curtains or bust

As we close out 2014, I figured one last blog post was fitting. There's no significance, but it seems like a pretty good topic on which to end; a fresh look for a drab room. So here it is! Enjoy!

I don't normally buy expensive (or new) items for my house. Things in my home are usually from yard sales, thrift stores or the side of the road, but there are some things that you just need to splurge on. In fact, shopping the way I do allows me to spend a little extra money on other things. Like curtains.

If you've never heard anyone say, "curtains make a room," let me be the first. CURTAINS COMPLETELY MAKE A ROOM! It doesn't always make sense to have curtains, like in a bathroom for instance, but when a room is lacking that special something, curtains are usually an instant transformer.

It turns out that curtains are one of those things that you get what you pay for. If you're talented enough to sew your own, good for you. Do it. Otherwise you'll spend a FORTUNE on store bought ones. Not to mention you've got limited options when it comes to fabric, pattern and length. Enter Tuesday Morning.  Not only did they have cute patterns in a decent weight, they had 3 lengths to choose from - 84" (standard), 96" and 108". Score!! I'd been looking for curtains 96" or longer for months! You can find them at IKEA, but they are usually either super modern or very bland.

Ack!

Blah...

Now, most of the foursquare's rooms are 95% complete (I don't think they are ever 100%, especially when you're a decorator), but there was one room that was screaming "HELP!" The dining room...

Yuck, right?! It kinda resembles a padded cell, without the padding... Also, this was taken after a party, so please disregard my hodge podge of junk on the table..

Now, I wasn't necessarily looking for curtains at the time, but curtains are one of those things that when you find them at a good price, buy them! And thank goodness I did. When I finally put them up, it was instant style. I didn't event need to paint the room! It's crazy!!

So, you wanna see the after? Do ya? Do ya?? Ok, here you go!

Notice I took them straight to the ceiling. I wanted to elongate the room and allow the curtains to puddle the floor. I HATE when curtains are too short...

See how short curtains just cut a room! It's like wearing high waters! No, sir. 

I digress.

Hanging curtains added a whole new dimension to the room. And I didn't even have to paint! Crazy, right?!

The runner is from Carolina Pottery and the china is my grandmothers. The candlesticks and pitcher in the middle are from a family member on The Fox's side, and the other items are from yard sales. Like I said, I don't buy expensive often.

This is our flow over bar area. See our main one here (scroll to the bottom). The mirror is from Goodwill, cart from a flea market. Other items were picked up here and there...

I leave you with an artsy shot :). I got a new tripod for Christmas so I was testing it out! I hope you all had a great Christmas! I sure did. 

Stay tuned for upcoming projects....next is the office! Ekk!

Happy New Year!

an artist i am not...

I'm not an artist. I'm creative, for sure, but definitely not an artist. So, when I decided to free hand a design on a small table, I was a little skeptical of the end result.

This pitiful little table came from The Fox's house. I adored its lines, but it needed some love. After attempting to sell it at our yard sale AND craigslist, I caved and decided to bring its sexy back.

Before I got a hold of it (well, technically, after I sanded it and before I got spray happy...), the table was drab and boring. Again, the lines were good, but it was otherwise depressed.

I sanded down the top, wiped it down and started thinking of a design. My inspiration came from Target wrapping paper. I loved how eclectic the design is and it seemed simple enough for my first artistic attempt. To coats of gold spray paint later, I grabbed a brush, some leftover paint and went to free handing!

I probably should have tapped off straight lines, but I didn't think about that until I was 3 rows deep. Nonetheless, I finished in about 45 minutes and the final product didn't turn out too bad!

Again, straight lines were not to be had, but I'm chalking it up as a win in my book. It's not styled in the pictures because I haven't decided where to put it. I wanted to take it to work, but it's been in the back of my car for weeks now, sooooo.

Have you free painted something? Maybe a wall? Go for it! It's not so bad...if you can deal with it not being perfect. And it was fun, too! Maybe I'll attempt our powder room wall :).

Happy almost Thanksgiving, y'all!

yard of the month coming in 2015

At least that's what The Fox is telling me these days. We recently sodded our yard and we've been watering. And watering. And watering. I've never in my life had to water so much. And leaving me in charge of keeping plants alive? Not the best idea. But apparently, The Fox trusts me enough for when he has to go to football games... I digress.

The yard wasn't horrible when we bought the place in April, but it wasn't "Fox-approved." And part of his "I sold my house" celebration was taking the foursquare yard up a notch. And we have.

