Emily Henderson's Blog, page 98

The Challenges Of Our Upstairs Landing (AKA Our Kids Garbage Storage Room/Play Space) + How To Design Long Term For Rapidly Growing Kids

Welcome to no man’s land, and yet a space that has SO MUCH potential. We’ve only had “hallways” at the top of stairs before, not landings that are almost as big as a room. It’s such a lovely, inviting, gracious space to “land” (in theory) before you head into one of the three bedrooms, the kid’s shared bathroom, or the laundry closet. It’s a pretty darn big space (with a new huge Velux skylight that did wonders) that has become the upstairs “drop zone”. And you all know what that means – she is MESSY, unorganized, and currently purposeless. Here is where we are in the house:

It’s big enough to have a lot of function, but we need to live in the house long enough to know what that function really is. Our kids are 7 and 9 and all parents know that interests and therefore functional needs change as fast as they age, really keeping us on our toes and requiring most things to be flexible and able to work in other places should they not work here. It’s a challenge but one I don’t want to rush solving (and yes, we are shooting the house in May so rush I will :))

Three Years Ago…

As you can see the landing had this 90s flooring (the bedrooms had bad carpet with no hardwood flooring underneath) and we decided early on that this is where we would “save” money. We’d paint the landing floor and stairs, add a harlequin pattern or stencil at some point, and not spend the money to re-floor the second floor at all. What we didn’t realize is that this floor was in bad shape, so instead of painting it they actually replaced it with affordable 2″ Douglas fir flooring (what was originally appropriate to the age of the house). This is great because we had a better product and we approved it quickly over the phone. But had we thought about it more we would have either A. Stained the new yet generic wood floor a wood tone, B. Painted the OG bad flooring without any prep work so you saw the cracks, etc which is a specific look that we like, or C. Put in more of our beautiful Zena flooring from downstairs. We originally made the decision to paint it because we hated this particular “before” wood flooring, not because we really wanted painted wood flooring if that makes any sense. Everything has a domino effect and those of you who have remodeled know that you make a decision, it affects other decisions. Something just always comes up and changes the other decision or the original decision, and yet you often don’t go back and rethink every decision along the way because you are overwhelmed with newer, more immediate decisions. So basically if we could go back in time with the knowledge that we had to replace the bad wood flooring we would have replaced it with wood that we loved, not wood just to then paint it. It’s all fine, honestly, and there are a ton of solutions for this space – but I just wanted to explain why it’s just a bright wood floor (as opposed to that more rustic painted patterned wood floor that we had originally planned on).

Everything you see today (besides the doors, trim work, light fixtures, and light switches) is up for grabs design-wise. But we needed time to live here to figure out what to do with it.

Below you can see what it looked like in progress – the original doors and the salvaged doors were both rehabbed to function perfectly for us.

The Landing Today (Well, Right Before Christmas)

Here is what is happening now. We have a bookshelf I got at a garage sale for $20, the IKEA pedestal table I’ve had forever, a cheap rug that I bought for our rental that I immediately regretted but never returned, and a white floor that is begging for its painted moment. So currently I’m stumped on how to design this space the best for our family and having a hard time prioritizing such an interim space when other spaces feel more immediate.

Well, What Do We Do In This Room Right Now?

Uh, I mostly clean it….and we fold laundry on the floor (because no one really folds laundry on their laundry counter, FYI). Here’s a fun fact about kids – they don’t like to play in their own messes (or others’ messes). Sure, if they make a mess they will play in it for the rest of that messy session, but then they’ll avoid that space or just find it “boring” – truly my least favorite response to their own disasters. Once you clean it up all of a sudden they are engaging with it again. I totally get it – I hate cooking in a messy kitchen regardless if I’m about to make a new mess. You don’t want to inherit an older mess, you want to focus on the new mess you can make. So if it’s clean they legit use the sewing machine and the new 3D printer they got for Christmas, but if it’s messy they are “SO BORED”.

Another fun fact that will make you rethink having children – some of their friends will do this monstrously baffling thing and take every single box/game/puzzle out of the bookshelf and dump it on the floor, one by one. Not all kids do this, (I hope to god my kids don’t do this at other people’s homes, but I fear they have) but I’ve seen it enough times. It’s a thing. Now to be fair, I know that other kids’ toys are these mysterious magical boxes and it feels like Christmas to the new kids. And TBH we leave them unattended for hours so we shouldn’t be so shocked when we come up and it looks like we’ve been robbed. But that gives you more context on what “purpose” this room has right now – a large shelf of temptation and future mess.

We are also in these in-between ages where they don’t love “toys” as much as they did but aren’t quite into the next stage yet (Birdie loves to do arts and crafts, Charlie likes to make things and play video games or play with nerf guns). So yes, there are so many boxes of NIB craft kits or board games that I’m unsure we’ll never really use again.

Sometimes I feel like I don’t engage with these problem spaces until I’m literally writing the blog post about it and seeing it with more objective, fresh eyes. Do I think this could be a sweet little reading area with a desk? Sure. But what we are really missing in this house is the room they can destroy with craft stuff. They both love to sew and make things, but we aren’t set up for it. We could put all the board games in one of their closets (to be taken out when committed to playing with them and then we could have a hutch or armoire that is cuter for all the craft supplies, a place to properly store the sewing machine and the 3D printer, and then wall space to display it all (or shelving for jars of supplies). But at the same time, they are 7 and 9 and will be 11 and 13 in no time. Will they even like to still craft/make things? Should I customize some desks and bookshelves for future homework? A YouTube studio for their future social media channels? (JK, y’all, JAY KAY).

To Craft Or Not To Craft?

We have two warring schools of thought in our house – mine is that if you curate an evergreen crafting/art area with organized supplies the kids will craft more on their own, without guidance or prompt. This is VERY, VERY TRUE. The amount of times we’ve been like, “I wonder what the kids are doing” and they are upstairs doing a huge craft together for hours is countless. But it becomes a disaster that we all have to help clean up, almost daily. The other school of thought is to keep the supplies in a box that we pull out when we want to have a more organized “crafting session,” thus putting the responsibility more on us (me) to have a “project” with the right supplies, and lead the project. But then afterward we pack it up and put it away. This is why the crafting attic was so wonderful at the mountain house – they would destroy it and we’d clean it together every couple of weeks, but didn’t have to look at the mess every time we came up the stairs…

If we were to do “the crafting landing” then I think a rectangle table would be better, positioned against the wall with a crafting board above it, and supplies along the back.

Or Should I Just Make This Pretty With A Chair/Ottoman, Bookshelf, A Pretty Rug, And Some Art?

I mean, I could do that in my sleep. So yes, part of me wants to paint a harlequin pattern on the floor (elongated diamond in blue and white), buy a simple oval or round jute or braided rug, get a dope chair and ottoman, and hang a gallery wall. It writes itself. But it’s just not as functional for our family and feels like a missed opportunity to check a box. That is unless I find space in either of their bedrooms or the guest room for my fantasy crafting/art studio bonanza…

And yes, we’ve also thought about making this a mini-den for them with a TV/video games and two bean bags which is still on the table, but kinda depresses me (we have just introduced video games and one of our children has taken QUITE the liking to them – if you know what I mean).

Are We Going To Paint The Walls? Install Wallpaper?

Unsure. I know this is so boring in photos, but trust me that in person the white provides negative space for your eye, especially when you have Birdie’s wallpaper and the pink guest room (and consider a pattern painted on the floor). I know we are going to paint the floors but not sure about the walls. Also, remember that it comes up from the stairs so you’d almost have to paint the walls along the stairs too which isn’t out of the question but you see the stairs prominently in the living room so it becomes a thing. Everything is a thing (I say this like 19 times a day). Nothing is just a choice without affecting other past choices or future choices. Everything. Is. A. Thing.

Now that I think about it maybe a DIY L-shaped desk with storage drawers + shelves for books/crafting supplies would have the most longevity for crafting now and homework later…

If I sound stressed by this space, I’m really not. I do know almost for a fact that if I don’t dedicate some thought to this space this year it could stay like this 6 years. So these kinds of posts always force me to think about these less important spaces, creating some forced forward momentum. So thanks for listening 🙂

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

The post The Challenges Of Our Upstairs Landing (AKA Our Kids Garbage Storage Room/Play Space) + How To Design Long Term For Rapidly Growing Kids appeared first on Emily Henderson.

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Published on February 09, 2023 01:00

Our Favorite Curtain Rods Organized By Size (+ Our Rules For Hanging Them)

Up until a week ago, my bedroom window did not have curtains. What it had as a covering was a sad, thinly woven blanket nailed to the wall. Before you judge entirely and deem me unworthy of writing for an interior design blog, let me explain. When we moved into this apartment, all of the windows were bare and I found that choosing window treatments was one of the more paralyzing design decisions for this first-time designer. For the first few weeks, blankets and towels were indeed hung over the windows which was a pretty unbearable sight to witness. Eventually, I procured proper curtains for the common living areas but due to design decision fatigue, I chose to ignore the bedroom window until I knew what the design plan would be for that room. I was admittedly being cheap and a tad lazy, so a blanket was our curtain for an agonizing 3+ YEARS. Finally, last week I couldn’t take it anymore so I purchased an actual curtain rod and curtains for the poor, forgotten bedroom window. I probably don’t need to tell you the difference it has made for my mood/mental health. We have actual privacy now, and I no longer avert my eyes and pretend the window doesn’t exist. Now all of this is to say that picking the perfect window treatments can be confusingly debilitating. It can feel like a big design choice/investment so if you are having trouble facing this decision you aren’t alone. The first step is acceptance and the second is to find the right size and style curtain rod for your needs. Are you ready?

photo by sara ligorria-tramp | from: portland primary bedroom reveal

There are several window treatment options out there (roman shades, shutters, blinds, etc) but if you are going with hanging curtains there are a few things you should know:

Make sure you have the right tools BEFORE you get started. For most curtain rods, you’ll need a power drill, the right size drill bit (depending on the size of the screw), a stud finder, and measuring tape. Depending on the weight of the curtains, you might need a supportive wall anchor, too. Sometimes hanging curtains the right way takes a few tries and a few different applications (this is coming from experience). You could also hire out! Don’t hang your curtain rod right above your window. Ideally, your curtain rod should be hung 2/3 the distance between your window and the ceiling. If space allows, the curtain rod should extend 10-12″ past the window on each side. When you are measuring make sure to take that into account before you determine what length you need your curtain rod to be.Make sure your curtains are not too long or too short. We advise having your curtains “kiss” the floor.

Here is a handy visual to reiterate these steps:

Curtain Rods By Size

photo by sara ligorria-tramp | from: ryann’s living and dining room MOTO reveal

1. Essential Black Curtain Rod: This is a really classic modern matte black option that is currently on sale for $80!
2. Curtain Rod: We love the clean line look of this one and reviewers say it is sturdy and easy to install.
3. Ball Finial Curtain Rod Set: A ball finial is classic and this comes in matte black and polished nickel too.
4. Boule Black Curtain Rod: This modern meets traditional curtain rod is really stunning.
5. Cole Curtain Rod: The ridged ball finial adds a lovely texture to this luxe glam rod (and also comes in black!).
6. 3/4″ Singles Curtain Rod Set with Round Finials: This is a great affordable option that comes in a range of finishes.

1. Standard Curtain Rod: Here is an affordable standard black rod that has great reviews.
2. Matte Black Ball Finial Curtain Rod: This traditional matte black with ball finials is super versatile.
3. 3/4″ French Rod: We love a French return style curtain rod and this one by Rejuvenation comes in three beautiful finishes.
4. Bridgette Curtain Rod: The circular plate detail on this one adds a cool, modern flair.
5. French Return Drapery Hardware Set: Caitlin cannot stop raving about this curtain rod that she bought for her living room windows. She says that it is really beautiful and super affordable for the quality.
6. Double Curtain Rod and Large Marble Round End Cap: A double rod is essential if you want to add a blackout curtain layer to your window treatment and the marble finial is so pretty.

1. Hidden Connection Room Darkening Curtain Rod: This cast iron French return style rod combines a rustic texture with a modern flair and comes in a variety of finishes.
2. Matte Black Blackout Curtain Rod: Jess had this one in her old living room and loved the way it looked.
3. French Curtain Rod – Project 62™: Here is an affordable modern curtain rod that is thin and sleek but can hold up to 25 pounds.
4. French Return Curtain Rod Matte Black: This is a really classic affordable option.
5. Dauntless Curtain Rod: This one is the lucky winner that replaced my aforementioned blanket over the window situation. I’m really glad this is the one I happened to snag at Target as it is really sturdy and looks high-end.
6. Bolt Matte Black Rod: If you are looking for an edgy, modern shape look no further.

