This last time we were in Arrowhead over Memorial Day Charlie, while playing with his toys from when he was four, said “I feel both happy and sad right now”. Elliot agreed and we explained the concept of nostalgia to them. Some of the best memories of our lives were created living here (both before and during lockdown). We moved to Oregon 3 years ago and listed our Arrowhead house to rent, leaving it in the hands of a very competent and wonderful property management team (To Dwell Here). I always knew I wanted to do this, but Brian was nervous about giving the home that we loved so much over to strangers. Well, after the first few months, he turned from being nervous to being thrilled as we saw our risky investment start to be a good one. We are endlessly grateful to have been able to do all that in the first place! It was always part of the plan that this would be a long-term investment property and we’d have to first suffer through a lot of financial nausea with occasional barfing to feel any sort of relief. We would have to spend money to someday, hopefully, break even or make money (obviously the appreciation of the house will help, too). Some people play the stock market, but as a design content creator I play the real estate market to varying degrees of success and failings (read this post about when I lost dough on a super high-end flip). But to have such a successful year in the first year was a real thrill.

And Yet That Didn’t Remain Our Trajectory…

The first year (fall of 2021 – summer 2022) it was rented every weekend and many full weeks even in the spring and fall. People still weren’t back in the office and many schools still weren’t open (or were very lax) so people could happily and easily pop up to the mountains and get out of the city. Who didn’t want a change of scenery? Also, people were likely excited about staying in our specific house (thank you). There were also very few luxury houses that were designed like this up there at the time. So if aesthetics mattered greatly to you, you might have found yourself in a bit of a desert until recently…and now there are like 15 dope houses to choose from.

But…It’s No Longer 2021 (Thankfully For All The Reasons!)

Our house isn’t inexpensive as it’s meant to comfortably house 3 families (three king suites and a bunk room) which means that people likely need to plan way more in advance, and coordinating multiple families is hard. Three-day weekends or holiday breaks, sure. And of course, you can rent on your own but it’s clearly more affordable to go in with more than one family. So as kids got back into school and grownups went back to hybrid work, schedules were less flexible and rentals were way less during the weekdays or off months. This is not a complaint because wow are we thankful to all be in such a safer position now!

So Many Pretty Houses (But None Like This LOL)

As I said, Arrowhead has had an explosion of really beautifully designed houses (mostly managed by To Dwell Here). I think overall this is great for the town as I’m a huge proponent of “a rising tide lifts all boats”. There is room enough for all of us. The more people that know how wonderful Arrowhead is the better for all of us long term – we love this town so much and want people to come and love it too. I used to be terrified that it was going to become crowded and congested with people moving up from LA so I never mentioned where we were for like 3 years, but ultimately the cliffside curvy drive makes it unattractive to commute (especially in the winter) and the likelihood of it “exploding” is low. Regardless, I definitely think that the more robust inventory might convince a potential return renter to have a different experience at a different house (which I totally get).

The lake is private so beyond the Lake Arrowhead Queen (vintage-style cruise) and the ski school (that books charters), short-term renters don’t have a lot of lake/boat access. We live close to the lake and with Airbnb passes you can walk around the lake and play at the beach (which is awesome, shallow, safe, buoyed off, and has a playground). We are just a 15-minute walk to the lake (through a forest which we love) or a 3-minute drive to Tavern Bay. So from our property even without access to a boat, you can enjoy lake life. Yes, I’m plugging:)

With All the Awesome Houses Up There Why Rent Ours??

I never really needed to promote the house – it was just always booked non-stop. We had to buy a second larger washer and dryer to turn around the house in less than a day because we were that slammed. But things have naturally dipped a tiny bit and I think it’s mostly because of the fantastic inventory up there (i.e. competition). So I figured I’d take this time to pitch this house to you, and convince you why we love it so much even when I go without Brian to drive the boat, ha.

We Have A Flat Enclosed Back Yard (With A Tiny Stream)

While there are so many houses on the lake (very few rentable, but some are) they are almost always very vertical houses that don’t have a yard (just decks). Now that’s fine for many renters but if you are a family with multiple kids, you can feel a bit trapped without anywhere to let them just play outside (and then you have to get in the car and find something to do, etc). We have spent so many hours with blankets on the shady grass, with the kids catching frogs. It’s just so easy. It’s not big but it’s kind of the perfect size and we play so much out there.

We Back Up To 50 Acres Of Family Camp For Hiking And Fort Making

While it’s not technically our property, we are allowed to respectfully hike around and build temporary forts just outside our yard. Our kids love it so much and we feel so safe letting them wander and play as they know the property so well now. So if you want to go on walks in nature without having to drive to a hiking trail then we got you. Again, I walk/run through the forest most mornings to my morning jump in the lake (and so can you:)). It’s incredible and spoiled me to the point of buying a cold plunge for our house. And if you are scared of the 50 acres, know that it has barriers – it’s not like your kid could get lost – there are cabins around the perimeter on all sides.

We Have EPIC Sledding In Our Back Yard In The Winter

In winter this is a destination for snow (under two hours from LA is crazy), but again many houses (most) are very vertical with no yard = no place to play. The acreage behind us has many cleared paths that when the snow comes become the most incredible sledding hills – WITHOUT HAVING TO GET INTO YOUR CAR. Most parents of young kids will know the importance of that last part. Some of you can be sledding while others nap. Someone can be making lunch while others are making a snowman. A flat backyard with seemingly unlimited sledding hills right outside is priceless in the winter (and we arrange driveway clearing, don’t worry). It’s sooooooo dreamy (and then we cold plunge in the lake in the winter and all your problems are solved!).

We Have A Play Attic For Kids

The kids go upstairs to the play attic we put in and stay there for hours. It was stocked with toys, costumes, a toy “store” and a crafting table (but no longer stocked with crafting supplies because we were spending a decent amount of money a week restocking it). Point is, they have a designated space without screens to play. You’ll be shocked at how long they’ll hang out there because they think it’s their secret clubhouse.

We Have a Bunk Room That Sleeps 6 And More…

I’ve never shot it professionally, but we have 2 twin over full bunk beds that sleep six – all so comfortable. Then even better the floor is huge and can sleep 4-6 more on the most cushiest carpet ever (it has memory foam underneath). Sure you could bring a blow-up mattress, but you really don’t need to (we even have sound machines!). This 4th of July we’ll have 7 kids in there and they are so excited.

We Have KID GEAR: High Chair, Baby Gate, And Pack N’ Play AND TOYS!!

I once had two under two, and then two toddlers – it was SO. MUCH. GEAR. So while we might not be able to predict and meet all of your needs we have one high chair, one pack ‘n play, and a baby gate. The house is honestly so kid-friendly (besides having stairs) and all rugs and sofas are now medium-toned fabric. OH, and it comes with bins of games, legos, magnatiles. AND YOU KNOW how much kids love other people’s toys even if they are old Legos or marble runs. There are so many kid books to read (and our kids get super nostalgic for when we lived up there and now read their favorite books to each other or to us – CUE THE CRYING EMOJI).

We Have The Best Property Management Team With Incredible Customer Service And Goodie Bags

Y’all, I can’t say enough good things about To Dwell Here. As I said, we just stayed there for Memorial Day and I got to show up like a guest. I was so impressed with how Marie and her team pampered us as they do all guests – cute wine, shopping bag, smores ingredients (we have two firepits), and really chic QR codes with all the information. TBH we spend a decent amount a month on these guest goodie bags and I think they make a huge difference. Alexa (one of her employees and our kid’s favorite former babysitter) lives on the street currently so if/when any guests need anything she is there (she’s also sweet enough to answer questions like restaurant recommendations).

I swear they take WAY better care of our house than we would if we lived there (doing seasonal maintenance like spraying for spiders, repainting the decks that chip off, keeping the BBQ propane tanks full, managing our hot tub and pond maintenance). Of course, we pay for it all, but they are so dialed in that it feels extremely streamlined and well executed. We share a decent percentage of the rental dough as we should and they are super reasonable in negotiations (for instance since Mondays/Tuesdays are typically harder to rent out they are authorized to give big discounts to stay an extra day or two rather than it staying empty for no money). Marie makes really great common sense business decisions and runs her business so professionally which I admire a lot. We feel very confident in her hands and have never once needed to question her decisions – they are exactly what I would have done.

So aside from the hammock, hot tub, and fire pit, we have three indoor gas fireplaces, a generator, in case power goes out, and live on such a quiet street. We are on North Shore by Tavern Bay and there isn’t any commerce around here which is likely the only criticism of the house – it’s 12 minutes to the market. But we love how quiet and safe it is, with no traffic and only minimum congestion on Saturdays near Tavern Bay Beach Club.

It’s So Quiet, Peaceful, And Surrounded By Trees

There are a lot of mountain houses that feel cramped or near too much action/slammed against neighbors, which in my opinion defeats the purpose of the getaway. I love how open and spacious this house is, with not a ton of “stuff” that you have to remember where it goes and surrounded by so much nature (but so close to the lake). I know I’m biased. My emotional connection to this house is extremely high and I know there is no way that all of you will love it like I do, but I hope if you ever want to stay here that you’ll really, really enjoy every square inch of it.

Is It Still Profitable?

Luckily, the answer to that is yes! But if you’re looking to Airbnb a home for yourself there are some things to note: like some years will be busier/more profitable than others. Because our mortgage is low here (comparatively), we don’t need to book the entire month for it to pay for itself. Many months are still pretty full. But I’m a huge energy person and I want happy energy in this house which comes from people enjoying it. We have zero intention of ever selling it so it is not like we chose between selling at its recent peak or renting it out. The options were to rent it out or keep it empty all year. We are SO HAPPY that while we get to have this home, other people can enjoy and appreciate it as well as having it create another form of revenue to support our projects up here in Portland. Oh, and that we still get to enjoy it 2-4 times a year. It’s been a real win/win we are just so grateful for.

If you made it this far it means that you are likely a real reader or a new reader who appreciates my long-windedness so I want to give you a 10% discount (which might not sound like a lot but with the PM cut it’s the best we can do). Email through Airbnb and Marie can arrange a discount for your booking:)

Opening Image Credits: Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp | From: Mountain House Reveal: Our Light-Filled Neutral & Textural Living Room

I’m unimpressed with my landscape design skills, but that shouldn’t be too surprising as A. I’m not a landscape designer and B. Technically Brian was supposed to be in charge of this outdoor project because “you’ll take too long and make it too expensive”. He’s not wrong, but mostly that’s because unless we want to DIY it ourselves good design takes time and landscape/hardscape design and materials aren’t cheap. DUH. This is a GREAT example of “doing it ourselves” not really panning out. I didn’t have time to really dedicate to it properly, so we rushed things a bit. Before winter came (when landscape work stops) we found a small window of time where we could snag the turf, snag a firepit, and we found the last hot tub on the mountain that wasn’t a three-month lead time. So we threw them together and VOILA! I love the turf, “stream”, and hammock, but the firepit was put in too big the day before the turf arrived, the plants have died because they need “water”, and the hot tub area is surrounded by a dirt patch full of literal dog shit. It’s actually hilarious and we’ve gotten used to it, but when people come over and see the pile of dog shit next to the hot tub, it reminds me that we aren’t quite done with this yard.

