Thoughts on a Dining Room Change, Rachel Ashwell, Hotel California, and Spiders with Fur

My formerly powder blue dining room (seen here) got a mini-overhaul. It's now Alabaster thanks to the local Sherwin Williams store. I love that place. They really do have great paint. If they ever want a southern, slightly hyper, pear-shaped spokeswoman, they know where to find me.



The funny thing is, I really like the blue color upstairs in the dressing room and bathroom, but somehow it irritated the phooey out of me in the dining room. So, Alabaster it is. It's a really great white, warm and creamy without looking dirty. And yes, I realize my love of white walls is a little bit of a sickness. My friends think me very strange. I blame Rachel Ashwell and all her Shabby Chicness that blew my mind in college. I've never quite recovered.

I also rearranged the plates in the kitchen on either side of the doorway, and there are officially five thousand nail holes in the walls. But the important thing is you can't actually see the holes, and since we all know that's what really matters, it's all good.



A couple of interesting things happened during this little re-do.



1. I found what I can only assume was a miniature tarantula in the corner of the dining room. He had weird legs and fur. I trapped him under a glass, and when I removed it, he jumped to nearly eye level with me. At this juncture I stepped backwards, into the paint pan, screaming, flailing, clearly not a match for a spider measuring no more than a centimeter. What can I say. He had fur. He wins.



2. No matter how many times I pressed "dislike" Pandora felt sure that I needed to listen to Sympathy for the Devil and Hotel California. Those two songs. They wear on my last nerve and I have no idea why.



So to wrap things up, here's the thing I'm learning about decorating: it just takes time. You have to live in a place for a while. You have to see what times of day the light changes, or which windows always face the direction storms move in. You have to watch tv at night, and fold laundry during the day. You have to cook on Saturday afternoons, and sit on the patio at night. Eventually, the house will tell you what it wants. Rushing it only leads to powder blue dining rooms and badly hung art. I'm a case in point.



Just a side note: I have Alabaster paint in my hair, still, two days later. I've washed my hair three times and it's still there. I've decided to just own it. Like I did it on purpose.

Little Robertson's Nursery is finished-ish!

Morning Y'all! Well, the nursery is basically finished.  I mean there's always more that could be done, especially when one is posting pictures on a blog for millions 12 people to see.  I pretty much worked with everything I already had from Edward's nursery (including the ill-fitting ottoman slipcover - don't judge, it does it's job).  Although this nursery is very different from Edward's bright and colorful nursery.  This one's a bit more grown-up and soft.  It helps that we inherited some pretty fabulous wallpaper from the previous owners.  I can take no credit for that, except that I kept it.



So with all of those caveats (I'm resisting the urge to point out everything wrong with the room), I give you Little Robertson's nursery. 



Come on in!

The pillows on the floor are for floor time.  Something I didn't realize was a thing until after I had Edward.  Basically, when you have a baby, you spend a lot of time on the floor.  A lot.

I opted for no bumper this time around because apparently it's dangerous so I put dangerous pillows in there instead.  

Yes, we have a name.  Any guesses? 

I love that you can see the black and white awnings out of the window.

His first cashmere suit.  I would like one just like it.



The dresser, side table and changing table are all Kip's old furniture that we painted for Edward's nursery.  I also replaced the knobs with alphabet knobs from Hobby Lobby.

The kneeling boy picture was in Kip's nursery and his dad's!

Sweet dreams!

So there it is! Now we are waiting on Little Robertson to grace us with his presence! I definitely won't go past my due date.  Really it could be any day now.  I'm guessing I have a little more time, but you never know, babies be babies!

Sage Design

Morning y'all! I came across this image the other day (on Pinterest of course) and wouldn't you know, I was actually able to follow-up on a source for the image! A couple clicks led me to the web site for Sage Design and then I was hooked. 



I love the clean, fresh, classic spaces in their work.

How about that beautifully organized pantry (on my to do list for Spring 2014) or that genius little silver display tucked next to some cabinets!  It's worth it to check out their sight for the custom millwork alone, but there's also a lot more pretties to be seen. 



Whomever does their photography needs some props as well.



So pretty right!

Three Day Vacation at Home

Have you ever noticed that a three day weekend is sometimes better than a whole week's vacation? Maybe it's just me. But either way, it is, and it was.



We went to the farmer's market. Matt smoked ribs. Jane watered plants on the patio. She also picked and smelled at least 40 basil leaves. Whatever floats your boat, girl.



There were fresh flowers on the table. The house smelled like laundry. I rearranged plates on the wall. Matt took a nap. The dining room went from powder blue to alabaster white (more on that later). I drank a decaf vanilla latte and ate a cheese danish on Monday morning, in my pajamas, watching Good Morning America. That's just straight luxury.



Jane drew her first legible drawing, a "wainbow." She was so proud.



I found a thrift painting and added it the wall in the living room.



Mabel stayed at command central (on a quilt, on the couch, with a full view of the front window in case ninjas or pirates decided to invade).



This was my three day weekend.



I'd like a repeat, please.