A Home for Elegance Archives - Page 2 of 4

January Favorites ~ 2024

January 30, 2024/in Elegant Living, Monthly Favorites /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning,

Oh my goodness everyone, I had a good weekend, but I sure do feel like I was hit by a truck this week! I don’t feel sick but I am emotional and physically drained. I had lunch earlier last week with some of my Guild friends to work on a special project for the showhouse this year. During our lunch we started talking menopause and perimenopause which I think I am in the thick of.

I talked about how I loss 18 pounds during Covid and then last year it ALL came back within a few months. My friends shared a doctor with me that has a podcast, and I have started watching some of her videos regarding symptoms of perimenopause. I am on a journey right now to figure things out, but I will be SURE to share with you all what I am learning and supplements that I have started to take.

I also binged watched Operation Niki’s organizing videos on Instagram. Oh my goodness! I love them all. I have so many items in my Amazon cart. Lord! I have also joined TikTok! My handle names are of course @ahomeforelegance and @mrs..shockley. I hope you can find me and follow along. Now let’s get into my favorites for the first month of 2024!

You all know that I have been on an organizational kick recently and finding this bag was a part of it! I get stopped non-stop about this bag and the trolley that it comes with! I mean even men stop me about it! This has been a game changer. I normally carry two totes to the office every day and having this tote that I am able to put on the trolley and pull it into my office has been wonderful. Now my particular color is quite expensive but there are other colors that are a little less. Let me know if you get one!

The second was a crazy find! So for Christmas last year I really wanted a Christian Dior advent calendar but at $1,000 (with products) I could not stomach spending that. Also, with products it could be hit or miss with if you like them or not. I really just wanted the calendar part and then it dawned on me, “hey I wonder if anyone will just sell the calendar on Poshmark”. So I checked and found one! This particular seller was selling hers for just $40 and I quickly added it to my cart and purchased it. It is so elegant, and I cannot wait to use it this upcoming holiday season!

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

Now with these shoes I understood the power of an influencer. These shoes were posted on the LTK app. There were about 4 pairs left in my city and I thought I would just pop by one and pick up a pair. Wrong! By the time the evening came there was only ONE pair left and I had to call the Target which took them 2 hours to answer the phone, to find out if the pair was still there! I was able to put them on hold and pick them up but oh my goodness! My city was filling online orders because of the demand! It was incredible! So glad I got a pair but sadly they are sold out!

My fourth favorite is a table full of wonder. While I was putting away all of my Christmas decor, I decided to change my floral arrangements around my home as well. I put all of the arrangements on my dining room table and saw this. It was so wonderful! I left it like this for a few hours and just enjoyed it.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

Speaking of flowers doesn’t this pink bouquet look wonderful in this vintage vase? This was one of my antique finds during my shopping in January. It is stunning and looks wonderful on my dresser. It is from FrenChic in Franklin, Indiana.

My sixth favorite was my very first avocado toast! Yep that is right! My very first avocado toast. This had avocado, poached eggs, bacon, and was marvelous! This was what I ordered at a place called the Garden Table with my Guild friends.

My last favorite is a newly discovered YouTube channel…

This channel is called American Viscountess and it is spectacular if you love touring historical castles and properties! You could seriously binge watch her channel. It is quite enjoyable!

I hope you all enjoyed my favorites for this month. I will have some more organizational finds and decor ideas coming soon!

A Wardrobe Idea…

January 26, 2024/in Home Décor, Home Organization /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning,

Goodness gracious! It has been so cold here in Indy. We got down to negative temperatures! Burrrr! I sure do miss my morning walks, but it has been much to cold outside! I am still getting over a cold and trying to learn to listen to my body. So going for a walk in cold temperatures is not ideal.

My organizational projects are still going on in my home. I have so many ideas on how to transform my spaces, but my husband is not on board with some of them. I really want to paint my cabinets, but he does not. I am trying to come up with other ways to brighten up my kitchen so we will see.

I recently had an idea about my closet space. I shared this on my recent YouTube video which I will post below. So I am trying to use my space more properly and the last thing that I realized was I need an area to hang my daily outfit. I had a hook in my closet on the wall, but I was hanging my robes on it, and I realized that this was not working. So I moved my robes to the back of my closet door and decided to purchase a vintage door knock as a hanger for my daily outfit.

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

What I ended up finding was this gorgeous vintage key hook from an Etsy shop called BespokeOnBrookline. Now she only had one which is another reason why I purchased it right away!

It looks so classic on my wall! As soon as I opened the package, I squealed a little. I just loved the way it looked and it was the perfect size.

