Favorite things - Nashville Part 1

We've lived in Nashville for 6 years now and I've had quite a bit of time to explore. I haven't discovered all the nooks and crannies yet, but I have come across a few real gems.

A couple of weeks ago, while I was working off Lewisburg Pike in Franklin, I took the opportunity to visit one of my Nashville area favorites - Henpeck Market and The Loft. If you're in the Nashville area, or even just passing through on interstate 65, you should treat yourself to a visit.

Literally 5 minutes off I65, about 20 minutes south of Nashville, take exit 61 - Peytonsville Rd. Go west about 1 mile to Lewisburg Pike and then turn north, you can't miss it on the left.

http://www.henpeckmarket.com/

Henpeck Market is known far and wide for fantastic homemade food. In my book, this is the best place "worth the trip" for lunch or a meat and three. I highly recommend the corn bread salad as well as the beef or chicken tamales, which Michael loves and I bring home by the dozen to freeze for him.

Upstairs at The Loft you'll find too many wonderful things to take home. Beyond a gift shop, this little jewel tucked away upstairs has so much great home decor and original art, you'll have to walk through the space several times just to take it all in.

They have beautiful, unique jewelry like the handmade creations of Rebecca Davis of Mimi and Dottie. You can also find Rebecca's one of a kind creations on Etsy, but I love the selection at The Loft. It's so hard to choose!

These are some of the pieces she has available on Etsy at the moment.

There are several rooms with children's decor and gifts. I loved this fun lamp, it would work great in a boy's or girl's room.


The Loft also carries the Positively Green card line. I always buy several for all occasions when I'm there. Their design is fresh and simple. Each card is printed on 100% post consumer recycled fiber using soy based inks. I love the inspirational quotes, often by world leaders and each card has every day green tips on the back.





These paper mache birds caught my eye. They're a nice little bit of pop. I think I may have to go back for these.

You'll find prints by artist Michelle Mardis. These are so much fun, they would be great framed and grouped or just added to an area for a little punch of color. You can see more of Michelle's work on her website http://www.michellemardis.net/

And original art by my favorite local artist, Elizabeth Foster.

I could buy every painting and hang them all over my house.

You can learn more about the multi talented Elizabeth on her website

http://www.elizabethfoster.net/

Henpeck Market and The Loft are just two of my favorite places (all under one roof) in the Nashville area. I hope you get a chance to stop by if your ever here for a visit. I'll be happy to take you.

Dream Bath

What's your dream bathroom? What does it look like? Bathroom style is so personal, almost like art. I saw this image a while back and just had to save it. Since then, I've kept my eyes open, but haven't seen anything that can outdo it for me.

This, for me, is a masterpiece.

More Before and After - The Basement

So it's time for a little more before and after. I've been working away in the basement for the past few days, trying to remove the rest of the white left in the main room. Now that things are dark, the white is very stark, jarring.

This is part of the basement when we bought the house. 95% of the house was painted bright yellow, including all the ceilings. The tile surround on the fireplace was a cream ceramic and the mantel white. The carpet was old, off white, basic builder grade.

This is the fireplace now. The photos aren't the greatest, it's difficult to get a good picture in the basement, it isn't very bright down there.

We replaced the tile with Ostrich Feather slate, the walls are Restoration Hardware's Cappuccino, the trim is Ben Moore Black Fox. The carpet is loop pile sculpted. I have forgotten the name of it; it's almost the exact same color as the walls.

I painted the mantel in Cappuccino oil and then glazed it with some of the Black Fox just to make it all tie into the rest of the room. I wasn't looking to make a statement with the fireplace.

Then, onto the big built in shelves opposite the fireplace. These are the only built in shelves we left in the house, all the others were removed prior to refinishing the floors.

Before: Yellow walls and ceiling, white woodwork...

