ABBE'S DESIGN

Received a blog post today that I just had to share from Abbe of Studio Ten 25 blog.
Abbe is a young, savvy designer, as well as an online store owner, in Dallas. She has alot of very cool design projects on her blog, but her new post today is vibrant, modern & full of my fave colors. Abbe worked with a family to redo a basic suburban house and updated it with all new modern decor. Here are pics below of the very cool redo:

Lovin' the Riad Windsor Smith fabric on the chairs....a fabric that is destined to be a classic, don't you think?
Also, most of the accessories & rugs you see in any of her pics can be purchased from Abbe's online store: Studio Ten 25

Love the industrial look of the metal chairs with the custom upholstered seats:
Check out the very sexxxy black crystal chandy below, sold here:

Abbe wrote another post recently about Christmas trees. I think one of these below, from her blog post , would look great in the redo also! What do you think?

The Studio Ten 25 shop has a fantastic selection of home goods, but she's got some GREAT Christmas gifts on there too!
A few of my fave items from her store are the :

FAB TURQUOISE LEATHER TRAY!

BROWN CHEVRON PILLOW

ACANTHUS COCKTAIL NAPKIN SET

CHRISTMAS DOG PILLOW

Also, check out Abbe's fun rug selection.
I think it's one of the best I've seen from online stores. Here's a small sampling:

BROWN & CREAM LINKS RUG

BLACK & WHITE RIAD RUG

Take the time to visit Abbe's blog by clicking HERE and definitely check out her VERY cool online store HERE.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday,

xoxo,

GIVING THANKS

Giving thanks to God for my family, friends, good health & YOU. Thanks for including my blog posts into your world and your friendship.

I love looking at different holiday tablescapes on the design blogs. Each tablescape is so individual & is an expression of the blogger.
I like to make my table formal for the holidays, but with enough casualness to make it comfortable. My table is an eclectic mix of styles: Classical elegance mixed with rustic, and a dash of modern!
This year our table is small cuz we usually have alot of family. Every few years we all spread out to other cities with the other in-laws.
My Mom will be here later today and I'm thrilled. I grew up with 3 brothers & 2 sisters. Since we have a large family, Mom now has 17 grandchildren & 15 great grandchildren! So having her here is a treat, cuz she gets loads of invites. I luck out and usually spend every year with her, wherever she goes.
We usually all meet up for Thanksgiving every few years, as a whole LARGE family and it's alot of fun. We are amazingly all very close and truly love each other's company. Last year we all celebrated at the Hill Country Hyatt in San Antonio and it's a fun place for large families. I'm a native San Antonian, so I'm slightly bias. If you've never been to San Antonio for the holidays though, then you should try it. The night after Thanksgiving, they have the annual riverwalk lighting, on the San Antonio river that runs through downtown, and it's beautiful. Loads of outdoor cafes, great restaurants and bars on the riverwalk !

Mom will be here in a few hours, so I need to hussle....but wanted you to see a lil redo I did in the guestroom . Mom hasn't seen my guestroom since I "girlied" it up even more. Since Jackie lives out of the house, and I'm surrounded by guys, I needed my "girly" room. The guestroom is the "girly girl" room now. Here it is before it's lil mini makeover:

After:
I spent a couple of weekends putting the flower graphic stickers on the wall, and I also changed out the chandy covers to coordinate:

before:
after:


I'll share resources for the above stuff and BETTER pics another day. Have to much to do today....and refuse to go "street rat crazy"....so vamos!

Oh, and back to that tablescape....and PLEASE forgive the awful photography....Steven has my camera at the moment, & I'm wingin' it with the Iphone.
I couldn't find where I put my burlap overlay tablecloths, so I improvised with a single burlap feed sack, set on the diagonal on top of a basic white cloth. Gives it that rustic texture:
Bamboo orange placemats mixed with seagrass add texture too. I made the flower arrangement by putting 4 small Pyrex bowls into my antique sugar mold. Place a "wet floral foam" in each cup, then spear your fave botanicals in the sponge. Looks professional, but costs alot less!
I like to mix up the whole table with different silver flatware, napkin holders and varying napkins. The turquoise plates are Vetri and the gold rimmed china is Molly's from England, another heirloom I truly treasure.

