My New Love for Black Walls

If you follow me on instagram (@kirstenkrason) you might have seen that I have painted my office black! My office is the last room in my house left to decorate (but let's be honest I'm sure I'll be re-decorating everything at some point) and for some reason it's made me want to try a totally different approach to the way I decorate my home. Everything in my house is fairly light and bright and I love it.  My old office was extremely feminine and that really fits my personality but for some reason I have been infatuated with black walls recently. I can't explain it. I have always loved contrast and drama in rooms but usually I create that effect with pattern and color. It was a hard decision and up until I put that first paint-stroke on the wall I was doubting myself. The good news is that I love it! And for those of you who are wondering I used the same paint color that Bryn used.

These are the rooms I have been using for motivation and inspiration.


Traditional Family Room by Cambridge Architects & Designers LDa Architecture & Interiors

Contemporary Bedroom by Washington Interior Designers & Decorators huntley & co

Victoria Smith {SFGirlByBay} Home Tour in Rue Magazine 

interior by Jonny Valiant

image via Nate Berkus Interiors

image via Smitten Studio

I would say this bathroom palette is exactly the vibe I am going for in my office. I love the shot of color and the sharp contrast of the white against the black. 

And for those of you who might think I have gone completely insane don't worry, there will still be lots of color. Here's a little fabric preview...

Hopefully more progress pictures are to come! 

What about you?  Would you ever paint a room black? 

Where to Put Small Lamps

My friend Chelsea of Yours Truly recently approached me the chance to participate in a "white box challenge" as a part of her new online home accessory & furnishings store, Joy & Revelry.

She picked an item from her shop and sent it to three bloggers with the challenge of incorporating the item into their homes. The trick was that none of us knew what the item would be! 

I was ecstatic when a pair of tiny lamps showed up on my doorstep.  

This set of Katie Mini Ball lamps is beautiful. I knew I could find a way to incorporate them into my home but where! I played around with them in a few different places but the small scale just didn't fit any of my usual places. 

Finally I decided that they needed to be on teeny tiny tables! I am slowly working on transforming my office into an office/guest room. These lamps are perfect on these small scale tables I picked up at Target. 

Our loveseat is a sleeper sofa and the tables act as nightstands when we have guests over. 

I added some of my design books on the table to prop up the lamps and give them more substance. I love how they look like pretty jeweled accessories on my tables.  My $50 clearance Target tables look so much more expensive with these pretty lamps on top of them. 

See where Emily Clark put her lamps here! 

To learn more about Chelsea you can watch a short video on her site here.  And, if you’d like to do some shopping, she’s offering 10% off with this promo code: YT_WHITEBOX_10 (expires Aug. 1st, 2013).

Tips for Building a New Home on a Small Budget

I've received some reader emails about what to spend their money on when building a new house. Most of us stretch financially to get into our homes in the first place and we don't have a lot left over for upgrades. We saved for four years to buy our townhome and when we went to the design center to choose finishes and upgrades we realized we didn't have a lot left over for all the "extras".  I had really been looking forward to choosing fun options for our new house but when we showed up I realized the options in our budget weren't the options I had been dreaming of.

SAVE //  I, like many many others, really love white kitchens. I set my heart on something like this:

image via House Beautiful 

However when we went to choose our cabinets I learned white cabinets would be an extra $3,000... gulp. Not in the budget. So we went with brown instead. They were a $0 upgrade.

I chose a modern shaker style that I really like. Because I couldn't have the color I wanted I decided to choose the shape and style I wanted. We can always paint later. I also wanted a beautiful marble countertop but had to settle for white laminate instead. That was another $0 upgrade. 

We also decided to opt out on a backsplash and did it ourselves a couple of years later. 

SPLURGE // We decided to go with hardwood (fake hardwood) floors on our main floor instead of the standard tile. I'm really glad we did this because re-flooring would have been a major pain later on. I am not going to lie though, the dark hardwood shows everything!

The paint color used throughout most of my home is Benjamin Moore's Hazy Skies. 

SAVE //  We had our whole house painted white. We saved a lot by doing one tone instead of two. I figured I'd rather paint walls than ceilings, baseboards and doors.  We later decided on a paint color for the walls but painting our entire house by ourselves was torture. I wish we had paid to just have it done but it saved us a lot of money. I also didn't want to just pick a color at the design center and cross my fingers that it worked out. I wanted to live in my house for a few months and really make the right decision on paint.

 image by Jessica Kettle Photography

SPLURGE // This may seem utterly ridiculous but we upgraded all our doors for $200. At first my husband thought I was crazy that I was so insistent on it but I'm so glad we did it. I love the modern look of the three panels and for some reason it makes my whole home feel more custom. It fits the style of my home so well.  Changing your doors is not really something you are going to want to do later so I'm glad I made this decision upfront.

left image by Britta Anne Photography and right image by Jessica Kettle Photography 

SAVE // We decided against having our windows framed out and just did it a few years later ourselves. The above pictures are of the same window in Jett's room. Before we had our windows framed out I disguised our lack of framing with high and wide curtains.

image by Jylare Smith Photography 

SPLURGE // The best decision we made was to vault our upstairs ceilings. This upgrade was a significant amount but so worth it in my opinion. The vault makes our teeny tiny rooms feel so much bigger. A ceiling vault is something you wouldn't be able to just add on later so it was a good investment upfront. 

