And I'm off!

I'm off to the tropics for a week of R&R with some dear friends....see you in a week!

Source: absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Obsessed...Barrie Benson

via Garden and Gun

Being from North Carolina, I'm always proud when I come across great artists from my neck of the woods. Barrie Benson, a fellow Tarheel, would be one of those artists. To say she is a master of design is not enough in my book. This woman is at the top of my list in my book of "design heroes."

I believe Barrie just recently launched a new website as I'd never seen her site before, but I was glued to her new site for at least an hour. Have you ever gotten so excited about something that you just want to jump out of your skin? Not sure if that is healthy or not, but I couldn't help myself from drooling as I perused her site.

Barrie has not only a sophisticated eye, but she has a talent for melding sophistication with whimsy through her unusual color choices and her fabulous taste in art work. She has the ability to keep within the architectural period of an old house but put her fresh spin on it by reinventing antiques and unusual color schemes. I should have just put a link to her site and called it a day because I've pulled so many photos to share with you. However, I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites.

Love the Kilim rug in this simple, sweet bathroom.

Perfection

I'd like to move right into this kitchen. It's nice to see a darker kitchen since all white and marble kitchens are everywhere. I adore the artwork in the dining room too.

Barrie used fresh colors in this old house to liven it up. Again, I need that artwork!

Precious kid's room. The eclectic feel makes this room not thematic

but yet is clearly for a child.

A bachlorette's haven.

Love.

all interior photos via www.barriebenson.com

One day....

I laugh as I write the title to this post because the poor Mister hears those two little words on a daily basis..."one day". I often ask, "One day, can we have a banquette in our kitchen? Or, one day, can we have a soaking tub in front of a large window overlooking our Garden of Eve-type back yard?" So as I continue to freak him out with all my magazine-quality desires for our next house, at the top of the list are steel-framed windows, or better yet floor to ceiling windows that function as doors! The woes of being married to an interior designer.

I have always loved leaded window frames and steel windows give you that same look but without the threatening lead component. These types of windows seem to fit into almost any type of interior - they provide nostalgia to a more modern interior yet provide an updated, clean and minimalistic edge to an older home. You just can't go wrong...

Happy Friday

Source: philo-sofia.tumblr.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Weekend Project

You can never underestimate the power of the color black. It has become one of my favorite colors, which is obvious because the foundation of color in my home is black and white with pops of bright color. I painted all my window trim downstairs in black, the back of my front door, back door and office door. I love the graphic punch it provides against the white walls.

(black trim mid-renovation)

(my office door )

When we purchased our house, we noticed that there were only 2 original doors left in the house. So sad... all the other doors had been replaced with those awful, cheap, hollow core doors. We painted them white and switched out the hardware to spiff them up a bit as a "place holder" until we could replace all the doors. However, the doors are going to have to stay a bit longer because we have so many more priorities on our ongoing "renovation list."

So I had an "aha" moment the other day and decided to perk the doors up a bit more. I am going to paint all the interior doors this weekend in a semi-gloss black. Again, there is no denying that black is a miracle color in that everyone looks good in, it slims you, it hides imperfections and it's a sophisticated color. I'm hoping it will bring those hollow core doors up a level, at least until we can replace them. Here are a few inspiration photos that prove how beautiful black can be to a room.

(Please don't shoot me for not sourcing these photos. I pulled them a long time ago and have no clue where they are from. Please feel free to source!)

Thought for the day...

Gosh - this little "reminder" hits home in so many areas of my life right now! It's one of those reminders that is part encouraging but part eye-roll paired with a *sigh* because deep down you know it's true. In a world of instant gratification, it's good to know that good things do come to those to wait and that God didn't create the world in a day (enough adages, I know!).