LIFE AT CONTENT: Summer Solstice 2017

The other night, a friend casually mentioned that summer was already half way over. What!? How dare you speak so cruelly in our home...

We couldn't disagree more! With Memorial Day marking the tourist kick off, June 21 is the official seasonal start of summer with the Solstice.

I thought the Solstice would be the perfect time to look back on the last month and a half of warmer weather here at Content. Because, let's be honest, this house was made for summer time!

Memorial Day

We kicked Memorial Day off renting the entire house to a group of awesome, Airbnb guests! The weather was iffy here at the Jersey Shore, but based on the wonderful review and feedback we received, we can tell they made the most of their visit.

Happy MDW! 🇺🇸The house is all set for our @airbnb guests. We love that sharing these walls is the next, fun chapter in its 130 year old history. . Wanna come for a visit? Click our profile link to learn more!

A post shared by john and courtney achilli (@contentandcompany) on May 27, 2017 at 5:28am PDT

While the house was occupied, we made our way to John's parent's beach house in Connecticut for some R&R and long overdue family time.

Resolutions

During our time away from Content., John and I made two resolutions. We decided to make the most of our new, more flexible schedule and to enjoy the beach any chance we could.

When John was teaching, our vacation schedule was restricted to summer and holidays. As every teacher-family knows, this is expensive.

We've decided to travel A LOT this fall, and will be squirreling away every penny to make it happen. So far, we have the OBX, Folly Beach, Canada, and hopefully a Central American beach vacation on the calendar soon.

And, we're making good on our promise to hit the beach more often. We don't have too many lazy, beach weekends these days, but we're getting better at packing a couple of beers and heading down for sunset every chance we get.

Morning, noon or night. Good vibes happen on the tides. ✌️🌊

A post shared by john and courtney achilli (@contentandcompany) on Jun 20, 2017 at 5:11am PDT

Renovations

Content's renovations are also on summer break - power tools are in quiet mode. We're so thrilled to have guests booking rooms and enjoying the house, but no one wants to hear a sander at 9am.

It's honestly a dream come true for me! And even though it was a huge undertaking, getting this house even remotely ready for guests, we're so proud!

When even the most mundane tasks bring you joy, you know you're right where you're supposed to be.

A post shared by john and courtney achilli (@contentandcompany) on Jun 19, 2017 at 8:33am PDT

Without having to stress about renovations at Content., John and I has been focusing more time on our outside renovation and woodworking customers.

We had a great time renovating a friend's bathroom with new tile flooring, a shiplap ceiling, new ceiling and base board trim, and a custom vanity. I'm just realizing, I never went back to get a finish image after the painters were through.....

Matte black hexagon floor tile. Yes. Lots + lots of yes! #DandDBathroomMakeover

A post shared by john and courtney achilli (@contentandcompany) on May 24, 2017 at 10:19am PDT

And in a big push, before his 15th Annual "Man-Trip", John worked overtime to install:

• wood shelves and countertops
• custom entertainment unit
• a live-edge garden planter 
• a custom bathroom vanity

For us, the summer is just kicking off. Everyday we are so privileged to enjoy a luxury or gift thanks to Content. Most recently, John has been harvesting mulberries. 

I can't say I was a fan at first. "You mean those purple berries that stick to your shoes and stain the carpet?"

Our Mulberry tree is ready to harvest! Ok, it's actually our neighbor's tree. Technically it's stealing but some of the branches hang over the fence so we think of it more as community involvement. I teased John at first, but then a friend said she saw them at Whole Foods for $12lb, which immediately prompted me to run outside + filling every basket we own. Free is a powerful motivation. This morning I made Mulberry pancakes for breakfast 🥞and now John is making a Mulberry simple syrup for cocktails tonight! Anyone else enjoying their fruiting trees?

A post shared by john and courtney achilli (@contentandcompany) on Jun 17, 2017 at 8:23am PDT

But, John was on a mission to sway my perception. After mulberry pancakes and cocktails, I was sold!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer (so far)! There's still so much to do and so much to enjoy. Make the most of it!

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE (Week Four & Five): Annex Guest Room Makeover

Warning: Real life talk here... We've been working really hard these past 6 months. Like, REALLY hard. Ever since leaving our full-time jobs, John + I have been on a mission to make owning a business (several, in fact) work for us. 

I fully realize we are not the first people to disconnect from corporate America, so we don't view ourselves as revolutionaries, but it IS all new to us. And with that newness, comes stress and discomfort. And with that stress and discomfort, comes illness. For me, in the form of shingles. Cool.

