Gatsby Gorgeous

The hubby has been hinting around to having a vow renewal and I'm totally onboard! Although, it's just a thought, it's never too early to start mapping out an idea of the look and feel.  The Great Gatsby is my inspiration.

Kiss The Groom

Wedding Style Magazine

Color Palette - Creme, canary yellow and dove gray.

Some gown considerations:

Jenny Packham - love the sheer cover on the model. I LOVED this look on Miley!

Pnina Tornai My FAV!!

Pnini Tornai - The back of gown is just as stunning and I LOVE the boa feather wrap.

 

Already found a fantastic venue:

The Ashford Estate

The Garden That Craigslist Built

So, we finally got the hydrangea and azaleas planted yesterday. I'm thrilled!!

The shrubs on the landscaper's truck awaiting their new home.

The old, ugly shrubs... all strewn about on the lawn.

The newly rototilled, fertilized and plant food fed flowerbed.

Another view of one of the prepared flower beds. See those big bags of grass seed? Yup, I'm on a mission for a beautiful lawn, too.

Two huge hydrangea shrubs. They are already beginning to bud. I'm so excited!!

Budding is a beautiful thing.

 

The other flower bed, with another huge hydrangea shrub and two smaller azalea shrubs.

I plan to go to another Craigslister's small nursery and purchase some boxwoods to add balance and more greenery to the flowerbeds. I will keep those small and round because I want to create an interesting tiered effect, like the photo below. It will be so cute. =)

Lastly, I found yet another Craiglister that is selling Belgian stone so I can complete the stone border. YAY!

Lately, I've been obsessed with flowers and all things pretty for adorning the outside of the house. I have been literally driving around my neighborhood stalking pretty yards, hoping to find a house for sale that happens to have a hydrangea tree because I would like to use that to put in the backyard. Crazy, right?

I did find one so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the owner is willing to do something strange for a little bit of change.

Chic Dining

via

I love this burled wood dining table!! I wish I could find something similiar.

Those CHAIRS!! *faints*

Backyard Beautifying

How do I turn this:

The backyard even makes Chompers sad.

Into this:

Pinterest

Restoration Hardware

So much to do and buy.

I need to have the slate patio repaired and expanded... new grass... for starters.

I have a table and a placeholder patio set for now. I will zhush it up with new outdoor rug, throw pillows and accessories on the coffee table.

I'm planning to host my annual Mother's Day brunch and I working to make everything pretty as soon as possible. I hope I can pull it all together.

Workin' Outdoors

It's always amazing to me what you can find on good ole Craigslist. I, on a whim, did a search for hydrangeas and lo and behold, I found some and not from a nursery.

There was a woman selling her house and she had several Hydrangea shrubs for sale. I thought this was weird.. to sell the landscaping of the house you just sold but I want lots o' flowers in front of my house, like yesterday!

I contacted her to see what the dealio was. The pricing was great, she had the colors I wanted but the catch was you had to dig them up youself. UGH!

As peculiar as it seemed, it appears to be a "thing". People selling their shrubs and trees for whatever reason but the buyer has to put in the physical labor of removing them. I read several accounts of this type of gardening sale on different DIY landscaping forums. It's a win for everyone on a budget.

The best thing about my purchase is that I will not have to wait for bountiful Hydrangea shrubs, I will have them in a matter of weeks and now is a perfect time for transplanting.

At the casa, it's been a mad dash to prepare our flower bed. It included the task of buying spades and shovels because we didn't have those... kinda important. We removed the sparse shrubs that resided in the flowerbed. They used to be Azaleas, I think, but they had lost their glory long ago.

It was a TASK... OMG!!! My body is still sore from all the digging, pulling and tugging. I never want to have to do that again. But it made me so happy to see them gone because we were making room for the pretty.

Next, up is reseeding the lawn and adding a stone border to the flowerbed.

Maybe I can find some stones on Craigslist at a steal too!

Are you working on anything outdoors?

Breakin' Out The Paint Brush

I'm going to paint the fireplace in the living room white. I know, I just painted it black but for some reason, I'm not loving it anymore. I'm going to paint it and add a little glam and light by adding mirrors to the fireplace surround.

Currently, we have this:

Don't mind the mantle..

But I want to have this:

Eddie Ross

I just love how this fireplace looks, classic with a little bit o' glam! Eddie Ross has such a great eye.

I've picked up some mirrored tiles, a cutter and some heavy duty adhesive from Home Depot. I'm ready to make it happen. But first, I have to paint. BOO!! 

