French things

Let us pretend

August 16, 2012

I’m so buried in all things practical today, this video was a much needed dose of impractical for my creative soul. I played it for my husband (the practical engineer), and he was clutching his heart and complaining of chest pains halfway through it. While my creative wheels were turning in complete and absolute whimsical delight, he was calculating the “obscene and grotesque waste” of it all. And he’s right of course. I know he’s right, but I will ask you, the same thing I asked him. Put aside every bit of practical and sensible training you have ever received. Just for a moment, allow yourself to pretend that this is not an “obscene and grotesque waste of money”, and just appreciate the creativity of the design. Tell the engineer side of your brain to sit down already, kick up their feet for just a minute, and enjoy how cool this is. The artistic side of your brain will thank you.

Isn’t that amazing. But please whatever you do, do not show this video to your husband while simultaneously mentioning how much fun it’s going to be to help plan your daughter’s wedding….or you will most assuredly be hooking the man up to oxygen before you get to the end. Trust me.

Have a great weekend friends.

{There is a video attached to this post. For those of you viewing in a reader, you may need to click back over to the original site to view video.}

Filed UnderFrench things, Parties 4 Comments

The light at the end of a long tunnel

July 16, 2012

The good thing about finally having drywall up, is that we finally have drywall up, and that means fun stuff like paint and tile can start happening. The bad thing about having drywall up is that they have to sand it, which means our entire house is about to get really dirty. But as my carpenter husband says, this is the last of the mess. Like, forever. If you have been around here for awhile you know that this house remodel has been done in several phases over the past 5 years. When we bought the house, we created a big picture game plan for the future. We remodeled and added on a little at a time as we could, and we did so in a way that we were never redoing something that had already been done. So in theory, since this is the end of “Phase 3″, this is the end of drywall dust. And that is a big deal for me.

So here is what we are tackling at the moment. I will do my best to explain this, but I have little confidence that anyone is going to get it. It seems complicated in pictures, but I promise its not in real life.

Let’s look at the downstairs first. This space used to be our family room, but it is now becoming a sitting room right off of the kitchen. We added that wall in order to create privacy to the back rooms.

Now the girl’s room. It’s a great room:

With a great view:

Maybe the best view in the house. And check out the loft my husband (who has the heart of a child) created for them:

And speaking of the man that has the heart of a child, he created a “slide” from the third story in order for the drywallers to get the scrap drywall pieces out of that room. He considered sliding down it himself.

And now our third floor looks like this:

It should done just in time for homeschooling to begin. And there is even a “secret door” that will connect the third floor to the girls’ loft over their bedroom. Crazy, I know!And like I said before, I’m excited to start painting and making things all pretty, and you can’t do that without a good inspiration photo. For real, this one is mine for the third floor. It’s Laduree in Paris, hate me, I dream big. I can’t help that I’m weird. I showed it to my husband who said “What in the world am I supposed to do with that?”

And I told him, “Remember that kitchen hood that was my inspiration picture for our fireplace? The one that you were totally annoyed about. Well you got all creative and pulled that one off, I have faith that you can do this too.”

Do you remember this photo I’m referring to? You can read about it here:

He totally came through for me and made it happen:

He won’t admit it, but I know him well, he is already sketching images of Laduree in his brain. He appreciates a challenge. I love that man.

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Filed UnderFrench things, The Second of the Remodel: The Addition 5 Comments

Our Favorite Room:: The Screened Porch

June 13, 2012

It’s our favorite room in the house…without a doubt. Our family lives out here, and it’s everything I hoped it would be. Because we live in a fairly mild climate, we will likely be able to use this space 10 months out of the year. Aside from the foundation and framing, much of this room my carpenter husband and I did ourselves. I have provided links to previous posts that documented the process of this space (if by chance you would like to click back for sources or some of our inspiration pictures).

Long before the room was ready, I refinished my $25 table with a chalk paint technique. It’s a great table. And that french limestone fireplace…oh that fireplace! Love her. My husband installed it because our brick mason was less than enthusiastic about the job. It is practically assumed that if the temperature drops below 80 degrees, I will be burning a fire.

I could have done without the hideous television hanging over the fireplace; but it makes my football loving husband very happy, and so it makes me happy. He dreams at night about watching his beloved Hokies on this television in the fall. In fact, it is almost the main reason he wanted to build the porch.

The decorative finish on the walls was not easy. The technique was difficult to execute and took me weeks to finish. I only have small pockets of time here and there to work, but finally I got the product to cooperate and look the way I envisioned. And in the background is a little sneak peak of the new family room. We have not completely moved in yet, but my chandelier is up and shining brightly.

The ceiling. We did not install the reclaimed timbers ourselves, but I did seal them. Again, a lot of work, but worth it.

Here is the path and door that leads you outside:

And one last view from the opposite side of the room. We are so glad this space is done!

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Filed UnderA faux faux finisher, Dream Rooms, French things, My House Tour, The Second of the Remodel: The Addition 15 Comments

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