Designer, Jamie Meares.  Photography by Patrick Cline.

The sconces come in two sizes, white or black, and high gloss or matte (powder coat) finish.  I love them, you?

Now, back to this image which was from a home designed by Jamie Meares .  I absolutely love the artwork.  It is what drew me to this image in the first place.  Looks like it is available here at Furbish Studio, where the artist reportedly works.  I am sure Jaime over at Furbish needs no introduction from me….but if you have been under a rock….check out her site….you won’t be disappointed.

I’ll admit, I don’t love the wide angle of the whole room quite as much, but I do love this vignette so.

You?

The previous owners took the curtains and the light with them….and then until we remodeled the room looked like this….

When we remodeled, we didn’t really do much to the dining room except for replace the crown moldings (making them larger) and widening the openings to the room which you really cannot see in these photos anyways.  We also removed the wallpaper, painted and sanded and re-finished the floors.  (The little bar in the first “before’ image is now the entrance to our butler’s pantry that leads into the kitchen on the other end.)

You may recall that I brought my living room curtains with me from our old house.  I had them re-pleated to be tacked at the top (vs. pinch pleats) and had them re-worked for our dining room windows.  The colorway on this fabric (Lee Jofa) has been since discontinued.  The drapery hardware is from Barbara Barry’s Kravet collection.  It has a bamboo motif on the rod and the rings.  Not recommended if you want to open and close them easily!

Here is the room today after the drapes were installed.

Still haven’t done anything to accessorize and everything is from our old home…..but, slowly but surely it is coming along.  I am feeling motivated to get this room done now.  I am thinking some grass shades are the next order of business….and art!

Before

During

After

And Maddie had her 4th birthday (if you need a cake in Dallas send me an email…..we used a small local business, a woman in our neighborhood, that did a fantastic job for us!

The venue was fantastic….and the kids had a blast….I see bean bags in our playroom’s future!

But the best part of the weekend was getting to spend time with family we see far too little of…

Hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend.

I’ll be back tomorrow with design related stuff….

Promise.

First, the stone walk is done and phase 1 of the front landscaping is done.  We need pots to sit on the drains in the front and the yard needs to be re-graded and re-sodded as you can see.  Our “seasonal color” needs to bloom…..but it is better than the before I think.  (By the way, I got a bee in my bonnet over the weekend to clean the dirt you can see on the house on the left side…..my husband came outside to find me scrubbing the house in a sundress and flip flops.  Do you ever have urges to start projects at odd times (he was inside concocting the aforementioned Thai feast!)

My parents and sister are coming into town tomorrow for Maddie’s birthday party this weekend.  My mom is a huge gardener and I will no doubt pick her brain on how to further spruce things up…..ourselves because to be honest….I am tired of spending money at the moment on anything that isn’t currently in process.

A few weeks ago, the fixture for our stairway arrived.  It was worth the wait and would look better if I didn’t photograph it with a bath running and two kids chasing each other around, but that seems to be how I roll these days (and I am not complaining!).  The fixture is from Remains lighting….you’ve probably seen it all over the place in blogland kitchens….it is understated here.   I love it all the same.

I love how the webbing in the glass casts a pattern on the stairwell wall…..but, of course, I didn’t get a photo of that!  Speaking of lighting, our kitchen chandelier came today and I love it.  I’ve loved it for a long time.  Our ceilings are 8ft tall so we had it slightly rescaled to work in our space.  I was a bulb short but you can see it didn’t stop me from taking a photograph!

A couple of comments here too….the chair cushions are being re-done.  Just waiting on the Galbraith & Paul fabric to arrive…..6+ week lead time…..  And in the background can you see the horizontal striped fabric from Pindler?  They might be my favorite window treatments in the home at the moment.

Want a closer view of them?  My little Harry is 18 months now….still hasn’t had a haircut…..I think this weekend before Maddie’s birthday party it might be a family affair if my husband has his way.  I cannot tell you how many images I have taken of my little man and his crazy curls!  This was taken after dinner last night….he was tired….and having fun with this chair….which was one of my first “big” post college purchases.  It doesn’t go here….but works for now.

And while Harry was busy re-arranging furniture and pulling every pillow he could find to the ground, my little “pea-pod” Maddie was painting cards for her teachers.  They read something like “Thank you for all of the toys.” and “We all love you.”  Honestly, we are blessed to go to a wonderful preschool and having spent Maddie’s birthday in the classroom for a bit….I am thankful for our teachers and the community we’ve found at the school.

And finally, we found the cutest invitations for Maddie’s birthday party over on Etsy.

