interior design
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.Â
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.Â
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?
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In our design book, mirrors are always a good decorating idea! They are brilliant in creating the illusion of more space, expanding a room well beyond its square footage. This is especially helpful in smaller, more intimate spaces; however, they work equally as well in larger areas. Mirrors also reflect and bounce light. At our house, we’re always looking to amplify our lighting. And really, who doesn’t also need to check their reflection in a mirror every now and again?
If you’re thinking about a mirror for your room, you’ll want to consider the different shapes available. Why not skip the traditional square and rectangle mirror in lieu of a round version? These literally come in all sizes and finishes, creating the opportunity for a round mirror moment for your interior. You can use a round mirror in most any place you’d be considering a rectangle or square one. The soft, curved shape of the round helps break and balance the angular lines of your room and furniture. Varying shapes in your room always helps mix things up and create visual interest. Round mirrors also tend to be a bit more modern than other shapes, although I do have several vintage mirrors that I’ve collected over the years that I wouldn’t call modern.
So, if you’re adding mirrors to your wall decor (and I think you most definitely should!), consider a round one. I actually think they’re a must have! And while you’re at it, get creative and play around with the scale in your space. Here are some of our favorite round mirror rooms showing the different ways they can be used. Hope you love the inspiration! Thank you for the visit!

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P.S.
If you like this post, you may also enjoy some of our other decorating idea posts…
NOTE CHANDELIER: UNIQUE LIGHTING FOR THE HOME
WRITING ON THE WALL: CREATING UNIQUE ART IN YOUR HOME
DIY: HOW TO PAINT LEATHER AND VINYL WITH STUNNING RESULTS
Top featured image via trendland.com
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?
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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
Scribble a note, write a love letter, paint a picture, create a poem, compose the lyrics, save a memory...
Ahh… the note chandelier. Anyone else good at skipping the thinking-through part before making a selection and purchase? You know the step where you consider the assembly. Even after all these years of design work, yep, I’m still guilty. Of course, I’ve done this many times with Ikea purchases. And, I think this chandelier deserves to be placed in the same category as Ikea furniture!
Thanks to Pinterest inspiration (see below), the note chandelier has been calling my name for years. With our new house, I finally answered the call. I excitedly clicked the purchase button, never, not even once, giving any thought to the installation part. I never considered all of the small pieces, and there are many… the 50+ steel arms, the same number of clips that all require adjustment. Oh, and all of the pieces of paper have to be attached to all of those clips. I would say I thought it might arrive as pictured, completely put together, but honestly, I didn’t think about anything but how cool the light fixture looks… sigh.
As I’m putting this sucker together, I’m also now wondering how I will change the light bulb and dust the fixture. Hmmmm… the light bulb is now blocked by all of the steel arms. I’m sure dust will collect on all of these notes too. Oh well! Let this be problem solving and trouble shooting for another day. First, I have to complete the tedious process of getting this fixture together! If and when I finish, I’m sure I’m going to love it! And, I’m definitely looking forward to checking this one off of my to-do list!
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P.S.
If you’re interested in other projects we’ve been working on lately in our new house, check out DIY: HOW TO PAINT LEATHER + VINYL WITH STUNNING RESULTS.
How It's Going
My Note Chandelier Inspiration
Ahhhh…. a creative space… it has been top of mind for me, especially since COVID. Short of moving to my own apartment, which I have threatened to do by the way… #momoftheyear, it seems like a more realistic and economical option. I imagine this magical, mystical place where I’m all alone, can hear my thoughts and feel inspired to make and create. In this place that only exists in my mind, there are no dirty dishes, no empty food wrappers, no soiled, smelly shoes, no worn clothes scattered on the floor. Absolutely none of this. Only beautiful, collected and created things.
For the past seven years, we’ve lived in modern homes with open floor plans and multi-functional, efficient spaces. We’ve intentionally designed our new homes with the goal of using the square footage, with very little wasted space. And in case you didn’t know, that’s code for nowhere to go to get away from everyone! It seemed like a great idea until the pandemic, and I’m sure when life is back to all the people leaving for work and school, it will be fine again. But for now, I cannot stop dreaming of my very own DETACHED studio space.
