The Guest House Shop....

Good day everyone!  Hope your week has been fantastic.  Just want share with you that I've opened up the online Guest House Shop and I'm carrying some awesome smelling candles and diffusers from the Aspen Bay Candle Co.  I have several from the Capri Blue Collection (Anthropologie sells these), Reserve Collection and the Traviata Collection.  I have personally used everything I am stocking and can testify to the quality of these fine fragrances.  The vintage section is sparse but I'm working diligently to add more items. Checkout is secure with Paypal so no worries there.  If you want to check it out click here and click on the shop button.  Hope you have a great day! 

Moving things around.....

I like to move things around and change things fairly often to keep things fresh.  Most often, I change the displays on my mantle and kitchen window ledge.  Every so often, I change furniture around and swap out lamps and pictures just to change things up a bit and get a fresh perspective.  Last week, I changed my furniture around after the upholstery folks came and picked up my love seat.  You may remember that I am finally getting a new slip cover made to replace the pathetic one that was on it previously.  Oh, and by the way, they will be delivering the love seat tomorrow and I can't wait to see it.  So, with the empty space I decided to move the wing back chairs and console table into the living room to fill in.  Actually, I've been wanting to to do that for a while just to see what it would look like but having the empty space gave me a reason to move things around.  I actually like it just as much as the love seat being there.  I really like the console table being against the wall and I just might leave it there for now. I've been looking for a console table for this wall for a while and this one might just work here until I find what I'm looking for.  As for the chairs, it makes this space more formal and I like that for a change. Here's some pictures of the space before and now....   I love moving things around and creating a different look with the same pieces by using them in different ways.  Which one do you like best?

Photo1 (with love seat and no console table)

and here's Photo 2 (with wing back chairs and console)

 

 

 

 

 

The last two pictures are where the wing back chairs were.  There used to be a rolling bar cart against this wall (see Photo 1) which I replaced with this dresser and mirror.  I've never seen a dresser so funky and I love all of the detail.  Plus, I now have a place to store candles and cocktail napkins.

Hope you have a wonderful day! 

The Office.....A Before and After Story

The office in our house started out as a "man cave" by the previous owners.  Nothing special, just a small bedroom with Berber carpet, yellow walls, and a window that lets in very minimal light (it's on the shady side of the house).  After we cut another door opening in the wall (see previous post here) it brought in much needed natural light and made the flow of that part of the house make sense. We decided it was an ideal location for an office.  Since this is still a pretty dark room, lighting is very important in making this space workable.  Before, I had a wall unit desk that included a hutch and desk with under cabinet lighting in the hutch.  There was a chandelier in the center of the room but the room still felt very dark.  Additional lamps were added but it just didn't work right.  I decided to sell the hutch and desk and start over this time realizing a couple of things.  First, I don't want my back to face the room.  I want to be able to look out and see around me and with a wall unit, you spend most of your time looking at the wall unit.  Second, lighting needed to be balanced. Lastly, I wanted an eclectic mix of furniture that was functional, versatile and vintage.  So, I set out to buy the credenza and desk from Craigslist (see previous post here) and went from there. The credenza I have left as found for now and for the desk, I had a piece of mirror cut to fit the top.  The original top is a wood grain Formica and I didn't want to mess with it.  This desk is interesting because it's chrome and wood. There are three drawers that are all wood along the front and I love the mix of the super shiny chrome with the natural wood.  The mirror makes this desk very modern looking and I like that it reflects light. I am using the same vintage chairs that I've had in here previously but they are now both reupholstered in a neutral linen.  The curtains are made from the same linen that is on the chairs so it keeps a neutral background.  The wall of mirrors are all vintage and I love how it makes this room feel larger.  They also do a great job of reflecting the light around the room.  The lamps are from Marshall's Homegoods and I like the old wood with the burlap shade.  It's a nice contrast to the new ultra modern vintage chrome chandelier.  The doors you saw as a before (see previous post here) and I stripped them, sanded and painted them and then did a wax finish to give them a little age.  The doors had to be mounted off the wall because there are electrical outlets that we need to get to.  HH mounted them so you can pull the door away form the wall to get to the outlets. They also slide so if they become uneven you can straighten them like you would a picture. Vintage brass picture lights are above each door and because the doors are offset from the wall, the combination gives the room depth.  The easel is old and I like having this here to display art and having the option to switch it out when I want. The chocolate brown and gold metallic cowhide rug was added to give a little punch to the room. Are you ready to see it?  Let's start with some before shots first. 

This was the credenza that I had before.  It is now living with a dear friend close by.

These are the doors that I bought for the wall.

