Buying Books on Amazon

For years now I have been buying books on Amazon. I check for the best price,
condition if it is gently used and the content, must have pictures. I am always
searching for decorating books, cook books and my recent purchase, gardening
books.

I love Bunny Williams, not only is she a great decorator but she is from Virginia, I
have had several of her design books, seen houses that she has designed and follow
her blog. So to occupy my time indoors in this heat, I found one of her garden books
on Amazon for $11.00. I have had such a good time looking through the pages, it is
a beautiful book.

This will inspire me when I have my own garden again one day. I prefer more garden,
less grass. So check out Amazon for your next book, they even let you preview the pages
and offer great prices.

Bridal Luncheon For My Daughter Ellie

Next month my sisters and my sister in laws are giving a bridal luncheon
for my daughter Ellie. Her is a picture of the invitation.

The event is at my sister Helen's house, which I have never seen. Excited for that.
As you know, March can be a tricky time of year, it can be cold, windy and maybe warm.
Today it was 60 degrees, but a snow storm is coming tomorrow night in the higher
elevations along with 30 to 50 mile wind gust. My sister Beth said they are all wearing
dresses, very spring like. I decided to go for something more practical. I have been burned 
several times when I had a cute dress to wear to an event in May and had to cover it up with
a borrowed or unfashionable jacket. I saw this outfit on Eloise's website in Charlottesville
and created my own on my budget.

It was a beautiful navy floral blouse and slimming black wide leg pants. Floral blouses
are very in this season and this is an outfit i can wear to work.

The high waist wide leg cropped pant I found at Ann Taylor for under $100.

The blouses I found on Amazon for a dirt cheap price, the blue was the one that I
wanted for the outfit, but the yellow one could work two and was so darn cute. They
both have cute details and look very expensive.

,I spotted these cute kitten heel mules by Issac Mizrahi with the pearl details at Stein Mart
and thought they would be so cute with the cropped pant. I am kinda excited about this
new more feminine wardrobe. After spending the winter in turtlenecks, tights and boots,
I am ready for florals, color and a more feminine look for my transition to spring. So I did
a little more shopping.

This pretty dot sheer blouse was in Sundance's clearance catalog and I found a cute blouse at
my TJ Maxx with lots of ruffles on the sleeves and back of the blouse.

I am ready for spring and a more colorful wardrobe to go with it.

New Design For My Dining Room

I have been dying to do a new design for my dining room, I looked at rugs on Amazon.
I saw some that I thought were pretty at Home Goods, but I came across this 8' x 10' rug
at Ross Stores at only $100 and said let's do it. It's time to lighten up this room.

The old rug was a dated pastel 9' x 12' rug that I found at an antique store a couple of
years ago in other house, see my old posts from when I lived on Fayette St.. It was dirty
and was impossible to keep clean.

 The new is a Dragos rug made in Turkey and had Grey and multi tones, it shoes more
floor and is not as thick as the last rug. It gives the room a lighter look with a more updated
look.

The old curtains were made for my living room many moons ago. They are a
light green silk stripe and were dark and dated.

The new curtains are from Ballard Design and are a cotton twill with a decorative border and
are called Embroidered Square Trim Panels in Gray. I love the light they let into the room,
I do miss the look of silk but these do bring a new look to the room.

My next design decision will be replacing the chair fabric, above are a few contenders,
Duralee has come out with a few new patterns that I love.. Will post a finished look soon.
Still working on this room.

Is Fall Finally Here

My favorite time of year is Fall, I think it finally arrived here to day at
noon thanks to the newest storm. It had been hot and steamy for days which
makes it hard to figure out what to wear. I have been working on my Fall
wardrobe  by donating to Goodwill, listing things on Ebay and consigning pieces
to Twice As Nice. I really need new shoes, so I took advantage of my free shipping
on Amazon Prime. I was ordering my ink for my printer and remembered that they
have cute shoes. I wasn't finding anything locally so I ordered three pairs with my ink
purchase on Saturday.

 A tan pair with cute bows by Sam Edelman

A black patent to go with my mainly black wardrobe.

And a snakeskin pair to put a little punch in my wardrobe.

They arrived Tuesday and today which is really fast. Today after a half drapery installation,
we hung the hardware, I will post about the finished look later once the panels go up. The
job was in Stuarts Draft, so after the job was done I drove into Waynesboro to Ross for Less
and found this;

A cute Fall purse and scarf.

The purse is Vegan and the handles have a tortoise loop detail. The scarf is hand emdroidered
and I love the colors.

I have a big birthday weekend planned so I will be able to wear some of my new purchases
as the weather cools down. Yay, Fall

Revamping My Bathroom

I have been working on revamping my bathroom, it started with a framed  rectangular
mirror that I replaced with a mirror I found at Walmart.

I need to paint were the old mirror was. Then I added a wicker shelf I found at a thrift
store, it was supposed to go in to my antique space. It was a good way to display all my
nail stuff, as opposed to having it thrown in a basket.

My long bathroom rug was becoming thread bear and I replaced it with one I found
on Amazon when I bought the living room rug. It is cotton, very push and in a trellis
pattern.

The last step was to replace the shower curtain, the embroidered bee one had served it's
purposed and it was time for a change. I found this Hotel Collection one at TJ Maxx.
love the pique and the stripes.

Don't judge me, I do not IRON!

New rug for My Living Room

After a year and a month of searching for a new rug for my living room,
I have finally made the move and found what I wanted. I wanted the rug
to be brighter than what I had, more yellows, greens and creams, I wanted
it to be elegant with a pattern and a border and be 9' x 12' and it cannot cost
a lot. I wanted it to wool and thick and hand made. I am asking a lot, I found
rugs on Wayfair and Ballard Design but wanted to search more. I even searched
on Ebay were I found a rug that lead me to Amazon were I found a great rug, but
it had too much blue in it. So I went onto Amazon and put in my colors and my
size and found exactly what I was looking for and under $400 including shipping.

 It is just the right color, not too dark or too light, warm and elegant. It is by Safavieh, hand
made, 9' x 12' and wool and feels amazing. It lightens up the room. I dragged it in and laid it
down by myself. It will be shifted later when I can find some help. Below is the rug that I had
in the room, I bought for the house I lived in at 317 East Beverley St. , the room was huge and
had lots of light. For pictures see the Staunton Christmas tour in 2014, any way I needed a
lighter colored rug, in here it was just to dark.

This rug is a wool/silk Art Deco Chinese Oriental Chinoiserie Rug and it will go on
my Ebay and Etsy site and also is sold in Queen City Marketplace.