I failed to mention it here last week (crazy week, you know?) but last Monday—4 days after Ladybug arrived—Ohdeedoh ran a very kind interview with me and a tour of our kids’ room. I’m honored that they would choose to share our story with their readers. Also thank you and welcome to all of you who have been stopping by here after reading about us on Ohdeedoh! I hope you’ll stick around and share in this exciting new journey with us.
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Art, Art: Bedoom for Foster Kids, Art: interior design, Art: kids room, Family, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: interview, ohdeedoh, room tour, thank you | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Hallway
Ah, the hallway. It’s so utilitarian. Attic access in the ceiling. Smoke detector. Carbon monoxide detector. Thermostat. Air intake. Doorways…
A couple of black and white photographs of Jason and I from my college photography class back in 2003 (shortly after we got married) hang on one wall. They’re not excellent photos but I like that I shot them with an old manual film camera and developed them myself.
At the end of the hallway hangs this brass tree. I spotted it on an estate sale website a few years ago and Jason was able to find it for me. I don’t remember what he paid for it… maybe $40? My relatives from Sweden wanted to buy it from us when they were visiting.
Cloffice
I actually spend a lot of time in this hallway thanks to my cloffice (closet+office). I wrote about the original transformation from a coat closet into a home office earlier this year. It hasn’t changed much since then, except that the hallway was painted SW greek white.
When Jason removed the closet door and doorway to give me more elbow room, there was a strip of the original hardwood floors missing. We came up with this simple solution of inlaying a piece of wood and painting it with white trim paint. I like how it defines the space and it has held up well to 6 months of chair rolling.
The desk is not very deep. It works well for using the computer and not much else, unless I move my keyboard, mouse and laptop stand out of the way. I love having two monitors, and though I think side by side would have been better, this works. I don’t believe I mentioned before that the desktop is removable; it’s sitting on two wooden rails and tightly wedged into place so it doesn’t move. We didn’t make it permanent because there is an access panel to get to the plumbing of the hall bathroom tub on the back of the closet. See it there behind my pen cup?
It feels as small as it looks. Or maybe it looks bigger than it feels. It’s a pretty tight work space and I find myself paying bills on the couch and blogging from bed more than I used to when I had a regular home office. But, this solution was so worth it to free up a bedroom for our future kids. That little cardboard owl cup serves as my waste basket. My printer was relocated to the living room bookshelf. I traded my scanner for a slim design that can slip onto the top shelf of my cloffice, between my portfolio and my storage boxes. The best thing about it being small is that I can’t afford to let it get messy.
7 Comments | Art, Art: Closet Office, Art: house tour, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: cloffice, closet office, hall, hallway, house tour | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Hall Bathroom
Guest bathroom. Kids bathroom. What do you call it in your house? Our house has a couple of unique features that caught our attention the first time we saw it. Besides the angled front wall of windows in the living room and there is also this downward angled vanity in the hall (only original) bathroom. The countertop was replaced with concrete and a bowl sink before we moved in. Jason added different knobs and painted it gray. Together we laid the slate tile—our first tiling job! The tiles and tub, originally pink and blue, were painted white before we moved in. We also changed the light fixture and added a shower fan. The wall color is Sherwin Williams Softest Green.
Step stool from IKEA for children to read the sink.
I really like the concrete countertops. We’re thinking about trying out this technique ourselves someday for our master bathroom or kitchen.
Rub-a-dub-dub.
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Studio
Jason’s music studio is located just beyond the living room and dining room. It was once a den with wood paneled walls but was listed as a bedroom when we bought our house. It’s gone through a lot of changes since then. The floors have been carpeting, painted (unsalvageable) wood floors, black VCT tiles, and most recently bamboo flooring. Last year we removed 1 of 2 closets and added a wall to create 2 different rooms. (You can read about it and see before pictures here.) There is now a main studio control room and a second utility room (sometimes called the mudroom, storage room, “loud room,” or auxiliary room.)
The studio doesn’t get blog mention very often because Jason protects his instruments and equipment like they’re his own children.
The poster on the wall is Jason’s great-grandfather Carl.
We got this vinyl (naugahyde) sofa at an estate sale. It’s a miracle Jason and I didn’t get hernias moving it. It weights a ton. Or close to it. The footstool is from craigslist.
