A Picture is Worth ...

Well, after a week of house guests (my sweet mother - whom I miss more than I could ever put words together to describe, and my niece and nephew) I finally had a moment to sit down and put together a little post of some of the changes that have happened at CDLV. As you probably know, I had an urge to shift from neutrals back to the colorful palette that I love ... and it took quite a while to put together all the parts.

The foyer got a dresser, perfect for storing candles and matches, gloves and scarves, and those pens and notepads I could never find when I needed them before. Atop the dresser, an old tin tray with black leather wrapped handles holds the mail, and a few pretty things too. (Above) I love having plants and fresh flowers in the house, but I am not good with plants that require a lot of attention. I've found that low/medium light ivy's can take a bit of abuse without giving up completely. This pothos is planted in a terracotta pot surrounded by a beautiful ash wicker basket. An antique door stop makes for interesting art, with it's original hand-painted coloring. The little brass urn was found at a thrift store in Austin, Texas, and it's empty (for now), but the blue and white tea jar holds individually wrapped mints. Great for grabbing on your way out the door!

The living room has had the most change. I layered one of the beautiful rugs that Scott brought back from Turkey when he lived abroad, over the seagrass and then started from there. The rug has gorgeous shades of blue, rust, cream, and a yellowy chartreuse. 

So, I brought in my rust colored velvet sofa, and had these new Pottery Barn Carlisle chairs slipcovered in Kravet Couture waxed linen in lemongrass. The trunk is new - an antique black leather and brass piece with beautiful markings and paintings. Unfortunately, in this photo, the little gilded footstool, covered in Oregano velvet by Scalamandre covers it up. 

On top of the trunk, are design books, all of my favorites, along with my favorite candle, antler, another ivy, African porcupine quills in a beautiful brass julip cup ... and the most interesting of the collection ... these little bronze busts from Africa sitting atop a vintage brass tray. Love these!

An ornately carved mirror, old bound and gilded books, and a beautiful piece of art are on the mantle. Just something simple. About 4 years ago, Scott and I picked up these curtain rod clips at an estate sale, and with the coloring of this one, I thought it was perfect perched atop my grandfather's pocket bible from WWII.

Eventually, I'll have some different artwork in those frames that the Picaso prints are in. Here you can see the chairs, and the beautiful line of that English Roll Arm. The other footstool, not a match but finished in the same way, more design books - I have them EVERYWHERE!!! - and the taffeta pillows! What a great story! I found that fabric 3 years ago at the Chelsea Flea in NYC, and had it hidden away. When I was searching for the perfect fabric for this room, I nearly cried. Nothing! Then one night - almost like a ghost decorator wanted to save the day - the fabric just appeared! Pillows were made, and I couldn't be happier!

In the dining room, not much has changed. I did have a new tablecloth made, and I changed the vignette on the sideboard a bit. I needed something less fussy. I'm not sure I got it ... but it does feel a bit cleaner to me.

The tablecloth is made from linen ticking in a cream and medium-brown. I got it for a great deal at Fabricguru.com. 

The tablecloth has a brush fringe all the way around the bottom of it, which carries that rust and blue and green into the dining room, and I had one of the ottomans covered in the same linen as the tablecloth. 

And that's where I leave ya. Do you think it's a good change? Are you loving the color? I hope so!

December to Remember Day 2: Peacock Christmas Tree

In 2006, I saw the most beautiful ornament at a Hobby Lobby in Texas. Scott and I thought about purchasing the ornament in depth before putting it and 22 others in the cart. They were beautiful, and they captured the light like faceted crystal - even though they weren't. Not only that, but they were the perfect colors: a base of glittered green and blue with a beaded cloak like attachment in purples, blues, greens, and even a few golds. Now, you're probably thinking: "Why were you in such deep thought over an ornament? Even 23 ornaments?" Well - because we both knew that it meant hundreds of more ornaments that we had yet to find. Hundreds of ornaments, equalling hundreds of dollars and the headache of moving totes of ornaments to New York, afterall - we already knew we were moving.

Ultimately, obviously, we decided to buy them. And now, three years - and - 123 ornaments, 698 feathers, 5 spools of ribbon, and 8 strands of beaded garland later. We finally have it:

The peacock Christmas tree - unlit. In our foyer, where the secretary and blue and white Chinese porcelain lives during the summer months. The walls are a beautiful sort of coral/terracotta color in this room, and even though it's pretty narrow the tree fits perfectly in this corner. Don't you find that warm wall color a great complement to the blues and greens of this tree?

The peacock Christmas tree, lit. Note the beautiful Moroccan lanterns in the center of the tree. Those beautiful lanterns were a clearance find at TJMaxx at $22/each. They weigh about 6 pounds and were wired onto the tree stand. I filled them with blue lights and green lights, to give a little whimsy to the already non-traditional stride.

The staircase railing is free of greens and garland, as I figured there are enough of those throughout the house - anymore here would have just been overkill. So I opted for 5 blocks of oasis, glued and wired together to hold this arrangement of green glittered poinsettia blossoms, beaded garland strands, glass ornaments, and several beautiful peacock plumes.

We'll be seeing more of this tree in the future installments of the December to Remember around CdlV, as I'll be giving a couple of these ornaments away in later days. But for now, let me show you a few of our favorites:

I'm in love with these peacock feather covered balls. They came on stems, perfect for adorning the tree in this tree-topper. They came 2 to a stem, both with different circumferences, and are available at HOBBY LOBBY for $4.99. Mixed in with the peacock feathers I waited what seemed like years to receive, and a few "snow" covered birch branches ... the crown to this tree was born. From that point ... I moved onward:

making my way down the tree. I picked up some of these mirrored ornaments at TJMAXX because they reminded me of the Moroccan lanterns that I picked to give the tree it's center. Fortunately, my friend Melisa was kind enough to pick up a few more to finish off the tree from a HomeSense in Canada.

Of course, the lanterns are beautiful, but still not my favorite. Even the peacocks (did you notice them) take a distant second to these gorgeous finds! Can you spot them? Do you think that you know which ones I'm talking about?

Well, come back Sunday to see my favorite ornaments on this tree, and to enter the giveaway for 2 just like them! I promise, you won't want to miss this!

So tell me, what do you think? Is a peacock tree in your Christmas future?

December to Remember: Day 1 - The Exterior of CDLV

Remember when I told the story of my childhood home? Well, CdlV couldn't be more different. I grew up in a single story ranch style home, with a large front porch and no real landscaping to speak of. The interior was small, but had an open floor plan which made for easier entertaining when my mother had the time, and at Christmas the whole house was lit - inside and out - with multi-colored lights.

I think back on those windows lined in lights and sprayed with canned snow, the paper cutouts that read: "Merry Christmas" and "Ho Ho Ho", that lopsided tree that took an entire day to put up, and all of the handmade, sometimes less than perfect, and certainly less than chic ornaments my younger brother and I were allowed to decorate that leaning tree with, and smile. It's not a thing like what I do today - but I thank my mother for letting her children have their moment ... I'm sure it's helped to define my taste today. And what is that, you ask?

Firstly, a much more natural approach. Live greens make a 5" wide garland. A few extra pieces of greens I got from a logged pine tree make a beautiful crown.

Then I pulled the final colorful stems from our front bushes. I think their coral/orange color is really beautiful ... and though they won't last through the winter, for now, they give great texture and color to the arrangement.

My friend Dorothy was kind enough to fashion this beautiful ribbon bow for the whole shebang, which gives it a second, third, maybe fourth layer of texture ... depending on where you start counting.

Then of course, the urn. Filled with twigs cut down by the power authority at the gorge edge, greens from a logged pine tree, berry branches, unteachable vines from our grape vine, sugar pine cones, and hydrangeas.

I love the beautiful mahogany color of the branches against the greenery. And the color of the hydrangea compliments the color of the ribbon at the front door.

Of course, the urn is special in and of itself, but I think that this natural and more masculine winter display certainly suits it well.

So there you have it, in a nut shell. From multi-colored twinkle lights and spray snow from a can, to a live, natural, and masculine approach to Christmas.

Come on in! :) Tomorrow we'll take a that tree with all the feathers ... and Thursday - a Christmas Party tablescape. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the exterior decor of CdlV this Christmas. Happy December!

Day 9/33: Close Up Two

Another view of the accessories used in the over saturated picture of the living room from day 7. One of my favorite flowers is Bells of Ireland. They're a vibrant green, and hearty though they appear very delicate. I tried to grow these in the backyard garden this year - but the rain of the Western New York summer wasn't kind to the fragile seeds.

