dining in progress...

So...I am redoing my dining room...slllloooooooowwwwlllyyyy...

&

what I want is mostly black and white...

Right now, I have black and cream toile parsons chairs, cream shag rug, black & white damask curtains,

and in my entryway a black and cream zebra stripe rug

{this is NYE, but you get the idea...}

now...the chairs I am adding...

I picked two of these wing back chairs up off of  Craigs list for $100!!!!

&

bought  a TON of Rachel Aswell Shabby Chic White Denim fabric to have them recovered...

So...here's the before...

& here's (hopefully) the after...

I am IN LOVE with these chairs...LOVE...



 Now, I am thinking that I might sell my Toile chairs and get 2 big benches like these to go on either side of the table...

How FABULOUS is this!!!!!

Wish me *luck*!!

I will post photos after they are finished!!!!

source:  

for my mama...

I had the best childhood...

you know...the kind where your parents kept you a kid as long as possible...

{there seems to be less and less of this now-a-days}

but my parents also let me grow...and spread my wings...and find my own way...

Holidays were THE BEST...

Every holiday was special...

birthdays ALWAYS consisted of homemade cakes...some of which my mother must have spent HOURS on when we were young...piping 11 different colors onto a princess shaped cake by hand...
or the time she made a cake in the shape of a clock and all the numbers around the cake were written on cupcakes with the arrows pointing to however old I was!! 

{brilliant mamasita!  brilliant!}...

when I was 16, my mom made me a giant drivers license cake!  Complete with my picture in the upper left hand corner! 

I don't think I appreciated the time it must have taken to make these...but, believe me, now that I am a mother...I am singin a whole different tune...  

Halloween was complete with handmade costumes...

{of course, duh!... doesn't everyone do that!!  hee hee!}...

I can recall going to the fabric store and her picking out that little white bag costume thingy, with the picture of what ever you wanted to be on it...just buy the fabric and sew together...easy as pie!  {NOT} 

{& I have NO idea what the name of that is...because I cannot sew A LICK}

...seriously...she tried to teach me back in the day with a needle, thread, and a washcloth...and I would just bunch up the washcloth with random lines of thread.  It was always A MESS!

...and...what do you know...my mama's costumes... always looked perfect!

Christmas...aaaaaaaaaahhhhh...Christmas...

I could fill a book on how special Christmas was at our house...

my mom would sit my brother and I down at the kitchen table and hand us the Toys R' Us catalog... 

a bowl full of oranges and a bowl full of those little pokey clove thingys, {I think that's what they are?}

and we stuck a trillion of them into the oranges...

and OH.MY.LORD. did those smell good...

we would cut strips of colored paper and paste them together to make ring garland...
and then hang them in the house somewhere!! 

{I forgot about this stuff!} 

& we made popcorn garland...tons and tons of popcorn garland...

popcorn garland til our fingers killed from pushing the needle through the popcorn kernels...

then we would hang them on the tree...

one of my favorite things my mom would do was the "present countdown" I like to call it ;)

On the 25 days leading up to Christmas...my mom would wrap a gift a day for me and my brother...

we would come home from school and there would be a present for each of us

{usually the same size...my mother was big on everything being as equal as possible}
underneath the tree...

IT WAS SOOOO TERRIBLY EXCITING!!!! 

We looked forward to seeing what was underneath the tree every day! 

but, we never shook them...we just admired them...& tried to guess what they could be...

My mom understood the importance of *magic* for a child...

she made sure we had as much of that magic as we could each and every holiday...

our lives were filled with fun...and treats...and music...and dancing...and love...

& I will be forever grateful to my mother for teaching me that magic...

to keep my child...a child...as long as I can...

to create special memories...

to bake cakes {even if they don't look like my mom's ;}...

& to make decorations as a family...

to dance in the family room...

to have the Thanksgiving day parade on tv EVERY Thanksgiving...no matter how much we groaned...

to give hugs...and kisses...even when we push you away...

thank you mom...

for loving me

  

Halloween chic...

