~oh, are you in for a treat~

Good Morning everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.....

we did ~ it started with a wonderful

'small town feeling' parade that our daughter

Kenzie participated in, with her school marching band.....

It was really fun & felt very Americana...

the smaller kids were scrambling for candy & such

while the old cars, firetrucks, clowns, horses & lots

of marching bands entertained us....

 ~*~

now, the treat......

I am now in love with a local artist's

incredible home.....

oh are you in for some serious eye candy....

her name is Leah Anderson

and she is an amazing artist from the Pacific NW....

but before I continue with the jaw dropping,

drool inducing, covetous making, tour....

I wanted to thank Isabel Feist Lang

who's blog is Maison Douce for

letting me feature this fabulous home.....

Please check out her blog ~ she is a delightful

person, and full of creativity!

now on with the tour!

this is an example of Leah's art....

me thinks I'm loving cows right now!

are you with me?

cows, chandeliers & urns....

who woulda thought? ;)

of course this home has lots & lots of white slipcovers....that is practically my first criteria

for falling in love............

behind the slipcovered chair you can see she has chippy shutters installed on the window.....

{ok I won't even tell you I passed up 6 fabulous chippy shutters not too long ago.....oh and I also won't tell you they were only six dollars each....ahhhhhh!}

don't you just love the mixture of primitive & rustic

with shabby elegance?

Part of the reason I love this home so much

is because I am so drawn to both styles.....

I love my chandeliers & frenchy, shabby, elegant things, but also

 love the primitive, rustic cages & cows thing....

Leah's home shows us all how we can

successfully

mix them together!

are you loving this?

I thought so!

can I just say I am on the hunt for

concrete statuary???!!! yummmmmm-o!

close up of primitive rustic yumminess

are those just old briefcases? or maybe a tackle box?

whaaaaat? see what I mean here?

thinking totally outside the box, um no pun intended,

and it works!

now this I would never think I could pull off....

the big huge-o ottoman in between the 2 sofas...

Mr. T & T would say "no way" I'm afraid...

but then I would have to drag him to the computer, and show him this picture & say, "see honey, doesn't that look nice?" and he would say, "well, ok yeah, I guess that does look good" 

I have always loved 4 chairs combined for a little

seating arrangement....perfect for chatting w/ friends huh?  Need more room here in the T & T cottage!

I know I already showed you this, but what

I wanted you to see.... is how she has that little ottoman tucked under the table.....I like it!

and I love all the mirrors......

cows & chandeliers......

cows & pillars.....

{I also won't tell you I passed up one of these rolling baskets a couple weeks ago.....because that would be way too shameful to actually admit......this combined with the shutter snafoo would certainly diminish my credentials with you all.........oh dear.....}

ok....I do have {yippee!} some wooden shoe forms sitting in my etsy shop!  time to steal some more merchandise for my own personal use......

love the pale blue-ish grey chairs.....

and lastly, of course with a home like this you could only imagine her garden.......

are your creative juices flowing???

are you all pumped to get going & redecorate?

I can tell you I am certainly inspired!!!

{cows & chandeliers....cows & chandeliers....}

Have a wonderful week my friends!

xo,

Shellagh

~swedish style in America~

Happy Monday friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful

Mother's Day!

I really did.....Mr. T & T took me

to the Barnhouse Sale on Saturday

and we hit another fabulous sale on the way....

it was so great just to be together and of course I am alway giddy with joy when we get to do that sort of thing.....he really gets into it as well, which of course

makes it that much better!

I thought I would share with you my dream home.....

(one of many.....of course!)

this house is in Maryland, and it's owned by interior

designer Carrie Raphael

her home is definitely swedish style with

the painted floors and the mix of blues

my good friend from Kim from White Whispers 2 U

just found chairs like these on craigslist!!

 I'm so jealous, green with envy, coveting happy for her ....I think she's getting 4 or 6 for $100....

I wouldn't even know what to do with a kitchen

this size......well maybe I could figure it out....

I really love the window coverings....and the

little vintage touches like the old stool & the little

bench with the potted plant.....

I know I already showed you this....but

don't you just love the painted floors?

I actually contacted her about a year ago

and asked her about them.....

....they are painted using regular porch paint....

super durable....I would love to paint

some of our wood floors someday....

more painted wood in their bedroom....

