Sarah Walker The Curated House, Author at The Curated House

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So far Sarah Walker The Curated House has created 396 blog entries.

One Room Challenge | Fall 2016 Edition | Week Two

It’s a grand thing to have hope, and for me, hope comes from signs of change. Those signs of change – though dusty and far from glamorous at the moment – are in fact starting to show up to the party in this little basement of ours, specifically in the form of the drywall and electrical being finished and the floor being patched with self-levelling concrete in preparation for the broadloom installation.

After living with a thin film of icing-sugar-like drywall dust on every living surface in the house over the last week, I am BEYOND grateful to have that nasty business over with so we can move on to much more exciting details this week. Remember our mood board?

Let’s just say we still have a lot to do to get from today to TA-DA. But that’s what deep breathing and hard work are for, am I right? In addition to the drywall, electrical and floor-prep being looked after, I did receive a few very important deliveries this week, and that always feels good. First off, our wall, ceiling and trim paint. Let me catch you up on the decision-making there.

I have a career-long love affair with the Farrow & Ball line of paints for many reasons. Their historical grounding, nuance and sophistication mean they bring depth and life to every space in which I use them. Their colours are richer and more complex, in part because of the unique clay base to the paint. White is not simply white with Farrow & Ball, as evidenced by the six shades of white you see above.

Choosing the right white is all about the alchemy of art and science, and the truth is, it should always begin with your fabric selections. In this case, that would be my seemingly daring choice to upholster Whittington’s Joni sofa in pure white. I know, I know. I have a teenager and a toddler in my house. Has she lost her ever-loving mind? you quietly wonder to yourself.

No, I have not. At least, not on this front. Because I know the designer secret behind having a beautiful white sofa and actually being able to live on it.

My friends at Thibaut have solved the red-wine-drinking, white sofa-loving age-old dilemma with the introduction of their line of nanotechnology-treated fabrics.

So what’s the deal with nanotechology, you ask?

Through the use of nanotechnology, every fibre in the fabric is fundamentally transformed to repel liquids.
The natural qualities of the original fabric are maintained, including it’s softness, hand and breathability.
The combination gives you natural looking fabrics that repel liquids, resist stains and significantly extend the life of your fabrics.
This is an eco-friendly process, so your conscience can stay as clean as your white sofa.

Basically, thanks to Thibaut you can have your cake and eat it (on your sofa), too. Even if it’s chocolate. OK, especially if it’s chocolate.

So the arrival of our amazing Nanotex-ified Thibaut white fabric immediately narrowed my six choices of white down to two: All White and Wimborne White. Whereas All White is a brighter, cooler, slightly pinkish white, Wimborne White is warmer while still neutral and without any yellow undertones.

Wimborne White is a perfect compliment to the warm white throughout the rest of the house. Add to that the fact that Wimborne White visually softens the feel of the Thibaut shade, and we have a clear winner. I cannot wait to get that painting done this week!

While we are still on the subject of fabrics, I’ve got some serious goodies to share with you in the form of my pilow selections from Arianna Belle. I’m thrilled to be collaborating with this brilliant woman again, and I’m seriously excited about how the pattern play has come together for this space.

Needless to say, that gorgeous linen Leopard print will bring a feminine edge to the space, while that touch of Blush Velvet (sans le gold piping for simplicity’s sake) will add an elegant softness. I know I’m repeating the use of Kelly Wearstler’s Channels from our living room drapery treatments with the kidney cushion for the chair, but can you blame me? This fabric has a sense of artistic grit, and I’m all about bringing that vibe into my home.

So what’s on tap for this week?

Finalize and install the wall panelling on the wall behind the sofa with our amazing Metrie mouldings.
Paint the entire basement with my superhubs.
Cheer on said superhubs as he builds our media cabinet.
Paint said media cabinet in more Farrow & Ball goodness and get it ready to receive the LG TV of our dreams (more on that soon, I promise!).
Recover from the flu that I am literally fighting as we speak.

I cannot realistically ever expect to get through a One Room Challenge unscathed, and if the flu is my mountain to climb for this one, I’ll take it! It beats FedEx losing my fabric any day of the week!

I cannot wait to check out the mountains being moved by my fellow ORC design daredevils this week, and you should join me in taking in all of that goodness through the links below.

Jana Bek | Chris Loves Julia | Shannon Claire | Coco.Kelley | The Curated House

Driven by Decor | The English Room | From the Right Bank | Sherry Hart

Hi Sugarplum | House of Jade | Hunted Interior | The Makerista | Making it Lovely

Marcus Design | Pencil & Paper Co. | Megan Pflug | Place of My Taste | Suburban B’s

Waiting on Martha Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH

Next week I should have a few exciting, real-life photo updates for you, as well as more delicious design details to share on how this space is going to come together. I do hope you’ll stick around for the party! I have high hopes this will be a good one.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 12th, 2016|20 Comments

Spiced Delicata Squash Soup + A Harvest Table Setting with Urban Barn

The weather has truly laid out the red carpet for us for Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. The air is crisp but the sun is still warm and the colours are just starting to turn.

This time of year makes me so happy. I feel like it’s an invitation to savour life more fully, both indoors and out. There are so many wonderful opportunities to host friends as the weather cools, and there are few things we love more than inviting the people we love to share a meal around our table with us.

At this time of year, I find myself craving simple beauty and heart-warming soups, and today’s post brings together both of those things with a soup recipe by yours truly and a simple but beautiful table setting inspired by our friends at Urban Barn.

