5/28/20

The clock that followed me home...


After the water damage we finished a few other projects...
like a revamp of the family room fireplace from this...


to this

The old mantel came with the house and a lot of people liked it.  I didn't hate it, but the Hubs disliked it intensely.  We lived with it for over 10 years while we took care of other more pressing projects and then decided to change it while everything was already a construction zone with the water damage repairs.  I designed a simpler surround and used a herringbone stone mosaic that matched the hearth area, which we didn't change.  

Now I can't imagine why I didn't change it sooner - but it was way down on the list of things that needed to 
be done...

you know... 

THE LIST.

That dang list just seems to get longer and longer!

I was soon off on another trip to Utah - this time for fun...because after water damage - you need some fun..
and this time with the Hubs, which was even more fun!

Running around Salt Lake we stopped at a few of our favorite antique shops and there was this clock...

IT SPOKE TO ME...

It said, 'bring me home...'or maybe it said 'you need me'
hard to tell exactly, as I don't speak fluent clock,
but the gist was the same.

It had beautiful workmanship, the patina of age, gorgeous wood tones...

So the clock came home to stay...

We arranged for it to be shipped via some guys truck coming to California...
and the guy delivered it to the wrong address - the right house number but the wrong street..
Barbi and her husband nearly had themselves a nice antique clock...but we finally figured out where it had landed and The Hubs and Rob (friend and neighbor) rolled it home.


It was much bigger in our house than it looked in the huge warehouse where I discovered it. Taller than my 8' ceilings, so that narrowed down the possible places it could be placed.  I could put it in my bedroom as I have a vaulted ceiling there - but it has a definite tick-tock going on and bongs pretty good on the hour - 
so, no.  

That left the living/dining room area - also vaulted - 
but also occupied by the even taller french clock we found several years ago; 
or 
the stair landing.

The staircase landing became its new home, but it wasn't a happy pairing with the very large, very bronze colored mirror we had there.

A few weeks later, while still trying to decide what to do about the clock/mirror situation, The Hubs brought me a photo of a mirror he fell in love with at an antique store.  It was very pretty, very old rosewood, and he loved it.  It is rare he finds something he really loves, and so it came home too.  It also wasn't a good match with the clock which now left me with two large mirrors that didn't work on the landing and no solution for what would.  I decided a little shuffling was in order. 

We moved the smaller antique mirror and the surrounding botanicals that were over the living room sofa to the  landing.  This mirror/botanical group and the clock seemed to get along quite well.  No name calling or face pulling, and the new mirror worked over the sofa.

The new mirror went over the sofa.  It was a tall mirror and it nearly reached ceiling height - which actually gave it more presence and raised the eye.  Now, what to do with the original landing mirror....
why is there always a problem to solve?

Which brings me to my next project...
as the clock tick tocks and bongs...
I have GOT to get the living room curtain problem solved...


2/25/20

JAMEZILLA

MY SON WAS ASKED TO BE PART OF AN ART SHOW IN SAN FRANCISCO!
and we went there to help and support

(Instagram - @Jameszilla)
His beautiful photography

his adorable face

we drove from Orange County so we could take a large box of frames for the show
We drove through Central California
"WHERE GARLIC IS KING"


seriously?
no, I did not taste the Garlic Ice Cream
you would have to really love garlic...

Once in the Bay Area, we enjoyed the cooler weather, the misty fog, and the abundance of green everywhere.

I love how the coastline is so different than Southern Cal.


We stayed on the beach in Pacifica, just 20 minutes south of the city.

They have given the fog a name in San Francisco.  Its name is 'KARL'
(true story)



James decided we needed to visit Safari West

It was SO FUN

be honest, does this make my butt look big?
apparently Rhino's are big pussy cats
This one loved having his ears rubbed.
the Scarlet Ibis was very scarlet, as advertised
I think this was some type of crane

WE CAUGHT KARL HANGING OUT AT THE GOLDEN GATE


MORE WEDDINGS


Sometimes a girls gotta have TWO parties!


Hailey chose a rustic theme for her California party...




The Gorgeous Backyard Wedding for Tiffany
I'm often reminded that our world is really quite small.
Kind of like that annoyingly creepy ride at Disneyland with all the dolls.  (I could have an adverse reaction to Its a Small World After All because I was once stranded in the ride for what seemed years before we were rescued by staff, with that endlessly repeating song with the creepy child-like voices in my ears...)


Tiffany, met a great guy from the UK,
who just happened to be from the exact same town -
actually the same part of the same town -
that I lived in when I was 8 or 9 years old.
Good ol' Tilehurst, Reading, England!

It really is a small world after all!



My challenge was to incorporate the driftwood,
beach glass and shells they collected with his two daughters into the wedding decor.



It was a very fun project!




The last wedding of 2019 was a seasonal wedding
Just a few days after Christmas
We used white flowers,
fresh greens and pine cones
and a pop of red berries




Such a sweet wedding!




The Bridal Shower
somewhere in between all the weddings, we hosted a Bridal Shower.
We chose a brunch theme and spent HOURS deciding what to eat.
Food is the BEST, isn't it?
My dear friend Linda made nearly all of the food, and it was delish!


A little humor never hurts...

 Favors for each guest!

The end.  Whew!

2/20/20

EVERYBODY'S CRAZY ABOUT A SHARP DRESSED MAN

AMEN, SISTER
Cary Grant
"what lingerie is to men, suits are to women"
admit it, girls...
there is class to dark gray flannel with slip of white cuff showing
there is power in a navy blue pinstripe with a deep red tie
there is elegance in an impeccably tailored suit
there is nothing more masculine than herringbone, houndstooth and harris tweed
why not add a little sex appeal to your home decor?

2/6/20

A CRAZY YEAR...WORK!


2019 was a crazy year - both good and bad - and I've fallen behind - way behind - in my posting...
so I'm attempting to catch up....

Despite the water damage and repairs going on at my house, I was able to accomplish quite a bit of decor and design - here are a few of the tidbits...
(or here are the ones where I actually remembered to take a photo)


We put the finishing touches on this sweet guest bathroom
I promise to get my prints online soon,
these came from my collection
Aren't they gorgeous?






I used prints from my collection to finish up this sweet guest bedroom...


I designed a large kitchen and a guest bedroom and bath for this home
This is demo happening!
Sometimes I'm only hired to design a space and don't actually get to work on it - so its kind of fun to have a peek and see what they came up with on their own...


In another home, we  finished an art installation for this blank wall behind a grand piano


including framing this actual violin and sheet music
in a shadow box


and all the music related Sid Dickens plaques we could find...



and some custom photography


More of my prints on this office wall - all white flowers -
and a great concrete planter find, which we filled with succulents





Thirteen foot ceilings in this powder room -
we had to bring the eye level down a little - it was just too much blank space.
So, we had a nice high wainscot installed and some black and white photography brought the scale of the room down to size.



We also added a bench in this cavernous room...




 This wall of photos is from the beach photo shoot my friend, Lorie, had with James (my son).
 So fun to see his talent displayed!






WHAT DID YOU MISS?

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