home design

WARM, MINIMAL INTERIORS: SPACES I’M LOVING RIGHT NOW

by Michel Van Devender January 2, 2022

We’re craving some warm, minimal interiors right now – the clean, uncomplicated. I have to admit I’m one of those people who’s ready to take the tree down on Christmas Day evening following all of the holiday festivities. Due to a lack of energy and in consideration of my sweet holiday-loving family, I resist the urge. However; it does come down promptly on December 26, and heads straight out to the curb for pick-up.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Christmas. We usually get a tree Thanksgiving weekend, decking the halls and singing “fa-la-la-la-la” all the way through Christmas Day. The day after though, I’m ready for it all to go, put away and ready for a clean slate, to begin anew.

As a new year signals a fresh start, it is also the time when I start thinking about purging and organizing. It’s my version of spring cleaning in the winter. I’m thinking about how to pair down, declutter and simplify our spaces. Being a person who is deeply affected by my physical and spatial environment, there’s always a fine line between the contents and layers of a home and then feeling like there’s too much stuff, and I’m suffocating. I’m kind of the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other kind of person too! I’m constantly trying to strike a balance, but sometimes you just don’t know you’ve gone too far, in either direction, until you’ve gone too far.

Perhaps it’s also a metaphor for what I’m feeling in terms of our lives. How can we reevaluate our priorities? What we do with our time. Are we doing too much? Perhaps too much of the wrong things? Who are spending our time with? Are we focusing on the important things? The things that really matter? How can we be more purposeful and intentional? What stays? And what can go? There’s always things that are complicating and cluttering, in our spaces, as well as in our lives. No New Year’s resolutions here, but we do always set some intentions for where we’d like to focus our energy. So here we are, evaluating it all.

Below are some minimal spaces I’m loving right now. When I look at these interiors, I feel a sense of calm, peace and order. What about you? How are you affected by your home and physical space? Are you too feeling a need for the uncomplicated and minimal, editing and revising a little here and there?

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be home in tweaking and decluttering mode. Here’s to fresh starts and new beginnings and creating spaces and lives where we can learn, grow and thrive in whatever season of life we’re in! Happy New Year friends!

Top featured image via Instagram @helloblogzine

SCULPTURAL STAIR DESIGN: 21 BEAUTIFUL SPIRAL STAIRCASES

by Michel Van Devender October 25, 2021

Spiral staircases give me all the good feels. As a little girl, I have the fondest memories of my aunt and uncle’s modern house in my hometown of Concord, North Carolina. I spent many weekends there with my brother and cousin. My uncle was an artist and designed and built the coolest 70s contemporary house. It had large, oversized windows and sat back in the woods. There was a spiral staircase in the two-story entry that lead to his art studio.

Since then, I’ve been dreaming of a spiral staircase. I’m thinking I may need to design an entire house around placing one of these functional, sculptural structures inside or outside of my home. I also have thoughts of adding a second story to our pool house, utilizing a white or black spiral staircase. Or perhaps, we’ll stack another shipping container on the one we already have in our backyard and finish off as a creative space, including a spiral staircase on the exterior to connect the upper and lower floors.

Outside of their beauty, they are especially brilliant in providing a space-saving solution for reaching your second floor. Now, I’m not going to say they’re the best for high traffic spaces as the narrow passage generally only accommodates one person at a time. They can also be tricky for moving furniture and other large items from one floor to another. Those are minor details in my opinion, and I’m sure I could be creative with solutions.

And when I get to the point where I’m ready to incorporate a spiral staircase in one of my designs, how will I even begin to choose a direction? There are some really great examples out there. I’ll definitely start here with these images for inspiration. Which is your favorite?

WRITING ON THE WALL: CREATING UNIQUE ART IN YOUR HOME

by Michel Van Devender October 1, 2021

We live by the belief that there's no better place for experimentation + creativity than your home. It's our little lab + playground for all things creative - design, art, music, etc., etc.! -Black House Blue Sky

Looking for a fun, imaginative way to personalize and inject soul into your home? How about writing or drawing on your walls? Did I hear a gasp? Just to clarify, not all of your walls (unless that’s your jam), but designating one wall or a small area in your home.

Many of you may cringe when I mention writing or drawing on your walls. I know, I know, there’s definitely a risk associated with this. What if you make a mistake? What if you don’t like it? I’ve always been one of those people who operates with the attitude if it doesn’t work, I’ll just paint over it! Nothing is truly permanent, right? After all, I’ve repainted rooms multiple times when I couldn’t get the color exactly the shade or depth I envisioned in my mind. It’s all part of the creativity and experimentation of design.

