Barn Quilt Update

Soooo . . .

Is it really almost the end of summer?

It looks like the last time I posted, I was thinking about barn quilt designs.  And no, it didn't take me five months to do it, just to write about it.

So here goes.

I found a website that explains the meaning behind some common barn quilt designs here.  I made one for our barn, and then another one for our Realtor, who actually just lives up the road from us on a chicken farm.  I chose "Hen and Chicks" (see below, left) for hers, and "Prosperity" (see below, right) as our pattern.

So I went to Lowe's and bought a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" thick plywood and cut it in half, so that I had two 4' x 4' pieces.  I started by priming them with two coats of white primer, so that I had a nice primed surface to paint on.  Since these are made to be hung outside, I wanted to make sure that the paint would adhere well.  I also coated them with a clear, UV-resistant and waterproof acrylic sealant to keep the colors from fading over time, and to keep the wood from getting wet in the rain.

I laid my patterns out in AutoCAD and then measured how long each line or section would be.  Then I got out my pencil, T-square, and ruler and make my marks on the boards for where each line would be.  I just used acrylic craft paint to fill in the colors for each section, with two coats total, to cut down on seeing the brush strokes and get even color.

So here is how ours turned out:

We did have to put it slightly off-center on the front of the barn, since we wanted to still be able to open the loft door (just to the left in the photo above).  Although we don't go up there much, we didn't want to block it in case we needed to use it sometime in the future.

Patrick climbed up the ladder and steadied it on the top step, while I backed up and made sure it looked straight from the end of the driveway.  I think I was more nervous than he was!  That puppy's heavy.  He mounted it by just driving some long nails right through it - we didn't bother with adding a hanger on the back or mounting a cleat to the barn to hang it on.  You can't see the nails at all, since it's up so high.

We've had several of our neighbors stop and ask about it, and have received lovely compliments from them.  I'm so glad that they like it as much as we do!  It makes our house easier for people to find, since we can just say, "Look for the big white barn with the blue, green, white and magenta barn quilt!"

Barn Quilt Ideas

Mr. Kieffer suggested that I make a barn quilt for our white barn a while back, and my first comment was, "What the hell's a barn quilt?"

This city girl had never heard of one, and then we went up to Columbus a few weeks ago, and saw a couple of them along the highway on people's barns.

In case you're as lost as I was, here is what he was talking about:



Source



Source

Source

They're always square, and range in size from 2' x 2' to 8' x 8'.  Most have simplified geometric forms, like in a traditional blanket quilt, but some people have gotten really creative with their designs and incorporated hobbies or motifs that say something about their farm or family.

I like these nature-inspired quilts:

Source

Source

And some people have made theirs really intricate or brightly colored:

Source

 

Source



Source

We decided that the best size for our barn is 4' x 4'.  We don't have a huge barn, and that size works out to be half of a sheet of plywood, so it'll be easier to make.

I started working on designs today and came up with 12 that I like.  Some of them are just small tweaks to other designs, and I tried to do a couple (the last 3 on the bottom row below) that have a more modern feel.  I was going for a chevron / herringbone pattern. 

I'm still trying to decide on colors, too.  I was trying to pull colors from the cow paint-by-number, but now I'm thinking it should be brighter and more fun.

We'll see what I come up with.  And I'll post instructions on how I did everything once it's all finished.

Kitchen Paint Colors: Done!

I finally made a decision for the paint colors for the cabinets and walls in the kitchen.  Since we're just doing a low-budget remodel for now, I need colors to work with the existing countertop and backsplash. 

I chose Valspar Allen + Roth Sunday Times ar915 for the cabinets and Ultra White 7006-24 for all of the woodwork trim in the house.  I wanted a clean white for all of the woodwork and a slightly more yellow-cream white for the cabinets.  I've used Sunday Times before for a picture frame project, and it looks really nice when you distress the edges with 220 grit sandpaper to expose the wood underneath.  I'm considering doing this technique to the cabinets, but we'll see how ambitious I'm feeling when the time comes.

For the walls, I swear I tried just about every greyish neutral that Lowes had, and I ended up going with a color that I've loved for a long time, but have yet to use.  Home Depot's Martha Stewart line of paints has around 230 colors, but let me tell you, the collection is meticulously curated to only include the best colors.  So I'm going with Bedford Gray MSL246 for the walls in the kitchen, and will probably continue the color into the dining and living rooms.  I made sure that I liked the color against all of the stonework around the fireplace and the room divider/planter between the living and dining rooms.

