Vacation House Exterior Reveal

I do realize that while I showed you all the rooms of my vacation house, I didn't take any photos of the exterior. This is probably due to the fact that before the lawn went in (mid-May), it just looked like a Darth Vader-eque box in the forest:)

I'm loving the lawn, the red adirondack chairs (4 adult and 4 kid-sized), the hammock, a slack line (the red nylon rope that you balance on) and we even put in a zip line.

The patio table, benches and umbrella are all from Crate and Barrel. There is just something so "summer" about eating outside, even if the chipmunks and squirrels are pretty much just stalking you waiting for food to drop:)

This is the view of the house from the back (away from the street), so I'm ok with the fact that you can totally see inside. That is kind of the point of a "glass box in the woods".

Yes, it's totally normal for me to have a car seat, toys, and a bison head on the floor:) You can also see the hot tub set into the deck on the right. The cover snaps and locks in place, and we love that it doesn't block our view at all!

Jessica

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Vacation House Home Tour

It's finally up.

I finally, finally compiled links to all the posts about our new vacation home and put them all in one spot.





You can find the tour under "Vacation Home Tour" in the page bar above.

Or you can just click here to tour my modern dream home.

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10 Things That Have Gone Wrong This Summer

1. Our range broke in our shiny new vacation home and I've had to improvise with cooking everything in the microwave, Vitamix, or on the BBQ

2. It is H-O-T in our "glass box in the woods". More like "greenhouse in the woods", and we didn't install air conditioning

3. When I open the doors to attempt to get a breeze going, the occasional squirrel or chipmunk runs inside. I solved this by purchasing 30" screens to put in the bottom half of the doors.

4. Our previously sleeping through the night baby started waking up 6 (!!!) times each night.

5. Our 2.5 year old broke my husband's phone and now he's using my old, old one with a JCrew case (anchor themed)

6. I broke my phone and had to pay to buy a new one (we were all out of old phones)

Hmm, I know there were more...

It must be a good thing that I can't think of them at this moment. In the end, we rediscovered something about ourselves, we are not complainers.

I've been without a range for 3 weeks and it's actually pretty fun making things on the grill. For example this morning I made: frozen waffles, grilled peaches, and turkey bacon. We've put our pans on the grill for eggs, used it as an oven with a baking sheet, grilled every vegetable and fruit there is, and discovered a *love* for grilled homemade pizza.

There is no good side of being super hot, except that I've discovered that like shorts, and find fun patterns at JCrew Factory online (styles here).

I'm trying to sleep-train the baby (3 months old) by sleeping on the couch or in our 6 year old's room, which teaches me that her room (our sometimes guest room) is pretty uncomfortable for adults, so I've ordered a second nightstand and I'm thinking of upgrading her pillows.

Also- jersey sheets are the worst in hot weather.

My husband is clearly very secure in his masculinity (I probably knew this since he wears pink dress shirts), but he's pretty adorable with my nautical phone cover;)

And one again I've learned that 48 hours without a phone will not hurt me. I don't need to check Facebook while nursing (my preferred activity other than staring at baby eyes).

Ooh- also, my super-chattiness and perkiness paid off and I got to upgrade my phone 7 months early since I was "so sweet" on the phone.

Any big lessons for you this summer?

Jessica

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Ikea Bathroom and a Nursery-Closet-Office - Modern Vacation House

I now present you with the kid's bathroom!

Super cute, small and functional. The red vanity is from Ikea, and the kids chose the colors, red, orange and pink, so I indulged them with the shower curtains and towels from Target. Sconces from West Elm, and stools under the cabinet from Ikea.

And now for where the little one sleeps when we are away.

So far no one has told her that her "room" is just about half hte size of our closet, and was supposed to be my husband's office nook, hence the built in desk.



It's sized perfectly for the crib, has cute knobs on the closet doors, and art is coming soon. Considering our son spent the first 2 years of his life in an actual closet, this is pretty much out family's MO, anythign to keep kids sleeping, which for us means separate rooms. And it does have a window and a door!

There she is petting the giant Bison head in our living room. Jus tin case that looked like a bear wandered in!

Jessica

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A Hide Lamp and Walnut Dresser- Modern Vacation House

So we've made a few additions.

I can't even explain how happy I am to finally have bedside lamps, it took us almost a year in our regular house to find lamps that we agreed on, so when I spotted these lamps (giant scale, made of cow hide, neutral colored) at Crate and Barrel online I jumped at the chance to buy them. Of course, it wasn't that easy. They were discontinued so I searched outlets for them until I found a store with 2 lamps, paid for them over the phone, then begged my sister to go pick them up within the 7 day window.