We are having a “movie” party this weekend…..should be an adventure to say the least.  Thank goodness the theater has wine for the adults is all I can say.  And with that, I am signing off until at least Tuesday.  My parents and sister will be in town and I am looking forward to some quality family time.

Have a great weekend….

The pendants in this kitchen…..gave my heart a little flutter when I first saw them.

via

I think the use of the brass above adds a lot to this all white, clean lined kitchen.  I love it.  You?  And speaking of kitchens….our kitchen table chandelier is being hung today.  Cannot wait.  I’ll be sure to share a photo as soon as I get a free moment.

Well, needless to say, I know how we live.  And that fact needed to be considered when we made our selections.  Saturday night was a good example of this.  My husband, who is a great weekend night leisurely chef, was whipping up a Thai feast.  He started it all and then we took an intermission to bathe the kids and get them down.  I came downstairs first and this is what I was greeted with…..

Do you see the big ring/stain to the right of the mortar and pestle?   If this had been marble, I would have been sweating.  Instead, I just did a quick swipe with the sponge…..and that (above) went to this…..

And that is why I love this stone so much.  Now, if only cleaning up the mess (that I cropped so that you couldn’t see more) from the cooking could have been so effortless!  Life would be sublime!

I spotted it on pillows the other day….

Photography by Virginia MacDonald for Style at Home 

What really struck me is how this fabric changes based on its surroundings.  The orange in the room really brings out the orange in this fabric (which is a pink and more orange-y mix).  And then there is that Manuel Canovas floral…

What do you think?

Tobi Fairley 

B. Heath and Associates 

Palmer Weiss

Tobi Fairley

Steven Gambrel

Barbara Heath

I have spent a good deal of time working on getting my living room plan finalized (working on budgeting everything at this point) and have had my eyes on a pair of Murano Glass lamps from Swank.  They have both vintage and new options.  Below is one of the pairs I have my eyes on….

Imagine my excitement when I realized that Swank has a stall in an Antique mall in the Dallas design district.  With an hour left until I had to get back to our nanny (and needing to get to the grocery store so our family could eat dinner….) I did a super quick trip to the shop and was greeted with goodness such as these…the images are from Swank’s stall and another that had lots of mid-century modern goodies.  (If you are in Dallas, these are all over at Debris Antiques.)

Are you a fan?

This fabric has been blogged about by many others….but I forgot about it until I was in Pindler a few weeks ago…..  First, the “Look” which is Quadrille/China Seas “Java, Java.”

Coastal Living (April 2012), Phoebe Howard

Eddie Ross

And here is the look-alike…..

Waverly Cross section available here for $13.98 per yard….

Care to weigh in?

]]> http://www.maddiegdesigns.com/look-for-less-2/feed/ 6 http://www.maddiegdesigns.com/progress-outside/ http://www.maddiegdesigns.com/progress-outside/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000 Maddie G Designs http://www.maddiegdesigns.com/?p=8477 Phew, where did the weekend go?  It seems like the weeks are flying by these days.  Summer will be here before we know it!  Lots going on here around the house but nothing is “done” so I really don’t have much to share that will give any sortof “wow” factor.  Do you want to see things “in progress” or do you prefer a big reveal?  Anyways, definitely no “big reveal” here…..but there is progress….

This is what our front yard has looked like for a while.  Old concrete walk was removed, new one put in and then the front walk and the front porch were covered in stone.  Landscapers are in today re-doing our front beds and then we need to get the front yard re-graded and add pots to the front of the walkway down near the street.  Slowly but surely….

We ordered a new porch swing for the front porch…..I believe it is shipping this week.  It is being handmade and the artisan has been keeping me updated.

We have a set of wicker chairs and a little side table from a little porch off the front of our old house.  I am going to spray them white and have a cushion made for them, as well as one for the swing.  I am thinking of this fabric….it makes me happy.

I don’t have a photo of this, but we had a trellis with a climbing rose bush on the side of our house.  The trellis was removed when we painted and I thought the plant was removed.  But, it was just wacked down to the roots.  Wouldn’t you know this thing is going crazy now?  I know nothing about gardening, and certainly not roses….but I am trying to learn.  It is so pretty.  Chris claims he know this would happen as grapes do something similar….a fact he learned in his wine classes….  We have such a little yard here in Dallas compared to nearly an acre in VA.  I feel like this little yard is manageable for me to practice my gardening skills.  The roses around our neighborhood have been incredible this year!

Anyways, that is about it around here.  Hope you have a great Monday.  I’ll try to do better at blogging this week!