Tag: Pottery Barn

Update: Modular Home Office Furniture

I figured out my office storage situation, and it’s going to look fantastic!

And I say “going to” because the file cabinet for the center isn’t expected to ship until June. So this will be the setup for a while.

I mean, the furniture at least. I will clean up the wallpaper samples at some point in the next three months.

I came in nicely under budget though! I had set aside $2000 for the wall of storage, and came in at less than half of that. I bought the floor model Benchwright Desk Hutch for $299 instead of $499 at full price, and I ordered the modular Martha Stewart Living Craft Studio pieces during their St. Patrick’s Day sale (17% off), making them $562 instead of $677. I could have gone with a different configuration and saved a little more, but I felt like the extra $100 or so was worth it for more drawers, rather than open shelves.

The lights I have there now were grabbed from another room, and the sconces in the mockup aren’t final, but this is the general idea. The backordered filing cabinet is going to slow things down a bit, but at least the decision has been made and the order placed. Progress! Slow, slow progress.

March 28, 2017
Modular Home Office Furniture
I want to line an 8′ long wall with office storage, but there are a few limitations. Our third floor has a ceiling height of 8′ in the center of rooms, but there are lot of funny angles because of the roof line and I’ll only have 54″ of clearance. There is already a desk and a table in the room, so I’m looking for something higher than 30″ to break up that horizontal plane. I also can’t bring anything up in one piece that’s too long, because it won’t fit up the stairs! So here’s what I’m looking for.
- 36-54″ tall, and up to 86″ long.
- Modular, or something that can be assembled in the room.
- A mix of drawers, filing cabinets, and open storage.
- $2000 budget (of course less would be nice)
Modular home office furniture can check all those boxes. I’ve looked at options from IKEA, Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware, Arhaus, Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Ballard Designs, Home Decorator’s Collection, and probably a few more that I’m forgetting right now.

I’m going to choose something with a base height of 30-36″ and then add more storage on top with a hutch. The extra storage on top doesn’t necessarily have to be from the same collection, though a lot of them do have options that all work together (a bonus so that the finishes match exactly). I’ve narrowed down my options to Pottery Barn’s Printer’s Office, the Original Home Office line from Ballard Designs, and the Martha Stewart Living Craft Space collection.

These are in scale with one another, and those sconces are placed at 46″ high. The full retail price is listed above, but all three are currently on sale (and go on sale pretty regularly). But wait, there’s more! Here are a couple of mix and match possibilities.

The base from Ballard Designs in their Tuscan Brown finish can be paired up with the Benchwright Desk Hutch from Pottery Barn. The finishes are a bit different, but I’m liking it. Or the Ballard base in white with a Martha Stewart Hutch?

Which would you choose?
March 16, 2017
Analysis Paralysis

Have I adequately conveyed the amount of over-thinking I do for everything around here? Are you familiar with analysis paralysis?

“The state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. A decision can be treated as over-complicated, with too many detailed options, so that a choice is never made, rather than try something and change if a major problem arises. A person might be seeking the optimal or “perfect” solution upfront, and fear making any decision which could lead to erroneous results, while on the way to a better solution.”

Yep.

I think my favorite category of home decor is lighting. I’m looking for sconces right now and I can find plenty in the $250-350 range that I like, which is doable if you save up. But times three for the third floor, and then three more for the second floor? Now you’re looking at $1500-2100. You’d better damn well love those lights. Meanwhile, there are open junction boxes in the hallway outside our bedrooms, and the sconces on the third floor look like this.

Bad patch jobs, complete with joint compound on the fixtures themselves. I’ve gotten really good at ignoring the problem until now, but it is starting to drive me batty. Hence the renewed sconce search!

A bunch of my favorites have already been pinned to my lighting board, and there are more that I’ve been eyeing as I think about what would work for the house. But then I went ahead and put some sconces in my cart and instead of letting them sit there while I spent four more days looking at every option from every source, I actually bought them. Boom. Done.

