Labels

About Me

My photo
Hey! Welcome to The Lilly Pad! I post about random house things like decorating projects, crafts, and stuff. Also, I'll try to let you know where to find things that I write about at different price points. I very obviously have no training (as if I needed to mention that) and I take really crummy pictures, but I'm always on the hunt for deals and good stuff to put in my house.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all

Instead of posting about silly house stuff today, I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

We all have a multitude of things to be thankful for!

Although most of you probably already know this story, I came much too close to losing my husband a few years ago. As a result of Jeff's accident (if you call it that??), we had a serious change in perspective. Although I may not always act it, I remind myself everyday how lucky I am that I am here.

This summer, I was bitching to Jeff about something stupid when we were sitting in a restaurant and a woman came in with her husband and two very young children. The mother had no hair as an obvious result of chemo. Hello, perspective.

Anyway, although it's often difficult to remember, try to count your blessings daily, thank Jesus for them, and tell your loved ones that you are thankful for all that they do :)

Don't worry, I'll get back to silly house stuff tomorrow!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

My Aunt Kathy

For those of you who don't know me very well (and even some of you who do), you may not know that my aunt Kathy was an incredible artist. Her art is very well loved by numerous collectors (definitely including myself...and not just because she was my aunt). The subject of most of her pieces is low country living with a very bright, whimsical brushstroke.

In addition to being an artist, Kathy also had an incredible eye for things and the most amazing color perspective. Her Georgetown, SC home was filled with so many treasures. She could make junk look right at home with her collection of Staffordshire dogs. From her, I learned that things shouldn't match too much and some things never go out of style. She rocked Wayfarers before most of us knew what they were :). The lady had serious style that was effortless and timeless.

Sadly, my aunt Kathy passed away a few years ago after a very, very short battle with cancer. Though most of you never met her and will never have the opportunity to own one of her pieces, I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. The color palette and design choices in my house are heavily influenced by her.

More importantly, I wanted to share some of the prints and originals from my collection. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Also, try to look past my complete photography ineptitude!













Sunday, November 20, 2011

Artsy Fartsy

I love art. I probably love art more than the average gal, but I (obviously) don't have tons of money to spend on pieces. So, I have a myriad of different types of art adorning my walls. I have artwork that ranges from a painting that I got at the Hospice flea market for 25 cents to an original Renoir print that I got as a wedding gift from a very special art collector friend. Needless to say, my artwork is all over the place.

My rule of thumb when it comes to art is to hang it if you love it, which is really just my general rule of thumb for decorating. Who really cares about what's popular or what's out of style. If you love something, embrace it. Your house should be a reflection of things you love and who cares what other people think :)

I love original pieces of art and I'm not scared to draw something to put on my walls (even though my sister has reminded me more than a couple of times that she doesn't LOVE my artwork...in other words, I'm no good). I actually even framed a watercolor that I painted in Ms. Hess' 8th grade expanded art class.

I'm from an artistic family, but I didn't totally get the gene, if you know what I mean. My aunt Kathy was an amazing artist that I'll write more about later. My aunt Sissy was pretty good, too, and my dad isn't half bad when it comes to intricate pencil drawings. He has drawn sketches of both of my houses and is currently working on airplane drawings for Gaines' room. As an aside that nobody really cares about, both my aunt and my dad won gold key awards many, many years ago :)

So, without further ado, here are some pictures of things that I have on my walls. There's really no rhyme or reason to where art goes in my house. Does anyone else like to pick up random artwork that they find or draw things for their rooms are are you mostly bought art kind of people?












Friday, November 18, 2011

Seeing Stripes

This summer, I had Lilly's room painted pink. Very, very pink. Like Lilly Pulitzer pink. Even though I thought I had done my due diligence and painted a pretty big swatch on the wall, the color turned out to be way pinker than I had anticipated. Not bad, just PINK.

When Jeff saw it, he told me that all of the other little girls that see the room are going to be jealous because they're also going to want a pink room like Lilly's, but all of their mothers are going to say, "no way in H-E-double hockey sticks" (because they have more sense than I do). I took that as a back handed compliment on my color choice :) Also, given the fact that this was the first room that I had gotten professionally painted, the color was staying.

A few weeks ago, I decided to go big or go home with Lilly's room. You can only get away with crazy colors and fabrics for so long and what little girl doesn't want a super pink room (hopefully mine still does when she gets old enough to have an opinion about such things...as in 6 months from now because, like I said, the color is staying).

Anyway, in the spirit of over-the-topness, I decided to paint bold, pink stripes on top of the bold, pink wall.

First, I measured 10 inch stripes and taped the wall with the green painter's tape (worked so much better than the blue kind) and then went to town painting. It took me a couple of days to finish because I really only do this kind of stuff during naptime, which is also the only time I have to clean, check email, eat lunch...you get the point.

