Stripes!

If I had a dollar for every navy and white stripe shirt I owned, the Mr. and I would probably have a house by now. Growing up going to Catholic school I got lazy comfortable not having to pick out a different outfit for every day of the week. Now my answer for everything is a navy and white, black and white, or gray and white stripe shirt paired with jeans, so you can image how excited I was when my new Gina & May elephant stripes umbrella arrived from One Kings Lane the other week. FYI, if it looks like I am wearing the same outfit day after day, I'm not!! I really do have that many stripe shirts.

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Apartment Update

Renting a two bedroom apartment definitely has it's pros and cons. On one hand I can vacuum the entire apartment while leaving the vacuum plugged into one outlet, on the other hand there isn't much leeway on re doing areas of the house. Some people do small things like update their throw pillows every few years, or they have major projects on their to do list that they may not get to for several years. I however have nothing that needs to be done, or frankly that I want to have done, so I was kind of excited when my Noir dining room chair seats started splitting at the seams. I should have been annoyed that our chairs were not holding up well, especially since the Mr. and I rarely ever sit down to actually eat in the "dining room,"  but instead I was excited. It gave me an excuse to do a project, and I had the chairs reupholstered, well part of them anyway... Surprise surprise I decided to use a Cowtan and Tout animal print!

 Another update- Hank is huge!

True Story

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I Miss Your Blogs...

You know you've been off the radar for a while when you get an email from your Mom saying "I know you've been busy but I miss your blogs :-)" ... Generally speaking it can be hard to come up with meaningful content to write about or post every single day, five days a week. Sometimes I think with Pinterest and Houzz it makes it even more difficult because people think, been there seen that, I pinned that image months ago, where have you been?? My problem these past few weeks isn't so much finding a good topic to write about or sharing new before and after photos, it's finding the time to actually sit down and upload everything and write about it. Mom's birthday is tomorrow, and since she is not getting what she wanted for her birthday (grandkidos) I figured the least I could do for my sweet Mama is get back into blogging at least once a week ;-) Even though this was ages ago, here are my photo's from The Inn at Little Washington, a lovely Christmas gift from the Mr.

 This place was a-ma-zing people. Flipping amazing. 

Mixing vs. Matching

Crazy wallpaper, wild flooring, neon paint, and funky fabrics are normally not elements you think of in one room. While some might think these interiors are way over the top, they are proof you can't have too many colors or patterns in one space. Mom and I have always been a fan of mixing over matching, and although I probably will never have a room in my home this wild I can't help but smile when I see these amazing spaces. 

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Biscayne

Our newest Thibaut book, the Biscayne Collection arrived this week and it is so flipping cheerful. I know it's winter and the holidays are right around the corner so I should probably be talking about decorating the table for Thanksgiving or a fun DIY Christmas tree skirt, but oh well.

ps that pink and orange cheetah print tray needs to be made into fabric and or wallpaper 

In The Weeds

Lately Mom and I have been completely in the weeds. I am not complaining, being busy is way better than the alternative, but with all the work going on I have had absolutely no time for anything else. We are working on launching a new website which has taken my attention away from the blog, but I am going to try to get back into more frequent posts. For now here is an update on my dog bed dilemma! I had a Pottery Barn gift card that I forgot about left over from Christmas so I decided to spend it on our little man and I purchased this bed

Since I don't looove the PB dog bed cover options I decided to have one made. I wanted to do the Schumacher Chenoncaue fabric but there is no way I am spending that kind of mullah on a dog bed, at least while he is still in puppy phase anyway...  So I settled on the Imperial Trellis, cliché I know, but with so many knock offs out there I figured why not. I found the trellis knock off (is this even legal?) on Spoon Flower and chose to upgrade to the heavy cotton twill fabric so it would be more durable. That bumped up the cost to $32 per yard but still no where near the cost of ordering the real deal. Long story short I think the bed turned out perfectly but I would have been disappointed if I was purchasing the fabric for anything other than a dog bed. 

  Schumacher                             vs.                         Spoonflower 

 Clara did an amazing job at hiding the lines in the fabric with the piping. 

In the end the only thing that matters is a happy puppy dog! 

Barry Dixon's Garden and Grounds

Mom always said if she were ever to give another designer the key to her house and let them do whatever they wanted, it would be Barry Dixon. Traditional Home recently featured Mr. Dixon's home Elway Hall in Virginia, which we had the privilege of visiting a few years ago on a House and Garden tour. Every aspect of his home is breathtaking, every square inch is decorated but it doesn't feel like one of those off limits homes, although during the tour I was holding my purse as close to me as possible so I didn't knock anything over! Mr. Dixon takes elements in nature and brings them indoors, not in a predictable rustic lodge-y sort of way, but through unique textures, colors, and prints. I have always loved the fabrics he has designed for Vervain, and knowing where his inspiration comes from makes them even more special. 

This striking fabric for Vervain, "Cacao Vine," is taken from the design of a 

beautiful 19th- century cocoa tin that belonged to his Grandmother! 

Vintage Fabric for Vintage Chairs

Sometimes it's scary how much my Mom and I think alike. She recently found these vintage chairs, which will go perfect with either one of these vintage fabrics I found at a yard sale. I think we are going to end up going with the yellow and green fabric for seat cushions, but really anything would look cute on these adorable chairs.