Saturday, September 28, 2013

Art hung at the beach place

Decided that hanging art comes first for me and actually finishing decorating rooms, well I guess doesn't come first.  Yes with rooms in the "not nearly done" phase, furniture and rugs yet to arrive and a ton of shit to do, today I thought to myself that if I could not actually pull the rooms together, I could at least play with hanging some art, some of which was already here.  I just love how I justify my thought process.

Hit a cool little gallery today and left with 2 pieces I love.  I even shopped and bought art with twins in tow - let's just say I felt extremely accomplished.  Normally, they would NOT be into me shopping for art and hanging with me through the process of selection and negotiation.

For your review, some of my newer pieces:


Love this painting and supporting local artists in the community.
 
Next up a painting on glass that will probably serve as the top of a bar cart.
 
 
The artist suggested lighting it from beneath the piece and told me it was beautiful when it was illuminated. 
I was honestly thinking that I thought this was a great idea, but at the same time I was also envisioning my blue martini glasses, a martini shaker and some vodka on top.
A useful piece of art! :)
 
Next up are two pieces we had commissioned specifically for this space:
 
 
They are each 48" x 48", so large in scale, but are in the LR on a large wall and I love them.  They just make me happy!
I also see something different almost every time I sit and stare at them.
I might add this is even before I drink the the martinis.
 
A shot of a painting the we recently purchased at an art fair:
 
 
The piece was framed by the artist in the stainless, which I might not have chosen myself, but actually do like the look.
 
and my last piece to share today, which was painted by an artist in Miami:
 
 
There's a story behind the painting that touches my heart, has to do with a very sick child and a parent who donated his work to support the mission who helped his son.  I purchased the painting due to the story I know behind it and also because in some odd way it reminds me of me and my twins.  I should add that this is despite the fact my daughter looks nothing like me, rather like her father and is not blond!
 
There you have it - while I probably should be trying to pull rooms together to show I am making progress, I'm just strolling around looking at my art and thinking to myself - yes we do need a DR table....but until we can find what we want, we at least have some beautiful paintings to enjoy.
 
Does art make you happy?  even if you are sitting in unfinished rooms?
For me the answer is a definite YES.
 
 


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The Beach Place

So, I now know people actually read this blog - because I barely mention that we bought a place at the beach and I got emails saying "show us the beach place"!  So, I figure why not bring my blog friends up to speed, despite the fact it's not all gorgeous on the interior (yet!).

Here's the story.  About a year ago we started looking for a little place at the beach that we could enjoy weekends at.  My initial thought was, how hard can this be? That was until I found out that what we were looking for was not exactly easy to find.  Quick determinations had us seeing places and ruling out what we did not want: a drive that was more than an hour from our house, a high rise building, a "cookie cutter" interior layout and a busy touristy area.  All of those are easy to find in FL and truly are a dime a dozen.  So we finally decide on the area we want - a very small beach community without buildings of mega proportion and a small village type feel.  Once we found the area we wanted, we quickly found that the inventory there was very low....especially because we did not want the standard cookie cutter model and wanted to be on the water with views from the LR and MBR.  Oh, did I mention we had a budget?  well we did!!  We looked and looked and just when I was about to throw in the towel on the whole idea (or area), we found something I thought could work.  The fabulous Mr. S was not quite as sold on the place as I was. I had to point out how different it could look if we got rid of all the bright canary yellow painted walls and dark wood trim.  He finally agreed that we could put our own stamp on it and that it did indeed have most of the things we wanted on our checklist.

So, here you go.  First a shot of the exterior of the building - as seen from the beach side:


 
It's a very private small building, which is shared.  The shared part is a good thing, as we also share the cost of the hurricane insurance.  If you know anything about FL coastal insurance, you know it's outrageously expensive.  Our place has 3 BRs and 3 baths (small baths, but full baths) and beautiful views.
 
 
This is the view from our LR and balcony.  LOVE the privacy and the little trail to the beach.
 
 
The beach is beautiful and perfect for looking for seashells early in the morning.  The twins and I have already started our little collection for a Christmas project we plan to do.
 
 
And every night we get to enjoy this view from our new little place.
And you just know that every night, there is a glass of wine in my hand while I'm watching the sun set and thinking.....life is finally good again.  It's been a long road.
Lastly, my 10 yr old daughter took this shot.  She also informed me that I should have a new photo of myself that shows my fun mom side vs. my professional head shot for work.  So she now think she's a budding photographer and is on a mission to show the new relaxed me....and get me up to speed with Instagram.  Yep, my twins are keeping me current!
 
Interior before and after shots soon, I promise. 


Monday, September 9, 2013

I'm finally back!

So it's September already and I'm wondering exactly how that could be.  I remember mentioning 2013 would be the "year of the big merge" and ok, I'll blame my absence on that.  See how easy that was - I feel better already.

So yes, I did marry Mr. S and we did merge the 2 households this summer, which turned into a boatload of work in the 90+ heat.  The process of deciding what to keep, what to purge/donate/give-away was challenging, but for the most part I'm done with the bulk of that challenge.  I still have a storage bin area with a boatload of things I want to keep and they will be going to our new beach place just as soon as the workers are out of there.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself....

Let's begin my catch-up fest, by showing you a project that I can finally check off my to-do list.  Moved out of the interim house and was happy with the progress completed.  A couple of before exterior shots: 


And now a couple of after shots:
 
 
 
I can't take the credit for any of the exterior work, because daughter #2 (owner and her husband) were in the States this summer and oversaw the exterior painting.  What a difference a paint job can make.  Love it.
 
But I will give an award for my most favorite interior room transformation and it goes to
the LR.  Before/after shot below:
 
 
 
It's nice to look at a completed room and think yes, eventually I will complete others.
 
Ask me the real reason that I came back to the blog and I would have to tell the truth - I have resigned my professional gig and now may actually have time to enjoy all the things it's hard to do when you are a working solo mom with zero time.  and yes, I must give credit where credit is due - Mr. S convinced me I would LOVE being able to focus on family and fun.  Well, it didn't take that much convincing.  We also agreed to buy a little place at the beach, under the condition that "you have time to enjoy it"  (his exact words).  So, now I have no job but a funky little place at the beach and a brand new project.  It's not a real big ugly duckling, more of a mini-me ugly duckling, but a fun new project indeed.  So here's to future posts of finishing the merge/projects here at our home and shots of progress at the beach place, that's underway as well.  
 
It feels good to be back :)