Dream Rooms

My Butler’s Pantry

August 25, 2011

This room was worth the work, and it really has been a lot of work. Layer upon layer of painting, and sanding, and painting again, and then finally glazing. But it is a beautifully functional space. It all started here, with Willow Decor’s butler’s pantry:

I fell in love with this room, and I knew I wanted to incorporate one into the new space. So I started looking around to see how I could make it my own unique look. We loved these “X glass doors” from Christopher Peacock:

And I love the detailed trim and plate rack from Clive Christian cabinetry:

Then we put it all together:

And the walls: I troweled on a fine milled plaster, neutral in color, with a hint of shimmer. They add to the formality of the room.

Some details:

This is one of those times that I wish I was a better photographer. The cabinets are white, but they have a metallic glaze that almost gives them the look of a polished sea shell.

A fun little add that my husband wanted, great storage:

So to summarize this week of posts, we started with one, not so functional sitting room:

And ended up with three new spaces:

One:

Two:

Three:

A wide shot look at all three spaces:

This is an up-close shot of the dark wall you see above:

Thanks for hanging with me all week. Have a safe and happy hurricane weekend!

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Filed UnderA faux faux finisher, Dream Rooms, French things, My House Tour, Stuff to paint 19 Comments

A little of this, A little of that

May 24, 2011

We have been busy lately (I’m sure you have been as well). It’s just that time of year. I think this “end of the school year season” seems busier to me than Christmas. My youngest brother graduated from high school last weekend, and my Caroline graduates from kindergarten tomorrow. So many graduations, I’m on overload.

And speaking of overload, I am oh so over living in total construction chaos. It is never ending.

And with all of this construction has come a lot of painting for me accomplish. Painting that I do not have time to do, and so I have unfinished cabinets sitting all over my downstairs. When I finally get to painting, I will be using this spray system. It is amazing, and as far as spray systems go, it is extremely user friendly.

My cute carpenter built me a spray booth outside to do all the spraying in. I may get around to talking about the details of building your own spray booth here on the blog, but for the most part I am kinda thinking that there is no other human alive interested in such a thing. I kind of think that I am alone in my weird love affair with this spray booth.

And while we are on the subject of cabinets, here is a preview of our butler’s pantry cabinetry. My husband and I have always loved the “X” cabinet doors from Christopher Peacock. Like the ones here:

And here:

And so our butler’s pantry is gonna get a few. Only they were made by a local cabinet maker (not Christopher Peacock). They are currently sitting on the floor in my hallway, and I am not even close to being able to paint them.

I am still working on finishing the mudroom cabinets. Still. I cannot wait to show you this mudroom!

And finally, something completely off the subject. This is the view out Mary’s back door. Can you deal with that?!?! And yes Karen and Ashley, those small little white spots far off in the distance are sheep. Did you catch that, sheep! I have no words.

Love,

Amy

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Filed UnderDream Rooms, From House to Home, Stuff to paint 3 Comments

Lucky at Lucketts

November 8, 2010

I knew my weekend was going to be great when I woke up to a grande pumpkin spice cup of heaven. Did you know you could experience a glimpse of heaven here on this earth for only $5? You can. And it comes topped with whip cream and cinnamon…of course it comes topped with whip cream and cinnamon. It wouldn’t be heaven without it. My friend marched her sweet self into Starbucks in pajamas, no bra, and slippers just because she knew I would love it…because that’s just what friends do. I’ll get to the loveliness of Lucketts in a minute, but I just can’t help but make this post more about being lucky with friends than being lucky at Lucketts. I know a thing or two about not having friends. If I’m being honest, I’ve lived the majority of my years on this earth without friends. Oh how I know the hurt of mean girls! Do you? I know what it feels like to be alone. I know what it feels like to be talked about. I know what if feels like to be pushed around and afraid to go to school. And the sad thing is, adult girls can sometimes look a whole lot like the young girls from our past. Oh their ways of hurting are disguised differently, but it creates the same wound. I mention all these things for only one purpose, to tell you that the found treasures of the weekend weren’t at all the stuff I saw, but rather the girls I got to see it all with. I think because I spent some much time without girlfriends that would love me despite myself, I cherish that much more my girls today. They are the kind of girls that know all about your junk, and love you anyway. The kind of girls that are the hands and feet of Christ to you. I have such a great group of girlfriends, and though I only had a few of them with me this weekend, I couldn’t help but love all of them even more after being away with a few of them for a couple of days.

And now for the stuff. All I’m gonna say about Lucketts is if you ever have a chance to go, go! It’s dreamy. The store is strategically positioned by God in the exact place where He most certainly calls home on this planet, it is without a doubt where God gets His mail. The drive reminded me of driving through the countryside in Paris…yes, it was really that lovely. And the fall colors of autumn certainly helped with the view.

Here is a sampling of what we saw:

I am ashamed to admit it, but we left our trip without one piece of furniture. I think it was the cheapness in each of us that prevented us from pulling the trigger on a purchase, it certainly wasn’t the absence of deliciousness. It just seemed wrong to buy something that was already lovely, we are more the type that picks it up off the side of the road and then makes it lovely. You think I’m kidding? I spotted these 4 pretties on the side of the road while driving 70 mph. Did we stop? Yes. Is there possibly a litter of kittens somewhere inside these chairs? Absolutely. Did we pay $20 for all four? Yes. Did one of us not think they would all fit in the car? Yes. Did they all 4 fit in the car? Barely. Are they going to look phenomenal painted white and recovered in linen? You bet they are.

I love these girls.

Filed UnderDream Rooms, Stuff to paint 14 Comments

Lucketts anyone?

November 3, 2010

I’m Lucketts bound. I am finally going! I have wanted to make the trip north for about a year. I swoon over their stuff all too often, and the weekend is finally upon me. A few of my girls and I are jumping in the SUV with a Uhaul hooked to the back, and we are off! I mentioned wanting to go to Lucketts awhile back and I had several emails from people telling me that they would like to go too. So if you are local to the DC area and are up for a trip, let me know. I will be there this Friday. If you are a murderer, please do not come and find me. I would not be fun to murder because I would scream loud and pull out your hair. And if you want to kidnap me or my friends for ransom, you really should know in advance that my husband has seen the Mel Gibson movie Ransom, and he says that if he was ever in that situation that he would play hardball just like Mel Gibson’s character, and he would never pay a dime. But if you just want to come and hangout with cool girls and buy great stuff, then send me an email…we will meet up! Here is some of the stuff that I intend on buying…