The Official Start of #summerinthesouth !!

 

I'm always so happy when I can start using that hashtag!!

( I know it's not Summer Solstice yet but Memorial Day is OUR kick-off in the South)

 

#summerinthesouth is an amazing time.

(follow along on Instagram)

 

Yeah, it's hot. Really hot.

But we know it's coming and we are nothing if not prepared.

 



 

We have special Summer wardrobes.

'Merica!

and

 

the Boys of Summer!

 

 

Lots of refreshing blue blooms in the yard.

 

 

 

We go to hole-in-the-wall, only open in the Summer restaurants with views like this.

We do some serious porch-sittin'.

Day and Night!!

 

 

 We eat outside. Every meal. Starting with coffee on the porch in the morning!

 

Honestly, most of our cooking is done outside, too!

 

 

Summer food looks pretty good!

 

 

We don't just eat on the porch.

Epic games of darts go down every weekend.

 

 

And sometimes we get off the porch and play some serious games of horseshoes!!

(or Cornhole, if that's your game!)

 

 

This is the backyard of a friends' neighbor!!

He invited us over to play horseshoes last Summer.

He is a professional Horseshoes player!!!

It's an awesome set up.

We had so much fun.

And, yeah, he won :)

 

#summerinthesouth

 

 



A "Girlie" Party for Confirmation

 

This year our entire Confirmation Class at church was girls.

So we had some freedom to be a bit "girlie" in the things we did

and for our celebration at church after our Confirmation service.

 

I made each of them a 'banner" which in actuality was a canvas.

They hung in the Sanctuary.

I used a 12 x 12 canvas that I got in a package at JoAnn's using a coupon.

That made them very affordable.

 

I wanted them to be neutral enough that they could hang them in their rooms

no matter what colors they had.

I used grays and creams.

It was all done with scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.

I printed out our verse that we used throughout the process.

It's on our t-shirts, etc.

Late night banner making!

 

And then I set out to make the reception afterwards girlie, fun and

spunky like these 6th grade girls are :)

 

Oh, and on a budget and the reception is going to be where all church activities happen -

 in  the largest room at church and usually not super attractive décor.

In our case it's the gym which I love but not really a party atmosphere!

 

I found these super cute flower plates at the Dollar Tree months before our big day.

I bought black and white striped napkins at Wal Mart.

They had gift wrap to match the paper plates so I bought 1 roll of that

 and used it to make a table runner in the center of the tables.

It's narrow so it worked perfectly.

I do this all the time - just cut the ends in a big V like you do ribbons and it looks great!

 

 Then I made big balloon bouquets for the center of the table using balloons,

 black and white polka dot, chevron and striped paper lanterns from the Dollar Tree, and streamers of crepe paper and plastic ribbon. easy and inexpensive.

And I could do it a few days ahead!

 

 

If you've been reading the blog for very long then you will remember these "props" from some of my workshops I've led for teachers.

I brought them in and used them to decorate one of the side tables.

This table had a big photo collage of our time together

during the Confirmation classes, retreat, and meals.

And the gift bags held little photo albums I put together for each girl and a little gift that was from an inside joke from our overnight retreat - notice I didn't say SLEEPover!!!

 

 If you want to cheer up a big, boring gym

then I recommend black and white  polka dots and stripes!!



A Few "Deets" About the "Challenge" Room - Fabric and Art

I posted this picture on IG somewhere in the middle of the process.

 

A lot of people wanted to know where to find this fabric.

Me too!!

 

This was a ready made pillow at a shop nearby.

 There are multiple vendors so I had to track down the vendor through the ladies at the front desk. They called her. We chatted with them as middle men, so to speak. Then she gave them permission to share her cell number. I texted her a pic. She had no clue. She sent it to her supplier. I checked back with her. Her supplier finally said he couldn't get the fabric.

 I wanted THAT fabric.

 

 

Then I went to the place I should have started - Eric at Lewis and Sheron Textiles downtown (Atlanta).

I called him. He said, "Send me a picture."

I sent it.

He said they had it!!!

Happy dance.

 

Next question. How much? Cause I really love it.

 

More happy dancing - it was only $10.95 a yard.  (I know, right?)

I had to go to Lenox (opposite side of the city to see a Genius about a Mac ) so I cut across town and ran through LS, said "Eric it's me - I'm here about the banana leaf fabric", he cut it, I paid, snapped a few pics of some really good fabrics and was out the door in less than 15.

 I had a Mac to deliver to College Girl - It's Maymester!!

 

That was my only "splurge" in the whole room.

But once I saw it I couldn't imagine anything else.

 

 

I made a pillowcase from the banana leaf fabric. I covered a "body hug" (that is seriously the name) pillow we had. When you have moved your college aged daughter as many times as we have from dorms to apartments to subleased Summer apartments to the  Sorority House and back to apartments- some furnished, some not- you accumulate stuff. In every size. The coral fabric is some I had from the Sorority House bedroom decorating project, The blue beaded pillow is one I snagged from College Girl as well and the zebra pillow was in that room before the ORC began. It just worked.

 

 

And a pillow for the chair.

That chair was in the room before the ORC and right up until 2 days before I planned on taking it out.

 The room is small and the chair is large even though it fits the inspiration "look."

Once I moved furniture around it looked better than I thought

 and since I didn't really have another chair I definitely wanted to use, I left it.

It's growing on me.

 

And thank you for the nice comments on the 'print' or painting

 and the questions about where I found it.

Made me smile.

 

I had a dark brown frame propped on the dresser in all the early ORC posts.

It was given to me.

It fit in the window opening perfectly.

I really wanted a bamboo blind on this window but it is dead center on the front of the house and every other window on the front "reads" white. So a bamboo blind probably wouldn't cut it.

