Life on the Ledge Part One

I think y'all know we moved the first of June!
We LOVE our new home and are mostly settled,
however there are still a few random boxes around that need to be unpacked.
Our new home is on Ledge Circle,
so here is part one of life on the Ledge....

Disregard the dead shrub by the front door....clearly having some landscaping issues.
Visiting our local extension office Monday to diagnose the mystery disease killing our shrubs.

The summer was crazy fun and crazy busy,
and my primary goal was to get unpacked.
Now that we've been in the house for a few months,
I'm starting to get some decorating ideas.

We have a much more open floor plan than our old house,
so I feel the need for the downstairs to have a little more "flow."

This is our entry hall....I love our front door and the curved staircase.
It's currently painted a light taupe, but eventually I want to change it...
 but that's a low priority right now.

Looking to recover the slipper chair in a Chinoiserie fabric.

Looking into our formal living room from the foyer....
This room is going to be painted soon.
I'm having the ceiling painted white (currently a taupe) and the walls a butter yellow.
I love the woodwork, the bookshelves, and the window in this room.

I plan to do a plaid window treatment in the same plaid silk as the sofa pillows.



I'm looking for a large blue and white fish pot for the floor by the hall table.
Also need a large rug....there is an echo in our foyer right now!

 

 Love that my dining room is not crowded when I have all four leaves in the table.
I found the brass chandelier at a consignment shop, but I'm hoping to get a crystal one.
It needs to be lowered but it weighs a ton,
so we need Jack and Teddy home at the same time to help with that project.
Hint, hint, boys.
Looking for some chandelier shades in a french blue.

The walls are currently a light gray, 

but I'm either painting or wallpapering this room.

This was my original plan but it's out of print and I can't find the fabric ANYWHERE...

And I need at least 15 yards for draperies.

So moving past that plan....

I want the color scheme to be blue, green, and yellow, with maybe a hint of pink.

I would die to do this room in the hand painted Chinoiserie wallpaper,

but that is WAY out of my budget right now.

(unless the kids all drop out of college...lol)

Planning on draperies with trim for the window.

And here is the "before" of our powder room...

I actually love this shade of red, but not in a small and dark powder room.

This is my first decorating project.....

I will leave you with a hint of where I am going with it!

I would have loved to participate in the One Room Challenge, 

but realistically I know I can't finish this in six weeks! 

I'm so excited to get moving on my decorating projects!
 We are on the tail end a fabulous football and volleyball season,
and when the boys are finished with their sports,
I will have more time to work on our house.

Someone made the Varsity volleyball team.....

And my JV starting quarterback!

Hope y'all are having a fabulous Fall!!!!!

Moving Day...

See here for my post about decorating a room for Caroline.

Well I have made GREAT progress!

The movers came last week to move her furniture upstairs....
was not sure her armoire was going to make it to the third floor,
but the movers were awesome and figured a way to make it work!

I am going for an "updated classic" look,

and since toile is pretty classic and conservative,

I wanted to add a fun print to the mix to add a little bit of a trendy feel.

My mom and I found this green and ivory geometric print that matches perfectly!

The plan is to find a bench for the end of her bed and cover it in that print.

This is a very accurate picture of the colors...
the photos I took of her room don't show how pretty and bright the shade of green is.

I'm also looking for a small upholstered club chair I can slipcover in an ivory twill (shown above),

and I'm going have it piped in the green and ivory geometric print.

Also added these glass lamps with a silver finish for a more updated look.

Gotta LOVE HomeGoods

So here is where we were two weeks ago...

And here is where we were at the end of moving day.....

I've decided it's unrealistic to try and have this painted before Christmas.

It will take me at least a month to find the right shade of green!
Clearly, there is still work to be done....
accessorize and hang pictures, but I'm on track to get it done within the month.

I'll post her finished room in the New Year!

A Little Kitchen Bling

Lol it's been a year now since my kitchen renovation 

and I still have not blogged about it.

My excuse it that I can't get very good pictures of it.

I will use Teddy's camera to do it one of these days.

Anyway......

I was just commenting to my mother that I don't love how I have accessorized my new kitchen.

I do not want a "beachy" feeling kitchen,

but the kitchen is done in "beachy" colors.

The cupboards are white, but not a bright stark white 

and the walls are a light blue that would remind you of a beach house.

You will see what I mean when I eventually post about it.

Here are a few things I am hoping to add to my kitchen add a little more bling to it:

MacKenzie Childs Tea Kettle in Parchment Check

Can't have the tea kettle without the canister set...

MacKenzie Childs Canister Set

I'm also looking for a foot bath to put on the island....

the natural choice is a blue and white porcelain one similar to this one

source

I have some blue and white porcelain cache pots in my kitchen right now,

however I don't feel like they look very good on the counter.

SHOCKING

 You would imagine that blue and white porcelain goes with everything.
Not.
I'm moving out the blue and white and looking for something else.

