Inventing the Perfect Closet

My husband and I recently closed our historic Bed and Breakfast. The two of us had, until that point, shared a walk-in closet just off of our "innkeeper's suite." While it is a fairly good size walk-in closet, over the four years we have been married, it seems to have shrunk. After closing the B&B, we have been able to live in our entire house for the first time! That means that we have inherited a lot of extra storage space that we could never utilize before (our guests probably would not have appreciated their guestroom closets stuffed full of our personal junk!). We have been finding new homes for a lot of our "stuff," and have loved every moment of it.

When we moved our bedroom to one of our former guest rooms, we took one look at the teeny tiny closet and immediately knew it would never work. Historic homes, as you know, are not known for their abundant closet space, and I think I would be hard pressed to get my shoes in that closet, let alone my clothes, and pocketbooks and scarves and ..... (you get the idea). We finally decided to take one of the extra rooms upstairs and build a master closet. Needless to say, I am overjoyed about this! The room we have chosen is quite quaint with sloping ceilings and tons of character, but we are limited as to how far up we can hang clothes racks. I think we have come up with a fairly good solution, though, and it forced us to be a little creative with our space. I think we are going to like it!

The workers came today to begin the process. I had my sketches roughly drawn. Of course, they were not to scale. The guys began asking me questions like, "How deep do you want those shelves?" To which I replied, "Deep enough to get my shoes on them?...." and "enough height that my pocketbooks will stand up?...." Blank stares. I think in the end they understood me, though. I hope. I guess I will find out soon enough. As I was leaving them to go to work, I told them not to talk about my drawings or the way I measured the shelves after I was gone. I know they did. :-)

Anyway, this newest venture has had me considering all the possibilities this new closet will hold, and I have to say I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! I have stolen ....I mean, borrowed...a few ideas from celebrities' closets and closet sites and decorating sites and mixed them all together into something that would fit my own needs...and our room dimensions. I found so much inspiration, and below are a few that I really love.

My favorite closet designs came from Closet Tailors. Their design styles and material options are extensive. As you will see in the next five photos, their closets are to die for!

The closet below is from Affordable Closet Systems. Love it, love it, love it!

What do you think about this cutesy closet from Decorology. Isn't it adorable?! The colors are amazing and fun!

And this one, also from Decorology's blog, is Paris Hilton's closet. Isn't that the most amazing closet you have ever seen?! Check out the chandelier!
My closet may not be as flashy as Paris' or as cute or as organized as any of those above, but I do believe it will be a wonderful space! I can't wait to post the before and after photos and will do that soon!

Blessings,

Autumn Moments

We love Autumn at our house! We love the brisker temperatures and football games. We love getting out our Halloween decorations and the color of the changing leaves. I even love the way the trees look, silhouetted against a "winter's coming" sky, after the leaves have fallen. When fall arrives, I can't wait for the weekends to come so that I can load my camera and my favorite photography companion, Max, in the car for long drives in the country. This past weekend, we had the opportunity to do just that. We visited Riverbend Farm on an overcast Autumn day and were not disappointed in all the beauty we found.

I am always amazed at how different the weather can be only a few miles away from our house. We may see torrential rain at home, but three miles away, it may never rain a drop! I'm equally amazed at how the colors at Riverbend Farm are still mostly green, but at our house, a short distance away, is awash in Autumn colors. These photos of our house were taken the same day we took the photos at Riverbend:

Our Molly loves to chase sticks. Can you BELIEVE the size of this one that she brought for me to throw for her? She is quite ambitious!

"Rummmm....yummmmm....yummmmm....good stick!"

Max is thinking..."Throw a stick for me, too, Mommy!"

Aren't these trees in our back yard a beautiful color?!? They're so gorgeous, I don't want to rake them, yet. I love the colors on the ground!

A view of the corner of our back porch and the trees beyond.

Max and Molly love spending time outside playing in the leaves. Here, Max is wearing his Halloween costume that reads, "Handsome Devil." How cute is that?!?!

A Haunting?

This time of year, all the focus is on the creepy, the ghostly and the haunted. We enjoy getting into the "spirit" of things by hosting our biennial Halloween party and passing along all the great, spooky stories of our own haunted house. Yes, my husband and I supposedly inhabit a real haunted house!!

