Happy New Year!

I'm not sure if it's the egg nog, the hot apple cider or the warm fire but I've been on vacation mode and it feels quite good.

Here's what we've been up to...first, this is Hubby reading, "The Joy of Cooking" in hopes to discover a fabulous new Christmas Eve recipe. See those 'crumbs' on his pocket? Well, they're not from Christmas cookies, those are tree crumbs from splitting and hauling in so much wood for our fires.



We also went cross country skiing up around Mt. Hood. It was a beautiful blue bird day. Note: Lucy is still smiling!



And there's been lots and lots of cozy time in the house....with lots of accompanying warm beverages...like hot cocoa.



Green tea.



And hot apple cider - something I've consumed a lot of this past week.



There's also been a lot of Backgammon (shhhh, I'm on a winning streak).

And a lot of sitting in front of the fire enjoying the Christmas tree lights.

And the warm glow of the fire.

The new furniture is proving to be very comfortable and conducive to lazy day snuggling.

I love how the cabinet glass reflects all the light in the room.

Nate over at Laurel Street nominated me for the Homies 2009 Award! Wow, huh? I'm absolutely honored but also, feel a little shy!

Happy New Year!

Giveaway Time!

Guess What ladies... I have a surprise giveaway! I was given the oppotunity by living room furniture to do this. I went to their site and handpicked an item for my beloved readers!! I posted it on my sponsor's page, so head over there and check it out. You won't be disappointed.

By the way I am working on a project right now and I am going to post it on Friday. So, be sure to come back to see what I have been up to. :)

dropped the ball on my 100th post

ok, so i seriously dropped the ball on my 100th post.  every since i started getting close to my 100th post i’ve been thinking that i should do something cool for it.  that’s about as far as i got though because today came and this is my 100th post and i don’t have anything cool to do for it.  i can’t believe i’ve already gotten to 100.  sorry that it’s going to be so lame.  hopefully you’ll still keep reading my blog even though i don’t have some cool 100th post giveaway or something. 

i did manage to run into homegoods today.  i hadn’t been in there in a while and thought i’d see what they had.  i typically try to avoid homegoods during the holidays if possible.  it can get pretty crazy in there.  i snapped a few photos of things i liked.  i took all the photos with my crackberry because i didn’t have my camera with me so the quality of some of the photos is a little off.  i was surprised that most of them came out ok though.  maybe the blackberry storm is good for something(i’ve hated it every since i got it).

so the first thing i have to show you is the crazy disco-like balls that they had.  i counted 8 in all.  not sure these will be flying off the shelf or anything but i just had to take a picture of them.  they might actually be cool in a fun kids room or basement. 

they also had this awesome distressed wooden bench.  it was really long but would be such a statement piece.  (cost $499)

there were lamps galore and great ones too.  my favorites were these two different shell lamps that were $79 each.

these ivory gourd lamps were so lovely.  the gray and ivory shades were very light.  my camera shows them darker than they were. (cost $39.99)

these pink and ivory ones would be great in a little girl’s room. (cost $39.99)

they had a couple garden stools for under $100.  i like the turquoise one a lot.

sage ruffle pillow. (cost $12.99)  ruffles are so popular right now.

these white trunks would be great stacked in a corner or even better…make a table out of two of them stacked on top of each other.  i didn’t get the cost on these but i can’t imagine they would be over $60.

i thought these little pouf baskets were adorable.  they looked sort of like moroccan poufs but they were actually baskets.  (cost small $12.99, large $19.99)

i saw this cute chair on my way out.  it’s a great buy for $199.  they had a couple of other ones in different fabrics but this one was my favorite.

so that’s it for my homegoods shopping trip.  if you want to check out any of these items i found them at the perimeter pointe homegoods in dunwoody.  if you’re not local to atlanta i’m sure the homegoods in your area would have most of these items too.

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well, i’m signing off until monday so i hope you all have a fun and festive new year’s eve wherever you may be.  i want to wish you all a very, very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!  see you back in 2010!! 

xo,

cristi 

LiveJournal Tags: 100th post,homegoods,bench,lamp,moroccan pouf,disco ball,garden stool,ruffles

i’m nominated…

for apartment therapy’s blog awards, the 2009 homies.  the nominations close at 5pm on the 29th so if you like my blog please nominate me again.  you can click here to go to the site.  i’m so thankful for those of you who have already nominated me.  you guys are the best.

the way these awards work is by nominations.  you can nominate as many blogs as you would like.  at the end of the day tomorrow they will take the blogs that have gotten the most nominations and put them on a voting list.  then there will be a week or so of voting.   then the winner will be announced after the first of the year. 

head on over and start nominating your fave blogs…hopefully mine will be included in your list.  you’ll have to sign up for an apartment therapy account before you can nominate any blogs but it’s a painless process.  all you have to do is click here, enter your name and email address and then verify the account by clicking on the link that they send to your email.  it’s very simple and you can opt out of having any other emails sent to you. 

there are tons of blogs that have been nominated that i’ve never heard of, and i’ve really enjoyed looking through their pages.  maybe you’ll find a few new blogs to read too.

happy monday or tuesday…depending on when you read this!

