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This beauty can be yours by clicking HERE to pre-order.  ;) We expect to get the shipment  by about mid-May (or so...) and immediately thereafter start shipping out all pre-orders we've received. It looks like another LOVELY issue! And.... in case you missed our recent announcement, we are again able to carry the Jeanne d'Arc Living  product line as we did a couple of years ago!!   YAY!!    :) Our order of products has been placed and will be here before we know it!! Here is a taste of what Jeanne d'Arc Living has been up to  (and what we were shopping for) since we were last able to carry their delightful furnishings... Almost everything in the pictures will be in our shop before too long!!   Have a great day, mon amis!     

I know it's been a while since the last renovation post, but unfortunately there hasn't been a lot to tell... Seems we made great strides and then things came to a SCREECHING HALT... Let's see... last update was about paint colors, I think... Well, the painting is done, and boy does it LOOOK GOOOOD!  The flooring is down and again... OH MY it's GORGEOUS! That is the most beautiful flooring these eyes have ever seen.   It's such a perfect fit for this old house with it's  scrapes, dings, knots, and varied board widths/lengths. We are STILL waiting for the final trim pieces for the floor to arrive -- via slow boat from California, I think... Ugh..   :) But once that arrives and is installed, the furniture gets moved back in and we have our home again!!!    We landed on "Slate" from Restoration Hardware for about 95% of the space. We added "Cappucino" from Restoration Hardware below the chair rail in what will be the dining room. {NOTE:  MANY OF...

Patience is a virtue and those who possess it shall be rewarded...   And the latest example of this? I awoke to the good news via email from Jeanne d'Arc Living that they are now officially set up and ready to resume shipping of their fabulous home decor products to the U.S. again! And guess who has ALREADY BEEN SHOPPING??  ;) Many lovelies will be on their way to the shop and subsequently on to YOU should you desire to order them.   (And who wouldn't??)   Let me say first, that this time around they have pared down their offerings and though they still have quite a lot to choose from that they will ship to the U.S., it is somewhat limited --- they are trying to keep freight & customs manageable for us all and therefore many of the larger, heavier items do not appear to be order-able at this time.   But that's okay -- there is still PLENTY of beauty to choose from! Here is a sampling of what they ARE willing to ship, though... Take a breath... yes, I know, i...

Off to a very good start this A.M. So far I've managed to display my genius to the trim person who showed up... Here's how it went: Carpenter: "I may have to leave again to go get my other ladder... I knew I forgot something."  ME: "Oh that's ok! We have one -- you mean this kind, right? (I use my hands to make an upside down "V")  CARPENTER: "Um... y-e-s..." ME: "Well I mean this kind (hands make the upside down "V" again) not this kind (arm goes straight out and up)" CARPENTER: blank stare...  ME: "You know, those... I don't know... those... straight kind... the big kind you don't fold..."  CARPENTER: (Looking like he's trying not to laugh) "Oh you mean an extension ladder. No, just the regular kind." (and I could have SWORN I almost saw his hands start to make the upside down "V" like I did). ;) Then, about 3 minutes later, as he's setting up his saw horses....  ME: ...

As you can see, with plywood sub-flooring in place and the bare dirt below the house now covered again,  my focus shifts primarily to paint colors now... I could write a book... Haha!  Let's just say it ain't as easy as I thought! I've been hither, thither and yon searching out paint color inspiration and I landed where I began... Restoration Hardware. Oh how I love their color schemes and with then grouped into collections, it makes it almost fool proof to get a perfect scheme. After seeing how the colors turned out in these pics  (it's been raining and no sun all day, but I took them anyway) I almost hesitate to post these but I just had to show you! The dominant color in the two rooms will be Slate and the accent will be the next shade lighter, Graphite. The Graphite seems to want to come out looking a bit too purpley  and the Slate a bit too brown, but hopefully you get the idea. As you can see, we managed to get the plaster down and reveal the  beadboard. ...

SO FAR THIS MONDAY, VERSION #1 :   Well great, Lord... I forgot to buy coffee yesterday so hubby & daughter left the house w/o travel mugs today,  and yep... it's raining... so now there isn't any good light to judge paint samples on this last day to do so & the crown moulding pieces on the porch that are supposed to be installed in the dining room got a little wet overnight in the rain,  and Lord You know how I'm sooo tired... realllly tired, and there are mega-amounts of work in the office to catch up on, have to make another 1-hr round-trip drive to finish buying paint (painters come tomorrow), Oh dear sweet Lord, for some reason everything looks slightly overwhelming from where I stand ... like none of it will ever really get done (work, orders, new items to post on site, house reno, laundry, etc...). HOW LONG will I be living in the reality of "two steps forward, five steps backward... :/ But... there is ANOTHER way to see this, I do believe... So I thin...

It was an overwhelming landslide vote --  EVERYONE voted that we rip out the rest of the plaster and reveal the antique beadboard ceilings that were discovered under heavy plaster.       Keep in mind, we have only about a 4-6" swath of beadboard currently revealed (where the wall came out) and THAT sampling looks great. The concern is that we will get into tearing out the rest of the plaster ceilings  only to find that there was a really good reason why they covered over the  wooden ceilings -- like maybe there is a huge amount of damaged or, worse still, MISSING sections under there. But to NOT at least have a look while we already have a big mess and things are torn up, seems crazy. So... the big ceiling rip-out day is upon us and by evening time, we'll know whether our curiosity will be kind to us or not.  :) There have been some neat discoveries, that's for sure. 1.)  Of course the beadboard ceilings and walls were uncovered. Very neat "f...