My New Cubes, AKA Coffee Table

My beloved coffee table had to go once Henry became mobile.  While it takes a nap safely in storage, I had to figure out something to take its place for a while.  I decided to do two separate cubes for mobility  and potential multiple uses after their stint as coffee table during toddler time.

 I had my upholstery workroom custom make them and I must say, I love them.   The soft corners make me feel better and I take Henry incessantly beating his toy drumstick along the top as a confirmation he likes them as well.

A New Piece of Art

For our anniversary gift to each other we knew we wanted to buy a piece of art and this time we knew exactly who we wanted the artist to be. In Oxford, MS, where we both went to school there is a restaurant, Ajax, which happens to be one my favorite places in the whole world. It is what you could probably call a dive restaurant but it feel like home to us. Anyhoo, it is filled with folk-type art, several from a Memphis artist named Lamar Sorrento.

I don't know if it is the strong connection to a place I love, but there is something about his primitive paintings that I can't get enough of. When it came to choosing a piece we knew this was the one....especially when we saw this detail....

Bo Diddley, McComb, MS- Patrick's home town. We loved that this painting was about Mississippi but once we saw Bo we knew it was meant to be. Love it. Changing our whole dining room around it, hence the dark paint swatches. I will let you know how it goes, may take a while...

Guest Blogging

I hope you are having a wonderful Thursday! I received some e-mails about yesterday's newspaper rack; I wish it was doing that in my house but it was actually for a corporate client I am working with. Anyhoo, onto the next order of business....Today I will be over on-With some items I like from the ole abode...
See you there!

A Few Answers

I seem to be behind on e-mail (what is new?) so I wanted to answer some questions I have received multi times. Some of these are repeats, sorry!

My watch- Several people wanted to know where it is from, I am asked about it a lot outside of the blog world as well. It was a gift from my husband 4 years ago right before we got engaged. It is one of my favorite possessions, I never get tired of it. It is nothing fancy, it is from Guess. I knew I wanted a black men's watch but at that time they were hard to find and options were very limited. I am sure this design is long gone but I would check any department store and I am sure you will find something similar.
Several people have asked what happened to the upholstered coffee table project.....Well I have decided to scrap it. I liked where it was going but I did not have time to complete it. It really needed the nail detail around the edges. I like to think I am a DIYer but these days there just doesn't seem to be enough time. Also, as much as I like a good project I love the look of professionally done work (just waiting for the wallet to agree). As far as the table I had it custom made about 4 years ago as well but similar tables are available from Restoration Hardware. If you are near Birmingham and would like a quote for one please e-mail me.
The mirror- This was a wedding gift from Jenny, the decorator I started with. She purchased it from a company at Market. I am not sure if it is still available. I will check for those of you who wanted info about it. The bowl on the coffee table is McCarty Pottery. I will have to do another post on this since I could go on for a while. Paint is Benjamin Moore Wheeling Neutral.
My Christmas Decorations- First, I would like to say THANK YOU for all the e-mails and comments from the Southern Flourish piece. Y'all are too sweet. I was surprised to open a few e-mails asking what my actual mantel looked like. Sigh....
The sad, sad truth is that we don't have a mantel. It depresses me to be honest. So for now all we have is a tree. And well, it is kind of sad too. Space was tight this year.
We don't have that many ornaments, slowly we are building up our collection. There are fillers on there but I would like to get to a point at which every one is special. This year we have added a few like this boy from our trip to Peru.
For those of you who asked for pictures of the trees lined up on my street here is the best I could do. Boooo. Sorry, I just couldn't get a picture. It is special though. I am not sure how other streets do it, but on ours there is a woman who is in charge of everything. We get an order form in our mailbox the first week of November and then they are delivered by volunteers the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is nice to come home and have the tree there waiting for you.
I hope this answered some questions. If you have e-mailed me and have not heard back yet I promise I am getting to you! Thank you for your patience. I hope you have a great week!

My Living Room Now

Okay, so all the changes I wanted to happen did not. However, we have made some progress so for now I think I am going to call it a day. Here is where the living room and dining room will stay for a while...
The addition of a library table from my Mother-In-Law was most welcome! It is a little tight but I could not pass up this table. It feed my Husband meals for years and years growing up and you know by now how sentimental I am...
Another new edition are these shelves behind the door. Nothing fancy but they will do for now. We had a bookcase back there but it was just too bulky. These offer function while neatly tucking away.
I had to include this since my assistant refused to get out of the picture.
Another random picture but I love having fresh flowers around.
Looking back towards the door. The fabric came off the coffee table. Not because I didn't like it but because I knew I would never get around to adding the much needed nail trim so we reverted to the original.
The other way.
oh and we added blinds here....
So all in all not much changed but to us it has been a nice breath of fresh air. Who knows what next month will bring!

