Living Room Update and Intro to Loloi Rugs

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Hi friends, happy Tuesday! I’m excited to share a living room update with you today! Since you last saw it here, we’ve made some swaps which have transformed it into my dream room, and my by-far favorite room of the house.  It feels so cozy and happy for our little family!

To start the update we moved the rug we had into Lou’s office and replaced it with this one from Loloi rugs– it’s plush, unique and so well crafted- I’m in love with it. It’ll be a lifetime keeper for us.  A quality wool rug will last forever– we always have ours professionally scotch guarded and then yearly cleanings to keep them in the best shape.  This one by Loloi was hand knotted, which is wild to think about!  It’s a craft that’s been passed down from generation to generation, fathers teaching their sons an artform that has been used for lifetimes.  Textiles are a representation of culture, and something I love to mix and match in our house (in this room alone we now have a rug from India, pillows made from Thai fabric, and a traditional Moroccan wedding blanket).  The combination gives the room a worldly appeal and the mix of patterns and materials play nicely together.

Check out this microsite Loloi created that shows the process of how their rugs are handcrafted in India- it will inspire you in so many ways!!!  It’s especially fascinating to me because they employ many of the same tools and techniques that I use to make my weavings- it’s fun to see.  It gives me a huge appreciation not only for our beautiful rug but that Loloi is honoring the time honored craftsmanship to make high quality products- something that is becoming more rare in the marketplace.   And the video is so beautiful, it has me wanting to go to India, and then to promptly replace every other rug in our house- oh dear!

This post was produced in partnership with Loloi Rugs, we hope you love!  (You can purchase Loloi rugs here).

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We also sold our old coffee table and had this one custom made. I knew I wanted a larger table, and something with a bit more color than the stainless steel, but wanted to keep the modern design. I go back and forth about the idea of having it polished and coated as was my original intention, but so far we’ve been loving the direction the untreated copper has gone.  And I love the warmth it brings to the space.

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In a game of musical furniture I took the rocker from my office and swapped it for the circle chair that was in the corner (which is now in our bedroom), preferring the warm wood to the black metal. We found the vintage rocker at NokNok Living here in San Diego and I actually bought it before I even knew where I wanted it to live. I’m so happy I did, that chair will probably live in many rooms over the time we have it, I’ll never part with it.  And happily, the mini jungle behind it is thriving (against all odds as I am  not the best plant keeper!  Thank you Plant Gods, thank you very much)

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Last but not least, we commissioned our friend Greg build this floating credenza for under the mirror (I loved it so much in the Palm Springs house I wanted to create a version for this house too).  Heck to the yes to floating credenzas!

Home Office Makeover with Arhaus

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Hello my friends!  I’m excited to be sharing my home office makeover today, produced in partnership with Arhaus.  When we moved into this house I knew that I’d take the smallest bedroom and try to find the best way to make it work as a home office until we scrape together the funds to build out the garage into a studio space.  Little did I know that it would become my little sanctuary and that I’d find myself re-thinking the idea of building out the garage simply because the space is so cozy!

First things first, as with every other room in this house, I started by painting the entire room and ceiling white!  As I hoped it immediately felt larger and brighter.  I started the room design by choosing the rug- I fell in love with this piece and decided to keep the rest of the room fairly neutral but have a big pop of color on the floor.  Eventually I’d like to ground the rug with an even larger jute rug under it which would also add a nice layer- but I’m saving that until Pepito has outgrown his chew every-damn-thing phase!!!

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Bedroom Update with Tommy Hilfiger

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Happy Wednesday my friends!  When we sold our Palm Springs house the new owners purchased a good amount of our furniture, including everything in the master bedroom except for two poufs.  So we started from scratch with this house- and it’s slowly but surely coming together!  Our wishes for our bedroom are always the same: a tranquil, soothing, cozy retreat. At the end of the day there’s nothing sweeter than climbing into a soft bed and snuggling up for the night. And I have to say, this is our favorite bedroom so far- which is fantastic because we still have so far to go with the design so I know we’re only going to love it more and more!  It’s simple and sweet, cozy and inviting- really just the perfect place to lay our heads.

The bed is pure heaven.  I’m in love with the neutral pallette, the comforter with just the lightest hint of pattern, the variety of textures in the pillows/throw, the warmth from the wood frame, and the way it all comes together so cohesively.  And, you’ll see above the bed, my first weaving!  I may move it, not 100% sure that I love it in that spot but for now I’m displaying it like peacock feathers cause I’m pleased as punch with how it turned out!