But we did get a new table and while this is a terrible shot of it (It’s Friday morning with an iPhone), we are one step closer to making the lower deck much better.

It pains me to show you this, but it’s all a process. The old table was an indoor table from Ikea that we happened to have so we shoved it out here and y’all it did not fare well. It was totally disintegrating and falling apart (and became kinda disgusting to eat on). The new table is AWESOME because our needs were very specific – we needed an insanely durable dark metal table and no it couldn’t be outdoor quality wood because the weather is extreme up here and that might last a few years but not 10. Of course, you can put “outdoor covers” on it but up here it will dump 2 feet of snow one day (which comes through from the deck above and piles on the table) and then 4 days later you can sit outside for lunch it’s so warm. So putting covers on and off is annoying, PLUS it’s right outside our scenic doors which means that we would be staring at a big covered table all winter while we hang out in our family room. Finding a black rust-proof metal table that is long enough to seat 8 comfortably and is not ugly is virtually impossible. I found this last summer on Williams-Sonoma (and it’s commercial quality – YES) but it was out of stock before I could snag it. So this year I DID. I know it doesn’t look that exciting, but the proportions are at least modern and I love how seamless it is with the deck. It’s tonal, monochrome, and modern – so now I need to make the whole space look, well, better. I would love the chairs to have a warmer element to them (like wood or wicker) but I also don’t want to just buy new chairs when these are perfectly good and comfortable. New lights, a few plants, style it out with people, food, and fun, and call it a day.

But honestly, we use the heck out of this yard (upper deck reveal coming soon – I LOVE IT and will NOT be embarrassed to show you how it turned out). We still love the faux grass (real grass is not permitted up here and the bark was driving us NUTS with these two muddy pups). We’ve made some good changes (we upgraded our BBQ, ordered this outdoor kitchen counter instead of customizing anything, and got that dining table). But the hot tub is still surrounded by dirt (on a cement pad) and the chain link fence is not exactly pleasuring my eye.

THE DEAD BUSHES

But so many projects left undone. I know I’m slammed designing the farmhouse, so I need to not be so hard on myself but we did kinda have a year to do this…

Now I must defend ourselves – where we live (Lake Arrowhead) has had a population EXPLOSION. Being only an hour and a half from LA and historically pretty inexpensive (comparatively), all of LA basically migrated up here during covid which skyrocketed the real estate but also made it virtually impossible to find subcontractors to do small jobs. No one wants to prioritize some lady to build a deck around a hot tub – it’s just too small of a job.

Besides, before we were vaccinated and knew that being outside was safe, we weren’t psyched about having people working at our house. That’s all to say that we are moving in two months to Portland and not only do I want to enjoy this backyard a lot this summer, but also we’ll likely start renting it out and as a source of pride, I want it to look BETTER.

Two summers ago for the reader event (woah time flies), I hired a gardener to plant these laurels along the fenceline to disguise the chain link fence and provide privacy. Normally they thrive up here in both freezing winter and hot summer with minimal care, but they were too new and they didn’t fair well without enough water in the summer/fall to make them strong enough to last through the winter. The ones near them (same plant) had deep enough root systems to live with zero maintenance. So now that we are leaving I don’t trust that anyone will water them, we don’t want to invest in irrigation and yet just digging them out and having a line of turf does NOT sound beautiful.

But I feel a bit like my hands are tied. I don’t mind DIY’ing something with someone else, but Brian doesn’t love handy work in actuality (oh… he does in theory!), and we don’t have the right equipment. Besides the days go so fast, the weekends fly, and “building a new fence” shockingly doesn’t get done. I’ve also learned that no matter how much I try to manipulate him (It will be fun! You can have a sundae afterward! We’ll do it together!), forcing your husband to do a big house project that he doesn’t deem necessary is an absolute lose/ lose for your weekend and your marriage. He doesn’t care about the fence – he thinks it “goes away” and maybe he’s right. He normally is. He doesn’t see the point in investing in making it better. So without a handy person, a gardener, or an enthusiastic husband I’ve left to actually do this myself. And my fencing skills go as far as playing Peter Pan with sticks with the kids.

Oh and then worse/final of all I found out that we aren’t allowed by the HOA to build a solid fence – it can’t be enclosed. And let’s face it chain link fences do the job just fine. They keep the dogs in, coyotes out, and they are zero maintenance. Besides, we already have it, and spending $7-10k putting up a nice-looking wood fence that we might have to pull down seems crazy when we are frankly not that interested in investing more into this property as we have bigger fish/farms to fry.

You can barely see the chain-link fence in the photos, which I suppose makes them seem like less of a big deal. But I know it’s there, and green which definitely gets more disguised than any other color up here.

But then the other day the creepy Instagram Gods tempted me with this:

It’s an expandable privacy green edge, that you place in front of what you want to disguise. Let me be VERY CLEAR – this product is likely a garbage landfill and I don’t think anyone should buy it. It’s $39.95 and based on the website it reminds me of the time when I bought the Baby Shark that moves like it’s a real baby (so cute!) that was really just a fake CGI video ad. When I got it (for Christmas for the family!) it was just a foam shark. Like a $40 pool toy, shipped from the other side of the world that the dogs quickly ate. We now call this “baby shark shame” in my house (likely on the blog, too), when you make an idiotic impulse purchase that goes in a landfill. No more baby shark shame here!!!

But it’s just so TEMPTING. In the video online it’s so satisfying. They just open it, extend it, and voila! Bu Bye chain link, hello beautiful boxwood hedge!

Now AGAIN, I’m not condoning this product. In fact, I really don’t think it should exist unless it’s for your wedding and you need to disguise something disgusting. But it got me thinking that if this product exists for this cheap, surely someone has created some sort of product that doesn’t involve rebuilding a wood fence inside the chain link fence for people like me. This existence of this product proves there is a hole in the market, and surely there has to be a better way to fill it than this???

But we all know that “cheap, fast and good” solutions aren’t a thing. So maybe I’m SOL. HELP.

So maybe what bugs me the most is the gate and behind the hot tub. Maybe I should replant in the areas where the new-ish laurels died and set up a drip system just for this for the summers until they get established. Leave the perimeter of the fence as -is, but maybe upgrade the gate and make the hot tub area better, but accept the perfectly good, functional fence. Heck, we are lucky to have a fence at all.

So with a quick search I found this chain link fence upgrade idea –

We could paint it out the dark green of the house and maybe where you see the fence the most it would just be a nice painted wood?

Then for the hot tub do a similar version in green that makes it feel like a “room”? I know in LA I would easily be able to hire some people to execute this in a weekend, but up here I don’t know how to get it done.

I know that that isn’t terribly inspirational but that seems doable with a handyman? Something like this, but even simpler?

I just want to not step from hot tub to dirt – OH AND I FORGOT TO TELL YOU THAT IS WHERE THE DOGS POOP. Not IN the hot tub (picture that if you want to LOL a lot) but currently right to the right of it, in the dirt patch. So it’s like a poop patch. Right outside the romantic hot tub. Now you fully understand the lack of appeal of our hot tub. Now I’m not complaining about the hot tub just would love to not have it surrounded by dog poop and chain link fence.

Looking at this the hot tub area seems WAY more of a priority than the chain link fence (poop removed for your Pinterest pleasure :)) I might even reach out to Yardzen (which I should have in the first place) and see if they can come up with a plan for the deck, hot tub privacy surround and any sort of fencing solutions. We are going to be living here for 2 months before we move to Oregon (sob) and then we’ll be down every winter and summer (and literally every 3 day weekend until someone in the family starts complaining that they want to “experience the world” or even “go somewhere new”). I know it seems crazy to invest more into a house that you are not going to be fully living in, but leaving it in this state feels sad/wrong when the inside of the house is so pretty. But yeah, I just don’t know how to do it and it’s not my skill set. Also, Brian is officially fired as the in-house landscape designer. Don’t worry, he’ll bounce back!

So here are my questions:

1. Any genius chain link fence disguising ideas out there that don’t contribute to a landfill or requiring replacing it altogether? Any climbing plants that thrive in mountains?
2. Does anyone know anyone in the Big Bear/Lake Arrowhead/San Bernardino area that can build a hot tub deck (or just rocks! literally I’d take just rocks!) and a privacy wall? I can design it to be super easy/simple, I promise. I just need a willing and skilled (and available) person to help execute.

Like many people, our usual thanksgiving was canceled. We’ve done the last 20 years at Brian’s parent’s house in Sacramento with all the cousins, aunts, uncles and it’s the ONLY time of year that we all get together and it’s an EXTREMELY fun day. Like epically fun. But 30 people, from 8 different households (and a few college students) wasn’t a great/safe idea this year. So a couple of months ago we all decided to cancel but planned on still going up and having it be super small – just us, Brian’s brother, and his parents. But two weeks ago, heeding all the warnings, especially with the crazy spike we decided even that was risky. So instead we are having a very small family thanksgiving here, which is totally fine and worth the non-risk. I want it to feel at least a little bit special, so Birdie and I planned out how we would set the table, and she really wanted to help and even make things for it. I was in heaven. It was the first real time that she and I collaborated on how something should be styled, and I let her really take the lead (while guiding her towards certain things obviously). Here’s how it turned out:

Sherpa | Vintage Fabric Table Cloth (similar) | Candle Holder| Candles | Vase (similar) | Wine Glass | Water Glass | Flatware | Placemats | Plates | Oversized Stripe Pillow | Sherpa Pillows | Faux Fur Lumbar Pillow | Wood Garland | Napkins

She took it so seriously, it took 3 hours of our undivided attention and it was so fun I can’t even tell you. This girl loves to ‘help’ more than I thought possible for a kid. And not for like just 10 minutes, she FINISHES the job (even with cooking she is so invested). I taught her where everything goes, how to fold napkins, and even how to stand back and look at it all together and edit. At one point she said ‘mama, I think there is too much going on’ and she was RIGHT. We used what we had on hand and it turned out pretty darn cute. I think when you collect a certain style of stuff for a certain style of house it can just look good together when thrown on the same table.

