A Little House Tour (sort of)

The ever so lovely Alcira, mistress of The Nero Chronicles and wordsmith extraordinaire, kindly asked if she could post a few images of our basement or as I refer to it on most days, disaster central. Truth be told, I'm not so good with compliments, but how could I be anything but flattered. So pop on over to The Nero Chronicles if you're curious to see where my wild things, er, um, three boys wile away their afternoons, but be sure to stay for the deluge of pretty pictures and Alcira's unmistakable, one-of-a-kind musings. The girl can string words together like nobody's business. No lie.

I'm Tickled to be a T.Ruffle

Today one of my photographs is featured on the gorgeous T.Ruffles sweeterie and I couldn't be more tickled pink (or better yet, blue and green, since those are Mary and Karey's signature colors). Stop by and visit the sweeterie to see my snapshot and be sure to check back later for the addition of Karey's always beautiful, witty, and often times cheeky words. I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Black Barn Doors

{love these}

{have these}

{image 1. via imgspark, image 2. via yours truly}

It's App-tastic

I told you I could go a lot crazy with this iPhone app. The Hipstamatic vintage toy camera produces such a beautiful, dreamy image it makes me want to photograph everything in my house. Somehow it makes all of my ho-hum rooms look all brand new and magical. Too bad hipstamatic vision isn't included in the $1.99 app price. ;0)

Happy Weekending!

Photoshoot

Some of you may recognize this room from the flood of '09 post. It's one of the main living spaces in our basement and definitely one of the most used rooms in our home. If the boys, husband included, could live here, they would. Well last week I came across an amazing giveaway offered by Brooke and Mark on the blog Velvet and Linen. The prize, times three, is a beautiful coffee table from Mark's company Bobo Intriguing Objects. Needless to say, I really wanted to win, so I sent in a snapshot of my room and waited and waited. Well, the ten finalists were announced this morning and sadly, my room didn't make the cut. But it was fun giving my space a little attention, a little star treatment. And I loved playing stylist, even if the pay kinda stinks.

So now I have a file full of snapshots and I thought I'd share some of the outtakes.

The grapes are a bit of an obsession of mine, they are vintage lucite/acrylic from the 60's and '70's, I think, often with a fabulous bit of driftwood attached as the stem. I have them scattered throughout our home, probably enough to start a small plastic vineyard. ;0) I've gotten all of mine from the great land of eBay.

The coffee table, which I actually love and was going to relocate to another part of the house had I won, is the Scando Family Table from modern seed. It is wonderfully kid safe, no sharp corners, has a great scooped end for my piles of magazines and books, and appeals to grown-ups with it's sexy curves and low profile. It has served us well as table, performance stage, and overall indestructible surface for three rather destructive young boys.

The vintage black painted table and matching stools have a long family history and are rather well traveled for a set of table and chairs. They belonged to my uncle when he was a child and emigrated with my family from the Ukraine some 30+ years ago. The set is actually a chess table with a little drawer in front holding the chess pieces. The surface is hand painted with golden leaves and perfectly delectable clusters of strawberries. A true heirloom.

One of my absolute favorite features of this room is the barn door. Luckily, I had a very patient contractor who built this from scratch from my very crude drawing. Good thing I can manage to sketch a few straight lines. The door is functional and slides along the track to close off the room during one of our many movie nights. I especially love the handle which Mark, the contractor, brought us one day from a loft renovation he was working on. It was grungy and rusted and I instantly fell in love. The Mister gave it a quick spray of sealer and on it went, the perfect adornment to the barn door in the suburbs!

The lovely antique cabinet on the left is from the now defunct Silk Trading Company location in Atlanta. Oddly enough, although the beautiful curtains were super pricey, their case goods were unique and affordable. This one happens to house hundreds of video games and movies which on a normal day would be scattered all over the floor. But for you dear friends, I picked up. The t.v. stand, a more modern cousin of the armoire, is from West Elm.

