Things I am loving Thursday and house updates!!

Good morning! Hope all is well with you.....boy these days are going by fast and furious! There seems to be ANOTHER issue with blogger, many of my favorite blogs' newest posts are not updating automatically on my side bar, how strange! I just happened to see that many of them have newer posts that I found by chance......very annoying. Blogger get it together!And now that the back to school campaign is officially in high gear (much to my dismay) I really feel the crunch to try and savor this last month of August. I am escaping to the beach next week for a few days but not  for the length of time that I had planned, just too much happening on the home front so 3 or 4 days is max. but its certainly better than nothing! My days are spent mostly getting things done for the house, but I am not complaining, whatever it takes to wrap this up! Hope you are having a great week, and savoring summer for all it is. So here we go....

HOUSE UPDATES. The gutters were put up this week, the porch is officially done, paint on the trim outside done, now they are working on finishing up the upstairs paint. Kitchen is moving forward, they delivered part of the butlers yesterday, its a slooooooooow process but as my kitchen guy explained it, they add to it one layer at a time. Patience IS a virtue, right? Thankfully I really love the way its coming out, so wait I shall. Bathrooms plumbing is getting done, templates are done for countertops, layer by layer things are getting done. For those that follow progress week to week, this might not look so different from last week, but I assure you it IS moving forward (trust me I would have it no other way)!! I think by next week I will have some signiificant updates especially in the kitchen and butlers pantry.

Second round of beams just got installed (the curved ones)

Bookcases done

Looking into the breakfast room

Looking into kitchen from family room...

Looking from family room into kitchen

Looking from family room into small hallway leading to dining room

Breakfast room second beams just went in

Looking from breakfast room into family room and kitchen

Back stairs

Eventual window seat in mudroom

Love this post.....

Sons tub done...yeah!

I love the way all the showerboxes came out, I put chair rails around each of them

Living room parquet floor just about done...

Herringbone in library complete!

Sm. powder room off library's inspirations

Part of sink vanity in kitchen

Butlers pantry, OK I know it doesn't look like much but just wait till this gets done!

In a week you will be loving this......

It is the darkest stain you can do, like a dark java, a love!

Sons bath floor done...

CURRY SCONCES. Always on the prowl for great lighting. I think Curry has some great looking pieces and the price point is certainly very fair. Then if you are really lucky, they have their Curry in a Hurry program where they stock many of their items, that ship right away....here are some of what I have found, what do you think? Click here to see more of their awesome things.

Ordered this for our main powder room

This is the matching chandelier

Love this one, ordered two pairs of these for possibly my bathroom

Very elegant looking, great powder room fixture

This comes in a few finishes.....kind of fun.

OK this doesn't apply to me, but how great would this sconce be for a beach house?

BLUE BOOK. A few friends told me I had to get this book, all about the world of living and decorating with blue. One day Diane from The Buzz mentioned it again and right that minute I paid a visit to Amazon and bought it. What a great book!!!! If you like decorating with blue, you must, you must get this. It is chock full of incredible pictures, has all kinds of tutorials and even a pull out blue paint chart with all the recommended faves. A must have!!!! I have been going through it a lot lately for divine inspiration...do you have it already?

GORGEOUS CUSTOM RETURN ADDRESS STAMP. I love this line, just ordered it for someone as a housewarming gift. It came out so pretty, and she was so excited! I loved it so much just ordered one for myself.....love this line. Click here to visit the Etsy shop online.

MARIEBELLE TEAS AND COCOA HOUSE. Do you like tea or coffee? If so, have I got a place for you!  If you are lucky enough to live in the NY area, then you should pay a visit to MarieBelle. I first found out about them when I saw one of their tins and fell in love, I then googled them delighted to see I could order online! Then I found out that there is a tea/cocoa house/salon right in NYC and vowed to go on my next NY trip. Eventually I was able to go and it was such a special treat, a scene right out of Paris! They serve many different flavors of aromatic teas and hot cocoas, along with desserts, pastries and chocolate....whats not to love! Click here to to go to their site......

Outside is just a hint of the charm inside...

Inside the flagship store where all the goodness lies........

How charming is this!

Their famous silk screened chocolates...they are the original!

A GREAT WALLPAPER/FABRIC COMBO FOR BACK POWDER ROOM. To set the tone, I have included visuals of the powder room console sink, sconces and faucet to be used. I found the simple but great wallpaper in gray and white and this goregous fabric, it has birds and I LOVE birds. Its the pale blue that I love, with pops of gray and white....thoughts? I love to know what my savvy readers think, think its nice with the marble....

This is the console sink going in there.....

And here is the faucet

And the sconce going in that bathroom....

And here is the wallpaper and fabric I am considering..... now that all the "suspects" that are being used have been lined up for you to see...thoughts please!!

Well that's what I am loving this week! How about you? Anything special on your plate or that has crossed your path that you are loving? Always love to know! Wishing you an enchanted Thursday!