The main portion of our house was built in 1869 by Colonel Thomas Cheatham Little for his bride, Agnes. The back of the house that now houses our kitchen was built in the 1820s and was originally a cottage on the property. Colonel Little was a veteran of the Civil War and an escort for General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Young Thomas ran away from home at the age of 16 to join the Confederate Army when word of the death of his uncle, a Confederate officer, reached him. Devastated by the news and filled with anger, he joined the war, fought with the Confederates, and was with Forrest when he surrendered at the end of the War. Thomas and Agnes had several children, and the house was passed down in the family until my Dear Husband purchased it in 2001. He was the first person to own the house outside of the family.

After the purchase of the house, DH immediately began hearing stories of "The Gray Lady." Since the earlier part of the century, there were stories of the solemn woman who could be seen haunting the upper hallway of the house. She was also seen at times in some of the upstairs bedrooms and a few times on the ground floor of the house. There were stories of guests' bed covers being pulled slowly off of them in the middle of the night, one woman being pushed down by an unseen force, a chair flying through a glass window. But most of the reports were simply of a lone woman in Victorian style clothing appearing in various places in the house.

DH lived alone in the house from 2001 until we married in 2005, and claims to have never seen The Gray Lady. Likewise, I have not seen her since moving into the house over four years ago. With that being said, however, we can report many strange happenings that we have been unable to explain. They include our dogs being locked into one room of the house when no one is home to do so, doors that are heavy and difficult to move slamming shut without any assistance and with a puzzling ease, items disappearing or moving from where we originally placed them, and a stereo blaring music without anyone turning it on, then, shutting itself off after about 20 seconds. I have many times heard footsteps in the house, thought it was DH returning home, and then found no one in the house but me. Of course, it makes us feel a little better to come up with reasons for these happenings, and since we have not yet "seen" a ghost to blame them on, we will continue to look for logical explanations of such occurrences. It helps us sleep better at night, you see.

This time of year, our friends love to visit our house and hear all these stories. And I admit that I, especially this time of year, always feel a little reluctant to look over my shoulder for fear that the Lady in Gray will finally make her appearance!

But...until I have seen her for myself, I will continue to try to "explain away" all the odd little happenings.

I am including a photograph in this posting in which guests claim to be able to see The Gray Lady in one of the upstairs windows. Can you find her?

Happy Halloween!!

Our Home & Business Tour, Circa 2005

So much has changed in the four years since I moved into the B&B. I look back at these pictures and can pick out changes in every one of them! I don't always realize how significant the changes have been until I look at some of the older photographs of the house that were taken when I first moved there. It was fun today to look through some of these and note all those changes!

I am posting some of these older photographs below. As you can see, we inherited some very offensive wallpaper and carpet! We are slowly replacing it or restoring the hardwood floors, doing some painting, acquiring "new" antiques and letting go of others. We pick a major project to do each year, sometimes two depending on our budget. Most of those projects to date have been those that are "unseen but necessary" - a new roof, floor jacks, foundation stabilization, wood replacement on the outside of the house, plumbing, ceilings, etc. Needless to say, our home and business has been a work in progress!! We love looking back and seeing the changes we've made. I DO admit that I often get very impatient and want to rid my home of all the hideous wallpaper NOW, and want my new custom made window treatments NOW, and want the kitchen remodeled NOW. But in reality, I'm not sure I could handle all that change so quickly. Well...maybe I could.

So...I am working with my DH to lovingly restore this wonderful old house to its former glory. Sometimes it is a pain but most of the time it is a pleasure. We see ourselves as "keepers of the past" and take that role very seriously. We live in a piece of history. The man who built this house was a veteran of the Civil War and an escort to Nathan Bedford Forest. In CW circles, that is fairly significant! He raised his family in this house. The house was inherited by one of his children who then raised her family in the house, and her child raised his family in the house, and, finally, his child sold the house to us! We are the first people outside of the original family to own the home, and we truly feel a strong connection to the family who sold it to us.

Anyway, here is how the house looked in 2005 after DH and I were first married. I will post updated photos soon so that you may see our progress!

Before any significant landscaping was added to the front of the house. We still have a lot of work to do on the yard and gardens!

Here, you can see our B&B sign. Sorry about the wires. I need to learn how to use Photoshop!

Another view of the front of the house. At one time, the porch wrapped around the left corner of the house but was later enclosed and made into bathrooms, both upstairs and down.

A view of the back of our house. The back section was originally a cottage built in the 1820's. It now houses our kitchen. Check out that beautiful, huge, old Oak Tree to the left of the photograph. He has to be hundreds of years old.

