When I saw the big storefront windows for the first time at the Merc I loved them. When I started planning the layout and dove into exactly what I wanted them to be, I fell in love even deeper. There were some serious quirks that we had to work around with the renovation, Merc Perks if you will (see some of our favorites and how we coined the term in this video!) One of the biggest Merc Perks being that the walls aren’t strain or plum. In an effort to compensate as much as we could for the wonkieness, we made the walls around the windows nice and thick. That of course snowballed into making window seat benches. And the most surprising thing at the end of the day, is that these window benches are our favorite place to congregate (which also might have something to do with the fact that we don’t really have seating right now. Its fine.)

This is what we started with, before phase 1 had walls and was just a giant open space.

I think one of the most agonizing things about building or renovating is planning things that you’ve never had to think about before. Things like lighting. I mean, of course we all have thought about buying cute fixtures, but have you ever really dove into nitty gritty? I hadn’t and let me tell you, it was eye opening.

Planning for lighting is one of the first things that I did way back when I was meeting with the architect on our floor plans. An electrical plan is one of the things that comes with your blueprints. It has all of the outlets, lights and types that the electrician needs to know about. In all honesty, I didnt realize that light planning was such a process. Going into it, I knew I wanted statement lights in most of the rooms. (Because that is the fun part right?!) I also knew that I wanted to have recessed lighting in most of the main areas like the kitchen, office, entryway and hallways. But I would go back and forth about it because I also want the Merc to feel true to it’s age for the most part and recessed lighting was obviously not a part of the world in that moment. My solution was to put wall sconces up  in the hallways as well as the recessed lighting the ceiling.

Do you have pocket doors in your house?! Pocket doors are a fantastic way to create separation and privacy in small spaces like bathrooms. When I was growing up my grandparents had them and for some reason (probably because they were different than normal doors) I loved them. I loved their slide-y-ness. I loved their cute name (because isn’t pocket one of the cutest words in the english language?!) At the time I didn’t realize the space saving magic that was happening. But guys, my love for pocket doors runs deeper as an adult than it did as a child!