Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Puppy Love

We picked up our new puppy on Sunday...
 He is six weeks old.
He is the perfect Valentine's Gift!


We are all crazy in love with him.
He is a spirited little guy. 
We named him Drayton after his dad, Drae.
Exhausted...and so am I!

Crazy is more like it.  The first two nights I was up every two hours taking him out to potty.  During the day, I took him outside every hour on the hour to teach him to go potty in the pine straw.  He sleeps in a crate at night.  I feel like I have an infant again, but his little routine is working, and he has learned so quickly!  I can't wait for the weekend, so the rest of the family can take the night shift, and I can get some sleep!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you with much love from Three Pixie Lane!



Sincerely,


P.S.  The house projects are coming along.  We have purchased some of our appliances and are finalizing the drawings for the new kitchen.  I feel like my head is going to spin right off my neck, but I am excited to get the project complete!
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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

A Bungalow by the Sea

This little cottage is located at the Isle of Palms, SC.
...just a short skip to the beach and minutes to downtown Charleston.
This house has an open floor plan.  It was built in the eighties and was remodeled in some areas.  The 'Lobster' sign came from an antique mall in town.  The farm table in the dining room came from Victoria & Thomas. They specialize in transforming old wood from England into beautiful farm tables. This one is similar to the one in my kitchen (here.) Chairs from the Pottery Barn Outlet surround the table.
We filled the home with nautical finds from different antique and thrift shops.   We mixed some new furniture with hand-me-down pieces from family.    Previous owners left behind the telescope in the dining room.  Prints on the wall advertise the Wild Life Expo in Charleston, SC.
The kitchen has a nice open design, but still maintains a bit of its 'eighties' flair.  What I love is that it is open to the dining room and the living room, so the cook can still visit with guests.
Our friend gave use these oars when he moved.  The glider chair was the one I used to rock all my babies to sleep.  The quilt came from Garnet Hill.  Besides the fact that I love quilts, they have held up very well in this rental unit.
The vintage 'swimmers' came from an antique mall in Charleston, SC.  I found the bird houses on top of the armoire at Marshall's.  These quilts came from the Pottery Barn Outlet.
The master bedroom has two queen size beds.  My family all piles in here when we host other guests.  There are two full baths in the house and one outdoor shower.  I recovered the seat on the chair that belonged to my grandmother with a Palmetto tree fabric.  People in SC are proud of their Palmetto tree with crescent moon flag!
My mom always wore pretty straw hats, when we would go to the beach.  I have her collection and have them displayed around the house.  These quilts came from Pottery Barn Outlet, too.
More of her hats sit on top of the book shelf with a little sailboat.  To recycle our books, we have a 'one book in, one book out' deal (feel free to take a book, but leave one behind!)  It is interesting the books people have left!  Nautical maps of SC and the Edisto River flank the book shelf.  A sweet grass basket hangs just to the right.  Charleston is famous for her lovely sweet grass baskets.  If you visit, be sure to get one!  The art of weaving these baskets has a long history in the Low Country.
 I found some of the items on the mantel at the beach; the seaweed, the sand and a few of the starfish.
The old print of the Charleston Battery was one my parents had in storage.  It is dated 1967, but was in good condition, so I framed it for this space.  The 'cannon' book ends also belonged to my parents, who lived in Charleston when they first married.  They look just like the real cannons just down the road at Sullivan's Island and at Fort Sumter, where the Civil War started.  The little mermaid just below the mantel was a gift from a friend.

I have posted about this porch (here.)  While we are a block away from the ocean, you can hear the sweet sound of the waves breaking in the evening, when all is quiet.  The old shutters came from an antique store in Southport, NC.
Many of the houses in the Lowcountry display beautiful pieces of outdoor art.  I found the swordfish at a local store and put some boat varnish on it to protect it from the elements.  I purchased the black bench at the Goodwill store and Rob painted it with a coat of 'Charleston Green' paint.  I did a post on 'Outdoor Art' (here.) 

This house is meant to be a relaxed place; one to kick your feet up and make some memories.  It is meant for sandy toes!  However, we did add the outdoor shower to reduce some of the sand tracked in to the house.  I can't think of anything better than coming off the beach and rinsing off in an outdoor shower...my favorite.

An artist named Jack Johnson of the Outer Banks, NC sculpted the whale on top of the armoire. It is another favorite of mine and reminds me of the novel, Moby Dick.

We have this little bungalow as a rental property managed by Island Realty.  If you want to visit the beautiful and historical area of Charleston and want to rent this place close to the beach, click here for more details.  If you are interested, let me know and I will make sure my readers get a 10% discount!

Oh, I am ready for the warmer weather!  Are you?

Thanks for stopping by! 
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Monday, February 6, 2012

Refresh Your Room (Living Room)



Seeing how my house is a total disaster right now as we prepare for the floors to be refinished, I am sharing some pictures of my mantel from spring.  In another month, I will be able to show this space (and the kitchen) completely refreshed...stay tuned!

I am joining Jennifer Rizzo for Refresh Your Room Link Party!

Have a great day!
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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Puppy Love and Photography

Rob holds a puppy from the Swift Creek Kennel
I wrote in December (Three Barks from Heaven) about losing our beloved Lab the day after Christmas.  We grieved and grieved and still are.  Several weeks later, we found ourselves so lonely without our dog, so I called the Swift Creek Kennel in Camden, SC to inquire about her labs. 
The lady that answered couldn't speak long, because the mama Lab was delivering her pups right at that moment. It seemed like fate to us!  Aren't they the cutest puppies?
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Garden&Gun
I love this picture.  It is so sweet of a mama and her baby.  I almost feel bad taking the puppy from his mama, but we will give him a good home!  Labs are very spirited and need lots of exercise.  After all, they are hunting dogs.  He will love the river and chasing the ducks!  Labs are friendly, even tempered, trainable, loyal and affectionate.  In two weeks, we can bring ours home!  I cannot tell you the excitement in my children!  Rob and I are crazy to get a puppy amidst the remodeling, but if you are going to live crazy, why not make it real crazy? Right?  Now, if we can all just agree on a name.

I am taking a photography class.  The timing of the class is horrible and I am adding more craziness to our current status, but I really wanted to take it!  Our homework was to take pictures of round objects.  I purchased this cruiser bike recently from Habitat for Humanity...perfect for the shot.  It was a steal and the girl who originally bought it only rode it about four times before taking it to the shop.  She moved from the beach to a town near the mountains and this type of bike couldn't handle the new terrain.  It was very reasonable, and I have been dreaming of one for so long.  Now, I just need a cute basket, a big hat, and a bikini for a stroll down the beach...okay, skip the bikini!
God's perfect objects make great photo ops.
And the perfect sunset...The winter beach is the perfect place to be alone.  I spent four days in Charleston by myself.  I love the winter beach; there is hardly another soul around.  With the madness at our home, it was perfect to escape to the 'quietness.'
Brooke gives me the 'Okay' sign for another shot of something round!  Next week, I will learn about 'aperture.'  I can't wait!

See you soon!
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