Jason spotted this elegant wood lamp as we were driving past our favorite thrift store. We later rescue the shade off a hideous lamp at an estate sale.
Utility Room
The purpose of the second smaller room was originally for recording purposes but has also become a useful storage space for tools, paint, unused equipment and empty cases. And other random stuff. Yes, this room is certainly not done (nor is the doorway leading to it from the main studio room). But, here you go.
That door that leads to the back deck is wonderful! Perfect for moving gear in and out. No scuffed walls in the living room or hallway like our last house. It’s also very convenient for studio guests coming and going. And now that we’re keeping tools in there, it’s handy for outside projects.
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Feeling the pressure of our home study and inspection encroaching, I purchased a less-than-ideal dresser on craigslist a couple months ago.
What we wanted: a mid-century, not to wide, medium stained wood, changing-table-height dresser. Like this inspiration board picture:
What we got: a modern Target brand, dark reddish-brown wood, not too wide, a little too tall for changing table height dresser.
I had been searching craigslist, thrift stores and estate sales for months for the ideal dresser and hadn’t found it. On Sunday Jason suggested we stop by Pre-to-Post Modern, a retro and vintage store in Nashville, just for fun. There I discovered the perfect dresser. A mid-century, not to wide, medium stained wood, changing-table-height dresser.
Thank God, we resold the first dresser on craigslist in less than 24 hours for the same price we bought it for. And the new/old replacement was only $24 more.
Lucy approves. Or perhaps assumed I was taking pictures of her.
6 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: kids room, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: dresser, kids room, mid-century modern, vintage | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
The last month and a half of construction on our friends’ home build was such a flurry of progress that I didn’t get any pictorial updates in the middle of it. I did, however, insist that they give me 5 minutes to take these photos on the morning of moving day before we started dropping boxes and clothes everywhere.
The stairway up from the garage:
The dining area, with huge windows overlooking the woods of Shelby Park:
The kitchen:
This doorway between the kitchen and dining area leads into the living room:
Straight on is the coat closet at the top of the steps coming up from the garage. Pantry on the right:
A tile backsplash was put in a few days after these photos were taken:
Front door entryway (which probably won’t get used much):
Living room:
Guest room:
Hall bathroom. I love having natural light in the shower:
Hallway looking back toward the living room, dining room and kitchen:
Laundry room:
Nursery:
Master bedroom:
Master bathroom:
Through the master bathroom to get to the huge closet. The floors in the bathrooms and this closet are heated, stained concrete:
Hall closet:
Bonus room that will become an office and music room:
Jeremy took this picture of the back of the house the day they got the keys:
Jason has been helping them with their landscaping the past couple weeks:
Moving Day was bittersweet. We worked hard and I didn’t get a lot of time to reflect on it with Leila and Jeremy but for me, memories of May 1, 2010 kept flooding back to me. (Pun intentional.) Their new home is wonderful and beautiful and shiny. It’s HOME. After living out of suitcases, moving from borrowed space to borrowed space for the past 13 months, they’re finally home.. That part of it is wonderful.
What I wasn’t prepared for was how different this was than a traditional move. Nothing was packed and organized like it should have been. Clothes and computers were at Leila’s brother’s house and were moved in piles, shopping bags and suitcases. Antique furniture was in another friend’s basement and was muddy with river water, cracked, dirty. Their TV (which survived being half submerged in water) was at another friend’s house. The bulk of it was in a storage warehouse, mostly outdoor tools, Christmas decorations and some clothing. An oil changing pan slipped out of my hand and liquid splashed against the concrete floor. I scrambled to find some paper towels, thinking I’d be soaking up motor oil. It was muddy, putrid river water. At one point, I picked up a box to load into the silver bullet and recognized my own handwriting on it. When I’m packing, I always label boxes as specifically as I can. It said: “Light bulbs, socks, misc.” I remember packing that box. We had been wiping mud off of dishes and glasses all afternoon in the May sunshine and packing them carefully away. There were a lot of random bits and pieces at the end of the day so I did my best to pack and label them. I can’t remember was “misc” was… a battery, a lid, some keys, perhaps. Cleaning off broken belongings, finding things thought to be gone forever, wondering where certain items ended up… the process of unpacking and moving in to this beautiful new house may be harder for our friends than I expected.
