. Small note here that about a year later, they lowered my monthly payment by about $85 (to $4,171.60) because they realized they were charging me too much for taxes and insurance.

The money we put down, combined with the money we spent while in escrow on inspections, etc., and the money we needed to pay the whole mortgage until February when renters were able to move in, was literally all the money we had in the world. Smart to start homeownership with literally no cushion? Obviously not. I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, but I had some help from a loan from my family (LOAN, not gift). I realize this is a very privileged situation but I want to be completely honest because I wish I had been able to read how this all really goes down for real people who aren’t very rich themselves (or maybe very smart). We bought the house and had a $40,000 personal loan on top of the $38,000 reno loan. $78,000 to renovate 1,400-ish square feet. Easy peasy?

When it doubt, paint it black.
Finally, the renovation.

I found a contractor I loved during the process prior to finalizing the sale for the reno loan. He was there during all the drama and was steady and encouraging during the process and ultimately what convinced me I could make this happen despite the loan coming in very low. My contractor assured me that he could do what needed to be done in a few months with the cash I had and that afterward, my house would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars more and I could refinance, pull the cash out and reimburse him for any additional work and reimburse my family the $40,000 I owed them. The math made sense to me. I bought a house for $600,000 and would put $100,000 in. The comps said that my house would be worth $800,000+ when it was all over. Refinancing is a legit and very good work-around but it does take a VERY strong stomach for risk, a patient contractor, and in the end, was not as easy as it sounded coming from him. Will I ever learn? All signs point to NO.

Something new came up every day that cost thousands of dollars. Every. Single. Day. Every wall (and some floors) were opened and the house was exposed for what it was: a total and complete lemon. Turns out a random guy built both structures in 1930 with no oversight and it showed. It looked like I built the house. I don’t know how to build a house but upon seeing the innards of mine, I was pretty sure that this was not it. Everything was “Mickey Mouse” (contractor’s words—still not sure of the origin but pretty sure of the connotation). It would be easier to list the things I didn’t have to touch. The only things I can think of is that we initially didn’t do anything to the yard (front or back), the front steps still need to be redone (look near collapsing), and we didn’t replace the sewage line from the front house to the street (which I’m just waiting to burst) although I did replace the one from the back house to the front house ($6,000). 

On a positive note: I know my house pretty well. I learned a lot. It now feels relatively safe and sound with hopefully no other big ticket things for awhile (besides the sewage line…all the crossed fingers and toes). I’m pretty positive I have a better grasp on what things actually cost and can say with reasonable confidence that if/when I ever get to the front yard/stairs/sewage situation, I will need to somehow come up with $50,000, not the $30,000 I’ve been estimated. I can also say with reasonable confidence that this will not happen for YEARS.

The aftermath.
Left: Me, trying to find my peace in chaos, with Daffy. Right: Junk pile realness.

THE BAD NEWS: They say that you should be ready for a 20-30% increase from the projected renovation cost. Mine was more than 100% more. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. By the end of the initial construction, just to get the house livable, we’d given my contractor around $100,000 and owed him around $80,000. I ended up having to ask for an additional $20,000 from my family and give him any money we made just to have enough so that my contractor could finish the work. In fact, that continued, every extra cent we made for the next year and a half that didn’t go directly to life bills, went to my contractor. A thousand here, a couple thousand there. Hello credit card debt. Goodbye Christmas bonuses.

THE GOOD NEWS: By February of 2017, we were able to move into the front unit (we had been locked in one of the back unit bedrooms for months with our cats) and rent out the back unit for guess how much?? $2,000/mo! I am, by the way, in the end always right and everyone should listen to me. Our monthly situation was not bad. We were paying nominally more than we were as renters and we owned (by the skin of our teeth) our house. On top of this, the neighborhood was getting fancier, bars were going in, prices were going up and realtors were starting to leave notes on my door. There was a triplex on our street that sold for 1.4 MILLION one year after we lived there. It wasn’t exactly a comp, but 1.4 million is a lot of money. There are two studio apartments in that complex, which they rent out for $1,800/mo each. Let’s get mad about gentrification and talk about the complexities of white guilt in the comments! WOO!

