July 24, 2019

Celebrating 16 years of Chalet Life!

July 24, 2019/ Meryl

Today marks the Anniversary of the day we took ownership of the Chalet! 16 years ago today … we signed the papers on this quirky little beauty. The Chalet was the first home built on property subdivided in 1924 from the Leaycraft Estate. Our street bears the name of that Estate.

Chalet: a wooden house or cottage with overhanging eaves typically found in the Swiss Alps.

While driving with a friend we stumbled upon a For Sale by Owner sign that soon turned into our destiny. A home for sale in my old neighborhood! My dream location full of quiet streets, unique architecture and close to the park. I knew the house - while growing up a few block away I trick or treated here and rode my bike by what we called “The Red Schoolhouse” because it was painted red and the center chimney looks like a bell tower. You can see it here in the 1968 watercolor by artist Nat Lewis. This painting was gifted to us by a former owners daughter. We are so very blessed to have this hanging on our wall.

We started calling it “The Chalet” soon after moving in. Built as a vacation home by Austrian craftsmen brought in specifically by Dr. Morgan the original owner. At roughly 1400 square feet it’s not overly large - it has three-bedroom and although we were originally moving to gain space we have forgiven the Chalet for only offering us one small bath. It has wonderful unique features such the hand cut railings and multiple sets of French doors throughout - there’s so much to love.

We’ve so fortunate to enjoy open-concept living in a home which is almost 100 years old. We’ve jokingly coined the phrase Step-Saver to describe our Kitchen because if you stand in the middle of the room you can reach out and touch everything without taking a step!

Adding to the homey feel, is the fireplace with it’s beautiful carvings in the center of the house.

One major change we’ve made to the Chalet was enclosing our porch. It was an open air galerie - you can read more about it here. Hands down the best thing we’ve done. Both the Master bedroom and our son’s bedroom are above this space. The Chalet is weather tight and quieter!

We love sleeping in the tree tops!

1952

2004

1976

I love these images - the middle is when we still had the humongous American Beech out front. We loved that tree but, it started loosing limbs. You can see it in the image that was published in a local history book in 1976.

Steven, Liam and I have filled the Chalet with many treasures but, the best part of the Chalet is sharing it with others!

We feel so very blessed every day to be able to call this jewel home.

Til next time!

June 19, 2019

Spring Around the Chalet

June 19, 2019/ Meryl

This Spring was long in coming here in Northern New Jersey. We had buckets of rain and the temperatures stayed pretty chilly until just the end of last month - but friends it came and how lovely it all looked! We are on the cusp of the Summer Solstic and temperatures have remained pretty mild. Now, of course we want it to warm up so we can enjoy the swim club! ha!

We have a small Peonies bush.

The Bearded Irises spread every year.

These Siberian Irises were a gift from my sister - she brought some over from her garden!

Nothing better than these old growth Rhododendrons and Mountain Laurel.

Our Cherry Blossom Tree is gorgeous - to think this was an add-on when we redid the landscaping in 2014.

We have two lilac bushes on the side of the house between the kitchen door and driveway and on the side of the garage - the blooms are many and they smell glorious! If only they didn’t make my nose run I would bring some inside.

These pots by the kitchen door are filled with chives and day-lilies.

Til next time - I hope you get outdoors to enjoy the weather and some beautiful flora!

June 12, 2019

Chalet Design

June 12, 2019/ Meryl

In January I shared a piece Design Shift where I mapped out how I got to our new Crate and Barrel Couch and the evolution of the changes that have taken place in the Chalet decor since last summer. I followed up with Inspirational Images sharing images of spaces and designers who were inspiring me in the direction of my rug search.

Today I’m wrapping up this conversation. If you follow along on IG than some of these changes aren’t new but, let’s dive into the final result anyway…how I got where I am today June 12th, 2019.

Here’s a bit of the backstory if you’re unfamiliar - So last summer - when no amount of pillow swapping would cure my angst about the decor in the Chalet. I pulled the trigger with my husband’s blessing and ordered a new couch. I felt the taupe theme that was in our livingroom for 10 years had to go.

Here’s what the space looked like last fall.

I ordered the couch and found my round coffee table at Home Sense and I was off to the races my friends!

Once I had the coffee table and couch I worked my way around the Chalet refining book piles, editing picture frames and in general making it tighter. Layered is great but, messy and unfocused is not. When I got to lighting - I adding a new drum shade to the vintage Chinese lamp - a new smaller more modern lamp for the black Chinese cabinet and I went mid-century modern with the set of green ceramic for the diningroom - all purchased at Home Sense. I lessened the amount of decor on the mantel - limiting them to one side and focusing on a sole piece of art by Allison Ford on the other. I made pillow covers - you can spy one on the leather chair above. Then we moved some chairs around between the porch and the livingroom.

While trying to figure out the rugs - as you read in Artistic Artery - I pulled all the art down and repainted our Hall Behr Paint Pink Prism. Our Bedroom is also Pink - I love pink - to me it’s a neutral. It makes everyone happy who sees it. I also lessened the approach when I rehung the art - taking my time to focus on a portrait gallery - I put some art away.

Crate Kids

Rugs USA

Home Sense

Target

Crate and Barrel

Crate and Barrel Baxter Rugs

The process of finding new rugs took about 6 months. I looked and looked - I vacillated over the design direction. As is my curse I like so many styles. Our old rugs were Pottery Barn - and to span the challenging length and width of the Chalet livingroom and den area - 10 x 24 - I had previously gone with 3 rugs. The Images above show the progression of the Rug hunt. Top left was a Crate Kids design I tried to order but, it was Sold Out! It still makes me cringe! Then I decided to shift my focus to a layered look ordering the top middle geometric design from Rugs USA - I thought I would layer a rug I have over it - they were delivered all the furniture was moved but, the moment Steven started rolling out the rug I said “Stop it’s bringing on a Vertigo Episode” so back they went and the hunt continued. Finally I ended up at my local Crate and Barrel store (I really am a big fan of this brand -Hello Brand Ambassadorship anyone? my dining table and glass door cabinets in the diningroom are from Crate) there I bought three Baxter Rugs a 5x8, a 8x10 and a 6x9. They are made of New Zealand Wool and have shed little to none. I’m very pleased.

I completely restyled the little spot in the diningroom last month. I love it now! I still needed to change the shade to a modern drum shade - it took a while to find just the right one. Many shades were either too small or too large. I just picked up the pretty patterned number below on Monday at my local At Home store - while I was there working with a client.

Will I say that I’m done… NO… I still think I may want to add a layering rug under the coffee table to make the room pop more. I would love more pattern; recently I added Bessie to the wall, more books and collections to the Coffee Table and here we are. The design scheme is more streamlined and I’m pleased… I no longer think my style is Cacophony of Crap! I think my style has traditional elements with a bit of Modern, Chinoiserie and Vintage thrown in. I’d label it: