New TV In The Family Room

Good afternoon my dears,

When we moved into our home, a year ago, we decided to turn the third floor - would be sixth bedroom - into a family room. Firstly, we don't need six bedrooms, and secondly, this space upstairs is cozy and has the best view in the house of the Moon.

We had a tiny television, it often left us squinting at the screen and turning up the volume to hear as if we were elderly folk in an old folks home. Have you ever encountered that problem? So we knew that we'd have to start saving for an eventual upgrade. Which we just did. 

We bring up a tray with tea or coffee, a few snacks, and settle up here in the evenings to watch our DVR'd shows. Our cats, Boo and Milly also enjoy coming and spending time with us up here. Other than an hour or two in the evenings we don't watch any other television throughout the day. How about you? Do you watch a lot of television?

- Family Room - 

Here's a sneak peek...

...as you can see, our family room still has a bit of a new home feel. Eventually, I would like to add a country green hue to the walls, frame some maps that we acquired of North America and Europe to put behind the couch, and give it a more lived in feel. 

- Video -

The shenanigans of bringing up and setting up a 65" television.



Thank you for stopping by. 

-Kiki Nakita-

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bloglovin' or YouTube

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Library Tour and Project

Good afternoon my dears.

Welcome to our library. Its one of my favorite places to curl up with a cup of Earl Grey tea, a magazine, a book, or a family photo album. Its also one of the first two rooms you see when you come in the entryway, so its also a great place to chat with neighbors and visitors who stop by unannounced. Please have a seat, I'll go put the kettle on, what kind of tea would you like?

Our library is where I keep all my magazine subscriptions, and as you can see I have many issues. I stopped subscribing a few years ago, in favor of browsing with my chai tea latte in Barnes & Noble, but I couldn't part with these. I rotate them seasonally, so that all the current seasons issues are on display and ready for me to page through. My favorites being Victoria, Southern Lady, Romantic Homes, and Tea Time (not pictured). I also have a few vintage Christmas magazines that were my Granny Veronika's that always remind me of her. Do you have magazine subscriptions? If so, how do you organize your collection?

On the bookshelf, is this souvenir my Nana Mabel gave to me. She retired from Rolls-Royce at University of Warwick in 1999. My Mum attended her retirement party where they gifted her a flight experience at a local air field. My Nana always had wings, she always traveled, and one of her favorite travels was to China. She walked the Great Wall of China at nearly 70. On that journey she bought souvenirs for all of us. This was mine, a hand painted from the inside globe which came with a wooden stand and this darling fabric covered box. It sits in our library, and whenever I open it up I'm reminded to step outside the box and spread my wings.

Now I'd like to share a recent project we recently finished, the painting of our mantel.

- Before -

- During -
We used a drop cloth, 2 sponge brushes, and some color matched, semi gloss paint.

- After- 

- Video -

Here's a tour of our library, including a peek at our built in bookshelves, books, mementos, and project.

Have you done any home improvement projects recently?

-Kiki Nakita-

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bloglovin' or YouTube

Jenna Bush Hager's Baby Nursery

The Today show has been doing a new segment called 'At home with Today'. Each week they let the viewers peek inside their favorite TV personalities homes and show us the 'real' side to their lives. This weeks feature was the lovely Jenna Bush Hager. She not only looks a little bit like me, but she has the most grounded and optimistic personality.

 

 

As you walk into Mila's bedroom you notice that “everything in here means something,” said Jenna of her 17-month-old daughter, Mila's contemporary and eclectic room.

 

 

From the brass antique mirror, which Jenna and her husband, Henry, found in Baltimore where they used to live, to the white contemporary crib that Jenna picked out with her mom, Laura.

 

 

But decorating the charming room, which features an exposed brick wall and a view of Manhattan's iconic water towers, wasn't the easiest task to tackle. Because Jenna and Henry decided to wait until their baby was born to find out whether they were having a boy or girl, the couple tried their best to have a gender-neutral approach when decorating the space. 