When it comes to a simple table setting, I like to work with dinnerware that does a lot of the decorative work for me. Enter the beautiful light grey Sintra collection from Urban Barn.

I love the sophistication of the delicate pattern and the gentle wash of grey glazing. The colour is soft and looks great as the canvas for any dish you can cook up, and I love the way it integrates so effortlessly with my décor. For me, this is decorative dinnerware that is fresh and timeless.

I chose to use 3 of Urban Barn’s White Outline Vases for the centre of the table, and I love the way they create a modern frame for the flowers while serving as a clean backdrop for the dinnerware. Add in the Camile Highball and Old Fashioned glassware along with some simple white napkins, and you have an effortlessly casual yet sophisticated table setting for your next gathering.

Speaking of casual yet sophisticated, this soup recipe is as easy as it is delicious. I had several discerning taste-testers (including my guys and the lovely Bruna from Simply Lace Photography, the amazing woman behind these beautiful images), and everyone raved about it. Here’s how you can make it at home (and if you click on the recipe it will pop up in another window so you can print it off!):

I can guarantee this one will be on repeat in our household over the next few months, especially as the weather gets colder. I hope you and yours will enjoy a few bowls of it together, too, as you savour the changing seasons and as the nesting instinct that comes with winter kicks in.

Huge thanks to my friends at Urban Barn for working with me on this post. Massive thanks as well to the lovely Bruna of Simply Lace Photography for such delicious photos. And thank you to all of you for coming and hanging out with me in my pretty little corner of the internet!

For all of my Canadian friends, I wish you a meaningful Thanksgiving weekend filled with gratitude and the opportunity to make happy memories. And to all of my international loves, I wish you a weekend filled with moments to treasure.

Be sure to pop back on Monday for more design inspiration! I’m bursting at the seams with things to share with you these days, so keep checking in to see what’s fresh and happening.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 7th, 2016|0 Comments

One Room Challenge | Fall 2016 Edition | Week One

It’s that time of year again: Our bi-annual designer dash to the finish line. Our design dare. Our “make it beautiful or bust” 6 week challenge to totally transform a space from ugly duckling to sophisticated swan, all while documenting it online week-by-week. Is it a bit mad? Yes, indeed it is. Would I miss it for the world? Not on your life. And the best part? We’re all in it together.

I can’t write this post without thanking Linda of Calling It Home for breathing life into this brilliant idea and for inviting me to come along for the ride the second time in a row as one of the featured 20. This will be my fourth ORC in total (the other two as a linking participant), and I imagine I’ll dive in as a linking participant again in the Spring, barring wild horses dragging me away or some such happening. As a designer, I’m always grateful for a kick in the pants to get my own house done, and the ORC is that perfect high-heeled boot to the derriére.

Exibit A is the first space I ever transformed for the One Room Challenge: Our Luxe Laundry Room. I still remember all the broken tapcons and other crazy challenges we faced to get it done in time, but it was soooo worth it for the finished product!

(Photo by Ashley Capp)

And it seems rather apropos that our laundry room is the finished portion of the level of the house that we will be working on this time around. That’s right, there’s ANOTHER level to our never-ending 1960’s side split! We joke we that bought Snoopie’s house, but this basement level really is the final frontier of untouched territory. Friends, meet our ugly duckling basement.

It’s a shame we don’t have the real before photos, because this basement was completely clad in brown faux wood panelling when we bought the house. With whipped meringue style plaster on the ceiling. And a bar area that would have made Austin Powers proud.

That said, the last time we had a dumpster in the driveway, all that 60’s goodness said sayonara and we haven’t looked back. Even better, it’s finally time to turn this cold, dark dungeon of a space into a warm and inviting media room and exercise room for our family! Here’s where the concept for the media room portion of the space lies at the moment:

I may decide to tweak the design for the panelling just a bit (or a lot), but this is our jumping off point, and I’m pretty dang excited about it. I don’t have a mood board for the exercise room, mainly because it will be quite simple…BUT…there will be one seriously juicy surprise in that room that I’ll be sharing with you in the weeks to come thanks to my friends at LG.

And in the meantime, can we just gush over that ridiculously perfect, Hollywood Deco glam sofa from Whittington & Co? As you know, beautifully made upholstery is a designer love language for me, and the Joni sofa from the Industrial Storm for Whittington collection had me at hello. Her lines are perfect, her proportions generous enough to seat all four of us for cozy movie nights at 96″ wide, her construction the gold standard in the industry (kiln-dried hardwood frame, 8-way hand-tied coiling), and her down and feather blend bench seat is basically a cloud sent from heaven to cradle our tushies with happiness. You think I overstate it. I do not. And you may think I’m crazy to upholster her in white, but just you wait until I tell you about the brilliance that is our fabric from Thibaut.

There are so many other treasures to look forward to in this space, and I can’t wait to share them with you in the 5 weeks ahead! There will be some serious DIY cabinetry happening, the aforementioned panelling which will get some serious Metrie magic, a boatload of painting (all in Farrow & Ball, natch) and some very fun decorative details that when pulled together should take this space from cold and uninviting to cozy and sophisticated.

What’s on my must-have list for this space? Loads of storage, functionality and comfort, and a serious serving of style. Hopefully we will meet all those markers and then some by the end of this adventure!

For now, it’s drywall and electrical and figuring out exactly how to hide that oh-so-incoveniently located electrical panel. Wish us luck, and then head over to see what my 19 fabulous ORC comrades have planned for their One Room Challenge spaces! The list of featured participants for this round is STELLAR, and you do not want to miss a single detail, my friends!