River House Diary

 We purchased the Thurston Wing Chair  from Ballard Designs and had it custom upholstered in two gorgeous fabrics -- a velvet and a Suzani print. It lived in the master bedroom of our Oakton house. For the River House, we had it reupholstered in Anna Elisabeth Porcelain Blue . It's in the rear guest room, which we're thinking we should name "the Blue Room." Reupholstered wing chair

We purchased these Cooper Upholstered Cubes from Ballard Designs for the sunroom in our Oakton house and had them reupholstered in a Gabrielle Chambray, a fabric exclusive to Ballard Designs that had been discontinued before I made the decision. I was lucky enough to find enough yardage on eBay. Reupholstered ottomons

 We moved the Thurston Wing Chair from the great room to the back guest room (Bedroom 3). It needs to be reupholstered to match the fabric selections Pete and I made for the furnishings and window treatments from Eastern Accents . We chose Anna Elisabeth B1422 Porcelain Blue : Anna Elisabeth B1422 Porcelain Blue

I backed away from the edge of fabric selections that did not complement the coastal theme of our house. Instead, we hung the water color painting of the creek behind our old house in the back hallway. That got me back on track for some lovely blue and white fabrics for our primary guest bedroom -- the one with the river view and access to the screen porch. Eastern Accents Penelope bedding collection from Eastern Accents; courtesy of  Eastern Accents The draperies will be in the embroidered fern leaf fabric. They will be fully operable, blackout lined and stacked on the right hand side so there is easy access to the sliding glass doors. The bed will be the Carmine upholstered bed in Blick Denim -- the velvet fabric on the Euro shams in the photo above.  Penelope bedding swatches; personal collection Hopefully, everything gets delivered in time for Thanksgiving. Also, in the room are the David Francis Charleston Mahogany Swirl chest (which has been discontinued), the Uttermost...

We have a watercolor painting of the creek behind our Oakton house that we bought from a local artist. We love it but finding a place for it in River House has been a challenge. If we don't use it in the back guest room, then it really doesn't have a home. So that's what we're going to do.  Bull Run Creek by M. P. Strickler; personal collection It's has lots of blues in it which would continue the blue theme of our coastal home, but it also provides the opportunity to go in a different direction. I think this is okay in guest rooms. Fabrics from Eastern Accents; personal collection And a better swatch of Sloane Prism -- the floral/botanical print: Sloane Prism; courtesy of Eastern Accents We have decided on the Eastern Accents Carmine upholstered headboard -- fabric yet to be determined.

Tuesday we drove to the Ethan Allen store in Wilmington and ordered two recliners for Pete’s man cave, also known as the den. We’ve invested hours and several gallons of gas driving hither and yon for months in order to make sure Pete had the recliner he could live with comfort-wise and one I could tolerate the style. I believe we’ve done it with the Aiden recliner. Aiden recliner; courtesy of Ethan Allen Zuniga Interiors specified the Borini fabric in Straw, which is a small herringbone pattern. Borini Straw fabric; courtesy of Ethan Allen

I believe I’ve found the fabric for our Pantry sink skirt. P. Kaufman Buffalo Check fabric in Seabreeze ; courtesy of Online Fabric Store The pantry will have open shelves because we didn’t want to pay for cabinets in this room. But it also has an under-mount sink where I will hand wash things that can’t go in the dishwasher. This means the the front of the sink and the associated plumbing would be visible when you enter the pantry. A sink skirt will cover up all that not pretty stuff. Pantry sink skirt fabric sample and backsplash tile; personal collection I got the idea from the For the Love of a House blog post about her kitchen  (last photo).