SPLURGE // Anything behind the walls is always good to do upfront. We wired our downstairs basement for surround sound because it's something we'd never be able to do afterwards.

Overall just prioritize what things are most important to you. You will make mistakes but it will help you make better decisions when you go to build your next house!

What are the best or worst decisions you all have made in building your homes? 

Using Lockers in Your Decor

I've mentioned before how small Jett's room is. Because we have limited space we also have limited storage. I have been looking for a unique way to utilize the empty space we have in Jett's closet which is why I was excited to have the opportunity to review a locker from School Lockers. 

As you can see some extra storage solutions were needed. Plus his closet really wasn't very exciting. We usually just threw whatever extra stuff we had lying around on the floor of his closet. 

I had a locker growing up in our mud room and it was so fun having my very own space to store my favorite things. I wanted Jett to have a taste of that in his room. We did some minor sprucing up in his closet and... ta da!! 

We chose the Red Kids Locker to review. I wanted something that didn't take up too much space but that also provided some storage for us. 

The stars are a new addition and I'll be blogging about them next week ;)

We are currently using the locker to store Jett's suitcases, hats, soccer clothes and a few other odds and ends that we didn't have a place for. 

I love the idea of using lockers for decor in your home. They can be used for storage but they also add a really unique touch to a room. 

If you are looking for more of an industrial look School Lockers also sells a variety of Metal and Steel Lockers. These are the exact lockers we had in my home growing up. They work well in a home but they also are extremely functional in a garage. My Dad still has these lined up on an entire wall filled with camping gear, boating items, lawn care essentials etc... 

The idea of having gym lockers would be cool in a dining/kitchen space or anywhere you need lots of extra storage! School Lockers has a great selection of Gym Lockers. It might even be fun to use these lockers as a type of library for your children. Each child can have their own row of lockers to store and "check out" their favorite books. The possibilities are endless!           

image via The Woodsfolk

School Lockers' Kid's Lockers come in a variety of color which is a fun way to inject some creativity and life to a space. You could use them like I did in a closet or even use one of their smaller ones as a nightstand. Grouped together they can substitute for a dresser or on their own for a single storage solution. 

image via Room for Children

If you are lucky enough to have some sort of mudroom then the Kid's Coat Lockers would be perfect for you. Your kids will no longer have any excuse for throwing their coats and shoes on the floor. Each child would have enough space for their own belongings plus these cubbies allow for extra space for friends! If you have kids coming and going in and out of your house a lot this locker would be a dream! 

Right now School Lockers is offering 5% off any purchase through June 20th. Use promo code:

 5OFF6TH

My New Favorite Blue Paint Color

This post sponsored by Devine Color.

I wanted to share with all of you the blue paint color we used on our basement wall. I had been looking for a very light and subtle blue that mimicked the sky for our cloud wall. So I was excited when I was approached by a new paint company, to me, Devine Color. They offered to let me try one of their new paints.

Devine Color sent me a set of their Discovery Cards. Unlike the usual paint swatches these cards give you a viewing window that help you really visual how the color will look on your wall compared to other colors. 

I was drawn to devine blue right away. 

It's light but not too baby blue or pastel. This paint is the perfect backdrop to my cloud corkboards! 

The paint was extremely easy to use. I only needed one coat which saved me so much time! 

Make sure you check out the variety of beautiful colors from Devine Color! 

photography by Lindsey Orton 

Our Land of Nod Playroom

I am excited today to reveal to you our new playroom! To introduce the room to you I had a video made by the talented Christopher Robert Koch. 

I hope you like it! 

PLAYROOM ADVENTURES :: 6th Street Design School // Land of Nod from christopher robert on Vimeo.

Today I am revealing a room to you that has been such a labor of love for me. Originally we had planned on making our basement into a t.v. room with a small play area for the kids. You may remember the great sectional debate where we played with different sectionals to complete our ultimate t.v. room. Right after we finished the basement we had Jane and we didn't have a lot of extra money sitting around for decorating. We moved all of Jett's toys down to this room but for almost a whole year it looked like this:

A huge room filled with a whole bunch of random stuff. Jett actually had a lot of fun playing down here even though all of his toys were in pieces all over the floor. I started realizing how nice it was to have a space just for him. The realization was that Jett might need more than just a tiny corner of this room for his toys. Winters in Utah are ROUGH and this basement became my saving grace in keeping him entertained all winter long. I approached my husband with the idea of turning this entire room into a playroom.  Although he was sad his "man cave" was getting taken over by kids I think ultimately he could see that this room would get used way more as a playroom than a t.v. room. The main issue we faced was that we couldn't afford to furnish the room the way we wanted. I dreamed of a fun area that was organized, colorful and imaginative. I decided to approach Land of Nod to see if they would be willing to donate some items for the room and they agreed! I immediately got to work scheming of ways to turn this blank canvas into something exciting.