I’ve been hoarding vintage plaid (this Japanese fabric is from Etsy) for a long time so I threw that down as the tablecloth which feels super cozy (even though it’s very ripped) and “fall” in a fun way. The leather chargers I’ve had for a couple of years (from Target) and the plates and flatware are our Made by Design everyday dinner plates. Of course, I wanted to buy some more handmade stoneware plates (and salad plates) but we don’t need or want them post-thanksgiving, so these white ones will do just fine (plus they are so lightweight and easy to wash in the dishwasher).

And then we foraged for fall leaves and branches for each place setting and the centerpiece which was VERY “fall.”

My Dress | Birdie’s Dress (unavailable)

I had these cute little tags that Birdie wanted to use as place cards (not that we needed them) and she wrote all our names and even a little drawing of ‘thanksgiving’ (turkey, leaf, heart, etc). They were SO CUTE. We threw on some candles (Birdie made the pillar that is wrapped in leaves and twine) and I already had those colorful tapers, in these candle holders I bought last year.

Now here’s a photo a little farther back so you can really get the whole picture of what it looks like:

It was VERY thrown together and no, Sara did not come to professionally shoot this (and I tried hard not to care too much about the styling being perfect), hence the slightly crooked candles. Or maybe it’s the new way to achieve the “organic, effortless, thrown-together” kind of look we had no choice but to go for since it was so last minute. Here’s another angle with (slightly) straighter candles:

All in all, Birdie was so proud of it that she wanted to get photos “for my portfolio” (I DIED WHEN SHE SAID THAT) so we went ahead and set the whole table so we could take better photos. I want to permanently bottle up and save forever the pride that she exuded, and I’ll start by framing one of these photos…

It’s a different thanksgiving this year and I know there are a lot of mixed feelings out there. Our household hopes that you are all staying safe, cozy, and filling your day however you want. Cooking or not, family or not, hopefully next year we can have an EPIC family thanksgiving in a safer world. xx

For more info & resources on our dining nook (or if you want to see it styled out for everyday) click on this post 🙂

Design by Emily and Elliot Henderson:)

Last year we decorated our house in LA per usual – we went all out which took 3 days with 3 people. It’s my job so this is actually “normal”. Then two days before Christmas we came up here for the break. Obviously, I wanted to decorate here a bit with a tree, etc, but we weren’t going to shoot it for the blog (it was too late) so I just kept it easy and threw up some greenery, wood and white ornaments, and fake candles. It took a few hours, max. Lo and behold it ended up being SO pretty for the amount of time it took. Granted I had great stuff to work with, mostly leftover Target and things from years past, but it was so pretty we even kept it up until February (which is questionable for sure). Brian looked at me in earnest and said, “Can you like, just do Christmas like this all the time?”

What? You don’t want to spend 5 hours wrapping fake presents in November? You don’t want 50 feet of real garland that has to be carefully hung everywhere with pine needles riddling our floors for a month? What? You don’t want every single surface dripping with holiday cheer? I love how we’ve always decorated our house for the holidays, but when you are shooting every angle you guess what, you decorate every angle.

And then I realized the biggest styling secret that truly has saved me from myself – LESS SURFACES. This house is easier because there are less surfaces, which is truly the only way to have less stuff, while not having it feel cold. An empty credenza? Well, that’s sad, so you feel like you need to put stuff on it (the ‘you’ here is ‘me’). But if you don’t NEED the credenza and you nix it all together in favor of a pretty piece of art (or bench), then indeed you can’t put stuff on it, thus less stuff. I know that I love stuff, “stuff” is kinda my thing but it also DRIVES ME NUTS, unless it’s perfectly picture-ready styled all the time. So in a way, I was my own worst enemy – creating clutter, to then just have perpetual ‘clutter body’. It’s a true marvel that I didn’t figure this out earlier. Now I know that not all of us are leaning towards a ‘less stuff’ lifestyle, but it’s actually been amazing living up here with so much less and I’ve been mentally so much happier living with less. SO the holidays shouldn’t be any different. Let’s go.

Color Palette

Last year we had just white, green and wood with lots of twinkle lights and it was DREAMY. But this year the kids and Brian both wanted some red. So I wanted to bring it in a subtle and sweet way, and keep it feeling very scandi. So I looked for details like red stitching, red tassels, and small red ornaments and I LOVE how it looks. You can do Christmas however you want, but I think this mostly green/white/wood combo with sweet red moments is what I like IN THIS ROOM (wait til you see the family room – she red).

FAUX GREENERY Is My New Friend

First of all, it took me a long time to get on the fake tree bandwagon, truly, and I will ALWAYS be excited to go pick out a tree with the kids (and we might get a small one for our front door on the outside in a pot in December) but once you get a good faux tree that you can store in a box with no watering, no drying, no pine needles you realize how much easier it is. And with covid, it makes so much sense to just order online. I always refused to have a fake one in our living room, but since we were headed up here so close to Christmas last year I just ordered one in online beforehand to avoid the hassle. We had two real trees in LA, we didn’t need another. This one I ordered last year after figuring out where it should go to make the room function its best. We thought about putting it on the big window wall and getting a huge one (which is what the previous owners had done) but we would have had to completely rearrange the space which is FINE. But that layout made the space flow so much less (I know because we tried it last year, much to Brian’s horror, after Christmas before we took it down just to make sure it was the best layout for this year). By putting it near the window it blocked off the flow to the kitchen and it removed one of our seating options (plus we had to rotate the rug, etc, we like the face the fireplace, etc, etc). So we put it next to the fireplace where it is now.

Now I will say this – HOLE IN THE MARKET ALERT – SOME faux tree inventor needs to design a tree that is tall and wide, but more flat in the back so it doesn’t force it to stick out into the room as much. Does that make any sense? We wanted tall (9′) but most of the ones that are 10′ are like 5′ wide which would have floated too far into the room and taken up so much space. I wish this tree were wider on the sides, but not on the back (I suppose we could get a bigger one then trim the back. – give it a back buzz cut?). Anyway, so if you are thinking that it’s kinda small you aren’t wrong, but it was $400 and I can’t return it and it’s pretty. Maybe next year I’ll put it up here in the loft where I’m typing and search for one with the exact proportions that I want (which is limiting because I want the balsam scandi style). OMG I’M SO SICK OF TALKING ABOUT THIS TREE.

Re faux-ness – it’s the same with garland. Is it as a pretty as real garland? Nope. Is it close? YES. Once you put it up and add candles and lights, it does the job in such an easy way. It’s an investment upfront but I’ve used that same garland for 3 years (and bought more this year for the railing above). It’s GOOD.

FAUX CANDLES

If you are anti faux trees I know what you are likely also super against… FAUX CANDLES. And that’s ok. But I personally love a lot of candlelight, every night in fact and that is simply unsustainable and unsafe with real candles. But I’m picky about my faux candles – I like a warm glow, waxy look, and a flickering flame. Last year I bought a fancy big set that I couldn’t find this year (just found it) so this year I bought this set and they were super splurgy and by Sterno, so I thought they would be amazing, and they are good. But I wish they were bigger and I would have likely not spent so much if I had read the dimensions. They are good, don’t get me wrong, and specifically, I like turning them on and off via a remote (I don’t know how to program it). They are just so easy and look real enough.

The big star is from Target (last year, sorry!) and the stocking holders are 3 years old (and light up but I didn’t have new tiny batteries). These are super similar though. We used two of these garlands and some twinkle lights. It KINDA bugs me that there is such a gap in the middle, but we don’t have 5 people in our family and I couldn’t spread them out evenly with the star. Actually, I could have probably just moved them closer together and put two stockings inside the ‘legs’ of the star. Oh well.

Ornaments

First, please note matching pajamas WITH THE DOGS. Last year I kept aside a lot of the wood/white ornaments and brought them up here, but then I went to CostPlus and they had all these cute scandi wood cut out houses and white paper stars (they fold open) and then I went to a couple of craft stores (last year) and bought all their wood ornaments (that birdie keeps trying to paint and does not understand the concept of just having raw wood). Most of our personalized ornaments (and boy are there a TON) are on the tree in the family room – again stay tuned for that. Lastly in February, last year, I was thrifting and I stumbled upon a big ’25 cent ornament’ bin. I spotted some of these vintage scandi wood ornaments and started digging furiously through the bin to find more, serotonin pumping hard and fast. I think I got 30 total and ran to the cash register as if I were going to get caught, or like there was going to be a run on Christmas ornaments in March???? I screamed to Brian about the score and he was unimpressed, fearful even. And that’s when I realized that I had officially turned into the year-round-Christmas-ornament-shopper that 27-year-old Emily would never have recognized or predicted. I’m ok with it. I LOVE it actually.

Pillows And Throws

You can go full-on with Christmas pillows, but I like mixing in 1-2 with just cozy “winter” pillows. I had these green cable knit pillows from last year (and tie in with the tree) then faux fur pillows that I already had, so I just bought this sweet ‘Merry’ pillow (the ‘fa la la’ one is Target, but from last year). I love that Hearth and Hand throw with the red stitching on the chair– it just feels sweet but keeps it quiet.

The coffee table holds three white paper trees that (going with the paper ornaments on the tree) that I bought last year from Food52, but otherwise it’s styled like it usually is.

The floor pillow by the fireplace is super expensive but it is VERY VERY GOOD, here’s why: Most floor pillows aren’t big enough to really lounge on and this one is HUGE with cushy down fill, and made of a really pretty grey linen. It’s so comfortable and cushy, not too firm or bouncy. It’s made for meditation so it comes with a round pillow that is super heavy and feels like it’s full of beans which I rest my head on almost every day while snuggling here with the pups. Of course, they think it’s a dog bed, but I normally read here in the mornings on the weekends for a couple of hours and it’s just dreamy (and we can wash the cover. We used to have a big cozy alpaca over here, too, but the pups sent a clear message one day 1 of their life in this house that any fur would become a toilet for them.

I love it all with a few regrets – this tree wouldn’t fit in a tree collar, which I prefer (I don’t mind skirts, just love the look of collars). I wish the tree were slightly bigger, but it’s fine. I wish I had evenly placed the stockings (still might) and I wish I had put sparkly twinkly lights on the little potted faux trees on the hearth (and plan on doing so). I’ll put some batteries in the house stocking holders and call it a day. I also wish that our dogs would let us dress them in these matching pajamas more often.

What I love about it is how low maintenance it is, truly. By using faux everything, keeping it mostly neutral, and leaning into textures and sweet details, it feels holiday in such a pretty and dare I say sophisticated way.

