My Visit to the Swan House

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Good Morning All,

Busy week again and we have added dog sitting to our schedule. My stepson is out of town and asked us to dog sit. We are a little rusty but will get back into the swing of things. This weekend is very busy for me. I will be going to a paralegal retreat on Saturday. I am a director for the Indiana Paralegal Association and we all will be meeting to discuss future ideas for the association. On Sunday, I will be a docent at the Tiffany Skilling Home Tour. I am hoping that I can take photos. I am looking for inspiration for my own home. As my home office takes on a different look, I am looking for different pieces to redecorate. Now that the kids are semi- out of the house, I feel like I have a little more freedom to change things around.

Okay let’s get into today’s post before I get started on my hunt for decor rant!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I still can’t believe that I took this beautiful photo! It was so hot but this was such a great shot of the front of the home. The Swan House was built by architect, Philip T. Shutze. The family moved into their home in December of 1928. In designing this home Shutze drew from examples of both 18th century English and 16th century Italian architecture. 

 

 

When you tour the home you will enter from the back. It has a large garden and long driveway. We were told that the rear of the house serves as the main entrance. The backside represents the classical Palladian architecture. 

 

 

This vehicle was located in the back of the home. 

 

 

This car was also located in the back of the home. My husband wanted me to take a photo with. It of course belonged to the family. It is a 1929 Hudson. 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Shutze sketched this garden while seated in the gardens of the Palazzo Corsini in Rome. Talk about inspiration! When Stutze was asked about flowers he stated that the Swan House has a green garden. Flowers in urns and pots he explained. 

 

The home had a grand entry hall which I failed to photograph because I was too busy taking it all in. I did however take a video of it and will be posting it on my YouTube channel soon. This room was to the right when you walked in. Looks like it could have been the breakfast room. 

 

 

Loved the drapes!

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

This is the dining room, and it is my absolute favorite room! I think I stayed in this room quite a while. This is where Mrs. Iman would receive her guests for dinner. The English wallpaper, hand-painted in chinoiserie, the French Abusson rug, Waterford chandelier, and contemporary Portuguese rainbow plaid draperies are examples of the beautiful style of Mrs. Inman. Her decorator, Ruby Ross Wood, was known for blending furniture of various periods, using colors and prints. 

 

 

Ruby Ross Wood believed that “decorating is the art of arranging beautiful things comfortably”. Now who could argue that statement! 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

I love this photo so much! I am thinking about making it my screen saver. 

 

 

This was one of the most important objects in the room. This is an 18th century swan console table attributed to English architect, Thomas Johnson. The Imans purchased it in Bath, England in 1924. 

 

 

This 18th century mahogany bookcase was made in England. It was intended for the library; Mrs. Inman used it to display her collection of English Derby porcelain. 

 

 

The kitchen and butler’s pantry allowed the servants easy access to the dining room and breakfast room. 

 

 

Mrs. Inman updated the household appliances in the 1950s, but the restaurant size 1936 Magic Chef stove is the original model, and the 1929 GE refrigerator was added. 

A fun fact is that after 32 years of service with the Inman family, Lizzie McDuffie left to work for President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a maid in the White House. She used her close relationship with the President and First Lady to advocate for racial equality in the South. 

 

 

This was the morning room. This room contained a mixture of fine antiques in a blend of periods and styles, as well as quality reproductions and some contemporary pieces. 

 

 

We are now going upstairs….

 

 

This was a huge hallway with original floors! 

 

 

 

 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Like many couples in the 1920s and 1930s, the Inman’s had adjoining bedrooms. Shutze relates that Mrs. Inman owed and cherished the mantelpiece from her first home and insisted that it be reinstalled there. The room is filled with a blend of reproductions and fine antiques from the 18th century. 

 

 

 

 

 

An Italian immigrant named Athos Menaboni painted the bathroom. This was a really big bathroom! When I walked in it I thought, “goodness, this is huge”! 

 

 

In addition to the faux green marble walls, he painted draperies on the mirrors, swans on the ceilings, and stars all over the cabinets. 

 

 

 

 

After touring the home, we went up to the museum in the home. It housed some of the antiques and information about the home. It also discussed the decorator Ruby. I love that title, “The Road to Good Taste”. I honestly believe that I am on that journey.

 

 

 

Beautiful vintage fabrics are shown in the museum room. These were some of the fabrics that Ruby used in her decor.

