Pepper Design Blog

The Living Room Gets a Cozy Lift

I’ve procrastinated long enough… it’s finally time to get some pictures posted on the living room progress.

As you might remember, the Before shot was just before we moved in. After a bit of painting, several diy projects and finally a whole lotta assembly, here’s where we stand:

I see little holes and spaces that need attention! But I’ve decided this is my palette to grow on so as it gets minor tweaks and updates, I look forward to sharing all of the fun details.

Neutrals remained the theme of the room and I couldn’t be happier with how the soft wool curtains and dark furniture help to set a base for the crisp whites and bold coral colors. Here’s a link to the original inspiration boards back when color combos were being discussed.

Here are a few of my favorite details:

I love picture collages so it’s no surprise that I’ve found a way to fill this space with three (too many?). One symmetrical version behind the sofa, one wedding grouping above the mantel (I’m still playing with a mirror there – the survey from a week ago was pretty divided!) and one next to the bookshelf and above the “man” chair (aka the huge leather chair that the hubby rightfully claims as his own).

My coffee table-turned-bench has found the perfect spot below our big window and I am still oh-so in love with the suzani print. Jeanne McGee did a rockin’ job on the brown zinnia custom lampshade and I’m thrilled with the splash of pattern it adds!

Storage was critical for us and we found a way to squeeze everything in through baskets, an awesome ‘pouf’ that hides a bajillion blankets, a bar that doubles as a tv stand, as well as sneaky spaces like a coffee table that holds board games, etc. below it’s surface.

Every photo is sentimental, every painting important to us in someway (be it our love of sailing, artwork by Kevin’s mom or diy projects soon to be shared…) and it’s special to know that the space was hand crafted over time with much love.

Sources to come… thanks for sharing the design process with me!

A Dream Retreat: Cabin-Turned-Victorian Cottage

Have you ever dreamed of a retreat, a respite far in the woods where you can {in perfect luxury} get away from it all? On many occasions I’ve imagined my little cottage in the middle of the forest where I could write, read, drink hot tea on the porch and look over the hills completely undisturbed. Ahhhh, heaven.

But it exists! Sandra Foster turned a Catskills hunting cabin into the romantic Victorian cottage she had always dreamed of. Every detail of the studio is as intricate and beautiful as the next – Sandra used thrift store, vintage and even Target finds to remodel the 9-by-10-foot room on a strict budget. Photos and story by NY Times.

The shabby-chic cottage doesn’t have a bathroom or a kitchen, but it is a dream of Victoriana: stacks of Limoges china with tiny rosebud patterns; refashioned cabinets piled high with hard-cover books; chandeliers covered in crystal; billows of tissue-paper garlands. Many of the furnishings, like the $15 chandelier hanging over the sitting area, were flea market finds.

What began as a brown and green backwoods cabin slowly turned into a luxuriously soft and feminine cottage. Sandra gutted, repainted and replaced most every feature – including doors, shelves, windows and even the willow tree trunk supports at the front of the house for which she completed all of the carpentry work herself.

Sandra lives with her husband, Todd on 14 acres of property in the New York Catskills Mountains. She calls a 1971 trailer home and has built more than one retreat site on their extensive land. One includes a modified shed that houses a big screen TV, boxes full of videotapes and cooking equipment.

A river bed separates the Victorian cabin from the rest of the property and any furniture or tools had to be lightweight enough to traverse the land and stream.

Above, Sandra makes flower-like garland for the cottage out of tissue paper.

The chandelier over the bed is from Target, as is the bedding from Rachel Ashwell’s Simply Shabby Chic line. Cabinets were built from reclaimed French doors and now house Sandra’s beautiful collection of Limoges china, a set she’s been adding to for years. Yard sale mirrors and furniture received fresh coats of paint to match the all-white cottage.

Sandra calls the cottage her ‘refuge’ and spends much time in knee-high pink rainboots adding white petunias to her window boxes or relaxing on her refurbished porch (which she framed out herself). She grew up in Long Island and after losing her home as a child had always dreamed of building this perfect cottage – I’m deeply impressed with the couple’s story AND their fabulous new getaway!

PS I just received this link from Sandy’s husband – check out her cute blog!

Our Anniversary… Has it Really Been 3 Years?

A big thank you to Jenn over at HWTM for featuring all of the details of our big day three years ago! I’m borrowing a few of her images today for this post .

Today marks Kevin’s and my third wedding anniversary. I can’t believe the past few years have flown by so quickly! We’ve purchased our first home (an oldie but goody that we’re remodeling piece by piece), taken time out to travel to beautiful and exotic places, and are now preparing for the next big surprises in our life.

But because this is such a special day for us… here’s a quick recap of our White Wedding.

The perfect site for our Santa Cruz mountains reception ended up at a home that we rented for the occasion (a common option in my hometown since venues are hard to come by). The house sat perched on top of a hill with beautiful views of the ocean, vineyards and mountains in each direction.

The rest of the wedding was 100% DIY… from the flowers to the cake to even asking close friends to DJ. We loved keeping it homemade and adding special touches that personalized the day and kept our guests comfortable. The goal was to create an atmosphere that captured a whimsical and romantic celebration.

Designing the day was my favorite part – we had to really get creative to come up with classy and outdoor-friendly décor on a budget for a party of over 250 guests! Because we were starting from scratch, we rented everything from the pale pink tablecloths to the forks – that helped us to price out each and every detail so that it fit our budget.

I found vases in various sizes on ebay and craigslist and created three separate centerpieces to accommodate the finds. Two days before the wedding we went down to our local wholesale florist’s warehouse and scooped up everything in all white (don’t worry, we gave them a heads up). Without being too picky on the type of flower and instead concentrating on the color we were able to say within our budget.

To sum up my favorites:

1. Handmade manzanita trees with dendrobium orchid blooms wired to the branches (sitting in pool/chlorine grade salt from Home Depot)

2. White roses in floral foam and sand (straight from the beach), bunches of tulips grouped together, and vases filled with an assortment of rununculus, mums, sweet peas, stock and lisianthus

3. Garden hydrangea hanging out of fish bowl vases with river rock fillers (from Home Depot)

The home had a beautiful pool house that we covered with white paper lanterns and floral balls (fake flower blooms from Michaels poked into foam). The floating candle island in the center was built by my brother, who used kick boards to keep a piece of plywood covered in candles (securely nailed down) and flowers afloat.

To mark the tables, we used leftover paper from our invitations to create table numbers that corresponded with a picture of each of us at that age.

MANY more photos and all of the gushy details after the jump… Read more »