Christmas trees! And MUFFINS! Glorious.
This year, the decorating process was a little…ahh…rough. I’d spent the entire previous day flat on my back with the plague, and when I emerged from my cave-bedroom I wasn’t exactly a bundle of joy. But ornaments and lights have a way of making you feel - if not “peppy,” perhaps - certainly festive.
As do muffins.
Mood board by Kim Lewis of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Remember my sliding barn door from Rustica Hardware? The one I installed when we first moved in and discovered that the master bathroom sink was located directly next to where our heads would be when we were sleeping (ew)? It remains one of my favorite design features in our house to this day, and so when I decided that I wanted to turn our garage into a multipurpose room that would significantly expand our square footage, I asked Kim Lewis - who recently designed the most spectacular collection of statement doors for Rustica Hardware - if she'd be willing to help me figure out which ones would work best in the space.
What I wanted: An industrial-style sliding door to separate the laundry room from the rec room part of the garage, and then a second door separating the garage from the dining room area (the one there now is just a standard white door, and I felt like this was an opportunity to communicate that what's behind the door is worth seeing). The problem: the two doors will be located in close proximity to each other, so they have to communicate a similar vibe without being...the same.
This is Kim Lewis. You might recognize her from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, or Tiny House Nation. I would like to borrow a) her hair, b) her wardrobe, and c) her freckles, but - most importantly - I would also like to borrow her decor opinions, because I love a good door...and the doors that she designed for Rustica Hardware miiiiiight just be the best. Like, in the world.
Kim worked with me to help pick out the perfect doors to install in our not-quite-yet renovated garage - you can see her selections here - and while I had her ear I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask her a few questions about how to incorporate super-bold design elements into your decor...and play the Match-the-Kardashian-to-the-Door game (it's a classic).
Hi, Kim! I obviously think you're fabulous and need to discuss all your fabulousness for posterity. Tell me a little about how you got to the designing-awesome-doors part of your life?
Give me all the sweetly rustic gorgeousness.
The other day, I stopped into Target to buy a pair of ballet tights for my daughter, and then accidentally spent three hundred dollars.
(This happens literally - LITERALLY - every single time I "just run into Target real quick, just for one thing," and by now I should know better, but apparently I do not.) This time, the culprit was a new line called "Hearth & Hand with Magnolia" (created in collaboration with the Fixer-Upper couple), but you know what? In this case I am A-OK with having been ambushed by galvanized metal and faux reclaimed wood, because the inside of my house is now as festive and adorable as the outside, and I sort of feel like a superhero for having picked up pieces this good for prices this ridiculously low. (I'm also aware that I'm a huge sucker; no need to remind me of the The Man's scheming ways.)
Give me all the Christmas things
I have never been a big Christmas decorator. But that’s not because I don’t want to be - oh my gosh, I would very seriously like to have my house look like a Christmas explosion, please - it’s because I never really had the space or the materials. When you grow up in a two-bedroom apartment in New York City, there’s not a ton of square footage to allow for high-volume decorating, and if you want to get all festive on the exterior of your place, what that means is stringing some lights from your fire escape.
Which is cool! But…you know. Definitely not the same as being a member of the McCallister family.