I love how it turned out, so I may end up with stripes all over my house.
Also, the room still has a long way to go, but I'll keep working on it and blogging about it as I go.







Thursday, November 17, 2011

Light & White

My husband and I have been having a house debate, which is really weird because he typically has zero opinion about anything involving our house. His usual response to any house question I have is, "How much does it cost?" So, what could possibly force him to actually have a decorating opinion? Wood paneling.

We have birch paneling in our family room and Jeff LOVES it. I think that he thinks that it's cozy and warm. I, on the other hand, do not love the wood.

To be honest, I don't hate the paneling, per se, but I very strongly dislike how dark the room is because of the paneling. It's a moot point, though, because as much as I tell Jeff that one day he's going to come home to a painted room, I'm not going to ruin the one house thing he has an opinion about in this house.

As a result of the darkness of the paneling, I decided to go with a white sofa. Yes, I have two children and two dogs so it seems more than crazy, but the white slipcover was on sale this fall at Ballard Designs so I went ahead and bought it. It arrived a couple of weeks ago and I seriously love it! I figured that I can easily bleach it, if needed.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my favorite new slipcover :) I think that it really does brighten the room up a little.

By the way, this room still needs mucho work. This whole house is a major work in progress.



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Something Old

Jeff and I moved back to Burlington from Charlotte just over a year ago. We were in our Charlotte "starter home" for a little over five years. The house was painted and re-painted, decorated and re-decorated as I tried to figure out what I loved and didn't love so much. The projects were all a labor of love :) Although I really like my new, "grown up" house, it's not quite the same as our first house...yet.



Monday, November 14, 2011

My Aunt Kathy

For those of you who don't know me very well (and even some of you who do), you may not know that my aunt Kathy was an incredible artist. Her art is very well loved by numerous collectors (definitely including myself...and not just because she was my aunt). The subject of most of her pieces is low country living with a very bright, whimsical brushstroke.

In addition to being an artist, Kathy also had an incredible eye for things and the most amazing color perspective. Her Georgetown, SC home was filled with so many treasures. She could make junk look right at home with her collection of Staffordshire dogs. From her, I learned that things shouldn't match too much and some things never go out of style. She rocked Wayfarers before most of us knew what they were :). The lady had serious style that was effortless and timeless.

Sadly, my aunt Kathy passed away a few years ago after a very, very short battle with cancer. Though most of you never met her and will never have the opportunity to own one of her pieces, I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. The color palette and design choices in my house are heavily influenced by her.

More importantly, I wanted to share some of the prints and originals from my collection. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Also, try to look past my complete photography ineptitude!














Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pillows, Pillows Everywhere





Although my husband would very strongly disagree, I am a firm believer that you can't have too many pillows thrown around your house.

I am pretty much a TERRIBLE seamstress, but I am able to sew a straight enough line to make throw pillows. Most of the pillows that I've made are knife edge pillows with an envelope closure, but I have recently been working on zippers and fringe. It's kind of ridiculous how difficult it is to get a zipper sewn on just right (at least for me and my non-sewing self).

I generally stick to neutral colored upholstery on big pieces of furniture and use throw pillows and accent chairs for some color & a little je ne sais quoi.

After getting home from our family beach adventure this past weekend, I went to the Loomcraft outlet and had really good luck with fabric for new pillows. I picked up some Trina Turk for Schumacher, Duralee and Bruschwig & Fils fabric. Now all I have to do is make them :)




Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day, y'all! Today was a great day to celebrate the heroes of our country and to watch a little Carolina basketball victory!

Jeff and I will be at the beach with the babies for the rest of the weekend. We're looking forward to a little aquarium visit and Amos Mosquitoes for dinner :)

I'm excited about attempting a craft project next week that is inspired by my good friend Erica's recent furniture craftiness :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Gorgeous Georges (Le Manach, that is)



So, I'm the kind of girl that LOVES a deal! During the last several years, I have had many great consignment store and TJ Maxx finds (in my opinion). Recently, however, I made have made one of my best second hand finds, and it was an accident.

During a shopping trip to Bella's House here in Burlington last fall, my sister talked me into getting a set of six ikat print curtain panels and two cornices. I wasn't as in love with them as she was, but I liked them and I was in serious need of stuff to fill my new house. Since everything was only $75, they came home with me.

Since I have gotten the curtains home, they've moved to two or three rooms in my house looking for the perfect home. During the most recent move to my dining room, I pulled out the hem of one of the curtains to see if I could extend the length. Well, here is where I made my great discovery!

It turns out that the fabric used for these curtains was hand printed by a French design house called Georges Le Manach and the fabric retails for about $200-$250 per yard!!! So, I paid about less than $10 per panel and the fabric alone for each panel cost $600-$750 :)

All in, I paid $75 for curtains that cost about $5000 to have custom made. Super Score!!!

...and yes, the trim in my breakfast room is blue, but not for long!