But, so pretty, and at 50% off, I was super happy about the deal we got.

The other addition is a Whitney walnut dresser from Room and Board. Even though our walk in closet is all kitted-out with Ikea pax closet systems, come this summer and the arrival of baby #4, there will be a crib in the closet, so we needed a spot for a few grab-and-go clothes as well as a spot for baby clothes and to change the baby.

All-in I was still about $3,000 under for my whole-house furniture budget which is why we decided to buy a good quality dresser in here. The accessories are all West Elm and I love them for things like that, but the quality of their dressers leaves something to be desired. I need drawers taht glide easily, pull out all the way, and won't break a year later.

I think with the addition of a rocking chair in the corner, some art, and a modern changing pad, I hopefully won't mind the baby corner of our bedroom, and it will still feel modern.

See our initial master bedroom progress here which includes a source list.

Jessica

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Bunkroom Reveal- Modern Vacation House

Our four year old is our super snuggly one, so he jumped at the chance to have the bunk room be "his" room. The lower bunks feel like forts to him, and he happily invites his older sister in to share when guests arrive and displace her from her pink and aqua bedroom.



The first thing I found was the Moda bunk bed from Room and Board, so we designed the room around them, creating niches that perfectly fit these bunk beds.

They are the perfect mountain-yet-modern bunk beds, super sturdy and strong, and can stand up to kids climbing on them and even adults sleeping in them! As much as I adore Ikea (entire Ikea kitchen and built in closets), their beds are just not high quality enough, especially when we are talking about bunk beds, and the potential for falls/climbing/rough housing.

As in other rooms, we built in closets with Ikea's Pax system, and here we used Antropologie's into the woods fox knobs to bring a little bit of whimsy to the space.

The giant window is awesome, and we used the ironwork flocked curtain by West Elm to bring some navy in. The ceiling is also painted navy, Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore to be exact. The drum light in orange is from Land of Nod. Initially our son wanted an orange ceiling, but after tons of color searching, I just couldn't find a color that worked. We compromised by getting orange sheets from Target for his bed.



The duvet covers have moose printed on them and are flannel (similar to these from Restoration Hardware but I think they were a Christmas season item only, so I can't find them online)- perfect for winter. The other duvet covers are from Ikea and super scratchy and cheap-looking so I think I'll need to upgrade them in the summer:)



Each bunk has it's own book ledge and clamp-on light for keeping books and lovies close by. This is working great, since our son likes to "read" at night, and this way he doesn't have to get out of bed to turn off the light when he's done.

Jessica

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Pink and Aqua Bedroom Reveal- Modern Vacation House

Pink and Aqua, those are our 6 year old's two favorite colors, so that was what she requested for her bedroom in our vacation house.

At first she was disappointed when I told her that every.single.wall would be painted white (Decoraters White by Benjamin Moore if you want to know). Then when I told her the bedroom ceilings could be colors, she was ecstatic and wanted "the aqua color of the nursery at home" (see the pink and teal nursery here). So Barely Teal by Benjamin Moore went up on the ceiling and our color scheme was born.

The desk is the Sloane leaning desk and bookshelf from Land of Nod, with velvet sanela curtains and Jules pink desk chair from Ikea. The dot art above the desk she did herself!

The wall of built-in cabinetry is all Pax from Ikea, with fancy rabbit brass pulls from Anthropologie.

The bedding is Paper Medallion from Urban Outfitters, with jersey flannel sheets from Target. The nightstand you can't see is an amazing bar cart from Target's Threshold line, which my friend Jill recommended to me via text message:) The pink drum shade is from Land of Nod.

Art above the bed is from the Animal Print Shop, and their forest friends collection. Who can't love pics of baby animals? The bed itself was from Joss and Main.

Jessica

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Master Bathroom and Closet - Modern Vacation House

Unless my absolute love for Ikea hasn't come across yet, the master bathroom and closet are going to make it pretty clear:)

In the closet, we built in the Pax closet system on each side, and designed the space so it's wide enough for a crib to fit under the window when we have the new baby in the spring.

Yes, I do realize that we don't have any window treatments in here, we will be ordering a roller shade of some kind before the summer, but for now, we just change in the bedroom. See below for the window in the shower!



The bathroom has 2 Ikea vanities with integrated sinks in high gloss grey, coordinating Ikea faucets, and West Elm sconces.

The mirrors are also from West Elm (similar to this one but a LOT taller). We used leftover tiles from one of my husband's commercial projects, so I didn't have any say in floor or wall tiles, except to add a small strip on mosaic tile in the shower. Leftover tile = free tile = no other choice. This is the same frugal husband who insisted on driving a Uhaul of our furniture up and moving in ourselves (while I was pregnant), so it's not surprising!