If you were wondering where your 4th installment of the

Calling It Home

and

House Beautiful

One Room Challenge was last week, I'd say, hope of it's publication evaporated somewhere between the doctor's office and an oatmeal bath.

But now, with health restored, we're back on track! And, lucky you... This week is a double whammy - Week 4 and 5 combo update.

If you're just checking in, be sure to take a look back at

Week 1

,

Week 2

&

Week 3

.

Now, hold onto your calamine lotion, here we go!

First up is my favorite trip during any room design - my trip to Good Will! As a reminder, for this room, we're going for nostalgic, camp, outdoorsy feel.

Here's a refresher of my mood board for the #oneroomchallege:

Flea markets and second hand stores can be a HOT MESS. So, for me, I always remind myself of the mission. Try to stay on track. For instance, even if I came across a pair of amazing, purple velvet chairs, those would not be mission related...

(I might secretly go back for those purple, velvet chairs while John was napping, but that's another story)

My Good Will haul = $48

For this trip, I was looking for natural elements, shelf accents and pops of primary color. What I came home with is:

- set of bright red leather suit cases, plus one plaid and one light blue ($12)

- wooden birds ($7)

- rattan side table ($5)

- set of vintage tennis rackets ($10)

- white wooden coat hanger/shelf ($4)

- variety of shaped natural wreaths ($10)

I don't have a set "plan" for these items yet, but in my head I know that they remind me of my mood board, either in texture, color or feel.

These suitcases are vintage gold!

Thinking of doing a wall gallery of these natural wreaths...

Another shopping trip for this makeover was to Marshalls/Home Goods where I sources some linen curtains and three throw blankets for the cots, as well as a rug from Ocean State Job Lot - but I'm saving those for the big Week 6 reveal!

One of the more practical decisions, needed to be made for the Annex, was window treatments. Because this room will be used by guests, I needed to add privacy.

I had researched roller shades in the past, but never thought they were the right fit for a space here at Content.

Then, while planning the Annex, I kept coming back to them. The main reason is that they help resonate the nostalgic feel I was going for.

Most summer camps don't have more than a half, cafe curtain and rolling shade, so I thought this would be the perfect option.

Not to mention, they are SUPER affordable, and with four large windows, cost was certainly a factor.

Inside mount option

My roller shades are Levolor light reducing from Lowe's and with just one measurement (I confirmed at home), they are cut to size right in the store. The whole process took 10 minutes, and the final cost of the roller shades and hardware was less than $50 for all four windows.

They were also extremely easy to install. I chose an inside mount. All I needed was a pencil and a screwdriver. Now that's DIY at it's best!

For the record, I installed all 4 of these pieces upside down. The opening was corrected (by John who made fun of me) to face out for easy adjustment.

We have one final project that we'll push to complete this week. It involves some floating shelves and a new fireplace mantel, that John has just been too swamped to focus on. But, with only 1 more week to go, we're excited and can't wait for our big reveal!

Be sure to check out all the amazing

Guest Participants in the One Room Challenge here

!

And let us know what you think so far, by sharing your feedback below!

And be sure to follow along with us on

Instagram @contentandcompany

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE (Week Three): Annex Guest Room Makeover

All right folks, we're halfway through the Spring 2017 One Room Challenge hosted by

Calling It Home

and

House Beautiful

. And I know what you're thinking... "Um, Courtney, there's no furniture in your room?"

Well, of course there's not, silly, because Week 3 is all about PAINT.

Let's flashback on some

Week 1

and

Week 2

images, so you can see the hot mess we've gotten ourselves into.

To recap, we're making over an Annex guests room that is connected to the Great Room (living room) and Guest Suite 1.

Most of the time, the Annex will be used as an extension of Guest Suite 1 for families and friends traveling together through Airbnb. The rest of the time, the Annex will be transformed into an extension to the living space as our home is also used for special events.

The goal of this makeover is to create a semi-permanent, transformative (is that a real word?) solution for both needs.

In Week 2, we discussed our design process and got our creativity focused around this storyboard which is inspired by vintage camping and masculine earth-tones:

Then "we" got to work on painting!

OK, truth be told, "we" didn't get to much of anything. Out of all the hundreds of renovation projects we've tackled, on our own, here at Content., interior painting is not included on that list.

See, my father owns a painting and wallpapering business, and this is a service we are MORE than happy to pass along to his team. Specifically to his employee, Ebodio.

Now, here's the part where I failed. I ALWAYS take pictures of Ebodio painting.