Lil "indian" wheat tucked into the napkin with a tea stained & stamped ribbon:

Mod citrus graphic napkin with "indian" bead tie:
Love the Suzani motif & colors of this napkin:
Have a great Thanksgiving holiday.
Would love to see your table settings too, so send me a pic!

xoxox,






P.S. I never rec'd an RSS feed for my last blog post on "Molly's Chairs"....did yall?? I test each post , by having it "feed" to my email. Never got one this last time! Wonder if you ever have that prob on your blog or with your "feeds"? It's happened at least twice to me.

MOLLY'S CHAIRS

Molly, my late Mother-in-law, passed away a couple of years ago, after a long courageous battle with esophageal cancer. My sweet Father-in-Law John knew how much I loved her precious antique chairs & gave them to us last year. The chairs originally came from Molly's ancestors in Manchester,England , for you Anglophiles.

Here's how the chairs looked before we reupholstered them.
A pic of the first chair:
(Wish i would've taken the "real" before photo with it's velvet tattered original fabric, completely broken frame and original mahogany stain finish. I had debated on which graphic fabric above, but happy I chose the larger of the two. We distressed the finish with soft turquoise paint, had the frame & seat rebuilt by a local furniture restorer)

The 2nd "Molly" chair below (in it's before pic) used to have an old creme, tone on tone fabric, with nailhead detail. The seat cushion really needed a redo because the springs were completely shot & bouncy! We have a fat plump, down cushion on order, but my upholsterer used a standard seat cushion for now. (we had a photo shoot this past Friday with this chair and were in a time crunch....photo shoot is another post, another day!)
Anyhoo..... the original fabric was a nice fabric, just stained and slightly tattered :

In honor of precious Molly, we pampered her sweet chairs by bringing them into the modern times with a new look, a new life:



The larger chair was upholstered in a natural canvas fabric and detailed with a white twill ribbon. The ribbon is embellished with nailhead trim. I like mixing the pure bright white trim with the "whiter shade of pale" because I wanted a variety of whites in the room. Plus the slipcovered sofa in the room is a bright white denim canvas, and it blends with it nicely.
We kept the charm of the original finish on this chair & like how it gives the plain fabric some character.

Here's the ensemble in our front piano room that I'm affectionately calling the Molly room for this post. The white piano is actually hiding behind the sofa, like a sofa table....which you can barely see further down the blogpost. I should take a before/after of the piano.....used to be black, we painted it white.

Notice the pic above? See anything familiar? Remember the Riad lampshade from Lowes, in the last blog post? Spot it anywhere?

I took an old lamp base I had, in this pic below, and changed the shade to go with the new room. (actually I still LOVE this lampshade in this pic....the colors just didn't go with the new colors of the "Molly" room.....I'm sure I'll use the old shade again someday):
Actually that photo above is in the same "Molly" room decorated a different way. It's been several different ways, as you can imagine.

We miss Molly always, but especially during the holidays. Her yummy Brussel sprouts (only Molly could make that vegetable taste good), delicious carrots and English scones & mince meat pies. (I had never even tasted one of those until she made them, cuz the name just didn't sound great....but they were very good)

Molly & I, just a few years ago during Thanksgiving:She had a great English accent & cute smile!
Oh, we had our "Mother-in-law" moments, believe me! Oh yeah, I could roll my eyes sometimes when I knew she was coming for a holiday visit, but now I truly miss her being here & visiting. Only sweet, sweet memories remain. Sad how sometimes you don't really understand or know how much you love someone til they're gone.
Molly always loved coming to our house to see something new. Whether it was a new holiday tablescape, a newly designed room or a new addition to the house, it was fun to share with Molly. She truly had an eye for color & an appreciation in details. I know she would love the new "Molly chairs" and how we've updated them.
I was pretty teary eyed Thursday evening after my upholsterer friend left & I was left in that room alone to look at the chairs, think about Molly, Thanksgiving & how happy she would be to see these. I guess it was just one of those hormonal girly moments, but I knew she was happy with the room.
We raise a glass (and a "proper" cup of hot tea) to you on Thanksgiving Molly!