1. Simple Curtain Rod: We love the wraparound bracket detail on this simple curtain rod.
2. Rustic Curtain Rod: Here is another affordable option that comes in a variety of lengths!
3. Oversized Adjustable Curtain Rod w/ Cylinder Finials: This is such a classic and elegant curtain rod that would look good in any room.
4. Swoop Blackout Curtain Rod – Dark Bronze: The curve on this one is really special.
5. Hillcrest Drapery Rod: The wood finial paired with the oil-rubbed bronze finish creates such a dynamic look.
6. Cg Matte Black Curtain Rod: To end our readymade options, we have this simple but sturdy curtain rod that comes in seven different finishes (and has a wraparound bracket that adds a special modern detail).

Custom Options:

Some window sizes and shapes are too unique to be covered with readymade curtains, but luckily we know so many great companies that make incredible custom window treatments. Here are some of our favorites:

1. Wovn Home: In my living room, I have curtains and roman shades from Wovn Home and am still obsessed with them. The quality is top-notch and customizing on their site is so easy.
2. The Shade Store: The Shade Store does custom shades, blinds, and drapery and handles the installation.
3. Decorview: We’ve used Decorview for countless rooms and projects including the , , , Jess’ office/living room, and cannot say enough great things about their quality and service!
4. Etsy: Etsy has a ton of shops that provide custom window treatments and is a great place to go if you want to support small businesses.
5. Everhem: Everhem is a Los Angeles-based brand that offers custom drapery and roman shades. If you are nervous about measuring, they will connect you with someone to come take measurements for you.
6. Highland Forge: Highland Forge custom rods are hand finished and significantly stronger than readymade options. Their site is user-friendly and you can do everything online.

That is all for today, my friends. If you were looking for curtain rods I hope this post helped. See you tomorrow!

Opener Image Credit: Design by Dee Murphy | Styling by Velinda Hellen | Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp for The New Design Rules

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Published on February 08, 2023 01:00

Show And Tell: The Case For The Really Pretty Electronic Piano (+ What We Think About It A Month In)

When we planned the layout of this house we made a specific space for my family’s heirloom piano – the one that multiple generations, including myself, learned on and I was excited to teach my kids (or have my mom teach our kids) on this same beautiful piece in our new home in Portland. It’s a 120-year-old player piano and one of the only heirlooms (besides portraits of ancestors) that I secretly hoped to inherit. It’s been in storage for a long time – at my brother’s house, in different wet garages of different siblings and it needed A LOT of work. But Brian and I really, really wanted it (it’s so pretty) and since no one else did (red flag) we nabbed it. The quote to fix it came to around $8k, but that was NOT including fixing the “player” part of it – just to make it operate as a normal piano. OOF. But it’s an heirloom! We said. It has so much meaning! We made sure that this spot could fit the piano in width and figured it was the perfect way to use this almost dead space as you walk in. Great. We spent another $400 to move it from my brother’s garage into one of our outbuildings (because they were moving) while we awaited the house to be done with construction. I told my parents the plan and they thought I was a bit nuts/naive – not exactly the emotional reaction I had predicted. They said, “It’s so broken, even if you fix it it’s going to have terrible sound – really echo-y and loud because the back of the piano is so cracked that it can’t ever be fixed”. Around that same time, I was at their house for family dinner, my kids banging on the piano in the background, me yelling at them to please stop (my nephew is incredible tbh) and I realized that the charming part of having your house filled with music is largely a fantasy, born out of my own nostalgia when the reality is a lot of less cute on the day to day basis. I was also reminded that I’m extremely extremely extremely sensitive to noises/music or anything that resembles audible chaos in our house (it’s a real thing amongst my friends and I’m often that person in a restaurant or yoga class who asks them to turn down the VERY loud music, which I secretly think everyone is grateful for). Like, I’ve been known to wear the silencing headphones that we bought Charlie for SXSW when he was 2 years old at parties when everyone gets to the shouty point in the night. So no, I don’t think I’m a candidate for a bad-sounding, extra loud echo-y piano in our very open and already echo-y home.

Around that time, but before my full realization, we also booked movers (not piano movers TBH) to move the piano from the garage into the living room. We had to build a ramp on the front in advance. They showed up, tried to move it, and said it was the heaviest piano they have ever moved and that they couldn’t do it. I was obviously very confused, but listen, one guy had a sprained ankle (which was sad on many levels) and I just had to accept that it wasn’t coming in. I told my mom and she said that it was indeed the heaviest piano ever and that she was seriously worried that it would damage our floors permanently if tried to bring it in or ever move it. It seems like all signs were pointing to us not having this heirloom that we were so excited about in our home. I think the loud bad sound was really the clencher for me.

So our options were A. buy a newer piano that had a more pleasant sound, but y’all I don’t love the look of most affordable new pianos and I wouldn’t have the sentimental attachment to it. It just felt like a “meh” decision. or B. buy an electronic piano for them to learn.

Over the holidays we were at our friend’s house who had this electronic piano and we fell in LOVE with it for many reasons that I’ll outline below – so when we got back I found the only one left in Portland, snagged it, and it was delivered 3 days later.

Electric Keyboard

We bought a Roland electronic keyboard that is essentially housed in a wood piano-like frame. It’s about damn time. No weird stand. No light, janky keys. It feels like a real piano. The electronic keyboard industry has finally caught up with modern needs. Do you remember how most houses in the ’80s or ’90s had a piano? And now they don’t? It seemed more like a common childhood thing to take piano lessons back then, no? But real pianos are pretty cumbersome and a real thing to deal with (which is why they are free all over Craigslist and FB Marketplace). Listen, I hear all you piano purists (of which my family was as well) saying that there is nothing like the real thing and I totally agree with you. But sometimes the impracticality of it (sound + size + the constant tuning) makes it a harder purchase to make and we really really want to get our kids going on learning.

If you are like, “wait, you had such a beautiful mid-century piano in your old living room – just find another one like that?” I hear you. But the joke was on me because the sound on that piano was not good (famously bad actually, which is why they are so “rare,” and they stopped making them very quickly!!). So to get a great soft sounding piano you’d need to spend a lot of money or get something that looks generic which is fine, but kinda a bummer to me since it’s so prominent in our living room (full disclosure, I’m being a snob and I haven’t done more than a few hours of research).

Why Do You Like It So Much?

Let me count the ways why so far we LOVE it:

It sounds and feels like a real piano enough. Yes, the keys are weighted and it felt very very natural to play.You can control the volume – this is CLUTCH. I love it when our kids bang/play or practice (starting lessons next week). I also love this for me because I love to play but don’t want everyone in the house to hear my mistakes (which are painful to make when I used to be pretty darn good).You can plug in headphones – So if they DO want to use all the extra features (which admittedly can be annoying) they can do it with headphones so no one has to hear. You can even hook up two headphones so they can both hear.The kids love the extra “features” – This is basically where you play the keys and it sounds like drums, acapella singers, and even gun bullets (not a fan). These are annoying, but obviously very fun for the kids to play. Headphones are key. It’s not a “player” piano per se, but there are a lot of songs pre-loaded that you can hit play on. The keys don’t go up and down but it does sound really nice. Would a Spotify playlist sound as good? Maybe. But it’s a fun feature, regardless. You can record your own playing and playback, set tempo, and of course, change the type of piano sound (ballad versus concert piano, etc). I don’t really use those yet, but in the future will be fun to play with.

You can see all the bells and whistles below (but they are super subtle and you can even bring the top over them so you can’t see them should you want to see the keys without the buttons).

The biggest, yet not so shocking surprise here, is that I have enjoyed playing again SO MUCH. It definitely took a couple of hours to get my fingers less rusty and I’m certainly not saying I’m good, but it’s been really really lovely to play again. I’m of course embarrassed at how less good I am compared to when I was 18, but if you haven’t done something in 24 years you can’t expect to be good. So that’s why I love having the volume control or headphones so only I hear the painful easy mistakes I’m making as I re-learn how to play.

Plus It’s Pretty And Simple… Design-Wise

We’ve only had it for less than a month so I can’t talk about its longevity or anything like that. But what I can say is that it’s visually very simple and of nice quality, without being super heavy. I’m sure it’s a veneer, not solid white oak, but as you can see it is indeed handsome. I don’t LOVE the bench and will likely find something with more personality as I think that the bench cheapens the whole thing aesthetically. I think what really makes it is the wood back on it so you can’t see all the way through. Does it fool anyone at the beginning? Yes at first! But no, it’s not going to fool anyone who plays the piano. It is electronic, full stop.

We hired a hand model to show you how we can turn up and down the volume (lord those knuckles) so you can see the interface better. Also, the pedals (which you can see below) are great and feel just like a normal piano IMHO.

Electric Keyboard

Price wise we bought ours for $2,599 which included delivery, set up, and box removal (no tax in Oregon). It’s not nothing but we felt like it was a great investment to get our kids going on lessons which is really the main goal. Am I sad to not have the heirloom? In theory yes, but honestly I’m so happy that we get so much more use out of this. I liken it to a wood fireplace versus a gas – one is better in so many ways, there is no denying that, but the latter is what you use and enjoy so much more often. It’s totally a personal preference, but our family thus far is so happy with it. And it’s so lightweight that you can easily put it in a bedroom or in a hallway – we can have total flexibility to put it upstairs and then if it doesn’t work, bring it back down whereas with a traditional piano, you can’t as easily.

I feel like there are a lot of examples of this conundrum – the real thing that is laborious and cumbersome but infinitely better in some ways, versus the “fake” version that is more convenient, less expensive, and doesn’t have the innate integrity of the original. But it’s my perspective that when the aesthetics, cost, and technology start to be pretty darn great, that’s when it’s ok to make the switch and prioritize use, function, and practicality over the real thing. We want our kids to learn piano and this is making that actually happen, with less stress, without spending close to $10k on refurbishing and having future flexibility. But don’t worry, we will be putting the heirloom in the older house on the property in the rec room when we are done with it (ha) – technically you can still play it and it’s so pretty so it will land somewhere, someday.

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

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Published on February 07, 2023 01:00

How Megan Hopp Stretched Her Design Budget To TRANSFORM Her Three-Story Townhouse (You HAVE To See The Before & Afters)

I last left you with my tale of how I ended up b u y i n g this house in Alexandria VA, and what my plans were to turn this space around in a big way without a super big budget. Working on this new (old) house I had a lot of goals…

To fully finish the common spaces, kitchen, and bedrooms (bathrooms I would leave for another day).To turn these rooms around as quickly as possible! With a newborn baby and all the changes happening in life, now was not the time to dilly-dally.To use as much of the house “as is” without compromising my overall satisfaction with the design.To work with as many of my favorite vendors as possible on collaborations so as to represent the pieces and materials I love and use often in work. And to keep it real, help out with the overall budget.To round out furnishing and decorating the space with as many second-hand or outlet pieces as possible – if you’ve ever read or seen a drop about me, you know I am a second-hand, previously owned, thrifting gal about town. Not only was this element of working on my home ESSENTIAL to actually finishing the scope in budget, but it’s also just fundamentally who I am. I adore fancy furniture, but at this time in my life purchasing a fifteen thousand dollar sofa is not in the cards.

With that-welcome to my home! I live in this three-bedroom, three-story brick townhouse with my husband and 18-month-old son. Join me as I take you through the house and design journey that unfolded as I built each room balancing style, budget, and practicality every step of the way!

The Entry/StairwellScope: Wallpaper, Retile Floor, New Lighting, Furniture & Decor

Wallpaper | Door Paint Color | Woven Pendant | Mirror | Marble Hex Tile

This space started off so dark, and nondescript with a black floor and door, and a teeny tiny light fixture. The goal here was clear, go big and go BRIGHT. Blue and white stripes are my go-to pattern/color combination and I knew I wanted one of the more dramatic prints used to be in the entry and stairwell as the first impression. I fell in LOVE with a print by Wallshoppe called Roman Holiday Grid (in grasscloth), and boy oh boy does it make a statement in the best way. The particular shade of blue strikes just the right tone, and the pattern proves super classic, with a tiny twist of vertical and horizontal lines, making it feel fresh and interesting. If you’ve ever encountered grasscloth, you know it completely elevates a room, changing the physical feel of the environment dramatically. After making my wallpaper selection, I knew I wanted to update my existing front door to a shiny blue, so I turned to Clare Paint (who makes paint shopping the absolute easiest), and selected the color Frozen. A big design mistake I see people make is matching colors too literally. I didn’t want an identical match in shade between the door and wallpaper, but rather to strike a complement of hues in the same universe to create a monochromatic harmony.

For the floor, I opted for a low price point classic Carrara 2” hex tile that I picked up myself at the local Floor and Decor for $13/sq ft. (now $15-inflation!). It’s not the tile of my dreams by any means, but the white marble added a much-needed light reflective surface, and the texture of the natural stone packs a punch design-wise higher than its actual cost. I used a dark gray grout to contrast the white in the tile and make it pop that much more, darker grout is also a more practical selection for a high-traffic area like an entry space. I am a big believer in big lighting, and so my personal rule is if you’re over 6’2”, you may need to duck. I don’t have high ceilings in this space, but opted for a rattan cone pendant that was just about as tall as I could manage to fit. What is an entry space without a superstar mirror right? I was lucky to partner with Shades of Light who have a great selection of mirrors, and for the entry I went with an ultra sculptural white textured option that holds its own as a real centerpiece. I rounded out the space with a slim simple console I’ve had for years prior from CB2.

