Firepit

I didn't get a before picture of this space, but trust me when I tell you it was really, really overgrown. This spring I covered the area with gardening cloth and the weeds just pushed through. I weeded again and put down tarps and then covered them with gravel. Wheelbarrels full of gravel. Over and over pushed around the house from the driveway. 

First: this was my inspiration from Pinterest:

And here is how ours came out. Pretty nice, I think. 

This was the night we finished. It's awesome and I think a good use of the space. It's right below our deck and right off of the barn pub (that post to follow). 

Unfortunately those weeds oy took 2 weeks to sprout THROUGH all the tarps. I don't want to spray round up so looks like I'll have to weed and add more rocks. 

Back --finally.

I had every intention of actually updating this blog weekly. I do feel like I have a new project every weekend, but apparently the last 2 years got away from me. I realized it has been two years because the two-year lease we signed with the people renting out old house in Connecticut is up in a month and we're currently looking for new tenants.

Even though I'm still working on the house, and my project list keeps growing instead of shrinking, I thought I should post something and get back into this blog!

For my first post back I’ve chosen the parlor.  This is the fanciest room in the house and it was hard to decorate.  I don’t want it to look contemporary, but I also don’t want it to look like we’re elderly.  This is the almost-complete parlor. I still want to repaint and we need to repair the ceiling, but decor wise I think it is looking good!

Parlor Before:

One of the 5 working fireplaces in the house. The fireplaces are so shallow that they really throw a lot of heat out into the room!  Even though we heat the house with a wood stove in another room we use this fireplace a lot.  

Three windows facing south and south east.  This is definitely the brightest room in the house.

Parlor Now:

I really like how it turned out.  I feel like the room is a lot warmer and inviting even though it's a fancy sitting room and we usually keep a gate up to keep the hound out.

My mom bought us these “Claudio Wing” armchairs from Pier 1 when we moved in.  You can find them here.  I love these chairs.  I think they are a nice mix of an updated old style. My aunt bought us that Federalist mirror between the two windows on an antique shopping spree on Cape Cod with my cousin Lisa.

Most of the stuff in this room is vintage and was compiled from family. The white sofa was left behind by the family that lived here before us.  Most of the other things came from my Aunt Sue who was serendipitously redoing her parlor.  The curtains were a nice find on craigslist and the mirrored candle sconces are from etsy. The only new things in this room  are those throw pillows on the two green chairs... they match my Claudio chairs pretty closely and they're just cheapies from Walmart.

The bookcase has an internal light and it also opens up to a desk.  I use the drawers below to store wrapping paper and ribbons!

The ocean picture was found in J’s mother’s basement.  It was painted by one of his distant relatives.

The shelf on the left was my grandmother’s and I’ve had that in every place we’ve been.  It held my tea pots and antique tea cup collection in our first couple apartments...of course that was before Tootsie Roll went blind!  The shelf itself is very wobbly so I store wood on the bottom shelf to anchor it and protect it from rogue Labrador tails. The vase on the top shelf is marked that it is from Japan.  I bought it at Crompton Collective in Worcester, MA and filled it with peacock feathers from the craft store to remind us of all the beautiful peacocks at a resort we stayed at in Mexico.  A giant peace lily softens the corner and sits on vintage storage trunks.

Throughout the room are antiques from around here and also knick knacks from all over the world.  On the shelf we have a wooden box from Costa del Sol in Spain that has a lot of Arab influence, and a marble figure from Mexico.  Above the plant is a little lacquer piece that I bought in Cambodia this past April.  In addition to getting to live in this awesome house my job also sent me to Asia to chaperone the school trip!  

The chess board is marble and from a friend of my aunt’s that passed away.  I bought the pieces from the UK...they’re replicas of some chess set that was found on the Isle of Man and the same were replicated as the chess pieces in the Harry Potter movies when Ron Weasly plays wizards’ chess.  John taught me to play chess and we have a game going on indefinitely. We just move and leave and check back later to see if someone else took their turn.

I like to fill our house with things from our travels because I like to pretend that whomever lived here in the 1700’s traveled, too.  Like some British aristocrat traveled the world and ended up in Hardwick because why, not?

You will also see that I pull some British Colonial style in sometimes for that reason as well-- Tropical plants especially. I love using plants to fill in corners, cleanse the air, and add texture to a room. Plus I think it is nice to have your home full of live things.