After hanging it in my closet I thought one of my pictures in my storage closet could look wonderful in the space as well. So I hung this photo with lots of names of flowers called “Summer” above the hook and I could not love it more. The gold frame and the gold key hook practically match one another.

I share a small video of the hook on my YouTube channel and I found a few on Etsy. You can view one here, here, here, and here. I hope you all have wonderful weekend! I am hoping to get some blog posts done, finish organizing and decorating my home. I actually just hung some of my vintage plates in my closet and family room. I will share those soon!

The Soul of Civility ~ Author Meet & Greet

January 16, 2024/2 Comments/in Elegant Living, Inspiring Posts /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was a tad bit longer. We got MLK day off so having that extra day was so helpful. I finished taking down all my Christmas decorations and was able to purge more items! I always feel good when I am able to drop off stuff at the Goodwill. Always a good feeling.

I am now in deep 2024 planning. I discussed a few things on my recently recorded YouTube video. I will link it below if I have it finished by the time, I share this blog post.

In my video I talked about my word of the year and how I was letting myself become frustrated with things and how I was beginning to pull back and allow myself to think and stay composed. That got me thinking about my recent meet and greet with author Alexandra Hudson and her book called the Soul of Civility.

In the first chapter, Alexandra mentions Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and begins to talk about the difference between civility and politeness. She said, “King wrote that racist laws gave the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Like segregation, incivility deforms the soul of both the abuser and the abused. Also, like segregation, incivility often originates from an inaccurately low view of personhood. Often, people lash out at others because of their own inaccurate view of self. This can manifest in their deriving their validation in abusing others; but harming others only makes them feel lesser. Appreciating the gift of being human and realizing that when we hurt others with our incivility, we hurt ourselves – is central to reclaiming basic decency in our world.”

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

Alexandra said, “Civility- the motivation behind our conduct that sees other persons as our moral equals and worthy of basic respect- is much deeper, richer, and of greater import than politeness, or external compliance with rules of etiquette. Politeness and manners are the form, the technique, of an act, but civility is more.”

I could tell that Alexandra was genuinely interested in each person that came up to her during our meet and greet. Before signing a copy of her book, she asked me what I loved in life and what I did. I told her and this is what she wrote in my book, “Thank you for your passion for beauty! It will heal our broken world”. Love Lexi…

Her words on civility truly had me thinking about how I think of others and treat them. Am I just being polite, or do I look at them with dignity and inherently valuable?

photo credit: K. Cuppy

Alexandra had a very elegant bearing about her when I met her, and you can tell that she does see others with dignity and value. I hope that you can order her book and let it inspire you as well as educate you.

this post is not sponsored.

My Small Tour of the Columbia Club

January 5, 2024/2 Comments/in Elegant Living /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning,

I am so ready for the weekend. I plan on cleaning up my entire walk-in closet. I ordered a lot of organizational supplies from Amazon. I will be sure to share what I order. I want to clean it out and turn it into my very own boutique. I am looking forward to it.

Lauren will be going back to college this weekend. I am a little sad. We will miss her! Earlier this week one of my Guild friends invited me and a few others over for a late lunch. It was marvelous! She made salmon, lamb chops, red potatoes, asparagus, couscous, polenta, salad and a homemade apple and pear pie. It was sooo good!

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

She set a beautiful table for us for lunch.

What a beautiful lunch! It was such a wonderful time and a great way to start the new year. Then another Guild friend a few weeks prior invited me to lunch and a tour of the Columbia Club.

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

The Columbia Club is a private social club. There is fine dining, fitness, wellness facilities, offices, conference rooms and hotel rooms. I have worked downtown for many years and was ALWAYS curious about this club.

When Sue took me to this room, I thought WOW! I could throw a party here if I was a member.

Loving the details.

There were so many different conference rooms and party rooms. Each one decorated differently. This particular room had all of the blue and white.

This space is used for weddings. Just think as a member you could be using this space.

photo credit: My dear friend

Sue took me to all of the office spaces which I could use if I became a member. There is also a hotel which you could stay. There is a spa, and lots of events for members. It was a great experience, and I was so grateful that I got to see it. After looking around we had lunch in the French Room. I order their delicious Harvest Apple Salad. It was so good! I am thinking about getting a membership and if I do, I will be sure to share more about this fantastic club!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

My Visit to the RH Indianapolis

January 2, 2024/2 Comments/in Home Décor, Travel /by mrs.sshockley

Good Morning Everyone,

“Taking a deep breath”…. let 2024 begin! I still don’t have my word for the year, but I think it will come to me very soon. I will not rush it. I know that I want to work on my schedule this year and try not to be so busy. That is at the top of my list. Organization is still at the top of my list as well. I have already started with a few small things.

