Dining room designing

We are slowly starting to work on making our dining room functional.  Components I want to include: round table, cream chairs, pink & gray color scheme, French empire(ish) chandelier.  TBD: art (maybe some cool wallpaper panels? maybe some abstract art?), rug, china cabinet (not a huge priority).

Quick reminder on where we started last February.

Also - I know you don't have to match your dining room to your formal china, but I do want it to complement the room.  Mine is a mix of Herend Princess Victoria in green and Herend Queen Victoria.

A few dining rooms I have loved for years and what inspired my baby pink & neutral dining room.

First up, by Suellen Gregory:

Styled slightly differently in the photo below

Another gorgeous one by Suzanne Kasler:

But then I started worrying about doing that much pink (I have three big windows) for drapes.  In the back of my mind I really kept thinking an updated buffalo check would be a great option too -- then I stumbled across this fabric at Printer's Alley. You can't tell from this iPhone pic, but it's actually little lines that make the buffalo check.  The darkest squares are just fatter and closer together lines.  It's a silk and was so reasonable.  

I found this to show a little mock up of gray buffalo check in drapes.

I'm leaning towards this hardware from Restoration Hardware.

Gray toned draperies allow for solid pink linen (super reasonable at less than $10 / yd!) for the chairs.  There is a lot of fabric needed for the backs and seats of the frames so the room should still have a fair amount of pink.  I contemplated doing the back of the backs of the chairs in a different fabric, but in the end I'm worried that is a look too busy for me and something I'd tire of quicker.

I snagged the 8 frames a few months ago from one of my faves...Mr. Robert Corprew.

After I have the drapes made and recover the chairs, finding a French Empire(ish) chandelier is one of my next priorities.  The original light fixture in there is pitiful, but will have to do for a while longer.  I'll budget that next!

This one is new by Circa, but open to finding an old one with a similar shape that is more crystal too.  Love the one in Suellen's dining room I showed above!

Here is a little mock-up.  What do you think?

XO,

Whit

Please be our neighbor!

Sadly a darling young family 2 doors down is relocating to Nashville. Their house is so charming and my bet is it won't last a week once it's listed. One of my absolute faves!

2020 St Mary's St

3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths
Marble kitchen and baths
Plans already drawn for how to add on!

Let me know if you'd like their contact info!

XO,
Whit

Mr. & Mrs. Posey

I've been meaning to post these gorgeous pictures for a week.  Last weekend we headed to Sparta, NC to partake in the festivities for one of my dearest friends, Grayson's, wedding.  It was a perfect mountain weekend celebrating a happy couple.

Warning: photo overload.

Bridesmaids' Luncheon

Rehearsal Dinner

After Ellen's sweet toast!

How stunning is her portrait? Her photographers (husband and wife team) were awesome - Lauren Jackson Photography.  I can hardly wait to see the pictures they captured on the wedding day.  Grayson's dress was one of my favorite wedding dresses of all time.

Matt's adorable son, Eason (pictured in sear sucker below), was the ring bearer.  He really doesn't like people laughing at him and as soon as he walked into the church there were some "awes" and a little laughter and so he marched down the aisle shaking his finger and exclaiming, "This is serious!"  Poor Eason, that only made the entire congregation erupt with laughter.  What a cutie.

This photo makes me tear up -- Grayson's parents greeting the new Mr. & Mrs. Posey after the ceremony.

Another sweet moment, Matt carrying his bride's train.

The reception took place at the bride's parents' farm -- Chilly Water Farm.  You can see my first visit to the farm last May here.

2 generations

First dance

One of the sweetest father daughter dances

She changed into a fun reception dress -- don't be fooled, she had on those boots the whole time!

Ellen and I went down to pet the goats...Eddie decided he wanted to eat my dress.

Can't resist dragging Josh into a photo booth.  

They loved every moment and even convinced the band to play for another 30 minutes or so at the end.  No one wanted the evening to be over -- what a great weekend!

We love you guys!  Best wishes and congrats!

Wish I was heading to the farm tomorrow.

XO,

Whit

Ladies Lounge Updates

I've been focusing my home efforts lately on the "ladies lounge."

Current state:

I wanted to add a piece with some height and something that could serve as part display / part storage.  I found a piece I fell in love with at Studio123.  I think I may be addicted to chicken wire...

Before and after...

The piece needed a little TLC and these products became my best friends.

Then I decided to lighten up the inside of the cabinet.  (I guess I'm actually addicted to wallpapering cabinets and chicken wire...)  The dining room had wallpaper that I bet was gorgeous in its day, but after years had started fading and falling off (you can see in the pic the floral wallpaper below it showing through).  During the renovation process lots of neighbors stopped by asking if they could come in to see the dining room wallpaper because they'd loved looking in at night and thought it was beautiful.  My mother-in-law and I both made trips to the house trying to salvage as big of scraps as we could (mold and all!).  I knew there could be a future project where it would come in handy and would make a good conversation piece.

Since the colors are kind of greenish and gold I decided to try to use the scraps on this piece.  The pictures with my flash make it look so much more metallic and shiny than it actually appears in person-- it's much more subdued.  

BUT I still can't decide if I like it, but now I've cut it all up so I really couldn't do anything else with it.  I'm thinking if I have accessories that are a bit more unified and younger it will help.  Thinks all blue and white or all cream & gold, etc.  Right now it looks like a treasure hunt in a grandma's basement!

Thoughts?

(I do love the little silhouette of yours truly that I snagged from my parents' house recently)

I am still working on getting the brass keyholes to match and fix the one on the right.  (It does show up more than the pic below - somewhere in the middle of the two)

Olivia literally sits & sleeps in this chair all.day.long while I'm working.  Tough life.

I'm thrilled with out the little green dot velvet pillows turned out, but still saving up to have the chairs recovered.  Although seeing how much time Olivia spends in there is making me rethink cream velvet!

I finally had my new couch pillows made too.

Still need to work on the mantle.  Can't decide what style mirror and if I want to do sconces on either side or leave space for urns (or something decorative with height & color).

In other news, I forgot how happy $17 orchids from Costco can make me and how long they last!  Love the pink double stems.  I spruced them up with a little moss, twigs & my favorite Homegoods mercury glass urns.  They should last me another few months - definitely the most efficient way to have living flowers.

XO,

Whit