Please Vote For My Family Room.

Hey Blogettes. I just found out I am one of the finalist in This Photographers Life design contest. Wahoo! I am so excited. I would really appreciate your vote for my family room. Thanks so much in advance for your support. Head over to This Photographers Life to vote now.

Thanks again,

Sherry

Our Venetian Wedding.

Stephanie at Angelic Accents is not only the sweetest lady but also such a romantic. Today she is hosting a Wedding Blog Party. Please drop by and check out all the wonderful weddings and Stephanie's collection of wedding memorabilia.

I posted recently about our wedding in Venice but I did want to join the fun at Angelic Accents. You can see the entire post and pictures of our wedding HERE.

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

xo, Sherry

Whats Your Favorite Place In The House?

The ultra talented Blayne at This Photographers Life has asked Whats Your Favorite Place In The House. You can submit your answer and pictures of your favorite place to McLinky to enter her fabulous giveaway. Blayne will choose her favorite five rooms and then you get to vote on your favorite. The winner will receive a gorgeous black pearl lariat from Nastro Bello.

My submission is our family room. This is the space that was a total compromise on my part and has now turned into one of my favorite rooms. If you have been following my blog you have seen photos of other rooms in our house and know that my decorating leans toward french country, shabby chic and more light and airy. Our previous homes have all been decorated in this style.

As some of you have read we moved into this home one year ago with only four pieces of furniture. I started designing this home with the four pieces of furniture.... no beds, lamps, linens, cookware, dishes ect. You can read more about this Here.

Hubby gave me pretty much free rein on the design with only one request....don't make the family room girly! I thought this was a fair request because to be honest most of our home is more feminine. Hey, He lives with toile in our bedroom. I took this to heart and tried to design a family room that was warm, cozy and somewhat masculine. A room that both of us would be comfortable with and that we could entertain our family and friends in. Keep in mind that all of the decorating had to be done on a tight budget...and I do mean tight!

The inserts in the coffer ceiling are faux painted copper and the walls are alligator green. Most of the furniture, rugs and accessories were bought at auction, consignment shops, Craigslist or flea markets. I have always believed you can have a beautiful home by being resourceful and without spending a lot of money.

Baskets were collected from various flea markets and garage sales.

A high end shop went bankrupt and I was able to buy these two Deruta signed lamps also bought at auction.

Wall unit was a steal at the auction

I did incorporate some of my Italian Pottery.

Winter look

This room I designed for my Hubby has turned out to be my favorite place in the house. This is where we sit and talk about our day, watch television, sometimes eat and always entertain. There is nothing in this room that is intimidating for our guest. We wanted everyone to feel welcome and not be concerned about the furniture, sitting drinks down or walking on the rugs.

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of our family room. If you like our room I would appreciate your vote at This photographers life. Thanks so much!

I will be joining the parties at This Photographers Life, Romantic Home, Silly Little Sparrow, Somewhat Simple, In The Fun Lane, Chic On A Shoe String Decorating, and We Are That family.

Hugs,
Sherry

Where Bloggers Create

Don't forget to check out the Where Bloggers Create Annual Party at My Desert Cottage starting tomorrow. There is sure to be many wonderful photos of offices, craft rooms and other creative spaces. I have posted pictures of my home office/craft room previously but there have been a few changes since that post.

When decorating this room I wanted something feminine but also a little contemporary. The walls are painted Lettuce green and the upholstery is black and white damask.

Two rows of black ribbon and bows were added to a HomeGoods lamp. The numbered boxes on the shelf were a junk store find. I just painted them white and added the painted numbers to the front of the drawers. I love having a chandy in my space!

The mirror was a cheap garage sale find. I painted the frame Heirloom White and sprayed the glass with several coats of chalkboard paint. As you can see I use this chalkboard a lot and it has held up well.

