Home Tour | Dining

How is it August? And how did my dining room of all places become my favorite room in the house? Y'all. For reals. It's definitely been the most "work in progress" space of our home because we haven't had a formal dining room yet as somewhat recent grads/young professionals. But in searching for a home that would allow for entertaining, a formal dining room was important to me. I have quite a bit of furniture, and my mother did too, so I knew we would not have a problem filling the space. 

I wanted the room to be a darker gray that compliments the living room. After finding the perfect paint color, it became obvious to me that the curio cabinet needed to be painted bright white {before and after post soon!}, with complimentary bright upholstery on the chairs. Then I added the four white matted picture frames on one wall, and a large wedding canvas on the other between the large windows. The room was coming together, but it didn't quite feel complete. 

CJM had requested a pop of color for this room, so I began looking for a pink and gray rug to coordinate with the china in the curio. I actually found this one just last week but couldn't justify the price tag! We also tried two or three different styles of curtains but couldn't find one we loved. So the dining room kind of sat, incomplete, but pretty. 

On Saturday, we wandered into Ollie's after sushi {if you haven't been to Ollie's, it's so fun to visit and see all the absolutely random stuff they have}. They always have a ton of rugs, so we just started flipping through some of the giant stacks and this funky rug was the third one we saw! I kind of stopped and went, "Hmmm...that's interesting" and kept flipping. It was pink, and had some gray and other colors that would work with the rest of the house but it was LOUD. And just really not the style of the room at all. But it stuck with me.

 We just decided to grab it and try it out. Before it was even down fully, I knew I loved it. Both CJM and I walked around all Saturday, stopping to stare into the room, and saying "Oh, I really love it." It's so funky. And different. But it has created just the coolest vibe in that room! I love the contrast of the traditional pieces and the various patterns on the chairs and the rug. It definitely ties in all of the gray and the colors from our wedding photos. Now I'm feeling like we don't even need curtains, but may just need to upgrade to plantation shutters sometime in the future for the windows. 

Weekend Recap: Fixer Upper Chic

Saturday was CJM's first day home in over a week. He's been wanting to investigate the idea of building a live edge dining room table for us, and I've been needing to figure out a solution for our lack of drawers in our bedroom, so we decided to go adventuring to look at some furniture and some project wood!

We went to Rincon, which is near Savannah, to stop by The Rusty Nail Home Market and The Vintage Nest, two shabby chic/farmhouse styled shops. Some of the pieces are redone, and some are custom built by various vendors. The trip did not disappoint! We gathered lots of ideas of things we'd like to try to make ourselves {I totally forgot he has a large chest of drawers that we painted once in college!} as well as some pieces we'd like to incorporate in future spaces.

These are a few of my favorite finds:

I love the contrast of the metal container and that soft, fluffy cotton! I need more cotton in my life, stat. 

CJM and I are obsessed with barn doors. I'd love a piece like this in our bedroom to double as a place for the TV, and for shoe storage. 

Does anyone else imagine their classic family furniture with an updated look like this side board? 

I've made my own chalk paint in the past. Not the most difficult of projects by any means. But I want to try this kind that doesn't need the wax sealant! Anything that helps a project go faster is a product for me. 

CJM's chest of drawers is just like this, but we painted it a dark gray color to match his "boy room" in college. I'm thinking it needs a fresh look with a white coat of paint! I usually spray paint the handles a contrasting metallic color, but I kind of like how these add an unique texture to the piece. 

While personally not a huge fan of the chicken wire, the painting technique on this china cabinet is very unique! It brings a more casual feel to an otherwise formal structure. 

Besides of course loving the detail on this chest, I also love this Mr & Mrs sign! 

We also visited Denmark's Furniture in Brooklet which has the Magnolia Home/Fixer Upper line of home furnishings. We loved these looks! 

It wouldn't have been a trip to the furniture store without testing out almost every recliner in the "recliner world." I'm not sure that we'll be incorporating this piece any time soon! 

Sip & See Shopping Spree

Last night, I hosted a "shop my closet" event with a few friends. My mom actually came up with this brilliant idea, and it gave me the opportunity to get rid of a few things that I didn't love any more but others would!

Setting up an event like this is easy: clean out your closet {I did the take everything out and look at each piece one by one. Only put back the ones that you absolutely love/fit you/are in good condition/etc.}, invite your friends to do the same, grab some goodies, and pick a date! I borrowed a giant retail clothing rack from a friend, CJM helped organize all the non-hanging items, and I displayed some pretty goodies on the dining room table. It was so nice to be able to use a lot of my wedding gifts for the first time!

