our house

WELL ROUNDED: HOW TO DECORATE WITH A ROUND MIRROR

by Michel Van Devender October 8, 2021

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

October 8, 2021

OUR HOUSES

NOTE CHANDELIER: UNIQUE LIGHTING FOR THE HOME

by Michel Van Devender August 16, 2021

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!

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

August 16, 2021

OUR HOUSES

OUR MODERN BUILD: STYLE

by Michel Van Devender September 16, 2020

Let’s talk design! I mean honestly, when are we NOT talking design? As our new Black House Blue Sky home is coming together, we’ve had people ask how we would describe the style. After all, it is an observable departure from our previous 5th Street house.

When we were dreaming and creating our mood/vision boards early last year, we weren’t even thinking in words, only in images. This is usually how it unfolds for most designers. We found ourselves drawing inspiration Scandinavian farmhouses and European barns with their more traditional shapes juxtaposed with modern, expansive windows and black industrial materials. And in this same vein, we knew we wanted a home that tells a more worn, rustic, lived in story… a black modern haven, tucked within the lush green surroundings, capable of withstanding the test of time with the wear and tear of family life. Maybe this imagined place becomes even more beautiful over time with its patina.

Speaking from experience, building a new house with the worn warmth of an old house while simultaneously maintaining a modern design aesthetic can be a little tricky. In most cases, it’s more expensive to make the new look old, especially if it’s done well. The materials and labor typically cost more. Balancing the old and the modern is also super important. A defined budget helps guide decisions for sure. From the beginning, we knew the importance of being purposeful and selective in our approach, making design decisions and spending where we believed it would be the most impactful, and where we’d get the most design bang for our buck. For this reason, we relied heavily on organic finishes, textures and selections to achieve our style goals. From the raw concrete floors to the use of reclaimed wood to the marble kitchen wall to the understated, industrial lighting to the mosaic and terrazzo bathroom tile floors, these combined design elements create surfaces and interiors that are both rustic and modern. And, most of our selections, I might add, were in budget!

Even with its rustic vibe, our new project is still modern, albeit decidedly different than anything we’ve done to date. The BHBS aesthetic continues to be defined, shaped and honed by our experiences. We’re always most inspired by travel, art, photography, nature and well-loved treasures sourced from antique and vintage stores. In more recent years, we’ve become increasingly more obsessed with European design. Generally speaking, in the past we’ve described our interior design aesthetic as modern eclectic as we love more classic modern finishes paired with an eclectic mix of collected and curated interiors. Our new abode will reflect this collective inspiration, no doubt, but will be expressed in a different way based on our evolving design aesthetic and lifestyle goals.

Perhaps our new home style can be described as rustic Scandinavian modern or industrial farmhouse or industrial chic. Or at least, that’s the best phrasing we’ve come up with so far! We’re visually preoccupied over here and rely more heavily on images to convey a style and mood, but we’re always up for help with the descriptive words! Here are some of our favorite images we’ve drawn major inspiration from throughout the design build process. How would you describe the style? Please drop us a comment below!

From Top: klh-homes.com, via gardenista.com, via remoldelista.com, via clemaroundthecorner.com, via sfgirlbybay.com, via roselandgreene.blogspot.com, via thedesignchaser.com, via leanneford.com, via frenchbydesignblog.com, via vosgesparis.com, via thedesignchaser.com, via homebreng.com.

September 16, 2020

OUR HOUSES

HOME TOUR: 5TH STREET

by Michel Van Devender April 28, 2020

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

April 28, 2020

OUR HOUSES

PANDEMIC CONSTRUCTION

by Michel Van Devender April 18, 2020

We didn’t exactly plan to build a house during the COVID-19 outbreak, but here we are, still moving forward on a project that has been in the works since last summer. And, the train had already left the station so to speak.

It’s difficult to ignore the uncertainty of these times. I’m finding if I focus on the “what ifs” and what might go wrong right now, it does nothing but create anxiety. If we had a crystal ball, we might’ve put the construction phase on hold. Then again, who really knows. Right?!

So, here we are moving forward, somewhat blindly, with hope and optimism for the future. We’re thankful we have the option to continue. We’re also thankful for our bada#$, creative builder, Vasseur Home Design, who has gracefully kept the wheels on the bus and the project moving, while also creating a safe working environment for the many tradespeople who work their magic. We feel good about having a project that keeps people safely employed. So, we’ve decided to take it day by day and focus on the good. What else can you do?

April 18, 2020

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!!!

February 17, 2020

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.

February 4, 2020

OUR HOUSES

WE’RE EXPECTING AGAIN…

by Michel Van Devender February 3, 2020

And NO, it’s not another child!!!

It’s official… we’re building our dream house AGAIN! (Insert excited squeal here!) After living in the same neighborhood and on the same street, in two different houses, for over 14 years, we’re all signed up, literally with the bank and a contractor, for a new house, a new neighborhood and a new adventure. We’ve always been open to new, creative opportunities. Even when the fear of change creeps in (and there has definitely been some fear), we ultimately move forward, trusting that there’s a bigger plan at work and a new chapter to be written. So, a little over five years after completing our current black modern home, our new project is under construction! In six to eight months, what’s started as an almost blank slate with a red barn will soon be our home sweet home… fingers crossed. Hope you’ll follow along as the process unfolds… start to finish, beginning to end! YES, here we go again!!!