Changes- Wall Update

The rearranging of the house continued yesterday. Here is the before, which I liked a lot but I just wanted a change...Here is where we are now. Nothing new has happened with the coffee table since last week. The picture in the center I found in an antique mall and I kept coming back to it. I decided I was ready for something different above the sofa so I hung the picture with 2 others that were previously in our kitchen...
The other change was moving our bookcase (more on that later) and replacing it with a large mirror from the guest bedroom. This mirror was given to us as a wedding gift from the decorator who I started with and I love it. I am so glad it is out here now and not in the back...
Not sure what step is coming next but I am eying this fabric for something...
More changes coming soon!

Choosing Sides

A few weeks ago I was home visiting my parents when I spied this cart. It had been sitting in the basement, left from the previous owners, and somehow I had missed it until now.
So it came home with me and now resides as our new side table in the den.
I had the top cut out of left over marble and asked them to keep the bottom unfinished. I love the clean feel of the marble against the worn down wood but I wanted part of the marble to be imperfect as well.
I wish I knew the story behind it. We are thinking it might be a coal cart with the unique wheels but I would love to hear any guesses.
While the old side table was a hand me down that I did nothing for me, I loved what was underneath it. I had this vintage suitcase underneath with books stacked on top....now I will have to find it a new home.

I Am A Newlywed!

Okay not really but you can find my post today over at:
Jennifer asked me to be a guest blogger and I was more than happy to oblige. I posted about my front porch weekend project (paint was of course included) so I hope you will go over and read about it, I need some additional help!

Have a great day!

My Blue Haven

If you asked me what my favorite color is I would say GRAY without a second of thought. However, it seems that I am going through a BLUE phase (not that Gray has been forgotten, it will always be #1). This weekend I went to work on some projects I have been wanting to do. The first one was to paint the front door. I wanted something bright, off the wall, surprising and a color that would make me smile. I choose Brilliant Blue by Benjamin Moore but I had the color matched at Lowe's (and it didn't come out exactly, why isn't BM open on Sunday?) Anyhoo, I think the blah weather is putting tropical colors in my head...
So here is the finished product, well is anything ever finished? Granted, the house looks much better when the foliage is in bloom (or at least green) but I am just not sold yet. Maybe it is the red rocker which now needs to be painted. I will let you know what I figure out about what is bothering me.
Next onto the china cabinet. I had thought about doing stripes, but once I took down the other wallpaper on the back, I realized that the back has vertical grooves that would make it hard to paint horizontal stripes, easy to paint vertical stripes, but I wasn't sure I wanted vertical.....
So in the process of looking for wallpaper a lightbulb went off, WHAT ABOUT WRAPPING PAPER? Enter in 1 roll of $3.99 paper from Hallmark and presto, my new background came to life. I LOVE IT. Note: problem with wrapping paper, it dents and is slightly shiny which if you are a perfectionist will drive you crazy. Great for the short term, may want to rethink for the long run.
I also spray painted the sconces a different shade of blue which is looking like Brilliant Blue, but it is not, it is actually darker and I like it.
Usually I am not so matchy but all the blue is tying the rest of the house together too.
With the remainder of the front door paint I painted a little side piece of furniture in our kitchen which was in need of some color. Definitely brings some brightness to the kitchen.
So to round things off I changed the chair fabric on the back of my beloved chairs from green (pretty but too random in my house) to......Gray-shocker!!!! LOVE THEM.


So that was my weekend. Isn't it amazing what a little change can do for a whole room?

Love The One Your With

The other day I came across the following quote:

"NOTHING STEALS YOUR JOY LIKE THINKING, "I WILL ENJOY MY LIFE WHEN......"

So true don't you think? And while I do like to dream about what my house will look like in the future, I decided to start the year out with a look at what I currently have that I LOVE....
Our little house for starters. If I had a dollar for every time someone who lived in a big beautiful house with lots of moola told me they wanted to go back to their little first house, I would be in a bigger house, haha. But I believe them, I love our little house.

The chandelier above is the first thing I ever bought for our house. I found it at a local antique shop and bought it even before we found a home, I am so happy I got it. The wine barrel mirror from Bobo was a birthday gift from my husband.
In the picture above I love the console, the copper chairs, the pillows, and the chest from my Grandfather...

Clearly I have a thing for lighting, the chandelier on the right is in the master, it was one of those things I just had to ignore the hubby's opinion on and do what I wanted, so glad I did. (sorry PHS)
Last but certainly not least, probably my favorite piece(s)- a pair of chairs that belonged to my Great Grandmother. I had them reupholstered and I really would be traumatized if something happened to them. I had to beg my Mom for months for them and I am still convincing Patrick they are just as comfortable as a leather recliner..
Once I started taking pictures I realized there are so many things I could post, maybe I will have to do a Part II down the road. So while the daydreaming will continue I am going to try to not dwell on one day so much.....