Thanksgiving Table

I wanted to share with you a Thanksgiving Table centerpiece & Post I did last year at my mom's house. (11/25/08!) I'd just started blogging and I had so much fun setting a pretend table.. How odd it seemed at the time but now it seems totally normal!! Just ignore the lack of silverware & napkins for my imaginary guests! ;)

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The items used are all flea-market finds from a trip I recently took to Strasburg, Virginia. I started with a simple oat-colored linen runner and put the large white pillar candle holder in the center. (Only $2!)





Then I layered ouwards symmetrically with the pair of smaller milk glass urns & topped them off with pumpkins ($10 for the pair!)




I tucked in a second, larger milk glass urn with a squash in it to informally balance the small milk glass candleholder on the opposite side. (When dealing with thrift-store flea market finds, since it's often hard to come by pairs, you get to have a lot of fun with mismatched pairs & informal balance.)



At the end of the arrangement, I used 2 busts of a little boy and girl. I debated over buying them & am now so glad I went for them. At only $8 for the pair and now seeing how quirky they look on the table, I don't know why I wasn't crazy over them from the beginning! (I love weird little objects :)



And finally, I added this little tree made out of amber that my mom & stepdad found on a trip to Lithuania. It's like a little gemstone bouquet. It looks good no matter where you put it.




I think my mom's wedding china looks perfect with such a simple arrangement. The room's crewel draperies, stained-glass window & bold-patterned rug made me want to do a really simple table setting.




Here's a close-up of the large urn with the squash in it. I thought it was a pretty picture. :)




Here you can see my mom's cabinet full of crystal. It's got some beautiful pieces given to her by my grandfather & also an amazing vintage cut crystal collection handed down to her from my stepdad's family. She's never had it displayed before & recently purchased the cabinet & was finally able to enjoy it!




Anyway, I'm off to pack for our trip to visit my dad for Thanksgiving! If I'm able to, I'll post some pictures of our table there! (His kitchen is finally in & I cannot wait to see it!!!)
Here's one last picture & have a very happy & beautiful Thanksgiving!!! Keep it simple & have fun!! xoxo







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Hope you enjoyed the little trip down memory lane! Thanksgiving will be at my mom's house this year & I'm already getting excited for my grandmother's homemade noodles!!! mmmm mmm mm!!!
xoxo,
lauren

Pure Style Home: The Open Sky Project

I wanted to let you in on a little something that's in the works right now. I've joined The Open Sky Project & will be opening up an online store featuring some of my favorite products. The Open Sky Project is a new concept & company: It's an online store that sells products through a series of "Shops" owned by "Experts." Many of the experts are bloggers in various areas of interest ranging from cooking to gardening to fishing & we've all chosen some of our favorite things to sell. (I'll be joining in as the second interior decor shop.) Its goal is to make the online shopping experience personal. You're comfortable buying because it's a recommendation from someone you trust. If I were into fishing I'd trust him:

hee hee Anyway, I'm in the midst of choosing my products & would love your input! I've got my eye on a few things but am looking for more ideas! What would you like to see? What do you think buyers would be interested in buying?

It can be anything from lighting to pillows to rugs to accessories to artwork. Right now I'm leaning towards some of my favorite things in my own home- the things people email me about asking where to find. I definitely want to include a nice slew of beautiful & budget-friendly products. Any thoughts? As soon as my shop launches, I'll let you know. Thanks so much for your help & I can't wait!!

xoxo,

lauren

A Southern Living Before & After

I was asked to review this November's issue of Southern Living, and have to say that I loved so many things about it, but my favorite had to be this bedroom before & after. (Photos by Laurey W. Glenn) Here's the before, which is so much like my own (in-need-of-love) guest bedroom:

And here's the After:

I love it!!! It belongs to Mary Ankar & she was assisted by none other than Anne Turner Carroll. (I think it's safe to say we bloggers pretty much love anything she gets her hands on.) What made the biggest impact in the space was the addition of the gray-green grasscloth wallpaper. I think I MUST have this somewhere in my house:

Our guest bedroom has a pair of glass lamps just like this & a very similar bed and I will have to fight with all of my being to not straight-up copy this room!! :) hahah

Also check out the before of the antique chair:

And how perfect is it now?! :

The roman shades are hung just under the crown molding & I love their relaxed elegance...

The antique desk looks far from old with the modern lamp & artwork above it. They put sketches in ready-made frames for budget-friendly accessories:

The pillow (I have to say this!) is just like the body pillow on my bed! (here I thought it was so original!! oh well ;)But I just LOVE IT!!! It's from a rug they purchased for the room that didn't work & they had it turned into a pillow. The pattern is gorgeous & it really oomphs the style level in the room. (And I can tell you how easy haveing one big pillow is!)

