THE FINAL REVEAL- MELANIE BURSTIN'S HOME MAKEOVER WITH EMILY HENDERSON

Well we gave you the lead in a few months back, but we never showed you the final reveal of Melanie Burstin's home makeover featured on Emily's blog.

It seems fitting to do that now, since Melanie was my very first design assistant extraordinaire and worked with me for a couple of years before moving on to Emily's firm and then most recently branching out on her own as a fully fledged designer.  Exciting Mel!

So here are all the "befores" and the glorious "afters."  Yes, that's a Clad Home custom walnut wood sofa that we designed while Mel was still at Clad and RBD.

Mel is the queen of effortless California cool with her neutral palettes and penchant for mid-century design.

Also pretty excited to let you know that Mel's boyfriend Blake Beaudette is a talented contemporary potter (notice all of his great pieces filling their bookshelves)  and we now carry his original works in Clad Home!

That's a pretty great apartment Mel!  

Congratulations on your new solo career, we know you'll go far!

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FOLLOW MELANIE BURSTIN'S HOME MAKEOVER WITH EM HENDERSON!

So the first design assistant I hired when I came back to work after pregnancy and maternity leave 5 years ago was this cool girl named Melanie Burstin, a young actress and comedienne from NYC who'd been running an art gallery in Beverly Hills and really wanted to transition into the world of interior design.  She made the bold and gutsy move of cold calling (actually I think it was an email I received) a bunch of interior designers around town whose worked she loved.  Her ambition and fearlessness paid off, we met for coffee one day, and the rest is history! 

Mel spent a few years learning the ropes at RBD, and quickly became completely essential as we grew the business exponentially when we transitioned from a small, tucked away design studio in Silverlake to our flagship store Clad Home on Melrose Ave in East Hollywood.  I could NOT have done all of that without Mel, no way no how.

So it was exciting for all of us when Mel's next career step after RBD was straight into a job with superstar designer Emily Henderson.  Pretty cool, right? Total follow-your-dreams success story.

Now Melanie is an EHD and Homepolish designer and her own stylish apartment is about to be featured in the Makeover Takeover series on the EHD blog.  We're psyched because of course Mel remains loyal to our line of Clad Home custom furnishing for all her projects, and we love to see her work her magic with our stuff!   

Here's the mood board for her newly re-designed living room (hey what's up with that super unique and different wood frame sofa?  A Clad Home original, ya'll!)

A couple of other gorgeous Melanie Burstin-designed spaces showcasing Clad Home sofas...

Follow along with Melanie's Makeover Takeover here!  (We'll post the progress updates as they unfold.) 

xoxo,

A HOMEPOLISH GENTLEMAN'S BATHROOM: BEFORE & AFTER REVEAL

Recently I gave you the behind-the-scenes scoop on the Homepolish tour of a luxe master bath remodel we did.  

Part 2 of that project was actually a second, smaller bath that was connected to the master, which never made much sense in the scheme of things.  Why have 2 full baths connected by a doorway?  No need.  So we walled over the door between the two rooms and gave bath #2 a distinct personality all it's own.

  [ ORIGINAL LAYOUT ]

[ REVISED LAYOUT ]

It started off feeling SO small and dark and cramped.  The walled-off shower blocked all sight lines and broke up the whole space.  The vanity was oddly long for a single sink.  And obviously the pink tile and retro cabinets were original to the 1930s home.

This room had no windows or natural light so we opted for lots of bright white tile anchored by charcoal floors and matte black hardware.  Rubbed brass accents and the warm wood tone of the custom walnut vanity warm the palette.  

Whenever I'm working with a windowless space I try, if at all possible, to steal some light from adjacent rooms.  In this case we changed out the solid wood panel in the bathroom door for an opaque glass panel that lets light in from the adjoining bright office.  (In a different project we employed my fave trick of adding transom windows above the door, the perfect fix for windowless rooms or for letting some light spill into dark corridors.)    

My favorite part of this space is the way the styling brought it to life. The bathroom is currently the domain of the homeowner's teenage son, so we ran with the vibe of a gentleman's bath.

Here it is pre-styling.  Still a nice crisp look ...

But not nearly as interesting as after some stylish and masculine apothecary-style accessories.  Loving this look ...

  

We lucked out because it just so happens that our friend Alfredo is co-creator of Brooklyn Grooming, a line of men's grooming products (I think they now make stuff for women too thank God) that places as much emphasis on the artistry of the packaging as it does on the quality of the artisanal ingredients. Alfredo hooked us up and his goodies literally upped our game in this bathroom by about 1000%.

via Brooklyn Grooming 

via Brooklyn Grooming 

via Brooklyn Grooming

Alfredo hand draws the beautifully designed labels and believe me, this is countertop 

clutter you can feel good about.  I'm thinking father's day, you guys!

via Brooklyn Grooming

Just like in the master bath, the floor tile is a matte finish, dark grey concrete tile from Arto Brick, but this time in a more masculine linear geometric pattern than the curvy scallop shape we used next door. 

