Fresh & Fun Game Room!

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time you know that my heartbeat is for people to use the space they live in as a tool to be a blessing and form community with others! Well this year I’ve had the chance to help several families design a space for their teens to feel comfortable to invite their friends over. I’ve had parents share their concern about being apart of these formative years for their teens. I could not love these projects and what they represent more! Design is more than simply making a space “look pretty.” It’s about the atmosphere and environment it creates, that sets a tone for all who enter!

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There are a couple of things to note here. We lightened up the entire space with a soft light blue, and a white ship lap wall. Installation and painting was done by Kerry Overby Painting Services.  I rotated the entire rooms direction to utilize all the fun games they had in the space, such as Air Hockey, Board Games, Basket Ball Hoop, Treadmill and Wii! Every game and devise is now easily accessible to use and play! 

I wanted to incorporate some type of a “dry bar” to offer snacks and soda to the teenage guests. I found this desk with the EXACT measurements of a mini fridge in the middle. I loved how the shelving on either side offered more snack storage!

The artwork for this room needed to be fun, yet mature enough so that the parents could also invite friends over for a game night and it didn’t have an adolescent feel to the space. I started collecting some game boards and rackets from St. Joseph Auction and Antique. One of my favorite local shops to find unique treasures!

When this project was over, the music to my ears was the homeowner’s daughter in the other room asking her mom if she could have her friends over that weekend to hang out in the basement. I had received the official stamp of approval from the kids. Success!

Thanks for reading!

XO,

Hannah Rehn

 

Springtime Entryway

This homeowner still loved many of her entryway pieces, but just was tired of looking at them everyday. There is no better season than SPRING, to freshen things up!

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I love setting my homeowners up for easy seasonal transitions with each design I complete. For this space all she has to do is replace the bouquet in the vase. Life Hack: Use a fuzzy pipe cleaner around your flowers & a cheap dollar store vase to keep your arrangement in place while they’re being stored from season to season. All you have to do is poke them back in the vase! I am all about working smarter, not harder!

(Yes I got too excited to snap a picture and hadn’t cut my tags off… again)

Thanks for Reading!

XO,

Hannah

Holiday Homes Tour

This Christmas season I had the pleasure of partnering with local designer Jamie Withrow for the Kansas City Symphony Holiday Home’s Tour! We spent countless hours brainstorming, designing, and eventually implementing the Christmas decor for the home we were assigned. All products used are available at Jamie’s Secret Garden in St. Joseph MO.

It was the opportunity and experience of a lifetime! I truly had to keep pinching myself… sometimes to stay away on the drive home of multiple 14 hours days, but mostly because it was such a dream come true!

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The Great Room:

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The Hearth Room:

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The Den:

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The Master Bedroom:

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The Kid’s Living room:

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Thank you for taking a virtual tour of this Holiday Homes Tour! I’d love to hear what your favorite room was, please comment below!

Wall Art Installation

I was recently contacted by a homeowner who had made so many wonderful design decisions in her newly built home, but she just wanted a second opinion for wall art. I selected several pieces and took them to her home to install. I am so please with the results. She has a fun style and was willing to try some “out of the box” ideas!

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One thing I love doing is pushing the limit on the scale of wall art. Go big! If your standing in Hobby Lobby and you think the 11×14″ frame will work, I encourage you to size up. It makes your room look more high end and your walls appear bigger.

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Contact me to book your wall art installation!

XO,

Hannah Rehn

Facebook Live Q&A

 

Hi friends,

If you follow Willa Interiors on Facebook you may have tuned in to watch my first live video! Thanks to everyone who participated, I had so much fun interacting with you guys and answering questions for you! I posted a request for comments to be submitted in advanced, so I wanted to capture those here in case you missed your question being answered, or if you wanted to reference back to it later.

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1. How to find your design theme for your home- Discovering my own style?

This is a common problem I find. Someone has great taste and style, but making a room design requires you to hone in on one style. There are so many great styles out there.

