The Estate of Things https://theestateofthings.com An Interior Design Blog Wed, 07 Feb 2024 22:06:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 The Avocado Ranch Living Room https://theestateofthings.com/2024/02/the-avocado-ranch-living-room/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 19:09:32 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404775

We bought the Avocado Ranch at the very bitter end of a tumultuous 2020. After a few years of living life in this space, the living room has fully assumed its personality. For now!

Like so many others, I was bit by the Mario Bellini Camaleonda bug, though I like to think it was before I realized it was fated to “it-girl” sofa status. Don’t tell my husband, but I’m already dreaming up the next iteration of this room. It wouldn’t be me if I weren’t trying to angle for a new sofa, or a new identity.

Of course, we’ll let the room stay as it is for a while if only to make brain space for the rest of the rooms that are still awaiting their key pieces.

I love watching our home evolve as we live in it. I love sitting on this big old comfy (albeit quite low and super deep) sofa and dreaming about the future view into the formal dining room. A room takes on a casual multi-purpose identity in the late weekend mornings, sometimes it’s a study lounge, a music room, a creation station for my 5-year-old’s latest project, and hopefully in the future, as a library where I can leave my coffee table design books open to the last page before I got distracted.

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The Beach House: Sunroom Evolution https://theestateofthings.com/2023/01/the-beach-house-sunroom-evolution/ Sun, 22 Jan 2023 17:34:49 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404490
Betsy Moyer Sunroom
Gah, look at how it frames that Eucalyptus!

At the beach house, the road to windows was a long one.

It was a tough call bc the original French panes gave this place all of the charm that made me first fall in love. I wanted to do the home justice. As it turns out, these floor-to door height fixed panes were a fantastic turn for the interior vibe, and I’m ever grateful for that.

Here is a look at the sunroom on my first real estate tour.

The blue exterior of the french mullions was overpowered by the white interior and provided a bit of a fuzzy feeling to the view through the windows. You can get a sense of that from the image above where you can see both colors on the windows.

For a period of time, after we had just moved in, I had the window frames painted black. At the time, this decision seemed like a huge risk but it came to me in the solution for better framing the views of the canyon beyond the window. The windows were also a disappointment because after 30 years a permanent film of condensation had gathered between the glass of the double panes.

I whipped up some ideas in photoshop, as you can see below, to get a sense for what a wood frame would feel like with less division in the light panes.

Ultimately it is where we landed with the division. I had Jeldwen windows installed throughout the home but these specific windows were created by AG Millworks to best match the large accordion doors.

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The Beach House – The Kitchen Renovation Plan https://theestateofthings.com/2022/10/the-beach-house-the-kitchen-inspiration/ Sat, 29 Oct 2022 22:48:00 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404476 After the big addition of two more bedrooms to the house by the beach, we got the itch to keep the construction vibes rollin’ and go ahead and revamp this tired old teal kitchen.

The Kitchen Before

We are undergoing a full gut renovation, receiving a new layout, new cabinetry, countertops and all appliances, new lighting and a new dining table. We even got a new door and new windows, so the before to after transformation shall be radical. Eventually.

In the interim, I’ve been steadily collecting inspiration for the design.

The Design Board for the Final Kitchen Design

I just had a design meeting with the contractor team and am taking lead on design. We also have the hand of an admin assistant who is a baker and a bit more of a kitchen enthusiast than myself. I’ll be leaning on her expertise for organization and management of kitcheny things while I focus on materials and aesthetics.

So I took to my illustrator program to do a little space planning, and try to reimagine how our family might like to use the space. There are some current pain points with the peninsula layout, so I’m leaning into a wide galley style, or even a U shape if you will, but with an entrance and exit breaking the U. We will lose a coat closet in favor of widening the traffic flow space at the top of the stairs and alleviating some pressure on the walking path just by the new stove location.

All of these thoughts have been carefully analyzed and ended up here in the resulting layout.

I’m excited to get started with cabinetry. We tapped a few different area vendors, but I landed on Ross Alan Reclaimed so that we can really build a show piece of the natural cabinets and a fun tambour feature that Ross is willing to explore with me, for better or for worse.