And that's a wrap on this double bathroom remodel.  If you like seeing these bathroom transformations, our current Homepolish #altadenaspanishmodern project includes entire overhauls of no fewer than 4 bathrooms in one house, so stay tuned!

xoxo, SOURCES: Floor Tile: Arto Brick Vanity: Custom Towel Ring: Rejuvenation Accessories & Grooming Products: Brooklyn Grooming Black & White Print: Marc Royce Vanity Sconce: Restoration Hardware

CLAD HOME: THE BIG OL' BEFORE & AFTER REVEAL!

Hey guess what?  We're nearing our 1-year anniversary of the opening of Clad Home and I'm FINALLY circling back to do a proper REVEAL of the remodel and creation of our retail space!   When it all began, this place bore more resemblance to a carnival fun house than a furniture showroom.  I mean ... huh!??

I can't really explain to you what was happening here since I never actually saw the establishment, a vintage clothing store, that was in this space before me.  But I will tell you they must have been extremely committed in order to glue those hundreds of yards of frothy tulle and satin all over the ceiling ...

BUT, you know the adage ... good bones!  The ceilings were high, the natural light was abundant, and the exterior of the building was a lovely and classic 1930s row of storefronts with pretty plaster details and really great neighboring local shops.  

And since we're slummin' it over here on the east end of Melrose Ave, the rent was actually kind of affordable for a first time LA store owner who'd never even worked a retail job and had no earthly idea if her hairbrained furniture showroom notion was going to work out.  So naturally, we dove right in :) The first thing that had to happen was operation de-froth.  Completely and utterly strip the walls, ceilings, and floors down to bare concrete, plaster.  Never underestimate the power of a fresh coat of white paint.   

Then we reorganized the floorplan a bit by turning the existing small dressing room into a storage closet and putting up a full-height wall to create a separate office in the rear third of the space.  We even kept a little storage loft in back for overflow storage and inventory.                           Before...                                                                                        After...                       

We've got high ceilings, so of course I employed my favorite old trick of putting a transom window above the door for more height and light and style.  This isn't even a real transom, just a random fixed single window that I found on Craigslist and turned on it's side.  It doesn't need to open, it doesn't need any hardware, it just needs to sit there and look pretty.  Easy peasy.  Love me some black trim against white walls too, and pretty sure I always will.

The old bathroom was a nasty mess and needed all new everything.  Remember my original design plan?

The fun patterned ceramic tile from Overstock.com looks like authentic encaustic cement tile but cost way less.  The walls got a wainscot of white subway tile with a thin black pencil trim chair rail.  Painting the bathroom door and window black gave it a shot of drama and contrasting brass hardware provided the finishing touch.  It's simple and utilitarian, but also classic and pretty.

                               Before ...                                                                               After ...

The water closet was too small to accommodate a hand washing sink, so we designed a cool-looking utility sink that wouldn't look too much like a bathroom sink or be an eyesore in the back office.  A simple iron bracket supports the marble countertop (a remnant found on Craigslist) and deep ceramic sink with exposed plumbing pipes below. 

(In the end we had to install a small water heater on the wall beneath the sink which sort of jacked up my design, but shit happens, reality sometimes intervenes, and you roll with it.)

At last we got our signage up and started bringing in the merchandise!  Here's my small but mighty associate who spent a ton of time last summer helping mama set up shop ...

And my electrician, about to install the fabulous custom light fixtures made for us by Park Studio.

 And then ... ta da!  We opened up shop on May 1st 2015!

And since this is the Rosa Beltran Design studio as well as a store, we have a great big command center / work desk towards the back where all the toil happens, as we bask in the beauty of fabulous urban LA photography by the likes of local artists Marc Royce and Jon Rex Cueto.

I think back to just over a year ago when I first had the inkling that I would open Clad Home, and I'm astounded and amazed and gratified and feel just tremendously lucky that this little enterprise has not only succeeded but exceeded all of my expectations.  

We love our customers and are loved in return, in no small part because we really strive to keep our selection broad and eclectic yet approachable, and our prices people friendly.  "Design for the people" has become our slogan because we think everyone should have access to great design at a great pricepoint.  

And that, my friends, is a what they call a wrap. Thank you for coming along on our journey.  Clad Home is open daily 11-6, and we look forward to seeing you there!

xoxo