In the eyes of a horse

Time to get Willie's feet done. Our farrier comes every 5 weeks to trim their feet.

Thomas the pony says "me next please!" 

You can tell they feel better after a trim, as Willie runs up the hill.

We are so blessed to have them in our yard. It's lots of work, but there is absolutely nothing that rivals the beauty of a horse in our book!

Nancy and Bethany

If you are looking for help with your home, we'd love to work with you! Contact us for a listing of our services and prices. 

Nancy and Bethany

Food Coma

This juicing business is no joke.  I'm literally in a food coma right now from perusing blogs (isn't it Murphy's Law that the most amazing dishes are posted when you aren't supposed to be looking.  Just when I thought blogging was the only safe activity). When I go back on solids, this lovely snippet of grilled panzanella salad from Camille Styles may be my first offense.

-B

If you are looking for help with your home, we'd love to work with you! Contact us for a listing of our services and prices. Nancy and Bethany

Trend or Timeless : Glass Tile

What do you think - trend or timeless?

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-Bethany

If you are looking for help with your home, we'd love to work with you! Contact us for a listing of our services and prices. 

Nancy and Bethany

Who has time to clean?

My homies over at Apartment Therapy inspired me to ponder about my cleaning routine.  We are limited to one bathroom right now while my hubs finishes up our bathroom reno, and it's super hard to keep it squeaky clean since we aren't spreading the 'love' between the both of them right now.  Just a day after a deep clean, I notice towels on the floor, debris on the floor, cords everywhere and my personal fave -- beard hair in the sink.  Ughk.

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So anyways, AT recently posted a 5 minute daily routine to keep your bathroom clean.  In five minutes a day, you should be able to keep your washroom ship shape.   So I thought about what I could do to keep things manageable.

And thought some more.

I concluded that FIVE minutes a day is still too much for me.  I'd rather be reading, blogging, fixing dinner, chatting on the phone, brushing my horses, bathing the dog, gardening, whatever, but not that.

I thought long and hard about what I could do in ONE minute that may make a difference.  Here's what I came up with.


1- I should be able to keep my micromachine-sized bathroom clean with a one-minute-a-day routine (in theory).

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2 - If I keep a spray bottle of my cleaner-of-choice under the sink along with some paper towels, I should be able to run a quick sweep over the floor every other day.  And when we're talking about 3 square feet of tile, it should be able to be done in 30 seconds.

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3 - I will find some fabulous contraption to store my messy bobby pins in, a la this fabulous organizational post that Paloma had up recently.

4 - Spray the shower stall floor down with cleaner post shower.

5 - Wipe down the surfaces including the toilet, which would take up the extra 30 seconds.

6 - So if I divide out the tasks such as bobby pin organization and shower cleaning to the times that I deal with those items (doing hair and taking a shower), I can actually wipe the floors and surfaces in one minute flat per day.

Done. And I'll look just like her when I'm finished.

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This is more like it.

I'll report back at the end of the week to see if I actually did it.  PS - I'm starting a quick 5-day cleanse with my new juicer this week, so I may be so punch drunk from juicing and withdrawls that I may not give a hoot about my bathroom :).

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-Bethany

Weekend in the Yard

 It's been raining for what seems a month here, and it's guaranteed the drought is over.  The grass is  squishy to walk in, and all my spring flowers are gone, but it has never been so green and lush.  Enjoy now before that Virginia heat comes and dries up everything in the next 2 months!  Here is what's blooming lately:

 

I love day lilies, and these orange ones are so intense! I wish I had a hundred more.

We are into deck repairs and getting the pool opened, so I will have some prettier images of all that hopefully soon! 

Happy Memorial Day to all.  Remember those who serve our country.

~Nancy

what's happenin at my house

Right now, there's a guy here (my husband) finishing the tile in my guest bathroom.  I'm dying over the porcelain slate we picked out, I just lurve it.

Remember, I started the project bass ackwards.  I painted it and accessorized first so I could live with it until I was able to have it gutted and redone.  So this month, we were finally ready to get a move on.  Now that the floor tile is in, I definitely have to change the paint color because the navy clashes bad.  But I'm keeping the dogs!

-Bethany

A good conservatory is hard to find!

Inspired by my boy, Loi, I've been on a conservatory kick lately.  It would an end-all-be-all dream of mine to have one in my home one day… keep dreaming, gurl.  In my quest to make a Pinterest folder of cool conservatories, I see that a good conservatory is hard to find.  So true of the important things in life, right?

 

Loi's client and friend, Michelle's conservatory



And I'm not talkin' sunroom people.

I'm talking straight-up botanical garden business.

And if I can't have a conservatory one day - can I at least have the leaded-glass steel windows?

I'll leave you to think about this for the weekend.  Anyone have any fun plans, by the way?  Hope you have a great one!