THE OTHER BAD NEWS: Turns out, you can’t really refinance right away, almost no one will do it before you’ve owned the house for a year. My contractor, probably because he felt bad about giving me an estimate SO FAR from the actual, was very patient. Andrew and I flirted with financial ruin, increasing debt and no savings making our credit take a nosedive and therefore became harder candidates for refinance. My more cautious and concerned friend, Lauren, who talked to me practically every day and may be the only reason I remained sane, literally Googled “how to get out of financial ruin” for me while I mused about how I was ever supposed to get refinanced in my condition.

A little while after we finished construction (March-ish 2017, we had an appraisal done of both properties. It came back okay, $750,000. It was definitely less than we could have sold it for, but it was also proof that the house was worth what we had put into it at the time. However, the company who gave us our initial loan denied us and said to come back in another year. We did. They said to come back the following year.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 2018, disaster strikes! The front house has some foundation movement that is NOT normal. We had done a good amount of work to it but it turns out the retaining wall along the back of house was completely deteriorating from all the rain we had in late 2016, early 2017. More work needs to be done. An additional $20,000 to be exact. Debt went from bad to worse but the contractor gets the job done anyway. I realize around this point that my contractor is in a catch-22. If he ever wants to receive the money I owe him, it is in his best interest to make sure the house stays standing and that I don’t go into bankruptcy. This is slightly unsettling as a human being but also somewhat comforting? Like, maybe it’s harder for my life to completely fall apart than I initially thought? It started to feel like a refi was never going to happen. I set up a payment plan with my contractor which was basically paying him $1,000/mo for the rest of my life which he wasn’t stoked on but willing to settle for because it was better than nothing. It definitely was making our month-to-month rough and not helping us improve our credit so that we could refinance.

Refi at last.

A couple of things happened before the refi: I had a real estate agent cold call me in the summer of 2018 while I was in Portland working with the EHD team (how he got my number, I don’t want to know). He asked if he could come see our house because he had some interested buyers. I tried to get off the phone with him by just stating the obvious “oh, sorry, no, my house isn’t for sale” and he asked me “how much would you need for it to be for sale?” I humored him, “honestly, I’m pretty in the pits with this house and in order for me to pay my debts and still make enough to buy another house, probably over 1M” to which he replied, “I don’t think that will be a problem”. I made an appt for him to come by and see the house when I was back in town. I was just curious (and desperately wanted my financial woes to be OVER).

A few weeks later, I had that appt, he was from a reputable company and was obviously excited about the property because of the income property. Turns out most LA people want something just like this for the obvious reasons of offsetting their mortgage but want it to be finished, like mine (kinda) was. He wanted me to list at $950,000 to start a bidding war. He said if I could deliver the back unit empty, he was sure we’d end up selling for 1.1M+. I was delighted that he felt this way but wanted another opinion. I had my realtor, Keely, who I bought the house with, come over. She didn’t disagree with the assessment of the house, however (and this is a BIG however), she told me I should try to keep it. I was in a good situation and getting another house probably would mean I would have to move further out. In her opinion, this was just proof that I made the right decision and should wait (a very nice thing to hear after almost 2 years of flirting with financial ruin). PRO TIP: if the person who could make money off you selling is saying don’t sell, probably don’t. The truth was, we didn’t want to sell. Despite all the stress, I was invested, quite literally, but it was tempting. I could pay everyone off and still make $200,000. That is A LOT of money. 

A couple weeks after all of this, we had been talking through the pros and cons of selling daily, a mortgage/refi company called me. This time, even though I had never heard of them, I humored them and explained the whole situation. They expedited me and seemed very excited about the prospect of making it happen. It was a whirlwind. Maybe it was the raising housing prices? It certainly was NOT my credit score, which was hovering in the mid- to low-600s. However, we were making more money than we were before (although it didn’t feel like it). Our gross income was $150,000 now.

In October of 2018, TWO years almost exactly after buying the house, we were approved for a refi, pending an appraisal (my least favorite word up to the point in history) of $850,000. My realtor was SO helpful during this time. Keep in mind that she is NOT being paid for this—she made a folder of comps and a list of what we had invested for the appraiser and then came for the actual appointment and walked through the houses with him. Lauren and I were FREAKING OUT. I scrubbed my house top to bottom, I made cookies so my house would smell good, at the last minute, I put on a Bob Dylan record. An actual record on an actual record player. This is my favorite detail because the appraiser LOVED IT. He was so impressed with my music taste and the fact that I was young but listened to records. We hammed it up and I TRULY BELIEVE IT AFFECTED THE OUTCOME. Call me crazy or call me ALWAYS RIGHT (eventually).

