Oh Happy Day

Hi guys!  I’ll bet most of you already know this, but today is the official day that our issue of American Farmhouse Style magazine hit newsstands!  (By “our issue”, I mean the issue that features our home and our kitty.) Apparently it hit a few places early, because I saw it at the grocery store a couple days ago and got mine in the mail last week.  But. Now it’s officially here across the country for everyone who wants to be a part of our magazine-feature-adventure and picks up a copy.  Please do!  You won’t be disappointed (except for the fact that we’re not on the cover, and that they forgot to mention two of my favorite sources for home decor, Essy’s Rug Gallery in Franklin and our local Pottery Barn in Cool Springs (ask for James!).  But other than that, they did a fantastic job and I’m very happy with it.

I meant to do a little PR with this magazine coming out, but since I’m in the middle of a client’s kitchen remodel as well as homeschooling three kids, I haven’t done much to get the word out about this magazine.  If you feel so inclined, feel free to share/post/whatever about it.  I would really appreciate that.  Also, if you don’t already, follow my Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook accounts!

Oh, and if you buy the magazine and feel it necessary to email the editor and tell her how thrilled you are to see our unique blend of authentic materials and good design, I wouldn’t be upset at all.  Even if you said you wished you saw more from us in magazines, social media, or even a book.  Even if you found her email address inside the front cover or second page of the magazine and contacted her, I wouldn’t be offended at all.

I thought maybe you’d like to see some photos that didn’t end up in the magazine!  There was discussion with the photographer about whether we should include this rug in the bathroom shot.  I love rugs, especially as bathmats (and especially in a lot of other places, too).  The dilemma was whether it would cover up too much of the marble and onyx floor.  Which it probably would’ve.  So the rug didn’t end up in the magazine.  But I LOVE this shot from photographer Ashel Parsons WITH the rug!

This is a Persian rug is from Essy’s Rug Gallery.  Real, high-quality rugs are definitely an investment but they last forever and hold their value if you want to trade them in.  Also, they are a piece of art and make the room.

This next picture is the inside of the shower, which isn’t mentioned in the magazine.  Since the vintage clawfoot tub had the brass shower parts, we were going to use that as our shower.  This small stall shower was actually going to be turned into a closet.  But, we changed our mind, and decided to keep the vintage brass from the clawfoot tub and keep this as a shower anyway.  The sides are huge cement tiles (something like 2×4 feet) and the back is a reverse mix of the bathroom floor…this time twice as much marble as onyx.

Just for fun, do you want to see a before pic of the shower?

This is obviously after we’d started ripping it out, and unfortunately you missed the brass-framed door from 1990.  The hole in the floor is from an old leak…apparently they had mis-caulked this 27 years ago and at some point, the owners found water dripping through their kitchen ceiling.  Thankfully we weren’t there for that.  Also in this picture you can see the old sheet-vinyl floor we had when we moved in!

A similar picture to the one below did show up in the magazine, but the lights were off so it’s a little dark.  This space doesn’t get a lot of natural light, so it’s a toss-up on which version is better.  But here is the lighter one.  I’ll show a “before” picture next.

It’s hard to imagine this could be the same shot, but it is!  The fridge is now where the stand mixer was on the counter.  The door you see is where the brass sink is now, and to the right of this picture (where you can’t really see) was another pantry door like this one.  We ripped both out and made an open-shelved pantry.

This part of our kitchen isn’t in the magazine, either, but I thought I’d show you because I spend a lot of time at the sink, handwashing thousands of dishes since our dishwasher problems began in June.  Our new dishwasher is arriving soon, and things will get better for me.

Last one.  The magazine had several pictures of our dining room, with the midcentury credenza, the faux fireplace with the chalk drawing of a fire, and the fall centerpiece made of milk glass.  Here’s a picture looking at the bay window in there, with the buffalo-check curtains I made out of duvet covers from Ikea.  When this picture was taken, my fall branches and flowers were looking a little sad, so I put out different ones.

Thanks so much for following along!  Lots of new stuff is going on with our business and I’ll post about it soon.  Exciting stuff.  In the meantime, pray for us, if you will!  Our business is going a new direction and we want to follow the Lord in whatever He has for us.  Details coming soon, but in the meantime, enjoy the magazine!!