Floor Length Mirror

KitchenScope: Wallpaper, Moving Lighting/New Fixtures, Painting Cabinets, New Hardware, Custom Range Hood, Furniture & Decor

Flush Mount

Taking a sharp left into the kitchen, this was a space where I really felt a challenge ahead of me. I myself am not super into modern kitchen design. My dream kitchen was probably built circa 1930, has original cabinets, tile countertops, a vintage stove, and quirky built-ins galore. I also like a kitchen that feels light, clean, and neutral, like the window is always open with a summer breeze blowing through…BUT I don’t want a boring white-on-white design. The kitchen was my greatest challenge budget-wise because I was going to be doing what I call “heavy decorating” (this is a term I would actually use to describe the nature of the work throughout the entire house), but I really wanted to make this space feel different. The kitchen had some modern updates (granite countertops, gray backsplash, and a stainless steel/glass hood) that felt really disjointed to me with the older features like the original cabinetry. I knew for better or worse we were keeping the counters and backsplash, so the task ahead was to adjust everything around them to make the entire space feel less…gray.

Cabinet Paint Color | Knobs | Tea Kettle | Sparkling Water Maker

The biggest splurge in here was a professional paint job on cabinets, which ran us about $5,000. Luxor Improvements (my go-to contractor in the DC area) did a wonderful job removing all the doors and hardware, sanding everything down (there were so many layers of paint on these cabinets they said each front took at least 20 min), and spraying the cabinets both off and on-site in Benjamin Moore’s French Canvas. I opted to keep the original brass hinges, but swapped in low price point knobs at less than $3 a piece. While there are certainly $30 knobs out there that I dream to have – blowing my budget on knobs was not the move in this time or place.

Wallpaper

Onto the wallpaper, originally I would have told you I was committed to some sort of large-scale vintage floral in this space However, given my above sentiment on color pairings, with the counter and backsplash the right shades were crucial in this selection. When I saw Thibaut’s classic gingham print Saybrook Check, I immediately knew it was the perfect solution. The overlapping neutrals were the perfect color combination to tie in and warm up those gray counters, making them feel less stark, less modern, and more like a causal stone counter that’s just doing its thing. I also definitely had the ah-ha moment of “of course I should do a classic gingham…obviously”.

Another money-saving “hack” I came up with was to remove the glass arc from the existing hood, and build a custom decorative wood covering around it, so as to match and integrate with the cabinetry. This way I was able to keep the existing functionality of the hood as is, as opposed to starting from scratch, a huge win. Luxor was able to take some of my rough sketches and inspiration images and build something off the cuff on-site in a single day (I was so delighted, I kept saying your tagline should be “a hood in a day”).

Woven Shades

I finalized the space by moving some lighting around and swapping in some classic schoolhouse-style fixtures, as well as replacing the window treatments with my all-star favorite bamboo roman shades that I have used for years. The furniture is all second-hand – the table is a vintage enamel top gem I scored on FB marketplace for $40 and the chairs from Goodwill for $10.

Living & Dining RoomScope: Wallpaper Walls & Ceiling, Eliminate Recessed Lighting, Add Flush Mount Lighting, Replace Chandelier, Furniture & Decor

Whether you know me or not, it takes nothing more than a quick glance at my work to gauge my passion and dedication to wallpaper. It’s the core of my design work and personal style, and it’s where I begin in crafting a space every single time. The living room is the center of the home, and therefore the center of a design, and as such this entire process began in selecting what wall treatments I would do in this room. I knew I wanted to paper both the walls and the ceilings, I knew I wanted blue and white on the walls, I had a hunch I wanted a block print of some sort…and so the search for the perfect print began. I ended up being lucky enough to partner with one of my tried and true favorite vendors, Thibuat, and they were generous enough to send me one million samples. While I like to review everything in the world, I am also the fastest decision-maker ever, so when I saw their Julian print it was “DING DING DING, selected and pressing on.” For the ceiling, I wanted to get something super textured up there to add an architectural quality and bring a real warmth to the room. I landed on a chunky woven grasscloth that ended up being one of the most special elements of the house.

Bench | Natural Rug | Top Rug (Vintage)

I always say that Alexandria reminds me of a mix of Charleston and Beacon Hill in Boston…which is a little like, “duh it’s geographically right in between”. Much like its place on the map, my goal with this design was to layer a mix of styles that struck that middle ground. I wanted the home to feel playful and color-forward without being a southern pastel Disneyland, as well as revolutionary chic, all while not ending up an uptight antique shop. As the furnishing theme continues, nearly every piece of furniture in the space was purchased second-hand, or from an outlet or thrift shop. The sofa is Restoration Hardware that I found on FB marketplace for one thousand bucks, the coffee table and bar cabinet I got at my local Crate & Barrel outlet at a super steep discount. The dining table is from Chairish and the Curio Cabinet I found at a Salvation Army for $250 (a nightmare to move but worth it). One thing I really splurged on in this design was lighting. There are light fixtures I have used in client spaces time and time again and kept in my heart for YEARS. This go around I finally got to implement some of these fixtures into my own space, the two brass Visual Comfort and Co Clark flush mounts being top of my list.

The last element to come together in this space were the window treatments (and when I say last I mean I hung them myself at 11 pm the night before we shot the room…and dropped a curtain rod on my eye sending me glasses to Mars). Real talk here…custom window treatments can cost you more than a car, they are just that expensive no matter how you slice it. I know this, I live this, and I just kept hemming and hawing over how to get substantial draperies into this room without spending ten thousand dollars, truly without spending one thousand dollars. Pepper Home to the rescue! These curtains were made to order so I could get the perfect length and style without having to alter some off the shelf panels myself. With their pinch pleat detailing, velvet border tape, and 100’ width per panel they transformed my living room in the most dramatic fashion!

Primary BedroomScope: Wallpaper, Built-in Removal, Replace Light Fixture, Furniture & Decor

Desk | Chair | Chunky Knit Rug

The bedrooms required a lot less work than the common spaces and consisted mostly of wallcoverings, new lighting, furniture, and decor. In the primary bedroom, I ripped out an old built-in that spanned one side of the room. While built-ins can be such a luxury, this one wasn’t particularly practical or attractive. I could have spruced it up but it ultimately felt like a mistake to put any money into something that just wasn’t working from the start. Instead, I opted to eliminate it entirely creating a nook for the BIGGEST dresser I could fit. Casegoods are one category of furniture where cost and quality are directly correlated, but I obviously wasn’t going to shell out thousands for a new piece, so I took to the second-hand market. After a bit of a search, I came across a Restoration Hardware eleven-drawer piece on the second-hand site KAIYO, and was able to procure the dresser for a true fraction of the original retail price.

Mirror | Dresser (Thrifted) | Rug

Having come from NYC, you live a life where you never have enough drawers, and every time you open the ones you have, they are stuffed to the brim and the experience is miserable. This dresser is what suburban dreams are made of. I tend to lean towards lighter softer colors in a bedroom out of personal preference, but I didn’t want the room to feel sterile or even worse boring. I built the room around another Thibaut textured wallpaper in a sage green herringbone. The pattern and color are subtle enough to create a somewhat neutral base for the space but interesting enough to make a statement. If you are going to use textured paper anywhere in your home, prioritize the bedrooms. My favorite quality about a textured wallcovering is how it dampens the sound, creating an instant cozy factor.

Chair (Vintage) | Nightstand | Table Lamp

Another special find in this space was the silk striped armchair in the corner. I didn’t quite know what I was looking for with this piece but recognized the chair on FB marketplace as being from the home of another designer in the area whom I follow on Instagram. I immediately loved it and shot her a note to see if I could call dibs! The bed I wanted to keep bright, light, and neutral, and worked with Serena & Lily to dress it in all my favorite go-to linens and pillows. I’m not someone who subscribes to the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality. No time to waste, I’d prefer to do so now.

NurseryScope: Wallpaper Walls And Ceiling, Replace Light Fixture, Furniture & Decor

The nursery was the first space I designed in this house, and to be honest, I really designed it well before we found the house, or even getting pregnant. After having worked on countless nurseries for clients, I slowly was building the nursery I would want in the back of my head over the years. Boy or girl, I knew I wanted neutral stripes and blue florals, and so that’s what I did. Serena and Lily worked with me on this space, and I was able to bring it to life with some of my favorite pieces from their line. Stripes are my number one pattern in the universe, and while I love color, I also like the flexibility a neutral pattern can offer while still adding fun visual interest. I also knew I wanted to run the stripes across the ceiling to create a circus tent atmosphere, which is always the physical place I really want to be.

Pendant

Crib | Bedding | Basket

The wallpaper, crib, bedding, mirror, and baskets are all from Serena & Lily. The dresser I have had since my solo lady days back in my first Brooklyn apartment and was really thrilled to be able to repurpose it here. The rug was an excellent second-hand find (from say it with me, FB marketplace), a one of kind embroidered Kellogg rug.

The daybed frame I scored for $75 bucks with the seller claiming it was a vintage piece from a Parisian flea market – who knows but we’ll go with that story. My nature as a designer is to go all in on a colorway in a space, but in this room, the choice to lean more neutral was also very budget motivated. For starters, this child will age and the look of the space will need to grow and adapt with him, and financially speaking I will not be changing this wallpaper in 5 years.

There is also a potential we may do some room swapping/reconfiguring in the future and if the current nursery ever becomes the primary bedroom I wanted a base that would work in either scenario.

The one piece of furniture in my house that I TRULY splurged on is the glider. I bought it new and it arrived one week before I gave birth – I plan to sit in it every day until I die.

Guest RoomScope: Wallpaper, Carpet, Furniture & Decor

Console | Mirror (Similar) | Shades | Rug (Vintage from Old New House Rugs) | Bench

I’ve obviously never had a guest room before and was really excited to create a cozy little space for family and friends to feel comfortable and welcome when they visit. In addition to my excitement about this space, it was also my last priority in terms of budget. As such, much of this room consists of repurposed pieces from previous homes and spaces. The only new piece of furniture in this room is the vintage cane seat side chair which I got at a Goodwill for $2.99, everything else I had previously. I love using furniture you’ve had one way forever in a new environment where it suddenly feels like it has a new lease on life, such a rush! The wallpaper was of course a new addition, also from Thibaut. I have a bit of an obsession with using red and blue in combination with one another, but I always feel a hesitancy in taking it too far with an end result that reads “patriotic lunatic”. This felt like a safe space to lean in on the red and blue while layering an eclectic combination of patterns and textures on top.

Den/OfficeScope: Wallpaper, Carpet, Paint Fireplace & Wall Paneling White, Replace Light Fixture, Replace Sliding Door With French Doors, Furniture & Decor

Lastly, we come to our final destination on the tour, the hybrid den and office space, arguably the most transformed room in the house. Much of the house has very traditional finishes, crown moldings, etc. The lower level however was architecturally much simpler, and much more cookie-cutter as a starting point. My husband is a mid-century modern design lover and given that I didn’t really inject much of that anywhere else in the home, this felt like the moment to lean in. I wanted to do a fresh take on a classic mid-century wood-paneled basement, all while taking the original space from dark and heavy to light and airy.

Brown Velvet Pillow | Tiger Lumbar Pillow | Wall-to-Wall Carpet

The wallcovering in this space is the absolute star of the show, a geometric wood veneer covering from Thibaut that brought this room alive in the most electric way. This wallcovering was actually one of the first samples I ever ordered from Thibaut years ago, I kept it in a drawer just waiting for the right space to use it in-not knowing it would be my own! We ripped out the old carpet and covered the entire downstairs in a soft textured ivory wall-to-wall selection. It’s so nice to have at least one space in the house kids can roll around on and get cozy.

White Paint

Desk | Bookcases | Chair | White Bins

Other updates included a fresh coat of white paint on the wall paneling and fireplace, updating the overhead lighting, replacing the old sliding door with a modern french door set, and new window treatments and furniture (the large ottoman from Shades of Light being my favorite piece to throw your toddler body on with zero risk). The room works out great as a workspace during the day that shifts into a place to relax on nights and weekends. While this is technically the least colorful room in the home, I’d hardly characterize it as neutral!

