River House Diary

 You may recall from our tour of the foyer , that we hung the large herons we purchased in Myrtle Beach in 2002 on either side of the entry into our den. The mats were olive green and cream and didn't really work in the new house. So we had the pieces re-matted and were so surprised at how much more the white heron popped; before it had been kind of invisible. Re-matted herons in the foyer; personal collection

I've blogged about parts of the foyer several times, but our custom rug arrived Monday and so the "room" is finished. Time for a tour! Foyer at River House; personal collection The rug is an all-weather "sisal" from SisalRugs.com . Customers can buy rugs by the inch to get a perfect fit. Zuniga Interiors specified the Costa Rica Sisal  with a serged edge. Learn more about how I styled the Tinsley chest from Arhaus. My favorite part is the chandelier , which really doesn't make an appearance in the collage above. It was definitely a splurge. Cynthia Sea Glass Nuggets Chandelier from Au Courant Interiors; personal collection

The chest  is from Arhaus and the mirror is from One Allium Way and was purchased from Wayfair, but I’ve talked about them before. Today, is a tiny little celebration that one small part of the house is done — styling the foyer chest. The chair is one of our kitchen bistro chairs from Williams Sonoma. I purchased extra for when we add the table leaf. Zuniga Interiors sent me suggestions for styling, which I mostly followed. I used coffee table books I’ve owned for years from some of my favorite designers because the colors were right. The seashell box is from the Seashell Company. The green tray is vintage Bordello Pinhiero pottery from Portugal. I love it because the pattern includes pineapples — a traditional symbol of welcome. I always like to have a tray in the foyer for keys and mail. Zuniga recommended a white or cream tray instead. The new items are: Dimond Home Jaffa, Large Vase  from Houzz. It is 15 inches height by 11 inches in diameter. The vase is navy...

I've begun styling the chest in the Foyer, using this lovely box made out of seashells from the Seashell Company . I still need to find my Julius Caesar bust and a small tray for car keys. Seashell box; personal collection

Today the Tinsley Three-Drawer Dresser from Arhaus was delivered. Tinsley three-drawer Dresser; personal collection

You have to love technology. I visited a website yesterday and discovered the chest for our Foyer was on sale. Today, that website sent an email telling me today was the last day my chest would be on sale. Pete and I were sitting in our car on a ferry in the middle of the Neuse River when I told him how slick that technology was following me around trying to close the sale. Pete said, “Buy it.” I didn’t ask twice. Tinsley Three-Drawer Dresser ; courtesy Arhaus I think it will look great under the mirror I scored on sale during the Cyber Monday sales along with a natural all-weather sisal right. We also sprung for a console table for the Great Room this month from Coastal Living. Escape Brown Long Key Console Table ; courtesy Bellacor

You may remember I took advantage of the Cyber Monday sales to purchase an area rug for the Den and a mirror for the Foyer . The boxes arrived undamaged and we transferred them to our storage unit until our contractor needed to hang the mirror. And today was the day. They opened the box and discovered the mirror was broken. Broken mirror; courtesy Austin Bayliss I purchased the mirror from Wayfair . I read their return policy and learned it was 30 days but exceptions may be made in the case of damage or defective merchandise. I used the chat feature to send the above photo and within a few minutes, a replacement had been ordered with expedited shipping to arrive tomorrow. It’s hard to provide better customer service than that. Thank you Wayfair!

Zuniga Interiors recommended the tongue-and-groove ceilings in the kitchen and foyer and the great room ceiling beams be stained a light wood like Hallmark Floors Balboa Oak . And it is beautiful. But the yellow pine wood our builder used on the ceilings didn't look anything like that when stained with several different Minwax colors. So on to Plan B -- evoking the feel of an old southern porch with white trim and haint blue ceilings. Great room ceiling; personal collection The tongue-and-groove ceilings are stained with one coat of Minwax Simply White. We planned to stain the beams the same, but the wood absorbed the stain very unevenly. So we ended up painting them a custom Sherwin Williams blend to match Magnolia Home True White, which is what we used on all the trim in the house. The ceiling is Sherwin Williams 9054 Little Boy Blu but just 30 percent of the color.

The built-in cabinets in the Den are progressing nicely so of course it was time to buy a rug for the room. Plus, I needed to take advantage of the Cyber Monday sales. This is the Ella Rose rug from Magnolia Home in light blue and dark blue. It will go in the Den, or what I call "Pete's BIG TV room." Magnolia Home’s Ella Rose rug in Light Blue/Dark Blue; courtesy of Bed Bath & Beyond Several weeks ago I made a list of things we absolutely needed to buy in order to live in our bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and den at River House. Getting those critical rooms furnished would allow me to take my time decorating the rest of the house. The rug for the Den was on the list, but a mirror for the foyer was definitely not. However, Wayfair was having a sale and I do love free shipping! I promise to exercise better impulse control during my next online shopping spree. One Allium Way Walnut Wood Wall Mirror ; courtesy of Wayfair

Our Foyer chandelier was a bit of a splurge I’ll admit. It arrived at my brother’s house this week. Okay, it’s in the wrong house, but the right city. I know it’s safe from my sister-in-law because it isn’t pink! Au Courant Interiors Cynthia chandelier; courtesy of Dawn Jennings Zuniga Interiors really wanted it unpacked and checked for damage so Ted humored us and even sent this photo. I can’t wait to see it hanging from the stained tongue-and-groove ceiling .

In order to give the interior some architectural interest, Zuniga Interiors recommended using wood tongue-and-groove on the foyer and kitchen ceilings. Tongue-and-groove ceiling; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors; source unknown To complement the dark hardwood floors, the ceilings would be stained much lighter. The desired look is below. I couldn't find an exact match but Minwax's Classic Gray (MW271) came close. Hallmark Floors Alta Vista Collection in Balboa Oak ; courtesy of Hallmark Floors

Zuniga Interiors sent bead samples today for the foyer chandelier. I've chosen the lighter color -- Aqua. Bead samples for the Cynthia chandelier from Au Courant Interiors; personal collection

Once I fell in love with a chandelier for the foyer, Zuniga Interiors developed a design concept for our Foyer. Design concept for the foyer; courtesy of Zuniga Interiors For those who like details: Hallmark Floors Alta Vista Collection in Ojai Oak Au Courant Interiors Cynthia Chandelier in Aqua Kichler Lighting Alton 1-Light Wall Sconce in Natural Brass Magnolia Home interior paint in Pearly Cotton Arhaus Tinsley Three Drawer Dresser Uttermost Agustin Walnut Mirror

My latest swoon is an Empire-style chandelier made out of sea glass nuggets. When I sent it to our interior designer asking her to put me out of my misery and tell me it wouldn't work, she didn't. Instead, she incorporated it in to the design for our foyer. Cynthia Sea Glass Nugget Open Chandelier from Au Courant Interiors ; courtesy of Au Courant Interiors