our 4th of July weekend in pictures

Thanks to Sarah and Zach, Lauren and Scott, and Katie and Dave for making the weekend so much fun! 

jessie fisher.

My friend Jessie has unbelievable style.  And, she doesn't just walk the walk, she talks the talk.  When I was wallowing in decorating despair (okay, that's a bit exaggerated), Jessie recommended the curtains that are now hanging in my dining room.  And they're perfect. Absolutely 100% perfect.  And (get this) she'd never even seen the room.  Not even a picture! I only wrote a few words about colors and she found them.  All the way from Denver.   They're one of my favorite things in the whole house now.

So, stylish Jessie who grew up in Maine is now living in Denver.  And the other day, when she posted something on her blog about an extraordinarily wealthy woman approaching her on the street in Denver and asking her to re-decorate her beach cottage in Maine, well, I just about flipped my lid.  Images of forcing Jessie to let me be her personal assistant filled my mind.  Days spent rummaging through antique stores and scouring estate sales would be filled with sunshine and lots of beautiful purchases made with somebody else's money (which just so happens to be the best kind).  Turns out she made the whole thing up.  But, she definitely had me going there for awhile!  Read her post here, if you're so inclined:  This Must Be the Place.  I highly recommend it.  Her blog is hilarious and full of great ideas.  I only wish I could be as creative as Jessie!

Also, just to make you jealous--the weather here has been absolutely perfect and yesterday my mom took Dan and me out kayaking on the lake in Camden.  Although I complained of sore arms at the time, it was really fun and the perfect day to be out on the lake.

sunrise in Camden

my mom

Dan being too cool for school

my mom and me at balance rock

my kayak

don't run into that rock!

there goes my mom 

the water looks calm, but it's being very deceptive

a few updated pics

Posting pictures of the house on Facebook and here, I realized that some things have changed even in the last two weeks.  For example, the dining room table looked so empty in the pictures I posted, because I have since set it with dishes, etc.  The Bay Room, or Blue Room, has gotten window treatments, which really rounds it out. So, while the changes are very minor, I, at least, feel that they make a big difference.

I was a little nervous about choosing placemats...but I actually really like these simple green ones.  They pick up colors in the re-upholstered chairs and tie in with the birds on the curtains, while still being neutral enough that they don't distract you from everything else. 

Another view.   Doesn't the table look more full now? I like it better this way.  Also, looking at this picture makes me realize just how detail-oriented real interior designers have to be.  I mean, the plates aren't all lined up correctly (look at the one in the bottom-left corner) and the placemat in the bottom-right corner is wrinkled.  Not to mention all of the wrinkles in the table runner, which I hadn't even noticed until now.  Obviously, it's fine for this picture, but I can't imagine all of the things you'd have to think of when taking a professional picture.  I guess you'd get used to it, huh?  You'd have to, otherwise you'd probably be out of a job pretty quickly.

Sorry, couldn't resist throwing this vase in here.  I still love it so much! I bought the dried lavender at a new store downtown.  It smells so phenomenal that I even saved the dried stems I cut off when putting it in vases.  I put those on my desk though, so guests would only see the pretty stuff.  Also, Dinah, that amazing friend who sent me the Barefoot Contessa cookbook??  She has the same fish vase! Except hers is milk glass!  Wow.  Just re-read what I wrote. Does the fact that I get so excited about this mean that I need to get a life? Hm.  Things to think about.

Anyway, off to the Bay Room:

Here's more of the lavender! The vase doesn't actually sit on this bedside table normally, but I thought the red, blue and purple colors were so pretty together that I couldn't resist moving it for the picture. (Clue number two that I need a life? Probably.)

I originally bought the curtains in the Bay Room for the dining room.  But they were so perfect in here, and I really wanted the whimsy of the bird ones for the dining room, so I splurged and got both.  Also, I know the TV maybe isn't so beautiful, but I feel like we need to have them in each room.  And, that picture above the TV? It was given to me by yet another of my college friends, Lauren.  It says, "We had gone far enough together to listen easily in the quiet spaces." And I love it.  Lauren always has a way of vocalizing the things that other people just can't quite put a finger on.  I guess in this case she's talking through the art, but still.  I really wanted it to be somewhere where I could see it more often, but it fit so perfectly there, that I guess I have to be nice and share. I think Lauren would be proud of me for sharing.  It's made by Brian Andreas of Story People.

A new vignette of the vanity.  I've added drinking glasses (I love the polka dots! Ha, I almost said polka-spot, because that's what the Beekman Boys llama is named....whoaaaa need a life #3) and a bar of soap and "soap dish" aka a plate, because I have no money left to buy a legit soap dish.  I like the plate though.

I really felt that we didn't have a good picture of the shower in this room.  I love those shower curtains, but they don't photograph so well.  They're way more colorful/dyamic in real life.  I like this picture better than previous ones, because of the painting, which goes so well in the bathroom.  I tried to put it almost everywhere else in the house and then brought it to this bathroom and realized I had been wasting my time.  Why force it somewhere else when it clearly has a home right here? 

This seaglass has been there all along, but I didn't really have a picture of it before.  While this picture still may not be the best, you can see all of that seaglass, dutifully collected by my brother and me when we were little.  Yay for long sunny days at the beach! 

A little glimpse of both the bedroom and the bathroom.  You get an idea of the curtains. And for some reason, I really like the clean towels being folded up on top of that cabinet--my mom's good idea.  (That cabinet, by the way, serves as a closet because there's no other place to hang your clothes in this room.  Gotta love old houses and their lack of closet space.) 

A couple more pictures to showcase the curtains. They're a really light almost linen fabric with some vertical stripes.  I think the chair looks so much better now.  I guess it looks less lonely with the curtains there, if you can say that about a chair. 

Another picture that proves I couldn't be an interior designer. I don't like how you can see the air conditioner (yet it's another essential for the B & B, given that we don't have central air...).  Also, the cords under the TV! Ugh.  Dan has figured out some ingenious way to tie them all up under the table, so they're no longer visible.  Finally, I don't like how the curtains are laying on the floor here.  I promptly went upstairs and fixed them after looking at this pic on the computer.  

Well that's it for updates for now.  I hope you guys like the differences too! 

P.S.  Happy First Day of July!