 

 

Jenna’s favorite part of the room is the collection of art that hangs alongside Mila’s crib.

“We realized that the majority of people were giving us art at baby showers and it all meant something,” she says. “We created an art wall so Mila had something to gaze up at.”

 

 

Hanging above Mila's nursery is a portrait of her family's cat, Bernadette, painted by her grandpa, former President George W. Bush.

 

“For my baby shower in Texas, my dad painted this picture of Bernadette which is our cat that we adore,” Jenna says. “It’s one of his first works. He’s gotten better.”

 

 

Mila can also see her grandfather's touch in a painting of the altar where her parents were married and a painting of a duck, inspired by her nickname “Duckie”, that sits on her bookshelf.

“She just has an ever-growing collection of her grandfather’s art,” Jenna says.

 

 

 

What do you think of baby Mila's nursery? I think Mila will appreciate all these pieces as she gets older and realizes her family loves her so much. I'll be pinning these onto my little one's board, for when the time comes for me to start planning and decorating a nursery for my own family.

 

Read the whole story and see more picture at TODAY (here).

Master Bathroom Reveal and Weekend Recap




Blue flower watercolor by unknown

Last week went by very fast, don't you agree? This weekend was rather busy as well. Here's a little re-cap so I can remember all that we got to do.

Friday

 

My hubby brought home some lilies.

 

Earlier in the day he sent me a message asking me out for a dinner date. We went for dinner at Red Lobster and he devoured the endless shrimp while I feasted on their daily fish special, tilapia with pineapple salsa, with lobster pizza to share. Thoughtful treat.

 

Saturday

 

We started the morning sharing the Mommas Pancake breakfast (with cheese grits and an extra side of bacon) at Cracker Barrel. We left with a coffee to-go and headed to IKEA.

If only it were as glamorous as hot chocolate at Angelina's in Paris. It's all about state of mind, right?

Painted by Carol Gillott

We were looking for kitchen cabinets for our kitchen remodel and decided on the lindigo gray. We asked for white inset cabinets, so if we ever decide to replace them with white doors we could do that rather inexpensively.

 

 

While there we also found a bench in the bathroom section. It prompted us to get more accessories so we could finish up the bathroom. Afterwards, we relaxed outdoors and ate a burrito at Qdoba for dinner.

Sunday

 

We made some finishing touches. Would you like a tour?

As you take a step through what used to be a closet door into our master bathroom you're greeted with a serene seascape picture, our bench seat which holds our scale, freshly folded towels, a basket holding our toiletry rolls, and canisters with our essentials (cotton wool balls, band aids, ear buds). The flowers my hubby brought home I displayed in a glass lantern with seashells on the bottom, that we gathered during our time at Topsail Beach earlier this year.
 

The shower is vastly different to how we found it. It originally had a rusted glass door that was beyond just cleaning it. So hubby took it out and filled in the holes with a fiberglass putty and we scrubbed it down with bleach and some Mr. Magic erasers (yes, they worked) and put on a new rainfall showerhead, which is luxuriating as we have one in our other shower. We finished it with a white curtain, liner and seashell shower hooks.

 

The lavatory also got replaced with a more eco friendly option. I chose it purely because the sides are not open dust collectors. It's SO much easier to clean and my vacuum fits on both sides easily. Also, I hope to put pictures from our time in Topsail Beach in the frames, someday soon. 



 

The vanity area just has one cabinet, unlike our previous home. Our home was built in 1983, and I'm guessing it wasn't as common back then? I do my makeup downstairs, so all we have in this vanity are a few toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouthwash.

Rather laid back and casual like our towel hooks, the mirror reminds me of weathered wood and the chrome light fixture has a contemporary vibe.  

 

 

 

The towels are from Nina Campbell's line, very soft white with a blue edging. Talking about edging, we replaced the flooring and added a more up to date baseboard. We're hoping to plank the ceiling overtime and add something besides the hamper in front of the window, because in "real life" it's back and forth to the laundry room.

 

 

Thanks for taking a peek.

 

We need to relax this week, as we have big plans for next week, so see you then!

