Vacation Apartment In Rheim, France

So.  Today we’re headed to France,

where I recently traveled vicariously

via this Netflix show:

Monty Don — our somewhat disheveled yet delightful host —

zips around the countryside

in a cute, little Frenchie car,

showing us all sorts of beautiful French gardens,

IN-cluding  Claude Monet’s famous property in Giverny . . .

. . . which he immortalized

in hundreds of Impressionistic paintings, like this one:

Even G.O. experienced wanderlust while watching,

so who knows?

Grab that passport + cross those fingers!

Anyway, today we’re headed back to France,

courtesy of one of my favorite blogs, Remodelista .

We will be staying in one of two boutique apartments

in Rheimes,

which is in the Champagne region

northwest of Paris.

Let’s have a look-see at those boutique apartments,

where we’ll be staying while in Rheims.

They each contain plenty of French antiques,

including this peg rack:

Isn’t the hanging mirror charming?

Coincidentally, I had seriously considered

getting a similar French peg rack

for our canned ham RV, like this one, at $40.88:

Anyway, speaking of mirrors,

there were seemingly dozens in the apartments —

the most beautiful of which

is this stunning 100 year-old barber’s mirror:

Omigosh — what a dream,

to design an entire bathroom around that mirror!

Bravo for the twin pedestal sinks

+ the tile excellence!

(Full disclosure:

we have the very same tile floor

in our main bathroom of the Dutch colonial!)

I’ve always wanted a “floral tile” floor like that,

+ after my semi-exhausting search,

we finally found ours on Amazon.

The Frenchies used leftover tiles in the second bathroom,

which is equally as charming:

I’m in love with plain, Jane square subways,

+ we’re seeing sinks like that all over the internet.

Extra points given for the wall-mounted faucet

+ the chippy, white door!

One of the bedrooms has another French peg rack,

a beautiful floor, more mirrors, navy comforters,

+ a game board** that I MUST HAVE!!

** (Another full disclosure: G.O. loathes leaning artwork,

while I find it extremely stylish.)

What say ye?

While we ponder that,

+ I make a mental note to lean something, later,

let’s check out one of the kitchens:

How do I love thee?

Let’s break it down, left to right:

a. hanging soap dish,  b. pretty cutting boards,

c. antique brass faucet,  d. penny tiles,

e. attractive accessories, +  f. another mirror!

That’s a stellar range hood, too,

+ I’m all on board with the wall-hung, accordion light fixture:

Would you check out this unique Frenchie electrical outlet!?

There were several throughout the apartments,

+ I think they’re a dream!

Other views of the kitchen showcase yet more dreaminess,

including the highly-coveted (by me) SMEG refrigerator:

WHEN WILL I FINALLY GET MY SMEG????

Anyway, I’m also quite fond of the interior window,

used here to separate the kitchen work space

from the dining area:

Last, but certainly not least,

check out their reclaimed cabinet kitchen island:

Beautiful, no?

Sadly, our current island is not of the vintage persuasion,

but I did have one in my long-ago apartment

in which my boys + I lived during the nineties.

I built it above my late, great retail store,

Heart-in-Hand:

Omigosh!  Look at that horrible photograph!

Look at all my “stuff”!

If you’d like to see more of it,

then please, check out this blog post,

+ have fun going down memory lane with me!

My Kitchen Design, The Sequel

Today’s the day when I finally spill the beans

+ share why our house has two front doors.

I mean, you were wondering, weren’t you?

Prior to our owning it,

the Dutch colonial had been divided into two apartments,

One up:

UP

+ one down, where we live:

DOWN

We were on the fence, re: converting the house back to a single family

versus keeping it as a duplex.

Some of our friends + one of our spousal equivalents

were/are naysayers about the apartment thing,

for obvious reasons which I shan’t list.

You can probably figure it out yourselves.

Turns out I have my own reasons for the apartment thing.

This guy:

Scott McGillivray

+ his HGTV show:

And ultimately, (fingers crossed), lots of these:

Believe it or not, neither G.O. nor I are getting any younger,

+ it would be nice to have a whipper snapper tenant nearby, if/when I fall.

Because this is pretty much me now:

 Pass me the Boniva!

I jest, but seriously.

Another excellent reason to have a tenant on the premises is this:

I suffer from a very strong case of wanderlust,

+ my plans involve seeing the US of A in our canned ham camper.

Perhaps you read about it, here + here!

If we are gone for extended periods

— let’s say between October 31st + May 1st, ideally —

 our tenant could oversee the place,

 mow + shovel snow at the appropriate times + cat-sit for the duration.

• Anyway.

We’ve started the upstairs re-do finally, which is plenty exciting!

The bathroom was completed weeks ago:

A hallway’s been repainted:

A living room, too:

And, for the most exciting part, we’ve begun to work on the kitchen!

A couple of years ago, we bought an entire display

of discontinued kitchen cupboards from IKEA.

Just as I did downstairs, I’ve sketched the cabinet + appliances layout.

The sink cab is in its position, which is in the L to the right, here:

Yesterday, because I’m a team player, I went with G.O. to look at appliances.

OMIGOSH!  I DON’T CARE!

The only way I’d whip up some enthusiasm

is if we were springing for the red Smeg appliances of my dreams!

And NO, I did not know that Smeg makes ranges.  Swoon!

