#MSTARRxOHIDESIGN Makeover Update: The Design!… Plus Promo Codes!

August 28, 2020

Guess what!? We have an update on the MSTARRxOHIDESIGN makeover project and it’s a good one – we’re talking all about the design decisions we’ve made for each room thus far! In case you’re in need of a little catching up, Emily of mStarr Design and I are designing a room in each other’s homes! Here’s our first post all about the project, another introducing our amazing partners, and you can follow along on all our Instagram Stories as well (here and here).

Emily and I are friends, both professionally and personally, helping to make this project one that is truly of combined effort and energy – and so much fun! We went back and forth endlessly, helping each other make the best possible design decisions. I deal with a bit of self-doubt when it comes to my own home and it’s collaborative projects like these that help deliver a refreshing dose of confidence!

EMILY’S MAIN BEDROOM

PAINT + SHIPLAP

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to do shiplap behind Emily’s bed as a focal point. Enter Wallplanks. Emily did some super helpful installation how-to videos on Instagram Stories and you can see the challenges she faced since her home is older and her walls aren’t perfectly tidy and straight. She also thought it could be fun to continue the Wallplanks on another wall in the same space but with a different paint color for a bit of added interest.

Emily’s room is petite and she has a king-size bed (and it’s incredible that it fits so well given the size constraints), so we wanted to make sure the paint wouldn’t make the space feel smaller, which certain hues can do. But we knew we really wanted to do a darker accent wall. So we proceeded with caution…

We went with Classic as the main color and Current Mood (both by the amazing Clare brand) as the accent wall. The Current Mood paint color is GORGEOUS! Emily and I are so in love with it, so much so that we felt we needed to bring the color somewhere else in the space as well – we just can’t get enough. Emily came up with the idea of painting her existing nightstand and OMG it’s amazing! She also added some new hardware and it’s absolute perfection. See the nightstand before & after here.

PROMO CODE: WALLPLANKS…USE THE CODE MSTARR35 FOR 35% OFF

CARPET

Along with paint, carpet was one of the first decisions we made as we wanted to use that choice to base many of the other decisions off of. With paint colors decided, we went through a few different carpet samples that The Carpet Workroom (my go-to carpet company!) sent over. Once again, they didn’t disappoint.

With Emily’s room on the smaller side, we wanted something that wouldn’t be overpowering, aka many bold patterns and/or colors. We decided to go with DMI Poetic in Bone; it’s textured, very soft without being a very high pile, and while the color is ivory, it has depth with small fibers woven throughout. I love how it anchors the entire room and really captures the layered look we were striving for. We also wanted to leave a bit of space between the rug and the walls vs. doing a wall-to-wall carpet. I think there’s a time and place for wall-to-wall carpet, but for Emily’s room, we wanted to see some of the wood flooring. The Carpet Workroom came in and measured for the perfect amount of wood flooring to be shown on the edges.

If you’re interested in receiving samples, reach out to The Carpet Workroom; I can’t say enough wonderful things about them!

FURNITURE

With paint and carpeting all set, we were ready to choose furniture for our spaces! For Emily’s room, there’s only one wall where the bed could go, and the dresser had to stay in the same location as well. With the minimal closet storage, we knew we needed another wardrobe piece so that Emily could store her shoes, workout clothes, loungewear, and more. With that in mind, we were thrilled that Chilton came on as our furniture partner, and eagerly chose their Acadia Dresser in Maple and Shaker Armoire in Plain Sawn White Oak.

Working with Chilton is an absolute dream. A family-owned company in Maine, they specialize in both traditional and modern Shaker-inspired furniture, as well as Scandinavian and cottage styles. They pride themselves on focusing on utility, quality craftsmanship, and simplicity, values that both Emily and I treasure when choosing pieces we want to keep with us for years to come.

Since Emily already has a king size bed frame, we only needed a headboard. We found this one on One Kings Lane and are so excited to see it installed against the Wallplanks shiplap! We wanted something upholstered but it couldn’t be too deep or feel overpowering for the size of her space.

Seeing it all come together, from big beautiful pieces to the tiniest of details, has been so rewarding on every level, and as we continue to proceed, I get more and more excited, seeing our vision come to life!

PROMO CODE: Working with the Chilton team has been seamless and they’ve been so accommodating at every turn. So much so that they are offering YOU all a special discount on their pieces! Use code MSTARRXOHIDESIGN for 10% off at any time but if you shop now during their End of Summer sale, you’ll receive 15% off! AND if you shop this weekend and live in Massachusetts, you can take advantage of the Mass Sales Tax weekend and pay no tax!