 

 

My husband and I truly enjoyed this tour. I love visiting historical homes and really appreciate the value and work that went into creating these dream homes. They truly don’t make them like this anymore. I hope that preservation societies all over the country continue to protect these gems. They take you to another place even if it’s just for a moment. 

Enjoy the weekend! 

 

 

 

 

 

 (information and some text provided by the Atlanta History Center)

 

 

Our Elegant Trip to Atlanta

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Good Morning Everyone!

I had a very busy weekend. Our neighborhood HOA sale occurred, and I sold quite a bit from my closet as well as the boutique. There is not much left, and I am trying to decide if I want to order a new dress. I am thinking about it. 

I did donate a few items to the consignment store and dropped off some old furniture at the Goodwill. It’s funny with garage sales. As soon as you get that stuff out of your closet and realize that some of it may have to go back in that turns it into a big game changer for me. Oh no is this not going back! Let’s donate it! I hate hanging on to stuff I am not using! 

I also have a busy work week ahead of me of course, my first Guild meeting of the season, an Indiana Paralegal Retreat on Saturday, and a tour of Tiffany Skilling’s home on Sunday! Lots of fun things but busy! 

Speaking of fun things… I have not stop thinking about our recent empty nester trip to Atlanta. Mr. Shockley and I had such a good time. It started out rough. There was a torrential downpour in Kentucky when we were driving through. For two hours we could barely see the road.  It was not fun. Then while we stopped for breakfast my husband got an alert on his app that the tires were low! Great! Now we might have a flat. But it turns out that we did not. The pressure from the mountains in Tennessee caused the fluctuation of the air pressure in the tires. Thank goodness!

Once we got to Buckhead, my husband and I could NOT and I mean could not stopping staring at the houses! My goodness is Buckhead a beautiful area! I mean stunning Victorian inspired mansions. It was gorgeous!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

I did not take photos of the homes because I did not want to be weird but once we got to our hotel I looked up and was immediately smitten with the light fixtures and decor. Honestly and truly we have NEVER stayed in a hotel like this! 

 

 

We stayed in the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta. The staff was outstanding and so was our room. As soon as they took our luggage to our room we could not stop staring at the view and our room had its own doorbell!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Our room had the best view of the skyline for Atlanta. You could see everything, the beautiful buildings in Buckhead, lots of gorgeous trees, Stone Moutain and did I mention the skyline? 

The room had a beautiful black and white floral carpet, green velvet sectional couch, flat screen T.V., wine bar, huge garden tub, and walk in shower. We loved it! 

 

 

For dinner we decided to walk 3 minutes from the hotel to South City Kitchen for dinner. We both got the springer mountain fried chicken, collard greens, mashed potatoes in a honey sauce. It also came with biscuits, and I tried ginger (non-alcoholic) beer for the first time! Oh my goodness, it was so good! 

It was a great start to our first empty nester trip. Later this week I will share some of my shopping trips and the Swan House of course. A few of the boutique’s dresses are on sale. The Rose Blush Midi and Sylvia Shirtdress are on sale. I only have one Eleanor Lace Midi and only one Vera Blush Maxi left. Order soon! Have a great week! 

 

 

My Friend’s Whimsical Project

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Good Morning Everyone!

Happy Friday! I have been digging out of a “work hole” since I returned to the office! Goodness, I am so busy not to mention all of the home duties that I have and passion projects that I work on. The blog is one of those “passion projects” that I wish I could work on during my lunch break but goodness that has been filled with other house items that I need to get done. Tomorrow is our neighborhood’s HOA sale and I have a lot of things to tag. I will be selling items from the boutique and some items from my recent closet clean-out! We are suppose to have good weather and I am really looking forward to that. 

In today’s post I wanted to share my dear friend Lyndsey’s recent home project. Lyndsey is my daughter’s hair stylist, and she is so talented in many things. One talent that I was not aware of was wallpaper! She recently shared her daughter’s room that she did all by herself! I absolutely love it and was so happy that she agreed to allow me to share it on the blog!

 

photo credit: L. Davis 

 

I mean how great is this! She purchased the wallpaper from Etsy. It’s called York Rifle Paper Co. Emerald Peacock Whimsical.  I think it’s just perfect for Nyri’s room!

