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When Brittany Jepsen, the blogger behind The House That Lars Built, first met interior designer Meta Coleman while working on a photo shoot, they were dressed almost identically. The two quickly bonded over their shared style and love of color, and Jepsen knew immediately that it was Coleman who would help pour personality into the gutted home she purchased in Utah during the height of the pandemic. The pair tackled the primary bathroom first, injecting it with Jepsen’s maximalist style. And Coleman was never even given a formal brief: She had Jepsen complete a style questionnaire and knew the direction of the room almost at once. Here’s a look at a few of the bold design details.
Start Simple
Jepsen and Coleman allowed this 1940s Josef Frank wallpaper to dictate the rest of the palette. To keep the room from feeling too fussy, they paired the vintage floral with a sleek Art Deco light fixture and contrasting trim. “You have to find a balance between having fun with it but not making it look like a circus,” explains Coleman.
The mood board for the room started with a hunter green vanity and plain freestanding wardrobe (more on that DIY later) from Signature Hardware. These versatile building blocks meant Jepsen and Coleman could layer a number of patterns on top without fear of the elements becoming overwhelming.
Toss Tradition Aside
The geometric wainscoting, inspired by a door that Coleman saw in Paris, is Jepsen’s favorite part of the room’s design. “I had to trust the process,” says Jepsen. “It took some finessing for the walls to feel right.” She spent a lot of time laying out each column in paper before the installation to get the spacing and sizes exactly right. Painted in a custom blue that ties in with the wallpaper, the diamonds and circles make an otherwise formal element playful.
Customization Adds Character
While Coleman isn’t one for a DIY project, Jepsen was ready to jump right in. In order to add a bit of history to all the modern fittings, she painted the plain wood cabinet by hand, transforming it into a Scandinavian folk piece inspired by traditional Nordic wedding chests and her husband’s upbringing in Denmark. Jepsen explains, “I wanted to bring our history into the space and make it feel like us.”
The Goods
Go-to local vintage shop or resource: Treasures Antique Market is a local antiques warehouse. It’s massive—you can find anything in there!
Go-to online decor sites: I pine over everything at John Derian and Liberty of London.
Object in my home that gets the most use: Lately it’s been our piano. It’s been so much fun to sit down and play like I used to when I was growing up, and to see my 3-year-old interested in it. It needs some TLC, but it’s been a nice and unexpected distraction.
Biggest splurge: It’s so sad when your biggest splurge is an unexpected cost like pruning trees or cleaning up the sewage flood in your basement the week you move in. Sigh! The fun splurge was our wood flooring from Stuga.