We started by tilling up the lawn on Sunday. By the following Sunday, we'd sodded, watered and planted some fall-hearty flowers; not the most pleasant of projects, but rewarding if nothing else. If ever you weren't sure you had back muscles, do some yard work, you'll find 'em...

Nonetheless, I'll give The Fox credit. It does look better.

When we bought the foursquare, the front yard looked like this.

Again, not terrible, but it was in need of a little love. So, that's what we did!

First step: till. Thankfully The Fox had a friend who let us borrow a tiller. Such a lifesaver! And thankfully x 2, we had good, soft soil, which made for much easier tilling. After the tilling and sifting to find clumps of old grass, it looked like this.

Second step: Lay down sod & plant flower... I didn't get a picture of us doing these tasks. And frankly it wasn't pretty. But this is the what it looked like after!

Pansies up the walkway.

Side yard.

We also fluffed up the front bed and added a corner one (but, shh, don't tell anyone - we ran out of sod and this was the natural solution. Thinking cap, on! :)).

And finally, our porch planters - still going strong from the Summer. The two with the geraniums will soon be switched out with some pencil holly and snapdragons for Winter, but I didn't have the heart to trash them just yet since they are still producing beautiful blooms. 

There you have it! Nice and purdied up before Winter. Stay tuned...maybe next Summer you'll see one of those fancy "Yard of the Month" signs in our yard! 

And in typical, Ebonn fashion, I forgot to take a picture of the entire yard. So, I've mashed one together for you :).

Happy Fall!!

it's fall, y'all

The weather has been a little cooler these days (although, in SC, you never know what you're gonna get). And cool weather always brings along changes in a decorator's home.

I'll keep this post short and sweet. Here are my fall additions to my favorite foursquare.

The front porch:

Those large pumpkins were cheap, cheap at the farmers market in NC. It was crazy!! Also, my mum hasn't completely bloomed yet...but you get the drift. I also tucked in some dried hydrangeas for texture. 

And here is my dining table. We will be hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year. Ekk! Here's to hoping we have enough room!!

Those candlesticks were 5 bucks! At a yard sale. This is EXACTLY the type of thing I wait to find at sales. I couldn't believe it! They would easily cost $50+ in West Elm or the like. Solid brass and oh so cool! The rest of it was stuff I had, and thanks to Mother Nature for providing me with the leaves and chestnuts. 

That's it! I don't go overboard with decorations...I guess I'm just too lazy to change it all out :). 

Happy Fall, everyone! Won't be long before Christmas is here!

the casual side of formal

Our 1910 charmer has 2 rooms that are being used as entertaining areas - one we call the den and the other, more formal room, we call the library or parlah (parlor said in a super Southern accent). The den tends to be more girly and relaxed while the parlah is more formal and manly. Not that we're confining ourselves to those rooms respectfully, but we do tend to split up when certain shows must be watched (The Roosevelts vs. Vampire Diaries).

  vs. 

I digress. After The Fox sold his bungalow, the remainder of his Billy Reid-esque decor met my eclectic, fem-chic head on. The parlah (Southern accent) was where we planned to park his pieces, but my impatience got the best of me and my girly style started to creep into the room bit by bit. After unloading what he brought over, I started to see the styles begin to collide. I decided to think on it for a while (to be honest, we were exhausted and needed a break), but after a couple of weeks, I got antsy and needed to do something.

My parents decided to visit this weekend and since my mom is who I steal a lot of my ideas from, I asked her to help me jazz up the space. Of course, where does one look for jazzy accessories??

IKEA!!!

You may have seen this rug in a few of my past posts...

Gah! I love this thing! And for the price, you just can't pass it up! I purchased it back in June when we first moved in and immediately put it down in the parlah. Once The Fox's furniture arrived, it married perfectly with his leather sofa and coffee table/chest. But even with the fun rug, the room felt like a drab hole. 

We loaded into the deal mobile and journeyed the 1 hour and 45 minute trek to the home decor motherland. And, like expected, this trip didn't disappoint. The (horribly annoying) buggy (anyone who has pushed around one of those things knows what I'm talking about) was loaded with...

Of course, I found many other goodies, but these were the top pieces.

Although not all goodies found were used in the parlah, we did get the best bang for our buck with what we bought.

Between our two styles, we had a lot of great things already, but the parlah was just lacking that pop of color. With the things we found at IKEA, we were able to add that extra dimension for less than $100. Check out the end result!

I'm so happy it's finally together! One more room off the list! Hooray! 

Next on the list is either the office or the dining room, so stay tuned! 

Oh, and happy Fall, y'all!!