On a Whim

"On a Whim" is a beautiful little store in a converted barn in Lucketts, Virginia right before you get to the Old Lucketts Store & Lucketts Design House. You can't miss the polkadotted siloh!! The owner, Donna, and her daughter are as sweet as can be when you go in there & they have handpicked their dealers with a beautiful an eye for display.

I think they will soon be selling online so check back!! I'm off to run out to go clothes shopping (you know you buy too many things for the home when you have to say, "clothes shopping." haha It's been so long since I've bought clothes & some of you bloggers out there have gotten me in the mood for some goodies!! ;) but I think these pics speak for themselves. Enjoy the "shopping trip!" ;) (ok, one thing-- i LOVE this chandelier!!! )

Hope you enjoyed checking out this awesome store!!! The prices are amazing & it's always changing!!

xoxo,

lauren

The Search for 'Home'

Yesterday we went out house-hunting. Well, it was more of a trip to see what's available in our price range. And it wasn't pretty. (I'm being kind.) I tried searching for a picture to insert here as an example & didn't want to hurt any feelings by using actual listings, so I googled "dilapidated house..." and sadly, I liked the dilapdated house pictures better than what's on the market in our price range. (They have character & potential!) So, here is a picture of the type of house I love:
In Northern Virginia, although housing prices have dropped some due to the economy, it's still a really tough situation for young people like us who want to buy. Our goal is to find the saddest, ugliest house in the best neighborhood we can afford & to renovate. If a house has new cabinetry & granite countertops & beautiful touches, we're not interested because we don't want to pay for someones else's renovations (I think we all know how defined my tastes are) and I'd feel terrible ripping something pretty like this out:

Give me this baby (below) any day!



SO I am constantly reworking floorplans for these tiny little houses & figuring out what we'd need to do to make them liveable & beautiful and then trying to estimate the costs. Here's a typical home here (we would love to get our hands on something like this in a year or so.. maybe sooner if something pops up):


And I'd want to do something like this: (from seamanandsonsbuilders.com)

or this... (from istockohoto.com)

I love the idea of changing the pitch of the roof & adding dormers although we couldn't justify this unless the roof needed replacing. Lucky for us, many of the houses in our budget need new roofs... in fact, my favorite house yesterday had a huge hole in the roof that the rain had poured through & ruined the floor beneath too! yay (ok, am I seriously saying I was happy about this??!! yes, because I saw it as money off the price & in reality it's all we can afford.)

This house (below) from Cottage Living shows some great ideas for adding charm to the typical 70s ranch (which is very likely what we'll end up in.)

The homeowners, Tyler & David Colgan, turned it into this adorable little cottage with coach house details:

Check out their beautiful kitchen. A wall of windows over the counters instead of uppers is a must in my dream kitchen.

Oh-so-pretty!And here's a cool little thing they did in the back of their living room. They made his & hers office nooks for each of them. (He's an architect & she's a designer, aww) The doors slide shut when they're not working.

And here's a picture of their adorable little baby girl sitting at her pretty changing table. Such a functional & useful space... we used the closet for Christian's changing area too & it saves so much space in his tiny bedroom!

Well, anyway, I'll be posting more about our search for a house in the coming months. Just to sum it all up- because I live, eat, breathe design & all things houses, I've never wanted any material thing as much as I want a house. haha but I'm dealing ;)

xoxo

My Parents' Living Room: Before & After

I'm totally a sucker for before & afters. So here are some photos of my mom and stepdad's house which we recently mini-revamped. Below is the AFTER:

Haha, no just kidding! ;) Above & below are the "befores" which had been done in the early 90s. The fabrics on the sofa, chairs, throw pillows & swag were a coordinated set! (How things have changed!) (I remember how excited we were picking it all out when I was about 1o or 11!)



My mom's style has definitely changed. It's more laid-back & comfortable yet still feminine & includes some old-fashioned elements. She's drawn to intricate patterns & viney-floral motifs but she doesn't want a fussy look. (My stedad is happy if she's happy! :) She's got me & my husband, my 11 year old sister & a grandbaby, so she's a busy lady. She wanted less pattern, more relaxation in the living room... a quieter space. (There's a TV in there which I didn't photograph... we're looking for the right piece of furniture for it right now so I'll post on that later.) She's into softer colors now, so we pulled those out from the existing dark Oriental rug for the sofas & revolving pillows. The mantle (below) is constantly changing & today's display is a bit moody/ stormy because we're hoping for snow ( it's a house full of teachers!! :) My mom found & fell in love with the wicker rocker at an antiques shop. The fabric's a bit off but I still think it works because it's totally her style.


Their coffee table is super-functional. That whole drawer pulls out in both directions & it's stuffed with games.


For drapes, we went with these crewel ones from Pottery barn. They work really well with the colors in the existing Oriental Rug.


Here's a close-up of that old tray on the coffee table (It moves around the house too) that was such a steal at $8 from Lucketts!

Below, is a silhouette of my little sister looking pretty above the antique secretary my grandmother gave to my mom when she was in college. This contributes to the old-fashioned feeling my mom loves.

Here's a close-up of the oak leaf lamps. They create a nice sculptural element behind the sofa & pull some more pattern into the room without being obvious & adding more colors/ fabrics.

Here are 2 chairs we scored along with a settee at a thrift store. They're "temporary" seating substitutes for my mom's dream chairs.

One last shot of the "after:" up-to-date, relaxing, comfortable with a hint of feminine tradition. (It's still missing some elements & I'll show more pics when we're finished-- er I guess we're never really finished... so I'll post pics at our next stage! ;)

Thanks for reading!! xoxo,

Lauren