florida room details

So, this is the new Florida room:

Here's the entrance from the carport. It's meant to be a mudroom of sorts:

The shelves were built ins. They hold a bowl for keys and generally are full of things we need to take with us when we leave the house. Under the shelves, tw added hooks for bags, jackets, and hats. The bench used to be the coffee table -- I just created a cushion for it. The shoes fit perfectly underneath. We're still looking for the perfect rug.

Heading to the right is the new hanging TV. Our friends Jess & JD bought the wall mount for tw's birthday last year and we finally got it up (I say we, I mean Robb!) 

For now, tw's grandmother's table (usually in the kitchen) is holding all electronic equipment. Eventually, there will be a 60s-ish credenza there for everything to hide in and the wires will be corralled neatly out of sight.

Next is the couch with all new pillows. tw had all the fabric, all I had to do was sew! 

The coffee table was an auction find at least 12 years ago. Both that and the two-tiered "puzzle" table on the side of the couch were found at the same auction house in Ocala - the first auction we ever went to, if I remember correctly.

The chair is a Heywood Wakefield piece we found in Orlando. That door leads to the screened porch. The rug was a phenomenal find from Joss & Main, an online decorator store.

We've added a few things since this was taken, namely the stadium seats tw bought from Shea Stadium before it was torn down. There is LA Dodger art on the wall as well (he's a staunch National League fan, if you can't tell).

Finally, the view from the Florida room into the kitchen. 

We're using my grandmother's garden table for a kitchen table at the moment. And have paint swatches on the wall searching for a tamer green... I'll keep you updated on how that goes. In the end, we really created a great place to relax and are thrilled with the way it turned out!

the florida room transformation

So, I've been a little late with this reveal. So much going on I haven't had time to put a post together. It's not surprising tw wanted to make this room more comfortable since most of our time is spent here. I can't find another picture of the Florida room before its major transformation, mainly because it was not photo-worthy.

Not so good, huh? I promise there were no real furniture pieces you missed. I think the only thing that stayed in the room was the couch. Anyway, here's what eight weeks of work can do for a room:

We started with paint:

Notice the paneling & brick (there's drywall on the back wall too. Fun! Can you tell this was an addition?) Then, tw decided he hated the floor. I really love terrazzo (especially with the Florida heat), but this white-ish terrazzo was stained and we knew from previous experience that no amount of buffing would make the floors look less than dingy white. So we looked at oodles of samples. Tile, wood, carpet. We even considered painting.

Before putting in a floor, I convinced tw to at least ask our carpenter neighbor Robb (contact info upon request. He really was *amazing* to work with) how hard it would be to take out the fake fireplace (yes, it's fake. Notice the non-chimney). Robb came over and estimated it would take three hours. It was out in one and a half, with no real dust to speak of (told you he's amazing).

tw is recycling the fireplace bricks as edging for the new patio he's now working on outside the kitchen. Yay, but now there's a hole in the wall. Just grab more wood, right? Um, not so easy. Since the paneling was original to the 1950s room, it's no longer just milled anywhere. tw searched high and low for this particular pattern (who knew wood had patterns?) until he finally found a mill willing to do enough to replace the wall for a reasonable amount of money. While he researched, found, and waited for it to be shipped from North Carolina, we put in the new floor. Click and lock bamboo. Gorgeous!

We worked for an entire day with Robb to put this in, and he spent the next day cutting the doorframe pieces and placing the trim moulding. Then we prepped for the new wall by ripping out the old one and adding insulation (there was NONE in this room before).

Finally, it came in and he installed it in hours. tw spent the next day painting while I feverishly finished sewing.

We stayed up until 2am putting everything back into the room.

It was a great experience to transform a whole room so completely. Tim & I are looking at houses in St. Pete in need of serious need of renovation, and this project gives me the confidence that I can do this to any house. I'll do a separate post that shows the entire room section by section, since this is already so photo heavy.

organic garden of my dreams

I stayed at the Azalea Inn while in Savannah a few weekends ago, and they had the most amazing organic garden I've ever seen. It was raining most of my time there and the mosquitoes were hungry, but I really could have stayed in that garden all weekend!

My next house will have an amazing garden like this one. Definitely.

kitchen: painted

While it took way longer between coats than we would have liked and there is still some trim work to be done, the kitchen is finally painted. And it is bright.








Results have been mixed amongst friends and family. We weren't so sure ourselves, but it's grown on us tremendously. The color is most beautiful in morning with sunshine streaming in from the kitchen window.

On to the Florida room. Yay!

the accidental jeweler

I visited a great store in Jacksonville's Riverside neighborhood this week. Southern Crossing Antique Mall is one of those rare finds these days, a place whose prices are affordable and appropriate. I was in a bit of a rush so I didn't get to explore the way I wanted to, but I did score a gorgeous mother-of-pearl disk necklace for $5!

I was so excited by my find that I pulled it out of the bag immediately when I got home to put it on -- and the cord promptly snapped, sending disks flying all over the bathroom (note to self: vacuum soon.)

Luckily I had also spent some time in 5 Points' Bead Here Now on my Jax trip, so I already had jewelry making/fixing on my mind. Instead of just stringing the disks back on new thread, I decided to double-knot between each to provide a small space between the disks. This provided the little something extra the necklace had been missing before. Patience was paramount to this process -- I forgot how hard knotting thin thread can be!

The subtle change completely altered the feel of the necklace, making it a bit fancier than I'd normally like. But it also made it just a bit longer so it's now the perfect length for the V-neck shirts I tend to favor.

I was so happy with the result that I spent the rest of the afternoon making and altering other pieces in my collection. More pics to come soon!

fun with beads, part two

My entire point for stopping into Bead Here Now in Jax's 5 Points was to try to find some beads to match this carnelian bracelet I adore.

I've been wanting a necklace to wear with it forever, and finally found the right-shaped beads to make it work. It strung up quickly and is now the perfect match!

The only thing I didn't like about the necklace is its shape -- the wire cord the shopkeeper recommended made the necklace too stiff when I put it on (even leaving room for movement didn't help). I'm going to try to live with it for a little while. If I don't like it, I'll restring it on actual string.

The clear block necklace was a 30th birthday gift from my mom. I love it, but find it's a little short to wear with those V-neck shirts I favor. When contemplating how to lengthen it just a little, I noticed the silver beads between the blocks were chipping so I bought enough sterling silver beads at Bead Here Now to replace them. After the stiffness issue with the carnelian necklace, I opted to restring it with actual string. Since the silver beads are a bit larger than the ones they replaced, I also got about the added length I wanted.

The last fix was the easiest, but the one I worried about the most. The wooden bead earrings match a necklace I bought in Peru that I wear often. I could never wear the earrings because my ears are uber-sensitive and require me to only use hypoallergenic posts. I thought it would be difficult to replace the wire, but it popped off and on rather quickly. I like them so much better now and can't wait to wear them.

Now that I've finished these pieces, I find myself eyeing a few more pieces of jewelry I could change. But since I'm in project mode and there are so many things I'd love to accomplish, I think I'll head for the sewing pile instead.

i am way too proud of this

That is my fantasy baseball draft list of best possible players (bats on the left, arms on the right). Of the 312 total players drafted Sunday night (there were 26 positions to fill for each of 12 teams), I managed to draft all but *one* from my 180 best players list, which was based on league specifications, last year's stats, and plenty of Baseball Prospectus input. Yay, stats!