TheDesignFile

Natural wood headboards are a beautiful choice

Regular readers already know that I love log tables and now I’m on to another natural wood look – slab headboards!

Just look at the bleached sycamore headboard at right, which is from Meyer Wells.

With the fir bedframe and attached side tables, the ensemble costs a whopping $12,900. Still, it’s a beauty.

I first saw this bed on Apartment Therapy, which had a great post last year about slab headboards.

“A slab headboard may look like an easy DIY project,” the post says. “But rest assured, this is not for the casual woodworker.”

The post goes on: “Sourcing a large slab is the first hurdle, being able to plane and saw and sand this large and extremely heavy piece of wood is the second.”

I saw the example below at Better Homes and Gardens. In this case, I think hanging the slab horizontally is also just beautiful. (And how about that cool driftwood table!)

I found a similar example at MyHomeIdeas.com. This bedroom had been featured in Southern Living magazine.

What do you think? is this look just a little too natural for you? Or do you like it?

Seeking a set of drawers for my bedside

I’ve been searching awhile now for a bedside table and in particular one with several drawers.

Actually, what I’d really like to find is a small chest of drawers, something that’s not too deep but has lots of storage.

I think bedside tables with drawers look so much neater than ones with shelves.

I like to have so many things right at hand by my bed but I hate the look of the stuff stacked on a shelf.

The photo at right – from Cottage Living – has just the kind of bedside table or small chest I’d like to find. (I saw this one at MyHomeIdeas.com.)

This has plenty of storage, a nice amount of space for a clock, lamp and whatever else you need, and could be painted any color to match the room. Why can’t I find something like this?

Certainly, you can buy bedside tables that have drawers. I think that’s the case in the photos below, which I found at MyHomeIdeas.com.

I think my favorite photo is of the bedroom below, again from MyHomeIdeas.com.

I would love to find a little chest of drawers like this one to use as a bedside table.

The 70s vide is cool and, again, the storage is so practical.

I know a little table like this one is out there just looking for me.

We just haven’t found each other yet!

Cushy benches are perfect for the bedroom

One thing I don’t have in my bedroom that I’d love is a bench at the end of my bed.

I just don’t have the space for it. But I look longingly at photos like the one at right – from Better Homes and Gardens – for the convenient and attractive bench at the end.

In my tiny bedroom, I just sit at the end or side of my bed to put on shoes or whatever.

But we just bought a new mattress that is – I swear – as hard as a rock.

So in addition to be tough to sleep on (we’re hoping it softens up a little), it’s no fun to sit down on either.

I keep forgetting it not our old soft one and seem to sit down so hard I almost hurt myself!

So a cushy bench sounds so nice right now! I think the one below even has storage, which in a small bedroom, is always so valuable!

The room above is from MyHomeIdeas.com. (And if it looks familiar, I used this picture in a post about colorful chandeliers.)

I like the slip-covered ottoman used as a bench in the BHG photo below. And of course, I love the painted black furniture.

Finally, regular readers know that I love X benches – especially velvet ones – and so I couldn’t resist including the cool brown bedroom below.

It’s also from BHG.

Beautiful rooms with bays and bows

I’ve never lived in a home with a bay or bow windows but I really love them when I see them in other houses.

I particularly like bays that are part of the floor plan.

What I mean is those rooms where the entire wall and floor is curved out into a bay with big windows, verses simply a room where the windows protrude, often with a window seat.

I saw the room at right at Better Homes and Gardens.

I love the blue drapes and the furnishings, although I might have tucked the table and chairs back into the bay a little bit.

You want to enjoy the view – right?

I love bays in dining areas, especially breakfast nooks. I love the idea of sitting in the bay, drinking coffee (OK…for me it would be a Diet Mountain Dew) and watching the sun come up. Gorgeous!

Both the photos above are from BHG as well.

I like the bays in old houses better than new ones. (Well, I like old houses better in general too.)

 

So do you know the difference between a bay and a bow?

Design Star’s Meg Caswell launches new series

Did anyone see the new show from HGTV Design Star winner Meg Caswell?

The Great Rooms series – just five weeks to start – launched last week, just days after the Design Star finale aired.

Meg travels to her hometown, Chicago, to design “absolutely gorgeous spaces for homeowners in need of star-studded kitchens and living spaces,” HGTV says.