I prefer them bunched together simply, like they are here, in a sleek vase so that you can admire their beautiful texture and color from stem to tip. The incense burner was a travel token from Turkey, even though I can't take the smoke from incense. Day 10: New Collections.

Day 8/33: Close Up One

I'm judging by this photo that the best time to take pictures in the house is in the early afternoon. I've been playing with my camera a bit more today, and I'm finding that even when the room looks light enough at night, it's not reacting the same as it does to the natural light of the daytime hour.

This exercise has been informational, and fun - and I hope that you're enjoying the process. A road to better pictures, and a more styled Casa de la Vanderdogan. Above, a close up shot of the cart table.

Some of you have asked for specifics on this table, so I thought I'd answer some old questions today. I'm not sure what this cart would have been used for specifically, but I was told that more than likely it toted luggage from cart to cart. There are handles (6' posts) that slide down into either side of the cart, on the pictured wells. When they are in, it looks like an archaic version of bellman carts you see in high end hotels.

The Cart is from Ohio, and was used in the Cincinnati Railroad, as noted by a small metal tag about 2inches, by half an inch on the other side of the cart. A serial number and the words: CINC RR are all I have been able to find to track down the origins.

I haven't done anything to refurbish the cart because I think that the age and wear of the piece fit naturally in the eclectic interiors of our home. Some of the wood was splintered, so I did sand down sections of the splintering wood, and I cleaned it heavily before bringing it inside.

We've had the cart for approximately 2-years, though it feels like longer. I was scared of what Scott might think of it when I brought it home, but when he walked through the swinging door of the kitchen, into the dining room and saw the cart through the french doors of the living room he said: "GREAT PIECE!"

Tomorrow, another close up.

Day 7/33: Living Room

The living room. Gosh, the saturation of the oranges and reds in the rugs, pillows, and throws are way out of line with the actual coloring of the space. I've been working with the camera, and eliminated the noise in the background of the image ... but I can't get the saturation down.

Thankfully, I have a neighbor who is familiar with DSLR's and Photoshop and has offered to help me with a few things. Til' then - I sure hope that you can look past the dayglow orange until I fix this and enjoy the composition of the space.

Day 6/33: Scott's Anniversary Present

Casa de la Vanderdogan is a mess, what with the shift change from dining room to library yesterday. Scott so lovingly looked at the "after" and said, "Change it back!" With a smile, of course. So as I shifted furniture along, I thought - I don't think that I ever showed the antique Carborundum sign that I purchased Scott for our anniversary. I know that I talked about it on the blog, but alas, here it is.

It's on the longest wall of our sunroom, here in this 5' expanse of wall between french doors and a wall of windows, the 4 foot wide advertisement for Carborundum products printed in 1921 is a wash of warm oranges, which were once vibrant reds. We had the sign professionally restored after finding it in an antique store, the things I do for him...

Hope you enjoy!

Day 5/33 : The Dining Room turned Library

I've always wanted to try this combination in my dining room - and having the urge to show 33 pictures of my tiny Casa de la Vanderdogan gave way to the opportunity! It's a different tablescape than you've likely seen around my place, but one I'm thinking might actually stay awhile.

And what's more, there's another picture today!

Now, the photos are coming out very grainy. I've noticed, so if you're noticing it thinking I'm unaware ... I'm working on fixing that. I recently found that my ISO is what is causing the grain to the photo. Because we have low light spaces, especially seeing as how I photograph mostly at night (thanks to the day job!) I set the ISO at the highest setting, and that was a mistake. I may replace these pictures with better ones in the coming days ... stay tuned!

EDITED PHOTO: (What do you think??)


So thank you so much to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for allowing me to post this tablescape as part of her popular Tablescape Thursdays! Now run over, and check out what everyone else has going on! (After you comment, of course!)

Day 4/33 : The Master Bedroom Desk

We all need a little place that we can retire to after a long, hard, sometimes stressful day. I have an office (pictures of it will be coming up soon) but sometimes I need a beautiful place away from the glow of a computer screen to look through all the latest design magazines or my newest books.

Here, in the far right corner of our Master Bedroom, I've set up a console table as a convenient "desk" station, and accessorized it with all of my most favorite things. I know that many people are "less is more" when it comes to intimate spaces - but I love being surrounding by the collected things I adore.