The agony of painting will be so worth it though.

Will post photos when I'm done.

Get In My Closet!

Burberry Long Patterned Sleeve Trench Coat

Burberry Woven Leather Platform Sandals

Ummm, everything on the model? Yes, por favor!!

It's so FAB I had to see it again!

Things I'm Lovin'

With Spring right around the corner, I figured I should look into picking up a new fragrance or two. I've have been wearing Creed's Millesime Imperial since I stole it from my Hubby and I ADORE it!

I will still wear it for evenings out but I need something a bit lighter and more playful for the day.

In the lastest issue of InStyle magazine, there were a few perfume samples and the two that stood out to me were Prada Candy and Versace Yellow Diamond.

Top: regressive notes of joyful carefreeness, explosion of caramel.
Mid: powdery notes of sophistication, cocktail of musks.
- Base: vanilla notes of sensuality, benzoin overdose.

Notes:
Citron from Diamante, Pear Sorbet, Neroli, Bergamot, Nymphea, Freesia, Orange Blossom, Mimosa, Amber Wood, Palo Santo, Musk

Both smell wonderful (in the magazine) but if I had to choose ONLY one, it would be Versace Yellow Diamond. It's light, sparkle-ly and vibrant, just what I want in a Floral scent. The bottle is beautiful too. I would love to have this throwback to Old Hollywood on my vanity.

However, I may just have to buy both because the Prada Candy is really fabulous too.. just different. I hardly ever wear sweet, candy-like fragrances but this one is delightful. So, maybe I'll just get a small bottle of it.

What new fragrances are on your radar from Spring?

Making Lemonade

I've decided to make lemonade outta my lemon. The lemon, in this case, is my current dining room table.

I had halted working on the dining room because I have been trying to sell this table so I can buy another one but it's been a no-go. While I don't have a problem with having a glass table per se.. I think it's the base that really bothers me. So, I'm gonna change out the base.

This photo from House Beautiful, has inspired me:

I LOVE how glam this glass table looks with the more traditional chairs. Now, I really can't tell what the base is of this table so, I took a guess and came up with a CLEAR base.

I took to checking eBay to see if something like this existed and it does!!

LUCITE TABLE BASES!! YAY!!!!

This is so exciting for me because I was thinking I would be stuck with this table forever and never finish the dining room. #winning

The table base and the chairs will go into the basement and I will finally get around to finishing my Regency chairs.

 I'm re-upholstering them in faux Croc, Ostrich or Python and possibly paint the chairs a glossy gray, white, black or maybe fushia.

Clearly, I need to really hammer down some details but just knowing I can use this table and get going with decorating, gives me so much joy!

Oh and after trolling Craigslist for what seems FOREVER, I found some Asian style "captain" chairs at a price I wanted to spend.

These are gonna look "fon-kay" after I zhush them up. Swath in a faux skin and some glossy paint.. Oh, Chile!

Coffee Table Confusion

I'm looking to buy a coffee table for the living room and I'm torn between these two:

Brass Greek Key square table

Which do you like?  I think both would work well in the Classic Glam style living room but I'm having such a hard time chosing one.

The Lamps From Hades

I found some great, HUGE lamps for the living room and while great, they color needed to change. So I grabbed my trusty spray paint and figured I could spruce them up in a flash and have them flanking the sofa in no time.

WRONG!

It's been two days of trying to fix the paint issue that I've encountered and still the lamps are looking crappy.

So, let's take a look at the lamps before.

Here's the after:

I'm so annoyed. But I will give it another go tomorrow. Sanding, re-painting and toning down the white with a little ivory spray paint. Hopefully, the third time is a charm.

Living Room Update

It's taken me way longer to finish the living room than I anticipated. But it's ok, it's a journey to cultivate a beautiful home, not a race.

I ordered some drapes from Half Price Drapes and decided to have them French Pleated, which took a little longer to get them but they were so worth it. The drapes are fabulous.. nice weight, lined, falls beautifully and has a glamorous shimmer, which I adore.

My Hubby working on his "Honey-Do" list.

I found this great 1.5 inch drapery rod at Smartbargains. I think I paid maybe $60.00 for it. It was silver, I painted it gold.

So shimmery!

Don't pay attention to those SUPER white lamps.. they are the devil! Long story...

Having the drapes makes the room look so much better, so much more complete. Although, I have so much more to do.. we're moving in the right direction... Classic Glam.

I need to really work on getting a better camera.. and a flokati rug, cocktail table, art... the list is never-ending.