And finally, Anne Turner Carroll created this arrangement below out of mounted wallpaper. She felt an entire wall or large canvas of it would have been too much for the space so she broke it up. What a great idea!!! Especially if you have pretty wallpaper remnants- which I do!!! (remember the kitchen nook?!) Love the pops of yellow throught the room...

Anyway, with the loss of some of my favorite magazines (Domino & Cottage Living--- tears!!) I was really happy to see such a fresh, young space in Southern Living. There are a few more in this issue & I'm hoping this is how it will stay. We're all out here begging for some new, budget-friendly, beautiful "real" spaces!!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps- Thank you SO much for all the sweet comments about our bedroom redo!! (previous post) It really make it all worth it!! :)

Our 70s Split Redo Part IV: The Master Bedroom

So I finally took pics of our bedroom! (a million!!- sorry!) Here's what it looked like when we first moved in. Scary, I know. The curtains were leftover from our old house & we had to hang them for privacy until I could get longer ones. (They were one of the last things we added to the room so anytime someone walked in I was so embarrassed! :) The limewashed paneling was pretty bad but appealed to me in a weird way... We stuck to our budget and spent just under $1000 in this room. We didn't replace the (new, clean-but-boring) carpet but have plans to do so. (Probably with a natural woven wall-to-wall carpet like seagrass or sisal.)

Here it is now:

I knew I wanted all-white because there's just nothing more relaxing to me & we really wanted to focus on the wooded views outside the windows. And I love getting into a clean white bed with fresh linens. Just love it!! (The duvet cover is from West Elm & I like the fact that it's pretty even when it's not made :) We keep our current books on the old step ladder (above) under the window that we found outside our house in the bushes. It keeps things neat.

What inspired the rest of the room was the antique brass headboard. (below) We found it on the side of the road set out trash when we first moved in. (One of my best trash-picks ever.) It's a double bed but works fine for our queen bed.



For our bedside tables we went with the Malm dressers from Ikea. (I think around $65 each?) We needed the storage space and I love having a big nightstand. I wanted modern & simple & I've always loved the lines of these. I chose an antique brass reading lamp by Robert Abbey suggested to me by Reichel of Copy Cat Chic (thank you!!! :) because it was such a better price than the Restoration Hardware one I was lusting after & had the same look. I love having the dimmer at night.

On the other nightstand we used the Chinoiserie ginger jar lamp I found on our first flea market with Eddie & Jaithan for only $20! I'd been searching for one of these for years as my grandmother had them when I was growing up at their house & I always loved them. (And she's not ready to part with them! ;)

I found the vintage crystal chandelier (below) at On a Whim (in Lucketts, VA ) last December and kept my fingers crossed that it would still be there when I realized how perfect it would be for our bedroom. I was lucky!!! I ripped the two fern prints above the bed out of a book we had & put them into $1 frames I found at a thrift shop. I love them against the paneling...

We have a semi-awkward wall on one side of the bedroom: not enough space for a piece of furniture but still a pretty substantial wall. I decided it would be a fun spot to hang some of my jewelry so I could enjoy it even when I'm not wearing it. (below)

I simply hammered in some large nails & had fun hanging the necklaces by color & size. It's one of those little things that just makes me really happy. I end up wearing it more instead of forgetting about it in my jewelry box. The chair was $13 at a thrift store & I painted it white.

The huge pillow on the bed is a cheap body pillow from Target that I had covered in a rich greeny-goldy ikat that I found at Calico Corners for 60% off.

I really wanted the room to have a simple & modern feeling with a touch of feminine & ornate detailing... This picture below kind of embodies the whole idea: ornate gilded sconces from my grandmother topped with a simple white vase from ikea. (We have one on either side of the window.)

And this seriously scrolly hand-carved bevelled mirror found at Lucketts was our splurge at $250. Its lines remind me a little of fern... I stare at it in bed & find lots of shapes & faces (there's an owl guy hidden in there) and I never tire of it.

And whenever I take pics of our house, I pretty much move these chemistry beakers into the room. (haha oh well.) Here I used fern from outside (where the Boston fern now lives :) and love them paired with the fern prints. Such a simple easy arrangement...

