Anewall {a-new-wall}

I have missed you all terribly! It has been a whirlwind for the last few weeks! I have been in The States, working like a mad woman, flea marketing, catching up with family and spending time with The Lord! How sweet it is to be back, though! I am über thrilled to share a company that I recently stumbled upon...(drum-roll, please)....Let me introduce you to the glorious "Anewall"!

There is, seriously, nothing that stirs conversation, reflects your personality and ties a space together better than a beautiful piece of art. Pieces that are classic and timeless will never go out of style and work with both traditional and contemporary spaces. You can't go wrong with a stunning piece of art and Anewall {a-new-wall} is the perfect place to find it in anyone's budget. The folks at Anewall are super friendly and they offer sales constantly. They have some of the most fantastic, prints, canvases, wallpaper, decals, maps and the list goes on and on. From a small bedside table print to a massive centerpiece, Anewall has it all. I can't wait to get a massive piece for our place, one of these days, and am looking forward to using them for my design projects. As a designer, it is a huge relief to find a place with such gorgeous and affordable options. If you couldn't already tell, I am OBSESSED with these guys.  

Their murals are breathtaking and you can get custom ones made as well.

Here are some samples from their online catalog...

I am so thrilled that gorgeous art is accessible to everyone...these guys are genius.

What do you think? What piece(s) are you drooling over??

Go check them out by clicking here or on ANY of the images!

Like them on Facebook to get updates on their sales by clicking here.

Images used with permission taken from the Anewall website.

A French Gem

 Have you ever purchased a piece for your home that really tugged on your heartstrings? Where every time you look at it, you get all warm and fuzzy inside and it induces happy thoughts? This past week,  I purchased this exquisite mirror from Freddy's in Hütschenhausen, Germany, and boy, this mirror makes me gush. It originally came from Freddy's father's home in the French countryside. It is over a hundred years old and it's heavy, black color makes it's ornate carving incredibly masculine. I am completely crushing over this mirror. No picture can capture it's intricate details and beauty. I imagine it above a grand fireplace over a century ago, and all the people who gazed in it. What were they celebrating as they leaned in to check their rouge? What artwork did it reflect? It is truly a gem that we will cherish forever.

Having the mirror above the dining table allows it to reflect light from the one window in the room and opens up our dining area a ton. It adds so much drama and dimension to the space. This is most definitely one of our favorite pieces we have ever owned. 

This mirror goes perfectly with the other black pieces that are in the room. It has been such fun watching this space evolve organically as we find pieces that inspire us.

Go check out the stunning French antiques at Freddy's by clicking here!

What piece in your home makes you swoon?
I am off to enjoy a movie night with my sweetheart!

Virtual Design Boards {My Imagination on "Paper"}

 There is something thrilling about taking a client's words and desires for a space, envisioning it in my mind and then putting it on "paper". To see these ideas come to life is even more exhilarating. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to show people the picture that I am imagining in my head.  I have done boards both by hand and virtually and I am so grateful that I can create these virtual, design concept "boards" in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost as a handmade board. I will be sharing some of my architectural and design draftings and drawings with you soon, but for now, I wanted to share some design projects that I have been working on! I hope you can get inspired by these! To see more, click the last image in this post! 

The board below goes with the top board and is all a part of the same space.

or...

To see more click here or the image below!  

Wanting a custom concept design board for your space? Click here for more information!

I am off to get my latte on! Cheers! 

From Shabby to Sleek {Our Dining Room}

There is not much that I love more than the hope, excitement and dreams I have upon the arrival of the New Year. While our homes can look bleak and vacant after the chaos and clutter of Christmas is boxed up and put away, there is a beauty and newness that I crave. Empty becomes beautiful. It feels so good to sweep away dead pine needles, get healthy and revitalized and make exciting plans for the coming year.  I have been doing just that this past week. We have major decisions to make regarding our next move, how long we will be in Europe, and our life in the military. This past week has also been filled with loads of work for me! While vacation and parties are fun, it is so satisfying getting back into work mode. 

I had done a ton of work on the dining room for the holidays and I am so thrilled to show you what I have worked on, sans all the Christmas decor. It is such great fun working and creatingr...

UPDATE: We recently added this French mirror since I wrote this post, so I will show pictures with the mirror and with the art!
Here it is now...

 Here is a little reminder of what our (rental) barn dining room looked like before we changed out the light fixtures, painted, and created a pallet wine bar...

And here it is now (before we added the French Mirror)! No matter how many times I redo a room, I am always amazed at what paint and light fixtures can do to a space. There is so much more I would do if we owned this home, but (besides paint) we only want to put money into things that we can bring with us to our next home(s).

Since the barn is super shabby and vintage on it's own, I decided to make our furniture a little more sharp, high gloss and chic. We ditched the white-washed look and painted our buffet a glossy black and my antique dresser, grey and white. Both pieces look so fresh, and fantastic with our DIY zebra-hide rug.

I moved our vintage school map to our stair-well where our time zone clocks were, and moved the clocks into the striped hall! Every time I catch a glimpse of this map, I imagine a ton of little kids in a school house, gazing at it while learning about this beautiful country. 

Everything looks SO cohesive now. I kept the room's color pallet of black, white, and grey, so that the vintage map and any other colorful antiques I get, will be the center of attention. We are hoping to find a few striking oil paintings on our future adventures.

Here is our updated dresser...

Here is a reminder of what our Shabby dresser looked like before.

Now it is clean looking and doesn't distract from the naturally aged, French bottle dryer. I snagged this iron beauty in Metz just as the flea market was packing up! I have been wanting one for so long. What a score!

Below is the before picture of our roughed up, white, Belgian buffet with the vintage map behind it before I moved the map to its new home in the stairwell. As you know, I LOVE moving things around and thought the map fit perfectly in our stairwell. 

Here is my Buffet/Bar all sleek, shiny, and black.  It is a nice, heavy, masculine piece that I discovered at a Belgian flea market while on a weekend flea market getaway.  I will always cherish my time in Belgium. What a uniquely, stunning country it is. I am so grateful I have this piece to remind me of my time there. Click here to read about Belgium!

Here is the after shot of the buffet.

This old wooden rake was found abandoned in our barn. It makes the perfect wine goblet holder.

The Pallet wine Bar all stocked up with vino!

Here is a close up on our new mirror...

Stay tuned to see more on the striped hall!

How can you freshen up things in your home by simply moving things around and repainting? 

P.S. Our home is being featured on Eclectically Vintage Blog tomorrow 1/11/14 and we are so elated!! Kelly has mad skills and it's an honor to be on her gorgeous blog!