A Boathouse Makeover with The Frame + Shop The Look

Today I’m VERY happy to share with you the makeover of a 100 year old Boathouse, the fourth episode/post created with Samsung all about Reframing spaces. If you’ve been following along you’ve seen the Greenhouse, Barn and Barge and today is the final Boathouse makeover. The blog posts have been long and epic, and the film series have been pretty beautiful. Today’s content is no exception. For each episode/makeover I partnered with a different designer/content creator to transform the space. Kate, founder of Wit and Delight, was the first name they dropped and while they pulled together the rest of the roster, I felt good knowing that she would be involved.  I’ve been a fan of her brand/blog/personality for a long time and knew that she had good taste and what seemed like a great easy going/not taking herself too seriously personality (and the perception was correct, I’ve got a real talent at reading people via the internet).

Our challenge would be to take this old Boathouse, whose previous function was to house, uh, boats right on a lake and turn it into a weekend family retreat. Kate is pregnant with her second child. I have two young-ins myself. So we get the whole ‘needing some escape’ time thing and designing with that in mind wouldn’t be a challenge.

The video, done by alkemy X under creative direction of Barbarian is just so beautiful. We shoot a lot of makeover videos in-house as you know, but the production was feature film quality and I’m so proud of it.

Besides, this dreamy Boathouse would be sufficient …

I took this with my phone a couple days before we started this project, at 7am, and couldn’t believe how breathtaking it was. Every morning the steam just sat on the water like that and created such a dreamy effect. I’ve written about this before, but the reason I did this campaign wasn’t for the money, although obviously I get paid for work. It was for the locations – THAT LOCATION, the experience, new portfolio work and to be able to finally showcase the world’s most beautiful TV in unpredictably beautiful locations.

Imagine being a designer and someone showing you that photo, saying ‘Please design this Boathouse however you want … in 3 days, with no client and only a few creative restrictions’. It’s why we start our careers, why we do low/no-paying portfolio work for years, …. in hopes of someday working on projects like this.

The inside was super simple and mostly original, of which we wouldn’t really change, and it was full of rustic charm and soul.

Kate and I chatted on the phone about the design plan and both loved the idea of a coastal vibe, mixing modern with antiques and keeping it super casual and rustic, yet fresh. We could tap into our inner granny if we were careful, and definitely wanted to bring a bit of upstate cabin in there. This wouldn’t be Palm Beach coastal or The Hamptons, but instead more of a country coastal or a casual coastal. It was meant for weekend retreats with friends and families, not formal parties with strangers.

Since Kate has a background in design, too, and she has a lot of the same contacts that I do (plus I was already on set working on the other two and slammed) she took the lead on creating the initial mood board. She sent me boards and I gave feedback and edited based on my first hand knowledge of the location – YAY FOR ACTUALLY SEEING A SPACE BEFORE INSTALL DAY. After a couple quick rounds, here is where she/we landed.

Ish. We pulled from some of our favorite resources that were willing to loan for the shoot – Which I can’t thank enough – I’m talking to you Serena and Lily, Dash and Albert, MQuan, Pom Pom at Home, Canvas Home, Louise Gray, Interior Define, Article, Rejuvenation, West Elm, Rebecca Atwood. Then sourced anything else from rental houses in New York.

Once we removed all the stuff, it really was a great space with two big sources of natural light and a lot of wood – of which we planned to leave untouched.

If you’d been reading along you’ve heard the stress in my voice on the other three – The greenhouse was the first with virtually no prep time, the barge was sight unseen and totally a mystery until the day of install (where we had to change from being a full makeover to a gallery space) and the barn was HUGE and daunting with all the resources and pieces involved.

But this one… this one was the easiest to get our brains around. Obviously a HUGE part of it being less stressful is sharing the design responsibility with Kate. It wasn’t me presenting to her the plan/pieces in hopes that she liked it, she knew the four rugs we had to play with because she was the one that ordered them.

There was also no construction on this one, which saved us a full day and let us style a bit longer and gave a couple more hours of freedom. For makeovers like these I am going to have to start bringing a timelapse go-pro because seeing it all come together like in the video below is pretty satisfying and although it looks like it came together pretty seamlessly – IT WAS STILL A SCRAMBLE. 

But after two days of styling we finished up this lovely space, and boy were we proud of it.

It’s such a happy retreat and turned out even better than we had planned. It really came together and felt full of soul and comfort. We started by dividing up the space into zones, creating one major seating area in the middle big enough for 10 people to gather around. The key to making this Boathouse inviting was to bring in softness through textiles and furniture. The large, low sectional from Interior Define on a big cozy rug from Dash and Albert softened the room so much – especially since the floor was the original cement.

This space had a lot of innate rustic charm but furnishing it to be functional and feel fully addressed was more of a challenge. We borrowed or rented so much extra furniture that we ended up using because the space turned out to be so much bigger than we thought. I love how eclectic it turned out. Kate fought for that blue floral antique ‘granny’ chair and I’m so glad that she did.

