Wish List: Dreamy Doors

As part of our "WunderReno" project, we've decided to replace all the doors in our home, including the patio french door and the front entrance. While the patio door has been successfully replaced, the front door is probably going to be put on next year's home improvements list. The interior doors are now being switched out for solid doors. Our home came with hollow-core doors meant to look like a solid door. While on the outside they had the classic colonial styling I like, the inside was empty. This is an especially poor choice for doors which are suppose to offer privacy, like in the case of bedrooms and bathrooms. I put together a collection of doors on my Pinterest account. Below, I've pulled some of my favorites. Please visit my Pinterest Door Board for links.

while we do have raised panels and a french door, neither look this grand... dreamy!

grand main entrance doors with plenty of glass!

we don't currently have a mudroom, but if we did... Dutch Door for sure!

Once our doors are installed, I'll post photos. Until then, I'll be dreaming about these lovelies!
xo
-Patti

Navy Blue Master Bedroom

This week our painters were here to paint the master bedroom. We've had a creamy white bedroom since we moved in in 2001. Although I did paint our bedroom once, I really only reinforced the builder's vanilla walls. Back then I had two kids under the age of 4 and I honestly couldn't find enough energy to focus on a big change.

With a major remodel taking place, and "real" painters doing the work, I decided to really go for it! My husband and I both love Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod and the styling of quaint New England coastal towns. So with that in mind, my hubby suggested navy blue walls. This might seem too bold for a master bedroom, but I was up for the challenge! I decided upon Benjamin Moore #1629 "Bachelor Blue". My master bathroom is Benjamin Moore "Rock Gray", so I knew I wanted a deep blue that would coordinate with the bathroom, but not be an exact match. I'm thrilled with the way it came out. The white mouldings and trim really pop against the blue walls. And since Bachelor Blue has quite a bit of grey in it, our grey linen bed looks great against the walls.

I can hardly wait to pull in new side tables, mirrors, lights etc. I'm not going to rush it. Part of the fun is the process! I'll leave you with a little sample of the wall change as well as some inspiration photos I've collected on Pinterest.

As you can see, we need to install door knobs. They've been selected. I posted a photo on Instagram of the style I chose. Classic glass knob on an oil-rubbed bronze rosette (back plate). The bathrooms will have polished nickel rosettes.

That's all for tonight. I really wanted to get today's post up earlier, but I've been working on a few custom designs! I'm looking forward to sharing those details as well. Wishing you all a lovely Thursday (what's left of it).

xo
-Patti

Exterior Before and After

It has been almost one full year since we began renovating our home. We started in the Spring of 2013 with new windows and exterior paint. Our painters are here today, working on the master bedroom. We didn't do anything major in the master, just added new doors, a chunky crown moulding and larger base moulding. Since they have to paint the trim and doors, I figured it's a good time to change the wall color as well. But I digress...

While cleaning out my closet, so it could also get a fresh coat of paint, I came across a photo of our home's exterior taken about a year after we moved in. I thought it would be fun to show you what a difference paint makes. Granted, we also have since added the new windows, updated some exterior moulding, added a circular drive and landscaped the property since moving in. That being said, you can see that just focusing on the paint change alone, made a huge difference! Below are photos of our house from 2001, 2012 and 2013.

just a few shrubs, no shutters and fairly bland

white paint, black shutters, circular drive and new landscaping goes a long way

new shutter color (Benjamin Moore- Wedgwood Gray), new windows (notice no half circle above second story window!)

I'll post photos of our bathrooms when they're 100% finished. I still have some minor details needing my attention. The same goes for my kitchen. We have just a few little things left to finish, then I'll post before and after shots!

Side note: Today is day 8 of NaBloPoMo and I'm feeling pretty good about it! Eight straight days of blogging... piece of cake!

Dream Closet

If you follow Easton Place on Instagram, then you already know my home has been going through some renovations for nearly a year. If you've not visited my Instagram feed, please go have a lookie-lou. We started in May, 2013 with replacing 90% of our windows, getting the exterior painted, changing a french door, adding new garage doors and adding a trellis over. Next we moved onto the boys' bathroom, the kitchen and finally our master bath and bedroom. As the painters will be starting on our bedroom next week (fingers crossed), I realize I would love to have my small walk-in closet reworked. My husband has the larger of the two walk-in closets. We refer to his as the "cloffice". It's actually the same size as our nursery was in our first home and it has a double wide, double-hung window. The reason we call it that silly name is because it's his closest and an office space for him as well.

Back to my simple walk-in... It's a fine size for hanging clothes, but it's not special. I've been looking at amazing examples of closets on Houzz and Pinterest and thought I'd share a few dressing rooms that've caught my eye. (all photos via Pinterest)

I love how elegant and feminine this closet is. I'm not normally a big fan of brass features, but this closet's brass knobs & added elements are perfection. The light from the window is wonderful.

I love the monochromatic feel of this room. The storage to the (high) ceiling is amazing.

I think I will do something like this in my closet. I have a couple extra large Kallax bookcases from Ikea that could serve as an inexpensive version of this shoe organizer.

There is so much about this space I love: It's bright, organized, feminine, functional, and can you hardly stand how perfect the wallpaper is in this space? Swooning!

I don't think this dressing room / closet is a great use of space, but I do love the color and I like the sweet mirror etc. There are several design elements I could see using in my space.

Have a look at my Pinterest board of Dream Closets  to see these photos and others, and let me know what you think! I'll continue to take photos of the Wunder-Renovation and when all is complete, I'll post a full report here on the blog. 

Cheers!

-Patti