February 3, 2020

OUR HOUSES

THIS OLD HOUSE OF MINE

by Michel Van Devender January 23, 2020

As time steadily marches onward into 2020, I’ve been in my typical beginning-of-the-year purge and organize mode. In the process of decluttering and tackling the mountain of papers, I ran across these photos of our previous house that were published in a local magazine, Charlotte Home + Garden, in April of 2012. I unexpectedly found myself being swept up in a wave of sentimental emotion.

As I stepped back in time, turning the glossy magazine pages, I was bombarded by flashbacks of our family living in the house. An entire spectrum of feelings swelled inside of me, as I grappled with the overwhelming nostalgia. After eight years and a total renovation, we sold and quickly moved onto the next project, our current house. If only I could go back in time and write a letter of appreciation to this old house of ours, thanking her for embracing and sheltering our family, providing a safe, beautiful place to haven, love and create! This house was a reflection of who we were at the time. Our homes often tell a story of our lives… how they are, and then before we know it, how they once were, memories like DNA stored in the walls and floors. I always tell my kids that home is wherever we are, together. I do believe this, but in this moment I find myself grieving this home, five years after we’ve moved… reflecting on what once was.

So much has changed since these images were taken – the passage of time, our family, where we live, my design aesthetic. It’s wild to look back at images of our house from nearly a decade ago…. the saturated color, the pattern layers and mix, the painted pink and orange striped bathroom, the bold graphic wallpaper, the dark lacquered walls, the textiles, etc. I still love so much about that old house, the lively interiors, the fond memories, the little red heart my husband painted on the wall in the corner of my middle son’s room. Two of our boys were born at a hospital a couple of blocks away and brought home to this 1920s two-story house. At the time of the photo shoot, my youngest son was still a baby, and oh how much I loved his little sunshine yellow nursery. In a corner of that room, we spent some of the sweetest hours rocking back and forth together in a wooden glider. The interior design was perfect for the house and for that time in the life of our family. The memories and the interiors are so closely intertwined… all denoting a point in the past.

The passage of time is such an odd thing. Looking back, it seems like yesterday that we were there in the house, and then at other times, like it was twenty-something years ago. The familiar and reliable rhythm of good ole time, marked by the relentless clock ticking and tocking forward… always rotating directionally clockwise. The steady sound of it is deafening. I cover my ears to avoid the painful reminder of time passing. Time is an enigma. And perhaps, it’s the enigma of life. Much of the present seems to creep by in slow motion. There have been too many times to count mothering toddlers that I silently moaned and cursed time, indignantly claiming that hours had been added to my already long day. And then, glancing back in the rear view mirror, it’s all happened at a frenzied, warped speed. The lines are all blurred and time has been manipulated with exposure photography. You attempt to capture all of the moments by taking all of the pictures and writing down all the things, somehow forgetting so many of the details. What kind of cruel joke is that? I feel like the past thirty years of my life have been sandwiched into a ninety minute movie, a B movie at best, only some of the highlights made the final cut. The remaining memories are carelessly strewn across the editing room floor. As the movie is projected onto the big, white screen, I watch in disbelief as the rapid change occurs in each character. I’m here, right now, in the present, frantically crawling around on that cutting room floor, attempting to gather each moment in hopes of splicing them back together so I can see the missing parts of the story. It’s a fruitless attempt at best as the reel cannot hold it all. There’s no way to change the flow of time. So much is seemingly lost.

And ironically, even with these sentimental musings, the fist-fight with time prevails. I seem to be impatiently pressing time forward, forging change, restless with the same old same old. On some level, there’s a discontentment and boredom, always lingering just beneath the surface, churning and bubbling. It sometimes feels like a throbbing tooth ache that cannot be ignored. Like my wandering soul will not be settled and is trapped beneath the weight of wounds from many different lives lived. I glance out into the world, and I see people swirling and swimming around at a frenetic pace, searching for their ground wires. I’m right there with them. We have all unconsciously stepped onto the big bus with the broken brakes. It’s the fancy new Tesla bus that’s programmed to drive in circles around a NASCAR track. In a world that seems to value the going, the doing and the achieving, there is less value attached to the being. Simply stopping to BE in the present moment.

When I finally pause, looking up from the magazine pages and awake from the trance, I can hear a soft, comforting voice whispering, “Be still my child. Be still. I know you. I am with you. I love you. I am here now. I am here tomorrow. I am here always.” It is by this Divine love and grace I have moments of clarity and a deep primal knowing. There is a realized longing for a connection to my timeless self and an Eternal Light, that which transcends time and space. And, it is in those moments, I’m calm and settled, continuously reminded that what I’m searching for is always right here with me. I am okay. You are okay. We are all okay. For that, I am forever grateful. AND, I’m also grateful for this old house of ours.