Friday, January 23, 2015

Our House in the Philippines


Greetings from Boracay, Philippines!

Brent and I left the states on Tuesday morning and 23 hours and two stops later landed in Manilla, Philippines. We got to our hotel around 10:00 p.m on Wednesday and left early the next morning for our flight/boat to the island of Boracay. Needless to say it has been a whirlwind last few days, but since we finally arrived in Boracay we have been able to explore, eat, relax and indulge in the super cheap massages on the beach. We got two yesterday!

We are traveling with our friends Jackie and Matt. They met up with us in Manilla where they had been for a few days on business. Jackie is the Director of International Sales for the fabulous shoe company - oka.B. You all may remember we had that fun oka.B photoshoot at our house last year? Well, much to my surprise and excitement Jackie spotted our house in advertisements around Manilla at some of the retailers she visited.  She snapped some pics for me on her phone. 

Remember this shot with the beautiful Meredith on our deck with her umbrella?


Or this shot of Meredith in our closet??


Pretty cool, right? A little piece of home right here in the Philippines!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Master Bedroom Gallery Wall


Having 14-ish days off over the holidays was SO nice. My days were filled with friends, family, reality TV, organizing and a whole lot of relaxing. On our last vacation day, in the midst of binge watching Homeland and perusing Instagram, Brent and I were able to peel ourselves off the couch and complete a house project that has been on our "to-do" list for a year. Yes, a year folks - procrastination station right here. I'm happy to report we FINALLY hung a gallery wall in our Master Bedroom.


Our master bedroom has gotten little to no attention here on the blog; which is funny because this room, especially our bed which we adoringly call "The Cloud" is a major hangout area for us. I know this goes against pretty much all rules for "healthy living" but we work, eat, scheme and dream, watch TV and of course sleep in the cloud. Who can resist a giant fluffy, soft, warm landing pad? Not us!

Our room was happy enough with great natural light, a beautiful tufted king sized bed, pretty pillows and fun lamps. But honestly, I never feel a room is complete, warm or inviting without some art. Lucky for us, art we had and the wall above our bed was the perfect spot to display it - gallery style.

A little Before shot for ya:


As you all know, gallery walls can come in many a shape, size and context. For us, we simply wanted to fill the wall with pieces that were special to us, bringing in texture, color and interest. To begin we measured the space from the top of the headboard to the ceiling and then taped that space off on the floor in front of the bed/wall where the art would hang. Then, we took the various pieces of art and started placing them within the taped off rectangle until we had the orientation we were happy with.


I'm super visual so this approach really came in handy for me. The rectangle actually lived on the floor for months. The first time we attempted to lay out the art, things were off and we knew we needed more/different pieces in certain areas. So, the art sat in the corner of our room. Slowly, but surely a few more pieces came to the party until the day came that we were ready to hang. Once the nails and hammer came out, things moved pretty fast...


OK, maybe not THAT fast, but truly this baby was up in less than 30 minutes. As Brent installed each new piece I got more and more excited. I love all the color these pieces bring to the room, it makes the space feel so happy and layered. Even better? Most of these pieces are near and dear to us...We have 3 original paintings done by Brent's Dandy, Nancy Niblack. Photography of an outhouse on my Grandmother & PapaJack's Country House property by my Mom, Lori Foster. The North Carolina picture with a heart in Highlands, where Brent and I got engaged, was a gift from my sister and her husband. We have 2 paintings from our travels together, one from Tuscany on our honeymoon and the other from Prague in 2010. A piece Brent picked up in San Francisco of Lombard Street. The gold sunburst is from Ballards, the giant metal S is from Scott's Antique and the coin art was an antique store find in Chattanooga. And finally the panda picture was recently given to us by Brent's mom Cindy. I have no idea where it came from, but it reminds me of Luke and Cows and all other things black and white so I love it.


It sure does feel good to re-boot every now and then, but I'm super happy we took 30 minutes to get this wall up, because now that we are back in the swing of real life it's nice to have something so happy and fun to go to sleep under each night.

All photos are my own. 

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Hi 2015 + a Magazine Feature


Welcome to the first full week of 2015!!!!

We are only a few days in to this new year and I'm digging it already. I'm excited to kick 2015 off with a little magazine feature in the January issue of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Magazine.


I'm honored to be in good company on page 16 & 17, talking advice for creating statement kitchens. The question I answered? 

"What's the easiest way to make a lofty kitchen feel cozier?"

To see what I had to say, check out the issue on stands now!

2015....LET'S DO THIS!

Thursday, January 1, 2015

2014 Highlight Reel


And just like that....

POOF

2014 is over. 

The year went by SO FAST. Like, HOLY COW-it-feels-like-Valentine's Day-was-yesterday fast.

I've always loved the number 14, so I had big expectations for the year and luckily 2014 did not disappoint. Creatively 2014 was full of memorable moments including a slew of exciting projects, a lot of which were documented right here on the blog. 

To commemorate the fun that was 2014 I've put together a little highlight reel.  




2014 was one for the books, but there are a LOT of exciting things coming in 2015 and I can't wait to share with you all! Until then...New year, new start... Happy New Years, folks and thanks so much for hangin' with The Cow Spot each week, I love having you here! :)