A special thanks to my friends "Margaret" who let me cut her out of season hydrangeas to dry for this vignette, Melisa for selling her pewter urn to "Margaret's" husband at our block garage sale, and to "the husband" for letting me borrow it! And thank you to my friend Dorothy for helping to arrange the flowers, and for the vase you'll all see tomorrow, when the dining room turns into a library. Stay tuned, and make sure to Follow Me to be absolutely up-to-date!

Day 3/33: Bedroom Bookshelves

Day 3! This is a section of the library style bookshelves that are in our guest bedroom. If you remember the post I did about transforming these from plain, old, crumbling Sauder bookshelves into a beautiful hand painted furniture quality statement - you'll recall that I actually need every bit of space this 10' expanse of shelves provides. That, and more!

So this photo is purely a lesson in styling, as will be the case with most of the photos during the 33 days of Casa de la Vanderdogan. I apologize for the flower arrangement in advance! Butterfly bush and Russian Sage are the only things blooming in the Garden this month! Interesting in my styling tips?

1. Start fresh. Nothing is more frustrating than looking at something that isn't working and trying to design around it. Take the books, decorating brick-a-brack off the shelf, and look at it as a blank canvas. With that in mind, always remember that what you DON'T put on the shelf, is just as important, if not more important than what you DO!
2. Start layering your shelves with like items, the most (in this case books) and the largest FIRST. If you have several colorful jackets on your books, and they are blurring the color story you're trying to tell - try taking the jackets off the books. Almost all hardcover books are blue, black, or white/cream - so it will be a much easier color safe grouping. If it's just for pictures, then turn them around (like I have) for a more interesting and eclectic look.
3. After you've put the books on the shelves (sporadically placing them by size) in staggered but flowing ways: some standing some laying - you'll have your base for your decorating items.
4. Layer in your like items, placing the largest in first, and then the medium, and then the smalls. It's better to work in this pattern because you get to see where the largest gaps that need filling are. Pay attention to the combination of the objects. Take into account, the color, size, and grouping. Odd numbers in a series work really well, but a symmetrical placement of two like items on either side of standing books is equally beautiful!
5. Step back and assess your shelf. You should have a wonderfully balanced and left-to-right proportioned decorative shelf that will be both functional and awe worthy!

Day 4, tomorrow: a Master Bedroom "desk".

Day 2/33: The Kitchen

Our kitchen at Casa de la Vanderdogan is small: 17 feet long, and 10 feet wide. It is the very definition of a Galley Style kitchen. It's also one of only 2 spaces in the house where the natural woodwork was painted. (By the prior owner, of course - as Scott would have a coronary if I picked up a paint brush!) Space is limited, especially with so many beautiful pieces of ironstone to display, but we've made it work. This is the kitchen debut on the blog, so let me know what you think!


This picture probably would have turned out better in the daylight, but with winter quickly approaching in Western New York, those hours of sweet sunshine are fewer everyday. I'll see if I can't take a few tomorrow morning. Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned, tomorrow, the guest room bookshelves. Remember, I made them!

Day 1/33 : House Shots

If you read the post last Friday, you know that I am working on becoming one with my "new" camera and taking better pictures of our home. I figured what better way to catalog the experience than to post one picture a day, only of the inside of Casa de la Vanderdogan, so that you can all judge the success of the process. Let's say 33 days - that sounds like a fair number, right? I think I did a good job playing with new angles and with new accessories that you've probably never seen photographed on the blog before. I hope that you find them inspirational, but also beautiful.

(ABOVE:) The living room corner, with focus on the antique English pub sign we purchased 4-years ago in Ohio. It's oil paint on tin, framed in a rustic hardwood painted black. The crown finish on the top of the piece, and it's heavy iron hanging brackets suggest that this piece would have been hung outside of a pub in 19th century England - however, I'm more than happy with its current position.

The sofa, a large chesterfield type sofa, in a warm celedon piled deep with pillows in the same warm green, orange/coral, and kilim make a deliciously soft oasis for an afternoon respite.

The train cart was a free find in the backroom of a floral warehouse purchased by a friend of a friend. I got it about 2 years ago, well before they were carried by Restoration Hardware. When I spotted it from across the dark, dusty room, the wheels were pointing to the ceiling. We turned it over, and I was in love. With a little cleaning, it's become one of my favorite pieces in the house.

I decorate with a lot of books here at Casa de la Vanderdogan; books on interior design, entertaining, cooking, or just great novels. Stacked in groups I think they make the perfect lived in feel for a "barefoot" interior. Hope you enjoyed. Check back tomorrow for a kitchen shot!