slow design...but fast?

applying all we love about slow design to a rental

Claire here! This week I’m giving you a little peek into the chaos of my mind as I prepare to move for the fourth time in three years.

slow design, but fast

After moving from DC to NYC to thinking we’d be settling down in our Charlotte, NC home, life comes at you fast, and this week (!) we’ll be relocating yet again to a very cute Tudor-style duplex rental in Teaneck, NJ.

This home will be a rental, and our time commitment is unknown, so I have to be strategic about how I invest time and money. Unsurprisingly, I also have this deep need to compose the spaces we live in enough to feel at home and settled and to create a tiny bit of magic for my son who has moved around so much and so appreciates his “cool room” now.

I have yet to see the house myself! Just the photos my husband, Mark has taken:

From left to right: hallway looking towards the room that will be our son's, son's room with very cute dormer window, living room with fireplace, living room windows, dining room, kitchen

So far, the pros I have identified:

• beautiful hardwood floors

• architectural details - windows, molding, inlaid pattern in floors

• nice light - especially in the living room and our son’s room

• full basement with lots of storage, washer and dryer, and half bath

• small kitchen but with good storage and new appliances

• more space than we have ever had

And the cons:

• some fairly intense wall texture - something I am not willing to even ask the LL about painting

• never lived in a multi-floor space, so not sure about navigating the up and down life with a toddler I will be alone with a lot

• while the total amount of space is more than we have ever had, the rooms themselves are pretty small except for the living room

• apparently, the planes in Teaneck are very loud because it is often under a landing pattern

my personal style journey

With the exception of our year in NYC, I have owned my homes for the last ten years, which is mind-blowing to me. I bought a 400 sq ft studio in DC when I was 27, and we bought our 2 bedroom 800 sq ft apartment three years later. Since that first studio, I have been on a long, slow journey to nail down my personal style while working with small spaces and a tight budget. I can identify two big challenges that I am just now starting to overcome - as a professional designer, I consume inspiration in so many forms at an unmanageable rate, and it was a huge hurdle for me to separate what I am inspired by for work vs. what I love for my home. I am still honing that skill, but working with Linny and starting House Friends has helped me more than I could have anticipated.

The second mind shift that I needed solidified after starting House Friends and doing so much research into the furniture industry today: budget. I have shopped and sourced second-hand furniture since I was in college, but it didn’t start from a place of passion for saving things from the landfill or a love for vintage quality. It was my main tool for furnishing my homes within my budget. I am now grateful I couldn’t afford the trendy pieces I was chasing because I doubt I would still love them as much now or that they would have held up. However, those hunting skills I have been honing for almost 20 (?!) years come in handy and now provide a great source of joy rather than feeling like a constraint.

We have asked our members to apply Alison Bornstein’s three words exercise to their interior style, and mine were:

• colorful

• nostalgic

• playful

Here are some snap shots of our Charlotte home, which I am hesitant to share because none of the spaces feel “finished” and honestly, after a year and a half of chipping away at it, the house is just starting to gel. It’s hard to walk away from it after so much hard work, but I’m trying to think of it as putting a pin in it. I guess I should mention we are keeping our Charlotte home and hoping to find a short-term renter, so most of our furniture is staying here.

From left to right: 1. Living Room by Tim Robinson 2. Kitchen by Tim Robinson (art by Linny and wallpaper by Kate Zaremba in collab. with HF) 3. Kitchen by Kate Zaremba 4. Den/office by Tim Robinson 5. Bedroom detail 6. Aiden's room by Tim Robinson

devising a plan

When I’m thinking about a new home, I tend to become a bit (or a lot) frantic. Having a space that feels like home has always been really important to me, but I have noticed an uptick in the frenzy since having a kid and working from home full-time. Children so easily ef up the vibe of every space they have access to, so if you are like me, and need things put together to feel settled and focused, it is a really hard balance to strike.

Since I have still yet to set foot in our new home, I asked Mark to measure the rooms so that I could start wrapping my head around what we need. He has never measured or drawn a room, so I have to give him credit for his efforts.

I’ve decided to prioritize the Living Room and Aiden’s room because they are the best spaces in the house and will likely be where most of our time is spent. The dining room will be important because I think it will also function as my office, but I am prepared to hash that out a bit once we are there and see how things feel.

