last week, i got a super fun/super unexpected/super inexplicable-yet highly flattering email from the community manager for the online store chairish, an "exclusive, curator approved, online marketplace for vintage and used furniture." in the email, she wrote: We understand when choosing a color palette for a room, it can be hard to step away from basic neutrals, and going bold is a big decision. We'd love for you to share your taste for color by creating a styleboard around a vintage rug by taking a room from white to bright!
um, has she seen my house? it's nothing BUT white! however, i do love color, and there are moments when i crave changing a room and taking it 180 degrees from where it currently is. budget and reality constraints keep those cravings in check, but i loved loved LOVED creating a styleboard around a rug that i likely wouldn't have ever considered for my own home. and now that i've done the work? i totally want this room to be real!
after choosing the baluch rug from among all the options, i started with the story: where would this rug be happy? who would buy it? let me introduce you ...
first, the rug i chose reminded me of my first job in minneapolis. i worked for an ad agency in a revitalized building in the warehouse district (before it was the trendy north loop). the job was meh, but i adored walking to the building from the bus stop each morning ... grabbing a coffee at moose & sadie's, walking the three flights to our office, which was all exposed beams and brick walls, large arched windows with steel frames, wide-plank floors that were more than a hundred years old. the space was wide open and raw, and i absolutely loved the atmosphere and desperately wanted to live there.
so my styleboard is just that: a single woman in the city lives in a small loft in an old warehouse. she's a writer for the city magazine, covering the local arts & travel beat, but she aspires to work for a larger publication, traveling the world and writing about the people she meets. her loft's main living space, while small, is open and bright from the large windows and tall ceilings, but her bathroom is cozy and whimsical.
i based my plan on a modified version of a bathroom in a loft in milwaukee.
and here's the styleboard:
so ... visualize with me:
you walk into the bathroom, and straight in front of the door is the beautiful antique louis vuitton trunk (filled with extra tp, cleaning supplies, etc.) that our homeowner found on chairish, and above it are the art pieces and a few other trinkets, which create a small gallery. the floor is the beautiful noir hex tile, and the walls are papered in the fun cities toile ... a reminder to our homeowner of all the places she wants to go and see.
to keep her feet warm while brushing her teeth, she laid down the baluch rug that she also found on chairish.
lucky for her, when the bathroom was added to the loft, the baseboard trim was fresh and white and new, and a lovely modern shower was added. the shower has basic white subway tile surround, but our lady got handy one weekend and added a decorative border of honey onyx tile to create some visual interest.
the pedestal sink, both modern and vintage at the same time - especially with the antiqued brass faucet, is lovely but provides no storage. our girl found this gorgeous green vintage cabinet while browsing chairish, looking for the rug. it is now on the wall behind the sink, so she has easy access to extra towels (white, with a simple black hotel stripe), toiletries, the usual. the tall window lets in decent light, but there is also a great antiqued brass ceiling light and two gorgeous nod-to-industrial sconces on either side of the round mirror. she knew a medicine cabinet made more sense, but come on ... round is so much more decadent!
a big fan of the little touches, our girl was thrilled to find these brass and leather wall hooks while poking around at anthropologie one day. they were the perfect size to hang a towel from, so she bought a few for her bathroom ... a single hook for the hand towel by the sink, a double hook on the back of the door for her bath towels.
it was a labor of love, and took more than a little of her paycheck each month to complete, but she is so happy every time she steps into her bathroom. and when her friends come over and gush over her amazing vintage finds, she says, "oh, you HAVE to check out chairish.com ... it's brilliant! i check it out daily to see what else i can find. right now i really need a cocktail table ..."
- end scene -
if you had to start with one of the gorgeous vintage rugs from chairish, what rug would you choose?
floor tile: noir hex 2x2 travertine
shower accent tile: honey onyx medley
wallpaper: anthropologie cities toile
sink: kohler memoirs
faucet: legion antique brass
mirror: gilt minimalist
wall sconces: ironside sconce
ceiling light: traditional urban semi-flush
trunk: louis vuitton steamer trunk
cabinet: vintage
towels: hotel satin stitch
towel hook: equestrian hook
wall art: "me, in stitches"
wall art: "coney island"
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