House Crashing: A Cozy & Creative Townhouse: a house log

We know you folks enjoy seeing a wide range of homes when it comes to House Crashing, so when Katrina invited us over to run around her townhouse and snap some photos to share with you folks, we jumped at the chance. She’s a especially creative momma who lives right here in Richmond with a lot of excellent found/collected items mixed with things that she has DIYed herself. And here she is now, with her adorable son Luke and her husband Nate.

When you enter the townhouse, there is a vivid cozy wall color (Gauntlet Gray by Sherwin Williams) that envelops you, along with the rich wood floors that her hubby installed himself on all three floors. Everything from the vintage light fixture to the quirky wooden shoe-molds-turned-coat-hooks truly makes the space feel one of a kind.

When you walk upstairs there is the living room, which is painted the same rich color, but has a lot of lighter pops (in the furniture, the mantel, etc) along with fairly frames and mirrors to bounce around a lot of light. The starburst mirrors are from Target but Katrina used Grecian Gold Rub-N-Buff from Michael’s on them to get that gilded look.

Those paper butterflies were in fact something Katrina picked up on Etsy (from a shop called Embellished Paper) and pinned to an old pallet to cover up the hole that the townhouse builder had left over the fireplace for a TV (she did not think putting a TV in there made for the best furniture arrangement since the fireplace is on an angle). I enjoyed the mix of the rustic wood and the delicate white paper butterflies.

And here is little Luke modeling his play area, which is a mixture of old and new (and Hands-on and store-picked up). The bookcase is from Ikea, but when it is mixed with the old map, the oversized clock, and the mason jars that Katrina painted white and hung on the wall, it has a casual and eclectic feeling.

Here is the rest of the living room as you turn to the left of the little play area for Luke. Well, this is what it looked like before they moved in and made it their own…

… and this is what it looks like now.

I enjoy how the dark walls balance the light furniture and the large frames add color with those cheerful yellow squares. Katrina simply grabbed some Ikea frames and used yellow paper and some inexpensive medallions from the craft store that she spray painted silver inside of each frame to create some architectural art for a steal.

I also enjoy the little touches, like the paper mache deer head that Katrina topped with a few extra butterflies from the mantel project – simply to bring that detail to the other side of the room. The cool thing about that deer head is that he’s from Z Gallerie and Katrina modge podged him with wallpaper scraps. “He was all white and a little plasticy looking so I made him look a little more special.”

I enjoy that Katrina is not afraid of making her townhouse stand out from all the others. No detail is too small for her, and I enjoyed noticing small upgrades that she brought in, like the wide stripes that she painted simply on the inside of the pass-through to the kitchen, and the burlap curtains that she brought in (she made them from old grain sacks herself).

Here is the view of the pass-through from the kitchen. I thought the fact that the grain sacks had designs on both sides was so smart (they are like a double sided curtain with tons of texture and a cool collected feeling). And you know I hoped to rub my face all over those gleaming over-sized glass containers. Katrina’s kitchen also brought a giant smile to our faces because the same gray penny tile that we used in our last kitchen was simply sitting there, waiting for me to pet it. So I did.

The dark wood counters and the painted cabinets with cool dark Ikea hardware stole my heart too. But my go-to part of the kitchen was the excellent built-in banquette that Katrina and Nate brought in to the other side of the space. The giant white mirror nearly felt like a window, and the shelf on top with fairly decorative baskets brought in extra storage. I am a large fan of Katrina’s lighting and furniture choices too. They simply looked straightforward yet truly elegant. The chairs and table are both outlet finds here in Richmond (from The Decorating Outlet).

Mirror detail. Me-ow. Katrina picked up it at an auction in Lynchburg for a steal.

Katrina used the same cozy and rich gray tone on the walls of the first and second floor, yet on the third floor where all the bedrooms are located, she lightened up with this soft and vivid blue tone (Oasis by Olympic). Walking up to this floor certainly felt airier and softer, which was a pleasant distinction for the bedrooms I think. And of course the art on the stairs had me at hello. I especially enjoyed the wood planks with vintage glass bottles that Katrina wired up herself.

Here is Katrina and Nate’s bedroom, which had a sweet lofted ceiling, fluffy white bedding, and an elegant tufted headboard. I also enjoyed that vintage gate next to the bed (Katrina uses it to hold her jewelry)…

… and the oversized coral-pink lamp (it picked up some of the tones in Katrina’s homemade art that was hanging above it). She used pastel crayons on a canvas to make the art and then poured thick clear resin over it for a polished look (you can grab resin to Hands-on your own version at Michaels or JoAnn’s).

The nursery was truly charming too, with light colored furnishings and a sweet tree decal kit on the wall, which Katrina made her own by adding little chalk creatures poking out of the trees.

I wish the wider shots of the room had turned out, but we did manage to snag this curtain detail that captured another one of Katrina’s tweaks that was truly charming. She took inexpensive Ikea curtains and colored them simply using a regular old sharpie for a watercolor-ish look that was painterly and whimsical.

So thanks so much to Katrina for opening her house up to us and letting us share all of the inspiration with you folks! Let us play the go-to-part game. I am calling the eat-in area of the kitchen, and John’s all over the color palette shift that occurs when you transition upstairs (it truly felt like you were up in the clouds on that top floor).

Update: We simply learned that Katrina used to have a journal, so although she no longer updates it we thought we’d share it in case you hoped to check it out.

************************************