December 1.

With the exception of setting up the Christmas tree in its stand, I've been holding off from decorating until December. 

The dining room is a little bit decorated too.

And the best part of Christmas is the Christmas Maya. 

 Tomorrow, I'm going to the farmers market and the Christkindlmarkt to buy an evergreen wreath for the front door, and cute stockings for the fireplace, and probably some more ornaments, because the tree is looking a bit sparse compared to the ornament-packed trees I'm used to, and whatever else strikes me.

I love Christmas.

Saucy Secretary!

I had lofty goals, this weekend, of stripping and repainting the entryway secretary and the dining room table. Due to the fantastic weather and a halt in handywork for a walk on the beach, only one of the two pieces is finished (to be honest, I haven't even started on the table).

Before:


During:


After:


I think it's an improvement. I'm going to buy new drawer knobs like these:


I think those will spice up my secretary a little more.

Things I want to do to my house and other decor-related ramblings.

I want to paint my dining room table white:

I want to do this mostly because I looked around the house the other day and realized that it's becoming very traditional. Also, I'm bored. Also, the table doesn't match the chairs and was a $30 Goodwill find to begin with, so if I screw up there's no big loss.

I want to un-Shabby Chicify this piece of furniture I got from Craigslist:

I want to paint it a crisp slate gray and actually use it as a console table or entry table until I find a better option (i.e., stumble upon an alternate cheap piece of furniture at Goodwill). I think the slate gray will bring just the right amount of variety to the entry.

I am also looking for a 5 x 7 or 5 x 8 rug to go in the entry to bring some color in there! We bought this rug from Pottery Barn to bring in some color, but it was too small so we moved it upstairs to the bathroom area. I used to hate orange, but I love this rug so much and really appreciate now how well it works with blue and how fresh it can be. I want this exact rug in a larger size (think of how great it would look with the slate gray secretary), but it seems weird to have two of the same rug in the house.

Basically, I'm trying to unify the house a bit more. I keep searching through images, trying to narrow down exactly what my decorating style is. You can read more about my dilemma here.

I love mid-century modern furniture. I love the Shabby Chic look but with more color (i.e., the "Anthropologie" look). I love the beach house/island look the most, but it seems strange to decorate that way when I live in the middle of a city (albeit a city on the water, near beaches).

But I really think I was designed for the island life. Open, airy, rustic rooms with a smattering of color and spontaneous placement of oddities.

India Hicks, lifestyle and design goddess, lives my dream every day:





Images from June/July 2007 domino.

Not to mention that her life seems to be perfect and her baby daughter (age 1, aptly named "Domino") starts making my biological clock tick overtime:





Images from February 2009 Cookie.


She lives in the Caribbean with her partner (David Flint Wood) and their four children (Felix, Amory, Conrad and Domino) in a place called "Hibiscus Hill." She was a model, she's an heir to the British throne, she's the host of Top Design, her father was David Hicks, possibly the king of the interior design world in the '60s and '70s, and she is AMAZING. For fun, she and her man renovated an old inn, which is now a super-swank hotel. How do I get this life? I know, I know, you have to be born into this kind of luxury.

Oh yeah, back to my house...

A Jumble Post

It appears that I can't stay off the topic of decorating for too long.

I wanted to brighten up the entry to the house a bit, and since I will never, ever paint the walls of a rented house, I painted the inside of the wardrobe instead.




Also, Maya got spayed on Friday. She took it like a champ. She was so out of it on morphine...it was hilarious. I think she had no clue who I was.

Here is Satellite Maya:


To complete this random jumble of updates, here is a photo of the brunch I had at Acme in Carrboro, NC last weekend:

Eggs Benedict over fried green tomatoes with the most delicious, spicy Hollandaise sauce ever. Plus, mixed greens with a mustard vinaigrette and grits on the side.

I used to only like sweet breakfast foods (beignets, chocolate croissants, chocolate chip pancakes, French toast...mmm) but, thanks to Chandler and his dad's amazing breakfasts, I have a healthy appreciation for the savory side of the morning meal. I think breakfast may now be my favorite meal of the day.

Pati-OH!

We finally, finally got the Belize Outdoor Set from World Market. Thanks to Heather and her expert sleuthing skills, she noticed that another $199 deal was going on for the set. She (unlike me) was smart enough to go early and get one the last time this deal came around.

Here's a photo of the set on our porch:


Now everyone needs to come visit so we can test this set in action! Book your reservations NOW.

House Update

I was looking at older photos of the house and I realized that the house now looks a little different than previously pictorally documented. On this rare occasion of the house being practically spotless, I thought I'd do a house update.

"Before" photos can be seen in this post.


This is a cool, beat up vintage/antique desk I recently got off Craigslist. I am such a sucker for the "shabby chic" look. This desk has a fold-down writing table and little organizational cubbies inside, as well as 3 drawers, which make good storage space.




Not too much has changed in the dining room...the chairs have all been recovered, but I don't even think that's visible in the photos.




I've played around with the living room the most...I switched the "side table" (3 stacked vintage suitcases) and lamp to the other side of the couch, in front of the tall mirror. In its place, I put the tall paper lantern from Ikea that used to be agaisnt the wall between the two windows facing the yard. I moved the white chair to where the lantern once was, and added another side table. Also added: cloth roman shades and curtains. Whee!




In the kitchen, we have a lot more brightly-colored utensils, thanks thanks to Chandler's Le Creuset job. All the colors are incredible...I want a hanging potrack to display all of the incredible pots and skillets, but the weight of the cast iron would probably pull the whole thing down.


This is such an odd little half-bath. There's no way I'm painting walls until I actually own a house, but if I were going to paint any room, it would be this one. It needs something, but I can't figure out what.




The office is the most colorful room in the house, thanks to Chandler's bright couch. Manda's art brings some of the color onto the wall.



The main bedroom is the only room in the house that has absolutely nothing on the walls. I don't have enough art to hang! I have been spending a lot of time on Etsy looking for some pieces to hang.




I added more colorful bedding, fixed up my desk/vanity area, and hung my inspiration board (not shown). I love curling up in this room; for some reason, my creativity flows easily in here.


I found this shower curtain at Goodwill. It still had the tags on it, and the linen curtain with floral appliques adds a bit of texture to the room...it looked too much like a hotel bathroom with the white curtain. However, the white curtain made it a lot bigger. The other thing I like about this curtain is that the purple perfectly matches the star lantern in there, which is so nice to light during baths. But I can't decide if the curtain should stay.




The backyard is so lush and green. I love it, but I get eaten alive out there! Citronella candles are a lifesaver. I love going out and picking fresh hers. Chandler picked his first tomato last week!

I didn't take any photos of the front because nothing has really changed. We really, really want an outdoor set to put on the front porch. Because I was lazy, I missed out on this incredible deal.

If anyone still has a Belize Outdoor Set available at your local World Market, if you buy it for me, I will pay you back and provide an extra-special gift! I hesitated and these babies sold like hotcakes. All the World Markets in Charleston (and Charlotte) sold out in less than a day.

Anyone have any decorating tips or advice they'd like to share?