The white roman shades are off-the-rack from Sears & I swear by them. They're thermal-lined & if you can find the right size, they're awesome. The curtains are from Ikea. One last little look:

Thanks so much for reading & hope you enjoyed the tour! Have a great day!!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps- Just in case you missed the others:

Part 1: The Living Room/ Dining Room

Part II: The Family Room/ Office

Part III: The Kitchen

Apartment LOVE: Monelle Totah

There are some homes that I can look at over & over and never tire of. These are the FAVORITES. We usually see them a million times splattered all over blogland and to me, Monelle Totah's home featured in Elle Decor a few months ago is one of those. It gets to the point where I almost feel bad posting because I know everyone's already seen it, but I just have to because I love it so much. Monelle is the head designer at Williams-Sonoma home so it's no wonder her place is GORGEOUS. Her living room is my favorite spot:

All- white with small hits of black and silver. It's sophisticated & just insanely beautiful. With its leggy furniture pieces, exposed wood floor & the color palette, it feels airy & open. That coffee table = yum yum!! Accessories are layered to perfection & it just feels ready for cocktails in there!! I'm also loving the dining room (below). It's a bit softer with a little more age due to the antiques, but has the same nice graphic punch of the overscale striped rug that the zebra hide had in the living room. I love seeing the silhouette of the table under the simple linen tablcloth. Such a relaxed elegance...

Below is a stocked little secretary & stylish mail-collecting spot. (At least that's what I'd use it for! ;)

The kitchen is light & airy & freah. The glass cabinet doors makes it feel larger than it is:

Of course I'm loving the white slipcovered headboard & general feeling in the bedroom (below). Also, check out her tired nightstand on the right side of the bed. How great is it for stacking books?! The two ottomans at the end of the bed are great touches (would be full of clothes at my house ;) and something about the green hydrangeas in the arrangement just seals this space for me. I love that hit of green! I have no idea what her budget was in this space but I think it could be fairly easily created on a tight budget. Headboard, ottomans, prints on the wall, books, seagrass rug... And I love the old sawhorse/bench under the window. I've seen them a lot while out shopping (Lucketts usually has one! - very inexpensive) and always consider buying them! (They're a little too skinny to be comfortable sitting on for any period of time though but look amazing... probably great for putting on shoes & setting books on... haha now I want one!! don't go to Lucketts!! just kidding ;) And for me, if I make a splurge in a room (which I usually do) it tends to be on the lamps...

I love seeing little stands & table & chairs in bathrooms... Do this one stay around after the photo shoot I wonder? Sadly, non of my bathrooms are big enough for any of these pretty extras... yet ;) hee hee... I'm also loving the toile in the shower area:

This bedroom has a perfect little galler wall & I love the splashes of gold and orange in the all-white space. How easy is this room to switch up seasonally?!! love it!

And the modern chair & art playing off the with the frilly chandelier & painted bamboo dresser = WOW

And finally, one last shot of the main area. It's just beautiful and if we didn't need striped rugs before, now we do ;)


Also, if you haven't seen already. Brooke from Velvet & Linen is having the COOLEST GIVEAWAY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I won't spoil the surprise if you don't already know, but just go over there.

Have a great weekend & I took photos of our finished bedrooms (finally) and will be posting Mon!!! We're painting those nursery stripes -ahhhhhhh!!!

xoxoxo,

Lauren

ps- I just have to tell you about the weirdest dream I had last night: I was at K-Mart and Martha Stewart was there because of her products (I think she's stopped selling there in real life?) and she was helping to put carts away in the parking lot. I thought that was very nice of her. ;)

70s Redo Living Room Update: That Darn Wall!!!

Ok, so I've rearranged again (lately I've been doing it every couple of weeks just to give new things a try) so that the sofa would be across from the windows & we can enjoy all the changing leaves outside cuddled up instead of in separate chairs. (castered sofas = AMAZING for this!! ;) ;) In all of this rearranging I've learned that some arrangements photograph better than others (of course) but that sometimes the ones that photograph the worst are my favorites! haha like this one:

Which leads me to "THAT DARN WALL!!" argggg(above) It's been driving me insane as you probably remember. It's a tough imbalanced wall because of the angle of the ceiling... First I just tossed up some flea market paintings & a mirror we had up on the walls & while they look cozy & warm in the photo, there was way too much dead space on the wall so I knew the fix was only temporary. (Still planning on having mirror set into the fireplace box- on my to do list for this month)

Next I tried these huge mirrors from Ballard. (below) I love that they add to the height of the space but the black is getting to feel too harsh for me in here as it's getting colder. I had still planned to work in something around the mirrors but the arrangment in my mind bothered me. (And I have the perfect place that's begging for them in my entry... They remind me of a window & my entry is dark so they'll reflect a lot of the light from the LR windows.)

