Texture

I love,love, love natural wallcoverings like grasscloths, hemps, silks, and linens. They add texture, warmth and interest to any room. My favorite natural textured wallcovering company is Phillip Jeffries Ltd. Their handcrafted wallcoverings are to die for!!

From the moment I laid eyes on this bedroom designed by Meg Braff in the October issue of House Beautiful, I was in love. Braff covered the walls in Phillip Jeffries' Manilla Hemp in Kelly Green, and what a statement these walls make! The texture and color are so scrumptous! She balances out the intensity of the walls with all white furniture. The combination of kelly green and white just makes me smile. You gotta love the Jacqui desk and Chloe armchair from Bungalow 5.

One of my favorite collections from Phillip Jeffries is the Voyage Collection. This collection of hand-screen, printed designs come on hemp, linen, Japanese Paper weave and jute wallcoverings. They are AWESOME and would make such a statement in a foyer or powder room!!

*images from House Beautiful and http://www.phillipjeffries.com/.

How do you like your mantel?

A mantel is always the focal point of a room...how do you like your mantel?
For the living room, I love a mantel with a big, beautiful mirror hanging over it, flanked with a pair of sconces and a few accessories scattered across it. I love how a mirror over the mantel reflects the rest of the room, which is art within itself. In the family room, I like something a little more casual and fun. Replace the mirror with a great piece of art, or maybe a cool arrangement of framed prints...of course, fun and funky accessories always add a punch of personality to any room! Here are a few of my favorites...

Elle Decor

DominoHouse Beautiful

Domino

Domino

House Beautiful

Domino

House Beautiful

The Weekend

It's finally here!! What are your weekend plans? My weekend will be filled with lots of shopping, football, a wedding and some quality time with family. For those of you Atlantans out there, the Partners Card week kicks off tomorrow! The Partners Card is AMAZING...see, you purchase this card for $60 and 100% of the proceeds go to Camp Twin Lakes. With the card you get 20% off at TONS & TONS of stores and restaurants all around Atlanta for the week of October 17-25. Here are some of the store I will be hitting up, just to name a few..

For me- Tulipano, J.Crew, Anthropology, Tory Burch, Kate Spade, Tootsies

For Annie- Kangaroo Pouch, Children's Prep Shop, Gretchen's and Patagonia

For the hubby- Brooks Brothers, H.Stockton, Miller Brothers, Orvis

For the home- Gramercy, B.D. Jeffries, Erika Reade, Web Marstellar, Nicholson Gallery, Pottery Barn, West Elm

I can't wait! It's awesome because I get all of my Christmas shopping done now and save 20% while helping a good cause...you can't beat that. You can purchase a Partners Card at http://www.partnerscard.com/. Have a great weekend!!

Let's cozy up by the fire

The weather is miserable here, cold and rainy...YUCK! All I want to do is cozy up next to a warm fire with my little boo and my hubby. Unfortunately, we don't have a fireplace, but if we did, I'd take this one.

My mom, Annie and I took a little trip to Athens on Tuesday to visit my sister. We ate lunch at Last Resort (yummy!!) and did some shopping. Annie scored this cute fall dress at The Elephant Trunk. She made her first trip to ADAC with me this morning, so of course I had to get her all dolled up. She's my little designer in training :)!!

**I think the photo above is from Domino...not sure though**

Our Home...Before and After (Finally)!!

Here it is...BEFORE
We moved into our first house the last week of March 2009. I was 6 months pregnant and ready to prepare my nest. Thankfully, the interior of the house was move in ready (the previous owner was also an interior designer...we lucked out). This was a must considering my baby bump, and all we had to do was paint a couple of rooms and put new carpet in the nursery. BUT as you can see by the picture, the exterior needed a little TLC. We were going to wait a year or so before we made any improvements, but then Reg got the itch and it was all down hill from there. It all started with Reg trimming a few limbs. Before we knew it, we were cutting down 13 trees and landscaping the back yard. As many of you "houseaholics" (a fellow blogger turned me on to this term..haha) may know, once you do one thing to a house, it's a domino effect.Have you ever seen so many pine trees...they had to go!The mud pit after we cut down ALL the trees...domino effect = much needed landscaping.

Gotta love some new, green Zoysia! This is my husbands new love...minus me and Annie :).The brick on our house was not pretty...it was an ugly, orange color and I was dying to paint over it.
So we did and ta-da here it is!! Hope you like it! I went with Sherwin William Wool Skein for the main color, Panda White for the trim and Hardware for the shutters and doors.

