July, 2011 | Urban Orchard Interiors

Archive | July, 2011

Guest Room

By Lane McNab on July 30, 2011

Above is an image of our guest room. It’s very small (we had to take a couple of feet from it to make a bathroom for the kids upstairs) but it serves its purpose for grandparents and other occasional guests.

The curtains in this room were leftovers from our previous house. They actually work much better in this room than they ever did in the other house. The fabric is a discontinued Waverly botanical that I can’t find the name of. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know.

This is a close up pf the fan coral prints. I ordered this coral off of Ebay and then bought shadow boxes at my local craft store and framed the coral in them. This room used to be a kitchen (in the 1980′s this house was divided up into 3 small apartments for students) so all of the outlets were counter height. We had them moved down a couple of years ago. That actually made a big difference! The wall color is Benjamin Moore, Morning Dew.

This daybed is a great guest bed or bed for a child’s room. It’s from Ikea and it’s called the Hemnes. It has a lot of storage and best of all, slides out to be a queen sized bed. The coverlet was from Garnet Hill and they don’t seem to carry it anymore. Here is one from Pine Cone Hill that is very similar. The ticking stripe pillow case was my husband’s laundry bag in college that I found in a closet last week–Sorry Honey! The demi-lune table next to the bed was a salvage find that I painted black.

This dressing table was mine growing up. I plan to paint it soon but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. The finish is in bad shape but it’s very sturdy and so pretty–I love the feminine lines of it. The chair was a salvage find that I painted and recovered. The lamps were vintage from Shabby Chic and the silk shades are from Restoration Hardware. The mirror is a pressed tin mirror that used to be brown but I painted it with primer to get it completely white and chalky.

Here is a detail of the vintage lamp and pressed tin mirror.

Below is a terrible shot of the armoir that faces the end of the bed. It’s actually much prettier than this shot reveals and was one of my favorite salvage finds. I didn’t touch the finish–I just cleaned it with orange oil and it was ready to go. The mirror in it reflects the light from the window in the afternoon and even though it is a large piece, it actually make the room feel brighter.

And above is a detail of the lamp beside the bed. It was a salvage find too–It was really brassy and 70′s looking and I just painted it white and bought a linen shade from Restoration Hardware. I love to find funky old lamps and spray paint them and then dress them up with a nice shade. I read somewhere years ago that you should never skimp on lampshades or rugs. I also remember my grandmother saying a house that has candles in it with unburned wicks is a cold house, so now whenever I bring home a new candle, I light the wick for a second and then blow it out. It really does make a difference!

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Fireplace Redo

By Lane McNab on July 27, 2011

Here is a the after picture of our fireplace. (The before picture is farther down the post). I designed it and had a handyman do the installation. Because the house straddles the Victorian and Craftsman eras, I chose a molding detail that had some Victorian elements (the beading and dental trim) but then just kept it all toned down (no columns, nothing overly ornate).

The picture above shows the tiling inside the surround. It’s a small limestone herringbone pattern trimmed with a raised bull-nose lip right at the edge of the firebox. For me, it’s a play on the old limestone fireplaces in Europe that usually have the herringbone tile on the inside of the firebox. I knew we weren’t going to be getting one of those anytime soon (nor would it be really authentic for our house!) but I love the texture they reveal when you see a lit fire. Since we rarely use the fireplace, (there are actually rules in Berkeley about when you can light fires to reduce air pollution) I put it on the outside where we can see the pattern all the time!

Above is a detail of the mantel trim. The color is Benjamin Moore Sandy Hook Gray and the walls are BM November Rain (one of my favorites). You can’t see it in these shots but the ceiling is BM Icicle and the wainscoting is Swiss Coffee. (I’m also happy to have a place to start displaying my little but growing collection of antique bottles). And below is the before shot:

We had just started work on the brick when this shot was taken. Not sure when the brick and other tile was added on the fireplace. I guess it could have been original if this were originally some sort of cooking fireplace, which is possible since this fireplace is in our dining room. After we replaced the foundation a few years ago (for earthquake safety), the brick began to separate from the wall though which was another reason to tackle this project. The lighter tile and color brightens up the whole room. One more after shot:

Thanks for stopping in!

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Table Transformation

By Lane McNab on July 26, 2011

Above is one of the side tables we had by our sofa for many years. It is a pretty basic solid wood, dark stain, import store table that was popular in the early 2000′s when my husband and I originally bought it. Our TV room has been feeling so dark to me that I decided to paint the tables. This is a temporary fix until I can find the side tables I really want to go there, but for now, they at least brighten the room. Here’s how it looks now (I also replaced the knob). Sorry about the picture quality–these are done with my phone: