Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 214 Comments

House Crashing: Lovely At Last

We’re working on wrapping up a few projects for you today – pics and details to come! – plus we have a well overdue house crash to share. It feels kinda unnecessary in this case, but we’ll say it out of formality: Meet Nicole (and her smiley son August).

Nicole 1 Portrait With August

If that picture alone didn’t make you say “Wait, that’s Nicole from Making It Lovely!” then allow us to say “that’s Nicole from Making It Lovely.” You guys know we like to crash homes of all types (we’ve shared nearly fifty of them, from modern apartments and traditional homes to eclectic or retro spaces or crazy bright and colorful ones – each from big bloggers, small bloggers, and not-bloggers-at-all). And since we’ve been internet friends of Nicole’s since we started blogging five years ago (and that’s kind of a long relationship to have without ever having met in person) of course we were thrilled when she invited us over to crash her and her husband Brandon’s iconic Oak Park pad during our Chicago book tour stop last month.

I feel like her home requires little explanation because she has documented it so well herself, but we thought you guys would enjoy seeing some different angles of a house that so many of you already know and love. There’s definitely lots of inspiration for the taking. So, um, here’s her living room…

Nicole 2 Living Room

This room greets you on your left as soon as you step foot inside and the walls are Astor Pink by Benjamin Moore in case you’re wondering. I’ll admit that I was quite nervous about taking pictures of Nicole’s house. I’ve always greatly admired her camera skills so it was pretty intimidating to photograph such a well-photographed home in the presence of the photographer herself. But I survived… with only minor sweating. Nicole has collected so many awesome (I’m trying not to insert “lovely” as my default adjective here) items, it actually ended up being really fun. Oh and the white mirror was from Ballard Designs, the Eames rocker is by Modernica, the coffee table is vintage (picked up this summer at the Renegade Craft Fair) and the tables are vintage too – they were just $10 each.

Nicole 3 Living Room Alt

One of the most interesting things about seeing Nicole’s house in person is how little pink there is. Nicole is a self-professed lover of the color and I feel like I’m always seeing it pop up in her projects. So I guess that created this all-pink all-the-time expectation in my head (despite having browsed her house tour plenty of times over the years). But in reality, many of her rooms are moody, earthy, and warm – including her dining room below, which is located right behind the living room. In fact, the next and only other room you’ll see with pink paint on the walls belongs to her 3-year-old daughter Eleanor.

Nicole 4 Dining Room

I love so many things about this dining room. The metal chairs (from Industry West) mixed with the vintage wood table. The sleek light fixture mixed with the wood panel-backed china cabinet. The quirky guy + gal centerpieces (from Floral Art LA). And of course the wallpaper (which is Clacket Lane by Mibo).

Nicole 5 Dining Room Table

We’ve seen Nicole re-imagine her china cabinet a few times over the years, and we were totally digging the fox theme she had going on when we arrived (she scored those guys on amazon). Sherry and Nicole even had discussions about what would be the next “it” animal. Put a fox on it perhaps? I think llamas were tossed out there too.

Nicole 6 Dining Room Built In

Right behind the dining room (through the door you can see in the first dining picture) is their kitchen. Nicole and Brandon said they’re working on some changes in there, so we didn’t go crazy with the camera in that particular room. But I thought I’d share this one surprise (to me at least) – there’s a full bathroom back there. Somehow I must’ve missed any mention of it on Making It Lovely (although it later came up in a post after we returned from the crash). Old school green tub = awesome sauce.

Nicole 7 Kitchen

Off the other end of the dining room is Nicole’s office – although she doesn’t work at that toddler-sized table you see pictured. That’s just so her kiddos can keep her company while she’s blogging, web-designing, or otherwise putting her stamp on the interweb. The rug is Dash & Albert and the banner was from Catbird NYC (it was cheap so Nicole threw it into her cart to qualify for free shipping).

Nicole 11 Office

We loved checking out her monogrammed trophies in person (she’s got a tutorial for them on her blog here). And the yellow lamp is from Crate & Barrel.

Nicole 12 Office Detail

Once upstairs, you arrive at their sitting room / library area that I’ve always said is my favorite room whenever browsing her photos online. It did not disappoint in person. Sherry and I kinda wanted to move in. That wouldn’t be awkward at all, right? The curtains are from Anthropologie, the fig tree is from Sprout Home right there in Chicago, and the deep chocolate paint on the walls is Afternoon Tea by Pittsburgh Paints.

Nicole 8 Upstairs

I was mostly enamored with that space because of the bookcases (from Ikea, by the way). Nicole and Brandon met working at a bookstore – and the former library employee in me always has a soft spot for shelves upon shelves of books.