Excited!
Betsy

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Sink Wall Cabinets.jpg
Fridge Wall Pantry.jpg
Stove Wall.png
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Cali Chalet – Juje Room Before and After https://theestateofthings.com/2021/01/cali-chalet-juje-room-before-and-after/ Sun, 17 Jan 2021 20:06:26 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404274

I’m just trying to keep my head above water while I do all the things I wanna do, and this room isn’t really done. But, today I just want to share the progress…. what we’re looking like without it having to be perfect.

Juje’s Room at the Mountain House is number two in a series of three closets that string along the side of the Primary Bedroom.

This is what the room looked like when we bought the place.

You are looking in from the Master closet and that door to the back left is yet another closet, lined in cedar. I love cedar closets! The smell reminds me so much of playing dress-up as a kid in my own home. We have happily stashed our wedding attire in there as well as several other dress-up outfits and vintage scores through the years. Need any deadstock bell-bottom Sailor denim? Hit me up.

I was pregnant when we bought this house and I’m pretty sure I immediately thought that this would be the perfect sleeping arrangement for our baby. It has worked out well for us so far. Maybe one day we will close up the door that leads from our closet, and punch in a new door that leads out to the hallway like the rest of the bedrooms. This makes sense logistically but wouldn’t technically count as a bedroom since it wouldn’t meet egress standards.

So, this is what her little cave looks like as it is in progress. I have loved our bedtime routine in this cute room. It feels special and artsy (the paintings to the right are hers, you should see her skills.) This little closet room is just right up JJ’s two-year-old alley and I will never forget our precious time spent here.

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Don’t Quit Your Daydream https://theestateofthings.com/2021/01/dont-quit-your-daydream/ Fri, 01 Jan 2021 20:31:06 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404398
Don't Quit Your Daydream

Just switch it maybe a little bit?

We’ll call it leaving on a high note. In spite of the wild ride of 2020, we’ve had a great year in revenue. You stayed home and you wanted that home to feel homier than ever and we are so thrilled that SHOP TEOT could be a resource for your home during this crappy year.

And for me personally… what a crappy year it has been.  

So, it is time to take another direction. 

Bigger? Better? Stronger & Leaner? Less Stressed!???

It will be really tough to summarize the events and thoughts that have led Sarah and I to this huge announcement for our business. But let me indulge anyway.

In short, we are closing up our flagship brick and mortar shop in Southern Pines, NC.

Sarah and I met in 1998. In college, we decorated an apartment together that really blew the socks off of our peers. It was a special historic home that had been rehabbed by our eccentric Turkish landlord who was flipping the entire neighborhood into student rentals. We took that shared love for historic homes and decor and manifested a dream. By 2008, we had a name and a URL and The Estate of Things was officially born. We wanted to build toward retail, and a brick-and-mortar shop was the pinnacle of our shared fantasy.

In 2016, after selling online via Etsy and experiencing a taste of National attention for our blog, we realized the dream. We rented a little shop in a tucked away corner of the courtyard on E. Pennsylvania Ave in Southern Pines, NC. Honestly it felt like serendipity. So much aligned that made that possible for the two of us and the future felt really bright. We jumped in emotionally and naively. There was no downtown Southern Pines shopping data to comb through to get a sense for what to expect regarding revenue, foot traffic. We winged it. We expected tourists, the equestrian community, neighboring Pinehurst, and dynamic local Southern Pines and Military families to be the staples of our community. We personally felt there was a hole that we could fill with beautiful, forward influenced and eclectic home goods from around the globe.

I’m so proud of the way that TEOT has pivoted throughout the course of our years in brick-and-mortar. We have faced a few major personal shifts behind the scenes and we maintained every time. We moved locations from that tucked away courtyard, out front and center on Broad Street. We added a second “booth” style location at the Mart Collective in Venice, CA. In 2019 we started entertaining other like-minded brands in our shop as vendors and we really started to feel a community develop.

All the while, the personal hits kept coming. And then the global pandemic hit.

We, TEOT and YOU, all had a really wild ride in 2020. So I’m sure you have had your own moments of personal reflection.

Frankly I thought it would be what put us under and gave us the final out, but instead the shelter scene roared and you shopped! Thank you.

TEOT SOPI saw 50% revenue growth in 2020. We attribute this to the boom that the entire home industry is experiencing throughout the “Stay at Home” lifestyle of Covid. We also believe it timed well with our lovely group of vendors who brought in the level of energy our community needed and wanted to see in a shop like ours. We think our years of being around finally cemented us as a staple in the community. We have been feeling really grateful for that welcome.