 

 

I believe Lyndsey painted the furniture black as well and I think it blends so well with the wallpaper. It is also a nice pop of color from white wainscoting. 

 

photo credits: L. Davis

Lyndsey also installed these wall sconces wrapped in rattan for the wall. They are beautiful gold vintage bedside light fixtures just perfect for her growing girl. 

 

 

I feel like this room has the perfect balance for her daughter. She is still very young and yet this room still has some child-like wonder to it and will grow with her as she ages. It’s a wonderful decor balance! 

 

 

I think her sweet little girl loves it! I hope you enjoyed this post today! Back in 2018, my other friend Lindsay, let me share her mother’s home decor. Here is the link to that post as well. Have a great weekend! 

 

 

Guild Luncheon & Vintage Cabinet Update

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Hello Everyone,

I am back from my beautiful vacation in Buckhead Atlanta! Mr. Shockley and I had such a wonderful time. I have so many photos to share with you all. I will say this… Buckhead is beautiful! All of the beautiful homes! Oh my goodness! I hope you all enjoy my photos! 

Today I wanted to share a quick post about the Guild Luncheon that we had in August and my vintage cabinet update. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

So, the Guild has started back up again, and we had our Founder’s Day luncheon in August. When I walked into the Woodstock Country Club, I saw a difference. They had redecorated, and I was here for it! They added new chinoiserie wallpaper panels, and they were gorgeous! I wish I had taken more pictures. I will the next time. 

 

 

The luncheon events team did a great job setting up the tablescapes this year. I thought everything looked very elegant. I found out that I am on the events team that will be setting up for the Christmas luncheon and I am on the team that will be a docent at the Tiffany Skillings private home tour! I have always been a fan of hers and loved her work that she did at the 2022 Showhouse. I look forward to seeing her private home. I don’t know if I can’t take any photos but I will be sure to ask! 

 

 

In more decor news, I have finally moved my vintage china cabinet over to its permanent spot in my office. I have my books in it and could not love it more. Now I am trying to figure out how to decorate it. So my husband was going to paint the wall of the cabinet but then we looked at it and realized that I would not be able to see any of the decor on the wall because of my books so I am still on the fence about that. But I did mention that I could now buy more blue and white ginger jars to put on the top of it. My husband then said, “why not green and white”. I thought, “wow that might actually look beautiful and continue to go with my office because of my sage green settee and sage green vintage screen! What do you guys think? Blue and white or green and white? Let me know in the comments below! 

 

First Empty-Nester Vacation

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Hello Everyone and Happy Friday,

Of course, I am really excited for this weekend. My husband and I will be fine-tuning (well me) our agenda for our first empty-nester vacation. As I have shared with you all before, my husband and I have NEVER taken a vacation without the kids, so we are really excited for this trip and plan on just taking our time.

 

photo credit: Getty/Pinterest

 

I have always been fascinated by this home. I know that it is not big and does not compare to the homes in Newport but I still wanted to visit this gorgeous historical home. The Swan House to me is what my dream home would look like. There would be a few changes to the front but not much. 

But first on our list would be driving and stopping at Love Shack Fancy in Nashville. I have not told my husband yet but I would love to stop there on our way to Atlanta. I also wanted to stop at the Sarah Flint store but the Nashville location is closed! I couldn’t believe it but so happy that I got to see it last year. 

Once we got to Buckhead we are going to check into our hotel and then I hope that we have time because I want to go to the Sarah Flint store there, visit the Dior store nearby, Hermes, and then stop at a consignment store called Sac De Lux. 

For dinner I found a restaurant near our hotel called South City Kitchen and I really want to give that a try. I found a few other restaurants nearby to have dinner or lunch as well. 

The second day that we are there will be reserved for the Swan House and the Swan Coach House. 

 

photo credit: Pinterest 

 

I don’t think that we will be there all day, so I found some antique stores nearby to go and visit. One is called Antiques & Beyond and the other is 14th Street Modern & Vintage Home. I also found a HomeGoods nearby, of course, and another consignment store called Label Resale Boutique. 

I am really looking forward to this vacation and it will be so different without kids and not having to worry about our home either. We are truly in a different season of life. I’ll see you all when I return! 

