Touches of Candlelight

Thank God I married a firefighter, 

because I love my candles.

After the kids are in bed, it is nice to sit and unwind with a cup of tea or a glass of wine, and a bit of candlelight. 

I light them for fragrance and ambiance.

I love how the candlelight 

effects the other items.  

I love how the detail in the 

old glass bottle, ridges on the 

appetizer plates, 

and the scales on the 

metal fish are 

highlighted by the light.    

 `This is my cocktail table.   

I love how this makes the stone look, and creates a pretty feature in the 

center of the room.

 Although this is  a dark photo, I wanted to show you how a pattern reflects on the vase next to it.  This little candle holder 

changes the light. 

 As you use candlelight, play with your accessories to see how things can feel enhanced by the soft light.   

Beautiful items for sale....

Browse for inspiration and shop at my friend, Jennifer Rizzo's, new spring line.     


We have been doing business together for over the past 10 years working on design projects and I have been following her blog for years.    


She is a very talented artist!


I have posted the link for you...enjoy! 



http://issuu.com/jenniferrizzodesigns/docs/sparrowandblossomlookbook/3

Front Porch...extension of the interior

Utilizing the front porch of a home is a great way to extend your living space and give some personality and style to your exterior space.

With this unusually mild Chicago winter, I was motivated to sweep and clean my porch area earlier than I normally do. 

Even if you don't have a covered porch, a chair, bench, plants, and door decorations are a way to enhance your entry area.

Since my porch is covered, I have more flexibility to add items normally used for the interior of your home.

I used the same principles with how I decorate the inside of my home.  

I have an indoor/outdoor area rug, wall hangings, furniture, lighting and accessories.     

 I hung this wrought iron piece on the brick.

My brick is my color inspiration for the space.

I painted the door in 2 colors 

I pulled from the brick colors.  

 I added table lines, but tacked them on the underside and weighted it down with the lantern so they did not blow away.

 I added this small buffet piece which stores sidewalk chalk, salt for icy days, and the Scrabble game which we like to play 

when it is warmer outside.

 The wicker chairs are intended for the outdoors but the throw pillows make them feel like more of an interior piece. 

 The area rug warms up the cement and pulls the colors from the brick and 

the accessories together. 

 We do have an overhead light but I prefer the lamp.   It adds a cozy feel to the porch especially in the evening as shown below.

 When guests are coming over or I am planning on spending time outside, I light the candle in the lantern.

I am ready to spend more time out here....

hurry up spring!

Dresser turned TV Stand/Bookshelf

Found this cute dresser and had my boys help carry in each drawer down to my work area.   Then they proceeded 

to wrestle and 

flattened a drawer.  

It is these situations that force my creative side to come out.

  

Needless to say, I was not happy, but sat there staring to figure out what to do next 

...and here is my solution.

I decided to move all the drawers down to the lower slots and keep the 

top area open as a shelf.

 I used the bottom of the flattened drawer as the base/floor for the shelf and secured it 

with finishing nails. 

It covered the uneven surface 

as you can see below. 

 Then I added a fresh coat of paint and distressed edges.

 This niche is perfect for books, baskets, or for storage or tv electronics.