Perfection!

Mark has applied the final coat of varnish and we both agree that all the hard work over the past few months (mostly from Mark) was well worth it...

BEFORE

AFTER!

Celebrating What Was

My Auntie Angie is so crafty.  She has recently turned the inside of her closet into an office!  I've been asking her for photos and she sent these along.  What I love most is that she incorporates family heirlooms, favorite photos and books into a space that she'll see almost everyday.  Things like my grandmother's typewriter, a self-portrait my cousin Michael drew when he was little and an old photo of her sweet puppy, Bogie. I definitely get my love of recycling vintage things from my Aunt and my mother. 

Wall paint: Benjamin Moore's "King Arthur's Court"

My grandfather's old metal grain scooper is filled with daisies

My grandmother's candy dish

I've recently been seeing a few closet offices cropping up on design blogs and think its such a great space saving and functional idea:

P-400

Mark has been slaving away, finessing the parquet floors with multiple grades of sandpaper.  I'm rethinking putting furniture in here now...

Mr. Sandman

Steve came down again this week to sand the floors and they are looking incredible!  We still need to hand-sand, fill and seal them but we're almost there...

¿Parquet?

Steve Christian, Mark's producing partner, graciously agreed to help lay our reclaimed parquet floor up in the loft.  We couldn't have asked for a better person for the job.  Take a look at his attention to detail.

Next comes the sanding...

Glue Sniffer Christian.  Poor Steve.  :(

Wood cutting skills

Vintage Canvas Pull Down Charts

Gorgeous.

In the Navy

I'm loving the recent trend of navy and black paint used in various parts of the house. Our hallway was a bit too stark for my liking so I decided to take the plunge into the deep blue paint sea. We still need to paint gloss on the chair rail and skirting boards but I really love the pop of rich color contrasting with the light!  Now we need to lay the carpet on the stairs to finish the look.

Before, testing paint colors

Hallway at night

Hallway in sunny daylight