LIGHTING

Since there’s not a lot of wall space and only enough room for one nightstand in Emily’s room, we decided to go with a sconce so that we wouldn’t take up any precious nightstand tabletop space. We chose the Roslyn sconce in Aged Brass from Hudson Valley for right by Emily’s side of the bed. Have I told you how much I love Hudson Valley’s assortment of lighting? To have them as a partner is a dream!

The room needed a bit more light overall though, so we also added a second light source, going for something with ambient light. We chose the Calabria PTL1011 for the dresser, and love how it adds a level of warmth to the space in a subtle, yet stylish way, with its shape and texture. I can’t wait to see it against the Current Mood paint by Clare (stay tuned!).

BEDDING + PILLOWS

When choosing the bedding in Emily’s master bedroom, I wanted to make sure that the linens were neutral, to continue to keep the overall aesthetic simple and align with Emily’s style. We wanted to bring in just the tiniest bit of pattern and I loved the idea of a timeless, relaxed stripe look. Since she switched to an Avocado Green mattress, Green Topper, and Green Pillows, the bed is already much cozier than it was before.

With the help of Garnet Hill, we stocked up on gorgeous Eileen Fisher bedding, creating a look that is classic, yet also super comfortable and welcoming. Here’s the setup we came up with:

For pillows, we are thrilled to be working with Danielle Oakey on this project! They have so many beautiful options, but we knew we wanted something that felt organic to pair with the striped bedding, and not compete for attention. We selected two Felicity 22 x 22″ pillows, and one Arbor Noir 14 x 36″ pillow. Perfection!

WINDOW TREATMENTS

We are SO excited to be partnering with Alva on the window treatments for each space! Emily already has some beautiful inside mount roman shades in her room, so we just need to soften the space by adding curtains to flank each window. I love the look of a layered window treatment, and since Emily always layers her rooms in such a beautiful way, I knew we would want to achieve that look in this space.

The samples are on their way to us so we will follow-up on stories here and here to show you the process of selecting custom window treatments! I think the window treatments are going to be one of the wow factors in both spaces. Stay tuned!

ART

Do you follow Katie of Halfway Wholelistic? Emily introduced me to her new print shop called – Collection Prints, offering affordable and accessible art downloads and prints. We are so happy to be working with them on our project! We’re still working through exact placement, sizes and frame options but we were both feeling a vintage-inspired piece of art for next to Emily’s bed and this one caught my eye (Wild Oak). There’s some wall space between a window and the armoire that used to have a full-length mirror but after Emily stumbled upon this mirror at Target that we put on the dresser, that space is freed up for art! I thought stacking Wild Herb I and Wild Herb II would be pretty near the window instead…Em agreed!

We are also very excited to have our framing partner on board – Simply Framed! Have you heard of them?! They provide well-priced custom framing options. We went with a couple of black gallery frames with white mats and then a dark walnut gallery frame for my room and For Emily’s, we went with a walnut gallery frame and dark walnut gallery frames. I love the dark walnut as it looks almost black but has a bit of dimension to it. We chose to do the frame-only option since we didn’t have the exact art prints selected yet, so we had both the frames and the art sent directly to us and we installed the art on our own. It was actually super easy! You can also send your art to them for a more custom framing experience, which is highly recommended if you already have your artwork.

We have a Simply Framed Promo code: MSTARRXOHIDESIGN15 for 15% off your first order on simplyframed.com.

One last thing Emily wanted to do was upgrade Bruno’s bed (their cutie dog that I am obsessed with!!). Emily has been looking at this one for their room!

COMING SOON: decor/finishing touches and the FINAL reveal!


MY GUEST ROOM/OFFICE

I am SO excited to tell you more about our guest room/office!! Emily has done such an amazing job.

When we introduced the project, there was potential for Harvey to continue to sleep in this space. But after seeing how the room was starting to come together and the fact that we needed to get him out of the space to paint, we tried out having Harvey and Evie sleep in the same room. Well, it stuck and they are still sleeping in the same room together! It makes having the office space in this room so much better, because Harvey doesn’t nap in here.

