Manor in France

Good morning Friday, good morning dear readers.

Light Locations is a photographic location agency providing beautiful, inspiring lifestyle locations to the film/TV and photographic industry. One of their featured properties is this magnificent residence in France which dates back to 15th Century. It is called Manoir des Rosiers. If you like period homes with rustic floors, stone walls, marble fireplaces, antique furniture, exposed beams, well the works, then this post is dedicated to you.




This foyer is gorgeous. The floors seem to be original and I love the Mora clock.


The petite glass cabinet won't last long on the small table with rickety legs! Look at the hand painted wood settee!


My grandpop used to have a glass dome clock like the one on the mantel.




I would have straightened the lamp shade. Look at that trunk! Beautiful!




Bathtub and washbasin in the bedroom. Typical of old homes.
















Yet another tub in a bedroom.






All images from Light Locations.

May & the Wild Roses

As I've mentioned before, some of my favorite types of flowers are the uncultivated kind...  wild flowers & "weeds."  May is one of the best times of the year at our house because the wild roses that litter our yard & climb up the surrounding trees have gone crazy!!!  Below is a picture of a huge patch of roses behind our property that goes 20+ feet high.  (Sorry, bad pic but they're the little white things all over the green  ;)

The wild roses smell so perfect:  sweet & the teensiest bit tangy...  I seriously can't get enough. 

I love having this untamed beauty that I don't have to take care of.  My only job is cutting the roses to bring inside with my little helper... 

He loves the smell too...

I love the simple relaxed feeling they bring to our table...

And, although I know we all have different beliefs & different religions, I thought anyone could appreciate the beauty of the wild roses next to the antique Madonna on our mantle.  I found her at an antiques shop in Leesburg, Virginia.  For Catholics, May is "Mary's Month" and many of the Churches have "May Crowning" Ceremonies.  It was one of my favorite times in gradeschool because the 8th grade girls would all get to wear pretty dresses and one of them would put a crown of roses on a Mary statue in our Church.  (Sadly, when I finally got to 8th grade after 8 years of waiting, we didn't get to do it... they switched it to 2nd graders- go figure! :)  But now my family has its own Madonna, and Christian & I had so much fun carrying out the tradition yesterday morning:

...I've been moving the kitchen table roses from room to room with me because they smell so good.  I need to get back out there & cut more!

Hope everyone's having an awesome week & enjoying spring!!!  Any special Springtime traditions in your family?

xoxo,

lauren

Eclectic House in Buenos Aires

Morning dears. How's your week going? Mine is fine, thanks. Happy to have you here.

Today we have a beautiful house in Buenos Aires, Argentina designed by architect María Fernanda Méndez and engineer Omar Larquin. The owner is head of a firm which imports furniture and decorating objects from Asia. So, he has displayed lots of his favourite items around his home. Notice the completely different styles between the bathrooms. I guess they decided to make one for him and one for her. Come and see.
































I have featured this post over at Melissa's Inspired By and Jerri's Friday Favourites parties. A warm thanks to both of you girls for having me over!

Photography by Javier Csecs

All images from here.

Great Outdoor Ideas

Good morning to you dear readers. Today I've put together quite a number of photographs with lots of ideas for decorating your outdoor spaces. Porches, patios, balconies, terraces and some gardens. They surely will get you into the mood to step outside, arrange your pots and plants and enjoy the good weather.

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I tend to shy away from shocking pink but I love the way it looks here!

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Those little head pillows are a great idea for these deck chairs for two reasons: they won't slip down behind you when you lean forward and I'm sure my crafty friends would find them easy to make!

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These easy to roll up wood Venetian blinds are a good idea to get the shade you need just right.

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Love the colour on these walls.
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Love the arches and combination of brick and stone.
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Pretty little spot to relax and read.
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All images from micasa.

Before & After Guest Blogger: Ally of From the Right Bank

Please welcome Ally of From the Right Bank.  Her style is amazing & she moves often, so lucky for us readers!! :)
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Hello, I'm Ally of From the Right Bank  and I can't believe it's been four months since Lauren asked me to be guest blog here. Let's see . . . back then, cutie pie Justin was still on the way and I was in the middle of moving across the country from Seattle to Atlanta. Lauren asked for a "Before and After" post and I thought, "Sure, no problem. By April, I'll have lots of Before and After's to choose from."

Well, I clearly overestimated my abilities. Or rather, underestimated my slacker tendencies. In any case, I have yet to "finish" a single room in our house. And of course, this just makes how much Lauren has done in her new home that much more mind-boggling! And oh yeah, let's not forget that little business of giving birth
somewhere in there too! I tell you, I would hate her if I didn't love her so much(!)

Well, the closest to a finished project I have to share with you is our kitchen.  Here are a few photos of the kitchen just before we moved in:

As you can see, it was a perfectly fine kitchen. Pretty marble, farmhouse sink, custom cabinets . . . nothing offensive. But my issue with it was that everything was a cream/ivory color. While I didn't hate it, I've always preferred pure white to off-white. And for a couple of years now, I've been on a gray kick and I especially wanted gray kitchen cabinets so I thought now was my chance. So after agonizing over paint colors for

weeks, looking at hundreds of swatches and lying awake at night contemplating just how many shades of gray exist in this world (Doesn't everyone?), I finally decided on Benjamin Moore's "Trout Gray." I wanted a true gray - one that wasn't too blue, too green, or too purple and Trout Gray fit that bill.

The painters removed all of the doors, drawers, shelves and hardware and then sprayed. They also painted the walls (Benjamin Moore White #1). It took days (and days) and this was the state of things during the process:

And here is how it turned out:

I'm still looking for the perfect sconces to go over the sink and I'll be replacing the faucet as well as the lights over the island but it's close. Now as for the rest of my house, that's another story!

Thank you so much for having me today, Lauren! You're a real inspiration to so many of us

and it's been an honor to be your guest!
 
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Ally it's so beautiful!!!  The gray is perfect and I am seriously jealous!!  Thanks for sharing the process with us & can't wait to see the rest of your new house!!!!
xoxo,
lauren
 
ps- Ally- what are you doing with the faucet you're ditching??  ;) ;)

The Idea Of Home Living Room Interior Design

Home Interior Design Living Room

Interior design living room usually on the match with the character of his home owners to explore that can be shown to all guests who visit. Themes can design from the original regional concept of the landlord or his house is livable.