The Holiday

It doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get,
or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay
you drink with your girlfriends... You still go
to bed every night going over every detail and wonder
what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood.
And how in the hell for that brief moment you could
think that you were that happy. And sometimes you
can even convince yourself that he'll see the light
and show up at your door. And after all that, however
long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. and
you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again.
And little pieces of your soul will finally come back.
And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life
that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

-I love the movie "The Holiday", esp that quote from Iris/Kate Winslet

Rain Boot Thoughts

So I have been loving my J.Crew wellies which I got last year. Bright pink, with olive green laces and similar green soles, very cute, and not over-the-top. However, I need some diversity as sometimes it rains and rains for days and they can't be used all the time. Esp when winter comes and the salt on the roads and sidewalks at school will ruin it all...

So I've been shopping around for some new boots. Less than $100. I don't need Hunter Wellingtons if I am buying them myself!!


Here are the runners-up:

Sperry Plaid Pelican Boot in navy/forest for $68:


L.L. Bean Rubber Moc in tan/navy for $59:


Sperry Comorant Moc in navy for $80: (a little bit more fun decorated-wise)


Shearling-Lined L.L. Bean moc in chestnut/chocolate for $114:


Last, but not least:

Sperry Comorant Moc in yellow for $80:




I'd love all of y'alls thoughts!! XOXO

Dining Room project

Dining Room

The dining room color is Woodlawn Colonial Gray, another NOVA plantation (seen here behind the couch)!:

**Our dining room looked like this when we visited it - they "gave" us the "window treatments" AKA lengths of fabric stuck through plastic-finished hooks in (eww):



Our plan with the dining room is this:

Ethan Allen - Townhouse Rectangular Dining Table


It has drawers on either end to store serving pieces, etc, and can extend to being 120" long! The legs are fluted and just amazing!


For chairs, we are planning on going with a chippendale side chair of about 5 on either side, so 10 total, and then 2 host/arm chairs. We may over time add a few more to fill in the wall spaces left!


The bay window has a space which would be sweet to put a couch/loveseat in but there is no room. So, our best option is a storage console piece which we could move during the holidays to stick a tree in. This is the one we have been going with - it is from the same collection as the Ethan Allen Dining Room table:


My mother was incredibly kind and gave us her old display case from her first marriage. It was used for storage when I was growing up on our farm, in the barn, for I believe horse accessories/etc, and now has a neat shabby-chic wearing to it. The pecan has withstood time well (as good pecan should), and has an older grey-ish finish on it, which we look forward to sandpapering off a good bit, to really make it look even more antiqued. There are two lights which need to be replaced on the inside, and the shelves are made of glass. I am on the fence about this, but I am thinking maybe replacing the glass and their holders with a grey-covered velvet would make it better for fine display pieces - wedding china/silver, antiques from my family, collections of my grandmama, etc...

For looks, it is very similar to this china cabinet and display piece by Ethan Allen (Maison), except flat across the top - and the pecan is marbleized underneath the fading finish:



Lastly, we want a blue and gray oriental carpet with touches of ivory, rose, and champagne tones for the dining room.
So, here are some inspirations on those lines...


Or





What do you all think? Draperies are natch our last thought, as these pieces are much more significant in the order presented!

Living Room project

From: thetearoom.typepad.com, a more minimalist look. We want something dressier. Like the shelves though.


PBF and I will soon be doing major decorating for the house. Not just because it is the holidays, but because we will be starting on the major painting. Why are we doing it in the winter, you may ask. Well, because where we live in VA you can leave the house open all day long, and in the Summer that = HUMIDITY. Not good when spending a bunch of $$ on high-quality paint that could bubble, get dust on it, or just look bad. So, we have been waiting for this dry/low-humidity weather to kick in and it has in the past month. By the time my exams are over it will be perfect.

