Here and There {around the house}

Do you have pieces in your home that just bring you joy? Most of mine are attached to some sort of memory. Things that make me pause and reflect on the good in life.

One would be my art wall. The reflections are awful, but I have to grab images when I can and it happened to be on a sun shiny day last Thursday. The top middle is an image of the me and the kids in New York last winter. The silhouettes are from Disney and well that is the happiest place on earth. The big print is from me and the Mr's 10 year anniversary Miami trip and that is a memory worth preserving.

face painting | abstract on left | abstract on right | lamp found at Scott's in Atlanta | lamp shade

Fresh flowers remind me of my old garden in our old house. I can't wait to get my hands dirty in this house!

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This is my newest prized possession. It was a gift from my mother for Christmas. What makes it so special? It was once a wedding gift to my grandparents in 1940. Ellie is named after my grandmother so I know this gift will be passed down to her when she marries. The piece it self was hand drawn and you can see the ink smudge marks. I read it almost daily. {click image to enlarge}

What are some of your favorite pieces in your home?

A peek from bed...

iPhone 5

As I was laying in bed... Again. I was enjoying the light flickering into our new bedroom/old office. I then remembered my new squarespace upgrade has blogging from a phone quite easy so here is a snippet of the new bedroom. The art stayed since the new office has no wall space left. The buffet came from the old house and has finally found a home here. The shelf below holds the Mr's shoes. The brass pot was a thrift store find. What I like most though is the buffet now gives me a place to hold family photos that I had packed away. I borrowed the pillow from Ellie to see if I wanted to add some color to the space and now I don't want to give it back! The blinds are broken and came with the rental. I'm trying to live with it for a bit till I have an aha budget friendly moment. The more we have been living with the cheap blinds the more I don't hate them though. Of course new ones would be in order and it may just be all the meds talking. This is also where I thought the shorter curtains could work (see yesterday's post). We have the bed in front of identical double windows and although I love light maybe I don't love it too much at night with all the close houses around. Having the curtains short would keep them functional. As in I can open them during the day and actually shut them at night. Ideas? Thoughts? Am I crazy? 

The Dining Room

The dining room is finally complete! Well as complete as it is going to get for the time being. I knew I wanted this space and the rest of the house to be a combination of modern and traditional styles. I wanted to keep true to the 1931 house, but at the same time give her new life. My starting point was this most amazing brass Park Studio LA Ames chandelier. it just may be my most favorite piece in the house.

The table came from our old house and JUST fits. Our old chairs were too large so we downsized those. The side chairs were from West Elm, however I can't seem to find them currently, but these are similar. The end chairs were a craigslist find and I could not be any more happy with them.

Here you can tell how the table can not be centered to the light fixture which is why I needed to go with something that didn't hang too low. Thankfully the ceilings are really high so I didn't have to go the flushmount route in here.

Is this chandelier not stunning?!?!? The ceiling medallion here is new although it did have one originally. Unfortunately the light fixture that once hung here was not done properly so it ended up badly warping the original. To be honest unless you have a trained eye you can't tell the difference. Replica's sure can be tricky these days.

The vase came in that I shared the other day and it was just what this room needed. The candle sticks I found at West Elm at the beginning of the summer. The DW Home candle in Tobacco and Suede is quite divine. They have had them at HomeGoods lately! The bread board I bought locally long ago, but this one is quite similar.

The final addition to this space were the curtains. It took me forever to decide exactly what I wanted. In the end I decided this room needed another layer and some softness. I really wanted pinch pleat curtains with rings, but they just were too far out of budget for this rental.  I did the old age trick of using ring clips and making faux pleats with West Elm curtains. The rods were a bed bath and beyond find. I bought them in matte brown which looks more cast iron to me that the black ones. The rings I bought in another brand that were smaller than what this brand carried. Gave me the look I wanted for much less. As you can see I can be cheap. HA.

My fiddle leaf is going strong for over two years now! I thought I was going to loose him in the move, but alas he hung on strong after some babying. I water it about once a week and besides that I try to leave him alone. It does need to be transplanted and I could not be more nervous to do it!

With the living room being open to this space I knew I needed something simple for this wall so it would not compete with the living room gallery wall. I had this convex mirror for quite sometime and it added just enough to the space. This one would be kind of amazing! The stools I have had forever and provide extra seating when needed. I think these could be fun and add a punch of color, but for now the free route wins out.

Oh Park Studio LA you just get me... {insert smiley face with heart eyes}

This is how the space looks from the living room. The gallery wall is behind the chair to right if you recall. This piece of art I did may have to move on. I can't seem to find a spot for it although the longer it sits here the longer I don't mind it there. The marble set is real life. For a split second I thought about moving it for a better picture, but I try to keep this blog true to my life and well I have kids and a lot of kid things around this house. HA.