The hits of wicker help keep it young and contrast so well with the modern boxiness of the sofa. We added super affordable roman shades from Ikea on the windows to help them feel a bit more polished. Those shades are a super great solution if you are on a budget, but obviously may not last through a lot of rough daily usage.

The round leather ottoman  from Article was the perfect piece for this sectional and space. Sometimes sectionals are tricky because you feel like they want a rectangle but often can’t fit one, and a square can work but it’s a lot of squared off corners. A large round piece often solves the problem as it sure did here. The leather added warmth and brought in different finish than linen.

Yes I’d like to be there. Ugh, that wicker chaise is so dreamy, with those sheepskin rugs from Article and baskets from Serena and Lily. It’s all just ridiculous.

The MQuan hanging ceramic piece is just so stunning and was quite perfect there. We borrowed so many pieces from her for this shoot and I want to own all of them. They are peppered around the room (next to the tv, above the cabinet in dining room, etc) and they really took the space to the next level.

Now for the reason that we are here – The Frame TV from Samsung. We’ve shown it to you on a studio stand displaying a painting, in a floor to ceiling art installation displaying original pieces or more modern illustrations, a gallery wall displaying fine photography, and this time we want to show you how you can of course upload your own family photo or photos to The Frame.

Kate had taken those photos with her smartphone (crazy, right?) of a weekend she had recently with her family. Obviously we thought they were so beautiful and of course appropriate for the location.

A few reminders about The Frame :

If you are new to this series then there are few things you should know:

• The Frame comes stocked with one hundred pieces of curated art, with the option to purchase hundreds more – an inventory that is constantly being added to by gallery curators. It includes every medium and style – drawings, paintings, illustrations, and photography. It’s not your standard wallpaper or screensaver. This stuff is good.
• You can upload your own art or family photos – like we did here. Heck, you could do your kid’s art.
• With one button it goes from Art Mode to TV mode. Literally, you just hit one button on their tiny white remote – it’s not magic, but my goodness is it magical.

• Yes it’s a normal Smart TV, with 4k definition and can play everything from live events to Netflix marathons.
• You have 4 customizable frame options (essentially the frame of The Frame): black (standard – how it comes), white, beige wood and walnut. We chose beige wood in this episode.
• The way it’s installed allows for you to move it slightly if your walls/ceilings aren’t exactly square/level – so mounting your TV perfectly level just got a whole lot easier.
• It sits flush to the wall like a picture frame. Unlike most wall mounted TVs that stick out 4-6″, this rests on the wall just like you’ve hung a piece of art (it’s hung on a cleat).

The reasons for its greatness are vast and i’m unsure what is my favorite. I suppose the #1 reason to opt for this TV is because it looks like a piece of art due to the small bevel, flush mounting and high quality imagery display. We’ve been waiting decades for this TV and I sure am not disappointed.

I know that most of you are convinced of the greatness of the product and no need to rush out and replace your perfectly good TV. But if you are in the market, I obviously recommend The Frame with all of my heart, with every ounce of my soul, with all the confidence of a designer who has been plagued by the ‘black box’ for too many years.

Let the revolution begin. Take back your living room. Save your marriage. This TV is the future and thank God it’s not in our present (and comes smaller now!!! – 43”, 55” and 66” which is what we used in the makeovers).

Now for the rest of the room. Although before I move from the bookshelf shot I wanted to point out that the shelf was actually the same shelf we used in the barn, just repainted. I don’t remember what we had planned for that wall, under the TV but I think it was going to be boring and since the TV would be our money shot and the reason we were all there, we needed it to feel special so even though it’s a simple bookshelf it was a great scale for the TV and the books added a lot of warmth and character to that side of the room.

It was such a magical room to be in, with the water reflection bouncing off the ceiling.

The dining area was such a lovely place to be. It was literally right on the water, feet away from this gorgeous lake.

If it’s not clear yet you should know that I am a lake/river kind of person. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the beauty of the ocean, but much prefer the intimacy and the trees that surround a lake in the mountains like this. This is my dream location – calm clean water in which to wade and fish but no tide or sharks.

We mixed two Ikea chairs with the even more casual folding bamboo director chairs, along a chippy paint, dare I say ‘shabby chic?’ rented dining table.

The quilted flag by Louise Gray was the perfect ‘modern nautical’ piece for the Boathouse. I’ve been a huge fan of her work for a while and was so happy to be able to use it in a shoot, finally. The pendant light  is a modern farmhouse/industrial piece from Ikea (crazy cheap) and that beautiful rug is from Dash and Albert. We mixed a few different rugs in this room and they all looked great together (see product board at the end).

We brought in my favorite Target Cabinet and stocked it full of pretty dishes from Canvas Home for entertaining. I love how it reflected the water and brought a lot of movement to that side of the room.

