we're tearing down walls over here!

so i'm very, VERY excited about my newest little project with my momma. after i helped revamp her bedroom, she decided she loved the change so much that she needed a little more! so she has GUTTED her bedroom and bathroom at her house. it's down to the bones right now. if you need a little reminder of the before, check out this post. this is extra fun for me because my mom trusted me to come up with a new layout and she took my advice and removed the window seat! so she has an extra 3 feet of space in the room! she's also bumping her bathroom out into the hallway and creating the master bathroom that she's always wanted. oh & i forgot to mention that it's the house she grew up in! the house was built in the 1940s and my grandmother raised 3 girls there all by herself after my grandfather passed away. now that takes a special lady!

after my sweet grammie passed away, my mom bought it and has been fixing up the interior and exterior for the past 3 years. she's put a lot of love and sweat into the house and i think it's looking awesome! my grandmother would be so excited to see all the fun changes that she was never able to make to the house (she had more of a green thumb & spent most of her time in the yard).

so i wanted to share some of the "in progress" pictures with y'all.

so funny story about the tub above. it's always looked super duper small to me, but i've never thought much of it. when i came over the other day i asked my mom why it was SO teensy & she told me it was made for a mobile home! HA! it's a seriously small bathroom & i bet my grandma thought she was so clever when she remodeled the bathroom in the 60s!

totally AWESOME wallpaper. i think we should save it & frame a little piece

so, there you have it! a gutted high point terrace bed & bath. stay tuned for the after pics!

toot! toot!

now i'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but as i was flipping through the new september issue of Elle Decor, something caught my eye. pg. 187. a striking resemblance to my last pillow of the day, ehh?? a freaky friday the 13th coincidence? nah, i'm just that good.

pillow of the day

looooving this newish pattern from john robshaw. as always, i love gray and i love a not-too-harsh geometric pattern. good job, john robshaw! it's usually the first thing i show people when they come into the shop looking for bedding! now this on the other hand i'm still questioning...

he also has a line of turbans in the fall collection. woof. let's stick to bedding & textiles ok, john?

the cottage AKA an indoor garage sale for a rainy or blisteringly hot day

oh dear! i'm here! i'm here! can't really say i was on a blog hiatus or anything....just got a little blogger lazy. sorry guys!

i'm back though & in this post i'd like to share another shopping spot with you. you're REALLY going to have to trust me on this one.....it's on summer avenue....across the street from the old imperial lanes bowling alley & (now leveled) admiral benbow inn....and it called the cottage....GULP!

i took a trip there to look for some mirrors for emily's mom (workin' on her master bedroom & bathroom-pics to come). it's pretty much sensory overload from the moment you step foot inside. i have gotten some awesome things there-mainly vases, trays, old books. & the best thing is that anything i've ever purchased there has been under $20. so when you go, you're gunna get a deal. don't get your hopes up though because you're going to have to sift through some weird stuff...

a couple of ladies will greet you at the door when you walk in, but other than that you're gunna be on your own for this one. crooner music plays creepily over the static-y radio while you wander around and trust me you'll be wandering & you will get lost. or at least really turned around.

and then out of no where you're gunna stumble upon this....

it's a tea room that i'm pretty sure no one has ever sat inside. i dunno...just keep on going.

ok, so if you're patient & you can get past the really odd, out of place tea room you're going to find a few items such as these...

an iris vase, tennessee state flower of course!

chop off that pom pom trim & bask in the chintz of it all

i'm a sucker for stuff like this

...and this

yea, i don't know. just keep moving please.

for your kitchen utensils or just fill it with paintbrushes and pencils for your desk

this chair honestly was not in bad shape. i think you could keep the electric blue wool on there for a bit (with a good cleaning of course) before you got around to recovering.

my vision: paint this sturdy bamboo shelf a glossy black and fill it with books. i mean it's only $60, how could you go wrong?

a slightly victorian/slightly silence of the lambs butterfly tray

for lemonade or a liquor concoction

$30 for both. paint 'em red and you're good to go

and all the 50 cent books you could ever need to fill your shiny black bamboo shelf

SO! all in all i left empty handed. i was highly entertained for about half an hour or more though. it's worth a trip. there's plenty of cheap tables, chairs etc. that with a little loving could be really fantastic. and from experience i've learned that the ladies at the front will definitely strike a deal if you catch them at the right time. the best way to describe the cottage antique mall? a big air conditioned yard sale.

i'll be back on here later with more before & afters and a pillow that will make you happy as a lark. sorry for the week long absence!

fresh flowers/fresh post: a cure for the blues

so i've been in a funk. what better way to fix a funk than to surround yourself with some pretty flowers! & since no one has been purchasing me any flowers recently (wah wah waah), i thought i'd just buy them for myself! yay! the best part? i only paid $15 and now have flowers in every room of my apartment. NICE. enjoy!

beside the couch.

living room.

hey there bear

the "dining room" or the place where the table is that we never sit at

can't forget by the bed! (yea, i own 2 copies of kelly wearstler's book, hue. what of it?)

& the ladies room!

caution: the aftermath & crime scene is shown below...scroll down if you dare...

AGH! ! !

(needless to say, a stress relieving session of chopping stems + vases of fresh flowers everywhere my eyes can see=funk no more!)

another little before & after post for ya

here's another little before & after for you to take a gander at. angel is in pharmaceutical school, works at the med AND works at a pharmacy! i think she's pretty awesome! & she trusted me to help her. even more awesome! her apartment downtown is super cute, lemme tell you. she has some great pieces; she just needed a fresh eye!

soo here's before:

note the tasty flinstone vitamins! hehe :)

and soooo without further ado (or is it adieu? i think ado), here's the after!

yay! thanks for asking me to come over, angel! and thanks for not falling off our make-shift ladder-i don't have insurance for this little side business yet! later gators...

pillow of the day

so this fabric is an oldie, but still a goodie in my book. kelly wearstler, you can do no wrong. & on the topic of kelly wearstler let's talk about kelly wearstler. she has sort of become one of those people i love to hate and hate to love. every single thing she does is just so flawless & beautiful, cutting edge & perfect. she's got a serious knack for color and pattern and a panache for retro meets modern. i can't say one bad thing....except i will say this:

"please eat something, kelly wearstler. like maybe some cake."

i assure you this will not be the last time i speak of her because with lines for pickard, sferra, lee jofa, the rug company, bergdorf's & schumacher, how could i not speak of her again?!