On November 19, 2018, the appraisal came through: $870,000. SIDE NOTE: appraisals are always less than they should be I guess?? Doesn’t matter, it was official, I would receive $100,000—ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS—in my bank account by Thanksgiving. I’m rich for exactly one day. The next day, I write a $80,000 check to my contractor and pay off some credit cards.

January 2019: I write my contractor a $20,000 check for more surprise foundation work, this time for the back house. 

February 2019: my husband is let go from his job. IT. NEVER. ENDS.

Financial Breakdown:

New Loan (as of July 2019): $735,668.67

Principal: $976.62
Interest: $2,835.39
Escrow (for taxes and insurance): $2,835.39
Current Payment: $5,096.72

My monthly payment goes up $925.12, my interest rate goes up to 4.625%

In the end, worth it. I can handle monthly expenses. What I can’t afford: $100,000 of debt hanging over my head. As of the time I’m writing this, I’ve put about $230,000 into my house(s). $130,000 more than projected. This includes all labor and materials. About $100,000 of that is just the teeny tiny back house. 686 square feet. Would I have been better tearing it all down and starting new? Probably. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. However, in the 29 months of renting the back house, I’ve made $61,000 in rental income. At this rate, only a few more years and it will have paid for itself.  

Bad news: I still owe my family money and I am literally in the process of setting up an insurance policy in my name in case I die so they get reimbursed. It’s agreed that now that I’m only slightly in financial ruin, that I will start paying them in monthly installments. Good news: I added 2 mini-splits to the back house in January (just threw it in with the foundation work, why not??) and charge $2,500/mo now. “You’ll never get more than $1,300”?? #$**$!!! 

Emotional breakdown (as in breaking down my emotions, not having a breakdown): Clearly, I’m not a risk-averse person. I sign very important and expensive papers I barely understand. I mean, writing that sentence out is crazy even to me. I can’t even justify my actions. However, I don’t regret it. Even now, after a couple of seemingly impossible years, constantly working, (still) just getting by, still with no savings to speak of, still owing people money and with the risk of having to carry a $5,100/mo mortgage if things went sideways with a backhouse tenant? I guess I have a strong stomach for it. It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay. I’m an optimistic person. Things will work out because things generally do (with hard work and a certain amount of first world, middle-class privilege). I thought that before all of this and the fact that I still believe it is either a testament to its truth or to my insanity, or maybe a bit of both.

Stay tuned for “How I Managed to Spend $100,000 in Renovations on 686 Square Feet and Lived to Tell the Story” where I break down reno costs, what I would have done differently looking back, and what I still am happy with.

The post What It REALLY Costs to Buy an Income Property in LA (& Why I Thought It Was a Good Idea Even After Near Financial Ruin) appeared first on Emily Henderson.

Tour a Stylist’s Mid-Century-Meets-Traditional “Farmhouse” Full of Thrifted Treasures

It’s been a while since we shared a guest house tour around these parts, but we’re back in action today with Lea Johnson’s beautiful Minneapolis home. If you’re into a light, casual-yet-glam eclectic mix of mid-century modern and traditional meets farmhouse aesthetic, you’re in for a treat today. Lea, a stylist in her own right, can be found over at Creekwood Hill, a blog she started as a “digital diary” to document the build of her home. What was really just for herself and close friends transitioned into a full-blown passion after about a year or so and her site and Instagram account sort of evolved organically from there. She started styling more for family and friends, and then eventually, for clients. But back to her home that we’re giving you a tour of today. Lea and her husband never actually intended on a new build as they really loved and admired homes from the 1920s-1940s, but after many failed offers (and realizing their lack of renovation experience might have ended up being too much for them), they started looking at empty lots and thus began their home building journey.

To make sure it didn’t end up feeling like a “builder grade box” essentially, Lea has filled the home with so many enviable, thrifted treasures. Read on to get a look into all her rooms, how she was able to add character to a new build and how she effortlessly mixed-and-matched retail and vintage finds. I’m going to step back and let her take it from.