The herringbone table lamp and brass mirror are also from Target, next to the MQuan Ceramic Chain Links and Blue Stripe Vase. We were shooting so fast (2 hours at sunrise, before crew got there and 2 hours after they wrapped) so there are so many tiny little details I wish I had time to fix – the seam on the lampshade, the fact that the teapot and the pitcher lines up, the slightly dead branches … it just kills me, and of course I feel compelled to point them out, but it does not diminish my love for this amazing space. And a huge thank you to Genevieve and Brady for scrambling with me to get these shots before sunset.

This last vignette wasn’t planned, but once we got the sectional in there we realized we had a decent amount of space behind it in which to fill.

So we did what anyone would do – added a vintage peacock chair, some fur and a classic console full of books and pretty accessories.

We layered the article sheepskin pelts over a simple Target rug and added a couple lamps.

We addressed the outside, mostly because I wanted to get some pretty shots of that gorgeous location. We kept it simple with some wicker chairs, textiles, lanterns and plants.

The location was a dream. Working with Kate was just wonderful. I know you might not believe this but I LOVED working with every single one of the designers/bloggers/artists in different ways. Our job is weird and while I hang out with other content creators in LA I rarely meet so many of them in person whom I follow online. Kate (and all of them) is such a smart, hardworking and creative person that knows what she is doing and yet admits that she doesn’t (because let’s face it, none of us know what we are doing in this crazy world of social content).

But I look pretty cool and collected here. I’m sitting by a lake, finished with four pretty massive makeovers super satisfied with wrapping up this job.

A huge thanks to Barbarian (Peet and Lee you creative genius’ and Joe, Jennifer, Emily, Alex, Junghoon, and Nicole) for thinking up and executing this inspiring campaign for a TV.

But then again, I think i’ve proven over the course of these episodes that it’s not just a TV. The Frame is art and function, beauty and technology and can turn any space into a place to hang – even a Boathouse, on a lake without making it a “TV room”. In fact, I’d say that perhaps with the invention of The Frame that the “TV room” is dead and moot. Sure you can have a room that is more comfortable, more cozy with lots of deep seating. But by this piece of technology looking like a piece of art or (or family photo) and yet having 4k smart TV functions it really can work anywhere.

I’m so happy to announce that ONE of you will win a 65″ The Frame (just like you have seen in all the makeovers)!!!! Comment on today’s instagram, facebook or blog post with the hashtag #EHDTheFrame and tell us where you would put it. If you want any extra entry screenshot the photo from today’s instagram and repost it to your insta feed (make sure to use the hashtag so we can track your entry). We’ll choose a winner on Wednesday, December 6th, and reach out to them directly.

*Many of our favorite companies loaned for this 3 day shoot an we’d love to thank them. Serena and Lily, Dash and Albert, MQuan, Pom Pom at Home, Canvas Home, Louise Gray, Interior Define, Article, Rejuvenation, West Elm, Rebecca Atwood.

**A huge thanks to our photographer Geneieve Garruppo for taking such beautiful after photos, with us in such a short amount of time.

***And thank you to the always wonderful Agata Helena for the beautiful hair and makeup.

****Video by alkemy X, directed by EJ McLeavy-Fisher.

*****The ‘ReFrame Your Space’ campaign is the genius of Barbarian. Thanks to everyone on their crew that made this such a wonderful creative experience.

1. Rattan Side Table | 2. White Tassel Throw | 3. Marble Tray | 4. Sofa | 5. Homer Rug | 6. ‘X’ Quilt | 7. Leather Coffee Table | 8. Natural Stripe Floor Pillow | 9. Blue Floor Pillow | 10. Blue Ombre Pillow | 11. Dash Stripe Pillow | 12. Samsung The Frame TV | 13. Wood Hook | 14. Ceramic Beads | 15. Peacock Chair (similar) | 16. Ceramic Wall Hanging (similar) | 17. Blue Woven Rug | 18. Sheepskin | 19. Large Brass Round Mirror | 20. Marble Stripe Pillow | 21. Natural Throw Blanket | 22. Wood Floor Lamp | 23. Pink Velvet Pillow (similar) | 24. Stripe Lumbar Pillow | 25. Wicker Stool | 26. Blue Wicker Basket Set | 27. Dinner Plate | 28. Bowl | 29. Mug | 30. Pendant Light | 31. Blue Stripe Vase | 32. Ceramic Links (similar) | 33. Sun and Moon Pillow | 34. White Stripe Throw | 35. Gray Table Lamp | 36. 6″ Brass Candlestick (similar) | 37. 9″ Brass Candlestick (similar) | 38. 3″ Brass Candlestick (similar) | 39. Dining Table (similar) | 40. Fabric Dining Chair | 41. Stripe Throw | 42. Dot and Dash Pillow | 43. folding bamboo director chairs (similar) | 44. Tan Rug | 45. Brass Mirror | 46. Wicker Basket | 47. Herringbone Table Lamp | 48. Library Cabinet