Then, after walls and trim were painted and carpet replaced, the white really stood out.
It took me a while before I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this piece and the bar. They're big and imposing but I didn't want them to conflict with the other finishes in the room. Black would be too harsh and the red of the sofa and the pool table felt was the third color. I didn't want to just paint it the Black Fox.

I found while looking through magazines I kept stopping at adds for Lorts new line of, I believe, mahogany furniture that has silver accents. That ended up being the inspiration for the built in and will eventually be the bar as well as soon as I get time.

This is part of the Lorts line...

The basement is very dark and I knew if I wood grained the back of the built in, it would look like a big black hole. Again, I didn't want to introduce another color but at the same time I needed to get light in the unit. I decided to silver leaf the back and do a tonal glaze over it to mellow it out.

This is a closeup of the silver leaf.

And this is the end result, quite a departure from the white. The backs are silver leafed and the rest is wood grained in a rich mahogany. The whole thing is made to look more like an antique by finishing it off with Liberon wax.

Here's a couple more shots:

Not quite the Lorts piece, but inspired by anyway. It's difficult to see in the photo, but I also put a little silver trim on some of the molding and on the door faces.

Milestones - revised

It all goes by so fast doesn't it?

First steps...

First trip to the beach...
First Halloween...
First birthday...
First car...

First bike...

first LEARNER'S PERMIT!

Congratulations Michael!

I might need to get a prescription soon...

New Curtains for the bedroom

After a long wait, we now have new curtains for the bedroom.

Just to remind, the below photo was the bedroom when we bought the house. Yellow, yellow everywhere and old off white carpet.

While there is still plenty to do in the bedroom, lovely linen graces the windows. No more blinds!

At first the plan was to just shirr them on the rods. They looked lovely, however, they didn't move at all unless you climbed up onto a ladder and pulled them across. Not very practical. So rings had to be sewn on, now they move great.

The curtains before the rings. I love the way the light comes through in the mornings. Often I don't even open them the room is so bright.
They look great with the Serwin Williams Chatroom on the walls and Porter's Jute on the ceiling.
There are some other things to take care of. While they worked in the old house, the bedside lamps are too small for the scale of this room. I also need to find something for over the bed and I'm keeping an eye out for a gorgeous Belgian chandelier to replace the ceiling fan with.

I wish we could have a big plush carpet in this room, it would ground everything so well. However, as long as we have the lovely Max there will be no carpet.

Special thanks to Aunt Sue, seamstress extraordinaire. She made the gorgeous curtains for me, they're perfect. I can't wait to hang the sunroom curtains, hopefully the rods will be ready soon.

Happy 4th of July!

As much as we love the beach, I think at least for Sarah and myself, the barn is still our favorite place. Well, Moe isn't at the beach. We might feel differently if that were the case.

Sarah and Moe work on their equitation.
Do you have treats?
I'm finished, I should get treats now.

Finally! Treats!
Moe gets to 'lick the bowl'.
His spots get so dark in the summer he looks like a different horse.
No Moe, you ate the last of the treats.

That trunk smells like treats...

After the barn we went to Puckett's to get a drink and pick up some home made foaccia bread. We saw this really cool car. Not sure what the make is but it was in perfect condition.

After Puckett's we stopped by the fireworks stand to get a few bits and pieces for the evening. Sarah was annoyed with me since all I wanted to get was "baby stuff" like tanks and spinners.

While we were there we met these two adorable puppies. They are ten weeks old here. They are going to be huge! Of course Sarah fell in love and wanted to take the quiet one home with her. Um, not happening, sorry.

This one was especially sweet and cuddly. I'd love to have a Bernese Mountain Dog, but we already have two more dogs than we need at the moment. Other people's puppies are always fun to hold.

Later in the day the rain moved in. Glen and Marla came over for dinner and to celebrate the 4th with us. Mike and Glen ended up grilling in the rain. It was a fun day though. Hope your's was good too!

Ah! Here's the video! This is Sarah and Moe the next day practicing their equitation. After the rains of the night before, Moe decided to roll in the mud. He isn't looking his prettiest here.