On another side note about design & details:

I wanted to share my fab find at the local resale store, the coffee table:
Here's how it looked on the resale shop sales floor (it looks orange on my computer screen....but it was actually a Ming red.):
Steven painted it a rich chocolate brown, Valspar's Swiss Chocolate:
I love the wood detail, beveled glass, size and oriental twist! Plus it was a steal!

Now, notice in the above pic, the basket of vintage magazines, under the coffee table? The mags are some of my fave things to thumb through and share. A few years ago, while we were in Fredericksburg, a realtor & I discovered them abandoned in an old rock barn. She let us keep them and I'll always cherish them. The tattered magazines are from the 50's & the articles , ads & pictures are priceless. What's so cool, is that alot of the design photos back then are modern styles we're all lovin' now.


Wouldn't you just LOVE to buy this house, at this price?!Check out the wallpaper they featured in that 1950's "dream" house! Love it and would really love this today in a kitchen , pantry or entry:


The week will get busy with preparing for Thanksgiving....but I hope to share another room redo this week, if time allows!

Also, we're working on getting the pillows finished for the "jvw home" online store and I'm hoping to share those in December. Did you notice the small graphic pillow on Molly's white chair? Here's the same one, in a larger size:

You can purchase both of these soon, from "jvw home" !
Will keep you posted on the "opening" details soon.

Until then , keep it calm this week while you prepare for your feasts........I know we all get "street rat crazy" preparing for turkey day. Cherish your family & loved ones this week....ya, we all have our family "moments" at the holidays, but remember to appreciate those loved ones while they're here.

(p.s. remember you can always click on a photo to enlarge the photo, for more detail, especially those old vintage magazines)




Cheers,

A BIG SHOUT OUT!

I'm half awake (or is that half asleep?) while typing this.....but I woke up this morning to a sweet gift on my computer screen, and I've got to give a huge "shout out"!! My sweet friend Kelley, from the Polished Pebble blog, wrote a post today and mentioned moi. I've received 4 new followers this morning just because of her blog mention....so, a HUGE thank you Kelley! Cuz I love, love my readers and you're all like family to me. Ok, now that I've got more followers, I promise to bump up the rate & speed of my posts....oh yeah, and write more interesting fun stuff. So, if you are going to be a follower, then I'll make a promise to you that I'll bring my posts up to warp speed & deliver!
Back to Kelley....she is truly one of my fave bloggers & if you haven't read her blog, then you've got to check it out. Her design style is exactly what I love: clean, modern with a mix of the rustic & industrial, making it all comfy and welcoming to those who enter. Kelley & her husband just sold their gorgeous Newport Beach house, fully furnished . They just moved in to a condo in Newport, but they live most weekends in beautiful Ojai in their rancher style home pictured here, painted by the very talented Fifi :
Scroll through all her old posts because you'll love seeing her Newport Beach house and her Ojai rancher. Kelley is a truly talented designer, amazing gardener, great blog writer & a sweet friend.

Fifi Flowers, the artist featured above, does beautiful work. I loved how she captured my home, featured HERE.


Little tidbit of news today:
Some of yall know that I used to have a little shabby chic type store....I'm venturing out to a modern direction. I'm about to open an online store & wanted yall to see the first sneak peek:



......keep following, and I'll let you know when the store opens!
If you stopped in today via Polished Pebble, then I hope you'll click to be a "follower" in the box above and also subscribe. Cuz ya never know, I just might do a pillow giveaway soon and you don't want to miss out!

Thanks Kelley for making my day & seeing my name "in lights" this morning!
xoxoxo,