Take it away, Lea:

Entryway

Side Chair (similar) | Lamp (similar) | Wood Hooks | Large Woman’s Face Art Piece | Rug, Umbrella Holder & Varied Art (Vintage)

Our entryway is tiny and since we have an open floor plan in a very modest-sized home, you pretty much see the entire home from walking in the front door. One thing I knew when building was that I wanted to create a sort of “hallway” so that, one, it creates a little privacy from the kitchen and, two, we could install a closet to stash coats, shoes and gear. I like to keep things fairly organized in our home (as in everything has a place). It’s something I learned growing up with my grandma who lived through the Great Depression and I would say that is probably why she kept and reused everything but it was always SO fanatically tidy you would never have guessed that she had so many things. So I found a little desk (from World Market but no longer available) that was small enough to fit and that is where we keep mail, keys, sunglasses, change, etc. To that, I added a few pieces of art as I have yet to master the art of the gallery wall (I’m working on building up a collection). The light fixture was my first DIY in the house, one that was inspired by my love of Schoolhouse. 

Living Room

Rug | Marble & Wood C Table (similar) | Side Chair | Rust Lumbar Pillow | Sofa | Bookshelves | Blue & White Table Lamp | Wood End Table | Brass & Black Metal Side Table | Curtains (custom) | Curtain Hardware (Custom) | Roman Shade | Black Side Table | Black Poufs | Wall Color | Decor, Art, Busts (Vintage)

Because of this home’s open concept, I really had to take into account that all spaces needed to flow cohesively with one another from a design perspective. You’ll see a pretty consistent color palette throughout (mostly neutrals, pops of rust, brass, blue), starting n the living room, which sits right off the front door. In here, we added paneling to the walls for texture and a trio of bookcases from IKEA as I wanted to store books and other tchotchkes that I’ve picked up from my many thrift store jaunts. Almost everything displayed, I found thrifting. I make a habit of thrifting before buying new. It’s my way of balancing high and low as well as one way I can try to help keep the planet a little greener.

I knew I wanted a neutral sofa and one with a bit more interest to it, however, we also have a dog and two cats and we want to LIVE on our sofa (not just look at it) so when I found that this one came in this amazing woven performance fabric, I was like yesss! Style, comfort and performance (the trifecta for sofas).

Okay, let’s talk curtains. I would typically go with a neutral solid but I was ready for something bolder. I found this fabric which has a traditional feel to it but the pattern is more whimsical (there are pandas! I mean who doesn’t love a panda?!) The rug was sourced by a really good friend of mine.

Dining Room

Table | Rug | Arm Chairs | Side Chairs (similar) | Chandelier | Ceiling Medallion | Art & Decor (vintage)

Our dining room is located in between our kitchen and living room. We live in the city where houses are built really close to one another so I had piano windows installed because they reminded me of an older home and also provided privacy from the house next door. I mean, I really like them a lot but I don’t necessarily want to eat dinner with them every night. Another “form and function” decision that was made was installing a ceiling medallion. We had to move the electrical box and were left with a hole that needed to be covered, which the medallion hides. It’s also beautiful and again reminds me of the older homes I love so much. 

The corner cabinet was one I found in an antique store about 15 years ago; we had moved it from house to house and it was in storage for about three years until we finally found it would fit in our current dining room and provide storage as well as character. One goal of mine while building on a budget (similar to ballin’ on a budget—sidetrack note, there should be a TV show called that) was to keep our home from feeling too “builder grade” so I tried to incorporate pieces that would provide interest and keep it from looking too boxy.

Because I love mixing styles, I found a mid-century Saarinen-style Tulip table to keep the space from feeling too traditional and then I found these beautiful black and cane armchairs. I didn’t want all four chairs to match so I went thrifting for side chairs and miraculously found these vintage Thonet chairs that were almost too good to be true ($15 each). They looked like they were always meant to be family.

Vintage Armoire | Mirror | Globe Table Lamp | Sconce | Ceramics (vintage)

I love supporting local family-owned businesses so when I discovered Golden Age Design, I ran (literally) to find a sideboard for this space to hold all our dishes, barware, and it also acts as our liquor cabinet. The owners make two trips to Denmark twice a year where they source vintage pieces and then containership everything they find back to the US. They completely refinish and fully restore the pieces, and they truly are heirloom quality. Ours was a bit of a splurge (to me) but it was one investment piece I that really spoke to me and I knew would last forever.

Kitchen

Barstools (similar) | Pendants | Cabinets | Backsplash Tile

When building our kitchen, I added a large kitchen window to our must-haves list though it didn’t leave much room for cabinetry. We couldn’t fit fully custom cabinets into our budget so we went with a semi-custom version which allowed me to create very tall “uppers” to flank our kitchen window which creates a sort of hutch look. Since the kitchen sits at the back of the home and every view from the front door looks into it, I wanted it to look as clean-lined as possible.