In case you’d like to grab some of these decor pieces here’s the ‘Get The Look’:

1. Faux Tree (similar) | 2. Wood Snowflake Ornaments | 3. Wood Star Tree Topper | 4. Cable Knit Tree Skirt (similar) | 5. Wood Snowy Nordic House Ornaments | 6. Wooden Bauble Ornaments | 7. Wood Star Ornament | 8. Faux Candles Set | 9. LED Fairy Lights | 10. Faux Garland | 11. Red Tassel Pillow | 12. Green Cable Knit Pillow | 13. Tall White Nutcracker | 14. Wood Snowy Nordic Houses | 15. Faux Fur Blanket | 16. Faux Fur Pillow | 17. House Stocking Holder (similar)| 18. Red Pom Stocking | 19. Paper Trees | 20. ‘Merry’ Pillow | 21. Red Plaid Throw Blanket | 22. Santa Mug | 23. 2-Piece SedonaPillow Set | 24. 2ft Artificial Tabletop Christmas Glitter Tree (similar)

Now the family room on the other hand… what with our ‘no rules family tree’ has more Christmas action. Coming at you soon.

Would love to have a lively debate about faux greenery and candles in the comments, but you know where I stand – I’m PRO. That and my love of matching family Christmas pajamas (THE DOGS TOO) are truly big plot twist moments in the biopic of my life. 🙂

**Photos by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

Few debates have run so all-consuming and lengthy as the “should we have bark, sod, or turf in the backyard” at the mountain house. It’s right up there with other compelling debates, like “The 2019 almost marriage altering wood ceiling argument” and “Where the heck do we put the TV and can I please have one in our bedroom?”. Ah … oldies but goodies. These debates usually run a year long and we get SO SICK of talking about them, changing our mind, weighing cost, function, practicality, and yes style, in hopes that there would be a clear winner.

Wanna watch a little video about the whole backyard plan before we dig into the post?? Me too. (Just wait until the ad plays)

The Debate Between Real Sod And Artificial Grass/Turf

Before we moved up here full time we were fine with the bark. We didn’t love it, but it was appropriate and easy and pre-dogs it didn’t bother us. But that’s changed. Besides the bark we had these two options:

Real Sod:

The Pros: Real grass – when healthy – is prettier than fake. It’s a lot cheaper upfront (we already had irrigation as the family that lived here a decade ago had real grass). It is soft and comfy for falls.

The Cons: It’s illegal to put in real sod up here due to water usage (we would be criminals!), it freezes in the winter so we worried that we would be able to maintain it well and we had a lot of shade in the summer so we were worried about it thriving without enough sun.

Artificial Turf:

The Pros: Very little maintenance, year-round green, little mess/dirt for kids especially when it rains/snows. Practical AF.

The Cons: It’s expensive up front (anywhere between $6 – $15 a square foot installed), it can look fake and bad if not done right. It can get hot in the sun.

Neither was a clear choice…

Enter The Dogs – The Ultimate Deciders

Enter the dogs – the final turf decision-makers. When the dogs arrived, we had bark out in the back – a typical and very affordable mountain landscape choice. They “enjoyed” this bark a lot and spent most of their unsupervised time jumping in the pond, then chasing each other back and forth only to end up digging up dirt around the perimeter, bathing in mud and bark. Meanwhile, all the dust from the bark floated its way into our home, permeating every room. We knew that we had to get rid of the bark within days of having these dirty little pups. But do we install real sod? Well like the grass gods answering our prayers (wouldn’t it be awesome it if were always this easy?), the next week we brought down the dogs to LA to stage the house and those little mothers started digging holes in the middle of the grass in our backyard. We couldn’t stop them. The second they were let outside they would dig up everything! We were going to replace the sod anyway there (and we did) but it made it clear that these two mud pups will abuse any future grass. DONE. TURF. IT. IS.

So we did what any designer + husband team would do – we rushed the process because we were going mentally a little cuckoo dealing with muddy pups every day destroying our house. We knew that we wanted a fire pit area and a hot tub (this is a mountain house and both feel like long term investments for winter – and if we ever Airbnb it, it obviously adds a lot of value). But I was being a perfectionist and “cared about the design too much” so Brian took this project over to speed it up. I agreed that this wasn’t where we should spend a ton of money or be too precious. We are up here for at least a year but after that who knows? And if we didn’t do it quickly we wouldn’t get it done until after winter as a lot of the exterior construction stops late November – April. WE HAD TO HURRY.

We Got Multiple Quotes

So our first quote from a landscape contractor included turf for most of the yard (around 1700 square feet), plus a stone path to a stone patio where the two boulders are, creating a natural gas fire pit area. This quote came in at $56k, which we thought was incredibly high and frankly shocked us. He thought maybe he could get it down to $45k and this did NOT include digging the trench for the gas, hooking up the gas (done by a plumber), or laying the slab for the hot tub. We knew that landscaping your house is almost as expensive as renovating the inside – mostly because of labor, but we had not predicted this.

So we got another quote, slowing down the process (but still rushing too fast, don’t worry!). This time we called Save Pro Turf and we had an amazing experience (not gifted or given a press discount – just super impressed with the product and service). We decided to not spend the money on a stone patio and instead just put down pebbles and we nixed a path I wanted since we didn’t really NEED it after all. By doing this we got the quote for $16k. Now, this didn’t include bark removal, tree trunk removal, some grading, trenching the gas line, installing the gas line ($850), and lastly pouring the slab for the future hot tub. These things will add up to a few thousands of dollars, but they were still FAR under that $56k quote. Plus, the turf was in stock and they were available to do it 3 weeks later (many of the other companies we called were booked through November, and then depending on weather they might not have been able to do it til spring – NOOOOOOO!!!). We could NOT live with that bark. It was making our house DISGUSTING, the dust, the mud, the chewing of the bark all over the house, NOOO.

The Scramble To Find Sub-Contractors

I don’t know how it is where you live but up here, all contractors and subs are SLAMMED with work. It’s great for them, but as a homeowner, it was almost impossible to book any subs for these jobs (and no one really cares about my Instagram following which I only reluctantly mention as a hail mary JUST IN CASE). I reached out to our GC Jeff Malcom (who did the mountain house) and asked for him to ask his subs for us, and while he tried to help he reminded me that “subs will always prioritize working for general contractors over homeowners because they’ll get consistent long term work from them, whereas with a homeowner it’s just a one-time thing”. Fine.

So we were scrambling to find crews to de-bark, trench for gas pipe, grade the earth, and then get a plumber to install the pipe for the gas. It was also labor day weekend and no one wanted to work overtime, understandably… without a pretty penny at least. So we ended up paying far more to get crews to come on the weekend or after hours. The turf was coming on September 8th and if we didn’t have the yard ready by then they couldn’t do it for another month after that. But by rushing it we paid about 30% more for labor to get it all ready in time. FUN!

We lived with the de-barked – full dirt backyard for over a week which wasn’t ideal (remember dogs and kids), but also fun for the kids as we had some great mud-ball fights that horrified Brian and admittedly took days to get out of my hair.

INSTALL TIME

Here’s what I can’t recommend enough: hire a very experienced turf company that specializes in turf to install. There are many ways to mess this up and make it A. look terrible or B. not last as long as it should (pull up on the edges, not prepped properly underneath, etc). Save Pro Turf knew exactly what they were doing. They came out twice to do drawings and measurements and mapped it all out.

The day of the install they arrived with close to 10 guys – all so pleasant and genuinely seemed like they loved their job. I mention that as a huge compliment to Jeff who runs the company – that he clearly takes care of his team (some have been with him for 10 years). They did some additional grading and started prepping the earth. This included spreading out a recycled concrete layer to compact and act as a weed barrier.

Brian and I had to go to LA to shoot something so while we were gone his parents kept sending me photos and videos of the process and it was INTENSE. They arrived at 8 am on Wednesday and they were totally done by Thursday afternoon! I do think that this is unusual and they said they had double the crews to make sure they finished before a massive job the following week (so I wouldn’t typically expect it to take such a short time).

Do We Love It???

OH, DO WE. It instantly changed our backyard and lives. The kids can actually use it, play on it, lay on it. The pups can run around and if they avoid the pond/dirt they remain clean! If they are unsupervised and they DO get in the pod and dirt then the faux grass almost acts as a big doormat and brushes it off of them if they stay out there long enough.

Does It Look Real??

Artificial grass rarely fools you completely. But in my opinion, there are five factors that help it look more real:

1. Get high-quality turf that has multiple shades of green and brown in it. We chose Pro80 that was sourced through the turf company (it doesn’t sell direct to consumer as far as I can see and that is because they don’t want consumers to order and try to install it on their own). It’s a darker green which is more appropriate for the mountains (as opposed to a brighter that might be more “Palm Springs-y”). It has some brown on the inside which gives it some dimension.
   
   FUN FACT: Most turf is only $2-4 per square foot, it’s the install that makes it between $7 – $15 (ours was $8/square foot with install)
   
2. Get professional turf installers to install. After watching them do it, it is an art form that requires experience. Like installing expensive wallpaper, if you aren’t going to have someone good do it, you might just be wasting your money.
3. Don’t totally flatten your yard. A perfectly flat rectangle of a yard with turf definitely looks more like a putting green and a little fake. It’s OK if this is what you have, It’s not like you should “add hills” but if you have some sloping or some movement, keep it – it looks more real.
4. Break it up. Like tip #3, the more you break it up the more real it looks mostly because it’s so bright and green (and perfect) that your eye doesn’t believe it’s real if it’s just a huge field of perfect primary green. Broken up with pathways, fire pits, boulders, decking, etc will help it look less fake.
5. Shade and dappling are your friends. It’s my opinion that a dapple or shade makes it look more real than full sun. It just creates movement and a natural element. Not that you can add shade that easily, but if you are worried about it looking fake and you have a lot of shade know that the shade helps.

Now I know that many of you will never be on board with faux, but admittedly the second that the decision was “forced upon us” and more importantly the night that it was installed I was SO RELIEVED and secretly SO happy that this is our future. It would be like a doctor telling you to only wear Uggs or to start eating more french fries. The lack of maintenance of this grass really checks a huge box for us permanently despite it not always being my first style choice.