LiveJournal Tags: apartment therapy,the homies 2009

bye, bye perimeter z.gallerie

for those of you who live in atlanta if you have time you should run over to the z.gallerie at perimeter mall.  they are closing their doors and are having a huge sale.  last i checked everything was 50% off.  the furniture is pretty picked over but they still have a good bit of accessories.  they also have a large selection of floral stems and art. 

the perimeter z.gallerie was the closest one to me so i’m sad they are closing.  i’ll have to make the drive up to alpharetta or down to atlantic station to go to one now.  i’m not sure why they are closing and i hope that the other atlanta z.galleries don’t follow suit.  i was there over the weekend and snapped a few photos of some of the stock they had left.

miscellaneous accessories…

trellis pillows orig. $39.99

one of my fave chandeliers orig. $369.00

jasper sofa orig. $1,099.00

LiveJournal Tags: z.gallerie,store closing,perimeter mall,atlanta

my own horse art

i hope that you all had a very merry christmas.  i know i sure did.  it was great to spend time with my family.  i always have such a fun time when we all get together.

i thought that i would share with you the christmas gift that i made for my mom.  i have spoken about my love for horses and horse art before on my blog and my mom also has that same love for for them.  i don’t really know that there is a more beautiful animal than a horse.  i grew up on a farm in alabama and showed horses until i was about 17.  my love of horses started at a very young age and has been with me ever since. 

recently i have seen two horse art pieces in particular that i really liked.  One is from palecek (it’s discontinued now though) and one is from pottery barn.  i’ve pictured them below.  the palecek piece is on the left and the pb piece is on the right.  palecek’s piece retails for about $500 or $600 and the pottery barn piece retails for about $200.

   

i started thinking that i could probably put my minor in art to good use and make some similar art for my mom for her christmas gift.  here is how mine turned out.  i was pretty proud of myself.  and the best part is that it only cost me around $35 for the two of them plus my time to make them.

i also made one for myself.  here is that one.

if anyone is wondering how i did it made these, here is a step-by-step guide.

first, i found an architectural salvage shop and purchased the old wood.   i got one of my neighbors to help me cut the boards down to the size i wanted. 

next, i roughed the pieces of wood up with a sander.  i also sanded the sides and corners to make sure they were smooth and didn’t have any splinters.  after that i stained them a walnut color to make them darker.  the natural wood finish would have been too light.

then, i drew a horse onto poster board and cut it out.  to get a big enough horse i had to tape two poster board pieces together.  once i had it cut out i positioned it on the 3 boards, taped it down on the underside with painters tape and used ivory spray paint to spray the boards.

i sprayed on two coats of spray paint and once it dried i removed the horse silhouette.  then i sanded the piece all over with really fine sandpaper.  i also distressed areas on the horse as well as the wood to give it an aged look.

when i finished sanding the front i added picture hangers to the back of each board.  the finished art was about 30” x 40”.

and that’s how i did it.  the hardest part by far was drawing the horse.  now i really want to experiment with other silhouettes.  maybe i’ll do my dog next.

LiveJournal Tags: horse art,palecek,pottery barn

merry christmas, and the winner is…

thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for the jill rosenwald rug from csn.  i had 43 comments and 42 entries for the giveaway. 

now for the results.  random.org chose lucky number 13 as the winner.

and number 13 happens to be leigh ann.  here’s what leigh ann had to say.

thanks for your comment leigh ann and CONGRATULATIONS!

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image – by me (my tree)

have a blessed holiday with your family and friends.  i’m headed to the mall for my family’s annual christmas eve shopping outing.  we go every year on christmas eve.  it started one year when my parents didn’t have time to get their christmas shopping done, so we ended up doing it all on christmas eve.  we had so much fun that the tradition stuck.  we don’t do all of our shopping on christmas eve anymore but we just go for the fun of it. 

i’ll be back on monday.  see you then.  i hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas! and please remember the true reason for the season this year. 

xo,

cristi

LiveJournal Tags: giveaway,christmas,jill rosenwald rug,csn,christmas tree

Trimming the Tree

It's beginning to look more like Christmas around here. We hung our stockings...



...and Hubby built us a warm toasty fire.



We also put our Christmas tree up. I was in the kitchen when he called to me, "is this straight?"



We straightened it out and found all of our favorite ornaments to hang. Hubby's parents made it a tradition to give each of their six children (Hubby is the baby of six in his family) an ornament every year so there are lots of ornaments on our tree with a strong Hubby theme. By far, my favorite, and the one ornament I'm sure to hang most prominently on our tree, is the ornament I call, "Hunk of Love."