I LOVE that chair!

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this picture...

it's probably in about everyone's favorites file, huh?

....the bench has their wedding date inscribed on it...

....and more lovely painted floors to drool over ;)

this is her daughter's bedroom....so sweet....

love the curtains, the chair and

the painted floors....so it seems like it

must be ok to paint different room's floors

different colors? 

As long as it's in the same color scheme?

I always obsess on things like that.....

I have a table very similar to this......

always thinking about converting it to a coffee table...

...it looks like she uses roman shade through out the house.....

I have an awesome tutorial saved from somebody's(?)

blog to try someday....it's evidently pretty easy...?...really? it just looks intimidating to me....

all the loops & rings and such....scary....

lots of parts on anything gives me brain overload....

love the pink roses....guess what? my cecile brunner

climbing rose is starting to bloom.....oh the blooms are just beautiful, so tiny & sweet....

I like the stripes too.....

and the bench is fabulous!

~*~

I've got little Allie home today....well she's not so little, she turned 10 last week....but out of the blue she came down w/ a fever last night and it was at 102.3 before

she went to bed! weird!

but this morning it's gone....so I'll keep my fingers crossed......

thanks so much for all your comments & advice

on our kitchen....

I think I probably will end up painting it, but....

......not.... yet.....

although I must confess....I had my paintbrush out

and was dabbing paint around here and there is

inconspicuos spots...

.....but that's it....I got control of myself

(just in the knick of time...and with the help of my soon to be 14 year old...) and put it away!

I am forcing myself to be orderly & such

(my brain is like the movie "UP" ....SQUIRREL!!!")

Have a great week girls!

xo,

Shellagh

~ a little kitchen fluffing~

Hello friends!

I've been trying to change things up a bit

in our kitchen.....

this was one of the first rooms we tackled
when we moved in 6 years ago.....it had blue laminate counters,
nasty orangey oak cabinets &
equally nasty vinyl floors.....

I (me & my little own self!) actually tiled the counters
with travertine (just so proud of myself....;) ) and painted & distressed the cabinets

Before: I'll just leave that picture nice & small
so as not to inflict any visual pain on any of you!

after: big improvement huh?

read more about it here

So,

I am still happy w/ the cabinets (for now) and the travertine (cannot get enough of that stuff....I just love it)

but the kitchen definitely has more of a tuscan/farmhouse feel,
 and I would like to lighten it up a bit.....

you know.....a little more of a frenchy
scandinavian feel.....like maybe white or cream walls, white shelves w/ ornate shelf brackets.....
like this.....

or this?

don't ya think?

but, as you all know.....
I have a major amount tiny bit of decorating / remodeling ADD......

like I need to finish some other things or I'll be strung up by Mr. T & T  to maintain a bit of sanity here!

but fluffing I can do without too much chaos, right?

I took everything off the shelves, threw put it in the middle of my kitchen floor and started scrounging around my house for "new" stuff.... 

I picked up the cream platter last week when

Kathleen (from Faded Charm )and I went out looking

for treasures.....she's so fun...we met just a month ago thru blogging!

and the little black sign thingy is from france...some

kind of cheese label thing! (thingy this thingy that...low on vocabulary today apparently...)

and the silver metal can "thingy" is also

from france, used for making cheese.

I got these cream scalloped plates at goodwill a few

months ago ~ they were just sitting on my etsy

shelf~couldn't bear to list them...

so I brought them down

I think this little pewter pitcher is in my etsy store ~

so I snatched it up too....

I am feeling just o.k. about the plates, but think

I'm ready to change them out as soon as I can figure out what to do here..... (I'd gladly accept your input here!)

this rack is above our ancient stove.....
all the stainless racks & shelves are from IKEA

this is a cute little urn I found in the bins

at goodwill ($3)~ it was sitting around in

our garage ~ so grabbed it & planted a little

plant I had on hand....you know I love my urns...

that's all I have to show you for now.....please feel free to share your fabulous ideas with me!

~*~

now a fun little addition to our living room

isn't this little cart adorable?
I found it a Monticello.....

I love the wheels!

I seriously have a thing for wheeled stuff right now.....

I also got this pillow while out w/ Kathleen...
ticking.....yummy....

Now I'm off for a run!

gotta keep going.....amidst the rain & wind!




thanks for coming by today!



xo,



Shellagh