Despite all the things that we could take encouragement from and plough forward with, we are taking a step away instead.

Simultaneous to the March and April shut down of the shop, I had a life saving surgery procedure and received the news that my 2019 Cancer diagnosis had evolved to Stage Four. It became imperative to give 100% of my energies to my treatment, leaving only room to focus on caring for my 2 year old daughter and exploring the aspects of a life that bring joy and positivity. I focused inward on mortality, spirituality and full body health. I’d love to chat with you about it if you are interested.

In my time, going where the water flows, I was thinking a lot about the stresses of life and alongside Sarah, we realized that TEOT “the dream” and TEOT “the reality” had a chasm for both of us. We want to take some time to channel energies toward Real Estate, Renovation and New Construction design. All of which, we have been doing simultaneous to running the day to day of the shops. All of which have proven a better use of time and energy.

My husband is into brewing and we were once at a brewery having a chat with the head brewmaster about what it took to run one’s own brewery. He said that the fun part is only about 5% of the work and the rest is just simply hard work. We were really feeling that at that moment.

Sarah and I have each carried the fantasy of SHOP TEOT being our livelihood for so long that it has become our identity. That identity manifested itself in the flagship location of SHOP TEOT in Southern Pines, NC. It required a big shakeup like 2020 to help us see, that after all the years of fantasizing, the efforts were more draining than the outcome was worth, from a business perspective.

So, it’s time to pivot yet again.

Sarah will be taking time to focus on a successful Real Estate career. This role is expanding to include creative direction in new construction.

After my difficult year, I am looking to focus my energies as well. I am headed to pursue a Masters in Interior Architecture and Design. I guess it was a bucket list dream after all. I also have a number of renovations going at the moment plus my own new construction design work. We hope to use the new freedom we will feel from managing the shop to get back into sharing what we’re up to behind the scenes. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and sign up for our newsletter.

So much love to you for being here with us. If you are reading this, we consider you a part of our family. Let’s keep in touch!

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Staging Greenbriar: A Shoppable Home Tour https://theestateofthings.com/2020/12/staging-greenbriar-a-shop-able-home-tour/ Wed, 30 Dec 2020 16:36:41 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404203

Recently Sarah had the pleasure of staging a home in nearby Woodlake.

Greenbriar, a 90’s contemporary home, was to hit the market soon. We found it to be in need of, not a full renovation, but definitely a little TLC, a refresh! 

Here is a look at where we started.

The dark and heavy built-ins are typical in residences from this era.

With a fresh coat of Benjamin Moore Sheep’s Wool over the stained wood, some new light fixtures, and a few household goods too, Greenbriar got the care it needed and is ready to be snatched up by a lucky, new owner. 

Naturally, the household goods didn’t just come from any ole’ place. The Estate of Things has temporarily moved into the Greenbriar home.

Sarah selected pieces from the collection (that you can find in store and online at shopteot.com,) to jazz up the place. The idea of a shop-able staged home offers those that come by for a home tour, the inspiration for their own spaces and it gives them the opportunity to bring TEOT’s signature style home. 

1231 Greenbriar Place at Woodlake.

Possible 4 bedrooms, 2800 sf, adaptable floorplan with water view and marsh views + heated, saltwater pool. A true retreat.

About the Vibe

The goal for Greenbriar was to realize a “Casual-Eclectic Cottage-by-the-Lake” vibe. Selected decor pays homage to Southern Tradition and includes lots of natural texture and many special pieces from around the globe. 

Like the shop, Greenbriar is a place where you will find a bit of everything. From lamps made of driftwood, to the natural elements of rattan and seagrass, to an antique-hand carved African pedestal, plus a mix of rustic and Mid-Century furniture pieces cohabit beautifully.  

The kitchen evokes a very peaceful and well collected group of functional pieces that will make cooking and hosting feel special.

And we are really digging all the soft and cozy throw blankets to give that casual, throw your feet up vibe that lake living is all about.

Perhaps a lucky homebuyer will want to keep it all in place, but maybe you want to go peep a beautiful home on the market and have a unique shopping experience? All items are available for pick up at the property, at the shop, or we will ship.

View the Slideshow

Shop the Greenbriar Project – and take 30% right now with our End of 2020 Sale. Use BYE2020 at checkout.

