I’m writing a series for Houzz on how to marry modern and rustic styles.  So far, I’ve covered Cabins and Farmhouses. Here is the latest, titled 10 Ways to Get the Modern Cottage Look.  If you’d like to have a little peek, click on through.

I’m happy to see you here today, so thanks.  I wish you all a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

This is where I’ll be if you’re looking for me.

-Michelle

The first of my 10 Elements of Rustic series was published on Houzz this week.  In it, I’ll be looking at how best to bring authentically rustic material and features into four different home styles: Farmhouse, Cabin, Cottage, and Lodge.  Even if you don’t feel like listening to me blab on and on and on, I promise the pictures will always be interesting and worth a 20 second look.  Here goes…

Feel free to leave your comments.  Good or bad — I can handle it.  And I’ll probably just delete the bad ones.  I’m kidding.

Thanks for reading!

-Michelle

My latest home project is a build-out on a basement bedroom in my cabin.  I have this software program that I use to get what is in my head into my builders’ heads.  Poor guys.  But a picture is worth a thousand words, right?  Once everyone is on the same page, I get more specific and provide actual photos of the details.  As with all creative processes, things change along the way.  I thought it might be kind of funny to see just how far off I was from start to finish and I thought I’d take you along for the ride.  Here I present Stage I and Stage II.  Stage III will be the final photo.

This is what it looks like right now.

Stage I is shown below.  It’s the rendering I made for the builder.  I wanted stained wood ceilings, 6” horizontal boards on the walls (high gloss white, nickel spaced), an ivory patterned carpet.   Here’s kind of what it looked like in my brain.

Below is Stage II.  This is where I go online, through books, magazines, etc. to get very specific with finishes and textures.  I pulled in the look of the furniture I envision for this little farmhouse bedroom.  You like?

Stage III will be that final photo.  Wrap-up for my project is scheduled for May 22.  However, I keep changing things, so we’ll see.  Hee hee.

Thanks sweet peeps.

-Michelle

The gate is amusing and speaks for itself.

The architecture of the lake home at the end of the driveway was kept clean and simple and the landscape design followed suit, with very little hardscape on the approach from the road.  A lot of effort went in to creating a space that feels like it has been around for generations.

Hint: To speed up the lived-in look, I had the landscaper spray grass seed down the middle of the drive.  Voilå!  We have tire ruts leading up to this cabin.

Thanks for coming by!

-Michelle