Archive for the ‘Our Abode’ Category

Sustainable Friday: Vintage Shopping

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

As a newish homeowner I’ve been decorating on-and-off for months. As part of my desire to live a greener lifestyle and let’s be honest, have a stylish, unique home, I partake in vintage shopping. Not only is it reusing and recycling, two green principles, I get awesome stuff for a steal!

Here’s a sampling of the goodies I’ve picked up the last two trips to Sleepy Poet, my absolute favorite vintage shop in Charlotte. Sleepy Poet, by the way, has seriously stepped it up in the last few months and their styling has become much better. If you haven’t visited in awhile or felt overwhelmed the last time you were there I recommend you check it out again.

A perfect storage console. It has a travertine top, tightly woven rattan doors, ample amounts of storage and amazingly fits in our hallway perfectly.

Blenko Glass candlestick holders.

A fun mixed drink or iced tea pitcher. Way prettier than all clear glass.

Faux bamboo brass picture frame and solo sterling silver candleholder. (That’s the stock picture that came in the frame. Something else will be replaced soon!)

Now here’s the kicker, would you believe if I told you all of this together cost less than $225?! Yep, it’s true! Vintage shopping is green and economical!

Happy shopping!

Sneak Peek

Friday, April 16th, 2010

So now that I work from home, I’m trying to make our spare bedroom also function as an office. I had Bryn make me a bulletin board that was inspired by Erica’s. It’s 3×4′ and will hang over my desk. More pictures to come soon of my “working space” (working on getting a new desk and chair before I show it off)!

Kitchen Artwork

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

As promised, here’s the kitchen artwork we finally finished hanging this past weekend. I’m really happy with how they look all grouped together  but  am feeling like the walls are somewhat pale and boring. I’m not sure what color I could change it to, especially since we have a small house and I don’t want there to be too many colors. (I already have pale yellow in the living room and hallway, a blue/green in the bedroom and a pale gray in the bathroom.) Anyone have thoughts?

Gallery Wall

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Here’s our new gallery wall filled with family photos, still life photography and artwork we’ve collected on travels. My friend Tonya helped me do the layout and she did an awesome job! I still need one more photo to fill that frame in the foreground and then it’s done; that is until I find more artwork I can’t live without!

Island

Monday, October 12th, 2009

This is my all time favorite kitchen. I first saw it in Domino and then more recently in Canadian House and Home. The thing I loved about the most recent feature is that they told readers where to get similar stuff.

So, when they featured the kitchen island below as a similar one to the island above, I jumped for joy! I’ve been on the hunt for a long time because our kitchen seriously has about 3 feet of work space. We’re assembling it tonight and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
P.S. We also finally got the bentwood chairs I’ve been lusting over forever. Now, I just need to get a pot rack, new knobs, runner and some art work and I think the kitchen will be complete! (That still sounds like a lot though, especially when I then move onto other rooms.)

Flowers

Monday, June 8th, 2009

This weekend the flowers were in full bloom. Here’s a peek at what we have around the house. I think flowers just make a house so inviting. Don’t you?
Hydrangeas clipped from the bushes right out front. These are displayed on our bookcase and the magnifying glass is the one I mentioned purchasing during our trip to Savannah.
I picked up these peonies at Trader Joe’s. They’ve opened up a ton in just one day. I hope they last at least a week, although at the rate they’re going I’m not sure!
More hydrangeas on the kitchen table in my new aqua Ball jar.
And finally, I have a single gardenia on my bed side table and another on the desk. They smell amazing.

Bathroom Lamp

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Here’s a quick peek at the new lamp in the bathroom. It’s so pretty.

Pendant Lamp

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Here it is, another piece to the decorating puzzle, our new pendant lamp! We’re hanging it in the kitchen this weekend with pictures to come next week!

Garden Update

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

On Sunday we did some gardening. Here’s a few pictures of our latest additions and one showing the growth since my last post about the garden in mid-April.
We transplanted the Fuscia that were originally in the pots on the patio into two new hanging baskets. They looks much better up high where you can see the pretty blooms hanging over the side.

This configuration is now in the pots that originally held the Fuscia. I’m hoping the Sweet Potato Vine and Coleus will thicken out and fill the pot. Fingers crossed.The Pansies on the backstairs had definitely reached their breaking point. The heat was doing them in. I pulled them out and planted a different variety of Impatiens, the same flower we have in the front flower bed.
Check out the growth of what we did in April! The four Hydrangeas have basically doubled in width and they have blooms! The Impatiens are out of control with a blanket of color in our front yard! I think this fall we’re going to add nutrients to the soil so that hopefully next spring two of the Hydrangeas will produce purple flowers and two of them will produce blue flowers.

Overall I couldn’t be happier with it! Now lets hope our basil, peppers and tomatoes on the side of the house do something this summer!

Wallpaper

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

The wallpaper installation took place today! We are very lucky because Stephen’s parents are experts in home improvement and were able to hang it while I was away at work! I hope Stephen paid attention for the next time!
New chairs {as soon as these ones sell} and pendant lamp to come soon!

Built-in Bookcase Day #3

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

The third and final day of our bookcase installation is complete!

Painting the bookcase.
Fully decorated, but still missing knobs.

I think it’s still a bit bare, but don’t worry I’ll change that!

Built-in Bookcase Day #2

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
The doors are now installed.
Applying the primer.
Fully primed and caulked. Next up, painting and installing knobs. Then decorating!

Weekend Snapshots: The Front Garden

Monday, April 20th, 2009

This weekend we tackled redoing our small front yard. Here’s some pictures of our project.

The scraggily front yard before we got started.
After careful consideration we came home with Hydrangea bushes, Fuscias and two varieties of Impatiens. Our yard and porch gets partial sunlight so the selection of pretty flowers was limited.
Some of the Impatiens found their way into the vintage baby bathtub and the Fuscias found their way into the pot by the grill and another pot by the front door.
Closeup of the Impatiens in the bathtub.
Planting the hydrangea bushes.
Arranging the Impatiens in front of the Hydrangea bushes. Another Hydrangea bush is going in that last hole on the right.
All done!

Built-in Bookcase Day #1

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Installation of our built-in bookcase began today! There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done but so far, so good!
Step #1: Have cable and electric lines placed correctly on the wall before installation.
Step #2: Remove the original baseboards and crown molding.
Step #3: Piece it together. Our carpenter built the whole unit at his studio after two trips to our condo to take exact measurements.
Step #4: Attach bookcase to the wall and making sure everything is level.
Later in the week the doors to the lower cabinets will be installed and the original crown molding will be reinstalled at the top of the bookcase. We’ll also put the knobs on the doors. Finally, we’ll paint it and after that’s definitely dry we’ll caulk the unit so that there are no small gaps between the unit and the wall.
More pictures to come!

Chairs For Sale

Monday, April 13th, 2009

We’re selling our 4 vintage dining chairs! They are very sturdy but need some TLC {paint, reupholstery and sanding}. There isn’t anything wrong with them, we’ve just decided to go in a different design direction. Email me: sarah.bradley5@gmail.com for more details!

P.S. I’m more than happy to ship.