Based on the plans, I was able to zero in on the priorities for hunting:

Living room

• sofa

• arm chair (one big one or 2 smaller ones)

• 9x12 rug

• credenza/storage piece for tv + toys

• ottoman

• side tables

• window coverings

Dining Room

• table

• 4 chairs

• desk

Aiden’s room

• rug (s)?

• bedding

• fabrics for creating a cozy play nook in the dormer window

My next step was to establish a visual direction for these spaces, but in all honesty I took to fbmp well before even having measurements. The problem with my typical frenzy and enthusiasm for so many styles and design eras is that I quickly become unfocused and overwhelmed by the possibilities that second-hand shopping presents.

Linny convinced me to take our own advice and put some moodboards together so I could better contain my racing thoughts, and it has already helped guide some decision-making.

paint it pink without paint

My son’s room came together first because he has a weirdly good eye for a two-and-a-half-year-old, and very strong opinions, including his multiple requests for a pink bed. I put together a pinterest board and asked him which pictures he liked, and here is the resulting moodboard:

I’ve purchased the Irish chain red, pink and white quilt topper (it is not a fully completed quilt, but he loved it, it was well-priced and I think I can put it to use somehow) and the rainbow stripe fabric, which is vintage from etsy, that I hope to use over the bed or in the dormer nook somehow. The bottom three fabrics are block print from this incredible website Linny found. I love the ones he picked, but I am going to hold off purchasing until we get there and I can do some measuring and figure our how we can use them. I anticipate the room to feel more like the photo in the middle than the very tailored spaces on the left, but I love that he was drawn to those and want to see what I can pull from them.

a layered living space

Because I am a color enthusiast who will be forced to live with white walls, I looked for inspiration where the hit of color comes from anything other than the walls. A lot of these images are ones I referred to for my Charlotte home, so it feels like a fun challenge to pull inspiration from them in a different way.

1. designed by virginia tupker 2, beata heuman’s swedish living room 3. design by casework interior design 4. gillian lawlee’s living room 5: matilda goad’s living room 6: design by meta coleman

The common thread that runs through these images is a bold use of color on the furniture in a light, airy space. This is where I have to let the second-hand journey take over a bit, but my plan is to start with a sofa and go from there. Here is my shopping list updated with loose design direction:

• sofa = colorful! focusing on pink, blue or green but also open to yellow or brown

• arm chair = also colorful and/or patterned

• 9x12 rug = likely nuetral or simple/solid because I have a higher likelihood of something that can pull the room together in my budget

• credenza = I am really hoping to find something red or kelly green

• ottoman = more color and pattern, please

• side tables = lowest priority and will probably prioritize cost over looks here but will hope for both to collide

• window coverings = not sure yet, but maybe will find some inspiration in our upcoming workshop! (More on that below!)

My plan is to start with the couch and find something in a color (and hopefully pattern) that I like and then build around it. I found the Revival jute checkered rug on fbmp and have committed to it.

Here are my front-runners right now. I am waiting to hear back about the sofa before committing to the chair, but both are listed for $100:

The Jeremy Allen While couch is likely never leaving that girl’s arms, but for the record, I saved it before it was famous:

setting myself up for success

I thought about setting myself a strict budget, but then again, I am desperately trying to avoid going overboard on time and energy spent. I have decided to trust my instincts and second-hand skills and to go for the cheapest option that also brings some joy or excellent function so that I don’t get overly sucked into a spreadsheet. Plus, the best thing about shopping this way is I know I am going to end up with quality pieces that I will take with me to my next home or sell.

Yes, we tout slow design and the fact that good + cheap takes time, but I’ll be slow designing in the fast lane, as we sometimes have to do to help smooth transitions. I’m going to have very little free time between work and primary parenting, so I want to get settled as fast as possible. If I can’t find certain items quickly, I’ll probably turn to ikea for pieces like my desk, dining table, tv/toy credenza. I’ll still make tweaks as long as we are living there because I can’t help it - I just hung a mirror in our Charlotte house last week.

I move this week and hope I can pull these grand plans off.

Join us for our Window Coverings Town Hall on Wednesday January 24, 2024 at 12:00pm eastern - free for our paid subscibers!