Brickmaker tables seem to be all the rage right now in design....
I love the look, but not the BIG price tags that tend to accompany these industrial beauties.....
When I found the Ballard Designs version I thought I would go for it and place
my order - at around 350 bucks, the price was about 1/3 the cost of it's
more substantial versions {hello Restoration Hardware!}....
Well, seems lots of other design savy peeps wanted Mr. Industrial too....
'cause it was backordered for like THREE MONTHS.....
Not usually a patient girl, I decided I had no choice but to wait....
plus we were in the middle of moving and I had a few other
things to keep my mind occupied!
Well, Mr. Industrial arrived today.....
I am usually skeptical about furniture that comes
"Assembly Required" but this piece went together quickly and quite
sturdily {I am bringing out my very best vocabulary tonight girls!}...
And cause I have a fancy new camera and wanted to show all of you his luscious industrial goodness, I snapped these photos about 12 seconds after I assembled him....
I have fallen in love with blue porcelain once again in this house.....
proving to my husband that YES we should keep all these pieces of crap beautiful collectibles
in storage 'cause a woman is known entitled to change her mind!
I will say that the Ballard Designs version is not as big as other more costly tables but
actually fits my space better than the others would have. I also
love that it has a lower shelf to store magazines or books. The pricier
versions do not have lower shelves.
I am thrilled with Mr. Industrial!
** I am headed to San Diego this weekend for another soccer tournament.....
but hoping to see some sites beyond the soccer fields. Any California
girls have recommendations for me? Good shopping, eating, beaches?
Oops! Our family left for Seattle for a weekend getaway on Friday and I neglected to post the winner of the Shabby Apple dress giveaway! The winner was chosen in a very scientific way - my youngest daughter picked a number between 1 and 29! And she chose........#11 - Garden Antiques Vintage! Please email me and I will give you directions on how you get the dress of your choice! Congratulations!!!
We had a fun and busy weekend in Seattle - the purpose of our trip was to see family but I also snuck in a visit to Ruffles & Rust and Snohomish with the lovely Melaine from My Sweet Savannah! I can't wait to show you some pictures....
I got a NEW camera!!!! And I look forward to showing you BETTER pictures of our home....it is a long over due upgrade!
Can it really be mid-July?
Why can't I seem to finish any house projects? Oh, that's right, my kids are out of school!
Next up on the house "ta-da" list - my living room and bonus room. I ordered a microfiber sectional for the bonus room - not a thrilling way to spend alot of money but necessary for a great hangout/kid space. Despite the microfiber sofa, I will add lots of vintage touches to the bonus space, including that great vintage map of Portland I purchased at Farm Chicks.
I was honored to be contacted by Shabby Apple, a wonderful company
that sells women's, little girls and maternity dresses. Shabby Apple offered
to giveaway one of their fabulous dresses to one lucky
Forever*Cottage reader! I don't know about you, but
I could use a new dress right about now......one that gets me
from mid-summer to early fall. And instead of choosing just
one Shabby Apple dress to giveaway, I decided to let the winning
reader choose one from the three I have selected below.......
cause I know we all have different tastes and onlyYOU know
what looks best on you!
You could choose "Amethyst" pictured above!
Or you could choose "San Gabriel" - love those ruffles!
"The Traveler" is oh so sophisticated!
To enter to win one of these fabulous dresses, go to the Shabby Apple Facebook page
and "Like" Shabby Apple. Come back here and let
me know you did that AND tell me which one of the three Shabby Apple dresses pictured
above you would choose if you won!
If you just can't wait and want to order a dress for yourself today, Shabby Apple is offering a special 10% off discount code for Forever*Cottage readers! Just enter "forevercottage10off" at checkout to receive 10% off your purchase {offer available for the next 30 days}.
Enter by Thursday, July 14 at midnight. I will announce the winner on Friday.
about my amazing sister-in-law....who is sort of a hero...to me,
but also to my girls.....'cause my girls have a mom who, on a good day,
runs her 3 miles and then has a couple glasses of wine in the evening to celebrate.....whoo- hoo!
My sister-in-law runs ultra-marathons - as in 100 miles through the mountains marathons......
but the most amazing thing is she WINS them! Besides just being a super cool human-being,
she just kicks ass!
This weekend she is running the Hard Rock 100, a race that she has won {for the women}
three times. She holds the women's course record for both ways the race is run
{clockwise and counter clockwise}.
Check out this video of her last year going through an aid station
{that is my handsome brother in the backwards baseball hat,
who happens to "pace" her for the last 50 miles!}:
It just so happens that last year she led the race overall for 92 miles!
Yep, she was officially beating the boys!
In uncharacteristic fashion, she had significant physical difficulties in the latter
stages of the race, cramping and falling - however, she finished second overall
and set a new women's course record.
Diana in 2009
The next day when she became extremely ill, my brother took her to the hospital. Turns
out that she was suffering serious dehydration and her kidney's were not
functioning. She was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Denver
where she spent the next month being treated for kidney failure.
I am happy and relieved to say she recovered and resumed her running and
training. What can I say? This race is her passion.
And this year she is back.
We are proud of Diana, she is awesome and we are praying that this weekend
she runs the race of her life and above all else, finishes in good health!
** My brother wrote a fabulous article{"Pacing Diana"} about her race that was published in the June issue of Trail Runner magazine, if you are interested, you can read it here.
I can't believe it is Wednesday! Where is the summer going? Are you feeling the same?
It was a busy weekend at our house ~ between golf games, entertaining and holiday celebrations, we concentrated on adding some cottage-style curb appeal to our new home. I took the plunge and painted our front door yellow - a color that I would categorize as "trendy" right now. Given my love
of neutral decor I was not 100% certain I was going to love this bold
color on our front door but I do, I do!
In addition to painting the door, we added a new antique bronze handle and lock-set, I like
how the black looks with the yellow door, so crisp!
I finally planted topiaries and my vintage stone urns with my favorite plants! And
added some vintage grain sack pillows on the bench.
The light fixtures were looking worn and tired, their original grayish paint was faded
and uneven. Instead of replacing them at a GREAT expense, I had the hubby
disassemble them and gave them a coat of black spray paint! SO. MUCH. BETTER.
And finally, we made a big decision - we removed the shutters. While I usually love shutters on homes, I just came to the conclusion that the only contribution the shutters provided was
clutter so they had to GO. If you want to see what the outside of our home looked like
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