The house lately

I'll admit I do a pretty bad job of keeping this blog up to date and at the frequency I change light fixtures and decor I should post more often. Before my house completely changes for Halloween/Fall I thought I'd share some photos of how things look as of late. 

Of course still lots of pink (ceiling, wallpaper, in the rug etc.) and several new crystal chandeliers. 

Bentley looking adorable on the stairwell.

Our French credenza has been fun to style throughout the seasons. This Fall will be the first time decorating it for Halloween which will be fun. 

Our Airedale and Miniature Schnauzer always interested in what I am doing. 

The living room is always changing. Sometimes I have this blue ticking striped sofa here, sometimes in the dining room.

Our dog crate has this beautiful French fabric over it to make it look more like a table in the front office.

More of the front office. Not pictured: the messy desk! 

That's all for now! I have been busy making some new Halloween decorations since it's about a month away from decorating. 

Happy back to school too if you celebrate! 

xo

Cathleen















 

Gallery Wall updates

I feel like I don't update the blog as often as I should. I created a bunch of posts in the spring and am finally getting around to posting them.  I scored a few more pieces of art and added them to the gallery wall in the dining room.  It's finally feeling more complete, with a tad bit of room for maybe one or two more pieces. 

The golden frame above the hutch is of a topiary planter with an array of pink tulips by Caren Heine. It has a beautiful arched mat and a lovely gold frame. I think I scored it for under $20 at a thrift store.

Always like to show the room from afar to get perspective. 

I love how the leopard print rug is a neutral in this room and goes wonderfully with the floral curtains. 

The other "new print" is the on the far left, a watercolor by Lenarczyk 1992.

Summer is almost coming to an end, hopefully I can wrap up these "spring posts soon" and get on with fall content! 

xo

Cathleen

Wrought Iron Salterini Patio Set

We owned a beautiful wooden outdoor table that we found at the Restore many moons ago. It technically wasn't built for the outdoors so I had to continually have it covered with an outdoor tablecloth to protect it. We also had 8 beautiful white modern metal and plastic chairs that went with it. Although I loved this patio set it was quickly showing signs of deterioration. The wooden table had many spots of warping.  It weighed a ton but we managed to get it to the curb for pick up. I knew when I spotted this Mount Vernon Patio set from Salterini at an estate sale hosted in Virginia from a beloved Hampden Sydney professor it would be perfect for our home.   I was the lucky bidder of this three table and nine chair set. 

Fortunately for us since our son goes to college there he sent us the listing. He was also available to load it for us into a U-haul we rented. 

In addition to the patio set, I also snagged four very large vintage planters from Campania. I was in complete heaven finding these at such great deals.  Anyway, the patio set was beige, but when I got them home and started to clean them and sand them I noticed that this was probably not the original finish. I could see parts that looked like silver. I know the Mount Vernon collection originally had silver in their catalog of finish choices. 

I donated the chair pads to a local charity, I knew I wanted white chair cushions.  Custom chair cushions were out of my price range but I snagged some cute ones for pretty cheap.  I spray painted the whole set with Rustoleum's enamel finish in glossy black. I've heard great things about this spray paint and so far it's holding up great. I will add that I did a thorough cleaning of these chairs with soapy water. Then dry sanded them with a wire brush. It took 12 cans of the paint to do two nice coats. I let them cure in the garage for a week just to be extra sure they were well cured before I put everything outside. 

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Black is very classic and also very European to me. 

I found the beautiful blue and green hand blocked tablecloth on Etsy. It's really the only place I've been able to find extra long beautiful tablecloths that aren't super pricey. It's also 100% cotton so I don't keep it outside full time. 

I don't normally shop at Walmart, but I got word that these striped fringe patio umbrellas were there so I sprung for two. 

A view from the other side of the patio.

And a wonderful Easter meal was had by all!

I'll be happy to have this patio set for generations to come!

xo
Cathleen