Reader Design: Veronica's Boho Haven

So this Friday reader design can practically write itself.  It's just that picturelicious and our bohemian princess of a host does such a wonderful job of narrating the entire juicy tour.

Meet Veronica of Hamlet Interiors in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Source:  Carley Page

Bonafied bohemian princess no?  Just wait till you see her kilim-clad, plant-pleothra,  breathy-boho palace:

This space is right off the kitchen. As you can see I'm obsessed with plants. I currently own over 35 and don't plan to stop. We had the benches built. I found these chairs thrifting and had them covered with a Kilim.

You must mean 35 plants per room right Veronica?  Your home is practically dripping in beautiful touches of flora!

I collect textiles. I just started a textile company that debuts in December selling Moroccan textiles.  The one shown here is a Turkish prayer rug.

I may have too many plants on the table. They make me happy

Nonsense Veronica.  If you can keep them all alive - then you can have as many plants as you want.

Proof I change things a lot :-)

Just a close up of my kitchen. We opted for gray cabinets and quartz counters. We renovated the entire home. This space took the longest to complete.

But boy did that reno pay off:

This is a shot of my kitchen before plants came into my world. You would be surprised to see all the greenery now.

The shelving area near the kitchen. Where I store all my pretties. And my plants.

This is a close up of how I have styled my shelves near my kitchen nook. They change on the monthly. As a designer and creative I constantly crave change.

Yup.  We style mutts have caught the same constant-change bug.

We had our home featured on design sponge early on in my design career.  I found these equipale chairs and knew they would be perfect for the space.

My dining space evolved over time. I started with a small shelf and then realized I wanted a non symmetrical shelving unit to house all my knick knacks. I'm hoping over time to add more pieces from my travels (I've been to over 13 countries) our contractor made this from plumbers pipe sprayed black and stained pine. I don't DIY. So there's that

Teehee - not everyone is up to a DIY as massive as built-ins!   But if you are, Chelsea has this great tutorial for pipe shelves.

This is my DREAM COUCH people!!!  Warm leather.  Ugh.  I want.
  Veronica, if you find it missing one day... well I may have just incriminated myself...

This is the master. We decided to paint the back wall bohemian black. The name sold me. I'm a boho girl! This space will probably change again but I'm all about letting a home shape the design aesthetic. Exterior and interior flow

So this corner of my bedroom has been changed 4 times or so. To curb my desire to purchase things I just move around what I already have. Nothing against buying something but usually I think about whether I really have a spot for it and if it's functional. Although peacock chairs are just pretty and not that functional. I have 3 of them.

Close up of all the texture that I love

What an adorable little office-let!  You would never realize it was in such a small little nook because it's so light and airy!

We have a daughter with special needs (Down syndrome and CP and heart defects) that wasn't supposed to survive past birth but she is Gods miracle baby. She is now 5. We call her our fierce girl. We keep a bed in her room in case the nanny stays over or if we need to be near her.

Doesn't that just make you catch your breath a little?  That typographical art has so much more power knowing the meaning to Veronica and her little miracle.  Chelsea has a chalkboard in the kitchen that says speak words that make souls stronger - she says it's a "gentle, visible reminder to build my children and loved ones up."  Not being a mother myself, I can only imagine how many daily prayers like these you all whisper over your children.  Such meaningful artwork is a powerful glimpse of a mother's love.

Here is another spot in my special girls room. More plants to behold

This is a old shot of my sons room. I'm not finished with the new space yet. This is from our design sponge tour.

We decided to keep a paneled wall. We like to keep things interesting. It's the only space we left original to the home

My front door situation that changes every 3 months. Just for fun.

Thank you Veronica for guiding us through such a sweet tour of your bohome.  I can't wait for your textile company's launch this winter.  If it's anything like the tour of texture we've just seen in your home, then I will start saving to be one of your first customers.  Be sure to follow Veronica @hamletinteriors for more bohemian inspiration and sweet peeks into her precious family.

And friends, we just can't get enough of these Friday features.  If you have a home you love, then by all means - let us show it off!  Just tag your pics with #stylemuttspaces on Instagram or post them to our Facebook page and we'll contact you with further details.

Reader Design: Kathy's Cozy Nest

Big time,

So you KNOW what that means, don't you. A pretty dandy Reader Design! Can I just brag about our Reader Designs for a sec?! These special features have absolutely nothing to do with Cate or myself - we don't even personally know most of these inspiring home owners, (or renters)! By the Lord's sweet design we've digitally crossed paths with each of these talented guests in some form or another and they've graciously agreed to share their home on our blog. We feel like we have the luckiest blog in the world to have SO many incredible tours to view!

We are so grateful to those who've come on and are yet to come for what they've given StyleMutt Home - our growing SPACES page's popularity is beyond what we ever could have imagined. We are so excited about beefing it up with more Reader Designs and hope you'll join in the fun! Just tag #stylemuttspaces on Instagram or post a photo or two to our facebook page to express interest. Then we'll contact you with the simple deets!

Speaking of beefing up that SPACES page, this gorgeous tour just hits all the right notes and it's from our oh-so-inspiring Inerweb friend, Kathy, (@thedailynest)! There's something for everyone in this one. Come on in!

From Kathy:

I would say my decor style is traditional with an eclectic twist! I love a traditional piece of furniture with maybe an accessory that would make you say, "What the what?" The most frequent comment I get about my home is, "It's so warm and inviting!" And that's exactly what I want my home to be. Warm, comfy and a place where you feel like you can come in and curl your feet up in a chair or put your feet on the coffee table!

