Style Scouting: Sew Personal

Introducing a new feature for Home Made Modern: Style Scouting! This was inspired by my friend (and lucky for me, neighbor), Louisa’s, house. When I walked into her home for the first time and saw her creative touches, I not only realized I’d found a new friend with similar interests and an aesthetic I admired, but that I hadn’t yet tapped a resource for inspirational blog material: other people’s homes! (Thanks, Louisa, for allowing your pad to be the inaugeral home featured on my humble blog.) As an interesting sidenote, this house has an almost identical floorplan to ours, so it was fun for me to see how the same space can be decorated and used differently. Opened my eyes to some possibilities!

Here are some pics of projects that have made her house a home.

First off, the nursery. You can’t tell from these pictures, but the walls are three different colors: yellow on both sides, with green on one end and blue on the other. Genius! I would never have thought to do this, but it looks great. The bedding is a Liberty of London print and the curtains were made from a double-sided duvet. Great example of re-purposing!

This corner had me at hello. It’s just so inviting and sweet, but it doesn’t scream baby’s room. The table was free: a roadside pickup by her dad who painted it white. The lamp is from Ikea and pillow goes perfectly, but isn’t too matchy-matchy (my least favorite decorating tactic but one that’s hard to avoid).

Here’s a great idea for modernizing a dresser without having to paint or refinish it. Sandwich a pretty fabric between the top of the dresser and a piece of glass cut to fit (make sure the edges are sanded). Voila! An updated look for not a lot of work. Louisa recovered the stool with a coordinating fabric, too.

As you can see from above, it’s amazing what a little fabric can do. Here’s another example…the floral fabric, pillow forms and zippers for each pillow were garage sale finds (why can’t I ever find stuff that stylish at garage sales?), as was the metal table and chairs. The tray was a handmade gift customized to match with fabric underneath a sheet of plexiglass. More proof that having a cared-for, personalized home doesn’t have to break the bank!

And here’s another element that shows great style and thrift (two of HMM’s favorite things!) Louisa would have me add the disclaimer that this room isn’t finished, but I say the interim product looks pretty darn good. She painted the wall behind their bed as an accent wall with peacock blue (Sound familiar? Great minds think alike!). And the bedding is crisp white with graphic black and white pillow covers she sewed from an old skirt.

Ah, yes! Have I mentioned the girl can sew? She’s got a sewing room that I completely covet, and I can’t even sew a straight hem! It’s full of light, color, and it’s all hers! Here’s her cutting table, which makes even me want to break out my sewing machine. The fabrics she uses are divine, but the real inspiration is that she dedicated a space in her home to one of her passions. We could all use a space like that, right? I’d like to convert an upstairs closet into a blogging office someday…Sigh.

Here’s one of her projects. I wouldn’t know how to begin making something like this. Cute, right?

So there you go…call it what you will: voyeurism, snooping, or as my grandmother used to say, rubbernecking. Whatever you call it, Style Scouting is inspirational to me…and I hope, to you.