The perfect high quality rug solution for a uniquely shaped room!

9.16.2025

The perfect high quality rug solution for a uniquely shaped room!

I have just majorly up-leveled my living room! (I hope I used that term right.) Point is, I have a unique, long, skinny living room in my historic Tudor revival house and there is just no way that a modern standard rug was ever going to be the right size. Back in the day homeowners could order from the Sears & Robuck catalog or other mail order sources to get a custom piece of carpet or linoleum cut to exactly the right size to give a nice border around the room. My parents' 1910 home still had some of these when they bought it, and my 1937 home has very clear lines where the wood floor has discolored from the sun over time around the edge of a perfectly sized floor covering.

But now nowadays, a 10'x14' or 12'x16' rug are about as big as you can get and they are just not the right dimensions… Until now! There is a new way to get incredible quality natural material, fully custom size rugs, down to the inch!

Custom Jute rug for my uniquely shaped living room

I actually started with an 8'x10' rug in this room and just kept slowly getting bigger over the years. Finally we had a 10'x14' which was close-ish to the right width, but there were these two bare floor areas on either side of the couches. I put a small vintage rug on one, but it wasn’t a great look. My kids played so frequently in the other one, near the bookshelf with toys and books and Barbies, and I really wanted something comfortable there for them. Plus, you’ve probably heard this before… a too-small rug makes a room look smaller! Repeat that after me… When your rug is too small, it makes your room look smaller!

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Timeless style updates to my plain all-white kitchen

8.20.2025

Timeless style updates to my plain all-white kitchen

I redid my kitchen in 2019, which was not that long ago, but I was still figuring out my style at the time and I chose some then trendy, more modern finishes I would not choose now. (I also was still very much in a fixer upper mindset, and the house had glass block tile and peeling wallpaper and three layers of old roof tiles and… point is, I just wanted something fresh and clean and new.) So I ended up with a very white, pretty boring kitchen.

But it feels wasteful to redo a new kitchen. I’m not about to replace tile countertops or cabinets, but I realized there were several things I could do that would add more character and interest. I also had some circa 2022/2021 “organic earthy modern” touches to undo! They had coordinated with the brushed brass and industrial wood shelves, but did not go with my clean, classic, Nancy Meyers-inspired, hopefully timeless kitchen look.

I did several small, budget-friendly projects to totally refresh this kitchen!

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Otto's blue and yellow classic bedroom update

8.14.2025

Otto's blue and yellow classic bedroom update

I did not find decorating for a seven-year-old boy to be particularly easy or fun, but I’m excited that I finally have finished Otto's bedroom after more than a year of picking some upgraded, non-toddler, still not big boy, things! And this room features a lot of special touches, including a watercolor of us at the coast and some pieces he chose himself!

Boys room bunkbed upgrade with timeless decor

Otto's nursery and toddler room were a lot more minimal and modern than a lot of this house. Something about having a baby in 2018 when you have very little money I guess. So I was excited to start replacing some things in his room with more timeless pieces. The first thing I changed was the rug, to a jute one. Obviously replaced the crib with a bed, but then decided we needed a bunkbed for the hot days is when Lucy also sleeps in here, so found this adorable colonial inspired bunkbed in this pretty blue color.

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Bedroom updates, and affordable custom trimmed curtains

8.06.2025

Bedroom updates, and affordable custom trimmed curtains

After many years of subpar window treatments in my bedroom… I finally cracked the code! I had been using slightly-too-short standard 84" Target curtains, pretty good blackout, but just the hidden tab top, because I knew they would be quiet for opening and closing while the kids were sleeping nearby. But I really wanted the elegant look of pinch pleat curtains on rings. Well, I figured it out!

The best window treatments for my primary bedroom

The solution: layered Roman shade and curtains. I got this beautiful woven Roman shade from Twopages, with a super thorough blackout lining, and I mounted it outside the window to block the light around the cracks and allow all the light I can through the window when the shade is open. This thing is so powerful, but all I need is the shade closed for a seriously effective blackout (and it’s silent when I open and close it).

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Floral wallpaper transformation (and more) in our plain upstairs bathroom

7.30.2025

Floral wallpaper transformation (and more) in our plain upstairs bathroom

I think I’ve done it… I think I’ve wallpapered the last room in this home that needs it! I hesitated for a while because I had already renovated this bathroom… Back in 2020, with kind of a mix of that organic earthy modern thing that was trending for a while plus some traditional elements like wainscoting. It was...fine. Honestly, fine. But I also thought it was sort of begging for wallpaper about the wainscoting on the white walls.

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New sofas in the living room!

7.22.2025

New sofas in the living room!

A couple years ago I finally figured out the right layout for my long skinny living room. Two couches facing each other: simple and classic, but very comfortable, with lots of seating options. Plus an ottoman instead of a coffee table for comfy foot resting, and of course lots of forts and jumping by the kids. But as for the sofa style, I debated for probably a year and a half before I figured out the right combination. Well, they’re finally here and I’m so excited to reveal them!

Thanks to Interior Define for partnering with me on this post.

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Classic bracket open shelves in my historic house kitchen

6.25.2025

Classic bracket open shelves in my historic house kitchen

I was really proud of these DIY industrial wood/bracket shelves when we redid our kitchen in 2019. I couldn’t find thick enough wood on its own so I use stair risers and cut off the rounded edges. They worked great function-wise, and when we first installed them, they added some nice warm because the kitchen was so plain and so white. But now… I’m really going for a more traditional, classic, and cohesive look here, and they were sticking out like a sore thumb. 

So... I replaced them with something better!!!

Thanks to Van Dyke's Restorers for partnering with me on this post.

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Re-doing the entryway wallpaper! With something way better

6.18.2025

Re-doing the entryway wallpaper! With something way better

Well, I’m to the point of redoing DIY projects I did at this house a few years ago…! I wallpapered this entryway with peel-and-stick wallpaper in 2021, My first wallpaper project in this house. That paper was trendy and kind of modern and never exactly perfect for this house. But, it was neutral and not offensive, and I wasn’t sure what else I would choose. But an entryway is such an important moment. When you first walk into the house, I wanted it to be really special. 

Thanks to Sandberg Wallpaper for partnering with me on this post.

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Finally, the right size rug for the dining room!

5.22.2025

Finally, the right size rug for the dining room!

This dining room was the first room I called "finished" when we moved in almost 7 years ago, and because dining rooms have pretty basic ingredients, it hasn’t really changed all that much. I’ve definitely improved it though, several times. But the thing I was never able to get right was the rug. This room is about 12' x 12', which means a standard 8'x10' rug looks… OK? But definitely not high-end or really comfortable.

Thanks to Rugs USA for partnering with me on this post.

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