Saturday, June 26, 2010

Saturday Snip-its Swedish Style


Swedish interior via House Beautiful .



This is my newly painted Swedish style coffee table. It was just an ugly orange pine $40 thrift shop find to start, but it had really beautiful lines, a nice tray top, and it was really sturdy, so I knew it would be perfect for my living room.






Finish detail. Very pale blue/gray paint with weathered gold leafing.





What else is on my table? I would like to say I have these Ralph Lauren Ridgeway Candlesticks. You can find them at Ralph Lauren Home, and they can be yours starting at only $395.00 for the small one. The medium is $495.00 in case you were wondering. (I think the large is sold out, which may be a good thing because it's probably like twelve thousand dollars). Anyway, I was excited to find these because I recently picked up my own set of heavy crystal candlesticks (that look a lot like the expensive Ralph Lauren version). Mine, however, came from the same thrift shop as the coffee table (Who on earth would get rid of those things????) Anyway, I'm not going to tell you what I paid, because I don't want it to cheapen the way you look at them........but they were cheap.






My thriftshop version of Ralph Lauren candlesticks.





A pretty hydrangea from Costco. (In my opinion, the best place to buy fresh flowers).




Also new to the room are these sturdy vintage office chairs. My aunt recently passed away, who had lived in my Dad's childhood home for the past 50 years! My Dad has been working really hard to clean out the house, and has brought me some real treasures. (Way too many treasures according to my hubby). These heavy-duty chairs came from my Grandpa's office. I can't wait to make some ruffly linen seat covers.





I also splurged a few weeks ago on these new Pottery Barn pillows. I couldn't NOT buy these pillows. They completely tie together all my obscure color choices on this entire level of my house...........the hubby, not quite as thrilled.





Photo of the pillows in the Pottery Barn catolog. To get your own pillows click HERE.





Pottery Barn Close-up photo.






Pottery Barn striped linen pillow covers. On sale right now for $19!!!






And lastly, but certainly not least, my adorable Dad spent the whole afternoon working on my stair railing. And yes, so far it is just one box newel.....but it is one box newel more than we have had the entire time we have lived here. We feel pretty lucky no one has fallen to their ultimate demise with the lack of railing, so rather than tempt fate we thought we would put one in. Oh, and that pesky little thing called a building permit.



Sometimes when I look around at all that I still have to do, paint, finish, buy, build, etc., before this house will be done, (i.e. the bucket of tools in the corner of the living room)......


I like to look at old picture of the house before. I can't decide what I like best. Is it the raw grape-stakes/wainscotting, the 2 1/2 foot tall exterior railing, or the entire wall full of smoky mirrors. It's hard to pick a favorite isn't it?




Oh the horror!




(Cute Tinny in the background)




Looking back, it makes me realize how far we really have come.
Have a great Sunday!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Craftsman Style

image from Trulia Seattle Real Estate

So I have been searching high and low for inspiration for the exterior portion of our remodel. It's true that we are not quite done with the inside yet, but I CAN NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!

When I pulled up to the house last week after being away for a few days, I knew I had reached the end of my rope. Something had to be done with the outside of the house, or I was going to have to permanently attach a blindfold to my face.

So........we started digging. We have always thought we would get rid of the old rock wall, but the thousands of dollars we could save by keeping it, are making that old wall look better and better.


image Yellow Dog Design
We have settled on a Craftsman/Cottage/Cape Cod look for the outside. And as it turns out, lots of Craftsman homes have rock walls that look just like ours!



image found here


Image Yellow Dog Design

Is it just my imagination, or does it look better already?




image source unknown
We also have a red brick path similar to this one......


image Yellow Dog Design
sort of.....



I really like this paint color.



I found this amazing Craftsman on two different sites.
this one here....


and here.....



more brick, found here



even better brick, here



I found this cute yellow cottage here.



Columns are going to be the next thorn in my side......

Stay tuned.

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