HAPPILY EVER AFTER

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

GREAT NORTH CAROLINA HOMES


UP THE ROAD .....WE WENT...

Early Friday morning, MC and I headed North to High Point, North Carolina. It had been many months since we had seen Patti and Mark. Actually, it was in November, the weekend they delivered the "Bird" sofa for it's transformation!

In January, Erica and Adam, moved into their first home in Greensboro..... a hop-- skip--- and-- jump from High Point!



ERICA AND ADAMS FIRST HOME
Erica greeting Patti and Mark......MC is taking the picture and .....Me,............ well I stay out of camera range!

The first floor has the kitchen, dining and living rooms, master bedroom with full bath and a guest half bath!

THE PROUD HOMEOWNER!!!


ADAM'S CHAIR
TRUE/TRUE.....ADAM FOUND THIS CHAIR ...HE HAS A GREAT EYE!!!



VERY NICE DINING ROOM
PLANS OF REPAINTING ARE IN THE WORKS!



LOVE THE KITCHEN..... ESPECIALLY THIS FABULOUS TABLE WITH STORAGE


ERICA PAINTED OUR OLD SILVER BED WHITE!!!
WOW!!!!

ALL THE LUXURIES INCLUDED!!!




The second floor has Pete's (their cat) room, a large guest bedroom, Erica's "work" room and a full bath!!!


ALL THINGS CREATIVE WILL EMERGE FROM HERE!!!


DOOR TO PETE'S ROOM
(GREAT IDEA OF ADAM'S)
PETE'S ROOM



ADAM'S MAN CAVE---THE MAIN SELLING POINT!





After our picture taking and tour, Mark and MC headed back to Mark and Patti's house to do Guy Stuff...... while Erica, Patti and I drove to visit Maggie in Raleigh. I hadn't seen Maggie since JULY!!!!! I was hoping I would recognize her!!!!!

Maggie is in her Junior Year at NC State. She shares an apartment with another girl (maybe roommate three in a couple of weeks). It's a great set up. The apartment consists of the main living area.....living room, dining area and kitchen. The plan has three, very roomy, bedrooms, each with their own full baths. The entire complex is designed for the students at State. Perfect!!! Erica had the apartment directly below Maggie's in her Junior Year!!!

GREAT COMPLEX, LOTS OF CURB APPEAL AND PLENTY OF PARKING

GUESS WHO'S QUARTERS????
MARK HAS GREAT WAYS TO CREATE CUSTOM SIGNS FOR ALL THE FAMILY!!!


PATTI AND ERICA RELAXING IN THE GREAT ROOM


MAGGIE HAS THE DESIGNER GENE FOR SURE!!!!

We had a wonderful afternoon doing Girl things.......shopped and ate!!!!

It was wonderful seeing Erica and Maggie. They both are enjoying wonderful lives. We all are so BLESSED!!!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

RESOURCES

YOU ASKED....HERE ARE THE RESOURCES I CHECK OUT.......

Over the past month, as you know, I have been very busy on this lap top! I have "viewed" thousands of chandeliers and pendants!.....THOUSANDS!!!

I am more than happy to share the websites that I check. Some that I have never done business with...I personally am not going to recommend....BUT... they all are full of ideas, and I enjoy browsing around for new inspirations.

The most logical sites to start with would be the lighting sources I check. Now, on each one, there are literally too many to check out in a short space of time. You can narrow your search, by choosing a price range, lighting type (chandelier or pendant,etc.), size, and so forth. Each site has different means in which to get to exactly what you are looking for.

I have personally purchased items from the following:

ballarddesign.com
overstock.com
lampsplus.com
archadianlighting.com

All of the above have been easy to do business with and I have been very happy with the products. Some charge shipping and some don't. Make sure you are aware of this. Also.....most don't charge tax. A tax charge is determined on whether they have a retail business in the State you live. I also recommend you google "coupons" available from the different sites. You will find many that offer free shipping, etc.

The other lighting sources I have looked at are:

atglighting.com
gspncrystal.com
amazon.com
lightinguniverse.com
csnlighting.com

I have also done business with overall home furnishing sites. Most of these you are all familiar with.

ballarddesign.com
potterybarn.com
restorationhardware.com
westelm.com
zgallerie.com
nordstrom.com (click on to Home Dept. The Westin Bed is to die for....the best bed we ever slept on. We've had it for over 4 years and it's as good today as the first night we slept on it. Also great for home accessories) Jennifer, there is no place like NORDSTROM!!!!

On the above .....most charge shipping and you will most likely pay tax. I prefer to shop at their retails shops when possible.

There is an internet site, One Kings Lane, that is a fabulous design source. It has daily sales. I have purchased a number of items from them and highly recommend you check them out. The quality of their items is unsurpassed. Most are high end items at greatly reduced prices. (better than any outlet store you have been to!). The daily sales vary from furniture, picture frames, linens, lighting, mirrors, pet products, a full spectrum!!! On weekends they have tempting gourmet foods. I look forward to their emails with the Day's Sale at 11:00am EST. On weekends, the Tastemaker Sales are fun to look at. World famous Designers are featured with their lines of products. Now.....these can be very pricey, but still greatly reduced from what the regular price is! But...really fun to look at and dream!!!

Kenneth Brown, you all know my passion for him, had a sale. I was able to purchase a fabulous mirror . Usually these items are, one of a kind, and you have to be fast on putting the item in "your cart"!!!

