Crushing...

Lately I've had a hankering for a small collection of antique gaming wheels. We have a large wall that is just screaming for some of these. Too bad I can't seem to find any for sale!

The nation's longest yard sale http://www.127sale.com/ is this weekend and I'm going to drive straight past it. I wish it could be another weekend, I'd like to drive a few miles just to see if I could spot one of these.

Image - www.flickr.com/photos/stgrundy/

Shopping around online, I thought I'd hit the motherload on http://www.capitolsalvage.com/ but when I looked further, everything was sold! Who is out there buying all those gaming wheels? Anthropology?

This one is listed as sold on http://www.johnbrownsantiques.com/ I love the worn details.

This horse racing wheel is so different, but was sadly already sold on Three Potato Four. http://www.threepotatofourshop.com/

The zodiac wheel and the French wheel from http://www.amusement-supply.com/, are nice but they aren't antiques. I think I want to hold out for the real thing.

I guess I could buy one of these and antique it myself. I'm going to search just a little longer.

Too cute!

My photography is horrendous, but I wanted to share this adorable little chest of drawers. This piece dates from the 1920's, as does the crazy quilt, cut up and applied to the front and the lovely, soft blue silk on the sides. The appliques are padded with batting. I wish the picture did it justice. If I had anywhere to put it I would have bought it on the spot. I happened on it at Cristin's in Brentwood. http://www.cristinsdecor.com/index.html

Click on the photo to enlarge!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

...to me...

(a little late)

I hope everyone's birthday is as great as mine was.

Sarah asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I told her I wanted a birthday cake. It was absolutely delicious and fabulously decorated.
Mike always sends me a gorgeous bouquet. I loved the sunflowers, they lasted until today! See Sarah peeking through the flowers?
Mike and the kids made of of my favorite dinners, raclette. We had it our on the deck. The weather was perfect. Raclette always drives the dogs crazy.

Bubbles - always in hope of something falling to the floor.
Max - always hopeful he'll get to it before Bubbles.

The candles Sarah picked were too cute. Good thing she didn't put one for every year, you wouldn't be able to see the cake.

Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, studded with white chocolate chips. Who could ask for more?!

After dinner, I was treated to a Dunne family percussion concert.

What a perfect day.

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...