Before the first installment of the house tour begins, I want to direct you guys to
Fifi O'Neill's blog where she announced the topic of her new book and shared a few pics taken while she and Mark were here last month. (I know y'all are probably tired of hearing me natter on and on and on about this, so I won't keep harping--promise!)
You can see an adorable photo of our pigs, a shot of our restored 1949 Farmall Super A tractor, and a few interior vignettes. And of course, photos of several beautiful houses that were shot while Fifi and Mark were on the East Coast in September. So. much. eye. candy.
I was also super excited that, of the three photos Fifi chose from "my" shoot to preview on the blog, she posted one of a painting that the insanely talented Cindy Austin lent me for the shoot.
Cindy, who blogs (often times hilariously, I might add) at
Cindy's Fractured Fairytale, is an artist who specializes in oils and paints gorgeous landscapes, animal portraits and still lifes. Cindy lives one town over in Hillsborough, NC, and she was kind enough to share a few of her paintings for Fifi's visit to help cover some of my bare walls!
Some of you may already be familiar with Cindy because
Miss Mustard Seed commissioned a cow painting a few months ago and Cindy totally knocked her socks off with Eulalie. Cindy captures animals in such a striking way, it's no wonder Fifi loved the sheep painting. When you see it on Fifi's blog, you'll totally understand why.
Thank you, many times over, Cindy, for lending me your beautiful artwork for this special occasion.
Now, go check it all out at
Chez Fifi and when you're done, come back here for the rest of the post! :)
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Okay, you back? See, wasn't that a fun detour? Fifi's
Prairie Style Cookbook is going to be fabulous!
So, now... for the first stop on the Carolina Country Living House Tour.
THE MASTER BATHROOM!
I'm sure you're like, "The bathroom?!? Really?"
Well, I wanted to start with a room that Fifi and Mark didn't photograph, and because, well, I really love my periwinkle bathroom. :)
It's a tricky space to photo though, so I'll be doing a little explaining so you can understand how it's laid out.
This room adjoins the master bedroom and when you first cross the threshold, the double vanity sits to your left.
My husband tiled the top with run-of-the-mill cream-colored tiles from one of the big-box home improvement stores. Since the vanity is five-feet long, getting a solid surface countertop was just too pricey that far into the construction project, so he went the frugal route, salvaged a piece of thick plywood and tiled right over it. At first I wasn't a big fan of it, but it's grown on me over the last few years and I like the humble simplicity of it.
Now, as you're standing in the doorway of the bathroom, to your right is this sweet little corner cabinet I picked up several years ago at
Nest. That's a mid-century bathroom heater sitting on top that my husband's grandmother gave us. I don't know how safe it is, but it sure throws good heat in the wintertime! And for some reason I just like that funky-looking appliance.
A close-up of the corner cabinet...
And some good old Ivory soap in a basket lined with a vintage hankie...
When we built the house, we chose to forgo a tub in favor of an oversized walk-in shower. My husband had a spine fusion surgery nearly 7 years ago, plus he's 6'2" tall, and so even a garden-sized tub doesn't work well for him. And as much as I like the idea of luxuriating in bubble bath, I've never really done it. So a large corner of our bathroom is taken up by the shower, which is just beyond the green corner cabinet.
Okay, let's go back to the vanity for another view from the center of the bathroom.
The vanity was purchased from an unfinished furniture store and I painted it with white oil paint. Rather than having one big wall mirror, I found two oval mirrors, that felt cottage-like to me, to hang over the counter so you could still appreciate the periwinkle walls. In the reflection of the mirrors, you can see the shower door, part of the toilet and this interesting piece...
I'm not sure if there's a proper term for this kind of wall shelf, but all I know is that I *loved* it when my mom gifted it to me years ago. It hung over the toilet in our previous house and thankfully fit in this house, too. The carved wood is beautiful and I love the femininity it brings to the space, especially considering it hangs next to a log wall. Plus, it's a great way to display odds and ends in the bathroom.
When I took the above photo, there were some pinkish-purple cosmos in the amethyst bottle on the left. But they were getting a little droopy, so here's a close-up of that side of the shelf with a fresher arrangement of strawflowers and globe amaranth. Those are my new favorite flowers, by the way.
On the other side of the wood shelf is a little French botantical print of pansies and a silver-plated sugar bowl from Goodwill.
For such a small room, I'm being pretty long-winded, aren't I?!
The last tidbit to share from this room is the window you could see reflected in an above photo of the wood shelf.
Now, my husband still accuses of me of going overboard with the size and number windows we put in the house when it was built. I'll admit I probably went too far in this room with this window...
But there's a beautiful view of the woods on this side of the house and its keeps the space from being too dark. Plus, how pretty does that bunting made of vintage hankies look draped across the top? My dear friend, Sara, made it and it just so happened to be the right length to span this window. Meant to be!
So, that's it for the master bathroom! Thanks for sticking it out through all the excruciating details--can you tell I used to be a real estate agent? :) I'll post about another room next week and post weekly thereafter until we've covered all the main rooms of the house.
In the meantime, have you posted photos of your house on your blog? If so, please share the link(s) in the comments section. I know I'm not alone in enjoying a good browse through house pictures!
Erin
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