Until Next Time

In hindsight, the timing of buying a house weeks after having a baby, and jumping into a full transformation soon after didn’t make for the most relaxing year – like anything worthwhile, the journey to get there is hard and taxing. I can say being on the other side of this project is really a sigh of relief to come home every day, and not think about what I need to do next in the space, but rather enjoy it. The moral of the story and what I hope to leave everyone with is to cut yourself a break when it comes to interior design. You aren’t crazy for wanting a picture-perfect space, everyone does, but nothing is as easy as it may seem or as one might say. I transform spaces for a living every day of my life, and even with the skill sets I have under my belt, the access to discounted product, and knowledge of how to stretch a budget as far as humanly possible…it’s a challenge. A challenge I enjoy more than anything and think about incessantly, but I never want to leave you with an unrealistic picture of what it takes. My best advice is to take your time (within reason of course – love a fast decision put into action!) and don’t let the pressure of the price tags defeat you altogether. Little by little the projects, progress, and great finds add up, and with each new improvement you’ll be on your way to that perfectly made space for you.

*Design by Megan Hopp
**Photos by Kelsey Ann Rose

The post How Megan Hopp Stretched Her Design Budget To TRANSFORM Her Three-Story Townhouse (You HAVE To See The Before & Afters) appeared first on Emily Henderson.

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Published on February 06, 2023 01:00

How Megan Hopp Stretched Her $25k Design Budget To TRANSFORM Her Three-Story Townhouse (You HAVE To See The Before & Afters)

I last left you with my tale of how I ended up b u y i n g this house in Alexandria VA, and what my plans were to turn this space around in a big way without a super big budget. Working on this new (old) house I had a lot of goals…

To fully finish the common spaces, kitchen, and bedrooms (bathrooms I would leave for another day).To turn these rooms around as quickly as possible! With a newborn baby and all the changes happening in life, now was not the time to dilly-dally.To use as much of the house “as is” without compromising my overall satisfaction with the design.To work with as many of my favorite vendors as possible on collaborations so as to represent the pieces and materials I love and use often in work. And to keep it real, help out with the overall budget.To round out furnishing and decorating the space with as many second-hand or outlet pieces as possible – if you’ve ever read or seen a drop about me, you know I am a second-hand, previously owned, thrifting gal about town. Not only was this element of working on my home ESSENTIAL to actually finishing the scope in budget, but it’s also just fundamentally who I am. I adore fancy furniture, but at this time in my life purchasing a fifteen thousand dollar sofa is not in the cards.

With that-welcome to my home! I live in this three-bedroom, three-story brick townhouse with my husband and 18-month-old son. Join me as I take you through the house and design journey that unfolded as I built each room balancing style, budget, and practicality every step of the way!

The Entry/StairwellScope: Wallpaper, Retile Floor, New Lighting, Furniture & Decor

Wallpaper | Door Paint Color | Woven Pendant | Mirror | Marble Hex Tile

This space started off so dark, and nondescript with a black floor and door, and a teeny tiny light fixture. The goal here was clear, go big and go BRIGHT. Blue and white stripes are my go-to pattern/color combination and I knew I wanted one of the more dramatic prints used to be in the entry and stairwell as the first impression. I fell in LOVE with a print by Wallshoppe called Roman Holiday Grid (in grasscloth), and boy oh boy does it make a statement in the best way. The particular shade of blue strikes just the right tone, and the pattern proves super classic, with a tiny twist of vertical and horizontal lines, making it feel fresh and interesting. If you’ve ever encountered grasscloth, you know it completely elevates a room, changing the physical feel of the environment dramatically. After making my wallpaper selection, I knew I wanted to update my existing front door to a shiny blue, so I turned to Clare Paint (who makes paint shopping the absolute easiest), and selected the color Frozen. A big design mistake I see people make is matching colors too literally. I didn’t want an identical match in shade between the door and wallpaper, but rather to strike a complement of hues in the same universe to create a monochromatic harmony.

For the floor, I opted for a low price point classic Carrara 2” hex tile that I picked up myself at the local Floor and Decor for $13/sq ft. (now $15-inflation!). It’s not the tile of my dreams by any means, but the white marble added a much-needed light reflective surface, and the texture of the natural stone packs a punch design-wise higher than its actual cost. I used a dark gray grout to contrast the white in the tile and make it pop that much more, darker grout is also a more practical selection for a high-traffic area like an entry space. I am a big believer in big lighting, and so my personal rule is if you’re over 6’2”, you may need to duck. I don’t have high ceilings in this space, but opted for a rattan cone pendant that was just about as tall as I could manage to fit. What is an entry space without a superstar mirror right? I was lucky to partner with Shades of Light who have a great selection of mirrors, and for the entry I went with an ultra sculptural white textured option that holds its own as a real centerpiece. I rounded out the space with a slim simple console I’ve had for years prior from CB2.

Floor Length Mirror

KitchenScope: Wallpaper, Moving Lighting/New Fixtures, Painting Cabinets, New Hardware, Custom Range Hood, Furniture & Decor

Flush Mount

Taking a sharp left into the kitchen, this was a space where I really felt a challenge ahead of me. I myself am not super into modern kitchen design. My dream kitchen was probably built circa 1930, has original cabinets, tile countertops, a vintage stove, and quirky built-ins galore. I also like a kitchen that feels light, clean, and neutral, like the window is always open with a summer breeze blowing through…BUT I don’t want a boring white-on-white design. The kitchen was my greatest challenge budget-wise because I was going to be doing what I call “heavy decorating” (this is a term I would actually use to describe the nature of the work throughout the entire house), but I really wanted to make this space feel different. The kitchen had some modern updates (granite countertops, gray backsplash, and a stainless steel/glass hood) that felt really disjointed to me with the older features like the original cabinetry. I knew for better or worse we were keeping the counters and backsplash, so the task ahead was to adjust everything around them to make the entire space feel less…gray.

Cabinet Paint Color | Knobs | Tea Kettle | Sparkling Water Maker

The biggest splurge in here was a professional paint job on cabinets, which ran us about $5,000. Luxor Improvements (my go-to contractor in the DC area) did a wonderful job removing all the doors and hardware, sanding everything down (there were so many layers of paint on these cabinets they said each front took at least 20 min), and spraying the cabinets both off and on-site in Benjamin Moore’s French Canvas. I opted to keep the original brass hinges, but swapped in low price point knobs at less than $3 a piece. While there are certainly $30 knobs out there that I dream to have – blowing my budget on knobs was not the move in this time or place.

Wallpaper

Onto the wallpaper, originally I would have told you I was committed to some sort of large-scale vintage floral in this space However, given my above sentiment on color pairings, with the counter and backsplash the right shades were crucial in this selection. When I saw Thibaut’s classic gingham print Saybrook Check, I immediately knew it was the perfect solution. The overlapping neutrals were the perfect color combination to tie in and warm up those gray counters, making them feel less stark, less modern, and more like a causal stone counter that’s just doing its thing. I also definitely had the ah-ha moment of “of course I should do a classic gingham…obviously”.

Another money-saving “hack” I came up with was to remove the glass arc from the existing hood, and build a custom decorative wood covering around it, so as to match and integrate with the cabinetry. This way I was able to keep the existing functionality of the hood as is, as opposed to starting from scratch, a huge win. Luxor was able to take some of my rough sketches and inspiration images and build something off the cuff on-site in a single day (I was so delighted, I kept saying your tagline should be “a hood in a day”).

Woven Shades

I finalized the space by moving some lighting around and swapping in some classic schoolhouse-style fixtures, as well as replacing the window treatments with my all-star favorite bamboo roman shades that I have used for years. The furniture is all second-hand – the table is a vintage enamel top gem I scored on FB marketplace for $40 and the chairs from Goodwill for $10.

Living & Dining RoomScope: Wallpaper Walls & Ceiling, Eliminate Recessed Lighting, Add Flush Mount Lighting, Replace Chandelier, Furniture & Decor

Whether you know me or not, it takes nothing more than a quick glance at my work to gauge my passion and dedication to wallpaper. It’s the core of my design work and personal style, and it’s where I begin in crafting a space every single time. The living room is the center of the home, and therefore the center of a design, and as such this entire process began in selecting what wall treatments I would do in this room. I knew I wanted to paper both the walls and the ceilings, I knew I wanted blue and white on the walls, I had a hunch I wanted a block print of some sort…and so the search for the perfect print began. I ended up being lucky enough to partner with one of my tried and true favorite vendors, Thibuat, and they were generous enough to send me one million samples. While I like to review everything in the world, I am also the fastest decision-maker ever, so when I saw their Julian print it was “DING DING DING, selected and pressing on.” For the ceiling, I wanted to get something super textured up there to add an architectural quality and bring a real warmth to the room. I landed on a chunky woven grasscloth that ended up being one of the most special elements of the house.

Bench | Natural Rug | Top Rug (Vintage)

I always say that Alexandria reminds me of a mix of Charleston and Beacon Hill in Boston…which is a little like, “duh it’s geographically right in between”. Much like its place on the map, my goal with this design was to layer a mix of styles that struck that middle ground. I wanted the home to feel playful and color-forward without being a southern pastel Disneyland, as well as revolutionary chic, all while not ending up an uptight antique shop. As the furnishing theme continues, nearly every piece of furniture in the space was purchased second-hand, or from an outlet or thrift shop. The sofa is Restoration Hardware that I found on FB marketplace for one thousand bucks, the coffee table and bar cabinet I got at my local Crate & Barrel outlet at a super steep discount. The dining table is from Chairish and the Curio Cabinet I found at a Salvation Army for $250 (a nightmare to move but worth it). One thing I really splurged on in this design was lighting. There are light fixtures I have used in client spaces time and time again and kept in my heart for YEARS. This go around I finally got to implement some of these fixtures into my own space, the two brass Visual Comfort and Co Clark flush mounts being top of my list.

The last element to come together in this space were the window treatments (and when I say last I mean I hung them myself at 11 pm the night before we shot the room…and dropped a curtain rod on my eye sending me glasses to Mars). Real talk here…custom window treatments can cost you more than a car, they are just that expensive no matter how you slice it. I know this, I live this, and I just kept hemming and hawing over how to get substantial draperies into this room without spending ten thousand dollars, truly without spending one thousand dollars. Pepper Home to the rescue! These curtains were made to order so I could get the perfect length and style without having to alter some off the shelf panels myself. With their pinch pleat detailing, velvet border tape, and 100’ width per panel they transformed my living room in the most dramatic fashion!

Primary BedroomScope: Wallpaper, Built-in Removal, Replace Light Fixture, Furniture & Decor

Desk | Chair | Chunky Knit Rug

The bedrooms required a lot less work than the common spaces and consisted mostly of wallcoverings, new lighting, furniture, and decor. In the primary bedroom, I ripped out an old built-in that spanned one side of the room. While built-ins can be such a luxury, this one wasn’t particularly practical or attractive. I could have spruced it up but it ultimately felt like a mistake to put any money into something that just wasn’t working from the start. Instead, I opted to eliminate it entirely creating a nook for the BIGGEST dresser I could fit. Casegoods are one category of furniture where cost and quality are directly correlated, but I obviously wasn’t going to shell out thousands for a new piece, so I took to the second-hand market. After a bit of a search, I came across a Restoration Hardware eleven-drawer piece on the second-hand site KAIYO, and was able to procure the dresser for a true fraction of the original retail price.

Mirror | Dresser (Thrifted) | Rug

Having come from NYC, you live a life where you never have enough drawers, and every time you open the ones you have, they are stuffed to the brim and the experience is miserable. This dresser is what suburban dreams are made of. I tend to lean towards lighter softer colors in a bedroom out of personal preference, but I didn’t want the room to feel sterile or even worse boring. I built the room around another Thibaut textured wallpaper in a sage green herringbone. The pattern and color are subtle enough to create a somewhat neutral base for the space but interesting enough to make a statement. If you are going to use textured paper anywhere in your home, prioritize the bedrooms. My favorite quality about a textured wallcovering is how it dampens the sound, creating an instant cozy factor.

Chair (Vintage) | Nightstand | Table Lamp

Another special find in this space was the silk striped armchair in the corner. I didn’t quite know what I was looking for with this piece but recognized the chair on FB marketplace as being from the home of another designer in the area whom I follow on Instagram. I immediately loved it and shot her a note to see if I could call dibs! The bed I wanted to keep bright, light, and neutral, and worked with Serena & Lily to dress it in all my favorite go-to linens and pillows. I’m not someone who subscribes to the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality. No time to waste, I’d prefer to do so now.

NurseryScope: Wallpaper Walls And Ceiling, Replace Light Fixture, Furniture & Decor

The nursery was the first space I designed in this house, and to be honest, I really designed it well before we found the house, or even getting pregnant. After having worked on countless nurseries for clients, I slowly was building the nursery I would want in the back of my head over the years. Boy or girl, I knew I wanted neutral stripes and blue florals, and so that’s what I did. Serena and Lily worked with me on this space, and I was able to bring it to life with some of my favorite pieces from their line. Stripes are my number one pattern in the universe, and while I love color, I also like the flexibility a neutral pattern can offer while still adding fun visual interest. I also knew I wanted to run the stripes across the ceiling to create a circus tent atmosphere, which is always the physical place I really want to be.