So, we've finally decided to do a gallery wall ... which was what was originally planned. (what goes around comes around I guess.) I know lots of people are 'over' them, but I've never had one long enough to get sick of them. We've got a bunch of Leonard Da Vinci sketches & drawings & we're going to frame them in matching oversized frames with oversized matting. (30!!!) I want to go as close as I can to the ceiling & take it down almost to the ground. I think it'll create a modern-feeling gridwork pattern but will also warm up the space at the same time... Below is a photo of a mid-sized gallery wall I did in a client's home:

I haven't ordered the frames yet & am hoping not to spend an insane amount. I found some possible online sources & will share when I decide which I'm going with. (priced under $20) I worry though because I haven't seen them in person. The store I'm really thinking of going with doesn't offer samples... So I'll let you know how it goes! For now though, here's what's going on in the rest of the living room: I'm waiting on some pillows (using a green & white floral I'd had around for years!!) for the sofa and I can't wait to add a little more pattern in this space:

We finally added the bookshelf lamp to our "cluttered" & loved bookshelf:

And because green is my favorite color, I keep finding green things to bring in here ( = free!!) My best friend gave me this cozy green throw & I love cozying up under it:

And the camel saddle has become a great ottoman:

I love having walnuts around in the Fall and here's a shot of the white urn they're hanging out in right now:

And the gilded chair is still alive!

And my dining room chairs are also still on the "to do" list... Slicovered linen parsons chairs are where they're headed, but for now I pulled in some garden chairs from outside in galvanized steel... As you can see, some fabric is needed over here in the dining room (come on parson's chairs!!) so I pulled in our little friend, the ottoman for the pic so it wasn't so cold. Now Christian loves it there & makes himself at home with his toys on the table. Works for me!

I'm still crazy over that piece of wood & the vintage chemistry beakers... I mixed them with a glass orb and an inexpensive beaker-like vase from Ikea:

And the storage space has been awesome in the $165 sideboard I found. It's also a nice 6 foot expanse of display space- yay!!

If you want to see the "before pics" of the living room & the changes we've made, you can go here to view it. So , what are your thoughts on a gallery wall& parsons chairs? Any good sources for me?

xoxo,

lauren

A Comfortable Home: My Thoughts

As you may have on a read on a couple of the other DC-area blogs, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams held their book launch & signing for their new book A Comfortable Home at their store in DC last week. I was sad to have missed it but so thrilled that they sent me a copy for review!

The layout is almost like a work-book with step-by-step instructions. It's very "how to" and I love that about it. It's full of beautiful rooms for sure, but its purpose is in teaching readers how to attain beautiful, comfortable rooms that make them happy. For example, here's an excerpt below which describes the process of creating inspiration files & discovering what it is that moves you in a room:

There's lots of eye-candy of course:

The idea of "the comfortable home" really resonates something within me. I love beautiful rooms but I'm happiest in a beautiful space that's, above all, comfortable. I love attainable rooms. Doable spaces. And that's what this book is all about.

The rooms in the book make you think, " I can do that" and it's really encouraging. Yes, the book is full of MG + BW merchandise, but it's not pushed on you at all... it's merely used as a means to show you how you can easily create spaces.

There are several sections of the book where they show you how a room can be arranged in different ways & it's a great way to jumpstart your traditional thinking. It's definitely a book that you can write in, take notes in & really use. I recommend it to those who are trying to reinvent their homes & make them more functional & versatile. It's a great overall teaching book on the design process of making your home beautiful, functional & comfortable.

So, what makes a home comfortable to you??

xoxo,

lauren

Time Flies... Better Late Than Never!

Well, time's really flown since we moved into our new house. It's been 6 months! I've been pregnant the whole time & when we first moved (during my first trimester) I was pretty worthless with helping out. I fell asleep on the sofa almost every night around 7 & poor Dave got so much done.

Second trimester (and summer) just flew by with an insane amount of home improvement projects and travel plans....

And now, here I am with a baby due in a little over a month & I can't believe how quickly the time has flown!!! (haha and back on the couch again! - but not really ;)

First pregnancies & second pregnancies are VERY different. (at least for me.) For my first pregnancy with Christian (now 2) it was pretty much all we talked about for MONTHS. We had lots of name ideas & found out as soon as we could that we would be having a baby boy. (I really thought I was having a girl & wanted one badly!! haha) We talked to Christian the whole pregnancy long. The nursery planning & painting began in February & he wasn't due until July. It's really a magic time & there's nothing like it. (Christian's nursery below.)

Now for my second pregnancy... sometimes I forget I'm even pregnant! Christian takes up so much of my thoughts & energy that I just don't have as much mental room cleared out for this pregnancy as I did the first time. (I can only imagine how subsequent pregnancies go! :) We don't know if we're having a boy or a girl and decided that when Baby 2 gets here, he or she will be loved & coddled an insane amount so that for now (while he/ she is still "inside") we'll focus on Christian. But, when we sing & talk to Christian, this little baby is hearing it too so I'm okay with this.

Anyway, what this is all leading to is the fact that we've done NOTHING with the baby's nursery. eeeeeeeek It's definitely a lot harder to plan a nursery this time not knowing if we're having a boy or a girl. Of course we're keeping all of the same furniture, but I do want to do something a little different from Christian's nursery. (Hey, I'm a decorator! I live for this stuff! ;) And, let me be totally frank here: a nursery is for the parents. (in our case, for me.. Dave could really care less how cute it is ;) But no baby cares what his room looks like. They just don't. So when planning this nursery I'm under no illusions that this is going to make my baby happy or that the color of the walls will matter at all to him or her. It's for me. It will make me happy. Below is the seashell mobile my cousin & I made for Christian's nursery over 2 years ago... It really did make me smile...

