Huge REVEAL! — Project HGD Modern Rustic, a 1760 Farmhouse Meets Montana

 
I’m BAAAAAAACK!!!! How was your summer? Ours was fabulous, but I have to admit that I missed all my dear readers! So I am SUPER excited that, for my first post of the school year, I can bring you the reveal of Home Glow’s Project Modern Rustic — a historical 1760 farmhouse with a Montana twist!!!!

 

 

I loved working with these clients to hone their unique style and how it could work in relationship with the historic house they’d purchased, as well as how to use their budget as wisely as possible — what was worth altering from the previous owners’ Montana style and what could be “worked with” without compromising the final outcome.

 

Project HGD Modern Rustic

 

Briefly, the challenges for this project were as follows:

• Be true to the 1760 origins of the home
• Embrace as much of the Montana-esque rusticity overlayed by the previous homeowners as possible (a lot of rough-hewn wood and pine — even more so than 1760 New England would have employed) without compromising the final outcome
• Incorporate aspects of the family’s more youthful, modern-farmhouse vibe
• Help them branch out from their go-to neutrals with bolder splashes of their favorite colors

The homeowners were excited to get a number of new furnishings for this home, which was larger than their former. But we made sure to incorporate a couple of their vintage pieces — a handsome grandfather clock & a mission-style bar — as well as a couple of the husband’s treasured hunting trophies!

If you want the full insight into the before images, the inspiration, & the plans, check out this post. Otherwise, let’s get to the pretty stuff!

 

The Entry

 

Before:

 

After:

All “after” images by Ridgelight Studio. 

We kept the paneling (which was not original to the home, but overlayed by the previous owner), but tied it to the 18th c. period of the home with a fresh twist on a Windsor bench.

The dog pillow was a fun little touch for this Golden-Retriever loving fam. The rug is vintage.

 

 

There is no better way to make your art pop than by using this kind of frame. Last year, one of my favorite affordable sources for art started making it available for its limited edition canvases.

 

(How-to get the look: Go to the above link. Choose “canvas” and “frame.” It will lead you to the kind of floater frame that will make your reproduction pieces pop like an artist’s original!)

 

 

The Living Room

 

Before:

The living room — an addition from the previous owner — was basically what designers like to call a “pumpkin sandwich” — where wood on top (the ceiling) and wood below (the floors) disproportionally dominate the color scheme. The husband loved the wood ceiling, so we had to figure out how to tone down all that pumpkin-ness without painting it.

The room was also tough in that it was very narrow compared to its length, and the combination of where the fireplace and the beams in the walls were made it challenging to find a place for TV viewing.

 

After:

 

The TV is now housed in the red set-back cupboard. The blue velvet chairs swivel for better viewing. A right-sized rug in a gray herringbone and a more unified & balance color palette neutralizes the “pumpkin sandwich.”

 

In fact, now the wood ceiling looks like an intentional design choice!

 

 

Thing 1 had to come with me when I was shopping for styling accents for this home (12 year-old boy spending 2 hours at various Home Goods stores. Poor kid!). It was he who found the horse statue for the console table. I looked at it and knew it was perfect — this home adjoins a horse boarding/training property and the sun room (see further on) overlooks all the paddocks and barns!

Thing 1 felt very proud of his contribution!!

 

 

I love this little vignette — that mirror was SO PERFECT for going over the beam. It reflects the hair-on-hide & iron light fixture we found.

 

The Library

 

Before:

Beige Blah.

The homeowners envisioned using this room as a library. It is naturally on the dark side, due to its northwest-facing orientation. Even with an optimized lighting scheme (which it desperately needed), the room would always feel dark. I suggested working with, rather than fighting, that dark tendency by swathing the space in a dark and moody palette.

The husband was wary that a single dark color might end up making the room a completely dark cave, but I think his trust paid off!

 

After:

 

The space now includes a lot more variable, ambient light. A (not-pictured) floor lamp, picture lights on the bookcases, and 2 additional wall sconces (also not pictured) bring plenty of light to a room that doesn’t have much space for end-tables & lamps.

The grandfather clock was one of the husband’s family pieces. And how cute is the little drinks table with with deer hooves???

 

A speaking of the husband — he is super handy and mega talented. He built all the bookcases, himself, using our drawings as a guide! 

 

 

 

A fun vignette using pieces that already belonged to the client — the server (now bar), the mirror, and the deer head!

(However, all the gin bottles were mine.)

 

The Sun Room 

 

Before:

 

This sun room was also part of the previous owners’ addition. A ramp had been installed to make it wheel chair-accessible. The new homeowners didn’t have that need, so the husband was able to remove it.

 

After:

 

As in the living room, right-sizing the rug to tone down the floors and smoothing out the color palette make the ceiling shine. Now this formerly choppy-looking space is the bright and light one it ought to be!

 

The sun room opens into the living room. LOVE how this peek through shows the color flow & balance.

 

 

Is Labor Day weekend the last weekend of summer or the first weekend of fall?

 

Creating Continuity & Style That Will Last

 

Believe it or not, there is a rhyme & reason as to why designers do what we do — how we take our clients’ inspiration, elevate it, and create an aesthetic that is both timeless to a particular home and yet imbued with a family’s unique character.

 

We don’t just take your inspo photos and slap them onto the shell of your current home :). That wouldn’t accomplish what you actually want — a home that feels like you AND will stand the test of time!

 

If you want to learn this skill for yourself, The Home Glow Method will be opening for Fall 2021 in just a few short weeks! Get on the waitlist now so you don’t miss the short enrollment period … and an early bird special you won’t want to miss!

 

 

I so enjoyed sharing this project with you — one in which I was trusted to branch out in a different style direction than I’ve been able to show you before!

I feel incredibly blessed & thankful for wonderful clients (and super understanding ones, during all the challenges of COVID) and truly lovely readers & students. I would love to hear your feedback & thoughts!

Until next Saturday!

-Amy