Vacation Highlights

The Mr. Hank and I returned late Wednesday from our 4.5 day trip to New England. I don't know what I loved more, spending time with my family or completely unplugging from reality. At the house there is no internet, cable, telephone, heat or air condition, dish washer, washer or dryer, and no shower. Staying in a house with so much family history is amazing, one of those "if the walls could talk" type of experiences. Reading the house Guest Book, which dates back before 1938, was probably my favorite. For some reason the House Guests who signed the book on the first few pages didn't fill in their arrival and departure date, nor did they leave any comments along with their entry. If only they knew how much it would have meant to us if they had! 

 It is so funny to think that at one point in time there were no trees within 300 yards of this rock which is now hidden by 40 foot tall trees deep in the forest.

 I don't know who these ladies are but in the background you can see the house before the kitchen addition.

House Before & After:

 These pictures may not fully illustrate how awesome of a transformation our Before and Afters really are, and to be perfectly honest my Mama is probably going to kill me for posting these, but oh well!

Before

the small child on the far right is yours truly ;-)

After
or "In Transition" if you ask Mom: Grandma Lizzie's old den sofa, two new Ralph Lauren navy and white ticking stripe pillows from HomeGoods, two new Ikea Ektorp chairs, and two new seagrass rugs is the most updating this room has ever seen.

Before

Pictured above are my Dad, Uncle, and Aunt with their Aunt and Grandparents.

After

I love how my Great Grandpa is standing in the before picture with my Dad and his siblings, and now his Portrait will forever hang on the wall behind him. 

Before

The only before picture I could find, which is actually too adorable for words, is of Grandma Lizzie baking cupcakes with my brother Sam and my cousins Jack and Tyler. 

After

 Our lovely farm house sink was centered in the kitchen to fix some plumbing issues, and placed under a stained glass window that was salvaged from the barn when it fell down a few years ago. Mom also added Some new Home Depot base cabinets, lights, and countertops from Ikea. 

I don't know who had more fun on our trip, me or Hank. Running around without a leash on for 4 days straight, attempting to learn to swim with his older mentors, catching frogs and spitting them out, and playing fetch with rotten apples that fell off the tree on the hill; what more could a pup ask for? 

The Garden

The Lake

Doing our laundry the old fashioned way

And last but not least, a peaceful car ride home!

Apartment Update

I have been getting a lot of emails asking me where I got certain pieces in the apartment along with questions about the bathroom and kitchen remodel. My landlord happens to be my Dad so I have a little more flexibility than most renters. I was the property manager for the apartment for the past 4 years, and last fall when there was a 1 month gap in-between tenants I went to him with a proposition. I knew the Mr. and I were going to move into the apartment after we got married so I told him instead of paying him rent for the first 3 or 4 months we lived there, I could put the money towards new cabinets and countertops for the kitchen, along with the bead board, sink, and mirror for the bathroom. Dad thought this was a great idea and gave me the green light to go ahead with the project. The chandelier in the dining room is ours so when we move out I am putting back up the Home Depot flower chandelier that you saw in the before pictures, and obviously I will take all my Antique Drapery Co. hardware with me. Other than that the rental will be the same when we leave, but here is the info on some of the items in our apartment. 

Rug: Natural Area Rugs.com- Coastal Seagrass.

Table: Vintage pièce my Mom had since I was 10

Chairs: Noir burlap & grey wash wood

Sideboard: $200 from a thrift store in Kensington

Map: Missoula Mt map I got on eBay for $24,

the framing was a Christmas present from my Mom. 

Lamp: Inherited from my Grandma Lizzie. 

Drapes: Pottery Barn

Sofa: Lee Industries 7059-11 Sofa

Wire Urns: I think they are Aidan Gray but found them at a local shop.