They are not my absolute favorite. They aren’t really brass (“water-based finish is painted in antique brass or bronze”), and the second floor hallway needs a mix of single and double sconces, so these aren’t an option for that space. I’ve gone ahead and ordered three for the top floor though where I needed something classic, not too big, with traditional details. On sale for $62 a pop, plus another $10 or so for each shade.

They won’t be the stars of the space, but I got three for less than one of the others I had been considering. They won’t be perfect, but they will be so much better than what we have now. That’s one more thing checked off of the house’s long to-do list! They should get here by the end of the week.

August 24, 2016
A Bedroom Inspired by a Pillow
I spotted these Evie floral pillows on clearance at Pottery Barn when I was out the other day. I hadn’t noticed them online or browsing through the catalog before. The pattern has the quirk of a good vintage find, and scattered amongst the leaves and flowers are caterpillars, butterflies, and beetles (you know how I feel about beetles). I liked the back, which isn’t shown in the product photos, even better than the front.

I often see a new print, piece of furniture, wallpaper, pillow, whatever, and I start dreaming up a whole room around it. Do you guys do the same thing? It’s a little dangerous because I want to buy! all! the! things! so instead, I come home and whip up a design plan I can share here. Good thing I have a blog, eh?

Creative outlet: go!
1. Linden Coral and White Bedding, Crane & Canopy
2. Evie Floral Pillow, Pottery Barn
3. Threshold Vintage Washed Sheets in Possibly Pink, Target
4. Franklin Marble Threshold Table Lamp, Target
5. Queen-sized Jenny Lind Bed, Land of Nod
6. Malone Campaign Teal Blue Nightstand, West Elm
7. Muuto Rose Pink Nerd Chair, Design Public
8. Paint: Pink Ground, Farrow & Ball
9. Downing Desk, Kate Spade
  Have you seen this IKEA hack inspired by the Downing desk? Brilliant.
I would love to see this as a guest room. I wanted to play up the pinks and blues in the pillow, and the vintage-style bed is a nod to the pattern style. The use of black throughout would keep the whole thing from veering off into too-sweet territory, and more modern pieces keep the look current. The imperfect dots on the desk are a good complement to the floral print, and the brass hardware and lighting add warmth.

p.s. I almost used “bed bugs” in the title but then thought better of it. You’re welcome.
March 18, 2016
Talking Rugs and Lighting (Aren’t I Always?)
The closet is looking good, and it’s so close to being done.

The couple of sneak peeks above are on Instagram, and if you follow me on Snapchat, you might have seen the design plan for the closet. I was thinking of using a pink rug and bench. Either something all pink like Pottery Barn’s Leila tufted rug, or in a pattern that features the color prominently like Caitlin Wilson’s Kismet rug. We had an antique/vintage (no details on how old it is) Tibetan meditation rug in the hallway though that’s mostly red with a little pink, and it looks great in the closet. Our hallway is a bit more naked now, but that hallway is in serious need of repair right now anyway after all of the rewiring work on the second floor (another story for another day).

I ordered a small tufted ottoman from Target in pink that hasn’t arrived yet. Then I saw the same ottoman in the store in a pretty grayish blue color that hadn’t been listed online. I brought it home yesterday and the other is due to arrive tomorrow, so I’ll keep whichever is better with the rug.

Which means there are only three more things to do, and then the closet is done!
1. Sew a sink skirt.
  Easy enough, I was just waiting on the rug so I can choose fabric. Moving ahead with that one.
2. Hem the curtains.
  Easy peasy.
3. Find a new light.
  Not so easy, but it needs to happen.
Yeah, so the light. I put up one of the fixtures from downstairs because why not? I’ll tell you why not: it’s way to low and I bump into it constantly. I knew that the scale was wrong, but I figured it would be fine and buy some time until I found something else. It wasn’t a visual assault on my eyes or anything, it just looked silly, being to big. I failed to take into account how annoying and potentially dangerous it would be — I’m worried I might break the glass.

I came across this image that I posted here in 2011, before I had ever set foot in our Victorian.

