Christmas Home Tour

I was so excited when  Stacy from Not Just a Housewife asked me to join her Christmas Home Tour this year! I haven't been blogging in the way that I used to. It's been about a year since my focus shifted to my family and to my interiors business. But keeping connected and also, loving blogging is still a passion of mine, and this was just the right time to jump back to share a fun Christmas Tour of my home. (I'm also super excited about 2017: linking up my blog with my design business, to share more of my client renovations/builds and for a partnership between the blog, tv spots and business). 

For today's Home Tour, there are several bloggers participating, so be sure to see them all! The next blogger on the tour stop is linked up at the bottom of this post. They are all so creative!!!

My tour starts with a Christmas Wreath Making Party that I hosted last week. It was a Clients & Friends Open House, a fun little morning, making Christmas Wreaths with florist Lizy Bowden. 

Each year I always add fresh greens, pine cones and other natural elements to my decorating. 

Somehow, it makes my home come alive for the holidays. The scent, the texture...it makes my other Christmas decor seem less stiff, less just like stuff, less artificial actually. So, throughout these photos you'll see the use of Cedar, Bay and Pine. 

Photos by Kelli Marquez

Now that the red tables are put away, and I've dragged my sofa back into the room, I'll be sharing a few more photos on my Instagram account today! 

Hop over, follow my feed and see my Insta Stories for some of the details about what's on my tree, how I style my coffee table for the holidays and of course, WHERE I put my wreath (and HOW I hang my wreaths)! 

Thank you for coming over to my house!

 The next person on the tour is Vanessa from Our Thrifty Ideas.

Here is a complete list of all who are participating:

Marie – Blooming Homestead

Megan – Balancing Home

Rhoda – Southern Hospitality

Vanessa – DIY 180

Toni – Design Dazzle

Jessica – Decor Adventures

Amy – Commona My House

Vanessa – Our Thrifty Ideas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Client House Project: View Cove {Exterior}

For a year I've been working with a lovely family. They purchased their dream home...but it wasn't quite dreamy yet. They wanted to take the dark and dated interior and update it with a Transitional fresh, clean and white atmosphere. Everything that my clients gravitated towards was white and pale gray. So...we made it white and pale gray! We were smart about what was existing that we could adapt and modify and what was better to scrap and start from scratch. Overall, there wasn't an inch of this 10,000 square foot home that we didn't touch.

Let's start the View Cove home tour week off with their exterior!

 I'd like to thank my clients for allowing my photographer Kelli Marquez to be able to take some detailed photos of our renovations!! 

To keep the exterior fresh and in keeping with the interior changes we had planned, we updated the heavy brick exterior a bit with Hardie Board. We used Board and Batten, as well as Shingles strategically. For budget and environmental considerations (why waste something that is still functional) we kept the roof, trim, brick and guttering original to the house and unchanged. We added the Hardie Board, changed a few windows to an updated, cleaner look, changed the balcony details and the front entry way (including removing the timber frame detail that never really worked with the house as a whole). We also had the father of the home owner retro-fit the existing front door to my specifications. This DIY saved a sizable amount of the budget and again, upcycled an existing, functional door, to just look more in keeping with the new fresh look of the home. 

Welcome to View Cove.

EXTERIOR

Before

After

Thank you to Kelli Marquez for all of the exquisite "After" photos that capture the details of our design plan as well as these amazing clients and their sweet family. It was such an incredible project to work on.  I love helping people find their own style and make it come to life. Come back over tomorrow to see some fun bath, bedroom and playroom ideas that we executed in this airy and light family home.

Be sure to check back and see these other VIEW COVE RENOVATIONS all this week!
KITCHEN
MASTER BATH
FORMAL LIVING & OFFICE
EXTERIOR

Exterior Paint Color: Benjamin Moore "Edgecomb Gray"

Exterior Trim Paint Color: Benjamin Moore "Simply White"

XO,

Wednesday Inspiration {Sherwin Williams "Watery"}

All the Shingle Ladies {Vol. 3: NEARSIDE Exterior Tour}

When I was little, we'd drive from our town in CT over to RI quite a bit. At least once every summer, we'd go to Newport. There are too many treasures in Newport to mention...from the  Historic Mansions along the cliff (think Vanderbilt Family Summer Mansion) to the America's Cup Yacht Club, Fort Adams,  The Cliffside Inn and Salve Regina University, Swim Clubs, Dels Lemonade, the incredible building at the Tennis Hall of fame, and my favorite dockside restaurant The Black Pearl (order the chowder)...there isn't a shortage of things to do around town. 

But my absolute favorite thing to do was to drive around Newport's "10 Mile Drive", basically driving all around the Newport Peninsula, taking in the breathtaking views and exquisite architecture. It's the Gilded Age shoreline of posh life for these folks who live on Brenton Cove Shore, East Passage of Narragansett Bay, Ocean Drive, and Bellevue Ave. Hammersmith Farm, the childhood home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was always one that my mom pointed out to her car full of kids. 

Tennis Hall of Fame
Newport, RI

All the Shingle Ladies: Volume 3 captures the essence of Newport Shingle style architecture. This restored carriage house near Salve Regina University is classic Newport.
My bags are packed...I'm ready to move in.

Here is NEARSIDE.

All photos courtesy of Southeby's.

For full property tour visit here.

All the Shingle Ladies {Vol. 2: Long Island Mansion "Strongheart"}

All the Shingle Ladies, Vol. 2 is a little exterior tour of the quintessential Coastal North East Shingle Style. Surrounded by walls of Hydrangeas, this home with it's weathered cedar shake shingles, crisp white trim and oodles of charm makes you think you can even smell and see the ocean breeze, right?

So, here is our inspiration exterior of the week.

Richard Gere is selling his Long Island Mansion "Strongheart". 

Don't even bother to look at the asking price. 

Seriously. 

Don't. 

But if I had a house that was "me", a house that was my 

spirit doppelganger, it would be Strongheart.

To see Strongheart's equally stunning interiors, take the full tour here.

*images Douglas Elliman via Variety