My little Rustic Modern Mash Up

Well hello out there!  We have an internet connection!  I can now take real pictures, download them to computer and show you a little about what is going on in "house world" with us.

To be honest we are taking it really slowly.  The house is still not complete and we have had subs here every now and then trying to knock out the list.  We also got a not so great call from the bank saying we have 12 days to roll the loan into a conventional loan or we have to refinance.  Of course that's only several thousand dollars you know.  Anyway, they are calling the builder today to say finish it or we are hiring someone to finish it and you loose more $$.  If only they would have been involved in the struggle sooner...

Anywho onto more fun things.  We have been selling things here and there on craigslist for the last year so we could buy these chairs and we finally bit the bullet!

Meet the Ronnie Wire Base Chair from Overstock

So far I love him!  They haven't had much use so I can't vouch for their longevity but they are fun to look at.  

Do you remember the table I scored at my favorite warehouse store Four Hands a few years ago?

Isn't it gorgeous....Oh wait you can't see it under all the move in chaos?  

I have pictured it with sleek modern chairs from the day I saw it.  

Ah so much better in so many ways...the clutter has been eating my lunch.

Now don't go thinking we broke the bank with these puppies.   I believe they came out to around $60 or less a piece!  They were selling them in sets of two.  That is not easy to find ya'll!  I just went to Overstock's site and now I can only find them at 1 for $139.00 and they aren't called Ronnie chairs either?  I think I totally lucked out!  

If you've been reading for a while you may remember we kinda sorta design our house based on this area and the tables deminsions.  That sounds crazy right?  I just envisioned standing at the kitchen sink seeing this and all other floorplan bets were off!

 When you first step out of our little entry way you are greeted with the main hub of the house which is my fav!

I went photo crazy this morning so here are some other views.  

I can't wait to fill this table with friends and food!

Linking to:
Chic on A Shoestring
Shabby Nest
Be Different Act Normal
Thrifty Decor Chick
Remodelaholic

Fireplace Finagling

Something is wrong with me.  This is my second post this week and it's only wednesday.  I suppose my priorities just might be all messed up this week;)  

I wanted to show you my sad attempt at trying to envision some plans for our fireplace. 

I know it's bad.. I can't bring myself to take the time to learn photoshop so it will have to do but it helps right?  I'm a very visual person and it makes me nervous to go throwing tile on a fireplace or playing with herringbone patterns and not know if I will like it or not.

Part of me wants to do some fun design in white trim above the mantle but we may do something like the herringbone pattern( on a smaller scale than my crummy pic) instead?

We have chosen this grey penny tile and gray slate trim to go around the fireplace opening.  

We were originally going to pick a slab of grey lueders stone for the hearth but decided it may look dingy against the white paint.  Soo....we are going to build a concrete hearth!  Yippe.  You may have seen the not so detailed post about how we did our concrete countertop 9 years ago in the first house?

Well we are going to play with concrete again!

 Below is the grey lueders with our tile selection.

After hubs built the new mantel and put it up temporarily we used blue tape to envision the outline of the tile.  See how the tape stops way above the floor?  The hearth will sit fairly high so we have an extra place to sit in the living room if need be.

After the sheetrockers came out to patch the holes from taking down our old rustic mantle we then painted the fireplace wall a bright white.

 Wanna see another look I'm thinking about?  Think stencil but a little more 3D.  Confused?  Me too..but I may just have to try a little something.  If I do I will show you if it is a success or not;)

So what do you think?  Again if we do the herringbone it will be smaller in scale and probably brighter white.  Either way...it will be something we can change in the future when we tire of it and you know what it?  It probably won't happen until things settle down after we move so I have time to play and think about it but it is nice to see it in a picture!

Wondering what's happening at the casa?  The stone work is finally all done.   I'll show you a pic on facebook later.  And...we are getting measured for countertops today!

What Inspires your Decorating?

Well if we are at a standstill in the construction process I might as well pretend to decorate right?

I believe this was a place setting at West Elm at one time.  I pinned this picture probably two years ago and it doesn't link directly to the source but I think I remember that is where it's from.  Anywho..When I saw it I instantly wanted to incorporate these colors and textures into the Jack n Jill bath at the new casa.