Except, when he was painting the Annex... MAN!! Regardless of my lack in photo journalism, Ebodio is the best and made this drab yellow room, sparkle again!

The color we selected is Benjamin Moore 

HC-105 Rockport Gray

 and the trim, as with the rest of the house is Advanced White.

I think its interesting how this gray changes tone throughout the day. Sometimes it feels moody and deep, and othertimes its light and airy.

It's one of our favorite grays, by far.

While Ebodio was busy painting, I started researching a couple important pieces for this space. My biggest challenge is making the Annex have beds that aren't permanent, but are also comfortable.

The obvious choice was air mattresses, but personally, I dislike them. I find them uncomfortable and not realistic in the long run for our Airbnb guests.

Plus, I wanted to find a fun way of incorporating the camp theme.

My first thought was authentic, 1940s military cots, which I spent several evenings scouring the internet for. Ultimately, I ruled these out because I thought guests might perceive their rugged appearance, as dirty.

Then, I found beauties like these. But after a lot of comparison, I realized they are super narrow, not very sturdy and expensive!

Finally, I decided on these

Teton Deluxe Universal

folding camp cots. They are considered deluxe because they are rated for 300+ lbs and they are 85 inches long, so an adult could easily sleep here.

I was sad I couldn't incorporate a vintage or prettier option, but once I start adding bedding, the cot itself is mostly covered, so the compromise makes sense.

Then, I found these 3 inch,

Simmons memory foam mattresses

that fit these cots perfectly. Both the cots and the mattresses come with storage bags too, so when the space is being used for spacial events, I'll be able to stow them.

What do you think so far!? Be sure to share your feedback below!

And check out all of my fellow 

Guest Participants Week 3 updates here!

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE (Week Two): Annex Guest Room Makeover

Here at Content, Week Two of the One Room Challenge is in full swing! If you're just getting acquainted with the #oneroomchallenge, it's a 6-week event hosted by

Calling It Home

and

House Beautiful

where bloggers are tasked with the design, redesign or renovation of, get this, one room!

This is the 2nd installment of our Annex Guest Room Makeover update, and this week we're focused on PLANNING. If you need to back up,

here's the post from Week 1.

Here's the quick-step, design approach I call "CAPS" that I use on every space, including the Annex Guest Room Makeover:

(C)lear Out

As a visual learner, I often have a difficult time imagining a space, any other way than the way it already is. So, at the start of most makeovers, I remove any existing furniture, and try to look at the space with a fresh set of eyes. Clear the space, to make room for imagination (That's the cheesiest thing I've ever written)

First, clear out the space so you can envision the possibilities!

(A)ssess

Next, I assess a space's ultimate nature. I ask questions like: 

• How will this space be used?

• What emotions do I want the room to evoke?

• Does the room have existing, architectural details that should be showcased?

These questions may seem simplistic, but I've noticed that often, people rushed to create a "design forward" space (perhaps based on a favorite Pinterest tag), without REALLY stopping to think if the design will be functional, when tested day-to-day.

Answering these simple questions, from the start, will allow the feel and function of the room to emerge first, before you get you're heart set on a color scheme or piece of furniture.

Annex Guest Room Assessment:

How will this space be used? 

The Annex will be used 75% of the time as a guest room and 25% of the time as an extended living space. Nothing of the furniture in the room will be permanent, so the space can be functionally diverse.

What emotions do I want the room to evoke?

I want this space to feel natural and nostalgic, like summer camp. Overall, more masculine then feminine, but with a carefree, child-like whimsy.

Does the room have existing architectural details that should be showcased? 

The room has four, original historic windows that I will use to draw the eye in and up, and play into the nostalgia I am hoping to achieve.

(P)rocess

I suggest giving yourself plenty of time to process a design, allowing your plan to shift and change. For me, the essence of designing a space is allowing it to develop and grow organically.

This is helpful in a couple ways: 1.) It enables me to stay on budget & 2.) It keeps the design fun, and discourages disappointment.

There's nothing worse than getting your heart set on a (rug/light fixture/tile selection/couch) only to realize it's way out of your budget or on back-order for 6 month. 

(S)tory Board

In whatever manner suits you best, create a story board. My suggestion is to not be so literal. Limit the exact "accessories" on your board, and rather include images that reiterate the answers from Step 1's assessment.

Here's what I have in-store for the Annex Guest Room makeover! Does it feel nostalgic, masculine and whimsical?

Let me know what you think by commenting below and follow along with all the other

Guest Participants of the One Room Challenge! HERE