made in the USA Archives - Between The Sheets Blog

building BTS studio – decorating with vintage

05.05.2024 by btslingerie // Leave a Comment

Vintage details make a space feel lived in. For BTS studio space I had been collecting vintage brass bows, vintage/thrifted frames, and will be adding special things as I find them.

Entryway

Keeping with the cameo/faces theme going on in the bathroom I found this beauty on marketplace and it fits perfectly in the entryway.

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. A marble topped table with metal base sits on the concrete vestibule floor in the entryway to the BTS studio. A large Monstera plant in a black put sits on the table.

Bathroom

Besides the vintage dry sink turned vanity there is art, vases, and the towel rack.

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. Inside the bathroom view of vintage vanity converted into a sink.

Art wall & Plant Corner

This space has vintage bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holder. I stuck with black, white, and brass so the space feels cohesive even with pieces of different styles and periods. Some of the art is vintage or new prints of vintage art, and all the frames are thrifted except for a handful of the larger ones.

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. Bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holders. Some of the art is vintage or new prints of vintage art.

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. Bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holders. View facing towards open bathroom door. Our dog Merlin is seen in the foreground

Kitchenette/Coffee Corner

There are more pieces to be added here like a brass bow towel holder and eventually a backsplash and lighting, but for now this corner has vintage art and some vintage canisters holding things like sugar and extra coffee.

BTS Studio coffee nook. Counter top, cabinet, sink, and faucet are all installed. The Counter is full of various wooden jars, glassware, utensils, and a small potted plant. A red and white plastic cooler and several wooden containers sit on the floor.

BTS Studio coffee nook. Alcove with butcher block counter top, sink, green cabinet, and mini fridge. The counter has an automatic espresso maker and an assortment of other objects. Walls are white and tile floors have the appearance of wood. A cabinet with whicker facing is in the foreground with wooden storage containers on the counter top

Doorstops

Practical and beautiful I have a few vintage cast iron doorstops in the house and set aside two for the space

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. Bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holders. View towards closed bathroom door and vintage door stop.

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. Bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holders. View facing towards open bathroom door held open with a vintage door stop. Our dog Merlin is seen in the foreground

Antiques to be added

I have a vintage singer from my grandmother and a vintage silk thread display and mannequin I’d like to add to incorporate into the space. Here’s a peak at the vintage thread display which needs some tlc. And if we could figure out how to get it up here or maybe into the lobby our revamped steamer trunk might make its way into this space as well. For now we have built ins and storage projects ahead to make the space more usable, so those things will take a back seat while we get up and running.

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. Vintage silk thread display with silk thread spools in a variety of colors

BTS Studio decorating with vintage. Vintage silk thread display with silk thread spools in a variety of colors. Spools of thread and other sewing items sit on the floor on a colorful rug

Want to see all the stages of building our new BTS HQ in the Hudson Valley? Find the whole series here BTS Studio Build

Want to see more ideas for home decorating with thrifted or vintage pieces? Find designer Layla’s series Decorating with Vintage

building BTS studio – Reveal almost final space

04.07.2024 by btslingerie // Leave a Comment

Ready for the big reveal?! Inspection passed and we officially closed our building permit. that doesn’t mean the space is totally done to my vision but it’s a big step!

There is still a lot left to do, our punchlist for the next year or two

Final patch and paint touch ups for trim (there are a few spots on doors frames and trim)
Finish painting stairs and add runner
Hang press and gallery wall in entryway
Finish wall of built ins to hold samples, production supplies, & inventory
Organize massive amounts of materials and design archives that have been in storage
Add a few more pieces of equipment including a pressing table and roller for cutting table
Backsplash and lighting for coffee bar

In the meantime there are collections to be worked on and orders to ship. Thank you for following our journey on here!

Between the Sheets Studio reveal floor and stair trim view up the stairs. Neon sign in vestibule with words it was all a dream

BTS Studio Reveal. A marble topped table with metal base sits on the concrete vestibule floor in the entryway to the BTS studio. A large Monstera plant in a black put sits on the table.

