It Is Time Once Again For Another Beautiful Issue Of Jeanne d'Atc Living...

This beauty can be yours by clicking

HERE

to pre-order.  ;)

We expect to get the shipment  by about mid-May (or so...)

and immediately thereafter start shipping out all

pre-orders we've received.

It looks like another LOVELY issue!

And.... in case you missed our recent announcement,

we are again able to carry the Jeanne d'Arc Living 

product line as we did a couple of years ago!!  

YAY!!    :)

Our order of products has been placed and will be

here before we know it!!

Here is a taste of what Jeanne d'Arc Living has been up to 

(and what we were shopping for) since we were last

able to carry their delightful furnishings...

Almost everything in the pictures will be in our shop before too long!!  

Have a great day, mon amis!  

  

I think there actually IS a light at the end of this renovation tunnel! :)

I know it's been a while since the last renovation post, but unfortunately there

hasn't been a lot to tell...

Seems we made great strides and then

things came to a

SCREECHING HALT...

Let's see... last update was about paint colors, I think...

Well, the painting is done, and boy does it LOOOK GOOOOD! 

The flooring is down and again... OH MY it's GORGEOUS!

That is the most beautiful flooring these eyes have ever seen.  

It's such a perfect fit for this old house with it's 

scrapes, dings, knots, and varied board widths/lengths.

We are STILL waiting for the final trim pieces for the floor to arrive --

via slow boat from California, I think... Ugh..   :)

But once that arrives and is installed, the furniture gets moved back in

and we have our home again!!!   

We landed on "Slate" from Restoration Hardware for about 95% of the space.

We added "Cappucino" from Restoration Hardware below the chair rail

in what will be the dining room.

{NOTE:  MANY OF THESE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN ON-THE-SPOT
WITH MY CELL PHONE, SO... PLEASE EXCUSE THE
LACK OF QUALITY.}

Other than that, the walls AND the ceilings AND the crown mouldings

are all Slate... And it really looks so handsome and elegant.

The sconces in this pic look soooo great now against that slate color.

I have some old-fashioned "Edison" lightbulbs coming that I ordered for them.

Can't wait to see how they look!

This ceiling medallion used to be painted in tones of 

verdigris and golden mustard to match our dining room scheme of

French/Provence tones decor...

I repainted/glazed it to now match the new scheme of 

slate and stone colors... It looks fabulous now against the Slate ceiling.

We lived with plywood underfoot for a couple weeks while other work was being done...

I finally reached a point where I just HAD to put SOMETHING in the space

to remind me that there WILL be a time when we can actually live in here again.   ;)

I grabbed a chair from the entry way and plant, etc. and

it really lifted my spirits each time I walked through the otherwise

torn apart room.  I recommend this "therapy" to you if you find yourself

in the midst of a reno that seems never-ending!   :)

Then FLOOR DAY came!   :)

It took a couple/few days to put it all down, but boy 

does that wood look AWESOME!

There have been set backs a plenty, delays, delays, delays...

BUT  I can see a brilliant light at the end of the

RENOVATION TUNNEL!  :)

See it?  Shining there through the window??  :)

I have carved out for myself a corner of one of the rooms where I've brought in

a few things from around the house to make homey.  

I know, I know... the minute I get the word that the carpenter is coming back out

to istall the trim moulding for us, I have to quick take it all back out...

BUT FOR NOW...

Ahhhh.... feeling more like home again...

LOOK WHAT I "FOUND"...

I had this rug stored in a closet under the stairs since last year...

back when I was hunting for the perfect cowhide rug for the family room

I ran across THIS BEAUTY online at Williams Sonoma Home

for A SONG!

I snapped it up -- just in case we couldn't find a good cow hide.  (WINK WINK)

But now I see it was meant to be all along...

just look how PERFECT it is in this new scheme!!!

And don't you just know it... 

Look who has claimed it now as "his"...

Dude's got good taste...

Back soon (I HOPE!) with good news that it's 

DONE!

Jeanne d'Arc Living Has Re-Opened Shipping Of Their Products Again!!!

Patience is a virtue and those who possess it shall be rewarded...  

And the latest example of this?

I awoke to the good news via email from Jeanne d'Arc Living that they are now

officially set up and ready to resume shipping of their fabulous home decor

products to the U.S. again!

And guess who has ALREADY BEEN SHOPPING??  ;)

Many lovelies will be on their way to the shop and subsequently

on to YOU should you desire to order them.  

