interior design – Francois et Moi

How to Turn Vintage Furniture into a Vanity

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 12:45:00 +0000

From thrifted desk to functional bathroom sink console! Here’s an in-depth look at how we turned an old, $40 piece of furniture into a vanity. Dreams really do come true! I’ve been fantasizing about turning a vintage piece of furniture into a vanity for over a year, and we finally made it happen! Not only is repurposing vintage furniture as bathroom vanities more cost effective than buying new, it’s also gentler on the planet. What was in this bathroom was a cookie cutter vanity, that I’m assuming was a quick band-aid for putting the house on the market. It’s served its purpose ok over the last 7+ years. However, the drain doesn’t work, the melamine wrap is coming off, and the back of the cabinet had been cut away inside, exposing the water lines, so as I mentioned in my bathroom progress post, every morning I’d wrestle with the pipes when reaching for my hair dryer. Last Fall I found this desk on Facebook Marketplace for $40. I love the classical details, the wood knobs and the shelf below. For the preservationists among us, don’t worry. This isn’t a precious antique. The drawer boxes (though dovetailed) are constructed of soft-ish […]

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Family Room Design Plan

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 03:10:27 +0000

An in-depth look at the family room design plan, including progress shots and the inspiration driving the design. I’ve been working hard pulling together the design plan for our new upstairs family room, since our tenant moving on at the beginning of August, so let’s start by walking through some of the spaces and elements that are inspiring the room’s design direction. Then keep scrolling for the family room’s floor plan and mood board! Before I even got started, I was already stuck. I just couldn’t decide what direction I wanted the design to move. Everything you see on social media seems to look the same. While I like this look, sometimes I think I like it because I’m confronted with it daily on social media. Basically, it’s trending, but is it really my authentic style? Does it suit this 1930’s Tudor-style house? Whenever I feel like I’m in a ‘design identity crisis’, I shut down Instagram, which can be distracting and overwhelming, and I take to my personal Pinterest boards, scrolling back through my images pinned over the course of a decade. It helps connect-the-dots to common threads in my tastes and preferences, helping me to reconnect with my […]

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Meet the Treehouse + Living Room Design Plan

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 19:03:24 +0000

Meet the Treehouse! Get to know my latest project updating my parent’s late 90’s lake home which we affectionately call, the Treehouse. You may have seen glimpses of The Treehouse on Instagram, but I’ve mostly been mums-the-word because its a project I’ve been working on slowly and surely with my parents. When Ken and I found out we were expecting, my parents starting looking to move from Northern Minnesota down just outside Minneapolis to be closer to their first grand-baby. They settled on a lake 45 minutes north of Minneapolis in a home built in the late 90’s, that we affectionately call ‘The Treehouse’. It’s an incredible location, very wooded and private with 3 decks that overlook the lake and make you feel as though you’re way up in the trees. However, the home itself needs some TLC. The previous owner didn’t keep up on the maintenance over the last 20 years, so my parents have been busy taking care of not-so-glamourous, but oh-so-necessary upgrades (that you cringe to spend $$ on because you don’t actually see or feel them. They’re more behind the scenes.) like repaving the driveway, repairing a leaky roof, replacing rotten windows and doors, etc. ETC. […]

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Our First-Ever Reader Makeover!

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 18:13:06 +0000

We’ve given one reader’s Minneapolis living room a facelift for Spring! Come see the transformation of this first-ever reader makeover! Today’s the day! It’s reveal day of the first-ever reader makeover I did with interior designer, Tasha Schultz of @tchotchkesdesignstudio ! You might remember we hosted a giveaway contest on Instagram in January and asked local readers to tag their living room spaces with #francoisXtchotch for a chance to win a makeover with a full size Loloi Rug,custom throw pillows, Tchotchkes Design Studio accessories, and professional styling, of course! BEFORE: Our Makeover Winner We had an overwhelming number of entries and it was SO hard to pick, but Terrae’s home was our winner in the end! Terrae, her husband, Jack, their two sweet kiddos, and Italian greyhounds live in South Minneapolis in a charming 1920’s era home. Their living room has such wonderful bones: beautiful hardwood floors, original brick fireplace, nice light grey walls, and neutral charcoal sofa, so our goal was to build on what they already have with layers of texture and color. Above is a look at the living room BEFORE. The Magic Tasha and I showed up at Terrae’s at 10am on makeover day each […]