Here's a foot bath that I think might look better...

Sadly, this is out of stock.

So I'll keep looking....I think a pink and green foot bath would blend better with my color scheme.
I'm planning to keep seasonal flowers potted in it.
Or silk ones....let's be realistic here.

These things happen to be on my Christmas list.....
Hopefully they will find their way to my kitchen!
What do you accessorize your kitchen with?

One Room Challenge Week Six.....Better Late Than Never

Linking very LATE to Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Party,

which actually ended May 8th, 

but due to circumstances that are not worth mentioning,
I have been MIA on my blog and did not finish our bedroom on time.

Today, my window treatments were installed and I am FINALLY done!

Almost....

As a reminder, here is what I started out with.....

This picture is with the previous owner's furniture...but it basically looked this horrible with our furniture too.

Here is my mood board....

And here is my finished room....

I love it!!!

I am thrilled with how it turned out!

I still have a few things to do...

such as find a few photos of me and D for the frames on my dresser,

and get the arm chair I scored at a consignment shop recovered.

I also have a few piles of "junk" in our master bathroom that used to clutter the bedroom

that need to be sorted through.

I had hoped to get a pair of matching nightstands that were taller,

but the budget did not permit and I didn't really find anything I loved anyway.

I will be keeping my eye out for a pair of them when I am out consignment shopping!

I also never found a small green and white porcelain lamp for on top of the chest of drawers,

but I shopped my house and moved my gold leaf pineapple lamp to the chest

and I decided I like it there.

As you can see from my photos, 

I lost the ceiling fan fight....lol.

I would have LOVED to put a crystal chandelier in, 

but sweet D would have died of a heat stroke without the fan.

I hope you visited all of the fabulous linking participants

as well as the talented bloggers who were a part of the ORC!

One Room Challenge Week Four

It's week four of  Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Party

and I'm continuing to make progress!

My number one priority was to get the blinds hung....

I started to hang them myself,

but Teddy took pity on me and had them hung in less than ten minutes!

He takes after my Michigan dad and Virginia dad and is extremely handy!

Viola! 

They are room darkening....love them!

My coverlet and Euro shams arrived from One Kings Lane in record time...

as in I ordered them on a Monday night and they were here on Wednesday,

and I am thrilled with the quality and love how they look!

I spent all day Saturday making the rounds at my favorite consignment shops

with Caroline and my Virginia mom and boy did it pay off!!!!!

 I was starting to feel stressed about not finding a pair of botanical prints

to hang above the headboard.

I'm on a budget but was willing to splurge a little to get the perfect pair,

but I was not finding anything I liked in any price range.

Virginia mom spotted these at a consignment shop we were at on Saturday,

and they were not only PERFECT, they were a STEAL!

I already hung them up and love them!!!
I shopped my attic and found a few other prints for our bedroom and hung those as well.

I moved a very special piece of furniture into our room when I moved my desk out....
my great grandmother's secretary desk.
It is a small desk with Queen Anne legs and a mirrored cabinet,
and I would like to fill it with crystal, sliver, or white porcelain pieces.
I shopped my home for some things and found a few more things at consignment shops.

I love this small silver canister...the shop owner said it came from a castle in France.

I also scored this cut glass vase as well...I love how it reflects in the mirror!

I would love to get a pair of small white Staffordshire dogs for the cabinet,

and I have a small rose bowl and a few other small silver pieces I can use.

After rearranging the furniture,

I decided that I needed an arm chair to fill the space next to my dresser.

I added that to my consignment shopping list and hit the jackpot again!

This beauty was $50! It's very sturdy and in great shape...just needs new fabric!

Here's what I am planning to have it recovered it in...

Thibaut Ikat Check

LOVE!

This will not be finished by the end of the ORC, but I plan to add pictures of it once it's done!

So.....my ORC is coming along fabulously,
and the main things I need to finish are my window treatments and custom bedding.
I'm hoping those will be done in the next week!

I do have a small "to do" list....
1. continue to search for a small green and white porcelain lamp for tall dresser
2. finish sorting through "junk" that was in our bedroom
3. order fabric for chair
4. finish hanging pictures and mirror
5. help D with his mile long "honey do" list

I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting all of the other talented participants
in the One Room Challenge Linking Party.
If I am totally honest with y'all,
I feel slightly inadequate as I am not DIYing anything on my own ORC project.
I am AMAZED to see all of the skill and talent out there in blogland!
The wallpapering, painting, demolition, re-finishing of floors, the list goes on....
I am truly impressed with all of the talent displayed!
I really would have loved to tackle some DIY projects...
I used to do them all of the time when I was a stay-at-home mom.
Realistically, however, now is not a time in my life where it would be sensible
to try and add any DIY projects to my schedule....
just adding a dentist appointment to my schedule can throw me for a loop right now!
Some day I will have the time to take on DIY projects,
and I know I will miss these crazy busy days when I don't know which end is up!

Just keeping it real y'all.....