Here's the chaise lounge that we're still using: (pictured in our old house/ nursery)...

And now sad & lonely in the new nursery:

Here's the new nursery... just waiting to be done!!! We're keeping all of the furniture you see along with the bumper & sheets. (We're doing a new blanket- the striped blue one I made for Christian & I'll do a new one for the new baby- and also new mobile, and crib skirt & pillows... don't worry the pillows won't go in the crib to suffocate the baby ;) And of course we need some paint!

So... I was thinking owls a bit back if you remember... and then I came across this awesome owl lamp from Gallery Designs: (top 2 pendants are from them as well.)

Finally when I saw this lamp, a vision started forming. (It took long enough! ;) Since we don't know the sex of the baby, I'm going to stay super-neutral: creams, browns, oatmeals, black and white... I can always add in color in accents once the little one arrives... (really more likely once the "3-6 month blur" passes over this house ;) But I just want it to be totally relaxing & subtle & textural with a little hit of fun. I loved the tone-on-tone stripes in Christian's nursery & want to do the same thing in cream in here. Since we sometimes call our house "the treehouse" I thought that owls & trees would be great for the nursery... So I want to make a huge tree growing on the wall behind the crib out of decoupaged newspaper... Then we can tape up photos and pictures & little notes & fun things all over it.... Sort of like this wallpaper tree from Romp but out of newspaper:And I'd love to add a sculptural natural chandelier similar to this one from Arteriors Home. (This one is unfortunately too big with only 8 foot ceilings.)

And for a fabric option, I love this: Does anyone know what it's called or where to get it?? I found it at southlandpology.com:

And I'd love to add a Dash & Albert rug:

Anyway, I'll be looking for some good artwork to hang above the toy/ book shelf and of course a bunch of fabrics, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!! For the windows I'm just doing Sears Roman shades in 'natural.' (I probably won't add any ebellishments to them because I want to keep the window treatment pretty blank for future room switches..) We plan on painting in the stripes (SO TEDIOUS!!) this weekend...

xoxo,

lauren

ps- for the full story & photos of Christian's nursery, click here

***UPDATE: Ok, I decided to go "cuter" than originally planned. After talking with family & thinking about how Christian will be in there enjoying it too, I'm going a little more "baby" than I wanted to go. It's still going to be really textural with some hits of color (and we're doing the newspaper tree) but it'll feel like a little more of a vintage-modern mix & maybe a little more "fun" than originally planned. I ordered the Dash & Albert pale blue rug above (boy or girl, I like it ;) and am sticking with the cream striped walls, but am using this colorful mobile made by a super-talented etsy -seller.

I found this vintage concert poster & will have it framed with oversized matting for one wall:

I'm loving this owl fabric. Such a pretty pale blue... I'm thinking either for a blanket or a pillow or bedskirt or even as banding on the roman shades... depends "how" cute I want to go ;)

And I'm crazy about this vintage crewel owl family (below). They look so lovingly-created! I plan on layering them above the shelves with the toy baskets along with a large mirror, lamp & some other things...

Finally, depending on if we have a boy or girl, I'll still add in "girlier" fabrics, curtains & accessories or some more boy colors...

Living With Less

(room above by Chaffee Braithwaite) I was so excited to see our kitchen renovation on Design * Sponge and one of the reader's comments really got me thinking. The reader wondered about our losing storage space when we tore down the upper cabinets & replaced them with shelving.

(image above from channel4.com)

It hasn't been a problem for us & I actually have a ton of storage space for what we have (we have a pantry for our food & miscellaneous appliances & a large sideboard in the dining room for servingware & sets of china and our wine & most of our hangs from the wall) but it did get me thinking that there are things that we've gotten rid of or don't buy simply because I don't want my kitchen filled to the brim... and that maybe if I did have all of those things, this kitchen wouldn't work for me... Things like specialty appliances & gadgets that we would rarely use. We really just don't have these. (We have a blender, a toaster & a mixer & even one of those "set it and forget it" rotisseries... but we never opened the fondue set we got as a wedding gift, I borrow my mom's crockpot when needed, we don't drink coffee so the coffeemaker stays in storage until guests come and we have very few kitchen gadgets.)

Sure I'd love to have all of these things at my fingertips, but cramming my kitchen full of the latest & greatest and the "just in case" items would make my life more cluttered on a daily basis, and it's not worth it to me. I'd rather do without the amazing fondue we would make once a year... or make it on the stovetop instead and put it on a pretty bowl..

