The Graphics Fairy's Dining Room

I have made so many wonderful friends through my blog and it was a real treat to meet many of them at Blissdom a few weeks ago.  It was a very special thing, though, when I befriended a blogger who lives only about 30 minutes from me.  It got even better when we got along really well and I was over the moon when she asked me to work with her in her space at The Old Lucketts Store.  In case you didn't know, I'm talking about Karen aka The Graphics Fairy.  Not only is she a very cool person, but she has amazing style. 

When I first saw her dining room, I knew I needed to bring my camera the next time I was invited over. 

First of all, Karen has gorgeous family pieces and antiques to work with and then they were artfully arranged by Amy Whyte, who is one of the Lucketts Design House designers and was a stylist for Country Home and a few other magazines.  Amy has impeccable taste.

She chose a round table over a more traditional rectangular one, because it suited the space better.  I love how she set the hutch off center in the room.  It still looks perfectly balanced, but not overly formal. 

A monogrammed pitcher is filled with bird feathers and one of her antique graphics.  A little "nest" is tucked in behind. 

The French clocks provide a little glam, but having one that is missing the face keeps the arrangement from looking too precious.

This amazing guilt mirror is one of her family pieces.  No one else in her family wanted it!  Can you believe that? 

Amy used antique sheet music as place mats and then layered two different china patterns on top. 

The centerpiece is a stack of old books and a cloche with a nest and bird print.  I am in love with the warmth and simplicity of this idea.

I had to share one last thing in her home..this amazing clock! 

I think I'm going to try to make one of these.  It's about 3' x 3' and it makes a great statement over her family room fire place. 

I hope you're inspired!  I was.

Tomorrow I am going to unveil the first part of the prize for the winner of the "Copy Me Challenge", so stay tuned and keep linking up.  It's open until Friday!

Ridgid R4512 Table Saw - The Unboxing

To back track just a bit, here are some photos of what came inside the box of the Ridgid R4512 table saw. First, there was Styrofoam that contained all the hardware and accessories. Everything was arranged neatly and survived shipping well.

Here are all the hardware parts and accessories, including the fence, the miter guage and the blade guard.

Next came the saw itself, the wings, the dust chute, the sides of the stand and all the parts for the fence guides.

This is looking into the belly of the beast. Everything survived well -- no cracked cast iron. Also, everything is metal -- no plastic gears anywhere to be found. (You can also see the casters for the mobile base.)

Next I'll describe moving the saw to the basement and installing the wings and rails. Stay tuned.

Home plan and elevation - 2497 Sq. Ft

Home Plan Details
Total Area: 2497 Sq. Ft.
Ground Floor:1507 Sq. Ft.
First Floor: 990 Sq. Ft.





Architect: Sudheesh Vayaneri
Mob:9846966543
Email:vayaneri@gmail.com

Tiles and Tap Shoes

The marble hex tiles for my bathroom were delivered last week.  Is it strange to be in love with tile?  I actually hugged it, made sure every person who entered my house saw my new tile, and, in true blogger fashion, I set it in good light and photographed it.  Now I'm writing about it.  I love this tile. 

I chose not to use my True Value prize money on it, though.  It would've been about $1500 to buy it from their tile supplier and I found it on Amazon for about $300.  See, I'm even thrifty with prize money!  I just can't help myself.   

So, my living room has become the holding area for my bathroom fixtures.  That's the bead board, toilet, tank, and sink basin piled against my piano. 

I got a little antsy yesterday and ripped down the wallpaper border that was above the pink plastic tile.  I hope to complete the demolition this week.

Today, though, I needed to take care of some things for my own sanity and cleaning my half of the closet was one of them.  (Yes, I share a tiny closet with my husband.)  I was ready to be ruthless and that's a good time to clean out a closet.  I filled 2 1/2 garbage bags with clothes, shoes and purses without pause, but I hesitated when I came across my collection of dance shoes.   

It's gotten better. I used to have five pairs that I've been hauling around since my musical theatre days. Today, I only had three. Why are these so hard for me to throw away? When I gave this a lot of thought, I came up with an honest answer.  If I have dance shoes, it means I'm still a dancer. 

I challenged myself today.  Just let them go.  Getting rid of the shoes doesn't mean I can't do a mean time step or that I'll forget second position.  Getting rid of the shoes frees up space in my closet and relieves the stress I feel when my home is too cluttered. 

So...I threw away my ballet shoes and character shoes. 

I wasn't totally ruthless, though...

...I kept the tap shoes. 

You just never know when you'll need to shuffle off to Buffalo...

...and I just wasn't ready, yet. 

Ridgid R4512 Table Saw - Stand and Caster Assembly (time-lapse and photos)

I’m getting ahead of myself a bit, but I wanted to post this time-lapse of me assembling the stand and casters for the Ridgid R4512 table saw. (Yes, I store my golf clubs in the living room. Don't judge.)

Assembling the stand and casters was very straightforward (despite the number of times you see me staring at the instruction book!). I think it took me about an hour or so. I was impressed by the hardware and how well everything fit together. The caster axles and lifting mechanism are very sturdy and heavy. It was a bit of a challenge to install the casters onto the stand by myself because there is nothing to rest them on as you are attaching the first bolt. But once I attached the first bolt, everything got a lot easier. Having someone help you hold it would save lots of time. I got the feeling right away that the lift mechanism works very well. Pushing the foot pedal gives you a satisfying click when the wheels engage with the floor and lift the stand. This feature is going to be a big help since I have so little space to work with. I’ll be able to easily move the saw around when I need to.

Here are some close-ups.

Thanks to my friend Matt for helping with the time-lapse and adding the Railroad Earth accompaniment.

Home plan and elevation - 2365 Sq. Ft

Ground Floor : 1625 Sq. Ft
Upper Floor Area: 740 Sq. Ft
Total Area: 2365 Sq. Ft







Designer: T.L.M Ismail
094 0778466644 / 094 0714418216
azeetha7@yahoo.com

Casualty of Business

I am blown away at all of the links for the Copy Me challenge!  All of the ones I've looked at are ah-ma-zing! 

You are all sharing projects inspired by me and my style and I've had a rather odd and unexpected reaction to looking at your wonderful vignettes, rooms, furniture and projects. 

Let me explain. 

My house has become a casualty of my business.  You are all creating beautiful corners in your homes and I'm picking mine apart.  Plucking things to sell, rearranging things for photo shoots, and storing things for "when I finally get around to that room." 

My business takes priority over my house. I take great care to set up a room or part of a room or a vignette for photos...

...and then I take it all down.

I make pieces I fall in love with... 

...and then I have to let them go.

Between all of the photos, this is the reality. 

I don't hang anything on the walls, because I know I'm going to move the furniture around and I know some day it will be perfect and it's not now, so I don't do anything. 

I'm too busy working on projects for others that the only thing hanging from my bedroom curtain rod is clothes that are drying.

And my rooms are a constant merry-go-round of furniture, photo shoots and projects.  (Although the Christmas projects continue into February, the tree is finally down.)

...and on top of that, I have the usual accoutrements that come with toddlers.  Boys who dress as three different super heros in one day, smush gold fish into the carpets, up-end full bins of matchbox cars and don't appreciate the aesthetic of a coffee-table-scape. 

So, I guess my point is...

In the "Copy Me" challenge, you're copying my best.  The things that are clean, arranged, photographed and PhotoShopped. 

If you feel like your home might not measure up...well, I feel that way too.