Pendant

Crib | Bedding | Basket

The wallpaper, crib, bedding, mirror, and baskets are all from Serena & Lily. The dresser I have had since my solo lady days back in my first Brooklyn apartment and was really thrilled to be able to repurpose it here. The rug was an excellent second-hand find (from say it with me, FB marketplace), a one of kind embroidered Kellogg rug.

The daybed frame I scored for $75 bucks with the seller claiming it was a vintage piece from a Parisian flea market – who knows but we’ll go with that story. My nature as a designer is to go all in on a colorway in a space, but in this room, the choice to lean more neutral was also very budget motivated. For starters, this child will age and the look of the space will need to grow and adapt with him, and financially speaking I will not be changing this wallpaper in 5 years.

There is also a potential we may do some room swapping/reconfiguring in the future and if the current nursery ever becomes the primary bedroom I wanted a base that would work in either scenario.

The one piece of furniture in my house that I TRULY splurged on is the glider. I bought it new and it arrived one week before I gave birth – I plan to sit in it every day until I die.

Guest RoomScope: Wallpaper, Carpet, Furniture & Decor

Console | Mirror (Similar) | Shades | Rug (Vintage from Old New House Rugs) | Bench

I’ve obviously never had a guest room before and was really excited to create a cozy little space for family and friends to feel comfortable and welcome when they visit. In addition to my excitement about this space, it was also my last priority in terms of budget. As such, much of this room consists of repurposed pieces from previous homes and spaces. The only new piece of furniture in this room is the vintage cane seat side chair which I got at a Goodwill for $2.99, everything else I had previously. I love using furniture you’ve had one way forever in a new environment where it suddenly feels like it has a new lease on life, such a rush! The wallpaper was of course a new addition, also from Thibaut. I have a bit of an obsession with using red and blue in combination with one another, but I always feel a hesitancy in taking it too far with an end result that reads “patriotic lunatic”. This felt like a safe space to lean in on the red and blue while layering an eclectic combination of patterns and textures on top.

Den/OfficeScope: Wallpaper, Carpet, Paint Fireplace & Wall Paneling White, Replace Light Fixture, Replace Sliding Door With French Doors, Furniture & Decor

Lastly, we come to our final destination on the tour, the hybrid den and office space, arguably the most transformed room in the house. Much of the house has very traditional finishes, crown moldings, etc. The lower level however was architecturally much simpler, and much more cookie-cutter as a starting point. My husband is a mid-century modern design lover and given that I didn’t really inject much of that anywhere else in the home, this felt like the moment to lean in. I wanted to do a fresh take on a classic mid-century wood-paneled basement, all while taking the original space from dark and heavy to light and airy.

Brown Velvet Pillow | Tiger Lumbar Pillow | Wall-to-Wall Carpet

The wallcovering in this space is the absolute star of the show, a geometric wood veneer covering from Thibaut that brought this room alive in the most electric way. This wallcovering was actually one of the first samples I ever ordered from Thibaut years ago, I kept it in a drawer just waiting for the right space to use it in-not knowing it would be my own! We ripped out the old carpet and covered the entire downstairs in a soft textured ivory wall-to-wall selection. It’s so nice to have at least one space in the house kids can roll around on and get cozy.

White Paint

Desk | Bookcases | Chair | White Bins

Other updates included a fresh coat of white paint on the wall paneling and fireplace, updating the overhead lighting, replacing the old sliding door with a modern french door set, and new window treatments and furniture (the large ottoman from Shades of Light being my favorite piece to throw your toddler body on with zero risk). The room works out great as a workspace during the day that shifts into a place to relax on nights and weekends. While this is technically the least colorful room in the home, I’d hardly characterize it as neutral!

Until Next Time

In hindsight, the timing of buying a house weeks after having a baby, and jumping into a full transformation soon after didn’t make for the most relaxing year – like anything worthwhile, the journey to get there is hard and taxing. I can say being on the other side of this project is really a sigh of relief to come home every day, and not think about what I need to do next in the space, but rather enjoy it. The moral of the story and what I hope to leave everyone with is to cut yourself a break when it comes to interior design. You aren’t crazy for wanting a picture-perfect space, everyone does, but nothing is as easy as it may seem or as one might say. I transform spaces for a living every day of my life, and even with the skill sets I have under my belt, the access to discounted product, and knowledge of how to stretch a budget as far as humanly possible…it’s a challenge. A challenge I enjoy more than anything and think about incessantly, but I never want to leave you with an unrealistic picture of what it takes. My best advice is to take your time (within reason of course – love a fast decision put into action!) and don’t let the pressure of the price tags defeat you altogether. Little by little the projects, progress, and great finds add up, and with each new improvement you’ll be on your way to that perfectly made space for you.

*Design by Megan Hopp
**Photos by Kelsey Ann Rose

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Published on February 06, 2023 01:00

The Link Up: The Stretchy Shoelaces Brian And His Friends Are Freaking Out Over, Caitlin’s WARM Sweatpants, And Our Favorite New Cooking Show

Happy Sunday everyone! The gang was back together up in Portland where we finally got to see in Farmhouse IRL! It was incredible…as expected. Also, more reveal shoots happened this past week so get ready for those:) Until then here are our links…

This week’s home tour is a wild adventure! If you follow Architectural Digest you probably guessed we are talking about Lily Allen and David Harbour’s Brooklyn brownstone. It’s full of unexpected choices, like carpet in the bathroom (WHAT?), but it’s impossible to not be taken with all the choices they and their designer Billy Cotton made. Also, we were all talking about how opposite this home is to David’s loft tour in 2019. Really fun to see the differences. So please go check it out and you HAVE TO watch the video.

From Emily: A shoe hack that solved Brian’s lacing woes:) We should be embarrassed that this produces so much joy in our house, but you know how I feel about laces (not into them) and yet I like boots and so does Brian. While lacing up his new redwings a few months ago he was annoyed with the amount of effort it took (this is from the guy who does 8 rounds of boxing and runs the dogs every day – he’s not lazy, but this is specifically annoying to him). So Brian found these stretchy laces and he’s never going back. He tells all his friends and they all freak out, too. They look like normal laces, but you can pull them open to slip on the shoe instead of lacing up, tying, knotting, untying, loosening, etc. I’ll show you it on stories because you have to see it to understand how good it looks while being so much easier.

From Caitlin: My mom got me these sherpa fleece-lined sweatpants for Christmas and OH MY GOSH, they are INCREDIBLE. I run super cold and these are heavy-duty toasty – like, even a little bulky if I’m being honest – but they’re so soft and comfortable and warm. I accidentally left them in Delaware when I flew back to LA and had to ask my mom to ship them (thanks Brenda!) because I didn’t want to wait til my next trip home to wear them again – they’re THAT GOOD. If you’re also falling prey to insaaaaaane gas bills in CA (or if you’re just cold because, like, it’s February), I cannot recommend them enough. You know how it feels when you first shave your legs after a while and then all fabrics feel really soft for a little while? That’s how these sweatpants feel ALL THE TIME. They’re on sale right now so GO GO GO and grab a pair if you also are a little popsicle person!

From Ryann: If you are into cooking competition shows, this is for you. Pressure Cooker is a new cooking show on Netflix where 11 chefs have to live under one roof AND compete against each other in various cooking challenges AND vote each other off. Alliances are made and broken, a little bit of manipulation is inevitable, and they make really good-looking food that makes me hungry. It’s like Survivor meets Top Chef. My husband and I love it and hope it is picked up for another season!

From Mallory: If you know me at all you know I am obsessed with Nespresso, so please know I’m not cheating on Nespresso but kinda. I needed a switch up in my coffee game (I go back and forth between Nespresso “espresso” and wanting a real, traditional kind of cup of coffee. I was gifted this cute coffee maker a while ago and I can successfully say this was just the shake-up I needed (I use a blend of Philz coffee grinds – half dancing water, half hazelnut coffee – and it’s DELICIOUS). It’s a tiny little guy so it’s perfect for someone that lives in a small space like an apartment or a dorm, OR it would just be great if there’s only one person using it (I do not advise using this to fill 12 people’s coffee mugs in the morning – you’ll get max 2 cups outta it) but it’s super retro and adorable. If you’re in the market or know someone who would like it (it would make a great gift) I highly recommend it. I got it in the green color and it makes me really happy:)

From Jess: Visiting friends is the best way to find out about their favorite new products! So when I was in NY last weekend, my best friend and her roommate (also my friend:)) told me about this new buffing soap bar from the brand Soft Services. They say it makes your skin feel incredible and butter soft. If you go on their site there are a ton of other benefits. So while I know you don’t know my friends, I take their recommendations very seriously and so should you. I can’t wait to try it!

Have a nice rest of your day and see you tomorrow. xx

Opening Image Credits: Design by Jess Bunge | Styled by Emily Bowser | Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp | From: The Feel-Good Modern Romantic Bedroom Makeover Jess Did For Her Dear Friend (All Thanks To The Company Store)

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Published on February 05, 2023 01:00

My Latest Vintage Haul Including More Pictures Of Dead Strangers And A Show-And-Tell Of Our New Dining Chairs (Not Vintage) That Bring Me Joy All Day Every Day…

Oh, she’s been shopping and now I’m getting closer and closer to shooting a couple of the rooms I have a real list of stuff that I “need”. These things do NOT include another vintage lamp, but as you can see it’s been found. My MIL came into town while Brian was OOT and I couldn’t just let her sit in the house while I was writing all week. So I reserved two days for us to shop for the stuff I “needed” (including some rugs and plants/pots, not just vintage shopping) however we did make it to a few of my favorite stores in town…so I’ve got a haul for you.

Our New Dining Chairs

Y’all, dining chairs and sofas – these are the two things I struggle with the most because I REALLY want them to be comfortable but they are such an investment and hold such importance in their respective rooms, so to have them be boring or basic is painful for me (which is why I still haven’t decided on a sofa for our living room and frankly am not even close). So when I saw these chairs debut in Athena Calderone’s collection for Crate and Barrel I sucked my breath in quickly and said to myself in a quiet, creepy voice, “These are them. These are it. We’ve found them”. The vintage Cherner chairs we had in here were too rickety for Brian or most people to enjoy sitting on. Finding eight vintage chairs that I loved was proving to be impossible (believe me, I was looking every day). I was looking for something that checked more boxes – comfortable, durable, solid yet modern + worked well with the tile, windows, and the table. I wanted something with a curve since there are so many squares in there but I didn’t want eight curvy armchairs because that could feel busy fun fact, a lot of people don’t like to feel confined in armchairs. I wanted the curve to be more subtle than say the wishbone chair. As you can see, these are PERFECT. The green velvet is subtle and yet happy (and the room is surrounded by trees so green is naturally a part of the room’s color palette). And they aren’t busy or complicated for your eye – they contrast so perfectly with the busyness of the floor. Now the only thing we are waiting on is a credenza for the back of this room that I’m shopping daily for (I need it to be under 20″ deep and between 72 – 84″ wide in ideally a deeper wood tone than the table and chairs, but I’m open).

More Vintage/Antique Portraits Of Strangers

A lot of people are confused by my love of these portraits which I fully understand. My kids say they are creepy which surprised me because I kinda felt like the creepy factor was more from long-term societal conditioning – like we shouldn’t like these things because they are associated with death, etc. When I try to even explain it to myself, I think it has a lot to do with my love of history and my deep curiosity about how people used to live. All these people had full lives and yet they didn’t have phones to capture any of it – except these rare portraits of themselves (some oil paintings, some early photography). Not that it matters, but like, who were they???? These pieces must have been really cherished by them and their ancestors, so to find them at a random antique mall makes me want to take them home and give them back the importance that they once held. I’m not trying to make myself sound cooler or smarter than I am, but I got my degree in history, specifically American History (and comp lit if you are tracking) and I like to stare at them and wonder what they were like and why they were deemed “important” enough to paint or photograph.

I do want to call out the excellent framing on all of those and the pretty shape of the mat on the lady frame (and yes, I’m specifically looking for more ladies for the wall – let’s just say the world of historical portraits isn’t exactly diverse, to no one’s surprise).

Take these two, for instance. They were fancy! “Important”!? American royalty maybe!?? And yet I found them on the floor leaning against other empty frames. Also, everyone looked 50 when they were 20. The clothes. The colors. They are more like flat sculptures than paintings to me. Just so intricate and expressive, even when they themselves are not.

Wait, So What Are You Going To Do With All Of These Portraits Of Dead Strangers?