Living Room

We plan on painting the living room a deep dark forest green. Maybe a dark polo green is a better way to put it, as forest green has more brown in it. This isn't that kind of color. We will be purchasing the paint for Lowe's and we/I will be doing it ourselves. I have seen jobs at friend's houses that professionals did and they completely destroyed the crown molding. To be honest, this painting job feels like something I should do as I am worried they may "screw it up"... so I would rather screw it up myself than have to be concerned with someone else.

The living room color is Montpelier Palmetto Green, named for Montpelier in VA:


A lot of people - parent included - have questioned this choice, but the room is the length of the house, has a TON of crown molding, plantation blinds in white, and gets a TON of natural light, so the light won't be sucked out in a bad way.

This is what the living room looked like when we visited it the first time:


You can see that they had professional window valences made, but they did not really "work" with the rest of the Living Room. It was a mish-mash of things, understandable as they were recently married AND the husband was relocated out of state during the time the house was on the market - but not in our taste design-wise at all.


A more formal version of French Country.
From: FineLiving.com

Our plan with the living room is to be minimalist (as in few things that are key pieces, not as in a Modern look). We hope to keep the look of French Country consistent in the house so we are going for classic, home-y, and traditional, without being stuffy. Our house is a colonial so layout-wise it is perfect. This is also so when I inherit items they can be placed throughout the house without looking out of place (my parents and grandparents have dozens of antique furniture pieces and collected pieces of artwork and figures from Europe). For example, my great-grandmother had a gorgeous Gold oval mirror which my parents currently have in their living room and I would love to have it for over the fireplace when it is my turn. It would be perfect there.

We were given as a housewarming gift from my Grandmother and Grandfather a beautiful sofa table:

It is from Ethan Allen, the Maison collection (perfect name!), and is in the finish Rustique.

We plan on recovering the couch and sofa my parents had in the farmhouse I grew up in this fabric pattern - yellow background with red and green diamonds within it:

This fabric is from Ethan Allen.

With a few throw pillows done in this pattern, which I love as it picks up the colors from the sofa and is a bit whimsical and 19th century at the same time:

This fabric is from Ethan Allen as well.


I cannot wait to take all of the silver/brushed nickel fixtures including the living room ceiling fan and replace them with brass ones - such as the one below:
This is a Hunter Bayport 42-inch four-blade ceiling fan with antique brass fixtures:

This photo was taken from Amazon.com.

We are debating closing up the open "TV shelf" space above the gas fireplace and turn it instead into a real fireplace mantle with a family painting above it (not a portrait, a piece of artwork from my family, obviously). We'd get a media center to house our entertainment center, etc.

We have already ordered a large bookshelf from Ethan Allen to be delivered next month so the room becomes more library-style as we hope it will be used as such. It is large but we want it to look classic and still be functional (we have a TON of books between us). The shelf will go between the windows facing the front porch. Again, less floor space taken up because this shelf is TALL:


The collection is called Tango at Ethan Allen. (This bookshelf is actually 3 shelves, so use perspective in that regard).


Here is another photo of the living room (Thanks, Blackberry Tour!), including our goofy Halloween decorations! haha:




All Historic paint colors are shown here: http://www.valsparatlowes.com/explore-colors/historic-colors/paint-colors.html.

You may find that choosing Lowes for paint is a poor choice, or, at the very least - random. Well, originally, I was going to get the paint there because of my father's discount but now that doesn't apply (this Fall he went back to being an Executive Sales Manager at Pitney Bowes). However, they carry Valspar which is incredibly high in quality, and they have a relationship with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is an organization I have a great deal of passion for - as they have assisted with many projects near and dear to me. Currently, a major project of theirs is the Miami Marine Stadium, a unique structure to say the least:



Check out the NTHP at: http://www.preservationnation.org/.

Do you know a male primadonna?

This is hysterical. Property of NBC and GE Universal.

Christmas List

Hey all,

working on my Christmas List.



Does anyone have any input??



XOXO
-Worthy