I love the different variations of green and the bright white with a little rustic wood thrown in.  

I want the kids bath to be playful but not too youthful.  Nothing is set in stone yet except the vanity...

The countertops will be Grey Expo from silestone.

The dark stained concrete floors...

And this fun West Elm light.

I'm going to bring in the wood tones with two mirrors in a shade and texture like this mirror that was super inexpensive at Garden Ridge.

Now for the fun stuff(the accessories)!

I love these green giraffe curtains as the shower curtain.  It's playful and that's where I want to go for the kiddos.

I fell hard for these animal hooks from anthropology a long time ago too.  I hope they still have them or I can at least find something similar and paint it white if need be.  I just picture 3 different animal heads holding the kids towels!  

This owl light switch cover resides at anthro too.  I'll admit I have never bought a thing at Anthropology because I'm a cheapo but I may have to splurge for these cuties.

I think they will add a perfect bit of whimsy to our fairly basic bathroom.

And although I'm tempted to do some super cute more childish art on the only wall that I have to decorate in the space I don't know if I can pass up this butterfly display.  

I think these Free Printable Butterflies that BHG.com featured would look awesome on the wall in the wet area(the shower and toilet are in their own little room). 

Now don't hold me to it but that is where my mind is right now and well really it has been for a while;) I suppose I could always move in and have a change of heart but I am still loving that place setting as inspiration!  My mission will have to be to find some mint green and other green tones to really follow through with it.  Have you ever been inspired but something like a place setting or something like it before?

Some pretties and some progress

Oh guys!  I found a new (to me) place to love!  

We have a newish startup company in Austin called Treehouse.

While it has probably been open for at least a year now(probably more) I haven't had a need to venture in since we are in the rent house and all.

Well hubs stopped in the other day and found something he wanted to show me.

It wasn't these awesomely colorful fun tiles!

It wasn't these warm and textured perfect for our master bath tiles either.

It wasn't the gray stacked oh so perfectly tiles right in the middle of this horrible phone picture below either.  Which by the way are identical to the ones I've been trying to source online for our master.

I don't think he spotted these beautiful and colorful Fireclay Tiles either.

These are Austin based designer Kelly LaPlante‘s new Runway Collection for Fireclay Tile. Fireclay tiles are handcrafted, artisan made in San Jose, California out of recycled glass and ceramic from old glass bottles and old porcelain bathtubs.  

Well o.k I'll take about 250 sq feet of those blue ones above please!

This tangerine, musterd, and teal is awesome but I know I change my mind way too often for that kind of commitment.  But oh so cool it is!

Oh and I did drool a little bit when I saw these recycled glass tiles that would be so yummy on our kitchen backsplash!  But you know what? Our tile budget is $1 a sq foot and actually we don't even have a kitchen backsplash in our budget so anything extra is well....EXTRA.  Anywho I already bought our backsplash tiles.  Whoops  I haven't shared those yet..  Let's just look at these for now.

 I even spotted a whole pretty kitchen whose tile of course called my name.

One of the most drool worthy finds would have to be these reclaimed floors.  Come to momma!

What store would be complete without a little area for budding architects and designers?

Can you say free childcare?  I kid!

Now we didn't go to Treehouse for any of those things now did we?

We went looking for this!

Yep a big old hunk of weathered oak!  The one right there in the middle.  I'm sure we could have found something special like this on craigslist, at an old barn sale or on the side of the road for that matter if we had time to hunt for fun things like that.  But instead Treehouse did it for us and this big ol' dude will be our mantle!  That's what we have planned for him anyway.  As for the rest of the fireplace, I'm still just "pinning" away onto my fireplace board looking for ideas.  I like everything!  No seriously look at my board, I'm all over the place.  That detail is going to be hard to nail it down.

Now I have to show you a progress picture of the site right?

It's a big one.  Hold on to your horses!

Ta Da! 

Yes it looks very similar to the way it has looked for the last two weeks!  But...there is some progress I promise.  If you follow on along of the facebook page you've already seen this pic.  We finally had that big ol pile of trees from the last post chipped into mulch in order to open up the driveway!  Baby Steps people.

I was not paid or perked in any way to mention these great products at Treehouse.  They were just drool worthy to me!