PAINT

After reviewing the paint swatches from Clare paint, Emily and I decided on painting our guest room white, and we both loved the Snow Day hue from Clare. Emily felt like our room needed something else (on the closet wall side), a fresh design detail of some sort, and she had the brilliant idea to paint the closet doors another color to create this added interest. We settled on Set in Stone as it was the perfect bluish-grey that goes beautifully with the rug we chose (more on that below!)! I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about painting the doors; it felt so permanent and I wasn’t sure if the shade was going to feel too blue. But now that the doors are painted and back installed, I’m beyond thrilled with the way they look! It’s so good, and I’m so glad that Emily encouraged me to step out of the paint box a bit on this one! Special shout-out to my husband Cody for doing this big project and shaving down the doors so they fit over our new rug 🙂

CARPET

From the beginning, Emily thought that there should be a simple, yet impactful pattern for the rug in our guest room, and from our very first design direction meeting, we both liked the idea of a grid-like pattern. Matt from The Carpet Workroom sent me a few samples and I knew almost immediately which one we would settle on. The Bellbridge City Block 720-1506 is the perfect look for this space, and fit our vibe exactly as we had hoped, mixing both traditional and modern styles with its pattern and colors. I love the way it looks with the paint colors Emily recommended.

One challenge we had to consider was how the rug would be placed in the room. There’s a bit of dead space in front of the closets, and I didn’t want to leave that part of the room out, so we decided to do a 12” reveal throughout the room. Typically, you wouldn’t want the rug to go halfway underneath the furniture, but I plan to add felt pads to the backs to make them level. It is worth it to get that 12” reveal in the space. 

For the serge binding, i.e. the finish method on a carpet’s edge, we had them match the rug color and I love the simplicity. The carpet is one of my favorite parts of the room, it’s made such a huge impact. We wanted something that was soft underfoot, which the carpet is, but to give a little more comfort, we added a thick rug pad. It ended up that both Emily and I (ahem…our husbands) had to shave off the bottom of our doors to accommodate the rug thickness, but it was 1000% worth it! 🙂

FURNITURE

I could go on and on about how excited I am to be partnering with Chilton, so much so that I’m getting jealous of our guest room and wishing it was our room (I see some master bedroom furniture upgrades in our near future…)! The quality and beauty of the furniture pieces we’ve received has exceeded our expectations.

I fell in love with the MS2 Queen Bed in Rift-sawn Oak with Natural Tape from the very beginning, and Emily agreed it would be perfect for this room. With that decision made, we used it as a foundation for choosing the other pieces. Emily recommended going with two Acadia Nightstands, and their Foundation Dresser, all in Maple; the look is so cohesive, yet each piece shines on its own as well.

I love the mix of wood tones and how simple they all are, yet honestly, still breathtakingly beautiful. These heirloom quality pieces are ones that I plan on having in our family for years and years to come. 

With the paint, rug, and furniture all set, this room is already looking completely new – and it looks so much bigger as well! The excitement continues 😉

We already had this CB2 desk, and knew that we wanted to keep it, implementing it into the design. It’s the perfect small scale desk and I like that it brings in a clean, modern feel to the space and breaks up the wood pieces. Emily found this chair and I purchased right away; it’s so good and will be a beautiful addition to the whole desk design! Let’s hope it arrives before December though. 😉

LIGHTING

Once we nailed down the layout for the space, Emily thought it would be nice to do a couple of sconces flanking the bed since the bed is lower and we didn’t want to crowd the nightstand. Emily proposed two Solana sconces, one on each side of the bed, and OMG I loooove the texture of these. At first, I was nervous they were a bit much…but we just got them in the room and the colors are PERFECT.

Emily also sourced this Freeman Table Lamp for the dresser…it’s such a statement piece in the space and I can’t wait to see it paired with the art.

So much love to our lighting partner – Hudson Valley!

BEDDING & PILLOWS

Below are the picks Emily chose from Garnet Hill for our guest room! I love that she layered the white sheets with the oatmeal linen duvet cover. It looks SO good in person and as you may already know, I’m obsessed with Garnet Hill’s linen options.

As mentioned above, we looked to Danielle Oakey, one of Emily and I’s go-to pillow shop, when it came time to choose some gorgeous pillows and ended up going with the Arbor 20 x 20″, and the Black Woven Stripe 14 x 20″.  We originally thought we wanted both of these pillows on the bed, but because the headboard is on the low side, two pillows took up too much space covering the headboard – and we want to be able to see that beauty! So we decided to do the Black Woven Stripe pillow solo on the bed, and are using the Arbor pillow elsewhere in the room! Highly recommend checking out Danielle Oakey’s shop.

You can read more details about my guest room design on Emily’s blog here

If you’ve made it through this whole post – I applaud you and so appreciate your support on this project! I know it’s a long one but we love sharing all these fun design elements with you, and giving shout outs to our amazing partners! Don’t hesitate to let us know any questions! And keep following along on Instagram with the #mstarrxohidesign hashtag!

Disclosure: This post is written in collaboration with our partners listed above. We are thrilled to be partnering with such incredible brands! Also, this post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase a product i’ve linked to, i may receive a small commission at NO additional cost to you. thank you for supporting the brands we love!

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