A Den Facelift: a client project

This room had such great bones! 

I had such a great time working with Ashley and I knew we would hit it off from the start! 

Here is where we started:

Things spread too far apart, and blocking the flow into the room. 

We drew several layouts and determined what would work best for the space and same day she had her husband helping her rearrange! 

We still have some styling to do but just drapes, some pillows and new floors can TOTally change a space! 

Take a look and see! 

We grabbed a few of the family's favorite keepsakes to display on the stunning antique Chippendale plate rack! 

Love the detailed and the hardware! 

The rug was a pleasant gambled suprise even I was hesitant on but it totally took the cake! 

Here is a full room shot! 

Stay tuned for the grand finally fully styled!! 

If you would like more information on a room consultation and what all it entails feel free to email me at jbrodden@gmail.com

I am offering special pricing before the holidays and will taking a limited number of clients the month of November. 

Repost: A Home Tour: Sophisticated Eclectic Style

Okay let me start off by saying I have been meaning to share my friend Dendy's home on here for... well, like a year!.

Now that she and her hubby have sold the house and are moving back to their home town I had no more excuses!

We are so sad to see them go but I know they are looking forward to being close to friends and family back home.

Meet Dendy, and her pup Martha.

In the background is her ADOREABLE 1950's home she and her husband have been working on for the past 2 years.

Is this not the cutest house ever??

Wait till you see inside.

Come on in!!

And in case you were wondering... Dendy is a HUGE trendsetter. Things that are just now popluar or "up and coming" she has had in her home for quite a while. 

I love to bounce ideas off her and have someone who shares my love of interiors.

When you walk in the front door you enter the former living room. 

D and her husband designed and built these gorgeous built ins and turned it into the formal dining room.

This is your view from the front door in. 

This is the sitting area off of the kitchen area. 

They added a corner built in, in this space and the built ins seen in the far left of this picture.

Here is the other view of the kitchen.

I LOVE this kitchen!!! Such an incredible use of space!! 

And the martha painting over the fridge just makes it to me!!

Super cute laundry area!

This is the guest bedroom.

Here is the master.

They actually took the far right wall of the room and converted it into a massive walk in closet.

And the bathroom.

One of these days I hope to get Dendy to actually start a blog!!

She is an incredible designer... Trust me!!

Right now she is flexing her design muscles on the University of Mississippi Campus designing dorm rooms. 

This is BIG business here in the south!

Hope you enjoyed getting a sneak peek at Dendy's home!

Thanks for sharing with us girlfriend!

We will miss you!!

Kitchen: Appliances Round Up

Picking out kitchen appliances is such a daunting task.

(horrible picture but this is where we started)

Most people pick a brand and stay with that brand throughout the kitchen.

We somewhat did this last fall during the black friday sales.

We found this dishwasher first and knew that would be our launching point for appliances.

This is the Whirlpool Gold 55-decibel tall tub dish washer. 

It also has the additional rinser for the top rack!

Here is a link to this appliance!

Now that we have had it almost a year I can say I like this dishwasher, I don't love it. 

It does a great job cleaning the dishes but the drying is so so. Not a deal breaker for me, but I have noticed its mainly on plastic items that don't dry thoroughly.

Once we found the dishwasher we went with this microwave.

We are not huge microwave people but for what we need it for, it works great!

Now that we had these two picked out we then shopped for a beverage fridge to replace where the trash compactor had been.

We purchased from atgstores.com. This is an online store owned by Lowe's.

It has worked great and we love keeping pellegrino's and soft drinks in here for when guests come in town or we have people over!

The last appliance was the most overwhelming one!

up until about a month ago we still had this beauty, General Electric 1979 oven.

It sparked when you opened the door,  cooked unevenly and the control buttons wouldn't actually turn the thing off!

Our home warranty was days from expiring so right before our vacation I called and scheduled an appointment. 

Sears was sent out to evaluate and they did a 10 day investigation trying to find parts for this oven instead of just replacing.

I was actually poolside with the lovely Paige and got the phone call they were going to replace the oven!

WOO HOO!!!

However, all they wanted to give us was white or black so we made the decision to pay for the upgrade to stainless.

It seriously changes the whole look of this kitchen! 

NO JOKE!

I have to say I love this oven, now... my standards leading up to this were pretty low but I have been very pleased with the cooking time and sleek design!

Here is the link to the oven!

now we do have 2 appliances left to replace.

The fridge and the cooktop.

The cooktop was a beautiful let down when we discovered there was no way to run the copper down the wall for gas :(((((

So we have been casually shopping the smooth cooktops trying to determine what we like!

and the monster... the fridge.

This is the one I keep telling myself I want but the price is shying me away....

What appliances do you have? 

Anyone just hate their french door?

Here is where we are now.

Monogram Monday: A Monogram Changes Everything

It's funny, a room can look "put together" then BAM add the unique monogram and it looks complete!

Here are several examples!

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Have you had a monogram change a look of a room? Would love to see!

Friday Favorites

Woke up this am and thought.. "hey! let's start a friday favorites on the blog!!" 

Life shattering I know, but nonetheless it excited me so here we are!

1. gold tassels!! hello, necklaces, handbags, keychains you just got fabulous

2. trish wild blueberry candles, I still love you after all these years!

3. freshly picked has soooo many baby mod options that I am having a hard time picking my favorites to buy for baby w!

4. an adorable mommy friend on my facebook started making these precious silhouette bangles. aren't the FAB??? hope to order one soon!

5.Kate bow studs! have these in gold and green and wear them ALL the TIME!

What have been your favorite things lately?

And should we make this a series??

Transformation Thursday

This little chair has seen lots and lots of love over the years.

My parents purchased a set of these chairs at an antique auction years ago.

I recovered this chair in our old house and then my sweet little angel found a black sharpie.

A BLACK SHARPIE on my beautiful Robert Allen fabric.

Then after the sharpie incident it just kept getting beat up. Over and over! 

I just gave up at that point, young toddler C was a force to be recconed with and one I was not willing to battle the art of recovering.

Therefore, we went into waiting mode!

Fast-forward to our move here, I knew I wanted to recover but didn't know what in.

So I shopped for a while until I found this smokey cut velvet wonderfulness!!!

The upholsterer brought her back to life in no time!!

I used my white Annie Sloan, clear wax, then dark wax, then clear wax, then watered down some guilders paste and left an awesome metallic sheen to the chair. LOVE how it turned out!

I love how the dark wax and the guilders paste look layered together!

Monogram Monday: Tailgating Edition

If you live in the south, then you have likely been to a tailgate. 

And if you read last years article in Southern Living on Tailgates you know Oxford is where it's at!

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and.... if you have been to a tailgate, monograms are present. 

(sidenote: at alabama the tailgates are a hair more casual and not so "done up" but I think the actual act of tailgating is such a fun experience in T-town!)

Now! back to monograms!!

For one, its practical. 

If everyone has a cooler, then hello... you need to know who's is who's

So here is a quick round up of my monogrammed "Must Have's" for a tailgate.

Love these cups, make carrying your favorite beverage!!

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typically when you host a tent, you invite people to visit, sure... you can have red solo cups and other disposable but if you can have personalized cups and a fun "signature item" in your tent! why not?

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Are these not the cutest??

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This line of servingware comes in just about every Southern college. 

Mainly... SEC!

Swoozie's is a great shop to get All kinds of tailgating needs.

Sadly, we no longer have one in memphis so Swoozies.com and Etsy it is!!

What are your favorite items to bring to a tailgate?

Happy Monogram Monday Y'all! 

As always you can follow my monograms board on pinterest here!

Follow Preppie peonie's board monograms on Pinterest.