But We Still Rushed Some Things…

Jeff (our contractor) told us after we had booked everything that we were being hasty putting in artificial turf FIRST, that it’s like installing the carpet before you’ve painted the walls. Oh Jeff, don’t be so boring. I knew he was right but desperation for turf NOW was leading the hasty machine. So here is what we kinda rushed:

1. We still need to do some construction – like a new fence (Brian doesn’t agree but I want a pretty painted wood fence). So that will be a decent amount of construction near our pretty new grass. Whoops.
2. We forgot about the trampoline. The Saturday after we installed the grass and our fire pit (how pretty is that fire pit!!) my workout tramp arrived. The kids jumped on it, so happy, and Brian and I looked at each other at the EXACT same time and said “oh shoooooooot”. The only place we could have put an in-ground tramp is where the firepit is – fully installed with natural gas. That was the original plan that we honestly just FORGOT about!!! So what I’d love from you is for you guys to say things like “our kids never use our tramp” or “it’s a waste of money and dangerous”‘. We might be able to put in an above-ground one (with the safety net) outside the guest room door but we ruined our chance to put it here. And you can’t really do it now because trying to patch the turf where the boulders are would look silly. WHOOPS.
3. The design of the hot tub area was barely even thought about because we were so busy trying to coordinate the subcontractors and now we are locked into having the grass stop where it is, in a straight line. We’ll make it work, but it might not be the prettiest hot tub area ever. **Update: we found the last hot tub on sale in a 100-mile radius (like the last one left for MONTHS, none were arriving till late November) so we snagged it. Is it a pretty round cedar tub? HA NO. Brian Henderson would die without the ability to sit on faux marbled moulded plastic with hydrotherapy jets going into his armpits. But after researching I realized that the only BEAUTIFUL spas are custom/site-specific spas (built into a pool area with custom surrounds + very expensive) or are round cedar ones that you have to sit vertically in (Brian shakes his head in horror). So since I have to give up on “beautiful”, I’m opting for “affordable”, “fast” and “Not visually offensive??”. Cheers to low expectations!
4. The fire pit area is pretty darn big and could have been smaller. There was some miscommunication and then boom, it was done. 🙂

Part of me is disappointed in myself for not having a fully fleshed out design plan, executed properly, step by step in perfect chronological order with the appropriate elements where they make the most sense. In a perfect world, we would have a contractor manage, draw it out, grade it all, MAKE A PLAN, do all the dirty construction (deck, additional landscaping, lay slab, demo out the fence, install new fence) THEN do the grass. But we didn’t. And I’m not sad about it because that plan would have taken MONTHS that we just didn’t have. I just hate disappointing you guys (FINE AND ME) with a less than perfect design. But don’t worry, we aren’t done and I can work magic with some plants and styling…

Which is why Brian is taking credit for this backyard design. When we were “debating” (cough cough) the rush, he was like “just tell them that I’m handling this project – that I’m the designer”. Once I let go of owning the design it was SO EASY and happened so fast. He employed the “done is better than perfect” philosophy, which is typically hard for me. But I’m so relieved that we don’t have to wait until spring to enjoy this backyard. Then in spring, it will look even better when I’m done with it…

What Do We Have Left???

HOT TUB. We are laying the slab next week and it comes after that. Surrounding it will have pea gravel, stepping stones, and some boulders. Again, this will likely never be too Pinterest worthy, but what I’ve heard from friends is that the kids will get in this hot tub every night so it will be worth it (and the reason we put it here (see above) instead of in the “dog run” area is because over there we would have had to remove the trees or make it really high, and also we liked the idea of it being further from the street and visible from the outdoor dining table. It feels more accessible here to where we’ll use it more.

DOG RUN TURNED. What????? They are going to grade the former dog run (the area on the guest bedroom side of the house) and make it flat enough (but not super flat) that if we wanted to have a seating area or an above ground tramp (with safety net) we could. We also might put a shed there, dunno. Either way, we’ll have stepping stones to the door with the hopes that the kids will go straight from the hot tub to the shower in that bathroom. Speaking of shower…

OUTDOOR SHOWER. Now Jeff and Brian (since when did Jeff get 30% say on this??) think an outdoor shower is stupid. I’ve spoken to Sherry (Young House Love) enough to know that it’s something that once you have you can never go back. You know when two cis males look at you like you are crazy so you give up on a dream? I know it seems silly and there isn’t the perfect place for it (nor is it easy to tap into the plumbing and we might have to rip open the exterior wall to do so) but I want one. For the record, I asked for the hot water hookup during the renovation and it got overlooked so…

FENCE. I’m still on the fence (I’m genuinely sorry about that) about replacing it or not. The only fence we’ve ever put in was in LA with a fancy pedestrian gate and an electrified driveway gate and it was a lot. For something basic (horizontal wood, painted the same color as the house) how much would it actually cost? Time to get a quote. Brian is against this because he feels like this one “goes away”, but I feel like the backyard will be SO much prettier with a nice wood fence surrounding it.

MORE PRIVACY THROUGH BETTER LANDSCAPING. I’m not very private, but near the fire pit and the hot tub we might just add a few taller shrubs on the perimeter for privacy from our lovely neighbors, and to shake it up so it’s not just laurels. It’s more so they don’t have to see/hear us if their windows are open, less about us not wanting them to hear our riveting s’mores conversations.

FURNITURE. Now that the fire pit area is bigger than just 6 chairs (with the fire pit not being centered) I’m thinking let’s make that a full-on living room over there, not just the 6 Adirondack chairs I had planned. We even have room for a sectional and two club chairs. I’m not going to do this until spring (hoping to get the Standish sectional that Target has that isn’t unavailable till January). We also need a metal 10 person dining table that can withstand snow and a lot of water dripping from the upper deck when snow melts. And yes I know that I could get a pretty wood one and just cover it but I think that we all know we won’t, and besides it’s right outside our family room window and I don’t want to stare at a cover.

VEGETABLE GARDEN. If you are wondering where that amazing vegetable Victory garden that I was going to plant, ME TOO! We ordered a ton of pots that just never arrived due to COVID. The 2×8 above-ground beds arrived in July, almost too late to plant. But that is when I realized that we have WAY less sun once the trees have leaves than I thought. So we are going to utilize the upper deck and pots way more than originally thought. (Fun Fact: Our neighbor has the most amazing veggie garden ever, with the most delicious produce I’ve ever eaten. So the kids and I are going to help him with his garden, put in a new big above-ground bed, and be able to harvest in addition to our pots and planters).

PEBBLES… OVER EVERY SPEC OF DIRT. Now, this is Brian’s idea that I don’t think will work but thought you guys would know. The dogs are STILL digging. We are going to try using Cayenne pepper because they don’t like the smell of it so they won’t dig there. But if they do, we are thinking just spreading pea gravel around all the bushes. I think give them a month and this will be holes of dirt again, but if any of you have solutions to stop pups from digging in dirt, please…

Back to the turf. Again, I can’t recommend Safe Pro Turf enough. They were awesome. We are SO DANG HAPPY. This is kinda like how I felt turning on my first indoor gas fireplace with a switch (as opposed to gathering and lighting wood). The ease that it brings our life is worth the sacrifice in style. Not everything that is fake is BAD if it adds so much more function and practicality to your life (engineered countertops, engineered wood flooring, faux candles at Christmas… I could go on and on).

I think I need to recap my questions for you all: 1. Above ground tramp or no tramp at all? 2. Can you put pea gravel around the roots of plants without killing them and will that even prevent the dogs from digging them up? 3. Are you pro or anti fake grass????? I know that when we move to Oregon I’ll be pro real grass (what with the rain and all), but as right now I’m in LOVE.

Jess here! So my friend recently bought her first home and needs to do some renovating (she will laugh at the “some” part of that sentence). It’s a bit of a fixer-upper but it’s going to be so wonderful once it’s all done. Soon we will get back those nights where we stay up waaay too late drinking wine/talking and I “have to” sleepover. The gamechanger? I get my own room now! Ok enough about me and back to my friend’s house. She had mentioned she had been perusing our site for design advice and told me how helpful this post was for deciding what kind of bathroom fixtures she wanted. This got me thinking maybe she wasn’t the only one needing some sink/faucet advice since renovations are slowly starting back up again. So if you are confused about sinks and faucets, read through Emily’s thought process for what and why she wanted a certain combo for the mountain house.

I am THIS CLOSE to showing you the final master bathroom plan (UPDATE: Here’s the reveal) but I have to get everything ordered asap (the plumbing and fixtures won’t change, just all the tile and finishes – depending on your vote). Right when I was about to sign off on the product order I had this terrifying thought –  Is a wall mount faucet with an undermount sink TOTALLY WEIRD??? Why don’t people do it? All you see is wall mount with vessel sinks? Is there a reason why? To me it’s super clean and simple and if you get the height right it won’t splash too much. So I tasked my team to find some wall mount sinks that did not use a vessel (like above) to make a case pro the “wall/under” combo and calm my nerves.

First, let’s chat about vessel sinks. For many a year (25 years ago) the vessel sink was super popular  – those super decorative glass bowls were BIG and fell fast. But a few years ago there was a revival and simpler square or circle ones became the rage.

I even used this one on top of my vintage dresser in our old guest bathroom. It was modern and simple and made that dresser easy to convert to a vanity. Great.

What I am super into right now is wall mount faucets and on our design plan with Kohler I have wall mount fixtures in 3 of the 5 bathrooms, but I have them paired with undermount sinks. And once you plumb for wall mount and tile over it, there is no going back.

So before I hit “send” on my product spreadsheet I wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing something totally weird.

When you google “wall mount faucet” it’s ALWAYS a vessel sink. WHY? What am I missing? Where is that red flag?

All of these look lovely but do you need a vessel?

Are the pros of a vessel that it looks fancier and kinda has another architectural element? I don’t think functionally they are better in fact often if you get a thick one it can take up more counter space…

But it doesn’t keep your undersides clean if you want to do something like the above and below. An undermount sink would be more visible.

The rectangle vessel is also enjoyed by many bathrooms and if we were to use a vessel in the house then we’d likely lean in that direction.

Great. Lovely. Two thumbs (and two vessels) up.

I like them WAY more when they are more shallow and the height doesn’t come too far off the countertop, but then are they not very functional??

There is the option of a vessel that is more in a “bowl” shape meaning that it is more narrow on the bottom then widens as it comes up.

These can lean more traditional but can certainly be very pretty, and all of these examples are showcasing them so well.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-vessel, I just wasn’t planning on having them. And now I’m questioning myself. So we did a ton of pinning and found many beautiful shots of bathrooms with wall mount faucets and undermount sinks.

I’m feeling much better.

The next question is: what do these bathrooms have in common (if anything) that makes that particular look work, or is there anything to avoid?

While our mountain house has many handmade and warm finishes the plumbing fixtures are all super modern. So while stylistically these bathrooms don’t represent the mountain house, the faucets are pretty modern like some of these that you see here.

Our house is more like these photos, stylistically.

And here are a few more beautiful examples just to really hit it home.

See? The wall mount/under mount combination is beautiful and minimal and simple, no?

Hilariously enough I was panicking so I texted my friend, Nate (Berkus) about it. I was like If anyone is going to give me expert advice, it’s this guy. He said basically yes.

