Reader Design: Julie's Breath of Fresh Air in SoCal

Alright, friends. It's Friday, you've gotten this far, and we are ready to treat you to another spectacular Reader Design home tour for StyleMutt Home Spaces. There will be no loud exclamation points. No all caps. This quiet beauty lends itself well to relaxation and a cup of tea, if you're in the mood. So make yourself comfortable and come on in. :)

Our hostess du jour is one of our dear distant friends from across the country in Southern California, Julie. We've had the pleasure of getting to know Julie on Instagram, (@juler54), and her home is such a reflection of her kind and gentle spirit. She has a true hostess heart and I imagine her door is often open.

So let's take a peek inside, shall we? :)

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Bedrooms

Patio

Can you believe this view?! It just doesn't quit!

Aren't you feeling refreshed after that? I know I am. Thank you so much, Julie, for inviting us in to your beautiful home!

Don't forget you can post your home photos on our Facebook wall or tag #stylemuttspaces on Instagram to express interest in sharing your home tour here at StyleMutt Home! We've got a stellar growing collection of tours on our Spaces page and would love to add yours!

Thank you all for stopping by and enjoy your weekend! If you're local we would LOVE to see you this weekend at the Sweet Clover Barn 'Back to Style' Labor Day sale! Saturday & Sunday, 10am-5pm, 4051 Stanford Ct. Frederick, MD!

Card Catalog End Tables ||And a Nod to a Fave Chick Flick||

If you have been sweet enough to follow along with me on instagram, then you may recognize these fugly babies:

Now I have BIG plans to convert these 2 sad end tables into 4 sexy pieces.  As of now, I've only halfway fulfilled my promise and converted them into 2 new beautiful pieces:

Did you even recognize them?!?  Changing the legs on anything really can go a long way!  (Need further proof, check out these chairs).  

The reason why I rescued these sorry lookin' little guys was actually for the 6-paneled drawer front.  I love the idea of a faux card catalog file (all the charm without the limiting compartmentalized storage).  Once I saw past the eyeball-like white knobs, I realized they could easily be replaced with brass library pulls.

Now I know what you avid readers are thinking, "But Cate!  Why did photographing these tables outside work for you this time when you wrote all about your al fresco staging saga in your Part I and Part II posts from last week?!?"  

Am I right?  Thought so ;)  Well what I realized last week was that staging outside wasn't capturing the "feeling" I was going for the piece I was photographing.  So what changed this time?  Well... the pieces!

Staging outside didn't create the right feeling for my cowhide bench, but it totally captures the exact ambiance I wanted for these card catalog tables...

Here was my chain of thought:

Card catalog tables make me think of old libraries.  Old libraries make me think of old books.  Old books make me think of old type writers.  Old type writers make me think of old-school authors typing away while on a secluded creative retreat...  Which then lead me to think of one comical scene in one favorite movie... can you guess it?

Yup.  Love Actually.  More specifically the scene where Colin Firth's character is typing outside only to have the pages of his book blow away and land in the lake.  

Lúcia Moniz [In Portuguese]: This stuff better be good...
Colin Firth [In English]: It's not worth it, you know.  This isn't bloody Shakespeare... 

Love it.

When I first saw the view at our "summer home" I couldn't help but think this scene.  And when I was looking around for things to stage the tables with, all I had on hand was my old type writer.  Perfeito [that's Portuguese for perfect].

This pair are still for sale at Sweet Clover and will be available to firthasize about [that's Colin Firth for "fantasize"] at our second  Pop Up Shop!  We hope you pop in and say hello - Chelsea and I will be there Saturday morning and would love to meet you in person!

Back to Style Event
Sept 5 & 6 10am to 5pm
Sweet Clover Barn 4051 Stanford Ct, Frederick, MD 21703

Southwestern vs. SOUTHWESTERN!!! ||One dresser, two options||

Howdy, friends! Yee-haw, yippy-yi-yo, and ride em' cowboy. Or whatever. Western doesn't roll off my tongue so well, but I had a southwestern itch, nonetheless. I found the dresser above last week tucked away in one of my favorite thrift stores, (Pender Regift Thrift in Chantilly, VA). I intended to give it a really rustic finish by simply stripping the blood red stain and then wrapping it's simple wooden pulls in some leftover faux cowhide fabric from Cate's stunning upholstered bench.

After a 'lick and a promise', there was no doubt that this was a southwestern style dresser:

(And I couldn't resist staging this one with my Axel Co. hexagon shelf and arrow. They just restocked their shop for Fall/Winter - check out all the new goodies here!)

However, the 'afterclaps' of this makeover was just all 'beer and skittles'. I wanted to create a southwestern looking dresser and I did. But something just seemed off. I didn't hate it, but it was missing an element of sophistication that I was hoping for. It was far too literal and I realized I was looking for more of a southwestern whisper rather than a 'cattle call'. 

So I went back to the drawing board and found these stunning hexagon knobs at Anthropologie. 

Bulls-eye!

This three-across business is just so fun, isn't it!? 

I had so much fun staging with this branch - when I saw it in our back yard I knew he needed to join this shoot. However...

...just keepin' it real here, folks! It was monstrous and definitely not something I would permanently use in our home. In case you were wondering if I was just that cool and abstract. I'm not.

So here we are with two looks. One will be comin' with us to the Sweet Clover barn this weekend for the Labor Day sale, (Sat & Sun, 10am-5pm)! And now I'm excited to sit back and hear what you guys think! Which do you like better?! 

Thank you for stopping by and making us a part of your day! We're so grateful for you guys. XO,