Reader Design: Amber's Peaceful Backdrop

Hi friends! As Summer and Fall seem to be in a bit of a tug-of-war here in Northern Virginia, this coastal inspired home tour seems pretty perfect for this 80 degree Friday in November! Amber, (Restless Arrow, @restlessarrow) has been a beach lover her whole life, but more recently began using it as her primary inspiration for decorating her home. After a good run with loads of color, she's found her nitch with creamy neutrals - and it suits her young family just right!

From Amber:

My first living room had one brown wall, yellow walls and black and red furniture! I used so much color and used it so wrong! Now, please know: I absolutely love color and so many of my friends do it so extraordinarily well. But me?  I’m much better with soft whites and neutrals. Our white couches stand up to the test of our wild boys, yet provide the perfect backdrop for my love of neutrals.

Fact - White slipcovered seating is incredibly easy to keep clean. Zip off, toss in wash with a bit of bleach, and it's new again. NEW I tell ya!

This mantle was dark, dark wood and one day, I finally got the nerve to paint it white and I never looked back!

I found this table at Goodwill when we began the process of renovating our foreclosure. I painted it white, of course, and then added stripes since I can never find a tablecloth long enough.

Well there's a fun trick - paint on a pattern rather than use a tablecloth!

I love this little bench in the corner because, again, it provides just a few extra seats for any surprise guests.

Our kitchen is by far the biggest transformation in our entire home. Tearing down a chimney and ripping out all of the walls allowed us to start from scratch. Laminate counter tops, stock cabinets and open shelves helped us achieve this look on a budget. A DIY hood my dad made and butcher block counter tops as our island made our kitchen complete.

Can't you just smell the salty air of the beach from looking at this space?!

As the story of our yellow house evolves, we fall more in love each day. It seemed the more I started doing what I loved and not what I thought I was “supposed to do,” I saw my style evolve. What worked for us turned out to be comfort first then style. And somehow, for us, it ties together perfectly. Not for anyone else, but for our wild family of young boys and a little girl on the way. It may not look perfect but it welcomes a basketball team on Saturday mornings and a group of girls every Tuesday morning to gather around this imperfect little ottoman and stained couch cushions. And that, we would not change for the world. The story of our house is a true story of love at first sight. A relationship that certainly took way more than it gave for the first three years of the journey, but today, it is our dream come true.

We sure love a happy ending - thank you, Amber, for sharing yours!

If you've got some time to swoon, head over to our SPACES page where we collect all our Reader Designs for your viewing pleasure - and then tag your own home so we can feature you, too! Tag #stylemuttspaces on Facebook or Instagram, or email a few photos to admin@stylemutthome.com.

Thank you so much for kicking off your weekend with us! Have a good one!

Reader Design: Suzi's Shiplapped Farmhouse

It's a rainy fall day as I write this and the weather is making me want to curl up with something cozy.  It's a good thing it's Friday because we have a cozy #stylemuttspaces farmhouse tour to share!  Suzi is from Whyalla, South Australia and just LOVES the charming farm look.

From Suzi:

I think my decorating style is farmhouse/ vintage , white is a favourite colour of mine , but I’m also drawn to soft hints of green and blue, this farmhouse style has come from reading Country Home magazine when it was in publication and now my favourite magazine is Country Living, and of course lots of inspiration from Instagram.  I have a slight obsession with shiplap at the moment and want to have it in every room, it gives such a farmhouse feel, and changes a room in an instant.

This is my mantel in my living room , I love my chippy old window that I managed to score from a house that was being demolished across the road from me.

My kitchen is a constant work in progress, we are doing it all ourselves, so it takes time, but I love how its evolving.

My family room is a great space for our family, plenty of room for us all, and it has a very relaxed feel.

We moved our big dining table into our family room, and put in a round table, I love the warmth of the wood.

I’m trying to keep things a little more simple in my rooms, so that pieces shine.

Thank you Suzi for sharing your serene space with us on StyleMutt Home.  Follow Suzi @darbystar on instagram for more farmhouse feels!

And Hey!  Consider yourself invited to the #stylemuttspaces party.  Tag your pics with the hashtag for your very own Reader Design feature right here on the blog!

Reader Design: Amy's Perfect Imperfection

It'sssssssssssssssssssssssss Friday!  And I'm particularly excited about sharing today's reader design because of the heart behind this home in Minneapolis, MN: Amy from Modern Chemistry at Home.  While emailing back and forth with Amy about sharing her style mutt space on the blog, it became very apparent she's a kindred spirit.  Much like us, her desire is to see people encouraged and empowered in their own home decorating.  She too believes that creating is a form of worship.  But like many forms of worship it can be too easy to get caught up in the beauty of what you're creating instead of why you're creating it.  We just love how Amy has made it her mission to embrace her home's imperfections and create a real, raw, and inviting space.

From Amy:

Hello, everybody! My name is Amy, and I really am a style mutt. In fact, my blog (Modern Chemistry at Home) got its name partly because my husband and I have very different tastes and my decorating is something like a chemistry experiment as we merge our styles.

My style perspective has definitely changed over the years. My point of view has developed through having children and learning to think about function just as much as how a space looks. 

I’m definitely drawn to spaces that have a mixture of styles. Some of my favorites include Midcentury and Scandinavian Modern, but I also really enjoy children’s spaces and would seriously put pretty much anything from Land of Nod in my living room or bedroom. 

I love a cheerful room. Natural light, lots of white, fun patterns, and bright colors speak to me. Clearly, my decorating isn’t too serious!

And a big part of my story as we renovated and decorated our fixer-upper is how God worked in my heart to help me be content and understand that my identity is not in how my home looks. Our home is a place to raise our littles, live life together, and bless others through hospitality. It can be beautiful, but perfection isn’t my goal. 

There are quite a few things in our home that I inherited from my grandparents. There is a special joy in decorating with these furnishings. 

GASP!  I must have this entire vignette - especially those bookends!!!!

One of my favorites is the big dresser in our bedroom. My sister-in-law discovered that it is probably an Empire style dresser. The shape is so lovely!

My favorite DIY might be the white bookshelves a friend helped me build. They flank the fireplace in our living room and I just love them so much. It’s satisfying to make something with your own two hands!

Well done Amy - those bookshelves look like they should've come with the house!

And my favorite room is probably the nursery. Again, I enjoy children’s spaces because they are often so bright and cheerful.

Decorating this room helped me develop my style and gain some confidence. So with this room as a sort of guide for how I wanted the rest of our home to feel, I reworked other spaces in my home that didn’t feel right to me. I made a lot of mistakes the first time around! But the process of trial and error can be really enjoyable—in hindsight, after we get it right. ;)

I just love decorating creatively and it is my heart to help and encourage others to do the same.

Thank you Amy for so sweetly inviting us into your perfectly imperfect home.  Follow Amy  @modernchemistryathome for more decor goodies and check out her full home tour on her fabulous website!

You want in on this? Submit to #stylemuttspaces for your chance to be featured in a Friday Reader Design.  No design experience necessarily you just got to love your space and what to share it ;)