The couch happens to be one of my favorite finds. I don't know the provenance, but we snagged it at the annual ADAC garage sale. That's the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center for long. Normally a place whose doors are not open to the likes of little ol' not-to-the-trade-accessible me. But once yearly they open their doors, actually the parking garage, to the public and let me tell you, this sale is not to be missed.

So there you have it, no new coffee table for me, but I still love this room. Hope you enjoyed the tour. If you get a chance, stop by Velvet and Linen and check out some of the seriously pretty rooms still in the running. I'm sure they would appreciate your vote!

And speaking of giveaways, I've got a little something up my sleeve as well. Be sure to check back on Monday after Thanksgiving for Head Over Heels first giveaway. I'm so excited to gift one of you lovelies a lovely prize from a terrific sponsor!

How do you spell relief?

{stuff piled up everywhere}

{ugh, what a mess}

{yep, that's the sectional, on its side}

{carpet back in place, time to dance}

{the guilty corner from whence the water gushed}

{time to put the furniture back}

{first things first, the t.v.}

{and it works, believe me, with all those wires we held our breath and kept our fingers crossed}

{piece by piece}

{the room came back together again}

{and so the games begin}

{no more couches on dollies}

My basement no longer looks like a cross between a furniture storage facility and a dehumidifier/industrial fan/shop vac showroom. Thankfully we made it through a dreary, wet Saturday and came out on the dry side. But we did stay busy putting the basement back together again. I'm happy to report the carpet tiles came together like a dream and the room is finally back to its ole self. Although the boys may have enjoyed the pile up of furniture more then they mourned the inability to play with the wii. In fact, the younger two built a "fort" in and amongst the mess and were lost in imaginary play for three straight days. I barely heard a peep out of them and this is unheard of around here. They also loved the wide open space of the room that got the brunt of the flood. After we put the carpet back in, a dance party ensued. Just goes to show, less is really more and they don't need all the "stuff" to have a good time!

Still, I'm glad we are on the other side of this mess and I can breathe a BIG sigh of relief. So many families in our state sustained far more damage to their homes and I hope their lives will return to normal in short order.

{forgive the sucky images, like I said, it was a dark and dreary day}

FLOR(ed)

{House Pet in Gerbil, we have this one in our basement}

{just in case your looking for the gerbil in the picture, that's the product name}

Hi. I'm back. Did you miss me? My absence yesterday can be attributed to water. A whole heck-of-a-lot-a water. We are talking about water of biblical proportions. Well, not really, but water not seen in my part of the country in 100+ years. And this deluge decided my basement would be a nice safe spot to settle in for the afternoon. Thankfully my son spotted the puddles accumulating before too much damage was done and so the Big Dry Out ensued.

My last 24 hours have consisted of taking turns with sweet hubby operating either the shop vac or steamer (and corralling my maniacal children who missed TWO days of school because of the severe flooding. see I told you it was a lot of rain. never in my lifetime has school been cancelled because of rain!). Who knew I was so handy! And that brings me to the subject of FLOR tiles.

When we finished our basement a few years ago, we knew we did not want wall-to-wall carpet for the very reason that if a leak occurred, carpet, pad, and plywood would go straight to the trash-o-la. We considered hardwood, but for the above reason, as well as cost, that option went out the window. We ended up acid staining much of the existing concrete and were thrilled with the results. But in some spaces we wanted a softer, more inviting surface underfoot.

FLOR carpet tiles turned out to be a perfect option. What really sold us was the fact that you could easily remove a soiled square, rinse it, air dry and put it back. And just in case my lovely children completely decimated the poor tile {nah, they'd never do that, but just in case ;0) }, only one tile would have to be replaced! However, all sounds good until you have to put the scenario into action. And I'm glad to report that the FLOR tiles have earned an A++. These suckers were sopping wet and today look as fresh and clean as the day they were installed. I was first attracted to this product by the great styling I saw in the catalogs. I'm a sucker for a pretty room. But the tiles have turned out to be not only stylish and versatile, they are easy to take care of and virtually indestructible. Thanks people at FLOR. You truly have a great product and I couldn't be more pleased.

{images via FLOR}