Shells

I have this grand shadow box in my bathroom:

Blair has been teasing me about the fact that I've personally collected very few of these shells - most of them came from one of those baskets you buy at a cheesy beach store on vacation.

So we've been collecting more whenever we're near the water. Inspired by one of Attic 24's recent posts, I thought I'd share:

I'll be in Jacksonville, Florida in a couple of weeks visiting a very *special* friend. . .perhaps I'll pick up more beauties there. ;)

“Beauty is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds to the numberless flowers of the Spring; it waves in the branches of the trees and in the green blades of grass; it haunts the depths of the earth and the sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell and the precious stone. And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and the setting sun all overflow with beauty. The universe is its temple; and those people who are alive to it can not lift their eyes without feeling themselves encompassed with it on every side.”

William Ellery Channing

Back to the Country

(I love it, but. . .part 2b)

Alright so its time to revisit our perfect little country house and continue it's makeover. Sadly, when you visit it's website there are absolutely no pictures of the bathroom. So we're going to focus on that today and (this is the part I love) we can completely use our imagination!!!

Ok, so to begin with we need our permanent bath fixtures. For that we head over to Vintage Tub and buy the following:

Next we need the sink. In a perfect world we would find an old dresser and have two gorgeous sinks installed in it, but sadly, I can't really make that happen today, so we'll just go with this (from Hooker):

Now our flooring should be hardwood, something like Patagonian Rosewood from WFI:

We'll tile the walls up to picture rail height with something grand from Ann Sacks:

Maybe even add a little dash of a very special and very English looking tile like this at various spots along the wall (also from Ann Sacks) :

Now for the mirrors, originally I was thinking this:

But now I'm leaning more towards this (both from Jayson Home and Garden):

Nope, as busy as it seems, we'll go with our first instinct.

Ok, lighting, hmmmm. I believe Tracy Porter could help us out with that! Actually as lovely as this is, I think its a bit too busy, even for my taste:

Let's try Ballard. This looks quite perfect:
We'll have to find pinky-orange coloured shades of course, but nevertheless our sconces just happen to coordinate with this: so I think we need it too! Now we need artwork from Victorian Trading Company:

Next, a few accessories from none other than Anthropologie of course:

Finally, there's this precious little piece that I would love to include, but sadly have noooo idea where it came from. I wish it were stained a dark wood or even a pretty off-white colour, but oh well, here it is:

If someone knows the source, please holla! On that note, I'm off to go shower and ready myself for a relaxing Sunday in a cute but not as perfect as this bathroom. Sad. More to come from this house next week, don't you worry. Ciao!

New Blogs

I should tell you all that I'm a confirmed snoop. If I happen to have added you to my blog roll, chances are I'm visiting the sites on your blog roll as well. I like to assume that if I love you, I'll adore all the other sites that you heart as well (this isn't ALWAYS the case but I won't name names *insert snicker here*). So here's a few I've found as I've been snooping on the Yvestown blog roll. Note: this is an endless game I play - I look at a site on a blog roll and then they have a post from someone fabulous so I follow that and then I look at their blog roll. . . the saga continues.

#1: Pretty Things 4 You:

#2: Inspiration Boards:

#3: Grand Revival Design:

#4: Hey Lucy:

#5: Lovely Design: Please visit these gorgeous ladies, you'll certainly be delighted when you do!

Whitney English Stationary

I was actually just reading (in Country Living I believe) about Whitney English and then I randomly find that she has blogged about one of my favourites out there in the blog village: Yvestown. If ya'll haven't read her lovely little posts before, I urge you to do so right away. Her colour palettes are always perfection and I just can't get enough of her inspiration, so thanks to Whitney for passing her along to others.

Note: she does "shabby chic" in an edited way that is simply extraordinary.

You should also (obviously) check out her website because she sells the most fabulous stationary like this:

Isn't it all just dreamy?
I love it, if you do too, then pass it on!

The Little House in Harrogate

(I love it, but. . .Part 2a)

Ok, so I really enjoy doing these types of posts - for the next few in the series, I've found the loveliest of homes to make over:

This one happens to be in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. For those of you that don't know, its the most precious little town on earth and home to the original Betty's Tea Room among other precious sites.

So the first post is about the exterior of our precious little (somewhat imaginary) cottage.

First, we have to paint the brick white - including the retaining wall.

The black wrought-iron fence is fun, so we'll keep that.

Next comes the ever-important aspect of the front door. Now here's where my indecision overwhelms me for a bit. So many choice, yet only one door.

Should we go with red?

Purple could be lovely.

Blue maybe?

But I think we'll go with turquoise, since it is Karey's favourite colour and she is the reason behind these posts. Something like this:

(note: all door pictures found on Flickr)

Now the basic architecture of the house is quite cute, but we could add a few embellishments beginning with copper. So let's do a window box across the front like this:

And a bubble awning above like this:

I do adore the modern planters, not sure if you can see them as it is quite difficult in the picture, but nevertheless - this is part of why I love English design: the compromise between modern and traditional.

Our windows need panes, don't you think? Let's add those and paint them black.

Now around the back of the house, on one of the smaller windows, I think we need this from Victorian Trading Company:

While we're shopping there, we can also accessorize our lovely little back sitting area with a hammock,:

and a couple of rocking chairs:

We also need a wreath - something whimsical such as:

Finally, let's change all of the hardware to something precious and pink, like this little number from Anthropologie:
Now for a sneak peak into the next few posts, we're going to re-decorate the interiors that (for now) look like this:
That's all for now!

I hope ya'll have an entirely gorgeous Sunday, and check back next week for the continuance of this series as well as my usual posts.

Ciao!

Happy Birthday!

Its my mom's birthday tomorrow so Horchow and I decided to do a special post just for her on. . .Chinoiserie and Asian accents! Momma always says every house should have at least one Asian piece for good luck. I think my parasols count, right? I hope so. I think I got all of my good taste from this woman, so ya'll owe her lots of thanks. LOL.

Beware: what follows will make you salivate, that's a promise. Enjoy!

My favourites:

If you want to see more - click HERE ya'll!