L-O-V-E this Fire Island retreat featured in Country Living belonging to West Elm creative director, Alex Bates. The glossy white walls and ceilings give the small space such light and I absolutely adore the large tortoise shells on the enclosed front porch. The built-in daybed on the porch allows it to double as a guest bedroom—what I would give to be their guest! Little cottages like these have me longing for the day John and I buy our first home!
All this beautiful sunshine has me itching to dine outdoors. Wouldn’t you just die for this any of these spaces? I’ve always dreamed of having a home with a big, wrap around porch I could decorate with jute rugs, white linen tablecloths and french bistro furniture. Can’t you just taste the fresh squeezed lemonade…?
(images via paper moon, absolutely beautiful things, and country living)
It is one of my life goals to buy a little fixer-upper house and give it a makeover so I am always touched by home renovation stories. I saved (and made John read) this article from Country Living about a white clapboard farmhouse in upstate New York. The Brooklyn based couple (stylists Sacha Dunn and Edmund Levine) wanted a country retreat and found it in a dilapidated 1800 cottage in Columbia County for a mere $120,000. When they began the residence had no kitchen and one room even had a dirt floor, but after months of renovations and decorations just look what they pulled off! Below, a before + after feast!
(photographed by Dana Gallagher)
I am absolutely charmed by this front door makeover completed by Connecticut homeowners Meg and Michael Hall. Featured in Country Living magazine, the couple wanted to spruce up their front stoop and on a budget. In just one afternoon they managed to remove the storm door, paint the portal behind it Benjamin Moore’s Heritage Red, and install the fun, bright industrial light fixtures. Proof that you don’t have to live in a palace to have curb appeal!
Details on Meg and Michael’s selections HERE >>>
Judging by the impeccable selection of goods at Jayson Home & Garden it’s no surprise the company’s head buyer, Caroline Scheeler, has a praise worthy home. Profiled by Country Living magazine, Scheeler’s 1940′s Chicago-area cottage reflects her global vintage aesthetic inside and out. I especially love the equestrian themed mud room above. The ribbons in the shadowbox are Scheeler’s own and the vintage photo is of her grandfather’s high school football team. Dark walls, natural fiber rugs, leopard print pillows and dutch doors? I rest my case.
