I’m so excited to give you an update on the #MSTARRXOHIDESIGN makeover project! As a refresher, my friend Emily of MStarr Design and I are designing a room in each other’s homes! I’m so excited to design her Master Bedroom, and Emily is taking on the challenge of designing my Guest Room/Havey’s temporary bedroom/Cody’s quarantine office (she has her work cut out for her with these three distinct room roles!). For the full rundown on this exciting project, check out the first blog post right here (and Emily’s post as well)!
We are thrilled to be partnering with some fantastic brands to help us bring our ideas to life – and sharing these with you today!
And a heads up: keep an eye on Instagram as we plan on showcasing more of this project, from updates and inspiration to behind the scene shots in the coming weeks!
PAINT –
One of the first decisions we made was in regards to paint, as we knew both spaces needed a total paint refresh. When we bought #oidhome, the entire home was painted in BM Revere Pewter, which while I do love, I don’t love in every single room. I wanted our home to feel a bit brighter so we painted the main space downstairs BM Decorator’s White and are slowly going to paint each of the bedrooms a different color – or the same…TBD on that. But I’m thrilled that we are going to start with the guest bedroom as it will set the tone for the others.
Paint is such an easy, and often affordable, way to make a major update in your space, and Emily and I are beyond excited to be partnering with Clare on the paint for this project!
Clare has a wide variety of truly beautiful colors to choose from and you can feel good about using their paints in your home; they are Zero VOC (non-toxic) and GREENGUARD Gold certified (meets rigorous emissions standards and has fewer pollutants). On top of that, the company was founded by Nicole Gibbons, an incredibly talented interior designer.
Added bonus: their adhesive (and removable) paint swatches; Emily and I are both major fans. We like to see how a color will work in various areas of a room and at different times of the day and this is made possible with these swatches. Our guest room gets good natural light and Emily’s bedroom gets pretty decent light as well, but it was still super helpful to be able to easily move around the paint swatches throughout the day in both of these rooms to double-check any lighting issues.
P.S. Are you a podcast fan? Then I highly recommend this episode of Second Life featuring Nicole; I loved it!
WALL TREATMENTS –
One of the design elements we knew we were definitely going to go with in Em’s room was a statement wall(s). We agreed shiplap would serve both main goals in this area: achieve the look we were going for WHILE ALSO make the ceilings seem taller, as the shiplap would be installed vertically (which also helps to give the whole space a bit more of a contemporary vibe, which Em liked).
But then welcome to reality: Emily’s home was built in the 1830’s so the walls, ceilings, and trim are all quite uneven. Makes for great character, but not great shiplap installation foundation. Plain and simple, it’d be intense work.
Enter Wallplanks, a company that offers peel and stick wall accents and does it in an environmentally friendly way. The raw materials used in their products are sourced only from managed forest in the U.S., the top coats and stains used are all water-based and UV cured to protect air quality, and there is no added formaldehyde in any of the products. We were sold immediately.
Emily has started to install the shiplap and she couldn’t get over how easy it is! The only tricky part will be getting the cuts right for the angled jut out in the wall above their bed but I have no doubt Emily will be able to conquer that (she’s a creative problem solving pro to say the least).
CARPET –
When it comes to carpeting, both Emily and I have looked no further than The Carpet Workroom for several of our client projects. A family-owned business with years of experience and hundreds of carpets to choose from, we knew they’d be perfect for our rooms. Remember when we had our stair runner custom made and installed by their team? To say I love working with them is an understatement.
My guest room is a pretty standard shape and size, so that makes the carpeting part of the project much easier. Additionally, both Emily and I want some of our wood floors to show, rather than complete wall-to-wall carpeting. Since my guest room is bigger, we’re leaving about a foot of floor visible and just 5 or 6” of floor in Emily’s room.
Emily’s bedroom is an interesting shape: it’s a narrow rectangle and is broken up into two areas, the bed area and the storage area, with the main door and bathroom door essentially forming these two spaces. Because we need to account for both of these doors opening into the room, the carpet (with the pad) can’t be a super high pile.
We haven’t been able to visit the showroom, but Matt (one of the Carpet Workroom owners) sent us a handful of samples based on what we were looking for and came over a few weeks ago (mask and all!) to get final measurements in both our rooms. The orders are placed and we are SO excited to see them in person.