This is an over all look at the living room, breakfast area and kitchen. The walls are painted Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter and all the trim is White Dove. 

Traditional with an eclectic twist? Nailed it!

This is my husband's favorite chair. It's the Buchanan chair from Pottery Barn and I love the little pop of turquoise on the side table!

The breakfast area is where we really eat most of our meals, since we are now empty nesters! The round table is perfect for two but could sit four if need be. And one of my favorite all time purchases is this cow hide rug! I just love him or her! My 2 1/2 year old Granddaughter sits on it and says, "This is Mimi's cow!" We just recently found these incredible shutters from a salvage store and they are from Eqypt, can you believe! I think they add some architecture to the room flanking both sides of the french doors. 

The kitchen is the heart of the home! And this is so true for this space! It's where everyone gathers when we have our family get together's. Before we remodeled we had a tiny window over the sink and the counters ended there. So we added a large window that overlooks the pool and backyard and extended the counters and under cabinets to the end of the wall. The half wall used to be a solid wall and closed up the room so by opening it up to the breakfast area it makes the kitchen feel so much bigger! Best decision we ever made!

Our dining room, which used to be our master, then our sons room, and then an office, is now my favorite room in the house! Wow! I'm tired just thinking of all the transformations it's undergone! But with every change it's made our home functional for the time! I always say it was cheaper than moving! I found a room on Houzz.com that we used for inspiration for the built ins. The walls are Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy and my talented husband built the large shelf on the left and did all the board and batten which is painted BM White Dove.

Bringing in a little Fall on the large shelf which was inspired by a shelf I saw on HGTV's dream home one year! It's a great piece and serves as a buffet at times.

This room is affectionately known as the empty nest room! Because this was our younger son's room for his entire life! So when he moved out…hold on, talk amongst yourselves! It still gets me every time…okay I've pulled it together! This room is now my little office where I'm writing this now and it also has a daybed and crib for our Grandbabies! Can you say multipurpose?? The room is painted Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue and the trim is White Dove. It's a happy little room, and I hardly ever think about our son leaving us! I kid!!

This is our master bedroom and right now its going through some changes so this is what it looked like a while back. We added this room when my husband wanted to have another baby and I said, "Can you build my dream bedroom?" And the day I went for my first Doctors appointment to find out if I was pregnant, we went downtown and pulled the permits to build this room! We recently painted the fireplace Benjamin Moore's White Dove. It was a red brick and I think the white really updates it! The walls are Revere Pewter and the pup is Sydney!

This comfy chaise from Ikea is perfect in this spot where the corner window overlooks the pool. It's a pretty view to sit and have a cup of coffee in the mornings!

This is my new and improved and recently remodeled laundry room! And I couldn't be happier with it! It had a very off center and awkward window above the washer and dryer so we eliminated it! I know! Who closes up windows? But it turned out great! We hung bead board horizontally and added these beautiful yet functional shelves from Ballard Designs and a little blingy chandelier makes doing laundry not so much of a chore!

Well that was just heavenly! Kathy is truly an inspiring home decorator and just as sweet as can be.  We highly encourage you to hop over to her blog, The Daily Nest, to keep up on her current projects and decorating tips!

Have a wonderful weekend, style mutts! Thank you for stopping by!

Fall Leaves, Apples, and Two New Repurposed Pieces

So I'm not even gonna try to hide it -  fall is my FAVORITE time of year.  I think it's because it's the perfect storm for so many of my favorite things: leather boots, cute scarves, comfortable sweaters, crisp air, crunchy leaves, hot beverages, delicious soups, and best of all: family time. 

But I don't have a home to decorate for fall - and it's KILLING ME!  Well not really.  I admit I'm being dramatic.  What can I say, I'm in my tumultuous twenties where for the last 5 years my now husband and I have collectively lived in 8 total towns and bounced around 5 total jobs.  I'm so ready to have a house of my own to decorate/ experiment with/ work on furniture in, but Caleb and I are still SO young in our finances.  

But it's this time of year that also reminds me I need to give thanks for what Caleb and I do have:

Almost 2 years of marriage under our belt
An incredible dog named Thor
Jobs
A place to live
Both sets of parents in the area
All 8 of our grandparents
and last, but not least:

all of you fellow style mutts

So without a home of our own to decorate, I'm celebrating fall in my own ragamuffin way with a new pair of pieces in the garage shop:

Psst do you recognize those table bases?  Maybe this instagram post about flotsam and jetsam will jog your memory:

My #DIY #otherhalf @chelsea_stylemutthome invited me to share #widn - thanks boo 😘. As I wait for my sister's flight to get in from Denver tonight and count down the moments til the Henifins are all in Virginia again, I'm hatching a plan for these bad boys that I picked up today at my local #restore. If my #furnitureflip hunch is right then I hope to get 4 sexy pieces out of 2 sad end tables. Stay tuned! @_me_and_mine_ @_just_ro what are you two up to tonight? #decor #design #stylemuttrefinishes #whatimdoingnow

A photo posted by Cate Henderson (@cate_stylemutthome) on Jul 3, 2015 at 4:42pm PDT

It actually was a very simply upcycle: I made the bench seat out of wood planks and the trestle with a new piece of wood cut to length, all stained to match the harvested table bases [as always, pun SO intended]. Then I sealed the whole shebang with some polyurethane just in case someone out there is looking to furnish their orchard with some weather-proof benches...

Trestle Benches
$160 for the pair
SOLD

I hope you all are also savoring the season and thinking about all you've got to be grateful for friends.  And don't forget to stop by on Friday for another showstopping #stylemuttspaces Reader Design!