  • Traditional
  • Coastal
  • Glam
  • Country
  • Shabby Chic
  • Farmhouse
  • Minimalist
  • Modern
  • Industrial
  • Southern Charm
  • Victorian
  • Transitional

The list goes on! How do you find yours? My recommendation is to go to Pinterest. Either make a board or look at one you’ve already made. Look for a common theme/style in your taste. If you don’t know what to call it, send it to a friend and ask them to describe your style! Or if you’d like you can even share your board with me and I’ll give you a “style label”

2. How about keeping a cohesive look through a home when the floor plan is open concept?

If a house is open concept or really small there needs to be consistency in the style from room to room. That’s where honing into that one style becomes so crucial!

3. How to make your home look impressive while still shopping for bargains?

First of all, this is my life! I am a thrifter, but I still enjoy expensive “looking” things! There are 2 ways you can do this:

A.  Only buy name brands from the thrift store. If you see a Talbot sweater next to an old navy sweater you can easily notice which one was more expensive. The same goes for some types of home decor. There is also a list of home decor that you can more easily get away with buying thrifty. I started a blog series on this topic so this tells me I need to publish a few more posts on it!

  • Save money on: Frames, wood furniture, lamp bases, dishes, and pillow inserts.
  • Splurge on: Curtains, Pillow covers, lamp shades and large art work.

Easy way remember this is- Cheap fabric is always noticeable, things that can be painted can look high end even if they’ve been thrifted!

B. The second way to thrift while not letting your house look thrifty is to be patient. Make a game plan for the room then slowly collect those items as you come across them. If you have a plan prior, you won’t spend as much on unnecessary items. And ultimately save money!

4. What is the easiest way to update/change a room- Your best ideas for keeping things fresh and up to date without breaking the bank?

In my design plans I like to keep the big expensive pieces neutral so that the smaller items can be replaced and updated easily! Curtains are a “huge impact with minimal effort” update! As well as throw pillow covers. If you decorate your home with classic and timeless pieces, only color trends will really change. i.e. 10 years ago silver frames were in, then white, then gold, now it’s black. Spray paint your picture frames! One more thing that makes huge impact is your lamp shades. They can take a room from dated to fresh so quickly!

5. What is the best way to make the best of your small space with lots of things? (i.e. toys)

Storage storage storage! For the living room, storage ottomans work great. In the kitchen, I keep a large bread canister on the counter to throw papers/bills in at a moments notice! (DING DONG, surprise company!) In my dining room, I keep a large basket above my book cases for this exact reason! For the bedroom, a storage bench at the end of the bed looks great and offers extra organization space. Have secret storage in every room, places that your kids know they can throw everything into!

6. What is the best kind of window covering for kitchens?

I am currently loving flat roman shades.

7. What is the best way to spruce up your porch?

$5 Walmart pillows are da bomb dot com! Front door wreaths also make an easy update! I’d collect 4 wreaths, a set of pillows for each season, and 4 seasonal rugs. I find really cute ones at Ross for $6!

8. How to mix fabrics for bed linens and pillows?

My biggest piece of advice is do not be afraid to mix colors and patterns! Always have 1 big POP in the arrangement. What not to do: Don’t buy a bedding bag at the store and leave it as is. It loses it’s personality and looks too vanilla. Mix and match pieces and make it your own! Take your sham to the store and start playing and mixing fabrics!

9. Should the exterior of your home influence the way you decorate the interior of your home?

While it’s not a strict rule, I defiantly think you should take it into consideration when decorating your interior. Do no fight against it too much. However the home was designed originally will by nature be featured throughout the whole house. For example, molding, mantle, cabinetry, and layout. The biggest thing to remember is if there is something that you don’t like in a room, and you cant change it, pretend it was placed there on purpose. Work with it, not against it!

10. What is the best way to decorate with tall ceilings?

The bigger the better! If you have tall ceilings you will have to spend a little more on large pieces. Don’t be afraid to hang your curtains from the tip top of the ceiling! I have a recent design project that had really tall ceilings. (Click here to view) I used a huge cabinet armoire for their TV and then had HUGE lanterns clustered on top. They were varying about 2.5-3.5 ft tall! High ceilings are such an asset you want that feature accentuated. Just think UP, UP, UP!

11. Ideas on using items already in your home, just pulling them from different rooms?

  • Step 1: Take all the accessories out!
  • Step 2: Group like items
  • Step 3: Put it back. Put your biggest/brightest piece where it catches your eye first.