Living like this doesn't come easily to me & we have to purge constantly as I've said before. We have a cabinet in our laundry room with "giveaways" that we have to empty about once a month or so. Stuff just wants to sneak into your house! It's crazy!! We accumulate and have to fight off incoming-stuff daily or find places for it: coupons in the mail to restaurants we'll probably never use, mail-mail-mail!, paper clutter, cardboard boxes from packages, little notes & lists, purchases we decide to return, and somehow toys are always finding their way into our home... BUT, on top of fighting off incoming clutter, I think it's important to not have a lot of stuff in the first place. (room below, Susan Ferrier, House Beautiful)

What I mean by "a lot" is also very subjective. To the extreme minimalist, "living with less" might mean living with clothes and a few dishes and furniture, but to someone like me, "living with less" means having only what I need and love... and this includes lots of books & decorative accessories & dishware ;) The important thing is keeping what you need and use and love- whatever it may be- and then ditching the rest.

OK- OK -- I have a confession to make: I have hoarded some things from my childhood: I've saved all of my Barbies in case we have a little girl and am waiting for the day when we can play with them (she WILL love Barbies ;) ;) and also some of my stuffed animals and toys that are still in good condition. This may sound weird or cheap but we give them to Christian for birthdays & gifts because to him, they're new and it makes me so happy to see him playing with my old toys. (He loves them & so many of them are better than the new plastic toys!) (image below from vintagetoys.blogspot.com)

Ok, but back to "living with less": It's freeing and you honestly have more time when you live with less. (image below from Nate Berkus) We spend enough time as it is cleaning up our own messes: laundry, dishes, toys, and the 3 bibs that my dog drags into the dining room EVERY DAY arggg, but nothing makes me more frustrated than trying to find a place for something I didn't really want in the first place. So why let that stuff stay in my house? I don't. Living with less is a constant process and battle, but one I find very-worth fighting.

"Keep and seek only what you love and your home will be truly yours."

xoxo,
lauren



So how about you? Do you try to "live with less?" And what is "living with less" to you?

A Kitchen Table

Well, since it's Thursday & we're finished with our kitchen & I received a special gift in the mail, I thought I'd join Tablescape Thursday on Between Naps on the Porch!

This table setting was all about simplicity. No tablecloth, white linen napkins and an easy combination of our daily Pottery Barn dishes paired with the vintage Camelia dishes I scored for $33 (for a set of 8!) this summer.

I love how the plates mimic my black and white etching wallpaper in the breakfast nook...

Here are some armatel-like silver bowls with a vintage serving bowl set inside. I found it for $1.50 and just love the old platnium detailing around the rim:

And to add some height to the table, I used this aluminum serving dish ($7) on top of an aluminum jello mold (69 cents!) ... It's like a little stand:

And I added in our wedding crystal for a little sparkle: (Waterford Tall Lismore)

And the inspiration for this table was the pair of 18" tall black handmade tapers:

I'm SO excited to share with you that Eddie Ross now has his first line of handmade candles!!! (that's the link to the Eddie Ross Etsy store) They come in this simple elegant packaging (surprised anyone?) and in 12" and 18":

They're black so they go with pretty much everything & I think this table setting shows that they can work in any season. They're long-lasting and are black to the core. (I've never had 18 inchers before!!) I'm hoping these will be the first items in a long line of Eddie Ross products!! (A tabletop line anyone?!!!) I absolutely love them with all of the black touches in my kitchen!

And of course, I had to do the king of cheap chic justice by placing his candles in these beautiful etched candleholders I scored for only $8! (below)

SO there you have it: a simple setting in our new (old) kitchen:

Hope you enjoyed and also thanks so much to Eddie & Jaithan for the gorgeous candles!! You're gonna rock this industry!!!

xoxo,

lauren

to check out the whoel kitchen, click here

Guest Bloggers Update

Thanks so much for your feedback! I've scheduled the guest bloggers for the 4 months following Baby 2's arrival! If you all like the series, which will be called "Spaces" and feature rooms designed by some of our favorite bloggers, I'll definitely keep it going after the 4 months & would love to add on more of our favorite bloggers to the list & will be looking to have new bloggers come show us their stuff!


(image above from Cottage Living via Everything LEB)
I appreciate all of your input and I think you'll be really excited when you get to peek into the spaces of some of amazingly creative & talented bloggers/ designers/ DIYers!

xoxo,
lauren

Baby & Blog Plans

Today I'm looking for your feedback. I'm due to have another one of these on Christmas Eve:

I'm planning on keeping Pure Style Home up & running, but I will definitely be needing to take a small step back for a little while. My goal is to have at least 3 posts a week: 1-2 from me & I've had some very sweet blogger friends agree to help with some guest blogging. ( I think you'll be very excited!!) My plan is to have 1 guest blogger per week. What I would love to know is what you'd like to see from them. (image below from Eddie Ross)

-Before & Afters?

