still grateful & Jill Brinson

So Happy Thanksgiving!  This is me, thankful for a clean and quiet home.  There is really no other way to scrub and clean and organize for a shoot than kicking out my husband and the boys.  We are having Thanksgiving today at my in-law's place at Lake Lanier....so I just pleaded for them to head out early.  I was so happy to walk around in a clean and ready house that I had to pull out the camera at 9 pm.  It is like spotting the Lochness Monster.  When you have little boys, no one would ever believe your home was clean.  You try to catch a shot for proof.

Sherry came over and spent about all day with me.  I wish I had before pictures of my office.  (Just insert "Hoarders" here and you can imagine.  When they came to scout our home this was where I threw everything without a home.  You couldn't walk in it.)

She took everything out, organized and put it back in (beautiful) order.  I am so thankful for her help!

She really is like a mentor, too.  She's been designing for fifteen years, and been published often, so she has so much information to share and I am like a little sponge when I'm with her.  She gives me tips on what she does with clients, shows me hidden resources in Atlanta and spends hours with me in ADAC.  Why?  She is just that kind of a person.  While she was working I was trying to organize, but mostly I was pulling out old tear-sheets and saying, "Look, Sherry!  Couldn't you eat this room?"  She would oblige and then continue cleaning up my crap.

I am not a real fan of color-coded books in libraries, but LOVE them in an office!  So calming on the eye.

Why didn't I think of putting lamp shades with lamp shades?

And Elle Decor with Elle Decor and Country Home with Country Home?  This decorator is so happy.

She even pulled out a roll of burlap from her trunk and cut me a runner for my desk on the spot.  (I'll get a  pic next time.)

It is weird (and good) being in the house alone.  I won't lie.  

I pulled out my heavy, velvet blanket...

Found Julia on demand...(little tidbit here.  I used to teach at Campbell High School where she went.  I even taught English with her former teacher, Mrs. Romanchuk.  Some good stories there.)

Found another friend....

And one of my best friends.

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And about Jill Brinson--I am such a dork.  How did I not know that the photographer, Rob Brinson, is married to her and lives in this home?  I just didn't put two and two together.

Sherry told me this.  I hope I can act a little normal around him.  His wife has perfect taste--there are not many homes where I love everything about it.  

You know this home....forget football and pie, here is your after turkey snack:

Can you pick a favorite from this kitchen?  I think the lights and the windows.  And this table/island?!  What do you love?

(All from Housebeautiful.com)

And next time I'll be posting it will be from milkandhoneyhome.com (almost done)

Enjoy your families today...I'm off to the lake to kiss my boys.   

Julie

comfort rooms, meatloaf & a giveaway

I almost made the theme of this post "Chinoiserie and Meatloaf" but that was just too silly.  

These rooms give me the same feel that I get from smelling a yummy meatloaf cooking.

(banquette from Country Home Magazine)

How comforting is this picture?  The laundry and pillows add that extra touch.

Do you have "sleeping porches" where you live?  Here, in Georgia, we really still do.  Of course, they originated prior to the invention of air conditioning and you had to sleep on the porch to catch a cool breeze every now and then in the blazing summers.  Now, they evoke memories of napping on my mema's porch and the smell of something good cooking inside.

Veranda

Now that our indoor living areas are "done" (of course I say that lightly), I want to focus on using the space we have outside.  How comforting is this vignette from Country Home?  I love having meals outdoors.

Okay, here is where the giveaway comes into play.  Do you know where this room is from?

If you can name where it is from, you can win three yards of fabric.

I had fun fabric-shopping for my client yesterday (and, yes, she loves all things animal)

So much so that we are actually (well, Kate will be) stenciling her picture moulding in her dining room in leopard with champagne paint.

Okay, back to giveaway.  You leave a comment with the name of where that comfortable "cottage" room is from (another hint....Europe)....and you win three yards of this lovely Ikat.  For a second entry, follow the blog and leave an extra comment letting me know you do.

 I couldn't win her over to this one, but I bet you may love it?!

Now for dinner....

(If you want the recipe you can email me.  I imagine you can't read this)

The ingredients...

How can anything with these ingredients not be good?  (No after picture...it was not pretty but SO yummy)

And a couple pictures to share the love today.

This is happiness after playing in a sandbox all afternoon....

And here is a picture I received from Lisa of LisaRoy Handbags.  She found this while strolling on a Dublin street yesterday.  

That makes me smile for just thinking about how much fun she is having!

what I want

T Foley Studios

I want for us to be able to build our little Airstream barn soon.  We're gonna put it in the backyard..with a wood studio for Chris (his real love), some spot for me to create and a mudroom & playspace for the boys.  We hope to start this fall.  I want it for Chris--a man really need a place that is totally his, right?

I want us to get in our little Bambi and drive to the Oregon coast.  I'll take y'all with me.

Maybe we can take off in November (the best thing about the film industry)

I want you not to laugh at the self-portrait I had to snap for Rue because Chris was working and I don't know how to do self-timer and Liam can't work this (only 3).  I had to take it in the mirror.  The only other pictures I have of me are phone pics, so of course they are low res.

The best thing is being able to put yourself out there a little.  People choose that, right?  But Rue isn't even out yet and blogworld can be tough.  But like my mema said, "If ain't nobody talking about you it means you ain't doing nothing."  (Apartment Therapy has posted the cover...the said toughness are its commenters...commentors?)

I want to look back when I have her years behind me and smile for trying.  I want to wear bad ass clothes, too.  

I want to throw an outdoor party for some of our bestest this fall.  Just like this.  I'm stringing up a chandelier, wearing a fancy dress, and drinking lots o' wine.

some of the bestest--don't somedays you really appreciate your friends?

and here--my Cori smoochin' my Wy.  Cori's about to have her third.  Love you, girl.  Y'all are what it's about.

Read Rue Thursday....you're gonna die at some of the rooms.  Really.  This Dallas home....so original.  Don't you love that?

Julie

Reader's Home Before & After

Well, y'all...it is officially fall.  Yay!!  For many of you was this the hottest summer ever?  I think it was for me.  Yesterday we opened the windows and doors...there is not much better than that first breeze of fall air.  I know that most find spring the most hopeful season with all the new buds springing up from the cold earth.  For some reason, though, I feel most encouraged by fall:  new colors on the trees, college football booming from the tv and new supplies for back to school.  Okay, as usual I digress.

Please see a great Los Angeles interior designer's renovation.  Jessica Davis and her husband have taken their unique home (filled with nooks, crannies and even a hidden door!) and taken it into this decade.  This girl has style and is in the running to win a design contest.  Please go to her blog to vote!

Eagle's Nest Design

(what is it about renovating and blogging?  They go together like peanut butter & jelly.  I think it is such an arduous experience that you just have to show the outcome!)

Before:  dark ceiling, brown moulding...let's face it--a pretty dark room.

new furniture, new light fixture, black moulding (love it!)

against a white ceiling, and no 

window treatment which really allows the sun to pour in

Before:  dated furniture & fan

now--check out that great paint color & headboard.  Wow!  And those

grand lamps really complement it.

Before:  no love given to the patio

Now: after much love....and water

lovely outdoor living space

Here too!  I think I would live out here (especially

with California's weather!)

The office before...

and now  (can't lighting do wonders?)

And of course, like all of us, the home is a work in progress.

They started on the bathroom this weekend so I can't wait to see

how they've changed it.

Here are few more pictures of their work:

I love that you see the same pops of blue and coral/orange

throughout the home....

All the best....Julie