(And who wouldn't??)  

Let me say first, that this time around they have pared down their offerings

and though they still have quite a lot to choose from that they will ship to the U.S.,

it is somewhat limited --- they are trying to keep freight & customs manageable

for us all and therefore many of the larger, heavier items do not appear to be

order-able at this time.  

But that's okay -- there is still PLENTY of beauty to choose from!

Here is a sampling of what they ARE willing to ship, though...

Take a breath... yes, I know, it IS gorgeous, no?

{CLICK THE PIC TO ENLARGE IT}

Okay -- off to run the store and shop some MORE!  :)

Just wanted to stop in and make your weekend a bit brighter with this news!!

Let me know what you think!

  

Me and Ladders and Sawhorses...

Off to a very good start this A.M.

So far I've managed to display my genius to the trim person who showed up... Here's how it went:

Carpenter: "I may have to leave again to go get my other ladder... I knew I forgot something." 


ME: "Oh that's ok! We have one -- you mean this kind, right? (I use my hands to make an upside down "V") 


CARPENTER: "Um... y-e-s..." ME: "Well I mean this kind (hands make the upside down "V" again) not this kind (arm goes straight out and up)" CARPENTER: blank stare... 


ME: "You know, those... I don't know... those... straight kind... the big kind you don't fold..." 


CARPENTER: (Looking like he's trying not to laugh) "Oh you mean an extension ladder. No, just the regular kind." (and I could have SWORN I almost saw his hands start to make the upside down "V" like I did). ;)

Then, about 3 minutes later, as he's setting up his saw horses.... 


ME: "Oh wow, that's cool... (pointing at the metal part where the legs join what looks like a big oversized loaf pan)... "kind of like an inverted trough! Did you make that? That's so neat!" 


CARPENTER: "Ummmm... no, they sell these at Lowes. They're called saw horses." 


ME: "Oh, and so you added your own wood to the top, though, right?" 


CARPENTER: (now, truly not knowing what to do with anything I'm saying) "Yes... makes it a lot easier to use them if you add the 2 x 4s to the top..." 


ME: "Well, thanks...I guess you can tell that it doesn't take much to amaze me... I think I'll go inside now, if you need anything."

See... What makes perfect sense to me seems to be totally nonsensical to everyone else. (Reminded now of what my husband said to me last week... "We aren't being mean, we're just trying to make sense of the silliness that comes out of your mouth.")


 :)

But again, I think if I just keep those chocolate chip cookies coming, they'll be willing to put up with whatever comes out of my mouth, right? 
But I will try to just let them go about their work and keep my questions to a minimum... like "Can I get you guys any more water or cookies?" :)

Have a great Wednesday, everyone... I'm gonna go head over to the office and get out of this poor carpenter's way. :)

  

And The Fun Continues... Update From "Ruth's Reno-World"

As you can see, with plywood sub-flooring in place and the bare dirt below the house now covered again,

 my focus shifts primarily to paint colors now...

I could write a book...

Haha!  Let's just say it ain't as easy as I thought!

I've been hither, thither and yon searching out paint color

inspiration and I landed where I began...

Restoration Hardware.

Oh how I love their color schemes and with then grouped into

collections, it makes it almost fool proof to get a perfect scheme.

After seeing how the colors turned out in these pics 

(it's been raining and no sun all day, but I took them anyway)

I almost hesitate to post these but I just had to show you!

The dominant color in the two rooms will be

Slate and the accent will be the next shade lighter, Graphite.

The Graphite seems to want to come out looking a bit too purpley 

and the Slate a bit too brown, but hopefully you get the idea.

As you can see, we managed to get the plaster down and reveal the 

beadboard.  And there were NO bad surprises waiting for is under the 

plaster, either!!!   Yippee!

Some of the boards need to be secured up tight again, but other than that,

there were no "issues" to face.

Crown moulding was installed to unify what were two rooms into one...

and tomorrow the ceilings get a good coat of Kilz primer before moving on

to the "glamour" portion of her make-over:  

paint color!!

And speaking of that...

What a diva this old gal (the house) has been to work with!!

I approached the project with what I thought was a very elegant color palette

inspired by a vintage player piano roll and it's box... 

mellowed/aged tan and soft black...