-Pics & explanations of design choices in a favorite room they've designed? (kind of like the ones I do when we finish a project)

-Something about their design philosophies?

-And my brain is shutting down (eek!) so would love your ideas here!!

And also, I don't have my whole list of guest bloggers yet & haven't contacted anyone yet (just in the very beginning stages & a few friends offered which is what started this idea) so can you let me know of anyone you'd like to see & maybe I can ask & see what they say?

Thanks so much & I can't wait to hear your ideas!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps- thanks so much for all your really sweet feedback regarding our kitchen!! it made my day- no week!!! :)

My 70s Split Redo Part III: The Kitchen

(Click for Part I: The Living Room/ Dining Room , Part II: The Family Room) warning: I use the word "love" a lot in this post because I'm just so happy with the space.

Well, I finally took some photos of our finished kitchen. You've probably seen lots of of midstage pics, but I have to say, I've never been happier with the kitchen than I am now. If you remember back in April/ May, here's what it looked like before: maple arched cabinet doors, yummy flourescent light fixture, dirty linoleum...

And here's what it looks like now:

We ripped down all of the uppers the first weekend we moved in & Dave put up beadboard & shelving. The whole thing was under $150 or so. We replaced the kitchen floors with click & lock Elm from Home Depot (read details here) at the same time we did the rest of the house. The cabinets are painted in Behr's "Witch Hazel" in semigloss. (For prep, I sanded them down with a hand sander, cleaned them & then just painted them with the semi-gloss.)

We added inexpensive nickel drawers pulls and knobs from Home Depot:

Now remember my appliance disasters??!! Well, the dishwasher from the Stone Age is back to being painted the same color as the cabinets. I used the exact same seim-gloss paint and did no prep for it. (I really recommend this if you have no money for new appliances... it just sort of recedes & your eyes doesn't really catch it at all..) It's nothing pretty to look at for sure, but it's better than the beige it was originally.

And thanks to you all I LOVE my fridge painted in chalkboard paint!!! I never would have thought of that on my own & after so many of you suggested it to me during the appliance diaster, I gave it a shot & I just love it!!!

It's a great spot for "to do" lists & pictures and the black works with the counters & shelf hardware. And, as you can see, Christian really loves it too:

I found the chandelier on the first flea market tour we took with Eddie & Jaithan. I debated & debated about buying it but walked away & Eddie offered to pick it up for me & mail it if I changed my mind. Well, a week or so later, I decided to go for it & Eddie & Jaithan were sweet enough to go back & buy it & mail it to us. Originally it was going to be for my dad's house but when we moved into our new place I knew the kitchen would be perfect for it! (I still have intentions of adding pretty wax drips on it but that's another day.)

As I've said before, I love having my shelves open: it makes my life easier. I can see everything at a glance & things are so easy to put away & grab.

People have asked me about dust and we use almost everything up there all the time so it's not an issue, but for the occassional cake stand or seldom-used bowl, I simply rinse them out before using & it's honestly no big deal. And I love all of the things that I have up on the shelves that I've been given & have collected over the past few years. This way I get to see them all:

Everything on the shelves is either white, cream or silver. (usually aluminum or stainless) and I love the combination.

I've shown you this before but it's my Grandma Maestranzi's colander:

thrift-store bust I painted white:

And I had to take a pic of the cakestand full of gorgeous cupcakes that my friends made for our Halloween party this weekend: yum yum!!

And you know how much soup we eat in this house so I just hung the silver ladle right on the wall between two nails next to the stove for easy-access:

And I also wanted to explain my decision on the black $3 Home Depot shelf brackets I chose for the shleving. I had received a comment or 2-- my dad being one of them :)--- in a previous post suggesting switching out my cheapie Home Depot brackets with pretty wooden brackets. And also to add moulding to the shelves & walls. And I do think that would be a beautiful kitchen, but my house is very simple & contemporary & clean-lined. As much as I love ornate woodwork, there's not really a place for it in my home. Antiques work, but I tend to go for clean-lined ones such as Gustavian or Shaker... I want to stay true to the architecture of the house & while we've made lots of changes, simple & straight is where I want things to be in this kitchen, so I'm actually really happy with them:

Below are a couple of other views of the kitchen 'before':

We turned the little lost counter into a bar area by adding these wine racks from Pottery Barn and stocking the cabinets below with drinkware & drinks:

The pic below makes me laugh because there's so much empty space in our wine racks. ahhahaha With me being pregnant, we're not really buying much wine so it'll be empty a bit longer:

Here's a bunch of our pretty wedding gifts that I love seeing displayed. People (the moms) used to be paranoid about us having our Waterford crystal out and bumpable & breakable, but to me it's one of those things that you just have to use & so what if some break?