Finally I would like to mention a few of the Design sites I check out regularly:

kennethbrowndesign.com (of course a MUST)
sarahrichardsondesign.com
janshowers.com

I hope this has been helpful.....Have fun
Patty

For my readers who are local to the Griffin---- Atlanta area I highly recommend the following:

Lockwood Upholstery,LLC.... for fabulous reupholstering, etc.
Kathy Lockwood does fabulous work and you can reach Kathy at:
lockwoodupholstery@gmail.com

JCdesigns by Joe Cobucci is the best for window tinting and blinds,etc.
He can be reached at:
jcdesignswindowtinting@gmail.com

Linda Hilley at Re/Max Southern is the tops in resale
Linda can be reached at
llhilley@aol.com

Hewes Family Movers has to be the best movers we have EVER had
Bill Hewes can be reached at:
www.HewesFamilyMovers.com

Winston Bernard for interior home painting. We have had Winston paint both our homes here in SunCity and I have such praise for his work. A joy to have in your home!!
Winston Bernard can be reached at:
wbcps@aol.com

Janet Gibson......for anyone desiring to move into Sun City Peachtree
Janet can be reached at:
janet.gibson@delwebb.com

I will continue to update this list as I run into great people and sites.
Patty

I HAVE BEEN REMINDED THAT MC HAS BEEN LEFT OFF THE LIST!!!!!
I SPOKE WITH HIM AND UNFORTUNATELY HE CLAIMS TO BE BOOKED FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS !!!!!!

Friday, February 11, 2011

KENNETH BROWN'S LATEST INSPIRATION

KENNETH BROWN IS SO, SO TALENTED!!!

Click on to today's entry on the Kenneth Brown Design website, under the Facebook tag....

http://www.kennethbrowndesign.com/

What a fabulous idea.....

I immediately thought of the German Calendar pictures our Son Bobby gave us. I had them framed back in the 90's. There were in the "warehouse". I hadn't found the perfect place to hang them......now I don't have to hang them..

Wow, I told MC we needed to have a Dinner Party.......well someday!



I would love you to take a look at all of Kenneth's website. He has fabulous hints, ideas ...you name it ....it's there.

It's getting warmer.....MC will be in the garage very soon!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

IT'S HERE AND UP!!!

JUST 50,000 + VIEWED !!!


Our latest addition arrived this morning. MC immediately attacked the task! In less than one hour it was up and WORKING !!! He has this down pat now!

Very ironic...... we saw this particular fixture last month when we were looking for one for the kitchen. We ruled it out because of it's size, and we felt it would "fight" the clock.

Just on a whim, last week I took another glimpse of it. I was curious if Ballard still had any left. Three weeks ago they put them on sale and had an inventory of 65 . I checked out the Ballard site, they were still on sale. We called to see how many were left.......12!!!! They were now greatly reduced! Original price, $479, and they were on sale for $189..... and............I had a 15% off coupon! We ordered it before they were all sold out! How things work out really amazes me! It was meant to be.


"I THINK WE'VE GOT IT !!!



OLD KITCHEN FIXTURE IN MC'S OFFICE


GREAT ROOM AND KITCHEN
VIEW WITH DINING, GREAT ROOM AND FOYER



ALL FIVE ....IT WORKS!



Now..............on to warmer weather! The forecast is for another cold/snow event later this week and then it's to turn WARM!

WHO KNOWS, MAYBE THE BUILT-INS WILL GET FINISHED BEFORE SUMMER???




Thursday, February 3, 2011

DECISION MADE !

THE END OF THE CHANDELIER SAGA

It seems like months, if not forever, that I have been in a "Chandelier" world!!!

What to hang in the Great Room was easy. The rest has been so, SO difficult.

I can't even guess how many chandeliers I have viewed on line. Each site I have gone to has at least 5,000 to view!

Erica led me in the right direction. She advised hanging the one that was in the dining room in the kitchen and that worked perfectly!

The new Grand Chandelier is now in the Great Room and it's definitely Grand!

We hung the one that was in the kitchen in MC's office and that is also, perfect, for the room!

The Foyer remained the same. ( Thank goodness!!!!!)

That left the Dining Room..................

As some of you know I have been all over the spectrum of shapes, textures, colors, etc. We thought we had it down to two. The ones I showed you last week..........................

But No .................That was not the case...........they are both "No Goes"!!!

We took the measurements of both, and MC made forms of each one. We held them up and they were both much too small for the space!

So, back to the web sites. I haven't left the house for three days! This new computer is really wonderful. I am so thankful it has speed and doesn't jam up on me as the old one did. I would be in the nut house if I still had that one!!! Or worse, in jail, for abusing MC for not making it work!

Late last night, it was down to three entirely different ones than we were considering last week. I had "saved" about 8 from the thousands, but four were eliminated due to cost and one because MC simply hated it. The three that made the final list all met the first requirement, they were withing our "Retirement" budget. I have to admit that having restraints on cost makes the entire adventure, A True Adventure! But really, isn't that the fun of it all????

So after a final review with Erica, we made our decision! We ordered it!!! It's done!!!


Now, you really don't think I'm going to just show you a so so picture, do you? Of course not!

You will have to wait, with us, for good ole UPS to deliver it. The second MC finishes hanging it, I will post a picture! And I will also post pictures of all the "Jewels" in their new spaces! Lighting is a necessary function, but more importantly, the it's the "Jewelry" of the room!!

Now the wait...................