I LOVE Halloween...

kids laughing in the streets...the squeals of excitement when they pick out their costumes...or get their first piece of candy...the chill in the air...the smell of leaves and fireplaces just being lit for the first time...roasted pumpkin seeds...fragrant soups cooking on the stove...spooky halloween cocktails...eating fresh, hot donuts at the cider mill...picking out "just the right" pumpkin...

and of course...the halloween decorations!!!!

&

Now, I LOVE Halloween...but, I adore it even more when it is all in black and white!

{of course...a *touch* of orange or yellow is absolutely essential though}

I call it "Halloween Chic"

White pumpkins...black feathers...glass containers filled with candy...masks & birds...orange martinis...spiders & skeletons...and anything with sequins and glitter ***!



Sources:  http://www.bhg.com/, http://www.potterybarn.com/, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/, http://houseof3designdistrict.blogspot.com/, http://www.inthefunlane.com/



A little Icing...

I stumbled across this BEAUTIFUL Etsy shoppe this past Summer when I was looking for some unique gifts and tags to create baskets for my son's teachers...

Melissa and Kellie of Icing Designs are behind the most beautiful...delicate...& personal designs I have seen in quite a while... 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/icingdesigns

I was absolutely blown away by how stunning these ladies designs are!

They create hand-illustrated and hand-glittered invitations, cards, cupcake flags and gift tags.

For birthday parties, showers, weddings, new babes, etc...

& let me tell you...each and every one is BEAUTIFUL...

{the cupcake flags are sooo AWESOME}!!!

I had the hardest time trying to pick just one! 

I wanted to throw a party, just so I could use one of their invites!!!

Here are a few examples of their work:

{I got these for E's teachers!!!}

& let me tell you...even more stunning in person...

These ladies were soo delightful...they emailed me back immediately with the answers to my questions...the shipping was super fast...& they included some extra gift tags in there as well!!!!!

{ & those ended up being one of my favs}

So...if any of you are looking for some unique invites...or announcements...this is your stop!

They even have glittered garland for stringing around the holidays or at your next party!...

Check it out!

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/icingdesigns

or, their blog:

http://www.icingdesignsonline.blogspot.com/

Greige Design Giveaway...

One of my absolute FAVORITE Blogs is...

http://greigedesign.blogspot.com/

I get SO many ideas and am blown away daily by her beautiful photos...She is an Interior Designer/Stylist in Orange County, Ca and also blogs for Greige.  Be sure to check out her wonderful blog!!! 

Today she is hosting a giveaway from Jolie Marche (http://www.joliemarche.com/).

They are offering their Vintage French Token cotton and burlap No. 25 pillow cover and their Belgian Linen Vintage Bicycle pillow cover.

 

I LOVE THESE!

So fresh and can liven up any couch, chair or bed!

If you would like a chance to win please visit http://www.greigedesign.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment. 

Her winner will be chosen at random on October 18th. 



Haunted Ghost Chairs...

I have blogged about these chairs before...The "Ghost Chair" by Kartell...

I just think they are sooo beautiful and simple...and so stunning next to something completely NOT modern...

a dark vintage table...thick ivory silk pocket pole curtains (with a slight puddle at the bottom)...a beautiful bucket of hot pink peonies...and an ivory faux fur throw on each chair (Ikea)

I stumbled across these chairs while admiring my plain ghost chairs again today...

Now, I don't actually want these in my home (tee hee), but they would be cool if I was throwing a Haunted Halloween Party and I was filthy RICH!

Design Drift Ghost Chairs

Using laser technology, the design pair Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn created ghosts within the solid Plexiglas chairs for Design Drift. (Photos via dezeen.com)

{very ghosty right!}

Stefano Merlo's Phantom Chair

You'd better get prepared for this ghostly chair because it's about as spooky as one you'll ever see. Designed by Stefano Merlo for his doctoral degree, the Phantom is actually a transparent silicone veil with electroluminescent wires that can be draped over any plastic chair. At night, the ghost comes alive! Merlo shares his romantic vision of every plain plastic chair becoming a Cinderella!

Boo!

Source:  http://inventorspot.com/articles/10_designer_ghost_chairs_scare_living_sit_out_you_33735