The original back porch railing. Isn't it lovely?

A tiny view of our side screened-in porch. The house has a total of four porches.

Looking out into our backyard.

Another view of our yard.

In the garden.The door to our 100 year old garage and home to so many spiders I that I try to avoid going in there whenever possible.

Standing among the flowers, keeping guard over the birds, squirrels, racoons, chipmunks and other visitors and residents of our property.
A view of our side yard. The house is located in a historic district.
Ready for a view inside? This is the living room, and here you can view a sampling of the hideous wallpaper I mentioned. Now, the art on the wall is completely different, and we have different chairs and things on the tables. This room is an upcoming project. We will be changing the colors in here and reupholstering furniture, painting, adding crown moulding, and pulling up the carpet and refinishing the hardwood floors that are underneath. See the small painting on the right wall? My husband's great-grandfather painted that piece in 1904. You can also get a little peak at our antique, 13 pane secretary in the right corner of the picture.
Here's another view of the room and the fireplace. This fireplace is one reason we'll be changing the colors of the room. The yellow tile is original to the house, so we'll be incorporating that color into the room in other areas. I'll also add bronze colors (the fireplace cover is bronze), brown and a small touch of blue. We'll see how it comes out. Any suggestions would be so welcome!
And another view of the room and our antique piano (for which we are currently looking for a new home) and one of my favorite pieces in the house, the antique Duncan Phyfe sofa, which will soon be given a makeover to match the new color scheme in the room. We now have new lamp shades, you'll be relieved to know. I know I was relieved! :-)

This room was originally a "receiving room" when the house was first built; however, the location of the front door was changed at some point to open into the living room, and this became a little parlor off the main living room. Since we have used this room to house our many bookshelves, we have been referring to it as the library. This is one of my favorite rooms in the house, and I often sit in here and read.
And here is one reason I love this room so much...look at the beautiful original tile on the fireplace! By the way, we have seven fireplaces in the house...isn't that remarkable?! At some point, someone replaced one of the tiles and didn't do such a great job grouting, but I have plans to blend that in and will show you the results of that project soon. Can you see the detail in the tile?
Here's another picture of the fireplace from farther back. Can you see the beautiful fireplace cover details? Another view of the room...and my favorite reading chair.
This is our formal dining room where we serve our guests breakfast.
A view of the sideboard. It now is home to a teapot collection.
The portrait of the woman came with the house. She was a relative of the original owner. Many of our guests have said that they believe she is our resident ghost. Yes, the house is rumored to be the home of a ghost who has become known over the last century as "The Gray Lady." Many guests and former owners of the house have claimed to have seen her, especially in the upstairs hallway. DH and I have never seen her, so we can't say for certain if the rumors are true!
The entryway from one of the house's four porches.
Our registration table in the main stairwell of the house.
And now we go upstairs. This is a photo of the hallway upstairs. This beautiful antique sofa is now in one of our guest rooms and an antique library couch is now in its former place. Bad Wallpaper Alert! This stripy paper is the most hideous of all the wallpaper in the entire house! We HATE it! And soon it will be gone, gone, gone.

This is the upstairs entertainment room, or what my husband likes to refer to as "The Man Room." Another Wallpaper Alert! Soon, the Man Room will relocate to the first floor into a much larger space, and this cozy little room will undergo a makeover. It will soon be decorated with roses and floral patterns and become MY room...a place for reading, sewing and doing craft projects.Another view of the Man Room.This is one of our guest rooms, circa 2005. More of that wallpaper we can't seem to get rid of fast enough! But the shape of this room is gorgeous with a bay window area. We have added new bedding since this photo was taken and removed the canopy railings - it's now just a four post bed. One of my favorite beds ever.
Since this photo was taken, we have since said goodbye to these old chairs. I love the old mantle scarf on this fireplace.
The bedside table in the master bedroom.

Here's another guest room. I actually kind of like the wallpaper in this room, as I think it looks rather authentic. We have since changed the bedding to blend more with the design of the wallpaper. The bed is antique, circa 1872, and looks almost exactly like the bed in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House. We have a matching washstand/dresser with a marble top.
The doll once belonged to my great grandmother.
I love this old lamp that sits bedside in one of the guest rooms. It is lovely when all lit!
This old house has a total of 23 rooms and 30 windows. It is drafty, to say the least, but we love it and are working to restore it to the grand painted lady she once was. I'll post pictures of our updates soon, so please come back and visit!