I used Canva to design my electronic invitation {it's also a great place to design blog graphics, too!} and blasted it on Facebook. I picked up a few napkins that coordinated with the pineapple summer-y theme of the invitation, and of course lots of pink treats! 

Have you ever hosted a "shop my closet" event? What made it successful for you? 

Sip & See on 8/23

Local friends! Come shop my closet next Tuesday evening! There will be treats and drinks and lots of pretty things that need a new home. Wide variety, and great prices! Some items still have tags or have been worn just a few times. Hope to see you there! 

{Flashback Friday} Top Pins

After switching to my new domain this week {www.piperellice.com | yay!}, I had a lot of updating to do. Instagram profile, Facebook profile, Pinterest profile...oh, wait. All of those pins from the old URL won't forward to the new site. Unacceptable! But I also don't have time right now to update every. single. pin. 

So I pulled up every Pinterest pin from the old startingsouthern.blogspot.com {be sure to update your bookmarks with the new URL, or follow by email/Google+!} and looked for the most popular pins to edit and update with the new links. It was pretty easy to spot the top pins from my blog, but also really interesting! It seems there's definitely a theme of popular Christmas pins, followed by home decor and fashion. 

Here are the top pins from my blog over the last three years: 

 

15 Pins Grinch Cookies. Just peanut butter sandwiched between Ritz crackers, dipped in green candy melts, topped with sprinkles, but oh so delicious! I love the sweet and salty combo of this Christmas treat. I also am addicted to candy melts. If they're in the house, I will eat them. Weird, I know. Obviously, these don't have to be dipped in green, that's just all I had on hand at the time and it seemed fun. This year, I just used white almond bark. 

16 Pins Still one of my most popular posts, these earrings from my Christmas list two years ago were pretty popular. I still want them! The classic pearl circled by delicate diamonds is a truly timeless piece of jewelry. 

54 Pins My shabby chic dining room in my first apartment! I'm no longer using that table in my dining room, but have moved it out to my sun room now that I have more space. I recently purchased a beautiful hand painted dining room table that I'm using with those same chairs. The chest behind the table still serves as my wet bar/china hutch until I get my china cabinet down here from South Carolina. And the wall art: once a ceiling fan medallion, painted and hung, is something I still use! It's now in the living room. 

381 Pins Fabulous work wear inspiration from a post about thrifting for Pinterest inspired outfits. I'm glad that so many others found this picture to be as stylish as I did! This reminds me that I need some tweed...

Do you follow me on Pinterest? Follow me, so I can follow you back! I'm always looking for new inspiration!

Nifty Thrifty

Back in high school under the guidance of an extremely talented cheer leading coach, I became quite the little thrifter. There were a couple of really great places besides your typical Goodwill that I would frequent and I always found unique items at great prices. I even added the traditional retail challenge, Ross Dress for Less, into my thrifting rounds since their pieces are at discounted prices but you must have time and patience to find something worth having there too.

I've decided I need to take thrifting back up as a weekly habit, and take advantage of the money saved by shopping this way. I love clothes, and I love new things but it can be very draining! And it's not fun to just not buy anything. So I feel like thrift shopping is a compromise. Now I'm pretty picky, and I pretty much only buy dresses/skirts/pants/tops/outerwear, but Statesboro has some excellent discount thrift and consignment shops. One of the largest, Deja Vu, is unfortunately closed right now due to a fire next door, but down the street is Madame Couture's {which has new and used}, and the Goodwill in town is pretty good too!

This weekend, I visited the Goodwill on Wilmington Island in Savannah. I had heard good things from there, and was able to find two cute dresses that will be great for fall/winter. Christopher got two golf polos from the Wilmington Island Country Club that looked like they had never been worn! For me, I have to have an idea of what I want when I go thrifting, especially to make sure that I don't buy something that I really don't want and will never wear. Lately, I've been trying to bulk up my fall wardrobe with pieces that I can wear to work and out and about. Here are some of the inspirational Pinterest pics I've been using, and the pieces I'm looking for:

Longer vintage midi skirts for cooler weather,
and solid button down shirts that can
go with anything.

Solid color sweaters for layering,
or fitted sweatshirts to add embelishments

Unique blazers to spice up basics,
as well as one of a kind statement tops to
pair with black pants or skinny jeans.

I can't wait to shop at Clothes Mentor in Savannah on my next weekend trip. My friend Ashton also has great luck with thrifty re-sell accounts on Instagram. What are some of your best thrift tips? And what pieces do you look for?

*All pictures via Pinterest. None are my own.