I didn’t get to see the series premier but I do have some behind-the-scenes photos – and some of the finished designs – to show you today:

Design Star finale: We have a winner!

The finale of this season’s HGTV Design Star was last night and our reviewer  Niki Lohrmann tells us not only about the episode but reminds us about the designers’ rooms throughout the season.

Here are her thoughts on the finale and the results:

And now it’s down to two as Meg and Karl battle it out to be HGTV’s Design Star.

Before I start reviewing the finale, I thought I would remind us how our two finalists did in the challenges this year. So here is a quick recap:

Green and yellow makes a fresh color scheme

I loved the “tiny house” challenge on HGTV’s Design Star the other night and one of my favorite things was the pretty green and yellow color scheme that contestant Meg used in her space.

The walls of the space (shown at right) were painted yellow with bright green on the trim. It added a bright, fun feel to this teeny room.

The room sent me in search of other spaces with green and yellow color schemes. You won’t be surprised to learn that I found them in all shades and tones – from bright to muted. However, I didn’t find any that had that unusual bright green that Meg used.

I think my favorite is this Cottage Living dining room vignette, which features a geometric wallpaper with some bright yellow accents. In this room, I think the black cabinet really grounds the space so the colors aren’t too sweet.

I found the room above at MyHomeIdeas.com.

I love bright sunny rooms and that’s what I found in these two photos below from a Better Homes and Gardens room.

In this case, the green and yellow are pastels.

Design Star: Big design in tiny houses

The ninth episode of this season’s HGTV Design Star was last night and our reviewer  Niki Lohrmann loved the challenge.

Here are her thoughts on the episode and the designs:

With HGTV’s Design Star down to three finalists, the show’s producers come up with an original and fun challenge – tiny houses.

Host Tanika Ray (at right) tells Meg, Mark and Karl that they will be designing an entire house.

But she leaves out that the house is part of a new trend – tiny houses. Kind of like a long, narrow kids playhouse but nicer.

It has 86 square feet and the competitors must have dining, living, sleeping, bath and kitchen space.

They also will have two camera challenges this week – one assigning a special project to their guest carpenters. And then a final walkthrough of the house.

The key to this challenge is space planning, and I can’t wait to see what innovative stuff the designers come up with.

Meg wants her carpenter to make floating shelves; Karl is creating a second floor bedroom and Mark, well I’m not sure what Mark is doing. He is all over the place.

He buys a large couch, which seems too big for the room. I’m not even sure how he will get it in the door.

Karl (shopping at right)  is painting the walls gray with some touches of red. I kind of wish he would have left the natural wood, which was really pretty.

Meg has pale yellow walls with a vibrant green trim.

Mark is leaving the wood mostly uncovered, except for an argyle paint pattern that also involves belts. I am not feeling this feature at all but am waiting to see how it looks at the end.

All three end up putting the bed above the rafters, though Mark originally had not planned that. He also changed his space plan for the first floor numerous times.

Tiny offices can be tucked into unused spaces

Regular readers know how much I love smaller homes and the creative use of space that must come with them.

In particular, it’s fun to see how homeowners work offices into homes without a natural space for one.

I love the little office at right, which is at the end of an upstairs hallway.

It’s perfect. What else would you use this odd little space for?

The photo is from Better Homes and Gardens, where I found lots of great examples.

Of course, if you read design magazines, you’ve seen plenty of ideas for closets turned into home offices.

It’s a great idea – although I always wonder who can afford to give up a closet!

Still, here are two great ones:

Above left is another fun office from BHG. I love the color combo here and the drapes covering the close entrance.

Design Star: Final 4 produce uninspired rooms

The eighth episode of this season’s HGTV Design Star was last night and – like me – our reviewer Niki Lohrmann was not wowed by the work of the final four contestants.

Here are her thoughts:

Design Star is down to the final four (see at right), which should mean some amazing design.

And maybe there was some on this episode but I apparently don’t know good design when I see it. Everything I found lame and cheesy, the judges loved. Let’s see if you agree with me or them.

This week the competitors are given a look-for-less budget challenge. Essentially they get $2,500 to decorate the main room of a simply-furnished apartment.

I like the idea of this challenge after weeks of letting them spend whatever they want.

Karl (below) opines that he is used to working with million dollar budgets, which for some reason strikes me as whiny and elitist.

Each designer gets a handyman and painter and this week’s camera challenge is to turn an inexpensive item into a focal point.