Once upon a dusty room, the elements swirled up and out of the house. Fresh new everything came in and rejoiced. This is now our Rose Cottage, a ranch house in Maine that we renovated from top to bottom, inside out. Yes, we’re ready to slumber. We need it. So, here is one bedroom’s Before and After design reveal, lovingly and diligently designed and built by myself and my very talented husband. (Hint-Slumber is the name of my next collection!)
Many more room reveals are coming up!
The mood for this room: Cloud to Rest Upon, Earth below, with touches of Ocean, Petal, and Moss. Creamy and Soft. My artwork is featured on the walls to transport me back to earthy and watery places and senses.
This FSC Certified Cork underlayment and wood flooring is heaven compared to the carpeting we removed. We used a grey farmhouse style cork in the wet-rooms like the kitchen, bathrooms, and mudroom. This lovely brown textured flooring is in all of the bedrooms, the sitting room, hallway, and library. Both flooring choices blend well and have a tidy divider in doorways where they meet. The colour scheme is handsome and classic which matches the wood tones of our various furniture pieces. This flooring is also exceptionally easy and quick to clean each week. What a relief to our dust allergies! We now have radiant heating. The toasty floors are so cosy in winter.
I write and draw my books here (and in the library), getting lost in dialogues and worlds of rainy days and vast gardens. Now, this is a reverie. It has been torture. Never keep secrets about the house you’re selling. Disclose everything. We did not appreciate the lies of this heating system, etc. There needs to be a way to test systems at any time of year, non-dependent on weather. The inspector needs to be thorough as well. It was a most cruel surprise after years of illness and sleep deficits to find out that our new haven was not at all restful. Now, after years of tireless work, we try to unwind. Remember World, illness is preventable. You can try to heal, but wouldn’t it be lovely for everyone if we didn’t have to?
Each room of this 40 year old house was stripped back, and everything was replaced. Some new walls were added, and some were removed. Every spec has been applied care and updated design features, including heating and air conditioning. Each bedroom has a brand new custom made, by us, headboard using non-toxic organic cotton fabric and batting. (Another future post will show their design details and construction.) All of the choices from paint to flooring to bedding are healthy. Who wants to have poison off-gassing around you while you try to sleep? We surely don’t want to create (preventable) health conditions for our family.
Every step and plan was well thought out and done to the best of our non-existent budget. With wise and strategic design choices, a home can look more serene (or expensive) than it costs. Colour theory affects one’s mood. Colour and texture are major ways to direct and boost a design. This house is very dark. We chose it as a stepping stone-slumbering house to catch up on sleep before taking on bigger challenge, but it took over because we were left in the dark about the big issues.
We darkened some rooms, where there is much more of a natural shadow, to create a cosier atmosphere. I don’t fight lighting. I lean into it. Some rooms encourage peaceful sleep, others are lighter and soft for optimal baking or school lessons. This bedroom was a dark crusty yellow-ish which did not feel happy or uplifting. It made the room look old and small. We painted it the same positive-feeling light cream as the library and hallway. These rooms needed brightening. The sitting room was drastically darkened into a rich red-plum. The other bedrooms are medium shades to encourage deep sleep. Lighting is key, not only for things like reading to prevent eye strain, but if colours reverb too much they can cause severe headaches. Air and light need to be accounted for when designing interiors and exteriors. We lightened the exterior from a dark muddy slate blue to a fresh heavy cream. The effect is transformative and positive. The cream enlarges the house, allowing it to be inviting and elegant. It stands well with our custom-renovated gardens and it’s fun to decorate each season.
We replaced the shiny scratched (cheap) brass hardware throughout the house with new smooth, bronze hardware for door knobs, curtain rods and tie backs, locks, etc. This uniform for the metals is like the paint colours. It gives the house an easy flow and the eye a rest. We chose a poetic, organic shape to lend a lightness to the colour and material.
What you do in each room daily determines the design choices. Colour, ergonomics, comfort, and flow matter. Our renovation is never finished. We’ll be adding things later such as handmade armoires and custom paintings. We’re still working on the pantry cabinets in the evenings this month. There is always something to do. A home, like a garden, is alive. It’s always changing and growing with you. It feels good to allow it to change with you, and not get stuck in time, like this house was when we found it. So, keep your home up to code and freshen it up, so others don’t have to suffer through updating it. Empathy, in every way, is important for our world to practice. Be kind.
