Chicken Friday!!

I was on the way to meet with my photographer.  I had a PLAN!  We live in a town where cell phones don't always work.  She was breaking up ... but what I derived from the conversation was ... I had fifteen minutes.  Lucky for me ... my good friends Laurie and Jim live right around the corner.  They are my Nature Heroes!

They rescued some horses about a year ago. Then they built the barn.  Then they got some chickens.  

The last (first) time I saw some of these fluff balls it was on the Velvet and Linen Blog ... do you know Brooke and Steve? They are quite an AMAZING team!!  

Velvet and Linen

California has the weather and I couldn't believe that we could have the same chickens in New England.  And the fact that these precious little things are really like pets.  They come when you call them!! My dogs don't even do this!! 

Please note how precious these chickens are ( NOT the GREIGE roots in my part ... it has been a long month!)  and the fact that you have to use two of their eggs to equal one of our  standard farm eggs ...  I am okay with that!

This guy is showing a little strut power! ... his feet were a little creepy ... 

My sweet friends are going hatch and sell some of the silkie  chicks for $15.00 each.  I am in the market.  I really don't need any more animals (people) to take care of ...

One of my Ya Ya's gave me this little quote ... 

Keep in touch over the next few weeks to see if I bite the bullet and say ... What the Hell?

Is there anything in your world that has you kickin' your heels to the wind and going for it?

I'd love to know!!

xo,

kim

Kathryn Ireland - 1, Reese Witherspoon - 0

So this is how I spend my time some days ... completely racking my brain to remember something. Is it because I am getting OLDER?  Or is it because my mind is full of so many images ... 

Reese Witherspoon

I am inundated by all my favorite blogs and my favorite magazines ... I try to remember where I see things, sometimes I rip out pages.  But that makes me mad because then I have a stack of pages and then I flip through old favorites and they are half empty.

Organization is something I am desperately trying to work on this year.  It is not going very well.

I was reading my ED and saw this room in Reese's house in Ojai.  Oh, I Iove this room, I am thinking, hmmm.  Something is familiar ... Have I been invited to Reese's home and enjoyed a glass of wine here.  Clearly, NO!  Reese should invite me ... but hasn't.  

But the nagging.  I KNOW this room ... how do I KNOW this room?

BECAUSE!!!  Kathryn Ireland used to live in this house and this is the way the room looked when I first fell in love.  Now I will say that the painting is not my fave.  It is fine, I am just not a big southwestern fan. Still, Ireland wins this round.  I love the color warmth!  

The Room drew me IN.

So. Far. IN. That in my little brain, I think I have actually BEEN there!!  

Kids started school yesterday ... I am secretly reveling in the silence of the house.  Give me a week or two ... then I'll want their noise back!!  

xo,

kim

MOC Update!

After being gone for about two weeks straight you can imagine being back home was a calming relief.  Until I started looking around at all my half-done projects! I started a little MOC several weeks ago ... I made a commitment to get my sunporch done.  Remember this is where Don and I LIVE!!  And the dogs ... when we first got the puppies everyone thought it was soooo cute when they got up on the furniture.  And they don't really lounge ... they sit and wander around ... NOT relaxing.

Then they got bigger ... I do NOT like sharing a sofa with 200 pounds of Dog.  And that does not include Murphy who lounges on the floor.

This commitment has come with some new rules ... no more animals on the furniture.  They seem to be pretty okay with it ... they do try to sneak back up on occasion!

Now that they are "semi-trained" I am moving forward.  

My inspiration fabrics had a little hiccup.  I love Zimman's in Lynn, Mass ... but you either buy it when you see it ... or cry when you go back and it is gone.  I have been crying.

I chose this for my ottoman.  When I committed and went back ... so sorry ... GONE!!

Plan B ... next up from Duralee

It has a little more shimmer and a more subtle colorway ... I think I am MORE than okay with Plan B.

Then my Inspiration Room Antique Toile ... also found at Zimman's.  Luckily I pulled the trigger on this the first time. 

Of course it has a LION in the print ... and I think there is an elephant as well ... but it went off to my workroom today.  So you will have to wait!  Don's chair has been stripped!! 

 First thing he asked when he came in the door ... what happened to my chair?  Making it better sweet MAN!  I have no idea why there is a football in the chair.

Also pillows to replace THESE ...

I can hear you gasp!  Yes, they are old, flowery, and dirty.  And why I ever chose them I have no idea.  Good thing we can fix these things!!

Fabric for slipcover not purchased yet ... I can only wrap my arms around a couple of things at a time here!

MOC is off the ground!

xo,

kim

June ... the Grand Ya Ya

Remember last Monday?  My love of a plan?  Well, last week didn't go quite as planned.   