Originally, the kitchen design was drawn out with a peninsula but I changed it to squeeze in an island, and because of that, it created an L-shaped kitchen style that left a big blank wall on one side of the room. I hated that it looked really unfinished as well as looking like an afterthought (which it sort of was) but there wasn’t enough clearance to fit full cabinetry and provide enough walking space around the island. Determined to find a cost-effective solution, I found these really shallow cabinets (9 inches deep). They provide enough storage for things like pet food, supplies, kitchen towels and food storage bags. I also love the look of open shelving so I added these three VERY inexpensive floating shelves to fill the wall space. 

Hardware | Sconces | Rug | Faucet

One thing we originally cut from our budget was a tile backsplash so instead, I asked the builder to install shiplap but we were inexperienced and didn’t seal it and it started yellowing in the knots of the wood (it also became really greasy and grimy after a couple of years). I ended up working with another local (woman-owned) business when it came time to replace the original shiplap. I originally met Mercury Mosaics‘ owner, Mercedes, at a couple of events and she reached out to collaborate on our kitchen project together. They make beautiful handcrafted mosaic tiles right here in Minneapolis. I was over the moon, as she and her team are amazing to work with. My friend Morgan with Construction2Style—another local family-owned business who had previously worked themselves with Mercury Mosaics on a project—installed it for us. To me, it’s more than tile. It’s the symbol of three Minnesota women in business who came together to support one another and create something meaningful, one-of-a-kind and beautiful.

Laundry Room

Flooring | Sink | Faucet | Cabinets | Countertops | Hanging Rack | Lighting & Decor (vintage)

Our laundry room is still under a bit of construction in that I would love to add cabinetry to frame around the washer and dryer. In here, I tried to maintain that classic look with the shaker cabinetry and vintage looking farmhouse sink. We were able to save quite a bit in here because we went with inexpensive flooring (VCT tile) that made me think of my grandma’s kitchen floor and a laminate countertop that really mimics the look and feel of a butcher block. I really love the hanging drying rack especially living in Minnesota so we’re able to hang up all our wet winter gear here.

Peg Rail | Leather Fly Swatter | Broom & Duster via HomeGoods

I most recently added a peg rail on the adjacent wall to provide some storage solutions for things like brooms, aprons and baskets (below).

Bedroom

Blue & White Blanket | Lumbar Pillow | Flushmount Lighting Fixture | Curtains (custom) | Curtain Hardware (custom) | Rug | Wall Color | Bed (no longer available) | Dresser, Chair, Chest, Nighstands, Decor, Art (vintage)

We started to work on our bedroom about a year ago. The bed, we’ve had for around 15 years and I love it so I didn’t want to change it. The dressers and nightstands were all thrifted. I love mixing materials and styles so here again you see traditional mixed with mid-century and vintage. 

Powder Bathroom

Wallpaper | Mirror | Sconce | Vanity Cabinet, Sink, Faucet, Decor (vintage)

The powder room may just be my arch-nemesis as I recently just wallpapered it and it’s so tiny in here I could barely fit a ladder so being the non-DIY-er that I am, naturally, I thought it was a good idea to put my kitchen stool on top of the toilet seat to try to hang the paper. I completely wiped out faster than I could even realize and hit the floor. I may have even checked myself over to make sure I wasn’t impaled. As if that weren’t enough, I also electrocuted myself while I was cutting wallpaper out around the electrical outlets (okay, I shocked myself. Not fully electrocuted myself but it felt like it).

The only good thing that has come out of the powder room is the vanity. It was an old child’s dresser I found on Craigslist. I knew it was narrow enough to fit into the tiny space but it was really low. My dad is handy (unlike me) so I brought it to his house where he stripped it of the many, MANY layers of chalk paint down to its original beautiful oak and then cut it around ¾ of the way up and added another drawer to add the height we needed and then reattached everything. He stained it (without consulting with me, my heart sank a little when he told me what he’d done) but now I find that I love it and it reminds me of him all the time.

