Early week musings and 2 winners!

 This is a rather long photo heavy random musings post. This will be it until Thursday..............

Hi there...and how was your weekend? If you missed my beach dream house that has been found at long last, you must must see it. Click here to hop on over for a visit.  I hope you had a great weekend, ours  was a good one. It was finally a relaxing one (much needed) had dinner with friends even included a few pics because the setting was so pretty, reminded me of being away. Got together with some old friends we haven't seen for a long time for drinks and spent some quite time at home which was a wonderful decadent treat.

First order of business is to announce two  lucky winners of the signed special edition Monograms by Victoria Magazine. Here they are.....

Result:

68

simplymodernhome.comJuly 27, 2013 at 2:16 PM

I added some great black and white towels to our twins' bathroom (link below) and they might be my favorite things in the room! Love a monogram....and LOVING your blog!:)

http://simplymodernhome.com/our-kids-bath/

Susan

and

Result:

45

Burlap LuxeJuly 27, 2013 at 8:19 AM

Monogram anything!

I too so enjoyed the Victoria Magazine "monogram "
Something so regal about monograming, even when you have them displayed is a rustic cottage home. They are timeless.

Xx
Thank you for sharing your grace and beauty.

Doré

Please email me here to provide your shipping details!

If you want to get your copy of this limited edition MUST HAVE magazine (a must if you are a monogram lover) click here to order your copy....

As I always do, this is a random post with a little bit of everything. Ready to get started? Here we go.....


Home front. I have ordered a bunch of pillows for the back patio. I am excited to put it all together. In the meantime took the pillows form the loggia to "play" and though the size is a little small, I ordered 22" pillows vs. 20" I do love the way the navy looks. I decided to keep the back patio clean and crisp, so am going with solid navy pillows in a monogram along with some trellis pillows and a few squares. I do love the Chiang Mai but decided for now at least to keep it on the loggia and do this a bit differently, all the while tying in the navy. I threw in a few other pictures of random things around here too....

 The white is a bit too "white" but these are not for this grouping, I was just playing, I do love the solid navy and trellis patterns.....

 The pool area, its separate from the house (original site and original pool house). We do have plans to redo it at some point but cannot say its a priority. With older kids who basically never use it, it just doesn't see a lot of use but I must say when  I do go down there, it is so relaxing and serene and "removed".....need to visit more often!

 The landscaping is coming in nicely..the hedges and grass finally looking almost done! The flowers and trees took a real beating however with the heat, so I am not showing you those:)

 A few readers asked to see the back stairs and the limed oak finish...so here it is!

Yes that is Teddy, that is HIS spot...just so he doesn't miss a thing!

And look what came in this last week....my bar stools! I was so excited, I am glad I decided to keep them simple in a pretty linen/cotton ivory fabric with ant. brass nailheads, I may have some small lumbar pillows made for them out of the pretty curtain fabric. I was thinking they would have been taller but they still look great and are super duper comfy! 

I really like the way blue and white porcelain looks next to browns, it really makes it pop

Added an orchid and urn to this vignette, and really like the way it looks......

A gorgeous sunset. One of summers simplest pleasures.  Sat. night we went out to dinner to a beautiful waterfront restaurant and had the most beautiful weather, and sunset which warranted whipping out my iPhone (of course)! It looks more like the view you  might see while on a Caribbean island as palm trees around these parts are most unusual!

The restaurant itself, called Ocean.

Pillows! And speaking of great pillows, I must give a "shout out" (kids are cringing if they read this) to Michele of Calico Daisy, my new pillow "go to" person. If you love monograms and monograms done really well, her work is flawless. She is amazing and her prices are quite fair especially given what some charge for appliqued monogrammed pillows, a pretty penny!  I love the way an entire bed can be transformed with even the addition of one or two monogrammed pillows and some of these would make amazing gifts too.  Here's a look at some of what Michele offers.....click here to visit her.

A few great posts worth sharing. I like to save/bookmark posts that I really enjoyed and want to be able to go back to. A few worth sharing are below......

Excellent post on a recent trip to the renowned Blackberry Farm.... a beautiful post! Click here to visit

For anyone who has dreamt of taking a can of spray paint to an outdated piece of furniture (but like hasn't had the guts or needs some encouragement, myself included) this wonderful post is for you......

A great robe.  I am a believer that we should all be able to go about life in our pjs and robe (as long as they are pretty)! I mean think about, we would all be soooo much  more comfy, no miserable woman trying to act happy while they are absolutely miserable in shoes that kill and pinch their toes, no men stuck in heavy warm suits and cumbersome ties...we would all be so much happier!

 But seeing that that particular trend is not likely to catch on anytime soon, I do enjoy slipping into my pjs and robes pretty much the minute i get home and know I am home for the day. So when I see a great robe, I buy it, because I loooove my pjs and robes. Thought this was from Malarbay Bay was great looking! So chic and available in navy and green....love it! Click here to visit them.

A scrumptious recipe. I know this is cruel. Believe me its torturous to me too, I feel like I am gaining 5 lbs just looking at this picture!  But this looks sooooo amazingly good. I just need to try it. I am an apple crisp girl (ala mode of course) all the way but think I could make an exception for this beautiful baked pear with none other than caramel sauce! Hello.....come to mama. Click here to be taken to Brooklyn Ragazza for the lowdown on how to make it. It is as beautiful as I am sure it is delicious...doubt mine will come out nearly this pretty but I bet it will taste divine, what a perfect dessert for a fall dinner! Come fall, this is going to be baking my kitchen.

A great new movie. Yes, he is "different",  but I must say I really enjoy Woody's movies. In fact some of his movies are some of all time favorites. This one promises to be a good one. Definitely on my list to see sooner than later...Blue Jasmine at the very least looks super entertaining and I love Cate and Alec!

Shop News. Remember when I announced my Enchanted steals and deals last week? Where i will offer a beautiful item or two at deeply discounted prices? I only get to buy 4-8 of each item so they will not be up on my online shop or I might get a one shot deal at getting something for a great price so pass the savings on. Here are this weeks items.....

Have five pair of these beautiful classic Staffordshire dogs. $75.00, this is a rockbottom price!! (7 pair available)

 

Got a bunch of gorgeous tole pieces.....all at excellent prices (at least 35% off retail)

Beautiful  tole (dark red and black) container measures 8' x 12" $50.00 (4 available)

Matching decorative plate 12" round, $ 33.00, 8 available

Beautiful songbirds plate 12" round $33.00 (5 available)

And matching songbird decorative box/canister, measures 7" x 5" x 8.5"$42.00 (4 available)

Gorgeous tole floral/bird tray 14" x 9" x 2" $48.00

Matching decorative plate $33.00 (6 available)

Rooster decorative tray 14" x 9" x 2" $48.00 (3 available)

Matching plate $38.00 12.5"round (4 available)

And beautiful tole planter 11" x 10" x 7" $64.00 (4 available)

You know the drill...want any of the above, just email me here. First come first serve:)

Thanks as always for stopping in to see whats happening over on this end. Hope you have a magnificent Monday and great start to your week!