Master Retreat

Our master bedroom has been mostly complete for the majority of the time we've lived in the new house. You may remember glimpses of our room shown here, here, and here.

However, our sitting area was missing. Two old chairs were being updated and reupholstered, and this past weekend, they were finally finished and delivered to the house! We've had the chairs for almost 15 years and were great chairs, but they were in serious need of an update. The picture below, although small, gives you an idea of the before. 


We had the upholsterer (same one used for all our projects) remove the old fabric from the chairs, cover the chairs in a white muslin, and make new slipcovers for the chairs. In addition, we had pillows made for each chair.


I'm so happy with the results! It's hard to believe they're the same chairs. We've placed the two chairs by the windows in our room, with a small table and vintage fan.



Now that the chairs are finished, our master feels complete! Although we have ideas for further changes in the future, we are content with how the room feels at the moment. 

The Front Porch

We have really been enjoying our front porch. It is a wonderful place to sit outside, enjoy the nice spring weather, chat, or eat dinner. From the porch, you can see the neighbor kids playing in the yard, and when we sit outside, they often drop by for a visit! 

Recently, we decided to replace the old light fixture (below) by the front door with something that fit better with our overall style. 


Inspired by a light fixture I found on Pinterest (below left), I was pleased to find this great chandelier (right) at a nearby estate sale for only $60. 


With a little Sherwin Williams white spray paint, the chandelier was freshened up and ready to be hung on our porch. 


We are very pleased with the final look and are impressed with how the new light really brightens up the space at night! We look forward to many more nights on the front porch, enjoying the nice weather and time with friends and family. 

Exploring Marrakesh

While in Morocco, there was one day when the men and women split up, and us ladies went out to enjoy some girly activities around Marrakesh. 


We first rode in a buggy to the Jewish Palace. which was beautiful with so many great and inspiring architectural details.  The tiles and woodwork made me want to go home with some Moroccan tile and redo a bathroom counter or floor.  




Next, we went to the "pharmacy" where we heard about the healing herbs and the oils which are good for your skin and hair, which was very interesting and fun. I bought a few things there and will show you my purchases later this week!


We ended that portion of our girl's outing with a Moroccan lunch on the terrace.  It was 6 courses long and delicious! The last course was a dish of delicious chocolate eclairs with ice cream on top!


We headed back to the hotel, freshened up and joined the men at the dessert camp where they had done donkey racing and fun on ATV's.  We enjoyed wine with sunset and then a candlelit dinner under a tent.


It was a really great day with doing so many great things to get a feel of the Moroccan culture.

Getting my Bearings

We are finally home! After flying to London to Monaco to Morocco to London and finally making our way to Oxford, we are glad to finally be home after a wonderful trip!

After a long time away, I am getting my bearings on being back at home. I started the morning off with a nice walk around the neighborhood as well as spending some time watering my plants, which are doing well despite my absence. 


Thanks to the rain in Dallas during our trip, I was pleased to find that our roses are also in full bloom! 


I picked up a few treasures for our house while on our trip, including this candle from our stay in Morocco...


...another candle from the Double Decker Festival in Oxford, MS (where we visited Annie)...


...and finally this F door "wreath" for the front of our house!


Later this week, I'll show you a few more things I picked up on my trip! Until then, we will be enjoying being home again!

Hello from Morocco

Sorry for the length of time since our last post! We have been traveling quite a bit this month, from New York to Austin to Monaco to London and now to Morocco (all thanks to Rodney's work)! I wanted to pop in just to give you all a peek at our hotel here in Marrakesh, Morocco. 

Poolside view

Another pretty view at the hotel

View on the walk to our room

Greeted with a letter, flowers, and fruit!

Our hotel room, complete with two closets and surround sound! 

Our personal courtyard

Thanks for checking in with us... I promise regular posting will return as soon as we do! :)

Happy Driveway

After returning home from our weekend in Austin with Molly, I spent a few hours playing outside with our neighbors' kids. As you may know, every time I walk outside of our house, I hear "Mrs. Tracy!" coming from our next-door neighbor's yard. It has been so fun getting to know those kids and their friends who come over to visit.

Yesterday, we played outside of our house, drawing pictures on the sidewalk with chalk, playing school at our front porch table, and swinging on the porch swing. Here are a few of the sweet pictures the kids drew:

Rainbow and Sun

Spongebob

Angry Catepillar

Our Yellow House

I have loved getting to spend time with the kids who live on both sides of us! At one point yesterday, there were 9 kids playing in our yard! It is just another thing I love about living in this neighborhood.

Midweek Getaway

One of the perks of being empty nesters is having the opportunity to travel more regularly, even if that means a midweek getaway! Since Rodney travels often for work, sometimes I get the chance to tag along. This week, he was headed to New York City so I joined to enjoy some shopping, good food, and the sights of the city while he worked during the day.

During the trip, I wanted to be sure to hit up a few of my favorite spots in the city, a few of which provided great inspiration for our house! At the top of my list was ABC Carpet & Home, one of my absolute favorite decorating stores and a must every time I'm in New York. ABC Carpet is huge and is filled to the brim with so many wonderful things, including fantastic chandeliers and great furniture. It's also not uncommon to see a celebrities shopping there; this week, I saw a stretch limo parked outside!




While I have many NYC favorites that, I like to return to, it's always fun to find new places to visit as well. This week, I stumbled upon Olde Good Things in Chelsea, which is an architectural antique salvage store. There were so many neat things to discover inside! 




And of course, while we were in the city, we had to visit one of our favorite places to get something sweet! Last night, we stopped by Magnolia Bakery for a late-night dessert. Just another wonderful spot New York City has to offer! 


We have one day left in the city before we head to Austin for the weekend to visit Molly, and I am looking forward to more exploring, window-shopping, people-watching, and good eats!

Our New Home Makes Us Happy

We have been wanting to send out a moving announcement to our friends and family, and I knew that Easter weekend would be the perfect opportunity to snap a picture of us with the three girls while they were all home! I had my mom take a few pictures of us outside our house.


Molly designed a card that says "Our New Home Makes Us Happy" since we are so in love with our house, the area, and the fun things within walking distance from us. 


She also designed labels with our new address. Earlier this week, I stuffed and labeled the moving announcements, so keep an eye out for those! 


After snapping this picture, we headed to brunch at Gather just down the street from us. It is a great venue for parties and receptions, and it is a fun atmosphere overall. They had a great buffet selection for Easter, including pecan french toast, chicken fried steak, biscuits, fruits and salad, a variety of muffins, and much more! It was a great way to spend Easter with family after church. 

Finally Finished

Over Easter weekend, when my parents were in town, we worked on repainting our dining room chairs. (You may remember the sneak peek I gave you last week!) They were previously a wood finish, but I asked my mom and dad to help me create a patina finish for the chairs. My mom has done a number of patina finishes on things in her own home but also found some inspiration from Pinterest to gather ideas for the finish on my chairs. If you're interested in doing something similar, check out her Pinterest page for ideas!


My dad sprayed the base coat on the chairs, and my  mom and I spent Easter weekend doing a paint finish on them. The upholsterer did a fabulous job covering them, attaching the seat cushion, and embellishing them with a solid cording and brushed chrome nail heads. 


Here is a close-up of the great work done by the upholsterer:


Now that, the chairs are complete, the dining room is really coming together. The upholsterer is still working on solid slipcovers for the four smaller chairs. I eventually would like to get a rug to go under the dining room table.  


Thanks again to my parents for their help with this project! We are so glad that our chairs are finally finished!