We spent the weekend at The School House getting it ready for the transition in just a couple of weeks. I had planned to dutifully share each step with you, but this project has just moved too fast! I have taken all of the step-by-step photos as we've gone, so don't worry, I'll go back and explain how we did everything at some point. I know many of you are interested in how we did the bead-board and peg entry way (favorite!) and how we painted the kitchen cabinets (right over that factory finish!), so I'll share details later - I promise. *Keep reminding me, because this brain is a bit overloaded at the moment. Between getting the school house ready, working on the new textile prints that are coming soon, and heading out for spring break, I'm a little overwhelmed. In just a couple of weeks, all of the extra work will be worth it when we move the inventory here to the school house and my very own team gets to work. Can't wait!
Here is the entry way that we modified slightly. The bead-board was already here, so we added a peg rail at the top and midway. This is the same treatment we have in our
mudroom and I love all of the uses I have for the pegs. Even when fully loaded, they seem to be charming.
We used Ben Moore Marble Canyon for the trim. The walls were already a creamy white.
There is something about creamy walls with a painted trim that just feels country. I knew from the moment I walked in here that I would do this paint scheme.
Now the one big room is feeling more like a workspace after we installed the shelving this weekend. I searched high and low for industrial shelving in a soft beige color that would compliment the paint scheme (rather than a heavy dark grey). I didn't want dark and heavy shelving to weigh the space down. I wanted it to still feel fresh and light... even though it needed to be very hardworking and sturdy. I finally found it at Costco,
here. It would be perfect for a pantry, basement or garage.
The center of the room is the packaging area. This is where they'll package the product and shipping boxes. I'm waiting on the big long farm table that goes in this area, too. I'm looking forward to using it for big projects and big meals or workshops!
This island was a distressed green finish, but my mom painted it to match the trim. I think I'm going replace the pulls with something brass - maybe even drop pulls like
these?
This is the view looking opposite of the shelving. I set the sofa area up to be as cozy as possible, as I plan to use it as a backdrop for photos of new products. And its a pretty nice break area for the crew : )
The sofa is covered in my new collection of
Check Pillow Covers, in Spa and Natural. When I set up a sofa, I always anchor the ends with two 22" Squares, then two 20" squares, accented with a rectangle. If you don't want your sofa sooo full, I would use 22" squares on the ends, and accent with one 20" square or one rectangle. These sizes are all available in my store and work perfectly with inserts from Ikea. I use the 24" insert with the 22" covers to really make them plump and full.
The sofa is the
Comfort English Roll Arm Sleeper Sofa from Pottery Barn in Brushed Canvas Natural. We ordered the sleeper sofa so we can spend the night out here when we want! We've stayed several times this last month while its been a blank slate, but I'm not sure how it will feel after all of the inventory moves in.
I wanted something different for above the sofa, but of course, something that I could transition easily. So, instead of one large piece of artwork, I opted for a gallery of 8
Gold Leaf Frames. I love how graphic, yet nostalgic this collection of profiles feel. I'm not quite sure I have the mats right yet, or maybe I need to make the background of the profiles creamier?
When I get the look perfected, I'll have them available in my store.
Love these classic, soft and airy checks. The quality of the new stitching is so nice!
Check Pillow Covers, here >
I came across this table last week at Nell Hills in Kansas City. I had to have it and had to make a place for it. As you can imagine, you'll be seeing this view a lot moving forward. I plan to swap out the lamp and the shade with each season to change the look. I'm also finally trying my hand at covering the shade with a block print fabric. I'll be sure to share.
Mr. approved.
The light is so pretty here - from those big giant windows.
The big basket trunk is from
Gilt. It holds our bedding for our overnight stays and is a great scale and color (for a great price!).
In the desk area, I'm using our old dining room table (it has had quite a life!) with one of our RH wing dining chairs. I have one in my office at home, so it is fitting that I moved one here, too. And after I found the 6 Windsor chairs last fall, we're overflowing with dining chairs at home. It is the perfect comfy, structural piece for this desk.
I found the cork boards at Home Goods and painted the frames to match the trim paint. The file cabinet is wood (it still needs pulls!), and I also painted it to match the trim... That was sort of my default for this project. With so many elements collected, if it had an unnatural finish, it got painted. It helped to make everything that was mix and matched to go together.
I tried to make sure that all of our office-y supplies felt "cute" too - why not? Why get a black printer when you can get a white one? This lovely brass task lamp was another find at Nell Hills.
We are using the
"House" Stationery as the house stationery at The School House. This is the large tablet. I put the grey
LePens + old fashioned pencils in my
Creamware Creamers, which paired so nicely with this creamy Target lamp. The three of them seem like a set.
This is Emm's desk area that she's very thrilled about. I cleaned it up a bit for this photo, but it will soon be filled with lots of treasures, made and found.
Speaking of found treasures. How great are theses chairs? I found 3 of them in Lexington this weekend, and tracked down the buyer of the other 3 (gotta love a small town). I'm hoping she'll sell them to me so I can have the entire set of 6 to put around our big farm table coming in. They are just the perfect scale, patina and shape.
Mike's mom brought us this oversized crock - love it!
Here is a new print that will be available in store soon.
Back to the hardest working part of the room. I can't wait to deck these out with bins and baskets of inventory and supplies.
As I mentioned above, I found these shelves at Costco,
here.
Now into the kitchen! If you've followed along on
Instagram, you saw the process of selecting the paint color for the cabinets. They were factory finished with a dark stain when we purchased the school house. But they were nice and new cabinets, so we wanted to make sure we didn't waste them.
We ended up painting them Ben Moore Puritan Grey - thanks to Tessa at
nineandsixteen for helping me narrow down - and the pressure ;) I took these photos at the wrong time of day and the huge windows are overexposing everything. I'll do a proper kitchen post with really pretty photos in the future and details of everything.
We love the color and how they turned out! I added a furniture base to the cabinets and shaker pulls to give them that country feel we were after. I selected a very simple faucet with porcelain handles to make it feel very utilitarian in here - a true country kitchen.
We replaced the counters with new wood tops from Ikea.
It is just the thing to warm up the bluish grey cabinetry and make it feel very charming.
We love this room so much! I can't wait to walk you through the process because it was so easy and inexpensive. This room is completely transformed from what it was. These are the kind of DIY projects I love : )
We added another peg rail to each wall for more utilitarian storage and that shaker look I love.
This is the original library of the school.
Can you even? It is just so charming.
Can you believe this is the breakroom?! I do hope to host some open houses and workshops here, so visitors will get to experience the space, too. We'll probably host one this summer... hopefully!
That's all for now! I promise, once we get this up and running, I'll take even prettier photos and walk you through all of the projects step-by-step.