I want to thank Lindsey Orton for taking all these beautiful pictures of the room.

Behold.... the playroom! 

I painted the far wall with chalkboard paint and added one of my favorite dr. Suess quotes to the wall. To be honest I am not really going to encourage a lot of chalk writing on this wall by the kids. Since we have carpet I'm worried the chalk dust could become a nightmare. But I did leave a blank space behind the dress up mirror to let the kids draw if they want. When this happens there is a special towel I'm going to lay on the carpet. 

Puppet Theater - Off Broadway Puppet Theater 

Puppets - Little Red Riding Hood Hand Puppets 

Mirror- Kid's Debutante Cheval Mirror

This is our dress up corner. I LOVED playing dress up as a kid and I hope my kids inherited that same sense of imagination. 

Play Pirate Beard and Hat 

Blended Tutus 

Chef Hat

Coat Rack - White Framework Coat Rack

I decided a Land of Nod coat rack would make an excellent place to store our dress up costumes. If you have bright and beautiful dress up items it's fun to display them and not just store them away in a box. Now these items have become part of the decor! 

Hot Air Balloons - My Beautiful Balloon Hang Up Balloons 

We have a small hallway in our basement that leads to my office and it also acts as a great place to hang our puppet theater! The fun thing about this theater is that you can take it with you easily for hours of fun wherever you go. It rolls right up and can be taken outside, to a friends house, grandparents house etc. 

Beanbags - Cool Beans! Beanbag! 

Our beanbags are one of our favorite things in this room. The kids love to jump all over them. They are super durable so I don't worry about rips or tears. They also make great comfy seats when we are reading books or just chillin for a bit. 

Teepee - Great Plains Teepee

Shag Rug 

When I was little I loved finding small places in my home to have some quite time. Usually I could be found in my closet with my books or dolls. I thought this teepee would be a fun little escape for our kids. 

Cotton Monster Raccoons

Camp Fire Log Pillow

Dot Garland - Rainbow Felt Ball Garland 

I added this garland to a plain white teepee to dress it up a bit. There are tons of tutorials on making your own teepee online. All you need is a fun garland or bunting banner and you have your own custom teepee! 

Cloud Corkboards

I am in love with these cloud corkboards. They come in the shape of clouds but they work just like corkboards. We use these as a place to display Jett's artwork and projects from preschool.  If your kids love having their artwork displayed then these corkboards are perfect for you! 

Green Chair - Looking Glass Play Chair

White Chair - Mojo Chair 

Red Chair - Iron Rich Play Chair

White Chair - Little Felix Chair

Play Table - Ansel Teak Play Table

Rug - Kid's Multi Colored Candy Dot Rug

I really wanted a play table in the room as well for Jett and his friends to play at or do art projects at. I love the Ansel Teak play table because it's modern and doesn't feel too childish and mixed with some cute chairs it becomes a great focal point in this room. 

Three-Tier Flea Market Bin

Jett has so many random little cars and I love how this bin holds them all and also enables his cars to become a decorative accessory! 

Kitchen Appliances 

The kitchen appliances are, by far, the most used toys in the playroom. Jett loves whipping up tasty dishes for us all to try. The kitchen set is extremely sturdy and well made. I like that it's white and will work for boys or girls. 

Salad Set 

Play Cooking Set

Flat Top Bookcases

These bookshelves are amazing. The bottom open storage compartment is my favorite thing. It's so nice having a place to stick all the bulky and big toys that don't fit in bins. 

Colorful  Circle Garlands 

Colorful Triangle Garlands

I wanted color in this room but I wanted it mainly in accessories so these garlands are the perfect way to inject color into this mostly white space. I grouped them together so that each individual garland becomes part of a bigger decorative feature in the room. 

Rainbow House - Grimms Rainbow House

Doll - Hello Doll (Suzy Q)

Ladybug Print 

Caterpillar Print 

I kept the accessories on the top shelf very minimal and clean. 

You may recognize these sweet prints from my post on Children's artwork. 

Storage Bins - Strapping Storage

Fox Art - Animal Wall Art (Fox)

Carousel Banner - Grand Canvas Banner (Carousel)

Dotted Floor Bins

Knit Storage Bins

I also wanted to make sure I had some great floor bins for the bigger groupings of toys like large cars, blocks, balls and stuffed animals. Jett is always playing with these items so I wanted them readily accessible. 

This playroom started out as being a room just for our kids but it's definitely turned out to be our favorite room in the house to hang out in as a family. All four of us are constantly down here playing with the kids and all the fun new toys.

Even though the products were donated by Land of Nod I would 100% endorse their products even if they weren't. They were amazing to work with. Their items came impeccably packaged with very detailed and easy instructions on how to assemble everything. The quality is fantastic, the toys are bright and beautiful and perfectly made for children. This company is one that I would recommend to anyone and everyone. A big thanks to them for making this playroom possible! And a huge thanks to everyone who participated in my Good Design with Kids in Mind series!

photography by Lindsey Orton