Once we were settled in the space, I decided (and Jonathan acquiesced) to hire a designer to help organize and “redecorate” so that the unit didn’t return to our default decoration style a/k/a “early graduate school”. So after checking out some designers, we hired Bonnie who does business as Arranged by Design. Her remit was paint, reorganize, accessorize, but the drywall remains intact with exception of light fixture updates and drywall anchors.
After a consultation, she returned with a selection of paint chips, a couple tile samples, and printouts of light fixtures. She had a particular method of color selection where she would lay out four colors and ask “Which one of these do you like best?” This process repeated until the color palette was selected.
During the process I would browse the internet on various decorating items (e.g. stove backsplash) and send her a link. She texted back, “How do I say this? NO!” I laughed. Like Don, our landscape designer at 1177, I seem to hire designers who have strong opinions they aren’t afraid to tell you. In this case, Bonnie explained why my idea wouldn’t work, so I went looking at some other aspect of redecorating. At that point Bonnie suggested that I just stop browsing.
The (not quite final) color palette - the ‘Cavern Clay’ was replaced by ‘Courtyard’ a green that matches the tile for the stove backsplash. The other colors, ‘Ocean Abyss’ for great room, ‘Caviar’ for kitchen & guest bath, and ‘Rice Paddy’ for the goat palace were used (07 May).
The painters started the first week in June, with the new light fixtures installed the previous week. The bespoke bookcase is due to arrive at the end of the week, so after being thrown back into chaos, things are starting to come back into shape.
The first coat of paint (05 June).
After the third coat of paint (06 June).
We're rather fond of the light fixture Bonnie selected for the entryway (06 June).
Jonathan sent me this shot to show the ‘Caviar’ in the kitchen (07 June).
After moving the corner cupboard back into place, Pippin offers to help put the dishes back (09 June).
The smoke from the Canadian wild fires made the air in the Twin Cities very unhealthy (14 June).
Entryway from the goat palace - North to South (09 June).
I had ordered these custom bookcases to go in the goat palace, but Bonnie commandeered them to the living space. John, the handyman, drilled a hole in the back of the bookcase to run the lamp’s cord to the outet behind (09 June).
The picture rails (as we called them - see goat palace 08 May) are repurposed as wine racks (17 June).
The bookcase has books now. Also a good shot of one of the pendant lights over the kitchen (17 June).
The guest bath adorned in ‘Caviar’ and the wall hangings that were on the front porch at 1177 Lincoln (10 June).
Standing in the bathtub for the reverse shot (10 June).
The living room area (17 June).
More before - from corner of kitchen island to bedrooms (South to North) (08 May).
From the corner of the kitchen island, looking South to North; the pendant lamps over the island and the fixture in the hall to the bedrooms replaced track lighting (09 June).
Some more before photos - looking from windows to kitchen and entryway (East to West) (08 May).
Also looking East to West, the kitchen with the ‘Courtyard’ green accent on the front of the island; the ‘Caviar’ was also used to paint the insets of the kitchen cabinets (09 June).
More before - bedroom hallway (South to North) (08 May).
The hallway to the bedrooms, with Pippin. The light fixture was our least favorite of the selections (17 June).
More before - the goat palace, from entry hall. Note the picture rails on the right that we repurposed as wine racks in the dining room (08 May).
The goat palace is now painted ‘Rice Paddy’ a light yellow-ish green that is much more pleasant than the previous taupe color. The terrarium lights aren't that blue, more like a daylight (21 October).
More before - from corner of kitchen island to entry, goat palace is to the right by entry (East to West) (08 May).
The front hallway (17 June).
Our neighbor from Lincoln Avenue, Andy McCabe (McCabe Stone & Tile) installed the tile for us while we were in Maine.
Printers in the goat palace on assorted printer carts (08 July).
More shelves from Room and Board tidy-up the mish-mash and provide shelving for the rest of the books (08 October).