{In the photo above, the vintage player piano roll and the black box, arranged on top of 

a sampling of the wood flooring that will be going down...}

Well she would have NONE of THAT!

What looked classic and elegant in theory was flatly rejected

by these walls!  YUCK!

You can see where I tried out the soft black below the chair rail in what will

be the dining room...

Well, can't hurt to try anyway...    :)

So, it was on to plan B....

And that seems to be the winner.

The walls will be done in Restoration Hardware's Slate -- a fabulous color
that can appear anywhere from grey to brown-ish grey... our local store is
done entirely in it (mouldings, everything!) and it is possibly one of the most
elegant spaces I've ever seen.

Being slightly too afraid to do our walls AND ceilings in it, I've opted to use
their next shade lighter, Graphite, for the ceilings.

Again, in the pic above Graphite is coming out purpley... not so in real life.

Slate is going to be the color that FINALLY works well with a big stained glass
window we have in what will become the family room...

As long as we've had this house, I've kept that feature covered (yes, I've hidden this giant
stained glass window) under a "faux" window treatment.

Though it's a pretty feature, it has so much pink glass in it and that is NOT
our thing here... So, in lieu of taking it completely out and having a glass person
replace all the pink glass with amber (my choice if I were doing it), I've chosen to just
"delete" it from the room by covering it.

Now, with this new paint color, I think I will finally be ready to incorporate that
element into play.   The pink glass still does nothing at all for me, but until we
can have it taken out and replaced with a better color, at least the new wall color will
soften the blow, so to speak.

Anyway, that's about all.  We're all still walking around with dusty/powder coated
feet.  I'm not even attempting to do any real clean-up until this is all done.

But we're on track to get the walls and ceilings painted by this weekend, mouldings
put back in place where they've been taken off temporarily, and next week....

THE FLOORING GOES DOWN!

I think, maybe,

just maybe...

I see a glimmer of a light at the end of this dusty tunnel!

I'll keep you posted as we go.... for SURE when the paint is done!!

Can't wait to show you!!  :)

Take care and I'll be back with some shop news.  :)

  

So Far On This Rainy Monday Morning...(Conversations With My Lord This Morning...)

SO FAR THIS MONDAY, VERSION #1:   Well great, Lord... I forgot to buy coffee yesterday so hubby & daughter left the house w/o travel mugs today,  and yep... it's raining... so now there isn't any good light to judge paint samples on this last day to do so & the crown moulding pieces on the porch that are supposed to be installed in the dining room got a little wet overnight in the rain,  and Lord You know how I'm sooo tired... realllly tired, and there are mega-amounts of work in the office to catch up on, have to make another 1-hr round-trip drive to finish buying paint (painters come tomorrow), Oh dear sweet Lord, for some reason everything looks slightly overwhelming from where I stand ... like none of it will ever really get done (work, orders, new items to post on site, house reno, laundry, etc...). HOW LONG will I be living in the reality of "two steps forward, five steps backward... :/

But... there is ANOTHER way to see this, I do believe...

So I think I'll start this over again...

SO FAR THIS MONDAY, VERSION #2: Rained/thundered all night... I love how everything looks outside on a rainy morning (and it's a tad cooler!) &

thank you, Lord, only about a foot of the crown moulding got a little damp - surely that won't be a big deal,

and though the light isn't great for properly judging which colors to buy later today, it is such a blessing in disguise (the way You seem to wrap a lot of our blessings... in disguise...) to be able to have the opportunity to get out away from work, etc. and actuallyhave to go to my favorite place -- Hyde Park and in particular Restoration Hardware... it's as though You have simply arranged things so that I am "forced" to take a break and get out of here for a while.  Thank you, Lord... only You would have thought of this!!  :)

Yes, I did forget to buy coffee yesterday, but thankfully both hubby & daughter have a Starbucks in their path to work & school, & the whole reason I forgot to pick up the coffee is because I was at church from morning until about 5pm doing things for my 4th grade class planning (so my "world" was a little off kilter because of getting home so late) -- but oh what an incredible class we had yesterday & what a privilege it is to be with those kiddos.... 


Yes, I'm def feeling overwhelmed, Lord. But if the past is any indication, I know that "this too shall pass" and I am truly thankful that with regard to the biz, though I am so far behind I barely know where to start, thank you for the wonderful business You are bringing my way. I'll do my best to be a good steward of it today. 