In our modern houses, I’ve really grown to love white walls and the blank canvas they provide for creativity and artwork. In my previous life, every room in our house was different, either painted a color or wall papered in various patterns (This Old House of Mine). A different form of creativity for sure. I still love seeing those homes out there, but personally evolved into loving mostly white walls, or at least for now! The white wall is the perfect place to put your paint and/or markers and imagination to work.

When we were planning and designing the spaces for our new house, I knew I wanted to designate a wall where we could write and draw. Our side entry mudroom ended up being the perfect spot. It’s a small area we frequent as we come and go in and out our side door, the place where we drop our belongings in cabinets and place our shoes in bins. It’s been a fun family project, each of us adding to the wall. Whether it’s an inspirational quote or phrase, a doodle or sketch, we’ve all contributed a little something. It is still a work in progress that will continue to evolve over time, as the wall art grows, and we fill in the gaps. And, when I walk in our side door, seeing the wall just makes me happy!

Honestly, there’s nothing quite like handing your kids some permanent markers and letting them have at it, with your blessing! This actually makes me laugh as we spent so many years trying to keep our sons from writing and drawing on our interior walls. I may even recall having to repaint a wall after one of our little guys went to town with a box of his beloved Crayolas. And now, here we are many years later embracing this form of wall art.

So if you’re looking for a creative alternative for your walls, writing or drawing could be a fun way to infuse a different type of art to a room or space. Whether you love writing, drawing or graffiti, you can adapt to suit your interior style and make it personal to you and your family. The below inspiration includes some great examples of how this can be done successfully.

What do you think? Yay or nay on this one?

P.S.

If you have young children who do not understand the concept of writing or drawing here, but not here, this may NOT be a good idea. Your littles could end up writing and drawing on all of the walls in your home!

Inspiration

OUR HOUSES

NEW HOUSE UPDATE: WE HAVE DRYWALL

by Michel Van Devender April 29, 2020

Woohoo… man, do we love drywall! It feels like Christmas over here!!! Framing helps you imagine rooms and get a sense of space, but when the drywall goes up, suddenly it actually feels like a home and a place where you could live. We’re celebrating this milestone construction phase with happy dances and cheers to the drywall team who made this magic happen almost overnight. And, that’s saying a like since we are onsite checking in many times a week. Our next Black House Blue Sky home is really starting to feel like a reality!

OUR HOUSES

THE WAITING GAME OF CONSTRUCTION…

by Michel Van Devender February 17, 2020

February 17, 2020

Oh hi there, I’m over here at our construction site doing a little weather watching and a “no rain please” dance (if there’s such a thing). We’re beginning the third week in February. I think I can count on one hand the number of days we have not had rain in Charlotte this month. In the beginning stages of construction, this stalls the progress. You’re at the mercy of good ole Mother Nature, and it’s a praying and waiting game. So, I’m all pretzeled up crossing my fingers, toes, arms and legs for a stretch of dry weather so we can get this concrete foundation poured! I’m also ready for that red barn back there to go black! Both will be days for celebration!!!

KIDS’ ROOMS: STILL LOVING CHALKBOARD WALLS

by Michel Van Devender February 4, 2020

Room decor for kids has been top of mind for me lately. As we’ve started construction on a new house, I’m already thinking of our three boys and daydreaming about their future bedrooms. I’ve always enjoyed designing kids’ bedrooms. There’s endless opportunity to have fun, get creative and reflect their individual personalities. I’m also a sucker for their sweet, appreciative faces and their audible squeals of delight when they see their newly decorated rooms!

Back in 2009, I painted a chalkboard wall in my middle son’s bedroom (image shown in above cover photo, as featured in Lonny Magazine back in December of 2012). He was five at the time and loved his room and that wall! I see the chalkboard wall as an ever-changing, rotating canvas for creative expression, for the young and for the young at heart. It is also a great way to add depth and contrast, and yes my beloved black, to a space. In my son’s room, there was always some revolving work of art. My husband often utilized his drawing skills, sketching large-scale airplanes and ninjas for our son. I think he enjoyed the chalkboard wall just as much as my son did! Such sweet memories.

I know, I know, fast forward to the year 2020. Many may say the chalkboard wall is dead, done, finished, having had its moment of glory in interior design. How dare you say such a thing to me? It’s certainly alive and well in my mind and on my Pinterest boards! And if it’s no longer of the moment, well I’m quite happy to be off trend, focusing on designing interior spaces that fit and inspire our creative family. I’m not sure in what way yet, but the chalkboard wall will be resurrected in our new home… bringing it back! Perhaps it will be in a boy’s bedroom. Guess I should get to planning, pronto! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these images of some of my all-time favorite chalkboard walls in kids’ rooms.

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