When we moved in, the entire house was still dressed in old extremely dusty curtains and valances. The carpets reeked of pet dander, dust, etc. It made us incredibly sick while we worked every day to replace and renovate every inch of the house. We’re relieved to be able to easily clean the house each week. The smooth, freshly cleaned FSC certified wood and cork floors drastically lessen our allergic/sinus suffering. The cork underlayment that we placed under the flooring is healthy for joints. We’re very pleased with the results. We only wish the house had been in a suitable order to begin with. The biggest thing to allow us sleep and much less dust was removing the base board heaters and replacing the monstrously insomnia-making heating system. With more insulation in the basement ceiling, the rooms will become even more serene, especially at night.
Of course, we renovated the attached bathroom for this space as well. The hallway and adjoining rooms are completely overhauled, too. You can see the yucky carpet buckling. I’ll post the bathroom’s reveal soon. We removed that very large, odd closet and added a free standing bathtub that I adore meditating in and watching the trees outside in the wind. I cough just looking at these old pictures. So dusty…
This is the updated wall where a custom-built hearth cabinet will go. (Dark/Cloudy Day so adding a lamp here will help.) Coming soon!
The creamy bedroom with lush pale pink velvet curtains flows into the pink full bathroom. We used Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’ colour for the bathroom walls. It is the most wonderful clay pink, which changes in the light and instantly soothes and rejuvenates.
The closet is large, so we added a system to house more than what I personally own. Until we make our custom-built mudroom closets, a lot of our coats and extras are housed here. It is fun to arrange handbags and soft sweater piles on the shelves. Previously, there was a long hang bar. That was it. Now, dresses flow down freely and everything has its own space. This fashion designer appreciates a good closet.
This is the largest bedroom, so we regularly pile up on the king sized bed, chosen for this reason, and read or watch movies together. For adult bedrooms, I like a minimalist approach. This is calming, less distracting, and it also cuts down on dust accumulation.
Flooring installation is like a puzzle. We teach our family how to do jig-saws and flooring puzzles as each floor is laid out. These were easy and usually quiet to install. Just click in! Of course, with an old house, there were a few tricky spots in crooked doorways that needed a bit of special cutting and the use of a mallet. Living in a house while you renovate it not easy, especially if you have to move every item to another room whilst you install floors, windows, new walls, or even just when painting. I don’t recommend it, but with the state of the world, it’s hard to avoid.
Clean tarps and wonderful new sealing methods do help keep dust and scents out of where you are doing your living. We found ceiling tarp stilt-clamps that vertically set a plastic tarp in space, such as in a doorway. You can then tape the plastic to the walls to seal up. I wish we had these years ago as we only recently found them. Toxins are no joke, especially with existing conditions. We were also careful not to use any wallpaper or other glues that are scented/toxic. You have to be careful how you build your home. I hope furniture makers decide to go in a full eco/health direction. Price is always a factor, too. The goal is affordable and healthy. Many of my interior designs had to change due to what is available in healthier options, so imagine how amazing design could be if all options were healthy ones!
We design and build our own furniture designs, including cabinets, drawers, and bookcases. The entire new kitchen, pantry, and library pieces are handmade, as well as the bathroom cabinets and various other custom projects around the house. The mudroom built-ins are coming up!
My sensitive designs are healthy, calming, and inspired by the natural world. I designed a new house, which hopefully some moon soon we can share those designs with you. As a designer, I often wish for magical powers. Poof! Done. Change the colour, with the season. Ok!
It may sound funny, but that one new baseboard under the windows is one of my favourite things about this room. Why? Well, that is where the old dusty, cat-hair coated baseboard heater was. Now that the heater is gone, the new wooden board indicates that the room is quiet, warm, and safe for sleeping. Later on, I’d love to replace these windows, like we did with the giant bays in the library and new kitchen. Little rectangles, along a mesh screen, make adoring nature difficult. Later, though. A vanity chair, at the right height, is on my list, too.
Family time! Pop some corn, and put on a favourite holiday movie!
Then, learning to sleep again is a tricky and delicious feat, all wrapped up in covers of hope and peaceful healing powers.
We wish you Sweet Dreams! Love, Amor Milagre
Many more Rose Cottage Renovation Reveals are coming up.
Music of the Moment: Celtic Holiday Instrumentals