And though the house is torn apart and seems unfamiliar and not very "home-like" at this moment, thank you that You are allowing so many new changes to come about when really all we needed to do was put some new flooring down. What a blessing. 


Thank you, Lord, for this gorgeous rainy Monday. So full of challenges and yet so full of Your obvious hand of blessings. 


I hear Him saying "Now off you go -- it's 10 o'clock -- we're wasting daylight, girl!"

Yes, I'll choose SO FAR THIS MONDAY MORNING #2...

And off I go... :)

It's A Consensus - Beadboard Wins Out AND More Hidden Treasure Is Found.

It was an overwhelming landslide vote -- 

EVERYONE voted that we rip out the rest of the plaster

and reveal the antique beadboard ceilings that were

discovered under heavy plaster.

     

Keep in mind, we have only about a 4-6" swath of beadboard

currently revealed (where the wall came out) and THAT sampling looks great.

The concern is that we will get into tearing out the rest of the plaster ceilings 

only to find that there was a really good reason why they covered over the 

wooden ceilings -- like maybe there is a huge amount of damaged or, worse still,

MISSING sections under there.

But to NOT at least have a look while we already have a big mess and things are torn up,

seems crazy.

So... the big ceiling rip-out day is upon us and by evening time,

we'll know whether our curiosity will be kind to us or not.  :)

There have been some neat discoveries, that's for sure.

1.)  Of course the beadboard ceilings and walls were uncovered.

Very neat "find" and may prove to be one of the most serendipitous finds yet.

2.)  Also discovered just on top of the beadboard on the walls was some 

very beautiful antique wall paper.  As I understand it, these homes were built

originally with wooden walls/ceilings.  

Then, as desired, the Mrs. of the house would apply wall paper directly

onto the wood walls.  Then over that, was the lathe & plaster. 

We only knew about the plaster -- as that is what we have in all rooms here at home.

So it was so neat to discover all that pretty wallpaper under there!

3.)  The old, damaged floor boards that have been ripped out 

had some of those really old, obviously hand-made nails --- they have such a 

distinct look!
I discovered that I do NOT like the sight of seeing the earth just below my feet
as I peer through what was our family/dining rooms just days before.    :)

So... by the end of this day, the beadboard ceilings will either be a fabulous

addition to Harsham House, or we will be wringing our hands in regret

for having ripped out perfectly fine plaster ceilings.  Either way,

it won't be the end of the world and if the beadboard is just too far gone,

 I already have tin picked out and ready to order to cover it all back up again.   :)

There really is no reason not to at least take a peek at what lies

beneath.  

Be back to let you know what we find!  :)

  

Hidden Treasure...

This'll be short & sweet, but I just wanted to share what was revealed to be beneath

about an inch of plaster on our ceilings after a wall was removed...

{Taken with my cell phone, so please excuse the poor photo quality}

There are original beadboard ceilings under all that crazy plaster!

Ditto for the walls!  Beadboard there, too!

So we now need to decide (like in the next few hours) whether we want to see

what's behind "door #2" so to speak and have ALL the rest of he plaster knocked off

and have beadboard ceilings...

or

take the the "safe route" and just try our best to repair the 6" wide swath of

plaster and try and make it blend in with the rest of the ceiling...

What to do?!

There are no guarantees that the beadboard is in good shape beneath all that 

plaster and it covers THREE rooms.

It's pretty much of a gamble... But the reward for bravery could be that

we get to enjoy antique beadboard ceilings instead of funky, chunky plaster ceilings

with an odd "circular swirl" design all over them.  

By the way, removing the plaster off all the walls is NOT an option.
I love the plaster walls (they are not done in a weird, thick design like the ceiling)
and I really don't think I'd care for the wall and the ceiling to be all wooden.

So, what would you do??

Well... I'm off again, but I just had to share the discovery with you.  :)

  

From Showhouse To Demo'd House In Just A Few Short Hours...

Been wondering what I've been up to??

Well... there is a big project underway at Harsham House 

and I'm preparing a proper blog post about it,

but by way of a "teaser", here is a just a peek...

In the words of Arnold S.,

"I'll be back...."

Right now I hear bang/crash going on inside my home, so if you

will excuse me... 

;)

  

You Have GOT To See This Recipe... Does This Look Crazy-Good, Or WHAT??

Yum....

That's all. I'm wanting to head to my kitchen and grab the ingredients. NOW! :)

Dreaming of White Chocolate: Mini Cookie Dough Ball Brownies:

Now this is cool.... Turn Your Blog Into A Book!

