Pulling It Together

In just a few weeks I will be moving into my "new to me" house! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! The house was actually my best friends grandmothers house. I spent lots of time at that house in high school....and I never thought that I might one day live there. It is an old house, but it has been updated. The floors are wood throughout, and are original to the house.

I have been designing everything from the garden to the house. When I have a project I always have it designed in my head before I ever find fabric, paint, flooring, etc.

I knew that I wanted blue and yellow in the master bedroom, and I wanted to paint the walls a certain shade of blue. I browsed the Internet, searched the home stores, and found nothing that fit the bill. Finally at World Market I found what I wanted......

this pillow! This was perfect! It has all the colors I wanted.

It has the BLUE, GOLD, & SAGE GREEN.

The next task was finding a comforter to match. That was no easy task.

 Again I didn't find anything that I liked. I went online one day to Overstock.com to check out some other items, and just thought I would check out their bedding. Low and behold I find a duvet.

It was the perfect color and the perfect price!!!! $32.00!!! Can't beat that! I had not planned on getting a duvet, but it worked out. Do ya'll ever check ut Overstock? Let me tell ya...I have found some really good deals on there! I ended up buying a down comforter from them to fill this duvet. Shipping is $2!!!!!

I picked up the gold fabric to make a bolster pillow. The white fabric with the blue/green embroidery will be used to make large square pillows to go across the bed. I took this picture with the flash off.......the next picture is with the flash on.....

changes the colors a bit

I decided to make my curtains out of burlap. It matches the pillow, and ties it all together. I also love the contrast of it against the blue walls. The fabric on the right will be used as the drapery header.

I can't wait to get every thing made and put it all together

Here is another shot the the drapery fabric (no flash)

and a shot with the flash on.

The walls will be Peacock Plume by Sherwin Williams. This picture doesn't do it any justice....so you will have to wait to see it when the room is complete.

I also finished selecting fabrics for the living room. Again, I knew what I wanted in here. My couch is RED

 so I needed a fabric with red in it. I also wanted to have a blue, green and gold. This fabric was perfect.

The walls in the living and kitchen are knotty pine.

 I want to paint them, and rought them up to look old and aged.

I recently finished up a large hospitality project, and I used a contrasting sheer against a light drapery panel and it looked awesome. So I decided to do the same thing in my living room. I found a brown linen with a pattern embroidered on it with twine.

I love it!

I found this pillow the other day at Dirt Cheap for $4!!! Man I love that place! You can find some really cool things in there if you are willing to dig!

So what do ya'll think? Now that those two rooms are done I can move on to the others. I do have the kitchen done, but we will save that for later.

Mobile Historic Tour of Homes - Oakleigh

I'm still showcasing my Historic Tour of Homes on my gardening blog, so come check it out

http://northmobilegardensociety.blogspot.com/2012/03/mobile-historic-tour-of-homes-oakleigh.html

Historic Homes Tour - Rutherford House

i just wanted to share a post i did on my garden blog with ya'll. go check it out! i didn't want to do the same post twice :-)

http://northmobilegardensociety.blogspot.com/2012/03/mobile-historic-homes-tour-rutherford.html

Cook's Kitchen

i love creating lots of different spaces, but kitchens has to be one of my favorites. it is also one of the hardest. it takes a lot of research to design a good functional kitchen. i design each cabinet for them, where the pots go, plates, knives, containers, etc. i want the kitchen to work for them when it is all said and done.

this kitchen was a culinary dream. dream appliances. dream cabinets. dream space.

it wasn't so bad before. i have had lots of people tell me that they would loved to had this kitchen.

when the new owners purchased it...they however were not so wild about it. so we did what every new homeowner does when they buy a house.....we ripped it all out. wait....everyone does do that right????

i worked with the homeowners to come up with a new floorplan and design that they would be able to work in, cook in, entertain in, and enjoy! the first thing i did was added a window above the sink. the original kitchen did not have a window above the sink. i like a sink with a window over. maybe it's the southern girl in me, but i think that sinks and windows are like salt and pepper. if you have one, you must have the other! 

next i planned a cabinet layout. i do this but figuring how much space i have for each cabinet run. after that i specify each cabinet by its use. i will usually have the homeowners tell me where they place things in the kitchen. that way i know what to put where and where the specialty cabinets need to be. i love using roll out shelving, drawers, spice racks, etc. to utilize space in a kitchen.

here a few of the kitchen elevations. let's walk through them shall we..

G) this was actually a wall that was open to the dining room. the owners wanted a wet bar, so i closed off that wall with built in cabinetry. it has plenty of room for appliances, dishes, and large trays. The center cabinets have glass doors that can be used for display.

H) this elevation shows the fridge and freezer, the double ovens, and microwave.

I) this elevation is the corner cabinet....the not so exciting corner cabinet

J) this elevation lets you see how the sink and window live in harmony as one :-)...or actually it's 3 windows and one sink...but you get the drift.

here are a few computer renderings to show what the kitchen would look like before construction started. i always have to remind myself that everyone is not as visual as i am. to relay my ideas i usually do a color board, renderings and a lot of sketching.

the reflection on that stainless fridge really bothers me. its like the pearly gates. blinding!!!!

now that you have all been blinded by the lights...lets look at the final product

TA-DA!!

 i absolutely loooove this kitchen! it turned out just like i had envisioned. i really looooove that refrigerator too....pretty awesome huh?

i usually design islands large enough so you can utilize the space on each side. this island has functional space on 5 sides, the only 2 sides that don't are where the bar is.

as you can see, the kitchen opens up to the living room. come back later on this week and i will share the living room remodel with ya'll.