Patrick has all next week off, since he's only taken one vacation day this whole year so far, he needs to use it before the end of December.  We're planning to tackle the kitchen then.  It will be a low-cost update that I know will make a big impact. 

The only thing I'm held up on is the finish I want to use for the cabinet hardware.  I keep getting pulled into the black iron finishes, although I always end up using brushed nickel everywhere.  What do you think?

Source

Source

I went to the grocery store for the first time since moving in, and since we had pretty much nothing in the house to eat, I ended up spending $240+ on groceries.  The upside?  I won't have to shop for another month, and tonight we're having this:



Source

Now wipe the drool off and listen up.  This is the BEST meatloaf recipe ever.  I love all of Tyler Florence's Tyler's Ultimate recipes, but I've made this several times, and it's the only recipe I use now.  It's layered in bacon, people.  Amazing.  Get it here.  Thanks, Food Network.

I also picked up some Starbuck's Mocha Frappucinos while at the grocery store.  I've been wanting to try this recipe ever since I pinned it months ago (I've just been waiting for the weather to get colder).  Since I don't have the whipped creme vodka, but I do have Peppermint Schnapp's, I made a grown-up Starbuck's Peppermint Mocha.  And seeing how I woke up to a light dusting of snow thanks to Sandy, I think it's the perfect time for a fire and a cocktail while making dinner.

Cheers!

Ikat Fever

Last weekend, someone asked me what an ikat pattern was, and I didn't have a really good answer for her.  I could easily point one out, but words kinda failed me when I was trying to describe it.  I think I ended up saying, "It's kind of a tribal, kind of stylized geometric or floral design.  But, like wavy or kinda blurry."

I tried pulling up a photo of ikat fabric to show her what I was failing to describe accurately, but the Marketplace section of Ikea is a total dead zone for cell phone reception.

So I looked up "ikat" on Dictionary.com and this is what they came up with for me:

i·kat

   [ee-kaht]  Show IPA

noun

1.

a method of printing woven fabric by tie-dyeing the warpyarns (warp ikat),  the weft yarns (weft ikat),  or both(double ikat)  before weaving.

2.

a fabric made by this method.

Say what?

And if you don't have a ready knowledge of how fabric is made, (which most people don't) then this definition doesn't do you a darn bit of good.  And even if you do, it doesn't translate to the beautiful patterns that the technique creates.

Here, allow me.

Calico Corners, the venerable fabric super-supplier, has these.

Source

Source

Ballard Designs, a site I love, has several ikat prints that are really nice.  If you noticed, I used this one in my Inspiration Board for the Dining Room.

Source

I really like that its a subtle print, so it will go with a lot of different accent colors.  The best part?  It's by Sunbrella, so you can clean it easily without worrying that you'll damage the fabric.  Great for a house with kids or dogs.

This one is a fun punch of color.  Great for a bedroom accent chair or pillows.  They also have it in grey.

Source

Source

Here's one with more of a linear motif.

Source

And one more from Ballard Designs for good measure.  It's a lovely mix of blue, ivory, green, mustard, and rusty-copper.

Source

Ballard offers these fabrics by-the-yard (in case you want to make curtains or upholster your own piece), and also as seating fabric for their Special Order Pick-A-Fabric upholstered pieces.  I'm really loving this Simone Bench in the Malabar Coral ikat with the Driftwood finish on the legs.

Source

The pattern is also popping up in rugs.  Here are two from Ballard.

Source

Source

This month, House Beautiful has selected a gorgeous grouping of ikat rugs (page 66 if you read the magazine).  You can view their slideshow here.

And if all that wasn't enough, here are some lovely pillows to drool over.

This one's from Crate and Barrel.

Source

Here's one from West Elm.

Source

Happy shopping!  I'm going to be on the lookout for more ikat patterns tomorrow at the Country Living fair in Columbus!

Home Design / Room Planning Software

Back in the good ol' days of design school, there were few options for room planning software, and they were prohibitively expensive.  For architects, Autodesk's AutoCAD is still the industry standard, but the software takes years to learn and relies exclusively on the user's knowledge of design standards and construction practices in order to come to a finished, workable floorplan.  Plus, achieving realistic 3D views takes hours of rendering time.

20/20 Technologies is used commonly by design students, office designers, residential interior designers and kitchen / bath designers in the retail setting.  It's a drag-and-drop system of adding cabinets, fixtures, appliances and the like into a floorplan, with 3D renderings generated with a couple of mouse clicks.  But the software has its limitations and glitches, and is available only to those in the design profession.