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Home Tour Of 14 Wisteria Road

 

One of my favorite past times is perusing listings, and it's always more captivating when you find idyllic homes like this one. Nestled in the hills of Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard.

 

 

The New England elegance, and the informal cottage style makes me want to pack my bags and move right in, however there's a $1.695 million price tag (ouch!), and 3.8 acres to take care of.

 

 

Imagine lounging in the gardens and sipping on iced tea, the heated swimming pool looks nice and secluded amongst the trees.

 

 

Or a picnic outdoors on the deck, just steps away from the kitchen. The interior is decorated in a chintzy style, it somewhat reminds me of the lovely Susan Branch, she lives on The Vineyard also, so your practically neighbors...right?

 

 

The home would pretty with wide plank hardwood floors and hand painted cottage furniture, don't you think?

 

 

The dining and living areas are spacious, and have a lot of glorious light flooding through the windows.

 

 

As you meander upstairs, the bedroom looks like it's tucked into the attic with it's picture perfect dormer windows. The doors open onto a deck, where you could step out for your morning coffee. There are 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms altogether.

 

 

Oh and not to forget, there's a private tennis court and a pond on the property as well.

 

 

Isn't it a sweet place to hang up a 'home sweet home' sign? You can see the listing here.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

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Master Suite Phase I

Our first house project in our new home is the master suite.

Here's a little home video tour of the before...

My English accent sounds a lot stronger than I thought it would, with a few American twang words in there. Ha ha.

Firstly, we took everything out of the closet, and after inspecting where electrical and plumbing lines were, we created an opening between the closet and bathroom.

Here's a home video partway through the demolition I took of Cory taking the walls down. Buster P. Kitten, who also goes by Bubba did a wonderful job balancing on that small ledge, he is our resident mischief.

Eventually we had it down to the frame. Here are a few photos I took during the renovation, isn't it interesting to see how homes are constructed? We found 11 cents in our walls, which makes me wonder how much money gets dropped in, or lost by construction workers over time. I guesstimated 34 million dollars, between the 313 million people in America.

Sophie, our resident inspector.

 

Cory brought a T square ruler with us to score the drywall before putting it in the back of Bibi. I can't tell you how much I really like my car, even my husband who isn't a car guy taps her dashboard and admires all the trips, memories, dog car rides, moves, and projects she's helped us with.

Here's the end of phase I, the perspective view of the new wall from the bedroom. The last one is of the view from the shower. It is coming along nicely.

 

That my dears concludes phase I of the renovation, as we progress I'll post an update. We're hoping to get a lot done before Tuesday, before our floor arrives, or Wednesday when our new King sized bed arrives.

 

Moving In

This is a long post, so go get yourself a cup of coffee and how about a little background music?

 

 

For the past eleven months, we have been traveling and it has been fun, but we we're ready to settle down.

 

We started looking for a home in the Charlotte/Matthews area of North Carolina for quite a few months and after several trips to see homes, nightly searching online, working with our realtor we found a home.

 

Last week we closed on our home. We drove into town the night before and the next day we met up with our realtor at the lawyers office to sign and get the key.

Here's our humble colonial...

 

The home was a short sale, and although in pretty good condition, it needs a little TLC, so that's where imagination and a little elbow grease come in. Our dogs, Sophie and Oscar were happy to have a large garden to run around in. I think they look like pioneers in this picture...

One of our favorite things (besides the Carolina blue skies) is all the trees in our back yard, it's so peaceful and relaxing. Here's a picture of them from inside the pool fence.

 

We've spent the past week working and eating out at all the different restaurants close by as we don't have a stove yet, and honestly it's been nice not having to do meal planning, shopping, prep, cooking, washing up etc. for a week. Now that's a vacation for me!

 

We got a washer and dryer, our cable and Internet set up (yay) and  are knee deep in the master bedroom/bathroom remodel. Our deadline is next week, because we have flooring and our new bed arriving.

 

But for now, and a few more years to come we are home, sweet home.