Face Behind the Feed: @brepurposed

Meet Bre Bertolini

We often know them by their Instagram handles and perfectly curated grids, but haven’t you ever wondered about the face behind the feed? We love and follow decorator, blogger, and superstar DIYer Bre Bertolini, @brepurposed, and were surprised to find out that she actually lives in Ohio, about 2.5 hrs from our shop.

Photo by @brepurposed

From Comment to Custom Mirror

Bre announced her Spring 2019 One Room Challenge project and posted an inspiration photo sourced from @andfscom of a bathroom vanity featuring a capsule shaped modern metal wrapped mirror on gorgeous green @fireclay tile. Our comment on the post, “We can totally rock out some custom metal framed mirrors for you 🤙”, turned into an amazing project and connection with Bre in a matter of days. Talk about the power of the internet.

Even though Bre isn’t exactly “local”, we wanted to find a way to create the mirror she envisioned for her half-bath renovation in the Spring 2019 One Room Challenge! We have to say that ever since completing our first metal wrapped designed by Paul + Jo Studio last summer, we’ve been getting more requests for custom metal banded mirrors.

It’s a great feeling to get face-to-face with people you admire and follow and to be reminded that we are all REAL PEOPLE working on our passions about and helping each other along the way.

One Room Challenge

It was a tight turnaround to complete her mirror in time for the One Room Challenge deadline and final reveal; Lindsay even hand delivered the mirror to Bre’s home to ensure that it got there in one piece and on time. That’s how seriously we take customer service.

Working with Bre on this project was seamless. We couldn't have asked for a better client. It was awesome to follow along as she completed the half-bath knowing our mirror would be the finishing touch. Every week, Bre would share an update about the #oneroomchallenge progress and actively posted behind the scenes on her Instagram stories. She even asked her followers to vote on which vessel sink she should use for the vanity.

We are so happy to have been a part of her project and to now know Bre, the face behind the feed. Learn more about her and her latest One Room Challenge, the Green and White Tile Bathroom.

Did you have a hard time deciding on a room for this project?

Usually, I have a plan pretty far out for which room I’m going to do, but I actually wasn’t even planning on doing this challenge. I thought for sure that we would have this bathroom done by January or February — but that didn’t happen. It was about a week before when we still hadn’t even started it that I figured we might as well do it for the challenge and finally get it done!

Before - Photo by Bre Bertolini

What was your budget for this project?

As a blogger and content creator, I’m able to work with different brands and companies that will provide free product and/or compensation in exchange for promotion. I’ve been lucky to get most of our ORC’s sponsored in the past, but since I was planning on doing this one on my own I hadn’t really reached out to anyone. Sometimes it’s just easier to buy things on your own and to find products you really love and not worry about how many times you have to mention or tag a brand when posting.

Photo by @brepurposed

We purchased everything ourselves for this space except for the faucet and hardware (knobs, towel hook, toilet paper holder) which were gifted. We also didn’t have to pay for labor since my FIL does all our tile work. Including the free product, everything came out to be about $2,000. We definitely saved money by tiling over our old tile.

Where did you draw your inspiration for the room?

I was actually inspired by my son’s nursery. We DIY’d a board and batten treatment on a wall in his room that was white on the bottom and green on top and I thought it would be fun to try a similar color pattern but with tile!

Modern Vintage Nursery - Photo by Bre Bertolini

What advice do you have for people tackling DIY home improvement?

I would say be patient and know that there is a BIG learning curve. Pretty much everyone out there doing projects on their own are just figuring things out as they go and watching YouTube videos to learn new skills. If you have the time and want to learn, then I say give it a try before hiring someone out. If you get stuck, then reach out and get the help you need. Plumbing is something we usually have our contractor do because we’re not skilled in that area and dealing with a leak can be super frustrating, so we’d rather get it done right the first time.

Photos by @brepurposed

What's your favorite part of this ORC?

I just love all the encouragement and support from other bloggers and my followers. Everyone gets so invested and that in turn makes me feel more excited about it. It’s such a great community and everyone cheers everyone else on.

Is there time outside of the 6-week challenge that you spend planning and prepping?

Since this was a last minute decision for me to join, I already had a plan for the space for a while. But typically yes, I’ll start planning weeks or even months before the challenge so that I’m as prepared as possible when it’s go time. I’d say the majority of this challenge was spent on the tile work. Once that was done, the rest was pretty straightforward!