Liberty family wins bedroom makeover by Julie Blanner
Carrie and Nick Bartlow of Liberty are reveling in their new master bedroom, thanks to a makeover by Julie Blanner, a nationally renowned entertainment and design blogger.
“We love it,” says Carrie Bartlow. “It’s light, bright, airy, and a calm and relaxing place for, really, our whole family to spend time in now.”
Blanner, who grew up in Kansas City and now lives in St. Louis, is a contributor to Better Homes and Gardens and Traditional Home Magazine. She has also been featured in a variety of places, from Country Living to Oprah.
Blanner was approached by Lowe’s, which offered to sponsor and provide materials. She solicited essays on her website to find the most deserving family. Out of 160 submissions, she picked the Bartlows.
“They spend all their energy on their family and children and had neglected the room they spend the most time in themselves,” Blanner says. “And at the end of the day, we all need a place to retreat to and relax.”
Blanner spent two days redoing the room, which features off-white walls and pops of color.
“The walls were brown, and now they’re crisp white,” Bartlow says. “We were actually in the process of painting at least one of the walls a really bright green and felt like maybe it wasn’t the right choice. That’s when Julie came into the picture. We love color and wouldn’t have gone all white, but it looks phenomenal. We have white walls, white furniture, a neutral bed and gold accents.
“Things like that are really easy to swap out,” she continues. “So next summer if we want another color palette, we can change it. But I don’t see us doing that anytime soon, because we really love what Julie chose.”
Blanner likes to pull in color through accessories and says the rug, which is 12 feet wide and covers the beige carpet, made a big impact. It also served as inspiration for the rest of the room’s deep blue and dark berry accessories.
The makeover, a $4,000 value, also included a new bed, chair, chandelier, side tables, lamps and art. Blanner reused a dresser by spray painting it and adding a new mirror. She also created a jewelry holder for Carrie out of a tree branch.
“I love bringing in organic elements. They bring life to a room,” she says. “And it cost $3 to make, with the wire.”
Furnish with Kate Spade
Kate Spade New York has expanded its furnishings line by introducing furniture, lighting, rugs and fabric to her home furnishings line at the fall High Point Market in North Carolina last week.
The 325-piece collection features signature Kate Spade touches, including subtle bows and colorful fabrics like pink linen and turquoise velvet. Spade, a Kansas City-girl, founded a successful handbag business in 1993. She sold it in 2007 to what was then Liz Claiborne, Inc.
The line will be available in spring 2016, though about 60 signature items are for sale now on katespade.com. Prices start at $30 for candles, bud vases and jewelry dishes, then quickly work their way up into the four- and five-digit dollar range. A 9-by-12-foot hand-knotted rose print rug will run you $14,210. So plan to open your Kate Spade wallet wide for these goodies.
Finally, a decent bulb
Energy-efficient LED and CFL light bulbs have weird shapes and put out cold, one-directional light. Now we have another option.
Finally, a Boston light bulb company has created bulbs that operate on “acandescent” technology and use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs yet retain a warm, multi-directional glow.
The bulbs are supposed to last 15,000 hours, 15 times longer than incandescent bulbs, but only a third as long as LED bulbs. The bulbs, which come in 60- and 100-watt strengths, can be ordered for $9.99 and $14.99 (respectively) online at finallybulbs.com.
This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Liberty family wins bedroom makeover by Julie Blanner."