Well. Witchcraft. Voodoo. Stick googly eyes on their eyes during Halloween. Talk to them on the weeks when I don’t leave my house. Listen, since my children and most of our guests don’t necessarily support this “hobby” of mine, I am planning on putting them all together, gallery-wall style in a room and on a wall that isn’t seen very easily by the rest of the house. Brian actually loves them (“love” might be strong, “thinks they are funny” is more accurate). I have a plan and I’m now waiting on some portraits of my actual ancestors to hang and fill it out. My MIL and my mom have both seen my collection and said, “Oh, we have a lot of those in the garage” and I’m like, “WAIT. WHAT. WHY HAVE YOU BEEN HOLDING OUT ON ME??” So there is a chance that some of these won’t even make it because I do want to include real blood ancestors should I get my hands on them. Then is it creepy? NO, right? I don’t get it. I get zero creepy vibes from these strangers and find comfort in them. It also might be a Mormon thing – we are raised very into genealogy (I’ve never asked why but I think people like tracing their lineage back to the great flood to see which tribe they came from, which indeed is fascinating). I will conclude this monologue and say that I’m also very picky about what portraits I love and buy – the ones I collect are all by very talented artists or framed perfectly. The two above that Brian and I are holding are actually not my favorites (their frames are a big ornate/garish and yet kinda cheap, but they were so affordable that I couldn’t pass them up). But some of the other ones are so beautifully done…Have I convinced you yet???

More Moody Landscapes For Our Family Room Wall

We are repainting the media/family room in a couple of weeks (to Stillwater by Sherwin-Williams) and these greeny blue and gold paintings are looking SO BEAUTIFUL against the paint swatch. So I’m leaning in hard and collecting like a real hoarder. The forest painting isn’t a moody night moonrise painting (that’s the specific genre I’m collecting) but it was so pretty and so “Oregon,” by a signed artist from Salem. I need to remind myself that I don’t actually need to collect things that remind me of “Oregon” anymore as I actually live here now, but I’ve been vintage shopping long enough to know that when something grabs me, specifically a piece of art, I will find the right place for it.

The Captain Found His Ship/Frame!

You probably remember this guy from the basement of our LA house, but he didn’t have a frame and you can’t smoke a proper pipe without a proper frame. So while I was shopping I brought him around and found this guy for $10. I feel like with the gold frame he might make it up on the seascape wall – he’s the captain of the sea!

A Random Abstract

Again, I am just collecting cool art when I find it. I loved the color palette here – the neutrals with the blue and gold frame. It was more than I should have paid (I think over $80).

My First Popscicle Lamp

I’ve been looking for a folk art popsicle lamp for years if you can believe that. They are normally around $1k each on 1stDibs, but you can find them randomly for far less. They are “folk art” and many call them “tramp art” which I need to learn more about, but essentially they are popsicle sticks expertly glued together to create these intricate patterns and sculptures. As you can imagine my kids were like, “I can make that” and I was like, “oh yeah? here you go” and gave them a bunch of popsicle sticks. They did NOT make me a $1k lamp. Now I didn’t find this on my own, I had texted Annie who runs WILMA, and gave her a few things to look out for – a popsicle lamp being one of them. And a few months later she texted from a thrift store saying she found this for $160 and if should she snag it for me. YES, SHE SHOULD. So yay. Baby’s first popsicle lamp.

Ball And Stick Magazine Holder/Plant Stand

You also may or may not have read past posts where I declared my love of Victorian ball and stick decor or furniture. Does it really work in this house? Questionable. But when I found this in a really pretty wood tone I snagged it. I think there is something so playful and graphic about this type of furniture – the round ball, the thin “stripe” of wood. I just need to find a place for it…

A Pretty Antique Desk

This genius over here didn’t put doors on her “office,” so around 2:30 pm or 3:30 pm when the kids come in the house it’s hard to take any calls. I think I’m going to build some interior windows and a door into the sunroom (keep the light, but allow for some sound privacy) but for now I’m going to put this desk in our bedroom for afternoon Zoom calls. This desk is really simple and pretty, has such a lovely tone, and was only $100 which I thought was a really good price.

There you go. My latest vintage haul with a lot of over-explanation around each piece. My goal is to make every room as photogenic as this one (which might be impossible, honestly) and someday you’ll look out and see greenery instead of dirt through the windows (coming soon this spring!). Thanks for reading, friends. xx

*Photos by Kaitlin Gree n

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Published on February 04, 2023 01:00

Emily Tested 3 “Self-Heating” Mugs At 3 Different Price Points And Here Is Her Honest Review Of Each One

When I first heard about this $120 robot mug I was like, “what has the tech world invented now?” I pictured a bunch of dudes in Silicon Valley sitting around, trying to find a problem to solve with a new product to sell us. But then I realized how many times I go to the microwave to heat up my coffee when it goes cold. AH. That’s why. But I still couldn’t believe it was that expensive and I thought surely there was a more affordable version on the market. So before Christmas I bought all three (with the intent to review them in December, thus the holiday styling) and then regift them for Christmas gifts. None of which happened because, LIFE, but heck maybe it’s a better time now as people are hunkered down in the cold and wanting their life-blood/coffee to stay hotter longer. So I bought three at three different price points and after weeks of trying them out here is my review:

Wait, What Exactly Is An Electronic Mug?

Well. These bad boys sit on their little pad, which heats them up (through different methods) and the idea is that they stay hot for hours, tasting fresh and not disgusting. In theory I’m into this, but I’m also skeptical that this is something we NEED and doesn’t in fact just create more “stuff”. We drink a decent amount of coffee in the mornings – usually a cup while I walk the pups then I sip on another cup for a couple of house (thus the reheating). So technically I am a great candidate for this mug, but I’m also easily annoyed by technical difficulties so I avoid unnecessary tech at all times. So we need to explore the pros and cons and ensure that the pros outweigh the cons

Mug #1: Ember Mug² Temperature Control Smart Mug

Ember Mug² Temperature Control Smart Mug

This is the most famous and expensive of them all. The Ember was first to market (or first to social media) and runs $130. That’s a lot for a mug, so he better heat your coffee and change the oil in your tires or at least our AC filters twice a year. This is what it says:

“Enjoy hot drinks longer with an innovative mug that stays at your preferred temperature for up to 1.5 hours or all day on the charging coaster. Pair the smart mug to the Ember app on your smartphone to set the temperature, customize presets for your favorite drinks, receive notifications when your desired temperature is reached, personalize your mug and more. Advanced technology intelligently turns the mug on and off and keeps every sip the same temperature from top to bottom.”

This cracks me up. While it’s my preferred mug of the three because of portability, no bros, we don’t need to set different temperatures for different drinks via an app and I certainly don’t want more push notifications on my phone.

Pros: The biggest pro with this one is that it can be cordless (for an hour and a half) while the other two have to remain plugged in and on charging coasters. For me, this becomes the instant deal breaker and preference as I don’t sit at a desk against a wall and their cords aren’t long. I would be knocking over my mug every time I got up, or if the pups came over to say hi. Having this one cordless made it essentially the only one that I can use. Now if you have a desk against a wall or with an outlet directly underneath it you have options. I also like that the mug nestles into the charging coaster (not just sitting on it) as it feels more secure and you know if/when it’s plugged in right. It holds a decent amount of coffee (seems around 6 ounces) and the handle is comfortable.

When I remember to charge it and I’m sitting in one spot (I like to move around). It’s pretty darn wonderful to have hot fresh coffee for hours to sip slowly. I would prefer for the temperature to be controlled on the device itself (sometimes I’ll look at the app and it’s turned down for some reason and I like my coffee really hot). Per usual, the frustrations with tech are often not worth the “convenience” they provide. I’m really selling this thing aren’t I?

Cons: I don’t want an app for everything. I love a good old-fashioned on-and-off button. I know I’m not alone, but boy the tech industry wants us to have every device controlled by our phone (unsure if this is mostly to track behaviors). Sure, on the app you can control the temperature and know the amount of charge you have but again, I’d rather that be just on the pad.

OVERALL CON: This is for all of them – they need to be charged nightly and they don’t seem to hold their charge for hours. Now that’s fine, we can’t have everything in life but that means it’s another device you have to remember to charge at night or it’s useless. When I first started using it, it kept running out and then getting cold. But then you can’t microwave the mugs (or put them in the dishwasher) so you have to transfer to a microwaveable mug to heat up your tepid coffee that you spent $120 buying a mug for. I just couldn’t believe that it didn’t hold the charge for longer, that’s all. But I’m not an inventor so maybe this is really hard?

Mug #2: OHOM Ui Mug & Warmer Set

OHOM Ui Mug & Warmer Set

This one is electromagnetic (maybe they all are) so it’s not hot to the touch and keeps coffee hot for a pretty long time. I didn’t test it for more than 2 hours, but for those 2 hours, it was indeed hot.

Pros: This is dishwasher safe (not all of them are) and it also charges your iPhone (this is a lovely addition). It’s also a nice color and design. It’s also more affordable than the Ember, coming in at $88 (check their site for the second-run versions that are functional but have imperfections on the outside. You get 2 for 44$ random colors chosen).

Cons: Needs to remain plugged in to heat. The mug itself keeps the coffee hot for 10 or so minutes (in my experience) without being on the charging coaster, but typically it needs to sit on it to remain really hot. It also says “self-heating” but that feels misleading to me because you aren’t meant to put in cold coffee to make it hot (I don’t think) so it’s more about retaining heat and maybe making it slightly hotter. This one also has a strainer you can buy separately so you can do a pour over coffee or tea straight into the mug. From my experience to keep it super hot you have to put the ceramic lid on it, which is another task for me to do. If you don’t it does cool down a bit. Again, I like really hot coffee so it kinda defeats the purpose (Ember stayed hotter).

Mug #3: Amazon BestSeller – Apexx Induction Mug

Apexx Induction Mug

This Apexx Induction Mug one was an Amazon bestseller during the holidays, likely because it comes in at $32 – a huge drop in price from the other two. It looks nice for sure but I found that it was hard to get it to charge (which it needs to in order to stay hot) and was frustrated easily by it. When it did work, it would stay hot for 20 minutes or so but you’d have to put the ceramic lid on it.

Pros: Affordable and looks nice. The packaging was strangely high-end if you are into that sort of thing. Charges phone or earbuds on the coaster as well. No app needed.

Cons: Mine was glitchy, you have to keep it plugged in, use the ceramic lid, and even so it didn’t keep it scalding hot – just warmer than if you didn’t have the coaster. But if someone likes warm coffee for longer, I suppose it does that job (just not super hot).

And The Best Self-Warming Mug Goes To…

All in all, I’m sorry and not terribly surprised to admit that the expensive Ember Mug does this particular job the best. It stays hotter for longer without the need for the ceramic lid, can be cordless so less of a risk to knock over, and you can move around the house. I just recently read that you don’t have to download the app and that it will default at 135 degrees (which is very hot and hotter than the other two) and there is a dial on the bottom that I didn’t realize. It’s splurgy though. For my life, I only really sit one day a week when I write, so it’s not enough of a value add for my life (especially because there are more parts to keep track of). I’d rather just use a to-go thermos or microwave my mug. However, if you sit at a desk for many hours in the morning, one near a wall or have an outlet on your desk, I will say this is a solidly good purchase or gift. But it’s not for the casual morning drinker or someone who drinks coffee at the dining table. The convenience of all of these becomes inconvenient when you have to remember to plug it in and keep it charged, so IMHO you have to give it a designated desk and outlet and use it daily to make it worth it.

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

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Published on February 03, 2023 01:00

A Review Of Our New Induction Range – All The Details On Our Beautiful Aga Elise (And How Cooking With Induction And Convection Is Different Than Gas)

It’s been about 6 months now of cooking on our induction range almost every night, so it felt time to dish to you all. My excitement for our range is extreme, my expectations six months ago were unknown. Today you are going to get the full low down and review (with a lot of pros and a couple of cons). As you might know, now gas ranges are being slowly phased out (like gas cars) but I’m not going to lie that there were times when I worried that my public job was forcing my family into using a newer product that wasn’t going to work as well, or be as easy. Old dog, new tricks sort of thing. Brian was on board, we talked about it for months, and it doesn’t hurt that we found the most gorgeous induction range in the world, but yeah, we were nervous. What if we couldn’t cook as easily? What if it was complicated, techy, and hard to navigate? What if we burned everything? When trying anything new the first time there can be a learning curve, and we knew that. I was confident in the brand and super hopeful we’d love it as much as a gas range. So today is the day where I tell you it all. In case you are just landing here you might have some basic questions:

Why Induction Instead Of Gas? Are Gas Ranges BAD?

I’m not an expert but apparently, gas ranges emit internal pollution into the home as well as rely on fossil fuels. I’ll also admit that I’m a bit skeptical that we need to overhaul a whole industry based on a few years of research because typically the fantasy “solution” also has its negatives that don’t get the same amount of attention. But common sense tells me that having gas burning in your house can emit undetectable fumes. Induction is electric, not natural gas, so the argument is that it’s not part of the fossil fuel industry and can run on clean energy should you live in a state that is working towards that (like solar and wind). I hope that the industry can keep up with the regulations (outlawing them might be a problem if we don’t have the induction supply to replace them – like cars). Again, not an expert and I’m curious about your thoughts, but I’ve done so much research and I try to vet every side of this debate. Similar to cars, there are a lot of lobbyists on both sides trying to control the industry. All I know is that this made sense to us, especially because this Aga range is so darn beautiful, and in many states (CA and OR) you won’t be able to put gas ranges in new construction soon, which might tell you which way we are culturally moving (ours isn’t new construction).