With the increasing popularity of do-it-yourselfers combined with the sluggish economy, companies have introduced their own versions of FREE software for the general public to use for their own homes.  People want to make sure that they can visualize what their new kitchen or couch will look like in their home before they fork over their hard-earned dough.  I've been exploring some of these new software options and wanted to share my opinion about them.

Homestyler.com is a web-based software site that is brought to the masses by the good folks at Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD).  

Source

In my opinion, this software site is my favorite for doing a whole home design, because of the photo-realistic rendering capabilities and the many options they have for interior finishes.

Source

Source

Pretty impressive, huh?  There are a lot of really great renderings done by other designers in their Gallery in case you need some inspiration for that project of your own.

The wall builder tool is easy to use, and dropping in architectural details is simple.  You can resize and reposition items easily, as well as copy and paste multiple items in the same room.  

They have generic furniture items, all of which are resizeable so that they'll match the dimensions of your existing items.  They also have premium brands featuring each company's most popular items, allowing users to get the exact look of their Caesarstone counter or Circa Lighting ceiling fixture.

Two more sites that allow users to plan their furniture placement in each room in their home are Urbanbarn.com's Make Room Planner and Better Homes & Gardens' Arrange-A-Room.  I played around with both of these planners and find that the ease of use may be a little higher than Homestyler's, but the options are much more limited.  Urbanbarn.com's Make Room is less photorealistic and you either have to use the generic symbols or products from their own furniture line.  The BHG Arrange-A-Room doesn't have 90 degree snap points for walls or rotating of furniture, which is kind of annoying, because I'm really picky and like to have everything perfectly lined up when drawing out rooms.  Also, you have to drag and drop each individual item, rather than doing a quickie copy and paste function for multiple items.

For kitchen design, I really like Ikea's Home Planner 3D Tool.  

Source

Resizing walls is easy, and changing options on the cabinets is simple.  The good thing about this tool is that it allows you to go easily from 2D plan view to 3D.  It also has tips for placement that those who are not professional kitchen designers wouldn't know (like leaving at least 1" next to the wall for a filler piece so the door hardware doesn't slam into the wall).  However, it can be difficult when trying to reposition a cabinet because of their snap-to-wall function.  Also, they only offer cabinets and appliances for kitchens.

Another kitchen design tool is at Home Depot's website.  The Virtual Kitchen allows users to choose by style, kitchen layout or brand.  You can pick from a pre-designed kitchen layout they have available in their library or create their own.  Fun fact: I designed the kitchens featured in the Martha Stewart Contemporary Perry Street, Casual Display 1, and Traditional Mount Desert photography sets when I worked at MasterBrand Cabinets in Jasper, Indiana.  Good times.

Lowe's Virtual Room Designer lets you design a kitchen, bath or a laundry room, either by starting from scratch or by using one of their pre-designed rooms and modifying it to fit your needs and space limitations.  You can also design your dream deck!  You can bet I'll be using that before next spring gets here.

So I hope my research will help you out next time you need to re-arrange your furniture or plan a dream kitchen.  Each of these tools takes some patience and some practice, but they're helpful and can save you time and money.  I think the time spent learning how to use these is well worth it to make sure that your living room furniture is going to fit BEFORE you have it all delivered to your house!

 

Inspiration Board: Master Bath

Woohoo!  I've finished the master bathroom inspiration board.  It turned out to be much more traditional than I was thinking it would, but I'm feeling it.  Bathrooms are the second-biggest expense per room (kitchens are #1) when it comes to remodeling a house, so I wanted to make sure that I kept it a neutral palette and didn't veer too far into any one trend, which is how I ended up with a traditional design.

It will always look good and will never go out of style.  This design is the Little Black Dress of bathrooms.

The sink base and the storage drawers are from Pottery Barn, as well as the shower curtain, the flowers, the light fixture and the faucet.  I'm really in love with that gooseneck faucet.

I relied heavily on PB for this one, and it didn't start out that way.  I was originally thinking that I'd use the Hemnes sink base from Ikea, since the bath adjoins our bedroom and it would just be easy to keep everything coordinated.  But testing it out at the store, it just didn't seem like it would hold up very well over time, and I'm okay with that for dressers, but a sink base is a different story.  So the PB sink is like ten times the price, but it comes with a honed Carrara marble top and those adorable little bun feet.

Speaking of marble, I was originally thinking I wanted vintage-looking hexagon tile flooring like this.

Source

But I decided that a little luxury goes a long way.  And there isn't much square footage in a bathroom anyway, so you might as well splurge on what you really want.