This was a maple 1960s settee when I purchased it off of craigslist. I painted the piece black and lightly distressed it. I upholstered the bottom of the frame and made the two pillows on top. I chickened out doing the large cushion so I had an upholsterer complete project.

A lady I found on ebay made these custom valances for me and she did a wonderful job.

On this vintage white table I keep a picture of my dad at seventeen years old. There is also a paper mache vase that is covered in small shells and sticks painted white.

This is my space the day the furniture arrived! I am really happy with the transformation!

Thank you so much for your visit today.

I am linking up with:

My Desert Cottage

In The Fun Lane

Romantic Home

The Shabby Chic Cottage

Hugs, Sherry

Bedroom Tour

Hello Blogettes. I have shown you bits and pieces of our bedroom in previous post. Today you get to see the entire room.

Gosh, I hate those cords!

These pictures make the paint color look so dark! It is actually a medium gold color.

The armoire bought at auction and I painted and distressed it to match the bed.

I purchased two identical Pierre Deux dressers at auction that sit on each side of the bedroom. I am beginning to sound like a broken record but Richmond has a great auction every Thursday night and I have gotten some fantastic deals there.

So sorry about the blurry pictures. I think my camera is on it's last leg..or maybe it's the operators lack of skill!

Another auction find! A very upscale shop went belly up and the remaining items went to auction. I bought five signed Deruta lamps for pennies on the dollar. Two of the lamps sit on each side of our bed.

Sitting room off the bedroom... I don't think anyone has ever sat in here. I would rather have had a larger master bath and closets instead. This may be a project for down the road.

I transformed these chairs with paint, distressing and drop cloths. You can see the post I did on this transformation HERE.

The little silhouette is of my son and was made approximately thirty three years ago.

More sitting room. Love seat was made by Room and Board. For those of you that are familiar with this line you know they are pretty pricey. This piece retails for $1200 on their web-site. I bought two identical love seats off of Craigslist for $125.00 each. The other one resides in our living room.

This painting is one of my favorite things. It is an original 19Th century painting with the most beautiful colors.

I love the precious little cherubs.

Don't they have the sweetest faces?

I will be linking to the following parties:

How Sweet The Sound

Faded Charm Cottage

Romantic Home

Thanks for taking the tour and I hope you have a great weekend.

xo, Sherry

Blue Favorites

It is no secret that I have a fascination with anything blue and white. I collect transferware and Italian pottery. My transferware collection started when I bought my first piece at age 17. My love of Italian pottery began much later when hubby and I were married in Venice and spent our honeymoon traveling through out Italy. The beautiful pottery is everywhere and I fell in love immediately with the blue and white pieces. Below are some of my favorite.

I am linking up to:

Smiling Sally

A Stroll Thru Life

Bargain Hunting With Laurie

Romantic Home

A Cog, A Pulley What is it?

Some of you may remember a house tour post I did recently of the gorgeous home of Les and Bill Stinson. I absolutely fell in love with their home and some of the unique items they used as decorative accessories. If you missed seeing this home you can click here.

I love the use of mill antiques such as this wood cog Les has in her design studio

and these metal wheels she has hanging in the butlers pantry.

While at Lucketts Antique Market I spotted a large wooden vintage cog. Now, I must have the most wonderful husband in the world! He knows how much I like to use quirky things in my decorating and he actually "gets it". Right away he said for me to buy it but I was the one that hesitated. We had already spent a good bit of money at the show for things for my shop and I was hesitant to spend money on something for myself. Plus it was not cheap. After twisting my arm...yeah right, I am the new owner of this wonderful old mill artifact.

See the little metal tag on the wine bottle? I also got four of these tags from the same dealer.

I think this cog may be the start of a new collection of industrial antiques. Right now hubby is probably holding his chest and saying OH NO !. You see this thing weighs a ton and he has to do all the heavy carrying for me. This will teach him to complain about my dish collection...

I am linking to the following parties. Thanks ladies for hosting!

Hugs,

Sherry