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12 Interiors Books for Your Inspiration Arsenal

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 14:00:42 +0000

In the age of Pinterest, which can sometimes feel like inspiration overload, I’m gravitating more and more toward tangible paper books. Every year I put interiors books on my Christmas wish list because they’re often an investment, especially the large, hardcover variety. I’ve pulled together a list of my favorite design books: some I own and others I’ve paged through at friends’ homes or the bookstore and am dying to get my hands on. Not only are these books an inspiration resource, but they’re also amazing home accessories and styling tools. (i.e. a stack on your coffee table or giving height to a short vase on a console.) Do you have any favorite design books you’re either coveting or already treasuring? Please do share! Living with Light by Axel Vervoordt The New Chic by Marie Kalt Perspective by Steven Gambrel Dream Design Live by Paloma Contreras Simplicity by Nancy Braithwaite A Slice of England by India Hicks Monochrome Home by Hilary Robertson The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair Interior by Joseph Dirand Hygge & West Home by Christiana Coop & Aimee Lagos A Place to Call Home by Gil Schafer III A Point of […]

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Luxe + Lillies’ Minimal & Serene Nursery

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 14:00:46 +0000

It’s my absolute pleasure to share with you the newly completed nursery of brand strategist & the brains behind Luxe + Lillies, Keely Hirschmann. Keely and I first connected through Instagram and bonded over our 1-month-apart due dates + a mutual love for crisp, minimal design. She’s the kind of person, where 5 minutes into meeting her, you feel like you’ve already been friends your entire life. One afternoon over lunch in late December, she showed me an iPhone snap of how her nursery was coming together, and my knee jerk response was to ask if I could share the space on Francois et Moi. I love the minimalist approach Keely took with clean, white walls and furnishings, balanced with natural textures and playful accents. What a lucky baby, wouldn’t you say? I hope you have as much fun as I have exploring the nursery and learning a bit about Keely and her design inspiration for the room! First up, tell us a little bit about your brand-strategy background and blog: Luxe + Lillies? How did you get into brand-strategy? What do you hope readers take away from your site? I started Luxe + Lillies what feels like ages ago […]

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Before & After: Creating a Small-Space Guestroom with method

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 18:20:20 +0000

See how we created a guestroom within our office using a murphy bed. Click for the full before & after! Baby Girl Francois is well on her way to taking over our current guestroom come February, and with 3 bedrooms in our home: our bedroom, my office/studio, and the soon-to-be-nursery, we had to figure out a way to accommodate overnight guests comfortably without resorting to our living room sofa (our only sofa) as the royal sleeping chambers. After much ‘what-the-heck-are-we-going-to-do-with-our-guest-bed-situation?‘ discussion, Ken and I concluded that our only real option was to add a bed to my current office and turn it into a multi-use space by re-configuring the layout. I tossed in the idea of doing a murphy bed, because I had one in my tiny first apartment post-college, and they’re such a smart space saver. The way it folds up into itself when not in use, giving me nearly the same amount of space in my office to work on large projects as I originally had, was just too tempting to pass up! It’s no secret that big projects like these can get messy: from parts and pieces scattered everywhere throughout the house to fugitive dust bunnies unearthing […]

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Upgrade Your Everyday with These Design-Driven Homewares

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 13:00:55 +0000

When you purchase a home for the first time, you’re not just buying a home, you’re also in for several smaller purchases needed to either take care of your home or make it useable, like a lawn mower or maybe new accessories for a 2nd bathroom that you didn’t have when renting. Since purchasing our duplex last year, I’ve tried to put more thought into the things I’m bringing into our home, even for those everyday things like a laundry hamper. I mean if there’s a pretty, design-savvy option within your budget, then why not go for the option with some style?! I think it makes using these typically boring items more enjoyable. Not to mention, if it’s a pretty laundry hamper, then I’m more okay leaving it on display, when guests come over. (Less last minute scrambling for me when trying to hide the full plastic laundry basket!) With all this in mind, I’ve rounded up several design-driven homewares that make great alternatives to mundane daily-use items. Cheers to making our everyday just a little bit more fun! 1. Power Cable 2. Laundry Hamper 3. Japanese Scissor Set 4. Brass Towel Bar 5. Brass Strainer Set 6. Bottle […]