 

 

August Favorites ~ 2023

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Good Morning Friends,

Empty-nester week 2! It has been going well so far. Lauren will be coming home this weekend because there are no classes on Monday so we will be so happy to see her. We do have some running around. She has a hair appointment and I have my first waxing appointment! Oh my goodness you guys wish me luck! I have never done waxing before, but I need to try it. Shaving is causing me all sorts of issues! And I mean issues! If you would like for me to share my experience, please let me know below. 

Okay, let’s get into my favorites for the month of August!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

First on my list is this beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas from my very kind neighbor. I was opening the windows to my home office and saw his huge hydrangea tree and thought, “oh I would love a few of those for my crystal vase”. I sent my husband over to ask and he cut me a few! How grand is that?

 

 

Second on my list is the new Aerin Lauder Rose de Grasse perfume called Rouge. I had to go and smell it and it smells just like red roses. It’s quite lovely. If you want to try a sample here is the link to order that. Enjoy! 

 

 

Third on my list is my new monogram tote from Abbot and Lyon! I have always wanted to try a monogram tote and I actually got to see this tote in person while I was in South Carolina in May. A woman walked by me, and I stopped her and asked about it. The quality is quite exceptional, and the price is incredible! I have no regrets ordering it. It is quite large and has lots of organizational compartments on the inside. 

 

 

Fourth was my delicious meal that I got at Ford’s Garage. It was a new restaurant that my family and I decided to try and it was really good. The lime vinaigrette was outstanding! Oh so good! 

 

 

The fifth is my new Kate Spade Leopard tote. I saw a beautiful influencer with this bag and went on the hunt for it. It is sold out everywhere. I managed to find it on Poshmark. Yay Poshmark! This is going to be perfect for the fall. 

 

 

Sixth on my list are these travel contact lense containers. I found these on Amazon and they come two in one pack! Great for traveling or keeping in your handbag for easy access! 

 

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley 

 

Seventh is this incredibly chic white umbrella that I also found on Amazon. I love the gold handle and gold hardware. It is so elegant and comes in different colors. I ordered it and took it to my office immediately. It’s quite lovely.

 

 

The eighth item is this lovely goat milk soap from Beekman 1802. Now I have been watching this company on QVC for years and was always curious about their products. I saw a recent show of their bar soap and after seeing how it lathered on t.v. I had to give it a try, so I ordered it from Amazon. I have been using it for a month and I LOVE IT! Oh my goodness, it is so creamy, and the lavender smell is very light. I love using it. 

 

 

And the last item is my new lip balm from Elizabeth Arden. I found this on Amazon and wanted to give it a try and I must say it moisturizes my lips very nicely. I use it daily and carry it in my handbag. You should give it a try. I will be ordering the 8-hour hydrating facial spray, and hand cream as well. Those items will go nicely in my handbag especially with winter on the horizon. 

I hope you all love my favorites for the month of August. My monthly newsletter will be hitting your mailboxes soon! Please make sure that you check your spam folder if you are not getting it! Have a great day and…

 

 

 

 

*Blog post not sponsored- affiliate links attached 

An Inspiring Mellody

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Good Morning,

Well, it has been an interesting first week as an empty nester. Rick and I have adjusted pretty well. We do miss the kids, but it has been nice this week. I will say that! On Wednesday, we had our Founders Day lunch for the Guild. I will share a few photos from that soon. I also went to Random Acts of Flowers and did some flower arranging training! That was really fun! I so enjoyed it. Also, I finally moved my vintage cabinet and placed my books inside! I so love it and will share photos later. I do want to go to HomeGoods this weekend to find some blue and white for it. 

On Monday I shared a beautiful and elegant women named Ann Getty. Today I am sharing another inspiring woman that I just found named Mellody Hobson. 

 

 

I stumbled on Mellody while on Facebook. An advertisement for a course on Masterclass appeared in my newsfeed and it was her discussing finances, so I just had to Google her. She is married to George Lucas! Yes the creator of Star Wars and the Indiana Jones franchise. I could not believe that when I read it. But not only that she is the chairwoman of Starbucks and was the chairwoman for Dreamworks.

What I found so fascinating about Mellody was her background. It was sooo similar to my own. I listened to this podcast called The Positive Leadership and it was an interview with Mellody. You have to listen to it. It is so good!

What I found so inspiring about Mellody was her drive to create a better life for herself and how she let no one stop her from doing that. I love hearing stories about women coming up through the ranks from nothing and becoming great leaders in the field. I hope you enjoy the podcast about Mellody and have a great weekend!