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2021 Interior Design Trends https://theestateofthings.com/2020/12/2021-interior-design-trends/ Tue, 22 Dec 2020 01:03:33 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404371 I want you to know that we love trend spotting. It’s one of the great joys of being an Interior Design Enthusiast.

Style by Sarah of TEOT, photography by Rachel Garrison

Sarah and I are both particularly good at it and frankly we were putting our bet on that when we took this whole blog endeavor to the next level and opened up our Retail Shop in Southern Pines, NC.

In that experience, the interesting thing that we have found, is that having your finger on the pulse of what is next in interior design, doesn’t always mean you get to sell what you see coming down the pipeline.

Quite the opposite. We start moving particular items after we have already seen them crest and they are on their way down the other side of the bell curve.

SHOP TEOT in Southern Pines by Rachel Garrison

We love to watch the cycle. Sometimes we are eager to see items fizzle out (ahem… Macrame) and some we want to keep a secret as we think to ourselves, “Please, don’t let Target get a hold of this just yet.”

It’s still plenty fun to style with Turkish Towels, Malian mudcloths, Moroccan baskets, pampas grasses and the many other token “trendy” home decor items that have passed through our shop.

But we’re looking ahead to matte ceramics and earthen pottery. Rattan and cane still feel good to work with even though they are creeping pretty hard, that’s why they are great in unexpected use cases. We are digging on pleated lampshades and dried florals. I am feeling drawn to reeded furniture, large Marble movement moments, Dark tone-on-tone exteriors and arches everywhere.

We like to be known for this uncanny ability to be all about what is next.

Speaking of being positioned for that knowledge. I recently got tapped to participate in a round-up post. Interior Designs Trends for 2021: Tips From the Experts

I popped by and dropped my two cents on why Kantha Quilts are just as relevant as ever and why I believe we will be seeing more and more selling in 2021. Hint: It has to do with the onslaught of the “Grand-Millenial” style, aka “Granny-chic.” Are you on top of that already? If you haven’t seen it yet, its comin’ hard for us all.

Maybe we will talk more about it someday. We think it’s best when it has a whiff of Rita Konig inspiration, the more English Countryside the better. It will be great to explore the deeper side of case goods and get into some more primitive early American furniture pieces.

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Lovin Lavender Decor Lately https://theestateofthings.com/2020/10/lovin-lavender-lately/ Tue, 27 Oct 2020 18:42:16 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=404133 Earlier in the year Sarah and I got a chance to be together in real life, and shop the scene here in LA for a MART restock.

While she was here we had a chat about lavender decor. She was feeling it and we picked up a number of pieces for SHOP TEOT from a lovely purple striped throw to a number of African baskets featuring the color.

It’s my favorite color and represents the spiritual gypsy lovin side of me.

Below is our little roundup of purples that we have been pinning! We’ll be looking to these for inspiration in our own spaces. How about you?

photo by Jonas Ingerstedt | styling by Jill Windahl | by Emily Henderson
Ferm Living via PoppyTalk
Elle Decor
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Custom Furniture with Buildlane https://theestateofthings.com/2020/09/custom-furniture-with-buildlane/ Mon, 14 Sep 2020 19:44:16 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=403836

Have you ever considered having a custom piece of sofa created just for you?

It can be a daunting proposition, even for well connected designers in makers markets like South Los Angeles or in the heart of American made furniture in North Carolina.

Through SHOP TEOT, I have come to know this well. In fact I’ve been delighted to get a peek behind the scenes of the mysterious manufacturing furniture scene in both LA and in NC, where TEOT works with makers on its own custom furniture pieces.

Visits to the factory are always an experience. Try to see the beauty amid the chaos.

As it turns out, the mystery is not as great as it appears from the outside.

The truth: it is well hidden, in plain sight. Hidden in old factories that pepper the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains or within the blocks and blocks of commercial warehouses in Vernon, CA, hidden behind old school manual processes… hidden by just a slight veil draped over top by the interior design industry that has historically made its mint in keeping its custom manufacturing secrets within the trade.

For SHOP TEOT, we are often designing and developing a new something or other to share with our consumers on the shop floor or for the occasional design project.

We love to explore custom as much as possible because we love the design process so much. It’s a creative rush to work alongside manufacturers on proportions and product design. I always feel like I’m in the middle of something special when I make a factory visit.