 

I mean, really.  Who cares if we get a Maytag or a Frigidaire or whatever?!

Am I right?

Anyway, I have sent G.O. to shop again, on his own this afternoon,

so stay tuned!

Crazy Retail Hopes + Dreams

Come along with Chloe the Dachshund + me

as we walk downtown + fan the fire of “Mommy’s” retail fantasies.

Only a few blocks from our house, we spied this charming garage:

How crazy is it that I’m dreaming of opening my retail store downstairs

+ creating our adorable apartment upstairs?

Okay.  That’s not going to happen.

Let’s view this darling restaurant, which was recently sold + renamed:

Perhaps we should have purchased said restaurant for my work/live dream,

as there is already an apartment upstairs.

Okay.  No worries.  Plan B is right next door.

A vacant lot!

Don’t worry, in my head, it’s already been sold — to us —

+ we’re going to build something like this:

Naturally, I’ve already selected my architect,

Allison Ramsey from Beaufort, South Carolina.

http://www.allisonramseyarchitect.com/index.cfm

So.  While my plans continue to be thwarted,

it’s good to know that someone out there is realizing their new biz dream.

That someone is opening a new restaurant,

+ from the looks of it, someone has excellent taste.

That facade + those lights rule my little world!

Oops.  Sorry about the trash barrel closeup!

But wait.  What’s this, next to the new restaurant space?

It  was home to a toy + hobby store, which seems to have closed.

That’s either going to be one huge restaurant or 

one fantastic location for my new biz!

Meanwhile, there’s this:

It’s the 2 Basset Hounds who, coincidentally,

spend their days in the retail shop of their humans!

Chloe was very excited + insisted that we have a meet + greet.

Sorry Chloe.  Maybe next time.

Speaking of which,

next time I’ll share yet another retail hope + dream,

involving none other than my retail idol, Ralph Lauren.

And this:

Stay tuned!

Country Bumpkin Christmasi, C. early 90’s

In yesterday’s blog post,

I went down memory lane to my country bumpkin Christmasi of the past.

Here’s the building I bought way back in 1993,

to house my country bumpkin retail store,

Heart-in-Hand:

Christmas 1993
Oregon, Illinois

Just a few years after this,

we built a home upstairs for me, my boys +

Susie, our beloved miniature Dachshund.

Ben, Susie + Jon
seated on an old bench
I bought at auction when I was 19 or so.

I splurged on that gas fireplace

+ am currently obsessing about doing said-same

in our current re-do.

Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, check out my delightful red woodwork

+ my dozens of Santa’s!

* * *

Now let’s back track just a bit, to the BEFORE:

Whoa!  Kind of looks like a bomb went off, doesn’t it?

* * *

Here’s the same shot, AFTER:

Currently, I find myself wanting old school shutters like these
for the bottom halves of our Dutch colonial’s windows.
Stay tuned, part II!

My then-beau, an upholsterer, covered my couch

in that awesome coverlet-style fabric.

It was the height of country bumpkin awesomeness

at the time!

Also noteworthy: the original pressed tin ceiling

+ my hand-stenciled border!

* * *

Imagine that — back then, I was even less skilled

at photography than I am now,

but this does show that pressed tin ceiling:

Here I am in ‘mid-decorating mode’:

I hosted open houses of our pad, all decked out for Christmas,

during our town’s annual Candlelight Walk.

Good X’s.

* * *

My beloved floors were new, wide-plank pine boards,

secured with square-head nail look-alikes.

Here’s a nice view of it:

Susie the mini Dachsie
with my upholsterer beau’s dog Max

These days, I find myself wanting light wood floors like this

for our Dutch colonial fixer.

Stay tuned, part III!

* * *

The main living spaces were all together.

Here’s a photo of Ben, seated at the dining table.

He’s facing the living room + those front windows,

with the country bumpkin kitchen in the background.

Oh, please note the skylight — 1 of 3 (another splurge).

I’m still loving the large buffalo check wallpaper

+ am thinking about using said-same NOW!

YUM + stay tuned, yet again!!

But I digress.  Back to my old kitchen:

Wow, this photo’s bad,

but it does show my antique red workbench

that I thought made the most perfect kitchen island.

* * *

Let’s head down the hallway

to our very country bumpkin bathroom!

I super loved that homespun wallpaper.

There’s the patchwork shower curtain that I made

by sewing together antique 4-Patch quilt squares.

It was always a crowd pleaser during my open houses.

Loving the shelf above this door, behind which

we’d tucked in a stackable washer + dryer:

Just say NO to the tunic-length sweater when one is 5’0″!

Look!  I still clasp my hands together like that in photos:

Ditto on the unflattering blue top, for some reason!?
Somebody call a stylist!
I “keed” (a little!)

* * *

But I digress.  Back to our apartment.

It contained 3 bedrooms.

Each boy had his own, but for some reason,

there are no photos of said-same.

Here’s mine:

I seriously wish I still had that pencil post bed,

but NOT those swag + jabot curtains.

I did love them at the time (Country Curtains catalog).

Another of my splurges: the wood-clad, vaulted ceiling,

with its (not shown) skylight.

* * *

Isn’t it funny that, while I poke fun of my fondness

for the country bumpkin décor . . .

. . . there are still quite a few things I did here

that I am considering doing again, TODAY!

Stay tuned!