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Friday, May 31, 2013

Lemlem for Me Me


Are you familiar with Lemlem? Model and actress, Liya Kebede started a clothing company to provide weavers from her native Ethiopia with jobs.
And I have been obsessed with the clothing since I saw it 5 years ago. 


So cool, right?




Here's Liya looking all fab in her LemLem dress. 
I have wanted my own for YEARS but was always reluctant to pay $$$ for what is basically a beach cover up. Yes, I know Liya looks amazing above but in person they are a little (lot) see through. So what's a girl to do?
Search ebay for several years....continue to get outbid then...



Bam!! One golden day you are the winner!!! Yes!! Me!! I finally got one for myself, to have and to hold and to wear until death do us part.




Here's an old picture from the J Crew website. 
I continually got out bid until I discovered the secret to winning on ebay...decide on the absolute highest price you are willing to pay, then wait until the last 5 minutes and up your bid by $50. Worked like a charm. 
I can't tell you what I paid because I have shoppers shame offset by pure joy. It's a good thing, it's a bad thing...And thankfully it fits!!!
Now when you see me wearing my fabulous new dress/cover up your first thought might be "Sissy, why are you wearing a dish towel?" Please keep these thoughts to yourself as I actually like the rustic cotton dish towel look. 

That's all for now, have a great weekend!!!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Blow It Up



apartment therapy

So I am sure you guessed that I am getting the photo of Locke blown up...


a perfect gray

Really big...



love the oversized photo, love the space

Maybe 40 x 40



Oversized Photos

I am getting quotes on Plexiglas...




Love the white expedite shelves with black bins and oversized photo on top

And framing.
I have ruled out a giant canvas, I want the shine and detail of an actual photograph.



dark teal blue grasscloth

Would you do the photo in black and white or color? I am thinking black and white...

Big, fabulous prints don't come cheap, but I think it is worth the splurge.
Don't you?


















pictures here


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Dancing Boy




Getting ready to do something fun with this picture...
Doesn't it crack you up? 
Locke is usually so shy so it shocked me that he danced the night away.


That's a koozie on his hand. He wore two. Kind of like Michael Jackson's sequined glove.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Green is Good





Especially when it comes to grass...



Brown is not good...




See how much better green is?



No green, sad and depressing. 

"La Mariposa Corta" Embroidered Mexican Style Peasant Top - Green


Green is also the color of my new Mexican shirt...super happy, joy, joy!!

Amelia Ring


And the color of my fav new ring from Towne and Reese
It is greener in person and gigantic, I likey a lot!!

Hope you have a great weekend!!
Happy Summer!!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Copy Cat


I know everybody and their mother has already seen the world's cutest dress from Old Navy. On sale for $20 here.



Girls Tassel-Sleeve Dresses




I even bought two, one for me and one for Cricket, because when you're almost 13 you love nothing more than dressing like your mother. Well, Cricket said "hell no!!" And once I found a size big enough to fit across my shoulders I looked like a pickle in a barrel, so they both went back. 

Why am I telling you this, well just yesterday I got my new J Crew catalog - good stuff- and saw...

Girls' Nellystella® Chloe dress

This dress at J Crew for $124
Am I seeing double, are you? How pissed would you be if you paid $124 for this and then saw Sally Sue in the SAME dress that her smart aleck mom got at Old Navy for $20!!!! Pretty pissed I'm guessing. Wonder what Jenna thinks about all this?


Thoughts?

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Grand Finale

I know I have shown you pictures of my butler's pantry, but it is my very favorite thing in the whole kitchen, so I am going to show it again....


Bright, happy..clean. All the things that bring me joy.



The pantry is where the refrigerator used to be, leading into the dining room.



It contains all my favorite things...



Vallerysthal goblets, Python Tray, Frog Pitcher, blue cake stand and some Skinny Girl Margarita mix. 



This is were I hide all my food. 




My pantry before was the two cabinets to the right of the frig...that was it!!
Now my food feels like it is living in the Taj Mahal. 




Before the only way to get to the kitchen or den was through this one door...



Now the kitchen is open to the dining room...



And the living room....


AND this wall in the dining room is gone!!!



Is it all just so open and bright and the flow is 1000% times better and really it would just be easier to show you in person, so stop by sometime. Just give me 10 mins warning so I can stuff my mess in the laundry room!!!

Several people asked about my floors. We put down new hardwoods and had them painted black, NOT stained. The paint was watered down and it is perfect!! If you live in Wilmington I have a great floor guy, e-mail me for the info (siskotte@ec.rr.com). I LOVE my black floors but they are not for the faint of heart or those afraid of some dirt. They show everything, but I love them so much I don't care. I don't think a little sweeping ever killed anybody, but I'll let you know 

I think that is all for now, but I may repost my pantry again just for the fun of it!!!

Friday, May 17, 2013

And Another Post About the Kitchen

 Did you think I was finished? Not even close!! But it is exhausting finding and posting all these pictures, especially digging up the befores.


And speaking of before...here we are...
Looking from the kitchen into the dining room. That door was the only way to get from our den and kitchen to the rest of the house. The flow was not great.



This picture was taken from the same spot as the before picture. I know it looks skinny in the picture but that is a double opening into the dining room



Lets look a little closer... 




And closer. 
The butler's pantry separates the kitchen and dining room.
That's all for now...hope you're not getting tired of the renovation, we are almost finished.

Enjoy your weekend!!



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Kitchen Part II

This is one of my favorite changes...



Looking at my old sink..sad. So sad




And now...LOVE it. We took down the wall and opened the kitchen up into the living room. I can now see the fire from the breakfast nook and the kitchen finally feels like a part of the house. 



Again, old view




New view.
 Isn't that so much better? It feels like a whole new house.



Looking to the right...



Looking to the left, happiness everywhere.



Old wall in the living room...
(I have got to get some color on my walls!!)


And the new view...
The rest of my house needs to step it up if it wants to keep up with my kitchen!!!















Monday, May 13, 2013

I Can Make a Decision

I know after all this desk mess you probably think I can't make a decision..but I can, sometimes. I made a lot of decisions when I redid my kitchen. And I don't think I ever showed you all the pictures. I was waiting for fabric and curtains and blah blah blah, but what the heck, I'll show you what I've got. 



Let's first remember the kitchen when we bought the house...



This is the first area I am going to show you, looking towards the window. 
See that fancy range, I cooked on that for 7 years!!
Can you believe it??!! Behind the range and bar is a small space that was used by the past owners for a kitchen table, but it wasn't really big enough for us, so we used it to throw everything that we had no place for..it was delightful. 


We did try to spruce up a little by painting the cabinets. We didn't want to do too much since we knew a total makeover was in the future. We just didn't know it was going to be so far in the future.


About a year ago we had to replace the range, what a difference...




Then the fun began, we ripped out everything and totally changed the floor plan...and sold the range on Craigslist.
Notice the bar is gone and the wasted space is opened up.





Mirrored cabinets bring me a lot of joy...
These cabinets were Robin Stanfield's idea and they were the whole starting point for the kitchen. 



                                           And now this view




Looks like this...or at least it did at Christmas. 
It's a start, more pictures tomorrow.

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