Sunday, May 31, 2009

Hey BABY, Hey BABY, HEY!

By the grace of God the triplets finally came home from California last Thursday! My dear friend Susan had not stepped foot in her house in over 3 months (until last Thursday), and I was in charge of that nursery! I had a bit of a surprise for her, and therefore didn't want to post anything until they finally got home. I plan to meet the precious munchkins tomorrow, as I have just returned home from Alabama and Florida where I spent the last week. (great posts on this trip to come!). A few pics of the 2 rooms that comprise "baby ville" - the changing room, and what I like to call a baby "sleeping porch!".... I took these photos the day before I left for our trip, so hopefully it looked like this at Susan's first glance...


We painted stripes on the ceiling to mirror the beautiful Manuel Canovas silk cribskirts....
I found this chandelier at Uncommon Objects in Austin and painted it. My own little labor of love. :)
Crib skirt fabric is Manuel Canovas and the bumpers are Maddie Boo. Cute!

As for the "Changing Room", I was sort of struggling with it. Since there are plantation shutters, we didn't plan to add drapery. We did order a daybed, 2 gliders, and have a few pillows made, but I still just wasn't quite satisfied yet. I stayed up all night a few weeks ago thinking about what I could do to make that room more dramatic - after all, this is the room that Susan (or anyone that comes to love on the babes) will see right when they are walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor. I decided I could make a "canopy" over the daybed on a budget. I found a pair of linen panels with a gros-grain leading edge at the Pottery Barn Kids outlet that I thought could work. I bought 2 packs - (they were on clearance!)...

I took one pack of panels and drove straight over to Long Doang (nope, not a joke) - my upholsterer. I drew a box with dimensions and explained that I would like for it to be upholstered with the trim along the bottom edges. He said, "that'll be $200 and ready in 2 days". Perfect! When I saw the box after completion, I admit I was still not quite satisfied. I left it on the floor in the changing room, and went to pick up the pillows from my seamstress. She had JUST enough of the Canovas silk leftover, so we sewed the scraps together which then became the top portion of the "box". Now, I was feeling better....I am very pleased with the final product - I think it looks great! It softens the room tremendously. I found the lamp with shade at Target. The linen on the bolsters is by Dogwood, and the trim (my most FAVE) is a greek key by Samuel & Sons.


TA-DA!!!




At this time I cannot find the "before" pictures of this little guy, but I bought it about 2 weeks ago with a red cushion and stained brown legs at the Austin Antique Mall. This is obviously the "after"....


These photos are certainly not great, but in Susan's absence, the former carport-turned-family room was completed and installed as well...



ON TO BABY BOUDOIR #2:
Location: Washington, DC
Stats: Female, 2 years old

The following is the before photo of a friend's home in Washington DC. She called in the spring with news that she was pregnant, and therefore needing to transform the current guest room into a little girl's room for her 2 year old daughter. We can't have the 2 year old getting a complex once baby #2 arrives - of course not!
The bedding is by Serena and Lily, which I thought was perfectly appropriate to remain for the little girl's room. I also adored the twin beds - white tufted linen with hot pink buttons. Sounds good to me! Jenny explained that she would only like to keep one twin bed in the room, so that the little one could flop around on the floor with all of her toys. I suggested using the 2 headboards to create a dabyed. (See sketch below..)


I also suggested the following - pink pendant from Stray Dog Designs....


White area rug from Pottery Barn Kids....


Mirror from Maine Cottage....


Toy storage from Land of Nod.....


And voila! The final product! This is the only photo that I have as of now. The baby was born and I don't think photo-taking has been a priority as of recent. :( Even the dark floors were painted white! Excuse the cheese but pardon me if I am TICKLED PINK!!!



Monday, May 18, 2009

Good Times in the Summer

These pictures are blurry, but still fun to share. Last night, our friend Sam picked us up for dinner in his Dad's '53 Chevy - NICE! It was a beautiful night (not humid, which is already rare these days), so we went to Doc's on South Congress and sat outside for dinner. Lee had to study for his LAST exam when we got home, but Sam and I had a glass of wine in our little courtyard and reminisced about DC for quite a while. I think we both concluded that we would do it all over again the exact same way 100 times. Those days were some of the best of our lives!
Here we are cruising down Elton Lane. (and oh, Sam of course drove down West 6th on the way home just so he could honk at the college girls.)

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Coulda Shoulda Woulda...

Really should have bought this little pagoda chandelier a few weeks ago at Uncommon Objects in Austin. Even though I don't have a place for it now, I just should've done it - was only $175!! Imagine it lacquered turqoise....
ORRRR bright yellow! This one sold at PIECES for $1,750. UGH!
A few other fun pagoda numbers to enjoy, since I missed my chance. :(

An Italian Chinoiserie carved mirror from 1st dibs.


Pair of Pagoda lamps from 1st dibs... interesting shades!



A pair of rattan table lamps with Pagoda lamp shades from Amy Perlin Antiques.



Thursday, May 14, 2009

Where the Heart Is...

If Home is where the Heart is, and the "quickest way to a man's heart is cooking him a great meal", then I guess the kitchen is really where the heart is! (And for the record that is definitely NOT how I ever got a date!) The kitchen is, indeed the heartbeat of a home. (I just hope that includes things like cereal and frozen pizzas - I never claimed to be a chef, here). It's always where everyone hangs out and makes their mom crazy when she is trying to cook. As a child, we always did our homework on the kitchen table. I have been "tweaking" my client's kitchen in San Diego - we are going to do a facelift without totally re-doing the entire thing. The cabinets are currently stained brown. It immediately reminded me of a make-over we did in DC... (Kitchen BEFORE):

Kitchen AFTER!! QUITE a remarkable transformation. In my opinion, an update to your kitchen can make all the difference.
With four beautiful, fun, and crazy children, I just didn't see them in a "brown" kitchen, but in more of a light, fun, and airy space. I found these amazing images from House Beautiful and Southern Accents......












I could move right in. Talk soon - it's nursery time again in Austin. :)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Spring and Such

Well hello! I'm back. This might be an exciting posting week for moi because I am hoping to finally install the nursery for the triplets! In the meantime, I've been a busy busy, Purchase-order-writing machine. I returned from Dallas last week and hit the ground running. My talented friend Julia and I had a jewelry/handbag show at Ellen's parent's adorable house in Highland Park. If you've never seen Julia's "JEWELS" be sure to check them out here!

I guess I didn't even get a pic of my bag display. :( We also had a fat girls spend the night party at Ellen's lakehouse on Lake Texoma - Ellen: Hostess with the MOSTESS all weekend long! The precious little lake cottage - which, by the way, is deceivingly big and could sleep lots of us fat girls.

Amanda hogged the computer....

We did a drive-by of Ross Perot's lake house...

We played Monopoly and Julia CHEATED - of course!


And grilled out! The lake runs between Texas and Oklahoma. Sort of interesting for an Alabama girl like myself. Where am I THESE DAYS???
Once we left the lake and returned to the Big D, I got back to shopping! As always, I found beautiful things for my San Diego project...
These were huge and quite cool - but not sure I have a place for them...

More from Vintage Living - I just can't get enough of this place.