But we need privacy and it's the South and the front of our house gets afternoon sun.

Scorching in the Summer.

So, I left the white shade that was already on the window. A practical necessity.

I pulled it up so it practically disappeared.

 

 

And then I burned the midnight oil and painted this blue and white chinoiserie vase

 with coral in it the night before the final ORC post!

I had seen ( and I thought "pinned" it but I can't find it now) a photo of a room

 ( I believe by Ralph Lauren)

and it had a huge blue and white vase full of red coral and I just wanted to paint it. 

 I just never got around to it until this room and vase presented the chance.

 I spray painted the frame gold

and then waited for the sun to come up so I could take pictures for the reveal post! :)

 

So thank you for the compliments on my painting!

This painting has made me want to paint some more blue and white china and coral or maybe palms...

but smaller. This one is 20x24"!!

 

 

Swinging from the Chandeliers!

 

Not really!!

But we are loving this new addition to our screened in porch.

 

 

Not an original idea at all. I first saw this on Pinterest

 but I didn't pin it so I can't get you to the original link.

I knew it would be perfect on our porch so it stuck in my mind.

 

 

I gathered up 2 small Hula Hoops - one College Girl won at Relay for Life and one from Dollar Tree.

I had a roll of white Duck Tape (but if you don't, $3.00)

I had one strand of icicle lights with white cord and a variety of other Christmas lights that I had bought at Christmas or the end of the season Summer sales (patio lights).

The lights would be less than $5.00 if you had to buy them new.

This time of year the lights are in the Summer Patio section or Bridal section and online.

Then I started wrapping the Hula Hoops with the white tape. Once I finished that I used white zip ties ( I bought a zillion white ones at Harbor Freight for $1.99)

But you could wrap the lights if you didn't want to get the zip ties.

 



 

 Just wrap the lights around and around. As many as you like.

I used a strand of regular twinkle lights, a strand of icicle lights

and a strand of clear ball shaped patio lights because I had them.

I still need a strand of icicle lights for the second chandelier.

 

Here is the "in progress shot" and it looks like a tangled mess!!

 



I had to buy white chain to hang them with.
 I tried white clothesline that I had but $5.00 worth of white plastic chain worked much better.

 

I screwed a cuphook in the rafter and hung it from the chain.

They weigh practically nothing.

I ran a white extension cord to each one and TA-DA!!

 

Our table is long ( 3 outdoor patio tables pushed together) so I made two.

And then we waited for it to get dark and we "tested" them out

 by having really big blackened shrimp tacos for dinner!

 

 

Pinterest Knows Me Well

I was sitting on the porch Saturday morning having a mug of French Vanilla coffee before I headed out to the farmer's market.

This when I like to catch up on Instagram and cruise through Pinterest.

(Marietta Square Farmer's Market goodness!!

College Girl and a Classic Mojito King of Pops popsicle - best treat ever,

buckets and buckets of bouquets and organic veggies!)

 

I have seen some comments that people are not happy that Pinterest has started choosing pins they might like and throwing them into the mix on their feed.

 

Well , Pinterest chose this pin for me

 

 

and I was hooked!!

Well done Pinterest!!!

I followed the thread and landed on the site for

 

Jenny Wolf Interiors

 

Maybe I've been under a rock

 and everyone else has seen her work but I am inspecting every photo on her site.

 

As far as I am concerned they are move in ready for me.

All images are from her website.

 

So come on in...

 

 

or we could just go out back...

 

 

I am a white kitchen gal.

So white, a chalkboard wall, a little industrial chic going on and a colorful SMEG fridge - perfection.

 I just love those refrigerators.

 A favorite restaurant has a tangerine colored one behind their bar. So fun.

 

 

There's nothing that I don't love about this vignette.

All that great texture.

 

 

All the coral-y colors, that pillow and ticking stripe. Yes, please. And I love the little touch of coral-y pink trim under the nailheads on the chair. Every single detail!

 

 

Find a comfy seat and something delish to drink and enjoy her website.

I loved every minute  hour I spent looking through it.

Here We Go.....ORC Reveal !!!

I felt a little bit like there should have been 

a ribbon cutting ceremony at the guest room door :)

Especially since the  rest of my house looks like a 

bomb went off!!

 Welcome to my "challenge room!!"

But first, thank you to Linda of Calling It Home Blog

for hosting all of us!!

It's been a lot of fun and very motivating!!

This is what you see when you walk in the door.

The light is great in here now that everything is white.

And on the opposite wall,

the bed that started it all.







The little coral painted bamboo table can be moved to the side wall if guests want it to be more like a bedside table than centered in front of the bed.





And standing against the closet doors, with the daybed to the left and the dresser below the window to the right, you see this wall.

The armoire wall.



It needs a little somethin' somethin'.

I will eventually hang some art on each side but I'm not sure what yet.

I will wait until the right thing comes along.

I'm hoping to find some during my travels in Central America this Summer.

I also plan to buy a handwoven throw for the bed this Summer.

 College Girl bought one in Honduras last Summer and it's fantastic.

Thank you for following along.

I wanted a British Colonial/ West Indies feel that is traditional in the coastal South.

I wanted my guest room to feel a little more Raffles Singapore (would love to see it)

 than Tiki Bar (not that I don't adore a good Tiki Bar!!)

Hopefully I landed somewhere in the middle!

I'll be back tomorrow  next week with sources, paint colors, etc. if anyone is interested in that info and I'll share what happened, what didn't get done or make the cut

and maybe give away the secret of why my lampshades are shiny and why they aren't straight in such important photos!! :)

The ORC is quite a process.

And I'm off to see what everyone else has done with their spaces!!

 Update: be sure to check out the follow up posts with details and sources!!

Linking up :
at Simple Details!
Love that blog and she finds the best stuff on Craigslist!!