Hallway & Family Room

Vintage Wood Drawers & French Opera Print Via Fooshoppe

Rug | Shelves & Brackets | Barn Door & Hardware | Flushmount Lighting 

Blue Sofa | Chandelier | Curtains | Curtain Hardware | Motorized Window Shade | Pillows (left to right on blue sofa): Tweed Lumbar, Check Pillow, Mustard Plaid | Coffee Table, Floor Lamp, Side Table, Art & Decor (vintage/thrifted)

Our upstairs hallway is pretty wide so I added a few inexpensive bookshelves for more of our book collections and other thrifted pieces. We added a barn door to close off a little room that we use as our TV room. It was supposed to be an office but I like working from all over the house and having one dedicated room would make me feel too closed off so instead, we made a small area where we kick back and watch our favorite shows. In this room I wanted it to feel cozy, so my dad and I worked on paneling a wall and added a vintage fireplace (that doesn’t really work). Here, I again mixed in mid-century, vintage, some rustic and traditional pieces.

Thank you so much Lea for opening the doors of your beautiful home to the EHD universe. Make sure to check out Lea’s blog, Creekwood Hill, and follow along with her on Instagram.

***photography by Erin Francois

photo by Jennifer Kamrath/Sage Imagery
For more guest house tours, check out these great posts: 

An Exclusive Home Tour from Leanne Ford | A Stylist “Undecorates” a 1929 Tudor(ish) Cottage | A Before & After House Tour Full of DIYs You Might Actually Do Yourself | A Home Crush a Year in the Making | A Mid-Century Modern Inspired Home | A Warm Scandi Inspired Home

The post Tour a Stylist’s Mid-Century-Meets-Traditional “Farmhouse” Full of Thrifted Treasures appeared first on Emily Henderson.

Mountain House Monday: 5 Things We Didn’t Know We Needed to Know Before Starting the Renovation

Katie (my wife), is halfway through earning a masters degree in Marriage & Family Therapy, and shockingly has yet to take a class on the “trauma of termites” nor has she spent any time studying the fear of mold infestation. WHY NOT?? The unknowns when buying and/or gutting a house are scary. Trying to put that house back together, oy…you’d better be a giant risk-taker or a pro. The mountain house design team fell somewhere in between. Julie, Grace and I served as Emily’s “fresh design minds” on the project (a.k.a. new hires just barely out of school) and Emily (our pro) was wrapping up gut renovation. Countless sleepless nights were endured as we began our venture into the scary unknown.

With four design minds on the project and an experienced construction team, we found we knew more than we knew we knew. (10 points to the hive mind theory). But a few times, we stumbled into uncharted “space” (or, more accurately, lack thereof) and as a result, our visions/designs had to change…leaving us saying “ahh well” (but a bit more profanely) in the end once or twice. Having made this journey, we’re here to illuminate the territory that was once unknown to us. We want you to learn from the five things we didn’t know that we didn’t know. FEAR NOT, “space” travelers, you’re about to know.

1. The retractable cabinet door trend consumes more real estate than you may realize.

And you (or your designer) need to know how much because when dealing with any non-standard/custom design, even your contractor may lack enough experience to offer insight. In the kitchen’s floor-to-ceiling cabinet design, we knew to account for more space than the standard stiles would consume (“stiles” are the vertical cabinet supports and are standardly ¾” thick). But we didn’t realize exactly how much space was required between stiles to allow for the retracting hardware and the wood-clad door. We based the design around needing a couple of inches (we wanted the least amount of space to avoid visible gaps), handed off the drawings to our contractor who thought the estimation seemed reasonable but said minor adjustments would be made on-site if needed.

We showed up for a site visit to discover the spacing built to accommodate the door was 3 inches wide instead of 2. I’m not sure what in the construction phase called for this change (added wood-cladding? Different hardware being sourced due to door weights?) and it seems like minuscule adaptation, but when multiplied by the 6 times a retracting door occurs in the design, 6 inches of space had to come from somewhere else. For us, it meant losing the highly-functional, ‘skinny pantry’ featured in this concept and inheriting, instead, a 6-inch wide end pantry that we jokingly call “the baguette” cabinet, because that’s the only shape that would utilize the space perfectly. Emily took it in stride and this became an “ah well.”

Original design…

Soooooo close…

Would she still have chosen the retractable doors: ABSOLUTELY. It’s literally her favorite trick to show off, but we would have designed the wall of cabinets a bit differently so we didn’t get a 4-inch cabinet at the end (which is actually even smaller once the door retracts).