Here it is being showcased with careful consideration that plenty of light is cast its way. This ornament was given to him when he was in high school. He was on the basketball team, hence the basketball themed ornament. How cute is that!

You want a closer look you say?



Well I'm glad you asked because the very first Christmas we spent together, I made a larger copy in order to better appreciate all the fine details. The mullet (business in the front, party in the back), the 1980's tank top and the best part, the teenager stare... are what makes this ornament so special. I can't help but smile each time I look at it! Hubby finds this very amusing and always asks, "what mullet?"

Do you have any favorite childhood ornaments?



It was so nice to sit by the tree last night. Hubby read some David Sedaris holiday tales and we played several rounds of Backgammon in front of the fire. Hubby loves Backgammon, and I'm more of a Scrabble girl. So I'm sure we'll be playing lots of both over the holidays.

Happy holidays!

The Living Room: Before and After

Just to review...this is how we found it.

The single-paned window, and perhaps even the deck, were most likely added sometime in the 80's. When the contractors put in the new Marvin window, they had to tear down the deck in order to put in both the headers and footers. We'll rebuild something more period looking to the house - a balcony with a wide center staircase going down the middle and into the back yard.

This is the opposite wall. See all that brown trim? That's all covered in faux wood tack paper to assimilate wood trim. It was horrible to remove.



This room has evolved over the three years we've owned our house (we once had our bed in here). It was the very first room we tackled when we bought the place (the picture of Hubby was within hours of taking ownership) and so it was the first room we finished in terms of the bare bones part. The actual decorating would come much later, as in now...and it's quite serendipitous as again, we're 'moving' into this room just before Christmas.

Here's sort of another 'before' picture that shows our previous color scheme, dictated primarily by the furniture and rug we had on hand at the time.

And here are the 'afters.' I took these pictures on the darkest days of the year as we're having lots of fog and rain - hope they turned out alright!

As you can see, I painted the room white. It's Simply White by Benjamin Moore (Eco-Spec line), which is the same color we've used on all of our house trim and many of our walls. The old color just felt too ruddy looking and I realized (no agonized over) that I'm most drawn to that classic white wall farmhouse look where the color of the walls isn't what the room is about.

I wanted the room to be more about the fireplace, the windows, the view, the light coming in, the furniture, and the artwork. And I just thought that white allowed these things to shine more than any other color. Also, Janet (hi Janet!) over at The Gardener's Cottage just painted her living room Simply White and it completely inspired me!



The mirror over the mantle is such a better fit than our other one. I found this several weeks ago at an antique store for $120.



I picked up the brass sconces at an antique store for $20 each. I had been looking for some sconces online but found them to be very expensive. So these were in our price range and I've always loved the look of a pair of sconces over a mantle.



The seagrass rug is a 9x12 (it hasn't quite flattened out yet after being rolled) and will be relocated to the dining room once I decide what size seagrass rug I want for this room. I know it will be several feet bigger but still trying to figure out exact dimensions before I order it (the first one I ordered had a mid-January delivery date so I cancelled it).

The furniture is by a company called Rowe Furniture. We knew we'd choose something from their line because they are committed to natural fiber fabrics, eco cushion cores and wood from replenished forests. They are also members of the Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC).

This was all very important to us as we have made great efforts to make our home as green and healthy as possible. We also liked the price - due to a special sale that they were having at the time, the couch was just $1,099 and the chairs were $599 each (and we chose the highest grade fabrics).



The velvet couch is extremely luxurious. We love the high curved arms (much like a sleigh bed) as it provides the perfect support for reading a book, sipping a cup of tea or snuggling up next to the warm fire - especially on days like today.

I picked up the brass easel a few years ago for $40 - a price I just couldn't pass up. The antique frame was my Great Great Grandfather's and I'm in the process of ordering a beautiful print for it. I can't wait as I've always loved the artist and will be absolutely delighted to have a piece of hers in our home.

The cabinet used to be in the dining room. It got bumped from there because there will be two new windows going in this spring/summer leaving no room for it. It's sad but I absolutely love it in the living room. It's gone from dining cabinet to secretary, a look I have always loved.

I also like the height it provides and think it really adds a nice finishing touch to the room. We found this piece at a local antique store that used to get antique furniture shipments in from England. During my semester abroad in college, I lived in England and would spend hours going through all of the gorgeous antique stores looking at beautiful cabinets very similar to ours. So it's sort of serendipitous that this piece found me after all of these years.

The cabinet came with black oriental pulls on the drawers, which I don't believe were original due to the lovely brass button knobs on all of the cabinet doors. So I switched them out for Eastlake pulls which offer it more of a country look (and of course, I absolutely love all things Eastlake).

So there it is! I'm sure it will continue to evolve as all rooms do! I hope you like it! We just got our Christmas tree today so we'll be putting that up tomorrow night...so more photos to follow!