But of course, I’d love you guys to weigh in.

Please tell me if A.) you think this is weird and therefore too risky. or B.) you love it. Or C.) if you have a vessel sink how do you feel about it? Do you wish it were an undermount?

Basically I’d just love a conversation about the pros and cons of vessel sinks or wall mount faucets for that matter … I love the clean look, but am I making a mistake or doing something that will feel super dated in a few years? Weigh in below.

Update: Check out all of The Mountain House REVEALS here: The Kitchen | The Kitchen Organization | The Kitchen Appliances | The Powder Bath | The Living Room | The Downstairs Guest Suite | The Loft | The Kids’ Room | The Upstairs Guest Bath | The Dining Room | The Family Room | The Master Bedroom | The Master Bathroom

Opening Image Credits: Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp | From: The Final Mountain House Reveal (for Now): All the Details of My Master Bathroom

I hate starting a post with bad news, but we only have three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Last year, we had just over 4. I don’t know who decided that Thanksgiving should be so late, but they should be canceled (also, I know it’s just how the last Thursday of the month landed, but still). So, the question becomes, how do we stretch out the feeling of the holidays, create moments earlier and honestly get the most out of all the effort of decorating for as long as possible? We got you. Today, we are showing you how to “winterize” your home—how to make it feel like a snowy wonderland with a nod to the holidays (yes there are stockings, but no tree…YET) in early November that could easily be added to for the holiday you celebrate but also stripped back a bit to last you through February. This, my friends, is not a “Christmas” post; instead, it’s a “winter decorating” post that is giving me all the cozy feels.

We shot this up at the mountain house, in a few different rooms, using 100% Target product that is in this beautiful winter vibe. Our general aesthetic thesis was “Scandi hygge ski village” so we kept everything simple and minimal to work with the style of the house up there. The main palette was set with whites, grays, woods and greenery rounded out with lots of soft ambient (faux) candles (those lanterns up there are battery-operated, FYI) and twinkle lights…starting at the front door.

Create a Simple, Subtle Welcoming

That entry shot actually kills me. It looks so pretty. Faux greenery is your long-term friend and you don’t just have to use it on the mantel. We fastened it together with wood and twine to make a little winter moment instead of a big wreath for the door, and also wrapped it around the top half of the round mirror, which is incredibly welcoming with very little effort. (Oh, and sorry, but those skis are vintage…I know, it hurts.) BONUS: No messy pine needles to sweep up constantly, because nothing robs you of your joy quiet like getting needles stuck to the bottom of your feet every day or finding rogue ones deep into March and thinking they’re sprouting from your floors. 

Just around the corner near the stair landing, is this little “moment” we set up. Yes, since we were going for Scandinavian, we went all hygge on you with a lot of texture, warmth and coziness, which we get easily through more textiles. Layer it on and go for chunkier textiles (like the sherpa-like fabric on that great chair that’s new to Target this fall) if you want it to last longer.

The runner over the table tones down the black of the console so the etched glass trees and votive holders feel less high-contrast. Oh, and if you want to start early, real greenery won’t last you so here (and throughout the house) we used faux garland and greenery—this flocked wreath is great—everywhere (and yes, you can reuse year after year).

FYI, trees are year-round natural elements, guys, so I think it’s perfectly acceptable to bring them in early. Those glass hurricanes in the shape of trees add a lot of light reflection/glimmer. Again, we kept it quiet by keeping them in a very light color palette. The baskets store extra textiles nearby.

Bring in (Toned Down) Iconic Holiday Elements

This star focal point is pretty awesome, guys. It’s big but still subtle and just made us all so happy. At night, the ambiance was incredible in this room because of all the soft ambient glow coming from the star’s twinkle lights, the fireplace and all the candles smattered across the mantel. Lighting is extremely important during these darker days, and with small, grabby kids, I am pro faux candles. These glowed like the real deal, both pillars and tapers.

I wanted to note that while yes, this house is already pretty neutral, going with softer colors instead of traditional holiday hues like red and green (or even blue and silver) neutral colors really extends the life of the “winter” look. Plus, I don’t know if you’re like me, but just a few days after Christmas, I get what I call “clutter body” and want to rip everything down. I can’t imagine getting tired of cozy, pet-able pillows and glowy candles, tbh, so I know this is something that I could carry until at least spring.

It wouldn’t be a shoot with Target product without my favorite Esters chair. This is an “evergreen” product in that it is sold year-round because it’s not seasonal, but a squishy sherpa pillow and a nubby throw makes it instantly even more welcoming. Set it up near a fireplace or reading corner with a wood table (this one here is from Threshold’s 2018 fall collection and is technically a “coffee table” but it’s a great size and height as more of a drinks-and-popcorn table).

You could easily hold off on the stockings until after Thanksgiving because the faux greenery garland and candles would definitely stand on their own here. And when you’re ready…stockings up! We loved these because of their sweater knit that felt nostalgic but also really fresh and modern (and it’s always a “yes” for me when it comes to faux fur this time of year).

Add a Few Festive Touches to Get Party Ready

There’s something about a ceramic tiny house village that instantly makes it feel like wintertime, but I know a lot of them can feel very…present, like you stumbled into a Cracker Barrel and bought the whole lot, which is why these white porcelain ones are so, so great. You get that “holiday village” feel without the visual noise. These could easily work on a console table somewhere, but here we brought them into the dining room to create more of a party vibe. And FYI, these are SUPER affordable—under $10—from Wondershop. 

If you want something more casual than a big sit-down dinner, take your table and transform it into a winter scene with a few textiles (like the subtly sparkly tablecloth here). We used a faux fur runner here which is so fun because it kind of gives off snow vibes but is really just something I bet everyone will end up petting. A few more bottle brush trees (also a great budget buy) and some great faux branches (these are only sold in stores, FYI) and ta-da…you have yourself the perfect dessert or buffet table. 

Quick party hack: don’t feel like you have to run out and get a cake stand that you’ll probably use twice a year if you don’t want to. Using a larger dinner plate in the same setting (or different setting, whichever!) you already have keeps things cohesive and just simpler for you. Mix in some brass flatware (grounded by linen napkins) and anything feels special.

Fit In Unexpected Moments

How to decorate your bathroom for winter/the holidays is probably something that has (likely) never crossed your mind. If it has, maybe you should work here. But if you have a “window moment” like the one in my master bathroom, a simple (battery-operated) lit wreath goes a long way to remind you about seasonal stress while you try to unwind from seasonal stress (kidding). It’s just a smile-inducing addition to an unexpected room.

A bubble bath and a wreath moment = my winter happy place.

Those etched glass hurricanes are so pretty and high-end looking and frankly, could be used from now until…always. They have that “magic” of the winter season but would also just be so special on a random day in March.

The same goes for a corner in a bedroom (this is in the adjacent master bedroom). I love those little lit trees; they’re such a great scale to fit into basically any and every vignette around your home. Throw in a knit blanket (I LOVE the oversize tassels on this one), something to squish your toes into (may I recommend a faux fur pelt?) and the perfectly updated buffalo check wing chair and you’ve got yourself a dreamy, comfy “winter” reading nook.

Don’t Forget Your Littles

We love to let the kids decorate their rooms, but if you don’t want to hand over the reins, it’s really just about sprinkling a few little touches throughout to add a little wonder.

The soft Christmas calendar is so sweet and easy for the kids to take off the wall without fear of breaking anything. Then it’s just bringing in a little lit faux green tree, another (smaller) star and fuzzy, furry, plush textiles.

Oh, and a kid-sized wreath, of course. The lights are battery-powered so you don’t have to worry about any cables or wires if outlets are scarce. This would be so sweet over twin beds, on the door, over windows or in a nook like this one above.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m full-on ready now to bring in winter (even though it’s 75 in LA). The snow will be falling up in the mountains in no time and all that will be left is bringing in the tree.

To shop each of these looks, Target put together these super useful collection pages by vignette (or scroll down to the Get the Look to shop that way, too).

• Holiday Dining Room
• Modern Holiday Gray & Black Entryway
• Traditional Festive Holiday Mantle & Cosy Living Room Decor
• Holiday Front Porch
• Holiday Inspired Relaxing Bathroom Decor
• Traditional Holiday Reading Nook
• Modern Holiday Themed Black & White Accent Furniture Collection
• Countdown to Christmas Kids’ Reading Nook
• Holidays Kids’ Reading Nook Decor

1. Large Metal Glass Lantern | 2. Small Metal Glass Lantern | 3. Doormat | 4. Black Rattan Basket | 5. Cedar with White Berries Dried Arrangement | 6. Artificial Cedar Stem with Pine Cones and Glitter Green | 7. Woven Plaid Pillow Square White/Brown | 8. Velvet Pillow with Linen Reverse | 9. Tipped Faux Fur Throw Blanket Cream | 10. Short LED Distressed Shimmer Flameless Pillar Candle | 11. Large LED Distressed Shimmer Flameless Pillar Candle | 12. Round Mirror | 13. Upholstered Bench | 14. Raffia Basket | 15. Wreath | 16. Metallic Fringe Table Runner | 17. Tripod Table Lamp | 18. Sherpa Chair | 19. Metal Console | 20. Tall Fair Isle Embossed Glass Christmas Tree | 21. Short Fair Isle Embossed Glass Christmas Tree | 22. Small Fair Isle Glass Hurricane Pillar Candle Holder | 23. Tassel Pillow | 24. Faux Rabbit Fur Throw | 25. Solid Plush With Faux Fur Poms Throw Blanket | 26. Large Basket with Curved Handles | 27. 2pc Bottle Brush Trees Decorative Figurine | 28. 4pc White Bottle Brush Trees Decorative Figurines | 29. Light Camel Knit Beanie | 30. Pink Knit Beanie | 31. Christmas Tree Candy Dish

1. Large Lit Standing Metal Christmas Star Decorative Star | 2. 2pk LED Distressed Shimmer Flameless Taper Candle Set | 3. Cable Knit Christmas Stocking | 4. Artificial Cedar Garland | 5. Tall LED Distressed Shimmer Flameless Pillar Candle | 6. Short LED Distressed Shimmer Flameless Pillar Candle | 7. Small Ceramic Taper Candle Stick | 8. Medium Ceramic Taper Candle Stick | 9. Accent Chair | 10. Cylinder Vase | 11. Cedar with White Berries Dried Arrangement | 12. Log Holder | 13. Black and White Throw | 14. Faux Sheepskin Throw Pillow | 15. Wood Accent Table | 16. Snowflake Coaster Set | 17. Chunky Knit Pouf | 18. Corded and Tufted Throw Pillow | 19. Channeled Faux Fur Throw Pillow | 20. Snowflake Serving Bowl | 21. Empty Bottles Full of Stories by Robert M. Drake & R. H. Sin | 22. Coiled Rope Square Base Tapered Basket