MATTRESS & PILLOWS –
I love that Emily made space for a king-size bed in her master bedroom; this is really making me want to switch our master bed to a king (more to come on that project!)! But for the past several years Em and her husband had a memory foam mattress that was comfortable but did a number on their necks and backs. It’s come time for a major mattress upgrade. I’m thrilled to introduce Avocado, an affordable green mattress company that now offers non-toxic products made from organic materials that are luxurious and comfortable!
Emily texted me after sleeping on their green mattress with the green topper for a few weeks now and both her and her husband are pretty obsessed. They also got pillows and the best part is being able to remove or add filling to get it just right for each of them and their sleeping preferences.
For our guest bedroom, we have a fairly new mattress so we are keeping that but decided to add a plush topper to give extra comfort for our guests. We also included two green pillows but admittedly, might steal these for our room instead! 😉
We are thrilled to be partnering with Avocado and encourage you to check them out if you’re in the market for a new mattress!
BEDDING –
As you can tell from the before photos of our guest room, it has become an after thought and essentially a place to store all the clutter and then just shut the door. I typically clean up by throwing everything in that closet before guests arrive (when we were able to have guests that is… the good ol’ days). The bedding was never cohesive, it was a miscellaneous mix of some beautiful Garnet Hill sheets and an old West Elm duvet and cover.
While a bit mismatched, the guest room still had my go-to Garnet Hill bedding; there isn’t a bed in our home that doesn’t have Garnet Hill on it. I absolutely love being part of the GH community – you can see some of my previous GH posts here! Garnet Hill is a New England-based company that operates with a social and environmental focus, and gives back to the community in various ways. We are thrilled to be partnering with them for this project!
Everything arrived in the mail and while we don’t want to give away too much right now, let me just tell you, it’s an absolutely gorgeous mix of linens, silks, and cottons! Our future guests are going to be in heaven and Emily and Bill are going to be in their own sleep heaven as well in my opinion. 😉
FURNITURE –
Emily and I went down a never-ending rabbit hole of furniture ideas and options. We were thrilled when Chilton reached out about an opportunity and found this project to be the perfect fit! Chilton is a family-owned company based in Maine (can you tell we’re obsessed with our New England partners!?) making hand-crafted, American-made wood furniture in traditional, Scandinavian, and contemporary designs. The majority of their pieces are made by builders in small Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont workshops and can be customized with various woods and sizes.
We cannot wait to show you the gorgeous pieces we are incorporating into both rooms. To share a little hint… we decided on a dresser, two nightstands, and a bed for our guest room, and a dresser and armoire for Emily’s bedroom. The bed for Emily’s room is a bit trickier as we have some space constraints, but we found an exciting solution and can’t wait to show you soon.
WINDOW TREATMENTS –
We’re thrilled to be partnering with Alva Window Treatments for both rooms as well! In addition to their beautiful variety of options, they are making the process so incredibly easy (hallelujah!). We chose some styles we liked for each space, and they send samples for us to look at in-person at home (aka storeroom visits are just not happening these days if you know what I mean). I think window treatments in my room will especially make a HUGE difference. Stay tuned for more!
LIGHTING –
When it comes to lighting up our spaces, we are working with one of my favorite lighting vendors – Hudson Valley Lighting Group. Their variety is undeniable, from timeless and traditional, to modern and sleek. Emily and I are each looking for a couple distinct pieces for each room and having a really fun time going through all of the gems to choose from with HVL.
ART & FRAMING –
Art is often one of the final pieces of the design puzzle but that doesn’t it’s any less essential or important! And for this project, Em and I are taking it quite seriously! It’s also so fun – one of my favorite parts of the design and styling journey! We’re partnering with Collection Prints, insanely gorgeous pieces that are affordable and available via print and/or download. From nature scenes to abstract pieces, the beauty is endless. I urge you to check out their site – you want it all too, right!?
And when it comes to framing those beautiful pieces, we went right to Simply Framed. They take the stress out of finding the right frame and putting it all together, making the whole process so much easier and enjoyable. This is my first time using Simply Framed so I’m excited to report back on our experience. More to come!
Be sure to follow along on Insta as we have lots of sneak peeks coming your way. And stay tuned for selections and design boards in our next posts!
Want to catch up on this project? Check out our first post (and all the BEFORE PICS) here!