Nicole 9 Upstairs Books

Sherry was enamored with this room for another reason. And it rhymes with schmold schmanimals. They were an ebay find. Though I gotta say the brown and white cabinets in this room (which you also saw in her office) are calling my name too. They’re the sadly discontinued Effektiv cabinets from Ikea.

Nicole 10 Upstairs Nook

Immediately to the right of those gold deer is Eleanor’s room. She’s about a year older than Clara and we were all sad that Clara couldn’t join us for this leg of the trip. Those two would’ve had a blast.

Nicole 15 Eleanor Bed

The bed and bedding were from Land Of Nod. Nicole has quite the knack for stylish arrangements, so the collection of art and objects above Eleanor’s bed was no exception. My favorite is the little banner that says “Just Be Cool.” I feel like our toddler could use that reminder every so often…

Nicole 16 Eleanor Bed Detail

Brandon and Nicole’s bedroom is cozy and warm, and kinda made me want to lay down and read a book. Luckily for them I resisted and continued taking photos instead.

Nicole 13 Master Bed

The star of this room is the light fixture, which I had been eager to see in person since I first saw it posted on her blog a couple of years ago. It’s the “Edison Light” from Pottery Barn. And the botanical print behind it on the wall is from Fab.com.

Nicole 14 Master Bed Light

At the opposite end of the upstairs from Eleanor’s room is her brother August’s domain. He was actually playing in there, so I tried not to interrupt too much by shoving my lens in his face. After all, he had just met me about an hour before. So instead I captured some of the awesome details that make me want to shop where Nicole shops. How cool are those pixel fire flowers by a local crafter?

Nicole 17 August Room

And this embroidered venn diagram clock by another local crafter rocked my socks (and reminded me that I ought to bone up on my marksmanship skills if I intend to survive the zombie apocalypse).

Nicole 17 August Zombie Clock

Continuing the theme of foxes, Sherry was drawn like a moth to a flame when it came to this animal-based lamp (she’s been known to obsess over them).

Nicole 18 August Fox

In fact, she even made me take a closer photo of it (it’s from Target in case you need one too). Put a fox on it is sounding more and more promising. What do you guys think? Is it official?

Nicole 19 August Fox Detal

As fun as it was to see Nicole’s house in person, the most fun part was seeing Nicole herself. It was just so refreshing to finally all be in a room together to chat, catch up, talk shop, swap parenting stories, and otherwise enjoy a couple hours of being real life friends, not blogosphere colleagues. Oh and you can read her recap of our visit here on her blog too.

Nicole 20 Chatting With Sherry

Plus, I confirmed my suspicions that their dog Murray is pretty much Burger in a larger body. I mean, c’mon – is that not a Burger face right there?

Nicole 21 John With Murray

So a big thank you again to Nicole, Brandon, Eleanor, and August for inviting us over to their house and being kind enough to entertain my wannabe photographer skills. Now if we can just get Nicole to write a book and include Richmond on her tour we’ll be all set for a sequel to this fun…

 Psst- Do you dare to keep this house crashing party going? You can check out dozens more here.

Comments

    • Kalin says

      Foxes are definitely in right now. It kind of makes me sad as I did a Fantastic Mr. Fox theme (thanks Wes Anderson) for my son that I started 2 years ago. Initially, it was a nice challenge to find cute fox things for his room – now foxes are everywhere. So instead of feeling unique, it kind of seems blah now (although I still love his room).

  7. J+H @ Beyond The Stoop says

    their house is amazing. what i like even MORE is that it’s in OAK PARK! that’s my dream neighborhood. frank lloyd wright extravaganza! please tell me you visited his home and studio while you were there!??!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I wish! We didn’t have much time in any of the tour cities, so it was pretty much eating and sleeping and signing with two house crashes that we managed to squeeze in (over a dozen stops!). Here’s hoping we can go back and really explore Chicago!

      xo
      s

  8. Emily says

    I actually overheard someone saying to her friend last year (in all seriousness), “foxes are the new owls.” I’m really hoping for hedgehogs, though.

    Reply

  11. Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says

    Such a beautiful home, and so quirky! I love seeing people’s personalities come out in their decor!

    I’m really loving the picture rail shown in several rooms. It looks like she has some stuff actually hanging from it. Is it original to her home?

    Reply

  12. Amie says

    I really love Nicole’s style. Everything has it’s place and it all makes sense. He eccentricities in the busts and little art finds are fantastic. It was good to see different angles on things I already know.

    Reply

  13. joanne says

    I love everything about their design decor. While reading this, I immediately looked up at my dining room ceiling to see if I could do that same light fixture. haha!