1. Corded and Tufted Throw Pillow | 2. Mongolian Faux Fur Throw Pillow | 3. Faux Fur Pillow | 4. Chunky Knit Pillow | 5. Striped Lumbar Pillow | 6. Large Ceramic House | 7. Small Fair Isle Glass Hurricane Pillar Candle Holder | 8. Medium Ceramic House | 9. Small Flocked Bottle Brush Tree | 10. Large Flocked Bottle Brush Tree | 11. Glass Jug Vase | 12. Decanter | 13. Dinner Plate | 14. Salad Plate | 15. Wine Glass | 16. Cloth Napkin | 17. Gold Flatware | 18. Serving Platter | 19. Gold Turner Spatula | Tablecloth (available soon)

1. Wreath | 2. Cable Knit Chenille with Sherpa Reverse Throw Blanket | 3. Short Faux Fur Square Throw Pillow | 4. Euro Channeled Faux Fur Throw Pillow | 5. Tipped Faux Fur Oversize Lumbar Throw Pillow | 6. Hanging Fabric Christmas Countdown | 7. Faux Fur Christmas Stocking | 8. Dew Drop Hanging Star | 9. Large LIT Flocked Hard Needle Tree Decorative Christmas | 10. Judith Faux Fur Ottoman | 11. Wooden Tractor Set | 12. Corded and Tufted Lumbar Throw Pillow | 13. Mongolian Faux Fur Rug

1. Hook Rack Black | 2. Wreath | 3. Tall LED Distressed Shimmer Flameless Pillar Candle | 4. Short LED Distressed Shimmer Flameless Pillar Candle | 5. Small Fair Isle Glass Hurricane Pillar Candle Holder | 6.Large Fair Isle Glass Hurricane Pillar Candle Holder | 7. Soap Dish | 8. Bath Towel | 9. Hand Towel | 10. Candle | 11. Apothecary Glass Storage Bottle | 12. Bath Mat | 13. Black Accent Table | 14. Burlap Wrapped Plastic Flocked Tree | 15. Wood Accent Table | 16. Accent Chair | 17. Small Glitter Tree | 18. Large Glitter Tree | 19. Cream Throw Blanket | 20. Mongolian Faux Fur Rug | 21. Cedar with White Berries Dried Arrangement | 22. Mug | 23. Glass Bud Vase | 24. Light Filters In by Caroline Kaufman

***photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp, creative direction by me and styling by Velinda Hellen

Welcome back to our two-day stretch of MORE mountain house “reveals” except they’re all kind of “refreshes.” The kids’ bedroom was actually the first room in the entire house that we revealed back in March but it was styled and shot for Target using their Pillowfort collection and after some living, there needed to be a few updates…for two reasons: 1. the kids now share a king-sized bed and 2. I felt that the white headboard could be more playful and exciting.

Here’s what it looked like when we first revealed it:

I loved it all (especially that DIY canopy), but the twin bed thing just didn’t last (for now). We ended up shoving them together so we could read together and FINE, maybe I’m bad about resisting the urge to go in there in the middle of the night when they call. They’ve got my number and at least four nights a week, I ended up laying with them for a bit or hours if I fall asleep. I was sleeping in the crack so uncomfortably and was like, this is ridiculous. We bought one of those kits that puts them together and fills the gap (and as you can see we still have two twin bed frames because we know that this situation isn’t forever).

Plus, for renting this out, this could be another grown-up room, and the memory foam carpet is honestly soft enough that you can literally put a sleeping bag on the floor for kids, if needed.

Days before the reader event, I looked at this room and just thought that headboard could be better. We found THE PERFECT fabric from Minted by artist Beth Schneider and Emily Bowser and Julie spent a day DIY-ing that long headboard wall by reupholstering over the white canvas.

Because the headboard is so wide, they had to spend time carefully finding a way to pattern match, which is far more complicated than you think (hot tip: if you plan on doing something like this, always account for more fabric needed for the pattern repeat because there is waste).

We had bought those nightstands as options for the upstairs guest room so we tried them in here and loved how they modernized the space. They popped off the busier headboard in a graphic but playful shape and tone. And we switched out the bear for the moose because the dark brown was feeling heavy.

We had to switch out the bedding because the green blankets were twin (and the pirates couldn’t live with the animal headboard, duh) so we kept it calm but playful with that Rebecca Atwood blanket, long striped lumbar, and tiny delicate striped shams.

I loved how it turned out.

But there was still something on the other side of the room that was bugging me. This is how it looked when we originally revealed it:

It always bugged me that there was nook on nook and that bottom nook was meant for a custom pull-out closet that we never executed due to budget (the renderings are here if you want to see). It just felt busy to me.

So the day before the reader event (nothing like a last-minute deadline, huh?) we thought, what if for now, we just put a white curtain with leather pullbacks there? So day-of, Julie (bless her) figured out how to make that work and this is what she came up with:

It did help, I promise but we all agree that it’s not necessarily permanent. I think I want to get someone to make two white cabinet doors for now and turn it into a secret cupboard. If we wanted to call it a closet, we could even install a rod somewhere.

We had leftover fabric and Julie had the sweetest idea to sew a pillow for this nook.

She stayed up the night before the event to sew it—hopefully with wine in hand. THANK YOU JULIE. It really did help bring that side of the room to life and work well with the other. Then I found that bunting at Lulu and Georgia and those colors worked perfectly with our new animal print.

There we go. An update on a room that wasn’t quite there when we shot and revealed it originally. As we live in the house, we realize what tweaks need to be made because designing a home isn’t necessarily a start to finish process. I still need to tackle the dining room back cushion and light situation and I might play musical rugs downstairs… 🙂 Ooh also we aren’t done with the play attic, which we spend SO much time in and as soon as we are I’ll show you.

Meanwhile, if you are interested in renting out the house for shoots (or very vetted vacation trips), let us know.

Resources

Furniture:

Side Tables | Bed Frame | Toy Bin

Bedding & Fabric:

Lumbar Pillow from Filling Spaces | Shams from Pom Pom at Home (similar) | White Pillowcases from Target | Duvet from Target | Blue and White Coverlet by Rebecca Atwood | Green Throw from Target | Headboard Fabric by Beth Schneider from Minted | Reading Nook Cushion Fabric by Crypton

Decor:

Bed: Nightlight from Target | Unicorn from Target | Sconces (above bed) by Schoolhouse | Cloud Shelves from Target | House-Shaped Wood Blocks from Amazon | Papier Mache Moose Head by Crate&Kids

Reading Nook: Garland from Lulu & Georgia | Throw from Target | Octopus from Target | Lumbar Pillow from Target | 2-Tier BookShelf from Target | Sconce by Jones County Road

Under Stair Nook: Lantern from Target | Faux Fur Pillow from Target | Wood Side Table from Midcentury LA | Sheepskin by Article | Stuffed Bunny from Target

Climbing Wall: Floor Pillows from Target | Climbing Holds from Metolius

***photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp, design by me, DIY canopy and headboard by Julie Rose and Emily Bowser

Check out all of the Mountain House reveals here: The Kitchen | The Kitchen Organization | The Kitchen Appliances | The Powder Bath | The Living Room | The Downstairs Guest Suite | The Loft | The Kids’ Room | The Upstairs Guest Bath | The Upstairs Guest Bedroom | The Dining Room | The Family Room | The Master Bedroom | The Master Bathroom

I bet you thought mountain house reveals were over? WRONG! We’re back in the upstairs guest bedroom, which we sort of showed you in this post, but now it’s fully done. We got weird with this one, and I’m so happy we did. A king and a queen bed in here, first on accident and then intentionally. Here’s how it went down: we messed up in the design process and didn’t make the windows wide enough to put a king bed in between the windows. We thought we did, but I think we didn’t account for the frame (this and other lessons in my next book that my team and I are spending 8 hours a day writing right now). So any king bed would hit the frame in the most awkward accidental way.

If you know me at all, you might know that I hate when things barely touch awkwardly (generally in life, actually). It needs to look intentional, so they can overlap just not barely touch. We started looking for wider beds to rectify this, in search of a headboard that would go so far over the window that it would be obvious that we weren’t trying to make it fit in between. Julie reminded me about the extra wide king bed from Thos. Moser that we used in the Portland project, and we were like “oh dear, that’s our bed.” We thought about all these DIY headboards that could have been a janky solution, but truly this bed made the most design sense (and needed to look good because it was going to be in a magazine, and on the blog, of course).

So we reached out to see if they’d work with us again. But first, a bit about the company: Thos. Moser has been around for decades—generations almost says it better; read about the history here. I’ve loved them since I was a stylist in New York, 15 years ago. They are a heritage, artisan furniture company based in Maine that makes their beautiful products right here in the US. It’s how we used to make and buy furniture: from a furniture maker that made high-quality classic pieces, then we’d pass it down from generation to generation. We reached out and pitched the trade, knowing that this bed was beyond our budget (that is how a lot of these partnerships work). If you have the budget, please support companies and makers like this. I didn’t due to being so far over budget on this house, but I’m proud to be able to support them in the ways I can, like exposing their work to our large audience, getting them press, social media and, best of all, photography for their usage. We work hard to create beautiful rooms for makers and brands we love and Thos. Moser is truly one of them.

Okay. Back to the dilemma. They didn’t have a king made (they are made to order, after all) at the time, only a queen, but we (all of us) REALLY wanted to try to get it in the House Beautiful feature. So they shipped the queen and we shot it here:

We could only shoot this vignette and not the pulled back room because the queen headboard did hit the windows awkwardly so we cheated it to the side so it would “clear” the window frame and just shot this side (a little smoke and mirrors).

Meanwhile, we put the king mattress that we originally had on the floor on the other side of the room and guess what? All summer long this room, with two big beds, got more use from families than any other. All our friends and family with small kids loved that they could sleep near them. It’s almost a grown-up (and more beautiful) bunk bedroom. So when the king was ready and arrived, we realized that both would fit—the king between the windows and the queen by the closet. It would mean little space for too much else, but at this point we realized that we were so over budget that indeed we would be renting out this house and having more places for people to sleep comfortably is a huge selling point.

It works and is somehow still so open and calming because everything is cohesive. All the wood matches, and the tones of the textiles and carpet all coordinate so well. Having the beds be lighter, visually (they are EXTREMELY heavy by the way, in a good way that you know will last probably hundreds of years) helps keep it feeling big despite having two beds.

