NESTY THINGS / HILLSIDE SCHOOLHOUSE

I've been meaning to show you a few of the photos we took of the space we stayed in up in the Catskills ever since we got back last month! We stayed at the Hillside Schoolhouse in Barryville, NY, which was put together and maintained by Bronson Bigelow, owner + innkeeper + all around badass furniture designer. From the moment we stepped in the front door we were just beside ourselves. We couldn't get over how beautiful it was. Brandon kept pestering me to take photos for future study. "We are doing our new apartment like THIS!" he bellowed. 

Aye aye, sir!  

Now that we more or less have the lay of the land out here--you know, we know where to buy + store the peanut butter, Huck's got his preschool all lined up--we're ready to figure out this space we've got. It's pretty raw, and the options seem almost endless right now, so to battle the enormity we've been looking through some of our favorite inspirations to try and narrow things down a bit. I promised Brandon we would make decisions s-l-o-w-l-y. We have wall builders on speed dial and a killer contractor friend ready to rig us up a fancy loft or Murphy bed situation for us, all we have to do is, like, figure it out, and make sure we're sure before we start. The way Bronson handled his space, which is roughly the same size + layout as ours (not to mention we have kind of the exact same aesthetic) (though his ceilings are way higher than ours), has been super instructive. He really nailed that balance between space and proportion, keeping function high while obviously putting form as a priority, and that isn't always easy to pull off. Bronson was just cool all around. He stayed late one night chatting with us about all kinds of everything (we kind of invited him along to pretty much everything we did, hah!), and so it is with his blessing that we're pretty much going to rip his ideas off 100%, haha.

A few of the photos I took at Brandon's insistence :)...

The staircase leading up to the bedrooms. Because it was a one-room schoolhouse in its former life (and also, for a while, a church), the ceilings were completely open, soaring to the heavens (well, to the bell, anyway). Bronson was able to rig up a second level for two bedrooms while keeping plenty of ceiling height on the main floor, something we wish we could do here, though we'd be lucky to eek out enough space for a bed.

The dining area. The main entrance is in that hallway there in the center of the room, and the kitchen is the room on the right, next to the window. A bathroom is just out of frame on the left. Unlike the schoolhouse kitchen, ours is rather large, which is really exciting! I might finally get back into the habit of cooking every night like I did in Idaho! Except we totally wish we could swap out some of that kitchen space for something else. Grass is always greener, blah blah blah. (I'm using half of the kitchen cupboards to store my clothes, this is how big our kitchen is. Better clothes storage is top on my list of things to tackle in here. Seriously, this has been so so so much fun, I am in nesting heaven over here.)

(Bronson made the table, the chairs you can find here.)

Coolest part of the weekend was enjoying Bronson's handpicked iTunes playlists and vinyl collection. A couple board games, too, though look, I'm sorry Brandon, I don't do board games. (We played Sorry! for all of five minutes before Huck and I were like, KILL US NOW. Poor Brandon.)

Bronson said he got his enormous Chesterfields (seriously, enormous) through Horchow (here and here), but most of the furniture he made himself, either from reclaimed materials or by repurposing existing pieces into something else. He uses the Schoolhouse as a combination inn and showroom, so, you can buy just about anything in there, which is probably the coolest concept ever. (You can also buy online here.)

Bronson told me he got this amazing wool blanket on the super cheap from the Army/Navy Surplus store online. (Amazing stuff over there, hoooooly cowwww.)

The chalkboards surrounding the room are the original slate chalkboards from its schoolhouse days. Pretty rad. 

The view out the window. 

The kitchen! That black backsplash is giving me ideas. Chalkboard vinyl is pretty cheap on Amazon... How great is that bib sink though! Ugh. (I think I remember Bronson saying he used Ikea to put this one together?)

The entry. Original stained glass! The chairs on the left are the original pews from the schoolhouse's time as a church. Swoon! (I have never liked that word.)

The bedroom. 

And bath! I already can't remember where Bronson said he got the wallpaper. Twig & Thistle? Something like that?

Sincerely, I'd like to move in. 

As we comb through all the different inspirational homes + photos we come across while making our final decisions up in here, hoping for maximum storage + livability + awesomeness, I'd love to share with you here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

xoooooooooox