Instead, I found myself in Atlanta with my Dad ... Celebrating my Mother's Life.  And what a life it was!

June was a presence ... you knew whether she liked you or didn't.  She was a straight shooter.  Every day started at the IHOP for coffee, breakfast and a good political conversation!  She had opinions ... BIG ones, in case you don't know your own congressmen or senators, let me know ... she has a list of all of them with their direct telephone numbers!  I used to tease her that she might be on the "list" at the White House.  She was proud of that!

She was the most positive human I have ever known.  She believed in the power of Positive Thinking and Mind Over Matter.  That was her Mantra.

My sweet parents celebrated their 57th Wedding Anniversary this year ... What a wonderful testament to each of them and the power of their Love.

Life is such a journey ... children pulling you one way ... parents another.  I wouldn't have it any other way ... I have been blessed.  

Count YOUR Blessings This Week ... and live life to the fullest ... this is not a trial run!  

Thank you all for continuing to check in with me while I have been gone.  I am back to a lot of Design this week ... My Mother would insist!

xo,

kim

Monday Planning ...

Monday mornings are a re-grouping of sorts for me.  I try not to schedule any client or other appointments.  I need the quiet time to get the weekend out and get myself together for a productive week.  I am a planner.  And sometimes my plans don't go as I want.  I am learning to cope with this.  But I am sure happy when the week goes the way I set it up on Monday Mornings! 

Back in the Spring I ran into a gorgeous Suzanne Kasler fabric I showed you HERE ... well I found this look alike at Forsyth Fabrics in Atlanta this past weekend.  Just the colors I want to add a little punch to a Lake House Master Bedroom I am working on.

We are going to use this Bold and Beautiful color palette to build the rest of the room ... 

Several of you have asked about my Fig Tree ... and where to buy one.  I got mine from StoneGate Gardens in Lincoln.  About a 40 minute drive to get there for me ... but worth every minute.  

Not only do they have plants they have a wonderful little gift and retail area ... for now ... they are building a new SHOP and hopefully will have it open for Christmas.  I will be taking another ride out there to get ready for the Holidays.  Oh!  Did I say that?  Yikes!!

If you want a FIG ... you will have to order it ... it might take a couple of weeks ... just speak with my good friend Louise at Stonegate Gardens and she will Hook You Up!

Here's hoping your Monday goes as planned ... and that you Planned Well!!

xo,

kim

Animal Prints and Gallery Walls

Guy Coheleach

I am doing a little reflecting on my love of animal prints (art and skins) and gallery walls.  I have been spending more and more time with my parents as they are getting older and needing a little more help.

I came across these photos of my Mom in our DEN... remember those, before the Great Room ... but after the Keeping Room!

My sweet Mom ... in the 80's!   You can tell by the "bouf" hair-do and shoulder pads!!  I give her lots of credit.  She is NOT an animal lover, but my Dad is.  So she made the best of it and made it work ... The Gallery Wall.

The LookOut

Sometimes I really do believe that design trends are subconscious ... I might have said this before so please forgive me!  I really believe it ... there is a comfort in things familiar.  Whether it is a good trend or a bad trend.  It's like comfort food.  And Animals and me ... we are always ON trend!!

Did you grow up with anything that continues to follow you in your own design?  Are you making it work?

xo,

kim

College vs. Cupcakes

On our quest for the perfect college Callie and I took a tour of Georgetown University. A beautiful campus tucked into Washington DC.  As we drove into DC, The Capitol just rose up and welcomed us!

DC is such a wonderful place ... It really made me feel proud to be an American.  

The World War II Museum ... I had not seen, it is fairly new ...  was beautiful.  And there was such a peaceful feeling as we walked around the fountains.  It was obvious that the visitors were there with much respect to all the lives lost to keep our Freedoms.

On to Georgetown, the campus was a little quiet as classes have not begun yet ... but you could feel the energy building as it was getting ready to welcome back the students.

Callie has turned our college tours into history lessons for me.  I have enjoyed visiting places I have never been and learning about how they came to be.  Each and every one we visit has been interesting and I can see her thriving in most of them.  Each possesses just a little piece of uniqueness that we have tried to uncover to see if it fits her.

Then there is this other thing about Georgetown ...

We didn't need the menu board ... we both came in with one desire.

Many temptations ... 

 But the winner ... IS and always HAS been ... 

Red Velvet!

I wonder ... is this REALLY why we are here?  She assures me not!! 

xo,

kim

Bathroom

Clearly I have ADD ... truly.  I am trying to do my own MOC and get my sunroom done.  But have I mentioned that I have not been able to offer my family or my guests hot water out of our powder room faucet for the past year? I have a beautiful French faucet.  but it doesn't work.  Well, it gets cold water and the fact that it doesn't get hot water seems to be an issue for some people!!