We covered the doorway to our pantry with dropcloth curtains & it's great for hiding the organized mess that lives in there:

I found the plates at Lucketts! shocker. (but they work so well with my wallpaper!! :)

Here's our little breakfast nook before:

And here is is now: wallpapered with a vintage saarinen reproduction table, thrift-store found Swedish chairs, smith + noble bamboo shades, and a chalkboard (oh yeah & Target booster seat! ;)--

We really love it & eat most meals here. I used a pair of Murray Feiss crystal sconces from our old house & painted them black so they'd work here... We so needed them to add some light to the space for nighttime meals. I got the wallpaper for a steal but unfortunately it's been discontinued. :( (I wanted more but oh well.)

Originally this was "the" chalkboard in our kitchen. (below) We probably seem chalkboard-crazed because now the fridge is also a chalkboard, but my originally intentions were to have one place for menus. I got these topiaries & am adding lots more rosemary into my meals lately because it's right there for the picking. One of the topiaries is fake.. (hee hee hee I know how bad fake plants are but it's a pretty good fake & seems to fool people since two of them are real.) So far the topiaries are still alive and I am so proud of myself!!!

As you can see, there are still a few things that will need to be upgraded some day, but for now I have the look & the feeling I wanted in my kitchen: it's both light & airy & a little cozy... It's a mix of old & new, food prep & clean-up are a breeze, and it's one of my favorite places to be in our house. (It also makes me want to add wallpaper to other rooms now!! :) Hope you enjoyed my too-many-photos-and-words tour!! ;)

xoxo,

lauren

The Ghosts of Halloween Past: Advertising Mascots

Every year we have a crazy adult (if you can call us "adults") Halloween party with a theme. We usually start at our house & then get a limo out into Georgetown where the streets are mobbed with costumed-people. I just LOVE IT!!!! (This year, being pregnant, I just wasn't up for the crazy night out, so we had a fun kiddie one instead.) But, I thought I'd share with you one of our past themes: advertising mascots. The first one up is the Sunmaid Raisin Girl:

The box of raisins inspired the whole party. I've always thought my friend Lindsey looks like the Sunmaid Raisin girl & would always suggest she dress up as her for Halloween. Then, I thought of all the other advertising logos & how my other friends could dress up as them. Here's Lindsey, aka "The Sunmaid Raisin" girl in her costume I made from Goodwill finds. (The bonnet is the sleeve of a red button-down shirt and her corsette is from a suit.)



And next is Chiquita Banana:Marcela's costume is AMAZING. She paper mache'd the basket on her head & meticulously glued all the fruit down. She was such a trooper & it stayed on all night!!!! I made her dress out of cheap t-shirts from Michael's:



And here's our Chiquita's husband, Juan Valdez:



Billy, AKA "Juan Valdez" actually made his entrance to the party by knocking on the window and handing in a cup of coffee... It was perfect!!! The mustache got a bit crooked as the night went on & Billy is just hysterical:

And who can forget the Land O Lakes Butter Girl?
Mo was adorable!!!

And even though she's underage, we decided to let the Morton salt Girl join the party.

Erin was perfect! Check out that little mary-jane-clad foot kicked up just like the real Morton Salt Girl:

And we can't have a party without the beer! (ok, we totally can, but let's just pretend! ;)

Here I am as the St.Paulie Girl with a costume made from Goodwill finds:

(I'd originally tried making a "Chicken of the Sea" costume but it was just way too hard to walk around in!) And of course my husband, Sam Adams, was there to help host:

Here he is posing with his friend The Quaker Oats Guy (married to the Morton Salt Girl- what an age gap!! shocking!! ;):

There were a few more gusts I don't have pictures of .. argggg.. Anyway, we've had lots more of these crazy parties & I'll share some more next year. I can't tell you enough how much fun I have on Halloween. We usually start planning in September and my best friends & their husbands come in from out of state. Everyone stresses like crazy about not "having a costume" and in the end they always look awesome. I'm so lucky to have friends who will go along with my silly plans & I love them for it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps- the hanging scarecrow wasn't visible at night so no one noticed it (phew! ;) and the kids loved the ghost & taking pictures with him.

I hope it's not Too Creepy...

I still haven't set up all the indoor & food pretties & don't know if I'll have the time to take pics so I thought I'd post a quick peek of our outdoor "spookies" as Christian calls them. We have a big tall ghost (made from those plastic cheapie table cloths) who isn't so scary and a hanging scarecrow who looks pretty real & has been freaking me out all day in our back yard. (He's in the background of the pic above too.):

My poor next door neighbor called me this morning asking if I was trying to give her a heart attack!!! oops!! Anyway, hope the toddler moms aren't too weirded out.
Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! :)

mu-hu-hahahahahahaha,

lauren