Source

These beautiful babies are 10" x 14", so I won't need to buy very many to cover the floor in the bathrooms.  My plan is to do white subway tile from the floor to 4' up the walls and for the tub / shower surround.  I love the look of white-white-white in a bathroom - probably because the color has an inherent association with cleanliness.

For some fun, I can change up the shower curtain and accessories.  It's also an inexpensive way to add some color here and there.  My only rule about bathroom accessories is that I won't ever do colored towels.  I'm a chlorine bleach lovin' girl, and I will only ever have white linens in my house.  That goes for sheets as well.

The mirror is from Home Decorators Collection.  I want a single large mirror with a big, chunky frame, and the ones from PB just weren't cutting it for me.  I also knew I didn't want a medicine cabinet / mirror, which is another reason the Pottery Barn sink base was more appealing - it has a lot of storage for all of the things I wouldn't be putting in a medicine cabinet.

Unfortunately for me (or fortunately for the average buyer), the bathrooms in the houses we've been checking out aren't in dire need of remodeling.  Yes, they're builder-basic medium oak, boring and utilitarian, but they're not an area of immediate concern.  So the bathroom remodels are going to be lower down on the priority list.

Tomorrow is Monday, and I'm really hoping we get good news about the latest house find.  I really want to be able to post about it with the confidence that it will actually be ours!

Inspiration Boards

Even though we are new-house-less, I've been compiling mood boards for the new house that we'll have (someday).  I find that it really helps to have an overall view of what you're going for - a big picture.  That way you can see how things will go together and plan for a cohesive look throughout the room, and from one room to another.

We did this all the time in design school.  In the old days, we'd pour through catalogs and magazines, carefully using Xacto knives to cut out photos of furniture and accessories, and glue them down to foam core boards with actual fabric samples, paint chips, and wood finishes.

These days, it's way easier to do it all digitally.  You can hunt around online for limitless options for furnishings and materials, copy and paste the photo and resize and crop as needed.

I use Powerpoint to do all of mine.  It's what we used when I worked at the Giant Cabinet Conglomerate for our photography sets, and it's what I continue to use now for my personal life.

So far, I only have three rooms finished for our (someday) new house: the kitchen, dining, and living rooms.  I started with these because they are all in the same area, all open to each other, so I wanted to make sure I had consistent themes throughout.

These three rooms have several common elements:

1.  Wood planks and beams on the ceiling.  I want to paint them all white, to give the whole area a county cottagey vibe.  Tongue-and-groove planks are easy to install with construction adhesive and a nail gun, and the beams are just 2x4s installed on top.

2.  Dark-stained hardwood flooring.  I'd really like to have wide planks, with some knotty texture (like oak) that will show through the espresso or walnut colored stain.  I also want high-shine on them, so that they will reflect natural light, visually expanding the floorspace.  The dark finish will also help to create the illusion of depth, since dark colors recede visually and contribute to the open feeling I'm going for.

3.  Jute rugs.  Rugs help to define areas, create a cozy spot for furniture to sit and gather on, and add visual texture.  This is a big way to bring natural elements into your home.  The photo I used is from Ballard Designs, who has a really wide variety of sizes at good prices. 

4.  Rustic metal.  In addition to the wood floors and jute rugs, I plan to use a lot of weathered, aged metal through accessories.  A good example is my old milk crates.  I also like the look of galvanized steel, like on these chairs from Crate and Barrel.  The help to lend the rustic vibe I'm going for, and will hold up for a really long time.  The leather couch is the Austin Leather Sofa from Pottery Barn, and I really like the way the dark color of the leather will contrast with the jute rug it will sit on, then echo the dark hardwood floor underneath.  This is a basic principle of design called repetition - repeating a similar color, texture or shape contributes to overall harmony in a room.

Don't be afraid to mix finishes in metals, too.  I always used to be so matchy-matchy and thought that all of the metal finishes have to be the same.  Not true!  I love a lot of different finishes, and you'll notice that I have brushed nickel in the kitchen (pendant lighting, pulls and faucet), rusty metal (milk crates, wire baskets and base of the coffee table), and black iron (in the light fixture for the foyer and the chandelier for the dining room).

I can't wait to post the rest of the rooms once I've got them all done.  Earlier this year, we purchased a bed and two dressers from Ikea, so I need to work those into the master bedroom board, and work with our existing couch for the finished basement.  Lord knows I'd love to go out and buy all brand new things, but that's just not the way life works, folks.  Creative interior design comes from using what you already have and with the budget you have, no matter how restrictive it is!