-Bethany

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House Reveal [via Instagram]

I've been hesitant to share pictures of my home since the beginning.  I'm OK with snippets and vignettes - it's like a skirt with a nice slit up the leg versus a micro-mini.  So I walked around taking some Instagrams of my spaces today and with a big, deep breath, I decided I'd push myself to share them.  I'd like to be able to show you the spaces I always reference and the projects we work on.  It will be a good exercise for me. 

dining room

I get so hung up on the details.  It's not like I'm afraid of rejection, I'm in sales for goodness sakes.  But in actuality, I am scared of it.  Terrified.  You see, my ultimate goal of getting published is a bit of a pipe dream.  But I've always dreamed big.  My home is only 1100 square feet; I look at it as the perfect canvas to decorate and concentrate on ad nauseum.  We will most likely move in five years or so, and this is the time where I'd be able to get every room dressed and ready to go in a reasonable amount of time.  The next home will be more long-term, if not forever, so I imagine there won't be a rush. 

living room

Mom and I love our redecorating, rearranging, redo-ing and client projects, for sure.  But when it comes to putting my own home out there, my knees knock.  I am afraid of what people would say.  I'm afraid that if I put too much out there, I am doing what I despise most about social media… passive-aggressive bragging.  I am afraid that it's not pulled together enough.  What if my clients see my home and think that I will do the same thing to their spaces.  Or worse, not like my personal style. Wait, did you know this was really one of those 'Things I'm Afraid to Tell You' posts in disguise?  I'm afraid that it's not quite complete and I still need to switch my hideous track lighting out in my kitchen, add a banquette and wall art to my dining area, install new upper kitchen cabinets, paint my bedroom and the list goes on and on.  It will always be somewhat of a work-in-progress so there's never a good time.

living room as it is today, with the Fig front and center of
the window for a rare moment of sun!

But I found a way that I could be comfortable in taking this first step.  All hail Instagram thumbnails.  By blurring the edges and giving you a squinty eye view, I can finally show you "a little more leg." And why should I be so scared?  It's not like I'm Mary freaking MacDonald over here and everyone will be scrutinizing the heck outta my stuff, right? 

my office.  wish you could see the wallpaper
and rug in more detail

mom and I recently made a larger headboard for my master
bedroom and used a vintage fuchsia tapestry as a cover

but then I changed my mind on the fabric and
recovered it in this indie peacock fabric

I realize these Instagram pics are grainy and blurry, that's partly why I was able to hit 'publish' on this post.  However, we are looking at photographers to bring in and get a little Blue Steel out of our homes.  Finding a good match will also buy us some time to tie up loose ends. Not being able to take a decent photo myself hinders us quite a bit. 

guest bathroom which is currently gutted for all new
appliances and tile. go figure.

Bet you didn't think you were gonna get a full on confessional when you saw this title.  But thank you, dear readers, for letting me express all of my fear attached to posting pics on our blog.  This little exercise will do one of two things.  Either I get a tremendous amount of confidence in posting pictures after taking this first leap, OR, I make it a bigger priority to take photography classes!  Or Option C - Xanax.

BTW - if you're on Instagram - let's link up!  I'm at Bethany327.

-Bethany

Alpha Workshops

I love to support the arts.  I have been supporting my daughter, my son, and of couse myself in "the arts" for years.  But there is another very worthy cause that deserves all of our support called the Alpha Workshops.  This is the Nation's only non-profit organization that employs  HIV-positive individuals in the decorative arts field.  It was founded in 1995 in Manhattan, NYC and offers a licensed vocational school and professional design atelier.  Their work is cutting edge, organic and super creative.  They have a line of furniture, lighting and wallpaper that is all handmade.  They do installations, decorative painting and all kinds of restorations.

Check out this hand made wallpaper called "Skyscraper", which comes in several magnificent color ways:

Installed.

source

Another paper called "Caper" in spearmint:

A handmade installation for Ann Klein:

 

Custom tree root installation in Japanese department store, Takashimaya

Gilded and decorative painting in the Prince George Hotel Ballroom

                                             

And I just love this faux tortoise stool and the other finishes they offer.

Not to mention this malachite "surface lamp"!

They really are genuine, unique works of art and it's a wonderful cause to support.  Have you heard of them?  Have you seen any of their work in person?  I was pleased to learn that fine online marketplace purveyor, Dering Hall, represents them.

-Nancy

Speaking of OVERDYED rugs....

Yesterday Bethany posted her current cravings, one being an over dyed rug.  We are seeing them everywhere and I love the vibrant colors!  ABC Home has an excellent selection, as does Rugs USA and many others.

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                                                                                                 jilldanyelle.com  

                                                                                   dalliancedesign.com         

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houzz.com

                                                               

Ive seen a post or two on overdying, like Kristen F. Davis's here, but she uses a 2 x 3 rug that she put in the washing machine. I want to dye a 5 x 7' rug.  Have any of you tried this, or know of someone who has?
~Nancy

Update: We got going on a trial 2x3 rug tonight and put it in a chlorox bath for 3 hours and NOTHING happened...any ideas? A lot of R&D going on here!