So remember this ... about 8 months ago I quizzed you all about mirrors and a look I was going for.

It started here ... Before ... WAY before:

This is how it looked when we moved in five years ago ... it stayed this way for 4 years.  I had other priorities and was in denial.

I did get a new light fixture that I love ... and painted the walls grey.  I was trying to embrace the greys ... and in this little space it and I fell flat.  

You know how sometimes the photos don't show up as pretty on the computer as they are in person.  Well ... this paint looks the opposite!  Much better in the photo than in person!!

I am finally tackling the real issue ... the floors ... they are green and I am not really a green person.  

Now that I have accepted defeat and Don is sick of the bathroom not working right and the wall color is horrible and the mirror I got for a song from a thrift store ... well, it just doesn't work.

So hear I go again!!  And I will get it done!  I love this floor and the Quadrille Fabric ... which comes in a wallpaper.

But now ... I want color.  I LOVE brown.  But this powder room needs some light and happiness!!  So I am searching for the same floor pattern in black and white and have decided upon ... wait ... SHRIMP!! Here's a shot of the fabric version.

Powder rooms are the little exclamation point in a home.  They don't really have to match or go with the "flow" of the rest of the house.  I like to make them Happy and Fun!  And full of Color!

SHRIMP ... Which Don doesn't think is pink OR orange. So I am IN!!

Ordering up the Shrimp today ... and will hire painter and tile person this week.  This will get done fairly soon ... unless I change my mind again.  But I am feeling pretty positive about this decision.  Do you agree??

Here's to pulling the trigger, finally! Happy Monday!

xo,

kim

It's FRIDAY!! And I have a week's worth of work to do today.  I start feeling the pressure of all the little nagging things ... then I saw this ...

Hermes - AD Sept 2012

Time ... evidently ... is on my side!  And with this knowledge and the beautiful Fall colors ... I am feeling pressure again, Fall will be here before we know it!!  AAGHHH ... Hope you do something fun in this, one of the last weekends, of Summer!!  Kids are back in school in the South ... Sports have started up here and school will start in two weeks ... ENJOY!!!

xo,

kim

Little Surprises!

Things happening around the house ... and they have NOTHING to do with housework!!

Gone a couple of days and I  return to find all these goodies in my mudroom!!  Clients are going to be happy and this is as good as Christmas in my world!

Pillows and Roman Shades out of Duralee for a family room, boxes from Kravet!

Working on some antique Chairs ... I kind of dig this look!

Traditional Home - May 2012

But we are going to do a little more subtle Glam ... Kravet Couture ... don't ya know!

With a fun trim ... and still on the hunt for some tassels. Guess it's not going to be that subtle after all!!

Things are happening ... this is good!

What is happening in your beautiful world?

xo,

kim

Picker's Paradise!

While at the Lake we did a little Pickin'!  I am totally showing my age ... but doesn't this remind you of ... "the day my momma socked it to ... the Harper Valley PTA!" 

Saws ... in case you need them.  And seriously with all the industrial chicness going on, these could be kind of fun!

Ball Jars ... hard to find in New England ... EVERYWHERE in the south!

Old Mixers.  I even see these at Brimfield.

A little Victorian Settee in South Alabama ... such a Victorian State!

Timely.  We were fortunate enough to go to a number of Olympic Events when they were in Atlanta.  Like every mother I was convinced that Erin would be a gymnastic star!  Clearly ... that didn't work out!

Callie has an affection for blue glass.

Snow White?  Who spins?  without a bike?

More blue glass!

Perhaps the people of Howard College might be interested.

We have stories in our house about disco balls ... so this was perfect.  We didn't buy it.

If you don't have an iron skillet you should.  Not only do they cook well, they really add iron to what you are cooking and keep you healthy!  Plus I still have that corn cob shape skillet pan ... I grew up with corn muffins made in the shape of corn cobs.  Don't laugh.  They were good!

So House Beautiful just came out with the In's and Out's of Color ... Yellow is Out ... Perhaps this is why it is all stored at the Water Valley Antique Market!

So you can stock up when it becomes HOT again!

I love all the old thick wrought iron furniture ... 

Coins and Coins ... 

We came home with these two jars ... that was it. Our $14.00 purchase for the day!

I seriously tried to get SOMEONE to buy this chandelier.  No one was BUYING into my vision!

Green Wrought Iron ... Oh Yeah!

This is Alabama's idea of recycling!!

WANT... could you just imagine Don's face if I had come home with these??  Well, I didn't ... sad for me!

A little Water Valley at home in Sherborn!

Here's to good pickin'!

xo,  

kim