Off to the southern coast...

(image via Mary Ruffle)

The Mister and I are off to the southern coast. We are spending the next week in Charleston, Savannah and Beaufort - the South at it's finest! We are excited about this much needed vacation, and I'm already dreaming about Bloody Marys in the morning and Mint Juleps in the evening with some beach time sandwiched in. The house is coming along, and I'll be ready to share a few more "update" photos when I get back!

Can we talk about this room, please?

It's P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

You may recall seeing this room on the cover of Elle Decor's April 2010 issue. I just had to stop and stare at it for a few minutes. The design genius behind this living room is Olivier Gagnère, a French product/interior designer. This is actually his own living room where he lives on the Left Bank in the 7th arrondissement in Paris. I think what pulled me in most was the unexpected color combinations of the gray/purple and orange and the beautiful kilim rug that ties all the colors together and introduces bright pops of red and lime. I believe the walls are Farrow and Ball's Bible Black - a hint of grey with a slight purple undertone that is so subtle but still makes an impact. I just want to insert myself into this room!

"Sigh"

Folks, it's been a loooong couple of months with the climax hitting during these past two weeks. I am sure I left you wondering if we finished the renovations or if we just canned the whole thing and left town (which at different points that idea wasn't too far from my mind!). Between moving in, living with friends for a week and then getting a nasty virus that put me out for a week, I'm finally feeling a bit more organized and balanced. I do have pictures to prove that we are nearly finished, and I'm writing to you from my new home office albeit it's filled with boxes.

Backing up a bit, I'm posting some photos below of the progress that was made over the past month.

As you can see above, we got the walls we demo-ed. Opening up the walls and door ways really makes the first floor feel larger and really bright as we get great sunlight through our windows.

The arch over the kitchen doorway has been dry walled. I love this small design detail and the way it connects to the arch over the stairway.

Our first day of painting was successful! Several of our gracious friends came over to help us get started.

Walls are painted!

Here is a better shot of the ceiling and walls. I chose to go with white walls and a blue ceiling (Ben Moore's Palladium Blue) because my inspiration for the whole house is based off of my favorite Schumacher print Chiang Mai Dragon. The ground color of the fabric matches the blue I used on the ceiling. This fabric is going on a round ottoman in our living room.

Miraculously our floor guys were able to sand down our 100 year old floors and salvage them! Between the first and second floor they only had to replace 37 boards.

Foyer light is hung...I love this pendant! We plan to paint the stairs black and white.

We chose to do a dark stain on the floors. I love the contrast between the dark floors and white walls.

....and no more red house!

The Mister and I wanted our first house to be young and fun - not take ourselves too seriously. Because the former owner had stripped the house of all it's architectural nuances, I had the freedom to go a bit more eclectic and clean lined. The "canvas" of the house is black and white with pops of bold color. We are still painting the upstairs and kitchen, so I'll those pictures posted in a bit. We have company coming Labor Day weekend so that is our goal is get everything done by then! Once we are closer to full completion, I'll give you a house tour....I promise!

Wayne Pate

I've recently discovered the talented illustrator, Wayne Pate. His whimsical and graphic illustrations would be a fun addition to any room! His silkscreens are available for sale here and the price is right too.

I recently gave this cute French Pigeon to a friend for her nursery. Naomi who is due in August with "the bean" is decorating her nursery with grey, white and red and with a French influence (she is passionate about all things French and is fluent in the language too!). She has incredible taste, so when I saw this silk screen by Pate, I immediately thought it would be perfect for the nursery!

Here are a few other illustrations that I can't wait to use some where!

A Progress Report

As promised, I'm sharing just a few updated pictures on the progress of the house. We've come along way since I last posted (sorry for the lag time!). Life is a zoo right now as we are planning on moving out this Saturday from the carriage house, staying with friends for a week so we can continue to paint, etc. and then have the official move next weekend. I'm not sure if I know what's up from down these days or if my shoes match before I walk out the door. If you see me on the street wearing my shirt inside out - you'll know why, but be a dear and tell me. I also fell through the dining room floor this weekend and my foot created a nice big hole in our new dry walled basement ceiling, but I guess you can't order up a perfect renovation! Thankfully, I came away with just a few scratches and gnarly bruises.

For the past two weekends/weeks we've been painting away! We finished all the walls and ceilings in the hallway, living room and dining room. Next will be the baseboards.

We also had the tile laid for the front entry. I just love it!

Here's a shot of the fireplace in all it's glory. We released it from it's imprisonment from plaster. I feel it is atrocious to hide such a wonderful element like this!

Last, we are painting the window trims on the main floor glossy black for a punch. It's like a little punctuation mark to the space!

We are having the original hardwoods stained this week and hardwood flooring put in the kitchen. I can't wait to see how they will transform the space.

Inspiration

The house is coming along, and I have some new photos to share as we started painting this weekend. However, in the meantime, I had to share this darling video from J.Crew. Love the song, love the outfits, and I have major hair and thigh envy of the model.

Update

The house is coming along! I love going over to see the changes that happen week to week. We have most of the demo, electrical and plumbing work done. The next step is the drywall, paint and floors. Fingers crossed, the Mister and I can move to the basement apartment at the beginning of July as we finish up the rest of the main house. I feel we'll definitely be ready to properly host guests by the end of August! As promised, here are a couple quick shots of the house:

We started pulling up the old flooring which was a layer of carpet, tile, linoleum, and then the original hardwood floors...who has the audacity to cover beautiful hardwoods??? We discovered the original decorative tile in the vestibule below. However, the colors are a bit muddy for us and the design too southwestern. We plan to re-tile using the black and white design below.

current tile

new tile

Here is a view from the foyer (living room and dining room to the right). Again you can get a glimpse of the hardwoods. I plan to paint the stairs black and white - treads - black, risers-white.)


A shot of the dining room. Blowing out the left wall really opened up the space!



We have these neat arches all over the house, so we thought we'd add some interesting detail to the kitchen by adding a matching arch over the doorway. Selvan, our carpenter, is phenomenal!




Last, we now have stairs from the main level to the basement! Sorry for the poor shot with the iPhone! It's so nice to not have to go outside to head downstairs.