I have a thing for chandeliers….you may recall the unique Canopy Designs one I have in my dining room (seen in my VA home and now in Dallas).  How is this one for drama?  Originally spotted over at Aesthetic Oiseau.

Photo by Mikkel Vang for Elle Decor

Photos by Mikkel Vang for Elle Decor

I just added this chandelier from Cyan Design to my online store…..it could be one and the same?!

Is it over the top, or what?

Speaking of the shop, I have received a bunch of questions about it.  The idea to add an actual shop as an extension of my buying service grew at first out of the desire to offer a more “instant gratification” shopping service where I can offer produts for automatic sale online.  A lot of the items I sell are not exclusively trade-only and to the extent I can put them online the process is quicker and easier for my clients.

But, this process of getting it all up and running is a daunting task.  I have 14,000 fabrics from one company alone, and catalogs and catalogs of furniture and accessories.  Obtaining images and the info needed from each vendor to figure out shipping and logistics is a process, to say the least.  At this point, I do not have an estimated timeline for when the site will go live.  I am busy curating a selection of items that I love….at price points that will appeal to many.  Once I am up and running I will still operate my “trade-only” buying service and will also have the shop plus workroom services for pillows.  For the immediate future, I will not be doing online design, research or completely custom products anymore.  I just do not have the time to devote at the moment.

Hopefully by the time I get all of the kinks worked out and get the shop up and running it will be worth the wait!  (And if there is anything you would love to see in the shop or buying service, by all means let me know!)

With that, have a wonderful long weekend!

Hope it is relaxing and fun!

One of the unfinished details in Maddie’s room is bedside lamps.  You know I have lucite in the room….

And I’ve been wanting to add just a tad more by way of lucite bases on bedside lamps.  I’d been thinking of doing turquoise gourd lamps with a lucite base.  But then I ran across these (which are available via Maddie G Designs–and will eventually be in my shop) for a relatively affordable price.

You may recall that I have a slight obsession for Murano glass lamps and so I was giddy when I discovered this vendor while at the Dallas Market Center last week.  I need to take a swatch of Maddie’s fabric back to check the color (this glass might be a tad too aqua)…..but I am loving the lamp. 

I think the more formal style would be a nice addition to her casual re-furbished vintage bedside tables.

What do you think?

Yesterday went something like this. Wake up, feed kids and make lunch, drop Maddie off at school, drop Harry off at school, back to Maddie’s school to pick up carpool packets and sign up for events and committees, pick up Maddie, meet with friends for lunch, ballet/tap class, pick up Harry from school.  Somewhere in there I made some client calls, checked on some client orders and worked on my new website.

Today will be similar….with a late soccer practice thrown in (shoot I still need to get Maddie cleats) and a class with Harry where mom needs to attend!  The guestroom headboard and dust ruffle are being installed today (yay) and I need to get to the design center to pick some linens for the backs of pillows I am having made for my new store.  Despite the craziness I feel grateful for two awesome children, a great husband (who did the school drop off thing with me so he could see the kids’ classrooms) and a wonderful family and friends.  Everyone tells me to enjoy these times as they go so fast.  I am trying!

Mom’s everywhere, are you hanging in there?

I have mentioned before that I am good at the big picture in my own home (rugs, paint, window treatments, etc.) but I get bogged down and procrastinate in the final steps such as hanging art and accessorizing.  Harry and Maddie’s rooms are on the list to “finish” asap.  Yesterday when Harry woke up from his nap I decided to work on the wall over his crib.  Here are photos of his room as it was yesterday afternoon.  I have no idea where the contents of his crib were (actually I do now because I found them in a “fort” in the playroom before bedtime….but at the time of the impromptu photo shoot I didn’t….so excuse the stark crib and complete lack of styling.)

Truth be told, I bought a bunch of artwork for over Harry’s crib before we started the remodel last year.  But, I have worried about hanging it over the crib for fear it would fall and cause him harm.  It goes without saying I don’t plan on using any glass over the crib….too risky….  In any case, I used some of Maddie’s craft paper to template out the space over Harry’s crib and then started playing with a bunch of IKEA frames.  I figure these can easily be changed out when he needs more grown up art….the frames could be sprayed, etc. 

And when I finally found a layout I liked I put it back up on the wall so I could figure out where to place the picture hangers. 