Now, trying to coordinate bedding on both so that they worked well without matching was a challenge that took me, Emily Bowser and Julie WEEKS to figure out, but we did and we loved how it turned out. We tried to have the same amount of “visual weight” on both beds so it felt balanced and we used the same types of textiles on each so they coordinated but mixed up where they went. One bed has that pretty mauve on the pillows, the other on the blanket.

The window shades, which are Hunter Douglas from Decorview, are blackout shades, on remotes and super simple and lovely.

As for the wall-to-wall carpet…well, I never thought I’d do beige wall-to-wall in my life? But here we are. It was supposed to be light gray but we accidentally ordered the wrong colorway (ha a lot was happening fast, guys) and when it arrived, we were actually so pleasantly surprised and love it way more. It’s from Stark Carpet and we hacked it by putting 2″ memory foam underneath it (density 7 lb which was about $200 more to install than a standard install pad), so while it’s a low pile, it is EXTREMELY comfortable. Bouncy, even.

We knew that we wouldn’t have a ton of space for lamps, and wanted to add something architectural to the room, so we ordered this sconce from One Forty Three and we love what it did to the room. It’s quiet but really interesting (please note the wood ball on the bottom arm, which ties in with our light wood throughout).

For anyone who wonders if nightstands have to match, the answer is no, not really. Here, we used two sets (one for each bed), though it’s a visual lesson that they could also be mixed and matched if there were just the one bed. The round wood ones above are from IKEA (which are so great and obviously affordable). Once the king bed came in, we didn’t have room for that sherpa chair (from Target and awesome), sadly.

On the other side of the room, we have two smaller nightstands (mostly for a glass of water) from CB2. We hung these awesome sconces from Humanhome that saved space but provide the light that those guests would need. The cord hangs and attaches to the wall (and you turn them on/off from a button on the floor).

I repurposed my Jane Denton pieces from Birdie’s old nursery here and, of course, still love them. Between those and the mirror and sconces, that’s all the room really needs. It’s soft and minimal.

The closet doors are by Ross Alan and yes you have space to open them. We put a dresser inside for the guests to be able to put their clothes away.

Excellent bed styling ladies. Pulled together, cohesive yet soft and inviting. The shams in that photo are actually euros that we cheated for the shot, so if you are on Pom Pom at Home’s website, know that they don’t exist in standard or king size (although we think they should and technically, if you’re handy with a sewing machine, you could just size them down).

This room has its own bathroom (reveal here) and while I love no room more than our master bedroom, this room is fought over.

That beautiful vase is from Sheldon Ceramics (how perfect is it?) and fun fact, those branches lasted for months and are dried so we didn’t even have to buy new ones for this shoot.

There you go. The most beautiful bed in the world in what might be the coziest bedroom I’ve ever designed. Come back tomorrow for another mountain house update (we played around in the kids’ room and did something maybe a little controversial??). See you tomorrow for that.

Resources

Furniture: 

Foreside Queen & King Beds by Thos. Moser | Small Ivory Hex Nightstands by CB2 | Tiered Wood Side Tables by IKEA

Bedding & Decor:

King Bed Area: Swing-Arm Sconce by One Forty Three | Round Mirror by CB2 | Mini Nub Dish by Ben Mendansky | Terra Cotta Vase by Sheldon Ceramics | Table Lamp from Finnish Design Shop | Lumbar Pillow from Filling Spaces | Shams from Pom Pom at Home | Blush Pillowcases from Target | Linen Blend Duvet Set from Target | Berry Quilt from Pom Pom at Home

Queen Bed Area: Plug-In Sconce by Humanhome | X Art (above bed) by Jane Denton | Art (above bed) by Jane Denton | Lumbar Pillow from Filling Spaces | Berry Shams from Pom Pom at Home | White Pillowcases from Target | Cream/Gray Duvet Cover from Pom Pom at Home (similar) | Diamond-Stitch Velvet Mauve Quilt from Target | Blush Blanket from Pom Pom at Home

Hardware & Finishes:

Closet Hardware by Schoolhouse | Door Hardware by Rejuvenation | Light Switch by Forbes & Lomax | Pure White Paint by Sherwin-Williams

Windows & Doors:

Hunter Douglas Room Darkening Solera Soft Shades from Decorview | Treemont Stria Carpet by Stark Carpet | Contemporary Windows by Marvin | Beechwood Doors by Ross Alan Reclaimed

And lastly, I wanted to give Thos. Moser another shout out (this post isn’t sponsored, I just really love them) and show you all my other favorite pieces, some of which haven’t changed since I loved them 15 years ago. If you are in Freeport, Maine, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., or San Francisco, you can check out these pieces for yourself at their showrooms.

1. Foreside Bed 2. Wishbone Extension Table | 3. Hoop Mirror | 4. Hancock Table | 5. Continuous Arm Chair | 6. Dr. White’s Chest | 7. Eastward Bench | 8. Table Minimus – Oval | 9. Ellipse Arm Chair | 10. Vita Blanket Box | 11. Continuous Arm Bench | 12. Pencil Post Bed | 13. Continuous Arm Rocker | 14. Hartford Sofa – One Place | 15. Foreside Mirror

***photography by Sara Liggoria-Tramp, design by me with assistance from Julie Rose, styling by Emily Bowser and Julie Rose

We have officially decided to rent out the mountain house when we aren’t staying there. Brian booked another play so our weekends will be in LA for a while and it actually makes me sad to know that it’s JUST sitting there. And sure, of course, it could help offset the cost of the world’s most over-budget project. Last week, we had a furniture and decor company rent it out as a location to shoot their pieces and well, it was super easy and just a general win-win (plus, really fun to see how they put their pieces in our space).

So, for anyone wondering the who, what and when, here are answers to what I think might be FAQs:

Q: Who can rent it out?

A: Production companies to shoot film, TV, product advertising or editorial. This could be a one-day or 10-day shoot. We are super open to what makes sense. It can be used as a location for whatever scene needed like maybe someone needs to shoot a fancy ski weekend getaway for a film and need to show their characters in a Scandi home like this.

We are also open to vetted groups for vacation as it can sleep three families fairly comfortable. If that’s interesting to you, here are the details: there are two bedrooms with king beds and attached bathrooms, one bedroom with a king AND a queen bed (so great for a family with small kids that want to sleep near parents), and the kids’ room that also has a king bed.  We also have two roll-out twin mattresses. So there are beds for 10 and then you could easily bring a pack’n’play or sleeping bags as the carpet in the kids’ room has memory foam under it. There are a ton of toys and games, an art room in the attic, a (small) climbing wall and it’s just generally very kid-friendly. Plus, the backyard has access to hiking trails and acres of private woods.

Additionally, small companies for retreats or off-sites. The EHD team has done this but of course, this means people sharing king beds which we’re comfortable doing. Maybe a couples therapy retreat?

Q: How much is it?

A: It will vary based on lots of factors. Generally, production companies know the rates (they are in the thousands per day), but it does vary on size of crew, how many rooms they are shooting in and generally how disruptive it is to our lives and the house.

Brian has made it clear, though, that he doesn’t want college parties there because we all know what happens (because we’ve been there). So it will be vetted and with 3,500 square feet and all those luxuries you get (the pebble ice machine alone!), yes it will be a high-end rental.

Q: Are you scared of people trashing it and stealing stuff?

A: Yes… and no.

I’m generally very trusting so I’m the wrong person to ask. But Brian was, and then I had to remind him of this: 1. most people are actually good, 2. Production companies have to have insurance for real damages, 3. Our children will be with us and everything else are just “things,” 4. We designed it to be relatively family-friendly. Sure, the white carpet in our bedroom is getting dirty with traffic to the deck that I didn’t predict, and there is cream wall-to-wall in the guest room that makes me nervous, but otherwise I designed it to withstand a ton of wear and tear. Besides… 5. The little wear-and-tear that often isn’t covered by insurance could be worth the money that we’d get out of the rental of this house.

Q: Why would someone want to rent it out? Why this house?

A: First off, because it’s magical. It’s so quiet, has the best energy, amazing flow and the prettiest light. Secondly, speaking as a producer, it’s very easy to shoot here. Almost nowhere in the house does the sun blaze through and make it impossible to shoot. Even in the master where there are skylights, we can shut them and the windows still light the room beautifully. It’s not chopped up, it has such good flow and really easy access to garage and front door (hey art department, only four steps to walk up in the front and none in the back). The architecture is obviously really pretty, but simple enough to let whatever they bring into it shine.

Q: Can we remove all your furniture, bring in ours and then just put yours back?

A: Yep, that’s the point. As a stylist, I did this for years. We (art department or the styling team) put down layout board on the floor, take pictures of every room, then wrap and carefully remove each piece to store in a big truck or a room that’s not needed for the shoot. Will they accidentally bang the walls with a sofa leg? Probably, which is why it’s expensive. Then we would shoot whatever company’s furniture and accessories and after we wrap, we would have the very fun job of putting everything back. Maybe that’s secretly why I didn’t put a lot of stuff here—less to move and potentially damage (and hey producers, because there’s less “stuff,” loading in and out is fast, which saves on time).

Guys also, hanging out here is fun.

Q: Are you going to put it on one of those rental websites? Airbnb, VRBO, One Fine Stay, Peerspace?

A: Yes, likely. We are currently researching and figuring it out. Back in the day when I did production, there were location agents and really big sites that let you “shop” for locations meant for TV/film online. But I don’t know where those are or who I should talk to so if anyone knows, let me know.

Or maybe you are just a group of ladies who need to get away and have a girls’ weekend, and this house very much feels like a retreat. With three fireplaces, four king beds, a fire pit on the deck, a couple hammocks and a running stream, it’s so peaceful. There is also a surprisingly good spa in town and some decent antiquing. But honestly, it’s the house that you kinda don’t want to ever leave.

The kids’ room now has a king bed that they share with colorful animals on the headboard instead (we are shooting it next week and yes, I typically fall asleep in the middle while reading books).

I’m kind of excited. It’s like a new business venture that I didn’t necessarily think I’d pursue, but after renting it out once, it just seems so crazy to let it just sit there if we can’t be enjoying it. People have always asked if we are ever going to sell this house and our answer is always “no, never (well, unless we leave LA)”, but maybe this is a good way to use it as part of the business, and since I’ve been on the other side so much working in production, I actually really trust and respect how they treat location houses.

If you are interested, email caitlin@emilyhendersondesign.com for any inquiries.

Have you guys ever done this? I know there are horrific stories about weekend renters stealing or doing extensive damage, which keeps a lot of people from doing that but has anyone rented their house out as a location for film/tv or photo shoots?

Do tell … (and also help me with the rates, we are guessing over here).

***photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

Psst…if you think you missed one of the mountain house reveals, head HERE to see them all.