As if I’m destined for torture, I’m scrolling on the Domino website and find a recent feature where Leanne Ford shares the process of converting her Pennsylvania henhouse shed into a dreamy rustic pottery studio and creative space. I. Am. In. Love! I would actually live in your shed Leanne and am available to move in right away. Just add a cute little vintage daybed with a French mattress. I think it would fit the decor nicely, don’t you? The gorgeous images have me transported, in fairy-tale fashion, to a studio paradise. As I read through the story, it just got better. Much of the materials used for the rehab project were found in the home’s basement and shed – french doors, terracotta tiles, a bar cart, vintage art, etc. I mean, what the luck! In the older, historic homes I’ve owned, there was nothing so cool and usable left behind.
Leanne goes on to say, you can convert a shed used for storage into a place you’d want to hang in a matter of a weekend. Hmmmm… I’m not so sure about that, but I guess she hasn’t seen our container shed or have the dilemma of figuring out where to then store all of the necessary and practical items in said shed. Albeit, her shed looked to be chock-full of actual junk and required a big clean out and extensive clean-up. I’m sure she also has other storage options.
I do love the Fords, their enviable style and how they make everything DIY look so chic. Who else, but Leanne Ford, can clean a filthy shed in a top to bottom all white outfit? For more details on the renovation process, check out Domino’s full story and the Ford’s video. Endless and lovely Leanne Ford inspiration can be found on her Instagram account – @leannefordinteriors and her website – leanneford.com.
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•All photography by Erin Kelly for Domino.
I will forever love lanterns, especially the dramatic, oversized variety. Illuminated, they cast the most perfect soft, amber glow over the space they grace, reminiscent of the full moon. They come in different shapes, sizes and price ranges. I think the lantern is a pretty impactful, dynamic light fixture for the money. It provides a lot of design bang for your buck! My absolute favorite lantern is made by Noguchi, albeit on the higher end in terms of pricing. They call theirs “light sculptures,” and they are pretty magical! For the most part though, there’s an abundant, reasonably priced selection of lanterns online, just a google search away. One resource I like is Hay. Their rice paper shades range from $25-$65 (you’ll need to add a light cord set). IKEA has a super cheap version.Â
I actually purchased a gigantic lantern for our new house from the Finnish Design Shop, spec’d for our pool house. I received it before I realized the garage door would open over where the lantern would hang… sigh and ugh on this design mishap. So I still have a lantern with no home. I paid almost the cost of the lantern in shipping so returning it wouldn’t have been the most cost effective. I actually still have it and am hanging onto it with hopes of finding a spot for it. Or perhaps it’ll find a home in my next house! While I’m working on that, here are some of my favorite spaces with Japenese-inspired lantern lights.
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hApPy NeW yEaR!
I’m not sure about you guys, but we’re grateful over here to have made it through this roller coaster of a year with its turbulent ride of big highs and low lows. It has certainly been a year of change, shifting and reprioritizing, individually and collectively. We’ve felt all the feelings, literally all along the spectrum, from day-to-day, minute-to-minute. Allowing ourselves to feel, process and grieve has been incredibly important and healing. Acknowledging and wrestling with the negative emotions allows us to move to the other side, through what’s necessary to learn, transform, grow and see the transit nature of it all.Â
There is no doubt the struggles have been real, and at times, ugly… like the ugliest, or at least at our house! Despite this, we have found the positives and gifts in this season for our family. For some though, the pain and trauma is enormous, and there isn’t a silver lining. We see and know these people. Supporting where we all are as individuals and holding an enormous amount of compassion, grace and love for others and ourselves is a beautiful antidote to it all. So as we move through and forward into a new year, our hearts are filled with hope! May we not forget any goodness we’ve garnered from this year and carry this forward into the days ahead. May we also focus on being instruments of love and healing in our homes, our communities and in the world.
If you are a reader who enjoys a cocktail (or two!) from time to time, here are some of my favorite well styled bars! Cheers to you, your family and to an extraordinarily bright 2021!!!
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The crushing all started way back in 2009/2010… way before her HBO reality/documentary show, “Stylish with Jenna Lyons,” hit the airwaves. If you didn’t already know, Jenna Lyons is actually the woman who made J. Crew cool. She was responsible for adding a little personality and a lot of twist to a mainstream, otherwise bland brand… yawn. After her departure I might add, J. Crew, you’re right back there.