Of course, by this time I had two hungry kids begging for dinner so I stopped.  And I will admit that I must have checked on him 10 times in the night waking with nightmares that the paper had fallen down and smothered him.  We’ll see if I can get this task accomplished over the weekend….or if I chicken out and leave it blank until he is out of his crib which cannot be too far off at this point! 

I hope you have a nice weekend!

Do you ever wonder what happens to a house once you and your family have moved on?  We spent our summers growing up in Lake Toxaway, NC.  We would load up the car right after school was out and head to the mountains to escape the summer heat.  We have so many fond memories of the place.  Chris and I were married up there and talk about spending time there when the kids are a bit older.  A while back I posted this photo of my parents’ porch overlooking the golf course…the last home they owned up there….

Before they built that home, they had built a home on the lake.  It sold not terribly long after they finished it…..not having been on the market.  We thought my parents were crazy to sell their multi year labor of love….only to start again down the road!  I’ve often wondered what it looks like today.  So, last night I was browsing pinterest and came across this pin that looked so familiar…..  It led me to a WSJ listing with some photos and then I went on a hunt for more…and this is what I found.

The front of the house is hard to see from the road and I remember being situated like this because the frontage was a bit tight.  I am sortof surprised that the listing doesn’t show a view from the lake which is more what we considered the front because we were always out on the water.  I don’t have any of my own photos here (need to dig at mom’s house) but here is a back view a facebook friend posted to me one day while he was out on the water….just rubbing it in that we were not there!

The main difference I see from then to now is the landscaping.  When we built a lot of trees had to be cleared.  Boulders galore were placed in the lawn to allow for a terraced walk down to the lake.  My mom and a couple of local women spent SO MUCH time out in that yard doing the initial work toward creating what is now a mature landscape.  Mom had a lot more flowers which I have learned the new owners decided was too much in terms of upkeep. 

Below is a view of the foyer as if you are walking into the house.  There is a formal powder room on the right and a bedroom with en-suite bathroom on both the left and right of the foyer walls.  The furnishings in this home are nothing like what my mom had.  There is just so much stuff here a few of the spaces I actually had a hard time recognizing.  (Of course, it has been a long time since I was there last…..in 1998!)

As you travel down the foyer where you see a jog to the left was my Dad’s office.  At one point they lived here full time when Dad was “retired.”  In retrospect, a main floor office with french doors wouldn’t have been too productive with grandkids and dogs running around.

In this next photo you are standing in the room off the kitchen (which is to the right).   Behind you would be a stone fireplace and the entrance to the bulter’s pantry….that led off to the hallway to the garage and the master suite.  My parents had seating around the fireplace and then dining in the other half of the room.  You can see the foyer to the left.  Mid way through the photo was a wet bar on the left and the stairs down to the walk out basement to the right.  The family room is at the far end of the photo.

Here is the view from the other side.  Kitchen is to the left and the butler’s pantry is the entrance on the left of the fireplace.  The entrance to the right is a hallway to the garage and the master suite.

Other than all of the stuff….the kitchen looks much today as it did when we lived there.

Downstairs was where my sister and I hung out with our friends.  There were two bedrooms down there and a huge storage room.  The pool table was behind where the photographer took this photo.

But, I’ll admit that probably 80% or more of our time there was spent outdoors reading or hanging out on the lake.

The listing didn’t show any bedroom shots….would love to know if the wallpaper in my old bedroom was still there…..  I have so many great memories from this house, and more important, Lake Toxaway.  From weddings to milestone birthdays, I’ve been going up there since I was in diapers.  It is a little piece of heaven on earth.

So, thanks to Pinterest for the trip down memory lane!

Monday night after the kids were in bed and before my husband got home from work I poured a glass of wine, figured out how to get my iPod to play through the master bath speakers (nothing like waiting 6 months after the reno to figure this out) and took a relaxing bubble bath.  It was perfect and something I rarely do.

We are fortunate that previous owners of our house had not long ago done a master bath and closet addition so we didn’t have to do much work in this space when we renovated.  But, I couldn’t help but get a tad envious when I saw this image. 

via French Country Cottage
 

That vanity is perfection in my book…..

And the fresh flowers, divine!

How could you not relax in this space?