I don't pretend to think that my blog is worthy of 

being book-bound, but...

some of you have blogs that are just

TAILOR-MADE for this!!

My friend Cheryl mentioned this site one day

on Facebook and I was enthralled!

The site is called BLURB and she says her daughter,

a young mother of several children, blogs regularly all year long

about family life, schooling, etc... and then prints it all out in

book-form at the close of each year.

Brilliant.

When you think about it, so many of your blogs are filled with

the everyday -- the precious, sweet minutia of life that

10, 15, 20+ years from now you'll wish you could 

replay, revisit.

Think of how wonderfully everyday life is chronicled here on our blogs ---

what if with the start of every new year, you could just

book-bind your entire year's blogging?

It's the best of scrapbooking and blogging rolled into one!

You end up with a beautifully bound version of your blog 

and you have it for keeps.

What fun!

If you're newly married, just starting a family,

or already well into all that, you just may 

like the idea of preserving your yearly musings 

for "posterity".  

How fun would it be for your kids to thumb through your blog posts about

all their antics, when they're in their 20's and 30's... I think that would be fabulous!!!  :)

Just wanted to share.   :)

XOXO,

Good Friday Morning To You... Can I Pass You Some Banana Bread?

I am still here at home before heading over to attend to 

"shop duties" for the day,

and I thought I'd invite you to my kitchen table for an impromptu slice of

fresh-from-the-oven banana chocolate chip bread

and some coffee or hot tea.

If you'd prefer, I can cook up some Irish oatmeal for you.

Either way, as I sit here on my lap top, catching up on emails,

blogs, and, of course, Facebook, I thought

"Why not open the back screen door and invite my

blog friends in for breakfast??"

I took this quickie picture with my cell-phone so pardon it's

lack of quality.  :)

Yes, I was literally just taking the banana bread out of the oven

and placing it on the metal tray to cool when I thought

I'd just shoot a quick pic to upload to Facebook

to say "Hi" to all my Facebook friends.

So if you're on Facebook with me, sorry for the 

duplication.  :)

And if you are NOT on Facebook..... WHY NOT????  ;)

Happy Friday to you ALL

and please, have as much of that 

banana bread as you want, and take some home

with you, won't you?

I don't need it sitting around here tempting me all weekend!  :)

  

Hey Valentines! Shopportunity's Calling -- PICK UP! :)

Happy Valentine's Day, sweet friends!

You love chocolate, 

roses, 

fancy dinners, 

jewelry, and

all that makes Valentine's Day, 

well... Valentine's Day.

But you know what we ladies also reallllllly realllllly like??

A sale and a chance to swoop in and snag that special something

we've had our eye on forever, but we've been being "good" and putting off.

Sweetie -- it's YOUR DAY today!

For TODAY ONLY, sashay over to THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE and

scoop up some "decor candy" for yourself  

and through midnight take 25% off it all -- 

choose from the newest additions to the store 

or shop the clearance section -- 

it's all included.

Just enter coupon code: LOVE during check out and

VOILA!  It's our gift to YOU!    :)

Forrest Gump said "My mama always said, Life is like a box of chocoloates -- you

never know what you're gonna get."  

Well we say, scoot on over to The Beautiful Life and choose your own

"gift" and know EXACTLY what you're gonna get!  ;)

In other news, real quick, I just have to say there are some

REALLLLLLY cool things coming your way in the shop.

My, oh my....  ;)

And before I head off to be amid the beauty at 

The Beautiful Life, 

let me point you in the direction of  FRECKLED LAUNDRY  blog.

You might remember Jami and Freckled Laundry from 

THIS POST

about doing a fabulous faux finish (that's a tongue-twister)

on a nightstand, making it look just like one of those

incredible zinc chests from Restoration Hardware.

Well, creative Jami just posted about a mantle re-do and in it

she uses one of our

TIN MAN'S HEARTS

inside a bare wooden frame... oh my word... I LOVED IT!

Check this out!

All of Jami's posts are so great -- what creativity!!

Take care, sweet friends.  Indulge in your chocolate, candy, roses,

wonderful dinner, whatever.  And take a moment to 

get yourself a little sumpin'-sumpin' at 25% while you're at it.

And no matter what -- remember 

I JUST LOVE'S YA!  

:)