Jessica

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Master Bedroom in progress - Modern Vacation House

Yup, it's in progress.

A long way from the mattress on the floor, but still missing lamps, a dresser, artwork... but with an adorable bird tchotchke on the nightstand:)

So let's focus on the good/done parts, shall we?




Bed from Restoration Hardware, the grayson leather sleigh bed in antique ebony. Sierra nightstands from Crate and Barrel. Hide rug from Joss and Main (a long time ago). Curtains are velvet from Ikea, on the industrial pipe rods from West Elm. Plus all the bedding is from West Elm.

View looking down the hallway towards the bathroom... progress shots of the bathroom and closet coming Thursday.

Jessica

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Ikea Kitchen Reveal- Modern Vacation House

Yes, you really can have an amazing kitchen all kitted out from our favorite yellow and blue superstore. Cabinets, pulls, appliances, sink and faucet, even the countertop (although we added the waterfall detail to make it look a million times better).



My favorite things?

The enormous island. It's over twelve feet long, and done in Caesarstone, which is super easy to maintain. We chose the organic white color, which has just enough movement to be interesting, without getting too grainy, one of my least favorite looks in quartz products.



The waterfall detail at the ends, just make it look modern and custom, and from the back it isn't screaming "IKEA!", which is something that can happen very quickly if you just buy everything in one spot.



Speaking of looking like you live in a showroom, we chose birdsnest pendants from Serena and Lily for above the island and bright orange Tabouret stools from Overstock to bring some texture and color to the all white kitchen.

We also brought in some orange and pink dish towels, a large brass leaf platter to hold fruit, and a few accessories from Target to bring color into the space/actually hold things on our counters.



Plus, we had to have another Nespresso machine for my husband's daily cup o' cappuccino, so we opted for an orange one to bring the whole thing together. Here is the view "through" the kitchen to our built in dining nook.

Dining nook close up. We had the contractor build in a bench of walnut veneer (plywood), and a table with steel C-channel legs and a zinc top.

The deep drawers that just hold so much more than cabinets do. At home we also keep our dishes in lower drawers so the system works really well for us, and Ikea has drawer dividers and plate stackers that help keep everything in place.



Here is the view over the island back into our living room and out to the forest beyond.

The master bedroom, bath and closet reveals are coming next week!

Jessica

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Great Room Reveal- Choosing a Color Scheme for a Modern Vacation House

I was just reading a post about deciding how you want a space to make you feel, and working from there. In our vacation house we knew we wanted walls of glass, a "glass box in the woods" if you will, and simple, clean, modern lines inside.

Coming from our architecture backgrounds we knew this could easily lead us to an all-white color scheme, which was NOT what I wanted at all. The forest outside is so beautiful with all those green leaves, brown, textured trunks, white snow (in winter), and bright blue sky, that I wanted something to compliment the outside, which is so much the focus of the main room.



So, so many homes in the mountains go for a traditional mountain or woodsy vibe with dark colors, leather, wood paneling, low lights, and we also knew we didn't want that look either. The now-commonplace strategy is to go for a mountain modern vibe, which combines both the mountain greens, browns and taupes with the "modern" elements like metal accents or white walls. For us, this also fails far too often and we knew we needed to go a different direction.



Enter our chosen color palette of white walls, neutral big pieces (sofa, counters, cabinets) and pops of bright red, orange and pink. We went the other way, traveling across the color wheel to find the complimentary colors to the outdoors, and I think the end result is perfect for us! Even the toys and books are playing nicely within the color scheme:)

Still plenty of clean lines, the throws on the couch are neutrals that just layer and add texture without screaming at you, and the throw pillows are accents, not bright patterns. Of course the red rag poufs in the middle are a bit louder, but I think they are nicely balanced by the surrounding sofa, and most importantly for us, our kids ADORE them, and will sit semi-quietly on them and watch TV while we drink tea, talk, or enjoy a glass of wine with friends.

Couch is the Reese sectional from Room and Board, hide rug from Joss and Main, red rag rug poufs from West Elm, Oliver chairs from West Elm, toy storage from Land of Nod, TV console is the Frasier media console from Pottery Barn (now discontinued), throws and pillows from Target and West Elm.

This color scheme totally carries through in the kid bathroom, and then starts to be a bit more specialized in the bedrooms where we happily cater to each child's needs, and my own need to not wake up in a bright red room, when all I want in life is a blue and white bedroom, much to my husband's constant regret:)

All those room reveals are coming up, so keep coming back! I think I'm on a Tuesday-and-Thursday schedule, which seems to balance being an actual/active/pregnant mom-of-three and having a life off of the computer:)

Jessica

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