Should I Switch My Gas Range To Electric?

It’s my opinion that if you have something that works well and you like, you should never throw it out, as making and shipping something new is far more taxing on the environment than using something that you have (same with cars). But if you are remodeling and purchasing a new range then yes, induction seems to be a wise investment (we love it), and keep reading to see if it’s for you. I think how we’ve politicized it is just hilarious and I’m not inviting that firestorm in the comments. There are pros and cons to everything we consume, we have to use the data we have and level it against our common sense to make sure it’s right for us.

What Range Did We Choose And Why?

Months ago I wrote a post about our hunt with the induction range options that we were debating, but there was only one that I felt would work in this more classic style home – The Aga 48″ Elise Induction Range in black with gold knobs. Once I fell in love with it, I reached out to Build with Ferguson and Aga and negotiated a trade for PR/photography/social media, etc. Was this range “free”? Nope. Nothing is “free,” everything is a trade for my time, deliverables and social/PR services, and at this point in my career I can’t give my time and resources to represent a brand that isn’t 100% aligned with my design, style, and ethos. I wanted this Aga range and went after it (and was so happy that Build with Ferguson supplies them). This post isn’t even sponsored, I just really really wanted to deep dive into my relationship with this range and give you all the information to help you decide.

Aga is a classic European brand that is super high quality, very well made and extremely well received/reviewed. While the Elise is a newer product (as most induction ranges are on the newer side) we felt confident that with Aga behind it, we’d get a great long-term product.

What Was I Nervous About? Any Initial Hesitations?

We had two major concerns: 1. the capacity of the oven and 2. the ability to butter-baste Brian’s steak. We had read enough reviews so we weren’t worried about the day-to-day cooking for our family but those two scenarios caused us a little hesitation (keep reading).

Well? What is So Great About This Range?

I don’t need to tell you how beautiful it is, but clearly, that is a huge plus to me. Beyond that, it’s more about function and capabilities and so far we have been extremely pleased.

You have a lot of roasting, baking, and broiling options in this lady. We use the convection oven the most and have learned to do it for less time and sometimes lower temperature than a recipe calls for as it cooks faster and more thoroughly than a normal oven. We like that it crisps all sides more (the hot air is moving around more). There were a few sacrificial cookie batches as we dialed in that adjustment, but now we don’t even think about it – we adapted really quickly.

As you can see both the multi-functional door and the convection oven have multiple trays or you can pull them out and put in a dutch oven or larger casserole dish.

Can It Fit A Turkey?

Ignore how overcooked this turkey is – we bought it to show you that one would fit but totally forgot it was in the convection and cooked it for too long. But you get the point – yes to turkey, no to huge turkey. This was such a huge question for us and we don’t even host Thanksgiving (yet). But since the oven compartments are smaller we wanted to see what the capacity would be. We knew it wouldn’t be big enough for a 20 lb turkey so if we were to host we’d likely use a countertop turkey oven. The interior horizontal capacity is 16 1/2″ wide, but many 9″x13″ have huge handles on the side that won’t fit that. We found this one that is 12″x15″ including the handle and it easily fit the 13lb turkey.

Does Convection Cook The Same As A Normal Oven?

No. It’s even better:) Once you figure out to lower the temp a bit and reduce the amount of time (by like 5-10 minutes), it cooks more evenly and crisps things up a bit more. The hot air cooks by circulating. So again you have to ignore this overcooked turkey – this was the first time we were trying a big bird and we forgot it was in there. A tiny learning curve, but so easy to adapt, and I’ve had zero frustrations after the first week.

Do Normal Cookie Sheets Fit?

We had read about this so we were prepared, but no, you have to downsize your cookie or veggie roasting sheets to 9″x13″ and double them up. This was a VERY easy switch to make and with the double oven (the convection and the multi-function) we can roast a lot at the same time (and we do, very frequently).

These cookies are an example of what can happen if you use the normal oven setting on the multi-function and don’t rotate – the top cookies got a lot more cooked than the bottom which is normal. But it’s not a big deal – you do it once then learn to rotate. And since we shot this I started using convection for almost everything (the other compartment) because I like how it cooks everything more evenly.

The Broiling Drawer

This compartment has 4 settings that are almost undetectably different, but essentially change how close the food is to the “element” (read: heat source). So you could put something deeper in there but for this shoot we did bacon. This is the only time we’ve used the drawer (Brian is a big “bacon in oven” guy) so we aren’t experts here but I wanted to show you what it can do.

We cooked bacon but you could also do open-faced sandwiches or vegetables – essentially anything that you want top-down heat for.

Are The Knobs Intuitive And Easy To Read?

Yes. And this has been a pet peeve of mine in the past (also not a big deal). What you can’t see in the photo (but can see down below where we boil water) is that there are little illustrations on top of the silver bar that show which burner you are using. But they make intuitive sense – the middle one controls the middle burner, the left controls left, right controls right. This is not always the case so YAY for not even needing to look anymore.

Next… The Induction Cook Top – How Does It Compare To Gas?

Gas ovens are pretty similar to electric or induction, but does an induction cooktop perform as well? Let’s get into it. Here are the basics of ours: it’s a 48″ and has 5 burners – one large (in the middle), 3 medium, and one small. We very frequently use 3-4 at a time so I’m glad we got the 48″ for our family. It’s a glass top that is so pretty and simple. It’s hard to see in the photos but there are slight circles that are easily seen in person to show you where the burners are.

Do All Pots And Pans Work On Our Induction Cooktop?

No, all pots/pans do not work so expect to replace some, but far more work with induction than we originally thought. We bought new fry and saute pans (we have some Made In and some new All-Clad, but all of my dutch ovens, soup pots, and even my huge broth stock pot worked – I was not expecting that). We found out by putting the pan on and turning on that burner, and it indicates whether it works or not (if it doesn’t work it has a dash sign and won’t turn on, but if your pan will work then it will let you select your temp and start cooking). So it was a fun game to see what worked and what didn’t (our lighter-weight fry pans didn’t work so all of those had to be replaced – Brian researched a lot and bought these and we are very happy with them).

Is Cooking On An Induction Cooktop Faster? Better?

Yes, definitely faster but also it just feels very controllable. For instance, when you want to go lower or higher it does so immediately once it gets going (it can’t go from zero to crazy hot instantly, but definitely really fast, and once it’s high it can go low very very quickly).

Can It Really Boil Water Super Fast?

This is one of the biggest “pros” of the induction – that it can boil water quickly. I’ll admit that I didn’t find this a huge inconvenience with our gas ranges, but I was eager to see just how fast it can boil water should you be REALLY into that:)

So we timed it with 6 cups of water (which is a lot) and it took 5 1/2 minutes to come to a rolling boil.

Apparently, this would be around 9 minutes with a gas top:) So yes, it does boil water faster, but I think what I like even more is that once it’s warmed up it can go from 3 to 7, back to 4 up to 8 almost instantly. So if you are accidentally burning your onion/garlic on the bottom of your soup pot you don’t have to take it off the heat, you just turn it down and it truly does decrease the heat (in my experience).

Can Brian Still Butter Baste His Delicious Steaks?

When all the controversy around gas ranges hit last year (and before the whole thing was hilariously politicized) a lot of chefs were up in aprons because there are some things that many feared they couldn’t cook as well. This was Brians’s biggest concern because for most small dinner parties or special occasions he makes the most delicious butter-basted filet mignon steaks (we are both huge Matty Matheson fans and he uses this recipe, and yes, give yourself a treat and watch his video). The reason the heat source matters is because you use a cast iron pan that has to hold a lot of heat and then the final step of cooking the steak is that you tip it up, off the burner, and use a spoon to butter baste it but the pan needs to hold a ton of heat to do the job. A lot of chefs were literally specifically going public about how induction will ruin their butter-basting game. Brian was one of them.

Before we got the range we knew the risk that this would be a dish that we only did over the holidays at the mountain house, or we would buy a small gas burner just for these occasions – it was that serious of a concern. So it’s with great joy that I can announce that he can indeed butter-baste our steaks on this induction cooktop! I think it’s crucial that you use an induction cast iron pan because once the pan heats up it stays hot for a long time and conducts enough heat, while off the burner (therefore not magnetized) to keep up the proper cooking.

He can’t tip the pan up as much or take it off the heat for as long as he has in the past on a gas burner. It totally works and we can stay married and continue to consume this delicious dish (on occasion).

Is The Whole Top Hot? How Does That Work?

This part feels like magic, but essentially the pan and the burners use magnets to create the heat when in contact with each other – so no, the burner is not hot to the touch on its own. This is great for cooking with the kids as I don’t need to worry about the areas in between the burners – “the pot covers the hot” so to speak. That’s not to say that once it’s turned off it’s instant – no, it takes a few minutes to cool down completely (and has an “H” on it until it’s cooled down) but the real hot heat is only conducted when the pot is on the burner.

The Cleanup Is So Easy

I didn’t take a photo of it, but it’s extremely easy and satisfying to clean, and once you have this as an option dismantling your gas burners to clean underneath them will seem very laborious. I also LOVE that I can take my tray of veggies out of the oven and pop it right on top – like one big safe trivet. It’s obviously heat safe.

So far the only feedback I would give is that I wish there was a user manual for best practices with the induction and convection technology – there is an instruction manual, of course, but it doesn’t give you a lot of info on the nuances of convection and induction that I think could be useful (for instance it would be nice to know how long to broil the bacon on what temperature or how to defrost meat in the multi-function, not just say that you can). From experience, I’ve dialed in my favorite convection temperatures for roasting vegetables, but a manual with some best practices specifically for convection and induction would be helpful as we all make this transition (thus this blog post).

Do We Love It? How Much Would We Recommend It?

Let’s just say that I would not have written this post if I weren’t very, very happy with our induction range. This whole review is not part of a contract deliverable – I wanted to do it to help alleviate any anxiety that future induction purchases would have. I hope that it’s been useful. We really really love it – how it looks (it’s just so beautiful) to how it functions every day for our family. Again, if you have a gas range that you love do not throw it out and replace it with an induction. I’m not saying it’s “better” to cook on than a gas range. I’m simply saying that if you are going the induction range route I can tell you that the Aga 48″ Elise has been excellent for our family. I’m sure there are others that are also wonderful, but I’m writing from my own set of experiences. xx

Kitchen Resources:
Cabinetry: Unique Kitchens & Baths
Countertops: Bedrosians Tile & Stone
White Oak Windows and Doors: Sierra Pacific Windows
Tile: Pratt + Larson
Range: Build with Ferguson
Flooring: Zena Forest Products(Oregon grown and milled)
Lighting, Switches, Outlets, and Sink: Rejuvenation
Wall Color: Sherwin Williams, “Extra White”
Vintage Island: Aurora Mills
Ru g: District Loom
Brass Gallery Rods: Pepe and Carols

*Design by Emily Henderson and ARCIFORM
*Photos by Kaitlin Green

The post A Review Of Our New Induction Range – All The Details On Our Beautiful Aga Elise (And How Cooking With Induction And Convection Is Different Than Gas) appeared first on Emily Henderson.

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Published on February 02, 2023 01:00

We’ve Been Using Our Induction Range For Months And Here’s How It’s Going…

It’s been about 6 months now of cooking on our induction range almost every night, so it felt time to dish to you all. My excitement for our range is extreme, my expectations six months ago were unknown. Today you are going to get the full low down and review (with a lot of pros and a couple of cons). As you might know, now gas ranges are being slowly phased out (like gas cars) but I’m not going to lie that there were times when I worried that my public job was forcing my family into using a newer product that wasn’t going to work as well, or be as easy. Old dog, new tricks sort of thing. Brian was on board, we talked about it for months, and it doesn’t hurt that we found the most gorgeous induction range in the world, but yeah, we were nervous. What if we couldn’t cook as easily? What if it was complicated, techy, and hard to navigate? What if we burned everything? When trying anything new the first time there can be a learning curve, and we knew that. I was confident in the brand and super hopeful we’d love it as much as a gas range. So today is the day where I tell you it all. In case you are just landing here you might have some basic questions:

Why Induction Instead Of Gas? Are Gas Ranges BAD?

