Kate Rumson - The Real Houses of IG
Photo Credit: @katerumson
Earlier this year, Kate Rumson with the Real Houses of IG contacted L.J. Smith to assist in the building of her new home. This home has been in the works for the past two years and is on its way to being completed in the next few months. However, this isn’t just any ordinary home build. Kate decided to build this home with the help of her 2 million Instagram followers.
Kate Rumson is the founder of The Real Houses of Instagram, one of the largest Interior Design and Luxury Real Estate media brands with a community of more than 2 million people. She has been involved in design and real estate development for over a decade and gained global recognition in 2015 when The Real Houses of Instagram became a household name and a go-to resource for anyone thinking of buying, building, or remodeling a home.
Not only is Kate great at assisting in the design and real estate development, but one of the greatest things her audience appreciates is that she takes them along on the ride. In Kate’s new home, she offers her audience the chance to determine major design elements in her home by voting right on Instagram.
L.J. Smith’s Involvement
Photo Credit: @katerumson
When Kate reached out to Novo Building Products about using moulding throughout her home, she also was extremely interested in our very own L.J. Smith Stair parts. She saw all of the beautiful staircases that L.J. Smith products have created, and saw those same products creating a beautiful staircase in her own home.
After she explored the many options that L.J. Smith has to offer, she narrowed it down to a simple choice: wood balusters or iron balusters. With that choice in mind, she took the decision to her Instagram audience. With two renderings created, she posted options A and B on her feed for her audience to chime in on and assist in the important decision. You can view this post here, where Kate wrote:
“I spent hours on L.J. Smith’s website choosing our balusters and after seriously considering close to a dozen different options, I ended up narrowing them down to these two styles. What can I say, I’m a fan of clean lines! All of our staircase parts are from L.J. Smith’s. Rendering (A) shows wood, round, tapered balusters factory primed white, and rendering (B) shows iron, round balusters in matte black. You can see more of the staircase and other baluster options from today’s house visit in stories. Which option is your favorite?”
After posting the image to her feed, her audience jumped at the opportunity to help pick the design of this beautiful staircase. After many weeks of discussions and surveys, they landed on using option B for an edgier and higher contrast look.
Finished Space
While her home is still under construction, Kate and her team are hard at work to get things finished by the end of 2021. With Empire’s moulding products and L.J. Smith Stairs products heavily displayed in the grand entryway, it is going to be a beautiful reveal after all of their final touches are complete.
Rendering of Kate’s Finished Entryway and Staircase
Not only is this project a great spotlight for our company, but it has also received national media attention. DesignNJ recently published an article in their magazine about the entire staircase build and what thought process Kate went through to get to her final staircase design. “All of my staircase parts are from L.J. Smith — they specialize in staircases and make everything from stair treads and risers to balusters and handrails. Their website is a great resource to see all the possibilities with different wood species, shapes, materials, and sizes.” See more from that article on DesignNJ’s blog.
Stay in the loop on this project by following all L.J. Smith's social media accounts. There will be plenty of beautiful photos to share and more project information coming soon on the blog.