It's Official,Our Own Little Barnhouse in the Country!

We closed escrow a few weeks ago on our country property!  While this little barn house is in need of a serious makeover, the 21.5 acres it sits on is in a quaint little valley surrounded by family owned vineyards.

And I'm sharing the first "before" photo
I can't wait to tear down that street light thing :)

This will be our "family compound".  A place for our family to hang out on weekends and holidays.
We plan to renovate this little house and eventually build a European style farmhouse on the other
side of the property. We also have young adult children who enjoy wine as much as we do so we plan to plant a small family vineyard and try some wine making of our own. Why not...when in Rome right?

We have our own little country lane that leads to a large vineyard behind our property. Our dogs love it as much as we do!

We are surrounded by beautiful, picturesque vines.

We have huge heritage oaks...

and many manzanita groves.

 

The majority of the property remains undeveloped, so we have a lot of work to do here. 

While we'll have to call in some professionals to trim and cut many of the tall oaks around the property, Tom and our son tackled some of the branches around the house to improve the views.

And while I've been gathering inspiration for the barn house makeover, Tom has been shopping for one of these!

He bought an older tractor like this one- and OMG was this a serious mission! 

We hope to have many happy adventures here and look forward to sharing this big project with you.

Take Care and thanks for reading me.

Progress! Our Den Makeover....

We are nearing completion on our den makeover.  Tom installed the beams and coated the walls and ceiling in our favorite limestone plaster...

The photos really don't do the plaster justice..... the variations of color add such texture and depth  to the space.

The chandelier and portrait were antique store finds.

I am also making over a pair of danish lounge chairs that I plan to use in the den.  I painted the wood in several layers of gray and white and plan to have them reupholstered in an oatmeal colored linen and canvas.

 
The chairs were a craigslist find I bought a year ago.  I'm crazy about the art deco details and
can't wait to see them covered in the linen and canvas.

We're moving on to the bathroom makeover project we started.....will post about the progress soon!
Have a great week!

Barnhouse Envy!

I wish I could say I'm back after a nice break- but since I've been busy working my tail off, I'll just say-the past several weeks have been very busy around our little house. Beams were installed in our den and Tom is busy plastering, so as of this writing we are surrounded by drywall dust and plaster!! 

In bit of a whirlwind trip we  found ourselves making a offer to buy some acreage in a small rural community surrounded by vineyards.  Fingers crossed it all works out for us!   Naturally it has an old little home that needs renovating (yay!) and ever since I have been experiencing such Barnhouse Envy!!

My favorite is from Heritage Barns
I love the mix of stone and old barn wood. It's perfect together.

Photo from Heritage Barns

I think I'm drawn to the simplicity of some of these barn homes. It provides so many possibilities-my little renovating wheels are already turning!  
The red barn wood is so vintage country. Very cute.

Photo Matt Wargo  Architectual Digest

I sure love the rustic vibe of the salvaged barn wood used on this little beauty!  Sigh....

Photo William Waldron Architecual Digest

and I'm even envisioning some interior color schemes for a cute little barn house. I love the use of the gray barn wood in this bedroom. It provides a more modern country look.

Photo from Pinterest

I absolutely love the spread in Country Living magazine on Actors Corbin Bernsen and Amanda Pays home.

I would love to try the painted barn wood cabinets in a kitchen.

Photo: Max Kim-Bee

or even better in a little bathroom.  I'm so loving this whole look!

Photo  Max Kim- Bee

So keep fingers crossed for us and hopefully we'll have our next renovation project in the hopper!  But for now we need to focus on finishing our current projects and cleaning the plaster mess off all my wood floors!

Have a great weekend!

A Sweet Nursery For Mason

I have had the best and most welcome diversion recently. I just finished decorating a nursery for our very first and very new little grandson.    My daughter chose a theme of jungle animals with  brown, orange and green tones so to keep the room looking soft, I opted for neutral walls, linen and canvas window coverings, and a crib and dresser with a distressed driftwood type finish.  Soft, Simple and Sweet was the goal.

The wall decal was a fun way to add some color without hanging anything too bulky over the crib.

The dresser and changing area

I added a few vintage toys in the play area

and simple unframed canvas art on the wall.

The existing closet doors were unattractive so we popped them off and hung canvas curtains. It also makes the space very functional. 

Shelving was added to make the most of all of the storage space-an absolute necessity for all those baby things!

But the best part is the sweet little boy who now occupies this room!  Welcome little Mason! XO!

A few Antique finds and we're in "Demo" mode again!

Now that the holidays and family gatherings are behind us, it was time to get into that all too familiar "demolition mode" and start renovating our guest bathroom and our den.  I'll share photos as we progress on both rooms, but first-I wanted to share a few finds I scored recently while antiquing.

I found the perfect piece to anchor my bathroom remodel.  This sweet little pine cabinet with marble top will
serve as the base for a vessel sink. 

I'm a sucker for aged pine and the intricate detail, marble top and large storage in the base make it perfect for a sink base.

I found this pair of oil paintings- not certain where I will use yet, but I couldn't resist them.

They reminded me of some of the charming older homes that dot our Pebble Beach coastline.

I snagged a small chandelier to hang in our den.   I will likely remove the crystal droplets when we hang it-I just prefer chandeliers without them

and last but not least,  this small dresser for our guest studio.  It initially had some chippy yellow paint that I sanded down, white washed and finished with a few coats of wax. It will be perfect when we have guests staying with us!

So I'll leave you now with a photo of a before shot of our guest bath remodel.  When I dashed out of the house yesterday with a to do list a mile long- I asked Tom to snap a few before pics once he removed all the "stuff" but before he started the actual demo.  This is what I found on the camera when I got home....

yes, I'm still laughing!   There are a few other pics I think I can salvage and I snapped a few more.   I look forward to sharing them as we progress on these projects.  Thanks for reading and happy new year!!

Christmas At Our Home!

 Sending out some Christmas cheer, European Farmhouse Style!  I hope you enjoy our holiday decor!

  Our courtyard maintains it's natural elements with just a pop of red.

One of my favorite natural elements is driftwood.  Since we are walking distance to the beach we have plenty of it available. I use it year round.  These muscle baskets hold driftwood all year long, but at Christmas, I add a tiny tree with a few lights.

My wisteria vines have only a few leaves left so we wrap the arbor with some fresh green garland.

 Come on in.....our use of natural elements is carried through the inside of our home as well

 I chose the Silver Tip tree for it's airy look and it's muted "silvery" green tones. It was perfect in this old olive bucket.

I used natural wood elements, clear bulbs and chandelier droplets as ornaments. I went shopping for some vintage toys this year and could not resist the Tonka fire truck and teddy bear. They will make a great gift
for a special little one.

 I LOVE the little Scandinavian ornaments from Splendid Willow Avenue.  They add just the right amount of red to my natural decor! 

I also added a tiny counter top tree in the kitchen

and found some cool vintage ornaments for decoration.  The deer are actually made of paper mache and wax. I found them at a local antique mall. 

 

I hung a few small wreaths on the old iron windows, and added lots of greenery

pine cones

and more driftwood!!  It"s so beautiful with the green garland

Even the doors get a few sprays of green

The table centerpiece also gets a bit of lavender-my personal favorite!

I added some greenery to my hutch this year. It looks so pretty against the silver and china.

A view from the kitchen.....

My little shadow...Macy. She thinks it's time for dinner :)!

 

I incorporate natural and garden elements into my decor all year round for a calm and comfortable feel.

 Thank you for reading and our sincerest wishes to all for a happy holiday season!

We always appreciate your comments too!