We worked with Buildlane to get that arm curve just right.
A custom roll arm sofa at SHOP TEOT in Southern Pines, NC.

From our efforts at executing the perfect roll arm sofa, to nailing down the right design with our old school Hickory NC friends on the modern skirted track arm of Sarah’s dreams – we love a custom project.

One of my best friends has tackled the manufacturing and design worlds head on and is finding his feet in the design industry with his new company BUILDLANE.

The radical Buildlane app makes it a very simple step by step process, from initial design notes to final photography.

Buildlane has built a platform created just for designers. It solves custom manufacturing challenges faced by designers like lagging production timelines, poor communication, loss of design details along the way.

The Buildlane app provides a designer with a beautiful online portal where they can build projects and upload specifications from inspiration images to technical drawings. They even offer services like 3D rendered shop drawings, studio photography of the final product, shipping logistics and more. All of this helps designers communicate more effectively with their clients.

This bench project is one that we have tweaked a number of times with Buildlane.

Oh, you tryna order that? We will custom make it for you with Buildlane!
https://shop.theestateofthings.com/products/birdie-bench

We even had one modified to suit an install with our talented friend and designer Stephanie of Covet Living Interiors. She used a vintage Suzani and we were able to communicate the perfect placement of this delicate vintage textile with the makers at Buildlane. It turned out perfecto.

Stephanie Ballard | Covet Living Interiors

Next up with Buildlane, we are diving into two barrel swive chairs for Betsy’s living room, as part of the ongoing new additions at betsy’s house.

DESIGNERS! SIGN UP FOR BUILDANE AND GET STARTED ON YOUR FIRST QUOTE!

If you are a designer and you are interested in setting up an account with Buildlane to explore your custom furniture needs, please hit up the folks there by signing up at left. All you need is your Trade License info.

It’s super quick (and free) to get signed up and you can have your first custom furniture project uploaded for quote in no time.

And hey if you aren’t a licensed designer, but you are itching to get something custom made and don’t know how to get it done, well you know that we at The Estate of Things would love to help you out! Just email us and tell us what you have in mind. We will work with Buildlane on your behalf as the designer.

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New Additions: Bathroom Design https://theestateofthings.com/2020/02/new-additions-bathroom-design/ Mon, 24 Feb 2020 23:04:07 +0000 https://theestateofthings.com/?p=403827

It’s always good to seek serious inspiration when starting from the studs right!?

Here are a few of the images that make me feel good about finding a direction for the downstairs bath in our new addition.

I’m continually reminding myself of the use case. Much like the hallway bathroom upstairs now, this will primarily be a guest bathroom with the dream teen duo giving it heavy use on the weekends and holiday weeks where they come to live with us.

They primarily shower, and really most people in the world do at this point. (Not me though, raise your hand if you exclusively bathe.)

After deliberation, we decided to go with a tub/shower combo rather than a tiled shower only.

I was on the fence for awhile, since I felt like a fully tiled shower situation would be fun to design. But in the end we went for versatility and settled on a roomy 60×36 tub, and that is that.

The tub situation looks pretty sweet with these two.

I have all but finalized the decision to stack tile similar to the image below. Jeff and I discussed its trendiness but I just can’t bring myself to do a classic subway at this point, not here. This is not a modern farmhouse and I live in California.

Sarah seemed resistant, but I’m interested in the same Moroccan cement tile that we used in the little bath at the first SHOP TEOT brick and mortar in Southern Pines.

I have searched black and white tile patterns the world over and this is still my fav. We talked a lot about a matte black hex and we are definitely using that in the bar.

But around here, everyone is on board with the geometric cement tile seen above. Of course I’m sentimental about it having been in the shop. But I feel like all of these choices are liquid until they really start coming together.

SHOP TEOT Bathroom The estate of things

The bathroom at our first brick and mortar shop.

Thus far, this is what the brainstorm is looking like. I would love to have purchased the $8k vanity of my dreams but this is the $2.6k version that we could settle on after reading reviews and doing our due diligence. It helps me to realize that a black tile is really not gonna be the direction we go b/c I already selected the black countertop and that trigger has been irreversibly pulled. I’m also leaning in on the matte black faucet finishes, lighting etc… So now it’s just gonna be about these final tile wall tile selections.

It’s all gonna go down soon!

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