In total this build started in May 2023 and we were able to close our building permit by January 2024. Pretty proud of us for going out of our comfort zone and tackling so many things for the first time with this project.

Ultimately taking the time off from designing/producing collections to build a home and find balance has brought me renewed joy in my work and helped me recover from burnout.

Gardening has taught me that seeds germinate in darkness – so it makes sense that creativity is born and can be recovered in isolation. Trees lose their leaves and hibernate every winter, so it makes sense if we need periods of rest to produce creatively. And I’ve also learned that we can travel even though we stay in one place – as the world and landscape has changed around me I have been grounded and grown at the same time.

So stay tuned as we post updates on other projects as we ready the space. We still need a few more things to get up and running before we can begin proper in house production but we’re well on our way there. I can’t wait to begin to bring new collections and restocks to life once it’s all done.

Want to see all the stages of building our new BTS HQ in the Hudson Valley? Find the whole series here BTS Studio Build

building BTS studio – bathroom & door

03.10.2024 by btslingerie // Leave a Comment

View facing towards open bathroom door. Our dog Merlin is seen in the foreground

Painting bathroom door and trim

We could have gone the easy route with a pre-hung door for the studio build… but no I really wanted to have a door with half glass since this bathroom only has one tiny window. Most of the prehung versions I found had clear class but when I came across this frosted one it was perfect.

Guess what? I ordered it during the build, but despite knowing we needed extra room for the door to swing, framed the opening in the wall the exact size of the door. This was truly the only big mixup of the project, and I managed to sell the too-big door on marketplace and reorder a smaller size in the same style so it worked out, but yikes. Then despite being advertised as pre-primed, the door really didn’t hold paint the same as the pre-primed trim, so I touched it up after install and it all worked out.

We needed to paint the interior of door one color to match the bathroom and the exterior to match the overall space. I masked off the glass with tape/plastic and used the sprayer and a ladder to paint this outside while temps were still warm enough to do so and we finished up the project in the middle of winter after floors were done.

BTS studio bathroom door with frosted glass window in cardboard box on concrete garage floor

Bathroom door is propped against a ladder on front lawn. Layla uses a paint sprayer to paint door black on one side.

Installing beadboard

Beadboard wasn’t tricky to install, but there were some not straight sections of drywall along the floor that left us with baseboard trim gap, thankfully the two worst spots ended up being behind the toilet and sink.

Green beadboard is installed on bathroom walls

Hanging door

To hang the door we had to mark and router out for hinges on the door frame, install that. Then make sure we marked same spots on the door *but with a 1/8 gap all around*. This is again where my measuring and marking skills saved us bc there was no room for error. Josh executed the cuts with a jig and the router and we literally cheered when it opened and closed and had the perfect gap and didnt hang crooked. I like to think this was more than beginners luck, his practice woodworking and my patternmaking background made it happen, but I would most definitely not recommend this to a beginner DIY’er!

Green bathroom door is set on top of a work bench in the studio. A router and jig is used to cut away for hinges on the door and frame

Green bathroom door is set on top of a work bench in the studio. A router and jig is used to cut away for hinges on the door and frame. The jig is shown.

Door handle and latch

Did you spot the brass bathroom sign?! Yes part of my vision had been an old office door, but none we found would fit this tiny space, so the brass sign and frosted glass give that vintage look to a brand new door. Next step was installing the handle and latch, equally as stressful as the hinges. Executed with a jig and we chose a matte black handle to match the door.

A special jig and hole saw are used to cut into the door to install the latch.

Josh uses a vacuum to clean up after cutting the holes for the door handle and latch

False wall & Alcove

Flash forward to the spring and we tackled the final item (besides touching up paint) which was making a false wall to hide the water heater in the bathroom. We used leftover 2×4’s to make a small frame to attach beadboard and trim in the same measurements as the space then painted and slid it into place. We also finished trimming out the rest of the space and had to leave a gap on the far end to allow this to slide in front of the baseboard/top trim on the back of the alcove. We also did some nitpicky trimwork that no will ever see in the lower section of alcove but that will cover the gap between tile and wall/ceiling (since the wall here is angled and not perfectly straight this was the tricky part.