Dog Days and Summer

Summer.  My favorite season.  Beach.  Sand.  Sun.  Shorts.  Grilling.  Long days.  Crickets at night. Heat.  Thunderstorms.  Fireflies.  Gardening. Watering the lawn.  Swimming.  Bike riding.

Dog days.

Our 85 lb. Labradoodle Kipper loves floating around in a pool.  He actually paws the water to try to get floats to him.  Seriously.

Yes, dog days of summer.  They're good for napping, too.

Wishing you a long and happy summer, from me and Kip.

Carol

Before and After: Incredible Garden "Shed"

Last June, I posted images of the amazing back yard where my niece's college graduation party was held.  This past weekend, we were in this yard again for her wedding rehearsal dinner, and what a change!

This outdoor living space was crazy gorgeous to begin, with an amazing pool house...

A covered and an uncovered deck...

And a lovely pool...

But the garden shed-turned -New Orleans-inspired-music-venue was just incredible!  The back story to this, as I understood it, is that the homeowners and their kids are classically trained musicians.  By day, the husband is in construction, and the wife works at a local University.  But at home, they love to entertain, and music is often center stage.  So...why not add on an outdoor space, perfect for concerts and jam sessions?  Where to add on?  Doesn't everyone add a second story to their shed??


Before...

After...

Isn't that crazy gorgeous?  Look at that beautiful roof.  It matches the main house.

Where last year the left side of the "shed" had some lovely landscaping, 

this year, it's the cornerstone to the stairway that leads to the music room upstairs...

Here are some more angles...

From the balcony, you can look across to the main house.  The top deck is off the master bedroom, complete with hot tub.  Underneath is the covered deck off the family room.  If you turn and look the other way, you see the view as the second picture above.

The iron railing on the balcony, again inspired by New Orleans, is handmade by a local iron craftsman.  A close up shows a G Cleft  in the center of every section.  Amazing.

I would just die for a back yard oasis like this.  Would you?  And the kicker is, this is NOT an enormous, sprawling space.  It is just incredibly well planned and executed.  What you miss from these images, as the lighting was weird at 6 pm, is the lushness of it, and the color and texture that is spectacular in person.  A yard for a magazine, let me tell you.

I am so appreciative that the host and hostess let me share their home with you, and that these gracious folks opened their home, again, to my niece and our wedding-bound families.

Tell me, have so ever seen a great shed transformation?

Elephant's Trunk Flea Market in Connecticut

How it is, after visiting my in-laws in western Connecticut for the past 20 years, I have never gone to the Elephant's Trunk Flea Market in New Milford, is beyond me.  I have seen the signs, driven by, and even read about it in magazines!  I mean really.  So today, I went.  And I tell you, you have to go.

The Elephant's Trunk has been going on since 1976, and it is widely known among the professional dealer and the decorator alike. 

It's completely impossible to capture the 55 acres that house the hundreds of dealers, booths, piles, food vendors, garden stands and jewelers.   That said, you can see from this image above that the grounds are nestled in the beautiful rolling hills of western Connecticut, a simply gorgeous, quintessential New England area.

Here are some things that caught my eye today...

I'm in regret mode.  Should have hauled off this cabinet for my family room.  I could do amazing things with it.

And this little table made my heart skip a beat.  Sadly, she's still there, too.

So I figured someone was trying to tell me something (as I keep saying I'm going to drop some extra pounds) when this was staring at me.

I love vintage art.  I always look, but rarely buy.

This was how I spent some of my weekend.  It goes without saying that I'm hooked.  The Elephant's Trunk is open every Sunday, March through October.  For 2 bucks admission, it's a lot of entertainment.

Where's your favorite flea market?

Carol

Another Reupholstery Project

When I got the fabric for this chair, I also picked up a Kravet Ikat for a song.

Kravet 31114

With this image blown up, you can see the strie effect of the ground -- green, beigey-yellow, and a dusty blue-green.  Perfection in my scheme of things :).

Here it is, laying over the victim...

So, with the other chair done, time to tackle this baby.   All part of this taking-forever (so it seems) redo of the living room.  Here is what it looked like before I started...

I actually still love this fabric, but it just isn't working.  It has a funky peach tone to it that has never worked with anything I've done.  It was an Ethan Allen clearance find several years ago, and since I knew I could recover it some day, I bought it because I loved the frame.

I've started on the bottom and the arms,  and am working my way to the cushions.  Normally, it's much easier to do the pattern placement on the cushions first, then match up the base and the decking (that center square) last.  But I'm waiting for more fabric to arrive, and frankly, I'm impatient.  When I want to get started, I want to get started.  (Can you relate?)

So, that's part of what's on my DIY agenda for the next week or so.  What's on yours?

Have you checked out my new Design Service, "Ask Me"?

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Don't know if your rug is the right size?

Can't decide if you should buy matching chairs?

Want to know if the color you're thinking about for the baby's room is too blah?

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I've just launched my new Design Service "Ask Me" -- check out the details here.  There's really nothing more to it than emailing me your design dilemma.  At $25 a question, you have all my professional experience to rely on.  Sometimes, don't you just wish you had a pro to bounce an idea off of, or answer a question because you don't want to make a mistake?

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Think about the last decorating mistake you made -- did it cost more than $25?  I hope not, but if it did, with Ask Me, it won't happen again :). 

Talk to you soon, and as always, thank you for reading House and Home Defined.

Carol

My ROMO Pillow With Trim

I'm not really a name dropper (ROMO, Schumacher etc.), but I'm trying to be better about SEO (oh, the plague of the blogger.)  That said, as yesterday was as rainy,cold and miserable as a June day ought not to be, I decided to make a pillow for my new chair to pick me up.

A close up of the trim...

I'm crazy about this little pillow because it's part of the overall redo of the living room.  And given that this redo will probably take until late fall, it gives me a little burst of energy to see it in the room.

My weekend is mellow and almost boring.  I did go to an estate sale yesterday, but no finds.  Today is probably about weeding as the rain has stopped and the ground is soft. 

What are you up to?

Carol

Need help with fabrics in your home?  Contact me, I'd love to help.