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All The Home FAQ’S

We’ve had so much fun seeing our house and some of the room renovations we’ve done featured around the internet world this year (like here, here and here). Everytime we have a feature somewhere my email floods with questions – which I find so fun! I’ve noticed a number of questions repeating often, so I wanted to take a minute to answer a few of the most frequent ones and share a glimpse into why we made some of the decisions behind our design choices.

1. What color is the paint used on the piano & the front door. And can you really paint a piano???

The paint color is an easy answer it is BEHR Starless Night in a flat finish. I love that it is rich and not too bluey, if you know what I mean.

As far as painting the piano goes – we received this piano as a gift and are excited to be giving our kids lessons on a simple starter piano. I have heard for the more seriously instrument inclined, that there can be a slight impact to the tuning when you paint the instrument. We are not trained musicians, that being said I’ve noticed no difference in the tuning after painting. You can read all about how we taped off the keys and made painting the piano easy right here.

2. Where are the barstools from and why did you obviously buy the wrong size. ;)

The barstools can be purchased right here!

And yes, they are bar height and not counter height. And yes, actually ordering them this way was in fact a mistake (gasp!). We ordered the product before we built out the counter and DID in fact order the wrong size. We decided to kept them because 96% of the time it is our kids actually using the stools. Our kids are little and the added height really enables them to sit up and reach the counter with ease for breakfast, homework and the like. Eventually as the kids get older we will probably change them out, but for now our little mistake actually ended up working out great!

3. How do you deal with a work space at home? Is it great or awful?

Part of the reason we chose this house was for the at home studio space. As our team continues to grow, I realize we may outgrow it someday… but for now I love working from home. We have enough room to house the team, shoot photos and I can pop upstairs to run the dishwasher or hug a sick kid home from school. I realize this arrangement might not work for everyone, but for me it seems to work great! See the full ASR studio tour right here.

4. Where exactly do you live?

HA! It’s surprising how many questions we get about the street we live on. Although we love our city and can’t talk about Reno enough… we actually don’t share the more specific neighborhood directions to our house. It’s the same reason we never share our kids names online (have you noticed that?). Decisions we’ve made since so many of you I know and adore, but also there are thousands more of you whom I’ve never met.

If you’re going to be in town and want to stop by for a drink just email me and I’d love to get to know you! :)

5. Where is your wallpaper from (I get this question for all 4 rooms we have it in), and how do you hang it?

We are getting ready to wallpaper the 5th room of our house this week. I’ve had so much practice hanging wall paper this year and have used every kind imaginable. Here’s my input on all the types.

In the master bedroom we hung a large mural paper – this one. It was my first time hanging wallpaper and my Mother In Law came to help me out. Definitely do it with a partner the first time around. I would have messed it up royally on my own! Both for this mural and in the guest room we used old fashioned glue paper. I’m going to do a post sometime soon all about wallpaper and the best ways to do it – spoiler alert, old fashion glue down is easily my favorite.

In the studio we used a water application wall paper from Spoonflower. This one was the easiest to put up, but I’ve already had to go in and fix a few spots where the glue wasn’t strong enough. I’ve found I would just rather be in control of the glue application myself and make sure it’s done right the first time.

In the livingroom we used the peel and stick replaceable type from Chasing Paper. It was the hardest one to hang, but we can replace it super easily and the thick texture really adds a note of elegance to the space.

6. Did you run out of tile on the kitchen backsplash?

HA! I find that people either LOVE or HATE our kitchen backsplash. If you hate it, that’s cool. It’s not your house, so no need to stress about it. On the other hand I LOVE IT! The inspiration came from this pin and I can’t explain why, I just love that rough unfinished look. So no, we didn’t run out of tile (here’s the tile we used), it was completely intentional and makes me smile everyday!

7. How do I DIY lay pavers in my yard?

I love how many questions I get about our yard. We now have grass so it is even better! But, we didn’t actually put the pavers in. Whomp… whomp… They were already here and gorgeously installed for us. Next summer though we plan to do the front to match – so I will have more to share about the process then.

8. Where is the pink sofa from?

Buy your own pink sofa right now. Right here! You will not regret it my friend. You will never regret buying a pink sofa. Ever!

9. What color did you paint your fireplace? How did you get Matt to let you paint a fireplace pink?

Hi, I’m Victoria and I have a pink fireplace. :) After sampling 6 different pinks we landed on BEHR Iced Cherry which is definitely pink without being too peachy. I’m grateful that Matt is pretty open to my design ideas, especially when they aren’t permanent. Paint can always be repainted so something like a fireplace can be a great way to flex a little festive muscle into a more basic design.

10. How did you lay concrete countertops? Are they solid concrete? Do you like them? Are they hard to upkeep?

I shared a full post on our DIY concrete countertops right here. They are solid and we love them. They do require a little babying. Much like marble we have to reseal them twice a year. But they are the rockstar of our kitchen and I’m happy to baby something that brings so much awesome to my life.

11. How do you like the bucket sink? How did you install it?

We love the bucket sink in the kids bathroom. You can find it right here. We had it professionally installed, just to be sure it was secure. So far it has held up to all the kid’s teeth brushing antics wonderfully!

Hopefully that answered whatever questions you’ve had, but if not I can always add to the list as we go. :) A laundry room, two bathrooms, a master closet revamp and a mud room all still coming up this year. Let’s get designing!

PS. New around here? See the full home tour right here.

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    • Jennifer, Hi! Thanks so much for the kind words. It is a special property for sure and we are loving the chance to make it shine. xoxo

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