Jenna’s no one-trick pony either. She really caught my attention when I discovered we share a love for interior design. Her Brooklyn townhouse was widely featured in various design publications. Who could possibly forget her ink black painted bedroom and adjoining bathroom walls? Inspired by her walk on the dark side, I (along with droves of other people), painted my bedroom, obviously, black! Several years ago, Jenna renovated and designed a very different, but equally as covetable SoHo apartment. Some of my favorite features are the green hallway, the brass kitchen cabinets, the pink living room sofa and that over-the-top opulent marble bathroom (insert drooling emoji).
Her epitomize style is one part prep, one part funk, one part classic, one part trendy with a gracious side of quirky. Jenna is a tall walking study in contrasts, and she always manages to pull it off – and together. She successfully projects this oh so effortless chic. Ms. Lyons’ style encompasses more than just her clothes and home decor though, it’s also an attitude and personality. It’s the entire package – the glasses, the long legs, her shoe collection, her sense of humor, the honesty with a side of F-bombs and her seemingly kind heart. It’s all of this that makes her so darn lovable and enviable.
Anyone else been a long time crushing on Jenna Lyons?
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Jenna's Fashion Sense
Jenna's Homes
Brooklyn Brownstone








Brownstone images via sukio.com
Soho Loft






Loft images via katieconsiders.com
Hello and welcome to our modern black home! Thank you for stopping by… I feel so honored you’re here! I frequently have people inquire about our house, curious about how it came to be and interested in a tour of the interior spaces. I’m thrilled and excited to share the story and to give you a tour here on the blog!
Location
Our house is located in a historic, urban neighborhood called Elizabeth in Charlotte, North Carolina. Elizabeth is our city’s second oldest street car neighborhood. It features an eclectic mix of house styles, including Colonial Revival, Tutor Revival and Craftsman, with a strong representation of the Bungalow style. In Elizabeth, there have been scarce examples of modern architecture up until recent years. As you might imagine, our modern black house is a bit of a juxtaposition to the more traditional, historic surroundings; however, by architectural design, it intentionally relates to the neighborhood through scale and some of its design features.
Our Old Old House
Prior to designing and building our modern house, we lived on the same street, five houses down, in a 1920s Colonial Revival that we spent nearly six years meticulously renovating. If you’re a person who loves home projects, you know what happens when a renovation is complete… that’s right, it is time for new adventure! AND, just as much as I love design, I love change and a new project!Â
When we started considering what our next move would be, we knew we desired a house more modern than the ones we’d lived in previously. I absolutely love the character and stories of historic homes, having lived in and renovated several before… the old creaking wood floors, the perfect patina of the burnished brass door hardware, the beautiful, single pane wavy glass windows and the multiple layers of paint that add a certain depth and texture to the walls. On the other hand, we were equally as well versed in the old house challenges – the small, segmented, sometimes dark rooms, the tiny closets and lack of storage and the old house energy consumption (yikes, we had paid those bills for many years!). We dreamed of a more open floor plan with lots of natural light. We wanted a house where you couldn’t stand at the windows in the winter and feel the cold air rushing into the house. And, we wanted closets and storage!