    Reply

  16. Angie says

    I have the Edison fixture, and sooo glad I bought it when I did! They are no longer available from Pottery Barn, though eBay has some decent-but-not-exact knock offs. I have it in my dining room. When I sold my house, the light came with me. That was non-negotiable, haha. It works just as well in my apartment and really makes my new space feel like HOME.

    Reply

  17. Shannon says

    I love it! I have never heard of her blog before but it looks like one I will definitely be adding to my list. I hope she has more photos of the built in shelf wall in her son’s room…we are remodeling and have two rooms with low walls like that and I need some good ideas for it! :) And I loooove the foxes in the china cabinet, who knew I was a fox fan? I didn’t! I love how she has pink in the main living area!

    Reply

  18. Meredith says

    A bunch of us in line to meet you guys in Chicago geeked out because we saw her, too. She was gone by the time I got up there, but it was like a two-for-one blog celebrity day! (Really three-for-one since you and John are separate people.) :)

    Reply

  23. Brittany says

    Just have to say, I was watching Secrets from a Stylist today while getting ready for work and Emily used those same exact gold deer for a special holiday episode! I love them so much and to see them twice in one day is crazy!!

    Reply

  24. Abbey says

    I love the house crashing, but I really thought you guys would feature houses that are maybe not as well know in the blogging community.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We just love to share the love, so we don’t want to hold back or discriminate based on any sort of blog readership (whether you have a bunch of followers or you don’t even have a blog, if you have an awesome home full of inspiration, we’d love to crash it!). Many of the almost-fifty homes that we’ve shared on our House Crashing page are from folks who don’t even have a blog or who have small just-starting-out blogs – we just love sharing them all! Inspiration is everywhere :)

      xo
      s

  26. Erika says

    You did a great job putting a “young house love” spin on the photographs!
    Nicole’s blog is fantastic, but I enjoyed seeing photos from a different point of view, if that makes sense :)

    Reply

  31. DJ Sherry says

    I could totaly see that edison light fixture (or similar) over your dining table.. Worth the splurge for something you’d see when you first walk in.

    Reply

  33. Ammie says

    When I was reading about August’s room and the venn diagram clock came up, all I could think was “Like the band name!” hahaha – that post was awesome. Also, did Nicole happen to share where the wooden tool playset (see picture of John and Murray) was from? My boys would love that. Thanks!

    Reply

  36. Laura says

    I can’t find that gold fox lamp with the black shade on Target’s website and I pretty much NEED to have it. Do you know if it’s a recent purchase?!

    Reply

  40. Kim @ Yellow Brick Home says

    Love seeing her home from another point of view! Such a fan of Nicole, and I was thrilled to meet her in person at your book stop through Chicago!

    As for the “it” animal, I could’ve sworn it would be the fox, too! So for this past weekend’s Chicago Renegade Fair, I painted a fox and made prints – but they didn’t move. Rather, the giraffe and manatee made waves!

    Reply

  44. Nicole says

    It is so cool to see my house through your eyes! Thank you for taking time to stop by while you were in Chicago. Really, it was just so good to finally meet you both and have a little time to talk in person.

    p.s. I’ll work on the whole book tour to Richmond thing. I need to write a book first though, eh?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, yeah that would be awesome! Come on down!

      It was amazing to get to hang out IN YOUR HOUSE! So funny and surreal. You guys are so sweet to have us over and we’re so grateful. Stop by anytime!

      xo
      s

  46. Cristina says

    You know what I love about this, aside from two of my favorite interior design bloggers coming together? The fact you showed us Nicole’s house at different angles. It’ refreshing to see the house you’ve been following for years shot differently. Of course for you two it’s even cooler to see the house you’ve been following for years in person! Haha!

    Reply

  47. Jen @ Bungalov says

    YAY! Love all three of you. I read both your AMAZING blogs and I’ve been so anxious for this post. I’m a Chicago gal myself and was so sad that I missed the fact that you were in town. Seriously? Where the heck was I when that was announced? Need to get my head out of the gutter. So, I was just happy to read along with Nicole about her experience and even better seeing all three of you together. Her house is awesome and you did as great of a job showing it off!!!

    Reply

  48. jodi says

    so fun to see this! i love when internet friends get to meet in real life. and so great to see a different point of view of nicole’s space.

    and yes. foxes are totally the “it” animal of the moment. no doubt.

    Reply

  49. Katherine says

    Hi Sherry and John, I love reading your blog daily, but for the past two days posts have been very hard to read on my iphone because they have a lime green and white Richmond SPCA logo behind them repeating all the way down the page. The SPCA background doesn’t appear when viewed on my laptop. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *