What I took with me to Sao Paulo

I feel I've been absent from my lovely blog for ages.  Our little one has been under the weather for what's gone from the week and I've been paying attention to nothing else.  Thankfully today he's feeling much better and I have time to share with you what I have taken with me, not literally, these things were shipped, to Sao Paulo.  I'm very pleased with the things I got in such a short notice. 
Besides that I'll start with what I'm the least happy, the rug bought intentionally for the living room.  How on earth did I end up with a pale beige sisal/jute rug?  Well easy, these stores never have big rugs available, they are always in back order and I didn't have the time to wait for them.  Nothing, that sometimes you have to do with what you have.  Let's see how that works! 
When I opened the box of the Lawrence Flush Mount from Circa Lighting, I ended up gasping for air.  When I got it I had no idea it was going to be this beautiful.  It is really amazing!

  I was lucky finding great pieces at auction for great price.  I found a pair of this oversized French lounge chair which I got for a very good price.  They were lucky to come across my fantastic upholsterer in the US who was able to upholster them in just two days and got them delivered just one hour before the guys finished packing the truck.  Talking about luck, ha!  I used the beautiful ikat Schumacher fabric below. 

  And here, below is the carpet I have no idea what I will end up doing with… 

This handsome mid-century Brazilian sofa was sitting in the back of an Auction.  Begging to be returned back home and I did it a favor.  He'll soon be back home in its birth country.  This one may go in my office.

And finally the awesome headboard for our little one's bedroom.  The fabric is Cap Ferrat by Alan Campbell, Quadrille.  I can't wait to see his bedroom!

Our Home - "Before" Version

 I covered this wall above with mirrors and framed it with two architectural columns.

This is how our home was before we started remodeling it.  Light, yellowish floors, two small closets on either side of the living room blocking the nice view, a less than attractive fireplace, a closed-in kitchen and completely bland bathrooms.  Our labor of love was done in two separate times, kitchen, floors, closets were removed and painted before we moved in and the remodeling of the bathrooms were done two years after while living in it.  Tomorrow I'll show you the after pictures!

In the back you can see the powder room and the insane and unnecessary closet in the middle of everything not only taking precious space but also displaying the washer and drier for everyone who came in and out of the bathroom.  Nuts, right?

This closet across from the other one made a bit more sense since it was for coats but it didn't make complete sense for me either so below you can see it fully gutted out.  Now the entire entrance is open and I can see the main door from the stairs. 

The kitchen was a closed in room.  We took down the top half wall, added more lower cabinets and moved the fridge to another wall.  All the way in the back you can see the unattractive fireplace which was also spruced up. 

In order to use a bigger TV and to utilize the space more effectively, we opened up the space more and added another electric outlet for additional electronic equipment.

We added a shelf (not in the picture yet) to put the TV on top and cable box, router underneath.

all images by Julie Yenicag for Belle Vivir

One or two things when remodeling a home: My masterbath after

When we started remodeling our home I knew we were not going to live here forever, I also knew what many people know to be reality now a days that the time of the housing boom was over.  Knowing that, my choices on materials and structural changes needed to be more cautious, but I didn't want to sacrifice style or comfort.  So I kept the kitchen and bathrooms as traditional and neutral as possible, something that would appeal to most people, in case one day we decide to sell this house. 
For our master bathroom I mixed "real and steal" materials.  Marble mosaic in calacata gold for the floor, chair rail (to end the tiles that I extended 12" up the wall, below) and the pencil border that frames the walking shower.  The shower walls are in porcelain that looks exactly like calacata gold marble.  It's funny the tile installer didn't know it wasn't marble until he saw the back of it.  I bought the porcelain tiles at Classic Tiles in Brooklyn.  The vanity is custom made. 
The master bathroom is on the small side so I installed a programmable tile warmer, a luxury feature that will compensate for the lack of space.
Anyone who has ever remodeled a home knows that faucets are extremely expensive.  For the shower faucets I simply left out unnecessary things such as volume control handles.  Those things complicate life, really! The main shower handle does the volume control already so why buy an extra one?  I got the big overhead shower at Lowe's and the handheld is a combination of one of those handles that come with the shower I just replaced the hose for one that you can connect separately and got the set of handles with its respective valves at a trade showroom.  After doing all that math and all the search I became more savvy about plumbing and my hubby keeps telling me that I like to complicate my life.  But when he enjoys a shower with more than one water source all hitting his body he gets to understand why I like to complicate my life and why I always choose to go through the less traveled road.  Whatever you think it's possible it's because it is! 

 A shot of the floor and chair rail.

Our sons's bathroom.  We finally got the oval shower curtain rod that was in back order (I don't stand when things are in back order) and replaced the L shaped rod we used for the previous photo shoot. 

Photos (besides the second) by Robert Levi

My Kitchen: Before and After

While thinking about what to post today, my own kitchen came to my mind.  Since we're soon moving to another country (Sao Paulo) I feel it would be great to show how I renovated our kitchen. The picture above shows how our kitchen was before.  Very unattractive!  We teared down everything, from the cabinets to the walls, got rid of that double tray ceiling and redid the floor.  My vision was to create something charming instead of modern because this house was built around the 80's when there was absolutely no reference whatsoever to any period architecture.  So I decided it would look like something between old and au courant.

I wanted the Ikea cabinets to go all the way up to the ceiling so I had the extra open boxes custom made and installed mirror in the back.  I also added crown moldings to make them look more custom.  These cabinets don't really need handles but I decided to install them anyway for the same purpose.  I was happy when I found this kind of porcelain mosaic for a great price at a place called The tile shop.  If you didn't, know the smaller the pieces the more expensive the mosaic, that's why  the places that offer more affordable tiles usually only have mosaic of one inch.  This one is little less than 3/4" which makes it look more like the real thing. 

 

The custom banquet, upholstered more than three years ago in a Quadrille fabric.

photos by Robert Levi

How to enhance your main door with more than just paint

 

 My small foyer Photographed by Robert Levi

I wanted to show you this picture above first so you can see the wall color through a professional lens.  This is the continuation of the left wall below. 

I found this awful before picture of my entryway.  We got rid of the this closet which was on the wall where the chair in the picture above is.

We've been trying to replace our main door for like forever, but our condo association people are not the most cooperative.  They're mean!  I wish they're reading this!  "never buy a condo" is what I have learned after this. 
Anyhow, our door was not the part of my house I was most proud of and I kept it untouched for a long time.  Sorry, I didn't find before pictures.  It was a bare space with nothing, literally.  Walls and door were all beige.  Boring! until I decided to do something more than just painting it.  I had a carpenter install simple molding that I got at Lowe's to make it look like paneling and painted all, well, yes beige, but I had a vision.  I went to Dykes and got a half round spoked pediment (not exactly the one pictured below)  of the same width of our door, painted the door and the pediment black and put mirror inside it to make it appear like a window.  This photograph doesn't really give it any justice.  It really looks beautiful and dramatic which is what I was looking for.  I hope this inspires you to do something beautiful for yourself and your home.

 

photos by Julie for Belle Vivir 

this last awesome image from here.

Instagram-tification: This week

 My coffee table.  It makes me smile!

I call it Instam-tification for a reason.  The happy effect is instantly, you don't need to worry about what to write and it feels a lot more personal and cool.  I'm addicted to this stuff.  It's beyond simple you see something you love, take a picture and upload it.  Here are a few of my personal latest. 

My vanity also makes me smile! ; )

 Acting like we're dating.  Coffee with converse!

Embarrassing my hubby by asking him to take a picture of me in a place we've been to too many times.

But it's beautiful though!

 

This is going to be his reward one day though!  One for him and one for Lucas, our son. 

How to make a folding screen and Snippets of my Home

This top picture is not the best picture of the folding screen I'm referring to, but you get the idea.  I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, there is no standard size for the width of the panels of a folding screen,  but there is a need for the thickness to be at least 1-1/2" in order for the screen not to tilt over.  I had the frame custom made (cut-assemble-paint) by my carpenter and then I wallpapered it myself.  Now, here is the trick of how I did it.  To make the entire process a lot easier for me I asked my carpenter to make each panel the same width as the wallpaper.  That helped me to avoid cutting the wallpaper along the sides, which is very complicated and time consuming.  The size of the screen is 7' tall with four panels of 20" wide.  I fell madly in love with the Block Wallpaper by Erika Wakerly in brown, gold and beige. 
I can't believe that exactly four years ago we moved into this house and started remodeling it slowly.  And just when it's finished it's time to pack up and move to another country.  I look forward to moving to Sao Paulo and start designing our new home.  Nothing like having complete autonomy when decorating a home.  Below are two more shots of vignettes in our home.
On a separate note, the genuine and sweet Ada from Classiq invited me to be part in her beautiful Chic Files series and I'm more than flattered.  If you want to see me pretending to be an important person and answering a few fashion-related questions and wearing my loving stripes then head over there.  Enjoy!

In case you're interested.  Above, an ebonized inlaid commode from Italy and it's from Lerebours Antiques at E 60th St.  The alabaster candle sticks are by Jardins en Fleur, the Greek key base is a Home Goods find, the brass sculpture, the marble lion sculpture and mirror are from a local vintage store.  

A vignette of my vanity.  The necklace and scarf are from Anthropologie, the cross is custom made (my mom's), the coral and the pill case are from Turkey,  two of the bangles are from C. Wonder and the one next to the watch is from the Antique Garage Flee Market.

How to add value and interest to your home for little money and effort

When we first started remodeling our home, one thing I regret is not having opened up the doorways.  I've always loved big, tall doors, but being just one month due from having a baby all I wanted was to move in and wait for that day without any hassle.  With that in the back of my head I always knew I was going to do something to my doors to make them look their best.  I crowned them, literately.  It's a simple and very affordable way to add interest and value to your home while enhancing the architecture.  I also painted them in a dark gray color and painted the molding silhouettes.

I chose a 3" Greek Key as part of the crown molding, but they were not too visible, so I painted it with a mixture of two colors, the door paint and the molding paint to make it lighter. 

When there is not enough storage space and no additional space to expand, look at the corners and turns in your home which are usually not utilized.  I had this closet custom built on the landing of my stairs and it didn't take any extra space from the walking area.  I painted it the same color as the wall to have it blend in and the outside corner was done with a curve for free passage.  The new one became the linen closet and the empty one became an additional clothing closet we didn't have before. 

Niches are another way of adding functionality and storage to your home.  Pretty them up with decorative paper or mirror and they become a point of interest as well.

Over the doorway storage like this one is very smart and interesting too.

Two last images via Pinterest and Apartment Therapy.

Lucas's Bathroom Reveal: Before and After

I almost forgot to take before pictures of our little one's bathroom, but this is how it looked during midst of demolition, after removing the floor tiles some of the walls and the pedestal sink.  At that point my light bulb went on and I finally took one picture.  We gutted it down to its bone and re-configured the water pipes in order to install a pedestal tub.  I wanted to create a more of a nautical/bohemian/young atmosphere with some traditional reference. 

The bathtub is really deep and spacious and I love how greatly suits the body.  I opted for bright blue gingham fabric for the curtains to bring in some color and freshness.

A few of the framed butterflies were picked by my husband and his father during camping trips when he was a kid.  The awesome faucet is another nod to traditional.

For the floor, I used penny tiles and my tile installer did a very cute border all around the bathroom for more interest.  I designed the custom made vanity with the intention of having enough space to sit Lucas in the mornings to brush his teeth and it's been such a good idea and incredibly functional.  I adore the niche above the sink and the nautical sconce is my absolute favorite!
You may be able to guess by now that I love niches.

The big scale whale you can spot through the mirror was a piece of art done by my father-in-law from shells we collected in Shelter Island this summer.  I think art is really what tells a story and speaks your heart. 
Photos by Marco Ricca

Come to my Home for Christmas

I wanted to share with you a few images of my home for Christmas.  There is a party in every corner in this house and I can't help but share them with you. 

A part of our Master Bath.

And here is the mister.  We chose a medium size Christmas tree and put it on top of a table which I covered with an old remnant of fabric I had.   I wanted a tree that was classic but also funky at the same time; that's why you see properly installed Christmas lights but also you can see lights that are just thrown around the tree to give it a more fun, careless feel.  I love those big rounded light bulbs and the big snowflake ornaments.  To make it a bit more masculine for my guys, I added baseball-like ornaments. 

Love is all you need!

Top two images by Marco Ricca rest by me.