Building a New Home- The Finishing Details

It is very exciting to visit the new house every week now.  Every visit new details are revealed by our team of awesome builders and we fall more in love with our new home.

We are so excited about our new front door.  Greg Paolini  and crew (Canton, NC)  built this massive

front door from scratch using mushroom boards.  Mushroom boards are harvested from mushroom farms where the acidity and spores expose the knots in the hemlock wood.   It is quite rugged and looks like it is a thousand year old door.

Rocky Mountain Hardware made the hand forged lock of bronze.

It is the perfect oversized scale for the 9 foot high door.

We are lucky to have Chad and Brian- master finish carpenters- to create the door jam to hang this door.  Their attention to detail is amazing and every corner lines up perfectly.

 Chad and Brian installed the distressed wood ceilings in all of the guest bedrooms. 

The crystal bubble chandelier is hung on the wood ceiling and looks so pretty and soft.

 Chad on the scaffolding in the master bedroom, creating the four sided ceiling design.

The 20 foot high arches have been fabricated by Appalachian Hardwoods in Waynesville of Montana snow fencing and are the perfect aged gray.  Chad and Brian meticulously installed the beams and pieced the puzzle together to create the arches. 

The 60 inch antler chandelier was made by an artisan in Bozeman, Montana, named Fish Fisher!

Made of bleached elk, fallow deer and red tail antlers, it will be dripping with antique crystals in a few weeks!  Fish drilled the small holes for me to hang my collection of old crystals from the antlers.

The limestone mantle was installed this week, complete with electrical outlets on top for

Christmas lights!

Another ingenuous idea from my building crew- they cut a plywood replica of the new exhaust hood and placed it on the wall instead of the real one. They can cut the stone and edge it close to the plywood, rather than possibly scratching the new black and brass hood.  After the stone is complete, the hood can be fit snuggly into place. 

Light fixture for the larder installed. I love the Parisian bistro vibe in this room.

The tile installers are starting finishing details- like the beautiful polished drain in the shower floor.

I love the long linear design with the grille like drain openings.

After years of searching and finally selecting materials,  all of the little details are starting to come together!  It is very gratifying. You just hope that you don't make a mistake! 

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Yesterday, the Christmas spirit finally arrived!  I drove down to my friend Jill's new home to visit and go shopping in Greenville. Knowing her Christmas routine very well ( 35 years of friendship), I took my camera along to capture some "in-progress" Christmas décor.  I wasn't disappointed!



Nostalgia is a powerful thing.  As I watched Jill creating her first Christmas vignettes in her new home, memories came flooding back.  As each little element was added, we would remember where it had been purchased throughout the past 35 years.  It seems that so many of them were purchased together at Christmas open houses, antique stores and of course, Marshall Fields and Romancing the Home.   One of our favorite rituals was to attend the day after Thanksgiving Christmas open house at Kimball and Bean.  We would fill up the car with new goodies- oh so much fun. 

The new 10 foot tree - flocked with snow- beginning to be filled with ornaments in blues and natural tones.   Gonna need a big ladder for the top!

The massive stone fireplaces looking amazing with greenery, feathers and magnolias.

 The center of the mantle is a cornucopia of a past favorite- a rhinestone embellished tumble weed from Romancing the Home - and new finds from Biltmore Village in Asheville last week!

I love the blue feather boa in the mix.

Sitting on the hearth- a vignette of glittered reindeer with fur collar and a very special handmade

Santa from Romancing the Home!  The little bird with the crown on the antique wood box is a find from this year!  

Ready for a fire, a glass of wine  and a few presents to open!

Another handmade Santa from Romancing the Home in past years.

He is all settled in next to his reindeer.

On to the kitchen to find this sweet display.  A wonderful French Santa made by Dee Gann and purchased at an open house at Kimball and Bean. 

And those bronze ferns- another Romancing the Home find- used to soften the setting. 

Sugared pomegranates show up for another encore Christmas too!

The two Santas are placed on a tartan cloth and stand in front of a beautiful pine buffet

with the menu from Jill's daughter's wedding last year.

Velvet fruit- one of the first items sold at Romancing the Home in 1997. It was a gorgeous collection of velvet grapes, apples, plums, pears and we sold hundreds of pieces.  The iced cabbages, another winning item at Romancing the Home.  We sold out and couldn't get enough! And then another great item. the velvet pumpkins  from Hot Skwash. This year they have added feathers to the stems.

Jill found them in Denver, while visiting her sister.

Another Dee Gann Santa from Kimball and Bean. A rhinestone embellished pear from Romancing the Home is mixed in with old pewter to create a countertop display!

Whew!  And she is just beginning to decorate- This is only the beginning of 2 rooms!

I hope to share a completely decorated home with you in a few weeks!

We left the decorating behind and headed out to Greenville. 

After all, we have to make new memories too!

Off to find more Christmas décor-

After a successful shopping trip, I headed  back to Asheville to get dressed for the Biltmore Estate Candle Light Celebration.  Driving up to the front of the grand  house, Christmas magic over comes you.   A heavy rain had just ended and the sky turned pink. 

Under the magnificent sky,  Biltmore House and it's big tree glowed brightly! 

Yes, the Christmas spirit has certainly arrived!