I’m not an expert but apparently, gas ranges emit internal pollution into the home as well as rely on fossil fuels. I’ll also admit that I’m a bit skeptical that we need to overhaul a whole industry based on a few years of research because typically the fantasy “solution” also has its negatives that don’t get the same amount of attention. But common sense tells me that having gas burning in your house can emit undetectable fumes. Induction is electric, not natural gas, so the argument is that it’s not part of the fossil fuel industry and can run on clean energy should you live in a state that is working towards that (like solar and wind). I hope that the industry can keep up with the regulations (outlawing them might be a problem if we don’t have the induction supply to replace them – like cars). Again, not an expert and I’m curious about your thoughts, but I’ve done so much research and I try to vet every side of this debate. Similar to cars, there are a lot of lobbyists on both sides trying to control the industry. All I know is that this made sense to us, especially because this Aga range is so darn beautiful, and in many states (CA and OR) you won’t be able to put gas ranges in new construction soon, which might tell you which way we are culturally moving (ours isn’t new construction).

Should I Switch My Gas Range To Electric?

It’s my opinion that if you have something that works well and you like, you should never throw it out, as making and shipping something new is far more taxing on the environment than using something that you have (same with cars). But if you are remodeling and purchasing a new range then yes, induction seems to be a wise investment (we love it), and keep reading to see if it’s for you. I think how we’ve politicized it is just hilarious and I’m not inviting that firestorm in the comments. There are pros and cons to everything we consume, we have to use the data we have and level it against our common sense to make sure it’s right for us.

What Range Did We Choose And Why?

Months ago I wrote a post about our hunt with the induction range options that we were debating, but there was only one that I felt would work in this more classic style home – The Aga 48″ Elise Induction Range in black with gold knobs. Once I fell in love with it, I reached out to Build with Ferguson and Aga and negotiated a trade for PR/photography/social media, etc. Was this range “free”? Nope. Nothing is “free,” everything is a trade for my time, deliverables and social/PR services, and at this point in my career I can’t give my time and resources to represent a brand that isn’t 100% aligned with my design, style, and ethos. I wanted this Aga range and went after it (and was so happy that Build with Ferguson supplies them). This post isn’t even sponsored, I just really really wanted to deep dive into my relationship with this range and give you all the information to help you decide.

Aga is a classic European brand that is super high quality, very well made and extremely well received/reviewed. While the Elise is a newer product (as most induction ranges are on the newer side) we felt confident that with Aga behind it, we’d get a great long-term product.

What Was I Nervous About? Any Initial Hesitations?

We had two major concerns: 1. the capacity of the oven and 2. the ability to butter-baste Brian’s steak. We had read enough reviews so we weren’t worried about the day-to-day cooking for our family but those two scenarios caused us a little hesitation (keep reading).

Well? What is So Great About This Range?

I don’t need to tell you how beautiful it is, but clearly, that is a huge plus to me. Beyond that, it’s more about function and capabilities and so far we have been extremely pleased.

You have a lot of roasting, baking, and broiling options in this lady. We use the convection oven the most and have learned to do it for less time and sometimes lower temperature than a recipe calls for as it cooks faster and more thoroughly than a normal oven. We like that it crisps all sides more (the hot air is moving around more). There were a few sacrificial cookie batches as we dialed in that adjustment, but now we don’t even think about it – we adapted really quickly.

As you can see both the multi-functional door and the convection oven have multiple trays or you can pull them out and put in a dutch oven or larger casserole dish.

Can It Fit A Turkey?

Ignore how overcooked this turkey is – we bought it to show you that one would fit but totally forgot it was in the convection and cooked it for too long. But you get the point – yes to turkey, no to huge turkey. This was such a huge question for us and we don’t even host Thanksgiving (yet). But since the oven compartments are smaller we wanted to see what the capacity would be. We knew it wouldn’t be big enough for a 20 lb turkey so if we were to host we’d likely use a countertop turkey oven. The interior horizontal capacity is 16 1/2″ wide, but many 9″x13″ have huge handles on the side that won’t fit that. We found this one that is 12″x15″ including the handle and it easily fit the 13lb turkey.

Does Convection Cook The Same As A Normal Oven?

No. It’s even better:) Once you figure out to lower the temp a bit and reduce the amount of time (by like 5-10 minutes), it cooks more evenly and crisps things up a bit more. The hot air cooks by circulating. So again you have to ignore this overcooked turkey – this was the first time we were trying a big bird and we forgot it was in there. A tiny learning curve, but so easy to adapt, and I’ve had zero frustrations after the first week.

Do Normal Cookie Sheets Fit?

We had read about this so we were prepared, but no, you have to downsize your cookie or veggie roasting sheets to 9″x13″ and double them up. This was a VERY easy switch to make and with the double oven (the convection and the multi-function) we can roast a lot at the same time (and we do, very frequently).

These cookies are an example of what can happen if you use the normal oven setting on the multi-function and don’t rotate – the top cookies got a lot more cooked than the bottom which is normal. But it’s not a big deal – you do it once then learn to rotate. And since we shot this I started using convection for almost everything (the other compartment) because I like how it cooks everything more evenly.

The Broiling Drawer

This compartment has 4 settings that are almost undetectably different, but essentially change how close the food is to the “element” (read: heat source). So you could put something deeper in there but for this shoot we did bacon. This is the only time we’ve used the drawer (Brian is a big “bacon in oven” guy) so we aren’t experts here but I wanted to show you what it can do.

We cooked bacon but you could also do open-faced sandwiches or vegetables – essentially anything that you want top-down heat for.

Are The Knobs Intuitive And Easy To Read?

Yes. And this has been a pet peeve of mine in the past (also not a big deal). What you can’t see in the photo (but can see down below where we boil water) is that there are little illustrations on top of the silver bar that show which burner you are using. But they make intuitive sense – the middle one controls the middle burner, the left controls left, right controls right. This is not always the case so YAY for not even needing to look anymore.

Next… The Induction Cook Top – How Does It Compare To Gas?

Gas ovens are pretty similar to electric or induction, but does an induction cooktop perform as well? Let’s get into it. Here are the basics of ours: it’s a 48″ and has 5 burners – one large (in the middle), 3 medium, and one small. We very frequently use 3-4 at a time so I’m glad we got the 48″ for our family. It’s a glass top that is so pretty and simple. It’s hard to see in the photos but there are slight circles that are easily seen in person to show you where the burners are.

Do All Pots And Pans Work On Our Induction Cooktop?

No, all pots/pans do not work so expect to replace some, but far more work with induction than we originally thought. We bought new fry and saute pans (we have some Made In and some new All-Clad, but all of my dutch ovens, soup pots, and even my huge broth stock pot worked – I was not expecting that). We found out by putting the pan on and turning on that burner, and it indicates whether it works or not (if it doesn’t work it has a dash sign and won’t turn on, but if your pan will work then it will let you select your temp and start cooking). So it was a fun game to see what worked and what didn’t (our lighter-weight fry pans didn’t work so all of those had to be replaced – Brian researched a lot and bought these and we are very happy with them).

Is Cooking On An Induction Cooktop Faster? Better?

Yes, definitely faster but also it just feels very controllable. For instance, when you want to go lower or higher it does so immediately once it gets going (it can’t go from zero to crazy hot instantly, but definitely really fast, and once it’s high it can go low very very quickly).

Can It Really Boil Water Super Fast?

This is one of the biggest “pros” of the induction – that it can boil water quickly. I’ll admit that I didn’t find this a huge inconvenience with our gas ranges, but I was eager to see just how fast it can boil water should you be REALLY into that:)

So we timed it with 6 cups of water (which is a lot) and it took 5 1/2 minutes to come to a rolling boil.

Apparently, this would be around 9 minutes with a gas top:) So yes, it does boil water faster, but I think what I like even more is that once it’s warmed up it can go from 3 to 7, back to 4 up to 8 almost instantly. So if you are accidentally burning your onion/garlic on the bottom of your soup pot you don’t have to take it off the heat, you just turn it down and it truly does decrease the heat (in my experience).

Can Brian Still Butter Baste His Delicious Steaks?

When all the controversy around gas ranges hit last year (and before the whole thing was hilariously politicized) a lot of chefs were up in aprons because there are some things that many feared they couldn’t cook as well. This was Brians’s biggest concern because for most small dinner parties or special occasions he makes the most delicious butter-basted filet mignon steaks (we are both huge Matty Matheson fans and he uses this recipe, and yes, give yourself a treat and watch his video). The reason the heat source matters is because you use a cast iron pan that has to hold a lot of heat and then the final step of cooking the steak is that you tip it up, off the burner, and use a spoon to butter baste it but the pan needs to hold a ton of heat to do the job. A lot of chefs were literally specifically going public about how induction will ruin their butter-basting game. Brian was one of them.

Before we got the range we knew the risk that this would be a dish that we only did over the holidays at the mountain house, or we would buy a small gas burner just for these occasions – it was that serious of a concern. So it’s with great joy that I can announce that he can indeed butter-baste our steaks on this induction cooktop! I think it’s crucial that you use an induction cast iron pan because once the pan heats up it stays hot for a long time and conducts enough heat, while off the burner (therefore not magnetized) to keep up the proper cooking.

He can’t tip the pan up as much or take it off the heat for as long as he has in the past on a gas burner. It totally works and we can stay married and continue to consume this delicious dish (on occasion).

Is The Whole Top Hot? How Does That Work?

This part feels like magic, but essentially the pan and the burners use magnets to create the heat when in contact with each other – so no, the burner is not hot to the touch on its own. This is great for cooking with the kids as I don’t need to worry about the areas in between the burners – “the pot covers the hot” so to speak. That’s not to say that once it’s turned off it’s instant – no, it takes a few minutes to cool down completely (and has an “H” on it until it’s cooled down) but the real hot heat is only conducted when the pot is on the burner.

The Cleanup Is So Easy

I didn’t take a photo of it, but it’s extremely easy and satisfying to clean, and once you have this as an option dismantling your gas burners to clean underneath them will seem very laborious. I also LOVE that I can take my tray of veggies out of the oven and pop it right on top – like one big safe trivet. It’s obviously heat safe.

So far the only feedback I would give is that I wish there was a user manual for best practices with the induction and convection technology – there is an instruction manual, of course, but it doesn’t give you a lot of info on the nuances of convection and induction that I think could be useful (for instance it would be nice to know how long to broil the bacon on what temperature or how to defrost meat in the multi-function, not just say that you can). From experience, I’ve dialed in my favorite convection temperatures for roasting vegetables, but a manual with some best practices specifically for convection and induction would be helpful as we all make this transition (thus this blog post).

Do We Love It? How Much Would We Recommend It?

Let’s just say that I would not have written this post if I weren’t very, very happy with our induction range. This whole review is not part of a contract deliverable – I wanted to do it to help alleviate any anxiety that future induction purchases would have. I hope that it’s been useful. We really really love it – how it looks (it’s just so beautiful) to how it functions every day for our family. Again, if you have a gas range that you love do not throw it out and replace it with an induction. I’m not saying it’s “better” to cook on than a gas range. I’m simply saying that if you are going the induction range route I can tell you that the Aga 48″ Elise has been excellent for our family. I’m sure there are others that are also wonderful, but I’m writing from my own set of experiences. xx

Kitchen Resources:
Cabinetry: Unique Kitchens & Baths
Countertops: Bedrosians Tile & Stone
White Oak Windows and Doors: Sierra Pacific Windows
Tile: Pratt + Larson
Range: Build with Ferguson
Flooring: Zena Forest Products(Oregon grown and milled)
Lighting, Switches, Outlets, and Sink: Rejuvenation
Wall Color: Sherwin Williams, “Extra White”
Vintage Island: Aurora Mills
Ru g: District Loom
Brass Gallery Rods: Pepe and Carols

*Design by Emily Henderson and ARCIFORM
*Photos by Kaitlin Green

The post We’ve Been Using Our Induction Range For Months And Here’s How It’s Going… appeared first on Emily Henderson.

View more on Emily Henderson's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 02, 2023 01:00

Emily Henderson's Blog, page 98

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February 8, 2023

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February 7, 2023

Show And Tell: The Case For The Really Pretty Electronic Piano (+ What We Think About It A Month In)

February 6, 2023

How Megan Hopp Stretched Her Design Budget To TRANSFORM Her Three-Story Townhouse (You HAVE To See The Before & Afters)

How Megan Hopp Stretched Her $25k Design Budget To TRANSFORM Her Three-Story Townhouse (You HAVE To See The Before & Afters)

February 5, 2023

The Link Up: The Stretchy Shoelaces Brian And His Friends Are Freaking Out Over, Caitlin’s WARM Sweatpants, And Our Favorite New Cooking Show

February 4, 2023

My Latest Vintage Haul Including More Pictures Of Dead Strangers And A Show-And-Tell Of Our New Dining Chairs (Not Vintage) That Bring Me Joy All Day Every Day…

February 3, 2023

Emily Tested 3 “Self-Heating” Mugs At 3 Different Price Points And Here Is Her Honest Review Of Each One

February 2, 2023

A Review Of Our New Induction Range – All The Details On Our Beautiful Aga Elise (And How Cooking With Induction And Convection Is Different Than Gas)

We’ve Been Using Our Induction Range For Months And Here’s How It’s Going…

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