12. Do you suggest hanging family photos in public areas of your home or keeping them in more private areas and using artwork in public areas?

I do love hanging family photos in public areas because that breaths life and personality into your room! If I’m hanging a wall gallery I recommend keeping the portraits black and white and the frames similar so that its not as overwhelming with a lot of different styles and colors.

 

Thanks for reading!

XO,

Hannah Rehn

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| Easy Kitchen Wall Art |

Lately if I see a wood chopping block at the thrift store, I buy it. It may or may not becoming a problem for me. Seriously though, I have stacks on stacks of these bad boys. So this week I decided I needed to do something with them. I hope you find inspiration in my crafty-diy evening!

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Here are the little beauts! The one with the crazy chicken painting just got flipped around, as for the pepto bismol special, I had to give that a fresh new coat of paint!

I taped off the bottom edge of the wooden block and gave it a single coat of chalky finish black paint from Hobby Lobby. Then I gave the wood “Gather” cut out (also found at Hob-Lob) a coat of chalky finish mint paint, and hot glued it down. Presto-Chango! Easiest wall art EVER! I’m adoring them stacked up on my counter space as well. (See pictures below)

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Will you be buying some wood blocks next time you’re at the thrift store? Or maybe you’ll bring new life to some you already own. Comment below!

XO,

Hannah

Why does my house look like a Pinterest Fail?

Why does my house look more like a Pinterest fail, than the pictures on my “home board?” Side note: If you have never been to PinterestFail.com, take a look. If you are a crafter who has experienced flops you’ll appreciate the humor!

Do you feel like your house doesn’t look put together? You work hard on it, you buy cute things, but it just doesn’t feel complete? We live in a time with more resources and access to home décor than any era before. All this has done is confuse us even more. With ideas coming at us from Pinterest, Magazines, and HGTV no wonder we feel at a loss when it comes to our homes. HOW CAN YOU DECIDE? Bottom line, you need a 3rd party opinion to come in and give you direction. That is why hiring a designer is more important than ever!

My dear friend Abbey reached out to me for this exact reason. She has fabulous taste, but it just wasn’t coming together like she envisioned it…

Here is her sweet first home:

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I first asked her for several pictures from around her house. I got a sense of her style. Then I asked her a series of questions to define what exactly she was trying to do.

Here is the vision I have for her space:

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Here is her action plan:

  1. Move her large cream chair to the other wall
  2. Use the cream ottoman as the coffee table
  3. Add a decorative tray and accessories
  4. Move the white window from the bedroom to above the couch
  5. Fashion with a cotton wreath hanging on it.
  6. Bring in more lighting!
    • A country chic floor lamp & a table lamp on the other side. Bringing in mint as a fun accent color!
  7. Move the ladder to the wall with the window, and add a large shabby chic clock above it.
  8. Bring a off-white rug, as well as throw pillows in to lighten up the couch.
  9. Add a new side table to even the weight of the room.

Estimated costs:

  • Cotton Wreath = $25 Hobby Lobby (half off)
  • Table lamp = $5-7 (Easy Thrift store find)
  • Floor lamp= $3 (Abbey actually found one at the thrift store and sent me pictures!)
  • Decorative Tray= $25-$35 TJ Maxx is a great place to look!
  • Wall Clock = $20 Hobby Lobby (half off)
  • Side Table = $393 (Lets be real… I am searching at the thrift store for a side table and white washing it)
  • Fuzzy Rug: $162 Target
  • Decorative Plants and accessories: $30-$50 total

Redecorating Freebies: Awesome things Abbey already had!

  • Couch
  • Ottoman
  • Chair
  • Window
  • Ladder
  • Throw Pillows

Abbey is currently working on my recommendations. Final photos to come…

 

 

Easy Summer Centerpiece

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I love summer time! It brings friends and family together. If you are having a dinner party you can throw this easy centerpiece together and WOW your guests! TJ Maxx currently has a wonderful (reasonable) selection of blue and white vases! The one on the left was $14.99. The vase on the right was a thrift store find for $6! I threw in some $4.99 Wal-Mart lilies and voilà!

XO,

Hannah