 

This is one of the chairs that got reupholstered.  This was a dirty chartreuse velvet.  Not pretty. I got one of these chairs art a local thrift shop and the other one on eBay. 

 

Now, for the after...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, there it is.  What do you think?  P.S.  Can you spot that blue that I am just loving right now? I found it in this wonderful velvet and then made pillows for the chairs.  They pick up the blues in the painting on the easel and feel soooo soft.  I love working in here and once again, am thankful to my HH for all of his hard work and indulging me in my requests. I should mention that for praticality sakes, the printer and my files and other office essentials (files, etc.) are in the closet behind where I sit.  You can see a little bit of it in one of the pictures. This closet  is outfitted with shelves so I can keep things organized and then be able to close the door when I'm done.  Just in case you were wondering where the actual office equipment is. Have a wonderful day.



The Breakfast Nook........Refreshed

Hi everybody!  Happy Valentine's Day!  Hope you get the opportunity to tell someone you love them today.  And then, have a piece of the best chocolate you can afford.  Ha!  After sewing for what seemed like weeks and making several trips to the fabric store (which is not that close mind you) I'm proud to say the Breakfast Nook is officially "refreshed".  These new cushions make a huge difference and I must say I'm loving the neutral color.  Don't get me wrong, I love white but this neutral linen blends monochromatically with the wall in a really lovely way.  Plus, it's a heavyweight linen that washes beautifully so I feel I am better prepared for spills and accidents .  Bonus.  For the pillows I decided to keep with the monochromatic look and just bring in a few different textures and patterns.  The fabrics are heavy and soft and I like the mix of the blanket like textures mixing with the flour sack and heavy jacquard.  Different from before but I like the change.  I also replaced the centerpiece with a large oval planter with assorted cactus and succulents.  This area obviously gets a lot of light and the plants should flourish here.  In fact, one is almost ready to bloom.  Pretty!  The color of this planter is muted shades of chocolate, taupe, cream and light turquoise in a super shiny glaze.  I immediately thought of this space when I saw this planter at Joann's.  Plus it was on sale so that made it even better.  So, here it is all freshened up.  It feels like a new space and we love it.  What do you think? 

Here's the before.  Totally love this too.  I don't think any of us realized how much we would use this space.  Alas, the dirty (and torn and saggy) cushions had to go...........

Here it is now.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the fabric with the exception of the vintage alfalfa sack is from High Fashion Home.

 

My rugs should be coming tomorrow or Thurday and my seat cushion for my desk chair should be done Thursday as well.  HH put the doors up on Saturday and they look great.  Here's a sneek peek at my remodeled office.  I'll do the full reveal hopefully by the weekend.  Until then, have a wonderful week.

 

Office Update and other stuff

Hi there everyone!  Just want to give you a quick update.  The top for my desk is done, the chairs will be picked up form the upholsterer today and HH will be mounting the doors I bought this weekend.  Woohoo!  I also purchased two rugs that should be arriving next week. I bought two so I can see which one I like best in my office.  That and the fact that I can use one in another room and they were on clearance and they were the only ones left. I might not like either of them and return them both.  We shall see.   That will be a surprise. After that, I'll be taking pictures to show you guys how it turned out.  I could kick my myself because I don't have before pictures but I can tell you right now that it was NOTHING at all like it is now.  I can't wait show you.  Stay tuned.  While I was at the upholstery place, I decided to have new cushions made for my breakfast nook.  Over time, the fabric has been bleached and washed so many times that it started to get holes in it.  Not good.  Also, the foam on the cushions was starting to sag and from the beginning they never really fit right.  We use that space so much that it's important to have it comfortable and looking good.  So, this time I picked out a very heavy weight linen in a neutral color that will hopefully hide some of the occasional spills.  Ha! Who am I kidding?  I need something that can take washing and come out looking good. I also decided on getting a darker fabric to try to masquerade some of the potential spills (i.e. black beans.....the worst).  I considered Sunbrella but I don't like the feel of the fabric and wanted something more organic.  I also purchased some new fabric to make pillows.  I  should be finishing up with those this weekend too.  This breakfast nook really needed some attention and I'm glad I got this done.  I'm also getting another slip cover made for the love seat in the living room.  Let me just say that the guy that made it previously did not allow for proper shrinkage (my fault too because I don't think I washed the fabric) and over time this has shrunk to nothing.  Currently it's torn and I hide it with a pillow (secret's out). I am super excited to get this done because the love seat is actually really comfortable when the slip cover is off.  It's these kinds of spaces in your home that can really take a beating. So basically this has been the year of upholstery so far but as you probably know, it feels great to finally get those things done that you put off.  I'll show you the before and afters on this next week.  Meanwhile, here are some rooms that I'm liking this week.  Have a great weekend.

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