The rest of the room still has a ways to go, but I love the simple dresser, the lights that offer the softest glow at night and the pop of color from the photo above it (will be offering those up for sale here in the next week or two- please email me at [email protected] if you’d like to be notified when they’re available!).  And I didn’t photograph it but on the other side of the room there are a bunch of plants.  Will save that for another update down the road, hopefully soon. Hope you love it my friends!  xx- Sarah

Sources:  bed, bedding set, side tables, lamps (here and here), dresser, rug,  {This post was sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  Thank you for supporting our sponsors!}

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Decorist Guest Bedroom Makeover!

Happy Friday my friends!  Today I’m super excited to introduce you to Decorist, an online decorating service that’s the cat’s pajamas!  I get a fair amount of reader emails with decorating questions, and have had conversations with enough friends who feel interior design challenged to know that there are a lot of people who find decorating to be a daunting task, or don’t have the desire or time to tackle it.  But I’m a firm believer that the spaces we inhabit can bring us joy- and that having them decorated in a style that brings us happiness is a highly worthwhile endeavor!  Which is why I’m so happy that Decorist exists!  For an affordable price (starting at $199) Decorist will pair you with a designer that matches your style for personalized design services, of if you prefer you can select your own.  They’ll tackle projects large or small, work with your budget, provide two design plans AND a revision.  And as a major bonus, you can purchase all of the items in one place- through Decorist- and trade discounts are offered from over 100 retailers!  So good, right?!  Read below for the process I went through working with elite designer Jennifer Stewart to design a guest bedroom for our house!  {Get your own Decorist Makeover here. Enter code AHouseintheHills20 for $20 off your makeover!}

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The first step after purchasing my makeover was to create my design profile by selecting my favorite items out of a variety of styles so that I would be paired with a designer whose style matched mine.  I was so happy to see my virtual room come together (above) and was deemed a “modernist at heart” by Decorist.  Sounds about right- the description fit my style to a tee!

Next up I filled out a short questionnaire about the project and uploaded a photo of the drawing I made of the room with all of the measurements.  It was a pretty rough sketch but the measurements were accurate and I knew it would be enough for her to get the idea since it’s such a simple room.  But if the room were more complicated I would’ve uploaded photos of it as well.  I also sent along this Pinterest board to share my design aesthetic (uploading specific inspiration photos is also an option!)

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After that it was all in Jennifer’s hands and I was SO excited to see what she would do with our room!  A few days later she sent along these design boards, shopping lists and her thoughts about each of the rooms!  Aren’t they both so great?!

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I went back and forth between the two boards so many times and finally decided that I preferred the second board.  But I wanted the room to have just a bit more, and since we have so many circle mirrors in my house I wanted to see another option for above the bed.  I responded to Jennifer and gave her my feedback about the room for her to incorporate into the plan.  You can see the final design below, I love it!  The room design fits perfectly with what we have going in the house already and would be such a cozy and inviting spot for our guests.  Pretty brilliant right?!  Hope you love as much as I do!  xx- Sarah

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Kitchen Refresh with True Value Part 2!

Hello my friends!  I’m so happy you liked the last kitchen update post!  In the last of my 4 part series with True Value I decided to share how we transformed this corner of the kitchen in a separate post since it involved removing cabinets, tile and doing some pretty major patching. This part of the kitchen was extra exciting for me because I was able to see at least some of what I don’t love (the tile) not just transformed, but GONE!  And removing it myself was so, so satisfying.  I’d consider becoming a professional kitchen demo-er after this project!  HA!  Taking out the cabinets was also exciting, and it did just what we hoped it would!  It opened up the space, created a place to display some of our favorite things and made the kitchen feel much larger and brighter.  I’m a huge proponent of making small updates that have a big impact, and love that we’re  learning how to do these projects ourselves.  This update should hold us over and keep us happy until we tear down walls and completely reimagine the space!  Hope you love!  Click through for instructions on removing cabinets/tile, repairing a wall and hanging open shelves!  Happy DIY’ing!  xx- Sarah

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Kitchen Refresh With True Value Part 1

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Hello my friends, happy Thursday!  I’m beyond excited to share our kitchen refresh with you today in partnership with True Value– can you even believe what a difference new paint job, cabinet hardware and a few other small alterations made to our space?!  You may remember from our empty home tour that the kitchen is the room in the house I’m least in love with, which is a big deal for me since I love to cook!  The room was dark and felt tiny and cramped in spite of it’s decent size.  We’re planning on knocking down the wall that separates it from the dining room and opening it up to the strange little room beside it someday down the road.  That project will be a full-on renovation where we completely reconfigure the space- and something we’ll be saving our pennies for!!!  In the meantime I was desperate for a way to make it a little more our style- and wasn’t afraid of a little bit (or a lot as it turned out) of labor to get it there!  Below I’m sharing all the steps we took to transform our worn and dated cabinets into a more modern incarnation of themselves- and the other changes we made to update the space.  I’ll share the other side of the kitchen and the updates we made there soon!  I hope this inspires your own DIY adventures!!!  xx- Sarah

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{More after the jump}

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