For The Love Of Modern
My husband and I have always loved modern architecture with its signature clean lines, open floor plans and large windows that bathe the interior in natural light (give me all of the natural light please!). For several years, we had toured many of these architectural stunners in our city through a local modern home tour called the Mad About Modern Home Tour. It is a rare opportunity to step beyond the front door of some of Charlotte’s coolest modern homes and see how people live in these spaces. Some are original, some are renovated, and they are all uniquely different and equally as interesting. We fell head over heels in love with the midcentury modern style! We were starry eyed and full of hopes of purchasing our very own midcentury house to renovate. Over the course of a year, we spent much of our free time searching the MLS for new listings. We were obsessed! There were nearly a half-dozen that came onto the real estate market in our area during this time that we had the chance to view. We quickly learned we’re not the only ones who adore these modern gems! It was a competitive market as the mid-century modern house had become a popular and highly sought after style of home in Charlotte. We made offers on at least three of these houses, but at the end of the day, we came up empty handed.Â
Change of Plans
Clearly the stars and timing weren’t aligning for a midcentury modern move so we were back to the drawing board. We decided to take a much needed break from looking at houses when an opportunity to purchase a house on our current street unfolded. It wasn’t exactly what we had in mind. The small brick cottage was badly rundown and had sat empty for several years after the owner, a sweet and adorable lady in her 90s, Ms. Harriet, had passed away. She was a well-known and beloved Elizabeth resident who had grown up as a child in the very same house she lived in up until a couple of months before her death. It was most certainly not the modern house we were dreaming of, but it was cute, and we loved the story of the house.Â
Midcentury modern what? It didn’t take long for us to pivot and dream a new vision, seeing great design potential in the house. Loving our urban neighborhood, we jumped at the chance to purchase the house. I spent time developing these grand plans of keeping some part of the original house, updating it with something new out the back. I was warned by our architects and builder this might not be possible, but I ran with my idea and envisioned how we could take some part of the original cottage and pair it with a modern addition… the perfect marriage of the old and the new, contrasting styles. I love a great juxtaposition. It would be a cool, eclectic mix! I even had a vision board and Pinterest examples of how this had been successfully done with other houses. I was feeling stoked, inspired and raring to get started on this new project.Â
The Reality
Unfortunately, the nay-sayers were right! Our excitement was quickly and disappointingly deflated. I’m often reminded – there’s the dream, and then there’s the reality! As we moved forward in the design process, we learned that there were several, rather large, obstacles in moving forward in this conceived direction with our newly purchased cottage. The first being that the original house was in substandard condition, having sat for years in need of major repairs. The brick on one side as well as on the back of the house was mostly gone, remnants of brick strewn all over the ground. The ceiling in the house was caving in due to a water leak that started in the attic and went undetected for several weeks while the house sat empty. The second, and most difficult obstacle to overcome, was the house was sitting on the current property line. Long story short, there are rules around how much you can add onto a house when this is the case without having to adhere to the property setbacks (i.e. move the house). The original footprint of 1200 sq. ft. would not accommodate our family of five, including three growing boys. Even if it did, renovating the original house would not make sense and would be cost prohibitive. We went back and forth. Ultimately though, after meeting with our architects, talking to our builder and looking at our options, including the financial implications, we came to the unfortunate conclusion that the house would have to be torn down. There was no part we could save. A bit of neighborhood history would disappear. Sadly, this is not unheard of in older neighborhoods. After years of disrepair, houses can reach the point where they simply cannot be salvaged.
Modern Construction
Since using part of the original house was no longer an option, we knew we would be building a new house. For us, this meant revisiting our dream of a modern house for our family. We quickly got excited about the idea of a clean slate and a new construction project. Yay, a new project! And, I was even more excited about the design/build process. From the architectural phase to the construction phase to the interior design phase, I loved every, single, last part of building our modern house! Even the crazy, things never go as planned, the problem solving, the collaboration, the quick and endless decision-making. Even the sh#* show part of it as construction is messy… that too! I loved dreaming a vision, the infinite planning, weighing the selections, and making the design decisions, each and every one of them. Routine visits to the construction site, watching the vision unfold, seeing the end product and moving into the house to make it into our family home. This is my kind of creative fun! And, NO, I’m certainly not going to lie to you and say that it was all rainbows and sunshine either, because it was not. However, I liken building a house to birthing a child in that you forget about the unpleasant parts of it, and the end result makes it so worth any temporary discomfort or pain!Â
Our Modern House
It took nearly ten months from start to finish to design and build our current home. Designing and creating this modern black house was a dream come true for our family! It was rewarding and inspiring to collaborate with such a talented and creative group of people who tirelessly and passionately worked together to see a vision to fruition. We couldn’t be happier with the end result and have so much gratitude for our family home and the memories we are making here. As we move forward on the construction of our next black house, there will be many parts and pieces of this house we’ll be carrying with us to our new home. I hope you enjoy the tour!Â
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P.S.
The images below are staged! Camera angles are planned and are forgiving. Our house does NOT look like this on a daily basis! Please know if you walked into our home right now you would find our beds unmade, clothes randomly scattered on the floor, clean laundry folded on our sofa (it sometimes sits there for several days), dirty dishes in the sink, toys and art supplies strewn all over the house, a weeks worth of mail and papers stacked on our kitchen island, etc., etc. On this very day, our front and back yards look like an explosion of outdoor kids’ stuff. Such is living a real, beautiful life!
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