Monday, 10 January 2011

Mantle Tweaking

Okay, when I posted my great room yesterday, I was not "feeling" the mantle. I attempted to tweak it a bit, but would love to layer it more. Here's the start (feel free to enlarge by clicking on pic):

I love how Liz over at Savvy Seasons by Liz added a few birds to her mantle. That inspired me to bring a few of my birds out, too! Thanks, Liz!

This cute birdhouse sat on my buffet during the Fall ... I thought I might bring it back for now:

I snatched these birds up from Michael's last Fall when they were on clearance.

Over on the right, I brought back my winter bird plate (from Home Goods):

The florals are made up of berries, greenery and feathers:

Love the battery operated candles that I forgot to turn on:

And, of course, this silly little nut is my BEST accessory ever. We had fun today since his school was closed.

I'm joining Beth's winter mantle party at her blog, Stories of A to Z. Come on over and join the fun.

Enjoy your day,

Becca

I'll Miss You, Red ...

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Happy Sunday. What's your weather doing? We are preparing for a bit of winter weather here in Myrtle Beach. Seeing as we don't even have a snow plow, per se, any snow or ice will, undoubtedly, shut our entire area down!

I've been meaning to share the new look our great room has. Last Fall, I decided it was time to trade out our red sofa. I loved it, but, again, we'd had it for awhile, and I just really wanted to lighten it up a bit. Too, I thought it'd be nice to have the option of being able to add other colors in that might not work with the red. Plus, we wanted to add a loveseat for additional seating.

Here is BEFORE (feel free to click on pics to enlarge):

And, here is AFTER:

We found a wonderful sofa and love seat at a "pre-Labor Day" sale at La-Z-Boy. I chose the fabric, and they were delivered four weeks later. We're really pleased with their neutral color, and how well they work with our accent chairs. You may notice that the love seat isn't pictured. Well, surprise, suprise, I've already moved it to another spot. lol

You might also notice the rug is different, as well. I found a fun, shag rug at Lowe's for a great price. I love throwing a little bit of contemporary in.

On the sofa are a few fun pillows from PB and World Market:

The coffee table (also from Pottery Barn) is quite a bit smaller than the other one, and I love the drawers where I can hide the remote, coasters, etc.

I found this handsome horse at Home Goods:

I also retired the window panels to the sitting room. BEFORE:

And, AFTER: I went with the 108" panels in Classic Linin from PB. I'm pretty pleased with them. And, now they match the ones in the breakfast area. We also added the bamboo shades, as well.

On over to the mantle ... here is what it looks like today. And, while I'm not exactly crazy about this arrangement, it will do for now.

And, here is the vignette on the buffet table in the great room, as well (still tweaking):

As I mentioned, I've already moved the love seat which was sitting perpendicular to the new sofa, to a new spot. I'll show you where I dropped it next time you stop by.

I'm off to work on my header, which is in desperate need of a "new do"! Thanks again for stopping by. I'm sure I'll crash a few parties at the following wonderful blogs. Come and join the parties:

BNOTP/Metamorphosis Monday

Dittle Dattle/Amaze Me Monday

Elements Interiors/Whassup Wednesday

Southern In My Heart/Inspiration Friday

My Romantic Home/Show and Tell Friday

Have a great day,

Becca

Thursday, 6 January 2011

Pondicherry

Hotel du Parc~ A heritage villa

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Hotel du Parc ~ A heritage villa, is where we spent our Christmas Eve in Pondicherry.

Built in the 17th century Heritage Villa Selvom, which has served as the residence to many French governors now is Hotel du Parc.

Beautiful pale yellow and pastel turquoise has been used to bring in the feel of Provence, South France.

Loved the blend of colonial style and contemporary look in the villa...

The dining area with the view of the huge Mango tree that forms a canopy outside in the courtyard...

The deck in the night...

Elegant rooms with antique furniture...

Silk drapes and porcelain lamps add a touch of elegance...

The best part about this lovely villa is that it is located at walking distance from the Aurobindo Ashram!

P.S. All the images are from Hotel du Parc's website, my battery died just on the eve of Christmas:-(

A Look Back at My Madness ...

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***(Sorry I haven't changed out my Christmas header picture yet ... am working on that right now ... lol!)***

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with their friends and families! I certainly did ... just can't believe it's over already. Now that Christmas has been packed away, everything in my home just looks empty and depressed! Time to pull out my decorating magazines for inspiration, as well as checking out your new awesome decor projects ... all of which are such inspiration for me!

Before doing that, I thought I'd hop on the band wagon and show a few of my "before and afters" from last year.

First off, le mantle. It went from this:

To this:

I later attacked our master bath, which went from this:

To this:

I then, of course, had to hit the bedroom. This little fella went from this:

To this. I love how soothing it is in there now:

I slowly moved my way around the house, preying on the sitting room next! Out with the metallic chocolate brown walls, which I did love:

And, in with the lighter and brighter wall color (BM Manchester Tan):

My poor dining room was next. It cringed when I came in with a ladder, paint rollers, tape and plastic mat. It knew what was about to happen! So long dark walls and china hutch buffetr:

And, hello fun, new light, bright and somewhat shabby dining room. PS: I'm happy to report that neither the shelves, nor the humongous mirror, have come crashing down ... yet. Yay!

Moving into the kitchen ... we removed the black granite island top:

And, replaced it with a larger butcher block piece, that I don't have to clean fingerprints off of *10000* times a day! I love having more room there for parties (great spot for all the yummy appetizers), Jax's projects and place for him to eat at times:

We also retired the red accent wall in the kitchen, as well as the window treatments, chandie shades and rug. Before:

After! I love how the SW Ivoire looks in here ... the lighting makes it look as though the back wall is darker; however, it's all the same light and creamy shade. The PB sisal rug works really well in here now, too. I've already changed the panels ... again. Shame.

Lastly, the mud room makeover was fun to work on! While I loved the red, monkey/palm wallpaper, it was time to set them free back into the jungle! Before:

After! Yipee. I LOVE the beadboard that we added! And, the paint color (BM Manchester Tan) is fun in here, as well (although, it's more of a neutral tan than it's appearing to be in this picture):

And, I'm really pleased with how the picture wall and coat rack turned out. (This pic also shows a *truer* color of the paint. As most people enter/exit through our mudroom, it's fun for them to stop and take a peek:

Well, friends, sad to say that every.single.room. that I shared above has since changed (imagine that)! Nothing big, just accessories and placement. We did purchase new furniture for our great room, which I'll soon share. I look forward to seeing what decorating trouble I get into this year. Might be time for an intervention! Ugh.

I'm going to stop by a few wonderful blogs for parties. Please come on along and join the fun:

Elements Interiors/Whassup Wednesday

Southern In My Heart/Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage/Feathered Nest Friday

Savvy Southern Style/BTB Party

Take care,

Becca