Sucked In ...

Have you ever been completely sucked into a television series? So many people were hooked on Desperate Housewives, and Sex in the City before that, and Dallas, and Three's Company, well - there are thousands. I tend to be sucked into televisions dramas: White Collar, Burn Notice, Suits, and now ... Pretty Little Liars! Yes, an ABC tele-drama for teens, and I'm hooked!!

Not only is the mystery of who "A" is enough to keep you coming back, the interiors of the homes the girls live in are really quite beautiful ... as is the fictional town setting of Rosewood, Pa., a wealthy commuter suburb of Philadelphia. One room in particular, where many scenes are filmed, is the family room adjacent a kitchen in the home of Spencer Hastings, the preppy rich girl of the group.

The kitchen is open to the family room, and has walls clad in a soft taupe-y green subway tile. The black perimeter cabinets have a walnut butcherblock counter top, and the large island looks to be oak, topped in 3" thick creme marble. I love the barstools, old iron soda shop stools topped in polished oak seats.

The appliances are stainless. Here you can see the veining in the marble. So pretty! There are also quite a few cabinets that have glass panes, showing off the ironstone collections and blue and white asian ginger jars and spode plates. Unfortunately, the rest of the house isn't something we get to see in Season 1, if ever, but we get a few peeks into the gallery like hallway/foyer off the kitchen through solid french doors.

The window wall of the kitchen has open shelving, painted white and piled high with copper, blue and white, and ironstone casserole dishes. All of the windows are clad with bamboo roman shades, my favorite. I also love how the white farmsink is raised from the top of the counter top. Did you notice?

The only television in the space is the small television on a swivel on the far wall of the kitchen. The french doors of the family room lead out onto the patio of the backyard, where a barn redone as a loft plays home to Spencer's sister Melissa, and her season 1 husband, Ian.

A view of the subway tile, and the super thick counter on the island. I'm really in love with this kitchen. Can you tell? Sometimes you can see a pot rack hanging over the island:

And then sometimes there isn't:

The roof line above the cabinets, beamed and raw. You get the idea that this room has a cathedral ceiling, but this is the only photo I could snap from the entire first season to see any of it. These aren't in chronological order, either. You can see already that this space has seen some changes. Note the stove hood in this photo. Got it? Check out this one:

Much larger. Also a rare view of the family room from this angle. My favorite piece in this space is the burlap covered settee. Isn't it gorgeous?

The settee sits in front of the fireplace, which has this amazing carved concrete mantel:

Beautiful right? To the right of the fireplace is a small desk and desk chair, to the left a tibetan statue. The carving of the stone is really beautiful, too!

Nice right? You get the idea that Spencer's family hired a designer to decorate their home. Her mother and father are both attorneys, and are rarely home. In fact, you only see Spencer's father in the first couple of episodes of season 1.

A daytime view. A pretty rare one. Most of the time the daylight scenes of Spencer's home are in the kitchen, and the nighttime view shows the family room. Here you get to see more of the interesting art in the family room. A carved chair in the corner, beneath two beautifully carved and colorwashed wallcoverings; the gingerbread porch railing, the statue, fireplace screen, and fireplace accessories.

The carved panels up close. Well, as close as the camera gets. You can also see the stone carvings on the fireplace corbels. My next house will definitely have to have one of these.

Opposite of the burlap settee is the linen tufted sofa, and two square metal and glass end tables turned coffee table. The french doors are treated as windows, with silk curtains, the same shade as the wall color.

More of that sofa, with a striped silk pillow. The pillows on the sofa change a lot during the first season. You can go back through and check them out. I happen to like the first set (these) than any of the others.

And behind the sofa, this x-frame console has great accessories, including old windows turned mirrors. So as you can see, the interiors are enough to suck you in, but the storyline is even better! Five friends turn four, when one disappears and then a body is found. Then a mysterious character, or group of characters calling themselves "A" and pretending to be the disappeared, threatens to expose serious secrets of the group if they don't follow along in the series of dramatic and convoluted ploys.

If you have netflix streaming, you can check out the entire first season - which is what I did, spending way too much time in front of the television and no time at all in front of the sewing machine. I'll be back soon with updates ... on something, I'm sure!