We also redid the front porch and repaved the driveway. Check out the concrete slab and rotten columns on the old front porch...had to go. I wish I had a better pic, but this was all I could find.

We replaced the concrete slab floor with new brick (sorry, my terminology is terrible), and it made a huge difference!!

Here is the finished product with new columns, copper "eye brow", arch, shingles and lanterns to replace the hanging fixture. We saved a lot of money by not having to change the roof pitch.

Once again, the domino effect is coming into play and we now need to landscape the front yard. Unfortunately, the bank account is empty and we are just going to have to wait!!
Last but not least, the driveway before and after.

I'm so glad all the workmen are finally out of our hair and we can now enjoy our new and improved home.

Friends+Food+Flowers=Fabulous Shower

Last Thursday I hosted an Around the House Shower at my house for my oldest and dearest friend, Katie. It was a BLAST! It's kinda hard not to have a good time when you have all of your best friends, yummy food and beautiful flowers all under one roof. This beautiful platter was one of my favorite gifts that Katie received. She is getting married the weekend before Thanksgiving, so the platter was a perfect gift!

My good friend Ansley's mom did these AWESOME arrangements. They are so fun and whimsical...I just love them!

How cute are these cookies with Katie's soon-to-be monogram?! They are from Rhodes Bakery and were sooo yummy!

The bride's favorite food is cheese dip and anything Mexican, so we had Taqueira Del Sol cater.

The food was delicious! Above is a pic of the spread.

I'm in desperate need of artwork for my dining room, so to fill the empty wall space, we had a picture of Katie from her bachelorette party blown up. Hey, it's not fine art but it'll do :).

Anne Bolling Gaines and Mary Delia Poynter of Container Gardening of Atanta, LLC planted this beautiful orchid and the container with coral begonias and greenery on my dining room table. They also planted the containers by the front door and the beautiful flower beds on either side of the front steps and mailbox. They are SO talented and I could not be more happy with the BEAUTIFUL work they did!! I do not have a green thumb at all, so I need all the help I can get.

A sneak peak of the house with my new lanterns! Stay tuned tomorrow for the before and after post.

Check out Anne Bolling and Mary Delia's blog at http://containergardeningllc@blogspot.com/ and be sure to contact them for any of your gardening needs!

Scott's

Can you believe it...the October Scott's show is already here! Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it this month, but I wanted to give y'all a sneak peak at some of the goodies that will be at the show. Both of the booths I'm mentioning are in the North building, so be sure stop there first.
Booth #1
One of my favorite Scott's dealer, Lindy Wright from Millwright, ALWAYS has fabulous finds. If you're ever looking for awesome, one-of-a-kind lamps be sure to stop here! Her booth is under the B-8 sign. She also has a warehouse located off Peachtree Industrial (along with two other amazing scott's dealers, Lisa Burnett from Inner Pieces and Margaret Bostwick from the Silk Purse..they both have booths in the North building as well, but I'm not sure what their booth number is), so if you can't make it to Scotts this month, you can always hit her up there. Contact me if you want more info on their warehouse location. Here are a few pics of some of Lindy's fab finds...

Photos from Lindy Wright's monthly email

Booth #2

Remember the basket lights I saw at Scott's last month? Well, Mary Bairstow is back with even more fun finds (all info from her monthly email)...
1) Some incredible new light fixtures wonderfully priced. You are going to love these!!
2) 10' red ladder
3) Wonderful aged blue cart
4) Old Butcher block workbench
5) Cane back chairs from Paris bistro with vintage linen seats
6) Grain sack upholstered Parsons chairs
7) Bergere sofa in burlap
8) 1930's French sofa with daybed
9) Bakers dough table
10) Vintage linen pillows
11) Jeff Jones photography
12) Tracy Hartley Urban Art
13) Huge Wheel Cog that makes wonderful Sculpture Art
14) Tortoise Shell Sconces these are selling very well.
15) Wonderful old artifacts including wood planters.
16) Chicken coop coffee tables on casters with glass tops - so cute

Be sure to check them out under B-10 in booths 429, 440 and 441. This will be the largest space she's had and I promise she won't disappoint.

If you are interested in any of these items and can't make it to Scott's, contact Mary at mary@marybairstow.com.

Happy shopping!!

**Hopefully before & after pics of the house will be posted by the end of the week. One of the lanterns came in broken, so I'm waiting on it to come in. I'm also hosting a wedding shower at my house tomorrow night, so hopefully I'll have some fun pics from it as well.**