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DIY du Jour: Media Consoles

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 19:01:00 +0000

My living room is one of those spaces that’s an enigma to space plan. It’s long and narrow, there needs to be a clear traffic flow from the front door to the dining room, it’s our main living space, and we own a sectional… Needless to say I’ve had the furniture in quite a few arrangements and after a year of living in our home, I think I’ve found a layout that works for us. I’ll make sure to share the solution we landed on once the room is put together! Now that the dust has settled from the game of musical furniture we’ve been playing in our living room, I want to mount the tv on the wall (in true grown-up living room fashion), and so I’m on the hunt for a media console with more height to it than the train cart we’re currently using as our tv stand, which only measures about 15″ high. While doing some research to figure out whether to buy or DIY, I came across some do-it-yourself-er projects that not only have the look, but have the price too–many of them coming in around $100! There are some amazing DIY consoles out there: […]

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6 Modern Wall Sconces Under $75 + A Tiny Announcement

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 17:41:42 +0000

If you guys follow along on Instagram, then you already know that my husband and I are expecting for the first time! We’re crazy excited and (a little nervous!) about this new important role as someone’s mom and dad that we’re about to assume. Here’s a little peek at the photo announcement. Hop over to Instagram for more details! Before the baby arrives in February, Ken and I have several updates and changes we need to make happen in our home, including turning our current guest bedroom into a nursery, and carving out a new guest room space in my current blog studio. We only have 3 bedrooms in this beautiful Tudor so something’s gotta give! We’re kicking things off by getting the blog room/guest room sorted out, and I’ll be showing you the concept for the space soon, but as I was pulling everything together, I came across several extremely affordable modern wall sconces that were just too good to share. So in case you need a little ambient light in your life, (and let’s face it who doesn’t?) you can make it happen without too much bank account heartache! Ranarp || Brady || Iron Clad || […]

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Designer Tips for Mixing Interior Styles

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 17:51:37 +0000

When it comes to interior design, incorporating a mix of styles often leads a more interesting, soulful, and evergreen space that helps to reflect our true personalities, more so than say, a space outfitted with a matching set of furniture. I think we can all agree that the matchy-matchy look has long worn out its welcome, but mixing interior styles can be hard to pull off. Luckily, Claire Staszak, my designer/blogger friend behind Centered by Design, is back (Remember when she stopped by this Spring?) to help de-mystify things a bit and show us three distinctly different spaces where she’s created a successful mix of styles, why it works, and where to source the key pieces. Oooh, this is going to be fun! Shall we get started? Claire’s Design Approach: “There is no perfect formula to creating a beautiful space, because what everyone enjoys and feels comfortable with is different, but I have found in my design work, that mixing three key elements helps me achieve the eclectic and “just can’t put your figure on it” wonderful that I’m usually striving for.” Those three elements are a mixture of: Modern (New) Vintage (Found) Handmade (Commissioned) Boho Glam Mélange […]

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Throw Pillows: A Guide to Sizing & Inserts

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:40:54 +0000

It’s no secret I love throw pillows. I think most interior enthusiasts do! They can be the pièce de résistance that makes a room feel finished, as well as easily switched out to change the whole feeling of the space. As a former interior designer + several years experience running an industry fabric showroom under my belt I’m quite familiar with pillow talk. If you’re thinking about purchasing or DIY-ing pillows for the change of seasons, you may want to check out the guidelines below to make sure they look their best! Types of Inserts: Feather & Down – Down fills are typically best as they’re all around loftier, and can be fluffed overtime to maintain their shape and volume. Tip: The more down content there is in the feather/down ratio, the better! Synthetic Spun Polyester – Think craft store inserts. Synthetic fiberfill is generally a lesser quality insert as they flatten, lose their shape, and become lumpy overtime. I almost never use them, except for in these tufted pillows! In this case, the synthetic insert stayed in place and proportional in the pillow better than down would have. Down Alternative – Though down alternative is technically still polyester fill, […]

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