'til next time

Master Bath Addition

happy friday! hope ya'll have a fun filled weekend ahead like i do! i will be heading to an antique sale today, but don't worry....i will take plenty of pictures for you!

today i am sharing a master bathroom addition with ya'll. the bathroom was part of a house that i remodeled. the master bath and closet were added onto the rear part of the home. the bathroom itself is 18' wide by 20' long. nice, spacious bathroom!

the was a patio behind the home that was removed in order to make room for the addition.

here is the bathroom once it was framed in.

my clients were very easy to work with and i pretty much had free reign over the bathroom. i will generally come up with 2 - 3 plans for clients to review, and let them make the final decisions. sometimes they will combine ideas from all 3 plans. i will say that it was not my idea to have two toilet closets!! the homeowner wanted separated toilets for her and her husband....which is pretty funny to me.

in the center of the room i have a large walk in shower. it is framed on both ends with walls, but open on each side. this made the bathroom very hard to photograph, but i think you can still see how awesome it is.

these are just a few of the vanity cabinet elevations. i know they are kinda hard to see. i have to print them from auto cad, to a pdf and then convert the pdf to a jpeg just to get it here....so after all that it gets a little pixelated. but anyway, back to vanities. i looooove to put vanity towers on top of the counter top. for women i usually add roll out shelving with power receptacles built in. this was we can keep our rollers, hairdryers, flat irons, etc. all plugged in, and when we need them just pull out the shelf. i may not do that on the men's side, it depends on what they want. they usually just want adjustable shelving on their side.

so lets take a look.

the door you are seeing is her toilet, the wall to your right is the end of the shower. you can also see the end of the linen cabinets, as well as her vanity cabinet.

the shower has clear glass partitions and doors on each side, as well as double shower heads. basically my dream shower!

behind the shower we have a claw foot bathtub that is on a raised platform. the windows behind the tub are an obscured glass, so no one can peep in on you!

a view of "his" bathroom vanity

an up close of the tub

"her" vanity

all of the flooring, shower wall tile and shower floor tile are travertine. the counter tops are marble. i can find the specifics if you would like them.

ya'll have a great weekend! i will have lots more to share with ya'll next week

Thriftin' & Junkin'

i've got some good stuff for ya'll today! well it's good stuff to me ;-)

if you follow my gardening blog then you will know i looooove junk...especially other peoples junk! that's the best kind. i am always blown away by stuff that people get rid of! i find some of the best stuff on the sides of roads!!! don't ya'll?

today i am linking up to linda over @ coastal charm for nifty thrifty tuesday. this will be my first time joining in on the fun. she is actually my neighbor...well not as in we live next door...but we do live in the same town. In blog land that makes her my neighbor!

my mom and i looooove goodwill. i don't know if ya'll have a goodwill where you live, but if you do you need to check it out. our local goodwill stores get the best stuff donated from target!!! brand new stuff at that!!

picked up these stacking baskets. i am going to paint them a bright color and use them in my future kitchen to store fruit and veggies. these didn't come from target though. i paid $2 for them

but this did!!!!! i have a "thing" with lanterns. i pick them up everywhere. i have lanterns of all sizes, shapes and colors. this one will go great in my collection. i hang them from the ceiling, use them on the patio, on the mantel....everywhere! this one is fabulous if  you ask me! i paid $4 for the lantern.

this was my find of the day!!!! a brand new king size coverlet from target. isn't it beautiful. i can't wait until i get moved into my house and can use this!!! i am going to use a comforter with it and adds lots of color with pillows. ya'll will have to wait a few months for that reveal.  

it came with 2 king size shams. it is soooooo soft and cozy!

it is reversible too, that's always a plus. i will tell ya'll that this was probably the most expensive item at goodwill, but i wanted it, i loved it, and had to have it! i don't know how much it would have been in at target brand new, but i know it would've been much more than i paid for it, which was $60

i always laugh when i'm checking out because the cashier will be sure to let you know if an item is over $10. she makes sure that you know that this quilt is about to cost you $60 and you aren't getting it for $5. that gets pointed out alot to me while shopping at goodwill.

my mom also got some good deals

she bought this queen sized blanket for $21. its hard to tell, but it is a deep plum color.

she finds the best seasonal decor! you wouldn't believe the awesome things she gets at goodwill! this little pumpkin being one of them. i did a post about her thrifty finds over at my other blog. you can read about it HERE.

she also picked up this potted amaryllis, which looks very real! it was $16, and the cashier was sure to let us know. they kinda give you that crazy "you are gonna pay $16 for a fake plant?" look when they check you out! pretty funny.

some more of her seasonal decor.....christmas trees!

sparkly!!!!

now, somedays i get really lucky. last tuesday was one of those days! my friend ramona called me to tell me about a moving sale in her neighborhood. who can resist a moving sale???? i sure can't.

the lady had some stuff on her back porch that she was going to put out at the road for the trash to pick up. ummm no i don't think so! this table is going with me!!! so i moved it right on into the back of my truck! it has an old iron base with a small marble top. it is really heavy! it will looks great on my new back porch painted a bright festive color :-)

sweet!!!!

she also had this little dish for sale. i plan on using it in my kitchen, next to the sink to store dish soap and scrubbers. i paid one whole dollar for this!!!

this was the find that made my heart really happy that day....a turkey platter. turkey platters are like lanterns...i love them and must have everyone i see. you can never have too many turkey platters or lanterns!!! i pick them up everywhere. you can see more of them on my other blog . made me even happier that is was only a dollar as well!

the lady had an old wooden step ladder in her driveway advertising her moving sale! needless to say...i got the ladder too!!! it's at ramonas house waiting for me to pick it up. i walked out of there with 4 great items and only spent $2!!!!

well that's enough junk for one day. don't worry i will have more next week! i am gonna show off a few projects for ya'll this week, so stick around!