A new chapter has started for Leila and J. Thank God they’re not overly sentimental about “stuff.” They lost almost all their material possessions last year but they’ve come out stronger and wiser. I’m excited to see what wonderful things lie ahead for them and I’m proud to call these fighters my friends.
(Picture from my niece’s birth day, February 24.)
4 Comments | Art, Art: CBB 3.0, Art: interior design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: CBB, modern house, Nashville Flood | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
I’m on my computer all day at work as a graphic designer. Whenever I have a few minutes free I’m browsing my Google Reader or Pinterest pages absorbing inspiration from all the amazingly creative people out there. I had been tagging ideas for kids room and nurseries for years so when I had the opportunity to design a room for our future foster kids, I already had lots of ideas. I had so much fun putting this room together! (Have I said that before?)
This room was the inspiration behind painting the wall gray and painting the little night stand bright green:
I first saw the book ledge idea here:
This blue crib blew my mind. (Then, I saw this version in the 2010 IKEA catalog.)
There are a lot of KURA bed mods out there on the interwebs but this one inspired me to cover up the super-bright blue panels with white contact paper. She used fabric here:
And, of course, chalkboard paint has been all over the home & craft blogs for a while now but this room is what inspired me to paint the back of the kids bedroom door:
Here’s a tour of our kids bedroom in case you missed it.
If you’re a new reader from Itsy Factor, thanks for stopping by! (And thanks for the blog love, Elisabeth!)
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: Bedoom for Foster Kids, Art: interior design, Art: kids room, Family | Tagged: blogs, inspiration, interior design, kids room | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
I sent a question over to Apartment Therapy recently for their “Good Questions” column and it was posted last night. Head over there and check it out. I welcome any creative suggestions! Looks like a bunch of good ones are coming in already…
2 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: credenza, dresser, missing drawer | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Kitchen
Our living room connects to the kitchen and dining room. Just before we bought our house in 2007 it was fully renovated. The original hardwoods throughout the house were refinished, some walls were removed, everything was covered in a fresh coat of paint. The room the presumably had the most floor-to-ceiling changes was the kitchen. The cabinets are from IKEA. The countertops are square foot granite tiles. The floors are 2-ft travertine tiles. I love that it’s open and airy. It never feels too small to me, except when we have parties and everyone ends up standing around in the kitchen. (Why is that?)
Dining Room
Yes, it bothers me that the light in the dining room is not centered over the table. It’s even worse when the table is extended to it’s full length. Someday we’ll get around to fixing that… and probably changing the light altogether. It’s a small dining room but it works. The walls in the dining room and kitchen are Sherwin Williams Greek White. The door there leads into Jason’s studio (which used to be considered the den).
4 Comments | Art, Art: house tour, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: house tour, kitchen, mid-century modern, our home | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
We’ve been doing a lot of projects around the house including painting and rearranging. After doing a tour of our kids room, I realized I’ve never really done a tour of our house. So, here is our living room, freshly painted in Sherwin Williams Greek White and Hep Green…
It’s always hard to tell in photographs but this room is actually an irregular pentagon shape. The wall with the windows is angled. It’s quirky and makes furniture arrangement interesting but we love it. It’s probably most obvious in the picture below.
Our newly refaced faux fireplace that no longer has skull-cracking sharp corners.
Sources: Bookshelves and TYLOSAND sofa are from IKEA several years ago and no longer available. (Can’t remember the name of the shelves, sorry.) Everything else is from estate sales, yard sales and thrift stores. We got the three American By Martinsville tables at a thrift store for $5 a piece—one of our best finds. They’re worth 20-50x that according to eBay sales we’ve seen. I fell in love with the triangular clock at an antique store. Unfortunately it needs wound once a day and ticks really loud so it’s mostly just decoration. The painting was done by Jason and me several years ago on Valentine’s Day so we call it the Love Painting. I made the “Lovely Day x 3563” poster for Jason as a gift for the 10th anniversary of our first date. Back then he wrote me a song called Lovely Day. Jason found our front door at a local salvage yard and refinished it himself.
11 Comments | Art, Art: house tour, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: house tour, living room | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
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Graphic designer, MCM interior design enthusiast, wife to amazing guitarist and hard working realtor, mama—by way of foster care, adoption and biology—and follower of Jesus Christ.
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