I am hoping that more “elegant adventures” will be coming down the pipe this year. I visited a lot of beautiful places in 2023. I hope that the Lord will allow me to see more beautiful things. I do have an upcoming work trip to Viriginia in July. I am looking forward to that. I hope to slide in a historical home tour and maybe some antique shopping before I began my busy week there.

My husband and I recently got to visit the former estate of philanthropist Christel DeHaan. No one was sure what was going to happen to this beautiful Palladian inspired villa, but I am happy to report that RH has taken over and I could not be happier!

photo credit: RH.com

I still can’t believe that this estate is here! The rumor is Ms. DeHaan lived her with just her staff. If that is true, that is incredible! This property is about 42,00 square feet. It is so big!

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

This was me and my husband approaching the property from the somewhat long drive to it. This house was located pretty far from the busy street on Michigan. I hope you got to see my reel on Instagram about it.

Valet parking is available, but we decided to park the car ourselves and walk up to this beautiful villa.

Walking in we were greeted by a wonderful team of hostess. They provided all the information we need to guide ourselves through the 42k square feet and helped us with drinks and reservations!

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

I was trying to listen to the hostess as she was explaining everything but I could not take my eyes off of the entryway. I loved the antique inspired statutes and marble floor. I just kept thinking is this original to the home or no?

These gilded mirrors… oh my!

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

These hallways. For just a short moment I pretended that I lived here. I looked to my right and pretended that my English garden of roses was there and that I was on my way to my room for a cup of tea.

Of course, I could not resist talking a selfie in these gorgeous, gilded mirrors! I was very comfortable and felt put together. If you like my faux fur scarf you can shop a similar one here. My wrap you can find a similar one here, my shoes are from Ann Taylor (last season) and my tote is the On the Go by Louis Vuitton.

Each room was decorated with simplicity but lots of elegance.

My husband and I wanted to try a drink and decided to get the RH bellini with peach puree and prosecco. It was marvelous! So good!

Walking around the gallery….

Another elegant bedroom

After walking around we sat down for our dinner reservations. I got the rotisserie chicken salad with butter lettuce, lemon and, chives. The taste was really good but I wanted a few more veggies in my salad. I LOVED the sweet potato fries with the rosemary aioli. So good! My husband got the filet with truffle fries.

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

We had a really wonderful time and plan to return in the spring. We want to venture outside a little more and see the gardens in bloom in the spring. If you live in Indy I would encourage you to go and see the property! It is truly a dream. I know that some of my friends from the Guild want to go for a visit so I might be returning with them.

Have a wonderful day!

this post is not sponsored; affiliate links attached

Christmas Happenings…

December 22, 2023/in Elegant Living /by mrs.sshockley

It’s the end of the year already and here shortly I will be sharing the top posts for this year. But I just wanted to say thank you! Thank you to all of you who are STILL reading the blog. My 10-year anniversary for the blog will be coming up soon and honestly, I am surprised every year that I am still blogging.

My blog and/or website has truly been a blessing for me. I really needed something other than my job and this blog has given me new friends, and new opportunities! I do love it and hope that you still enjoy reading it and being inspired.

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

I really enjoyed the Christmas decor around my home. I look forward to going out in about a week and looking for decor that might be on sale. Especially at the antique stores.

We had our Guild luncheon and it was a lot of fun! I love seeing the Woodstock Country Club all decorated and festive. It is truly a beautiful place.

I had to sneak in a “bathroom selfie”. The wallpaper in this room….. I just love it! We had a speaker at our luncheon this year and I will be sure to share her in another blog post.

I was on the decorating team this year and it was a lot of fun being there early to help set up the dining room for our luncheon. This year we kept things simple and added poinsettias, velvet fabric, glitter ornaments, and vines. I will tell you this, I learned a lot working with these ladies about affordable decor options. Our favors this year were these cute compact mirrors that we ordered from Amazon.

photo credits: Mrs. Shockley

After the luncheon I decided to go on over to the Lily House and tour it again. Truth be told this is my dream home and I have it saved to my wish list gallery on my phone. I can’t get enough of the chinoiserie walls and beautiful fabrics.

This hall is always fun to walk down. The beautiful lanterns are the perfect pop of color in this area. And the floors don’t disappoint.

This is the dining room in the Lily home. If you missed my tour of the Lily house you may read it here. This past weekend Lauren and I went to see the Nutcracker as well. My husband and I went and toured the new RH Indianapolis gallery and a good friend of mine took me to tour the Columbia Club downtown. I will be sure to share these elegant adventures in the days to come. Until then have a Merry Christmas and don’t forget to shop the boutique. The BLKFRIDAY23 code is still available, and you get 20% off the entire boutique when you use it! Enjoy!