Beautiful, right? And I’ve been so drawn to that simple style of lighting lately. I want to replace our foyer pendant and was considering something similar, but now I’m also considering it in a smaller, semi-flush mount version for the closet. I’m still not 100%, but I think it could work.
January 28, 2016
15 Stylish Garment and Coat Racks
Garment racks. Coat racks. Oh, the multitude of racks I have looked at! Here’s what happened.

The bedroom closet had an Intermetro rolling garment rack setup for double hanging when we moved in. It was nice and sturdy with a shelf right in the middle, but when I took it out so that I’d have the height to hang dresses, the whole thing got a little wobbly. I put its shelf back and relocated it to the laundry room once I found one of those ubiquitous reclaimed wood garment racks at Yearbook a while back. It was a little wobbly too, but it was better than the other rack and it had the bonus of looking good.

Well, I guess the carpeting in the closet must have kept it stable, because the day after I wheeled the thing back in, the whole thing fell over with the weight of all my dresses on it. The floor and trim escaped damage, but the Elfa system on the opposite wall was pretty badly dented, the wall was gouged, and the rack was bent out of shape. I righted the garment rack and am using it for now, but it’s precarious and I’m on the lookout for a replacement. Hence this roundup.
1. Allison Coat Rack, Pottery Barn
  I can’t decide if the hooks are good or not. Helpful for scarves, I suppose? Otherwise, superfluous.
2. Ceiling Clothing Rack, Urban Outfitters
  Copper and clean geometry, and takes up no floor space. If I were more confident about the plaster ceilings and stud spacing, this would be pretty appealing.
3. Vintage Tailor’s Clothing Rack, Restoration Hardware
  Vintage design, modern sturdiness. Has an additional bar to make this into a double-hanging rack.
4. Mulig Clothes Rack, IKEA
  $10! Comes in black or white. On the flimsy side though. For a (presumably) sturdier but still minimalist option, there’s Pottery Barn’s Blacksmith Clothes Rack.
5. Garment Rack, West Elm
  Asymmetrical base, plus a cute color. Comes in black too, but that blue is so much happier.
6. Calvin Clothing Rack, Urban Outfitters
  OK, when I started pulling these together, it was available in gold (for an extra $100). Now it’s just black and white. Cute design though, yes?
7. 4040 Locust Industrial Storage Rack, Urban Outfitters
  Pipes and wood, plus copper. Trendy hipster loft style.
8. Mercantile Coat Rack, Restoration Hardware
  Small footprint, but still plenty of hanging space. Sturdy, too! I went and checked it out in person. Definitely my favorite design of the bunch — also among the most expensive.
9. 19th Century Couturier’s Rack, Restoration Hardware
  Doesn’t hold all that much and it’s pricey. Awesome if you don’t need much hanging space though and are looking for something beautiful.
10. Emily and Meritt Wardrobe Rack, Pottery Barn Teen
  Pipe meets faux-Victorian details.
11. Toj Clothes Rack, Normann Copenhagen
  A little too Danish mod for my house, but the design is fantastic.
12. Monroe Trades Coat Rack, West Elm
  More pipe. Lots of coat racks made out of pipe. Interesting take on the base here though.
13. Bellman Cart, Forbes Industries (Hotel Supply)
  The pretty brass birdcage ones are thousands of dollars. (“But Nicole,” you say. “Think of the Instagram opportunities.” To which I whisper “I knoooowww…”) There really isn’t enough room anyway though and they don’t hold much, so moving on.
14. Butler Stand, CB2
  Small footprint, similar to the design of #11 but a smidge more industrial. Doesn’t hold enough for my needs though and the hanging space is too short.
15. Niles Coat Rack, Ballard Designs
  Plenty of hanging space and a handy shelf beneath. Nice detail along the sides too, but I think it’s about a foot too long for my needs.
I find it helpful to go through these roundups when narrowing down my choices, but I’m not sure yet which one I’ll go for. Number 8 is my favorite for sure, but it’s hard to justify when most of the others cost so much less. Which one would be your pick?
December 14, 2015