2. A pop-up downdraft isn’t as slim/unassuming as it appears.

We still think this is a sleek, solid venting solution, especially for island-located cooktops. But we had no idea it meant losing some serious cabinet space below. The motor/control board has to live somewhere and with our model (which we sourced via Build.com), that meant about a third of the base cabinet space was consumed. Which meant losing the drawers featured in the original design.

Here’s the thing. I don’t think we would’ve opted for another ventilation system, we just wish we had known to consider this prior to being mid-construction so that we could’ve been creative with a solution (custom-shaped drawers?). But so as not to hold things up, we decided that sorta thing could be added later and left it as cabinet for now. Though you know what to expect now, so we’ll look forward to photos of your genius cabinet-adaptations! (and then may or may not steal…er, “be inspired” by these solutions).

For now, it’s this…

3. You don’t design your stairs, your local codes do.

Okay, you have some say. But tracking down the guidelines you have to work within early is a must. Your contractor will likely come in handy here. Here are some common ‘residential’ codes for stairs, but first a quick vocabulary lesson:

Common Stair Codes:

Handrail Height: 36”
Balusters (or spindles) installed with no more than 4” between
Maximum riser (height) per step is 7 ¾ inches.
Minimum tread depth per step is 10 inches

Just add a zillion further restrictions (many specific to your location) and you’re now “free” to design.

I was lead on the stair design and was working on concepts to submit the project as one of our “I Design, You Decide” posts (4-inch spacing across the board, y’all, exciting stuff!) We wanted something minimalistic to avoid cramming the already narrow space. Some of the initial variations looked like this:

However, we learned our local codes required guard rails be 42” high and were required for anything elevated above 30″, but couldn’t also serve as the handrail (36″ requirement). Meaning, Design 1 (with a dual-purpose rail) wasn’t actually a possibility. In Portland, they must have different codes (jealous!). Here, we would have to have both a 42″ guard rail and a 36″ handrail, looking something like this:

It crowded the small space and the added height felt awkward with the low ceiling. We veered toward the simpler Design 2, leaving you guys with no say in the matter. Sorry about that! Blame the codes…”safety,” yada yada…but how enviably dangerous are the seemingly code-less stairs of Spain…

image source
4. Maximizing window sizes mean limiting wall space…

…and the needed opening size is going to be larger than the size of the window in your shopping cart. Plan for that opening size and don’t forget the added width of casing! For us, the mountain house was all about bringing the outdoors in and if there was a chance to make a bigger window or to add one, we jumped. We are NOT sorry, but it did affect a bed choice and, therefore, overall design in one bedroom. Once framing/opening needs were accounted for, we had gone a few inches too wide with the room’s windows to leave enough wall space to accommodate the headboard of a king bed. We hadn’t yet settled on a king bed when choosing windows. Thinking through future furniture desires and the resulting layout/making sure there’s enough uninterrupted wall space to accommodate these desired pieces is wiser than just saying “bigger window,” turns out. Julie problem-solved by sourcing this visually unobtrusive bed, which avoids blocking the light.

5. Specialty doors? Know the wheres, hows and widths of that specialty framing.

Our scenic slider is SO worth the additional space it takes from the room. Talk about bringing the outdoors in! But typically for a door, planning for 5-8” allocates plenty of space in a design. But this guy (that we sourced from Marvin) is the thickness of four stacked doors, making the sill/necessary framing over twice as wide as the standard. So which side of the wall is going to get built out to accommodate? You’d better know. Because we didn’t. In the original design, we made the mistake of framing the door flush with the interior wall instead of exterior wall. Sure, we could have read the specs but, well, we didn’t. Originally, the design concept for the room settled into something like this after discussing it through with you here and opening it up for you to decide here:

But upon realizing the framing needs for the scenic slider, the cabinets became impossible entirely, given the fireplace benches were already framed out:

So, they were scrapped and ultimately, we landed here (this was upon “move in”…reveal of final design coming SOON):

Not a bad place to land. Actually, many of you wanted us to scrap the cabinets to begin with. So…uhh…never mind, we actually just did so for you! That’s it…no oversight made here. (grimacing emoji face)

Okay, travelers, it’s safe to take your helmet off. You now have five fewer “unknowns” to fear as you voyage out into your own space. Only 100 billion unknowns left to discover…no wait, those are stars in the Milky Way. Actually, probably a similar count. Scary. Real scary. Off to call my therapist (errr… wife). Happy Mountain House Monday, Friends!

*Catch up on all mountain house posts here, and don’t miss all the reveals so far .  

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