Desk: Pottery Barn, but I got it at a local consignment shop

Mirror: TJ Maxx $99.99

Prints on either side of mirror: Inherited from my Grandma Lizzie 

White Hoof Table: Arteriors

Geometric Wall Trellis: I originally bought this thinking it would be a headboard

Coffee Table: Was the Mr's Grandmothers coffee table ;-)

Side tables: Home Goods, found them 6 months apart from each other too!

Lamps: My Shop

Bedside Lamps: Home Goods

Bedroom Rug: Karastan Antelope rug. 

Bed: Restoration Hardware. The last present I opened at my bridal shower was a note from my bridesmaids, friends and a few aunts saying I could call Restoration Hardware whenever I wanted to set up the delivery of our new bed. Best wedding gift ever. Thank you ladies!

Drapes: I had my seamstress make 4 panels from one 130"long drapery panel I got on sale.

So there is all the info on my apartment, and on a happy side note, last Friday my other bamboo rod finally arrived!! I also swapped the living room drapes for the bedroom ones to switch things up.

Yey for matching drapery hardware!

On a sad side note, a guest spilled red wine on our beautiful sofa over the weekend, and the Mr. spilled coffee on it yesterday. I don't know how Moms do it on a daily basis, but I pretty much went crazy. I tried everything- oxy clean, shout, white wine, vodka, salt, warm water, club soda, and I can still see the stain! We are having an upholstery cleaning company who specializes in stains come next Tuesday so I am praying they can fix it. When I called my Mom crying about the stains she said "Elizabeth, do you want to live in a museum or a live in a home? Things happen but no one died, get over it... now you see why I've had an ugly print on my sofa for the past 18 years"  I am not exaggerating, that is exactly what she said. I love how she always puts things into perspective, yes everyone is healthy, the apartment is still beautiful, but seriously huge stains after having a sofa for 3 months!?! Has anyone successfully cleaned cinnamon coffee or red wine from a linen sofa? 

By the way this is the red wine spot after I cleaned it...

and the coffee...

Too Hot For Weekend Eye Candy

I love summer, but yesterday was 106... it is so hot even Henry doesn't want to go outside. I don't know how our parents did it, but they deserve an award for growing up with out air conditioning. Stay cool!

Grandma Lizzie beatin' the heat in style. 

Red Lizzie and Gray Lizzie

Grandma Lizzie on her wedding day

I was named after my father's mother, Elizabeth. When I was young people would often refer to us as red Lizzie and gray Lizzie. I love and adored my Grandma Lizzie, and miss her every day since she passed. Her apartment was charming and always tidy, but by no means an interior design inspiration like my parent's home. Nevertheless, one of my earliest memories of falling in love with a room or color scheme was at her apartment. Yesterday I wrote about how timeless black and white is, but thank's to Grandma Lizzie and her love of blue, nothing cheers me more than blue and white! 

Meg Braff 

Bernard Lamott's Blue Lady

Meg Braff

Ralph Lauren

Meg Braff

Ralph Lauren Blue Mandarin

Meg Braff 

Thibaut

Happy Tuesday!

Kitchen Project

     Thanks to Ikea, a new kitchen is with-in almost anyone's budget. Between the two of us Mom and I have worked on well over 100 kitchens, so naturally she said if she was going to re do her kitchen she wanted to do it right the first time. Her ideal kitchen budget was 10 times the amount we had to spend. She thought I was crazy for even suggesting Ikea. To test it out I renovated our cousins kitchen with Ikea cabinets and before the hardware was on the doors she asked me to price out and Ikea kitchen for her.

The Tester Kitchen

      As much as I loved Grandma Lizzie's old avocado GE range, it was time to go. Two burners were reliable, three if you hit the coils just right and didn't expect it to stay hot for more than 30 minutes. The drawers were falling off, and NO we did not purposely pull them off for our before pictures. The dishwasher would spew left over water and suds into the sink every time we ran it, and our refrigerator was dubbed "the munchkin fridge."

Several weeks and take out meals later... Mom's Dream Kitchen is Complete ;-)