Fall

Olivia has just joined Pickwick House as an intern for the next two semesters.  She wants to be a wedding planner.  Here we are on site at one of our exterior living room projects just before heading back to the shop to brainstorm a really special upcoming wedding.  {Wearing many hats is part of the job.}  She doesn't seem to mind.  Love having Olivia!

Last Friday afternoon I decided we should take time to 'get inspired', so I took Olivia and my three youngest kiddos to an MSU recital to take in a Rachmaninoff cello sonata and Brahms G minor Piano quartet.  Funny thing was that there was an enforced intermission to go to the basement when tornado sirens went off.   That was an experience!  {I'd like to thank my cousin Ned for letting me know about his viola performance with that quartet.}

Fireplace is Complete!  Just in time for Fall!

Dirt floors are not ideal, but we're really happy to see it progress to this point.  Last week, this area was still a deep, dark pit.  All wiring was recently laid underground and a telephone pole removed that was really messing up the symmetry of the space.

In choosing the outdoor foot print material, things can go really wrong.  We've been seeing a surge in properties using stamped concrete.  The stamped concrete is a cool thing, but I've noticed that a lot of people try to get too creative with finishes and molds that end up looking super-like, well...ugly.

Getting back to this area...I really LOVE the idea, look, and feel of pea gravel for this place, but the practicality of maintaining pea gravel will be a pain for an area this large.  Pea gravel washes away, and if it's not maintained regularly, you'll have bare spots.  So, I selected an aggregate {which is a pea gravel floating in concrete}.  It should give the appearance of a pea gravel.  And just to the right and left of the pad is where Will is going to add some structured soft scaping.  It should frame off the space nicely for our clients.

 

Backside of the new furniture that arrived from Restoration Hardware.  {Leagrave Collection}.   Can't wait to snap pics of a roaring fire here soon.  My clients told me they had a toast by their first fire here two nights ago {at midnight after his late shift}. So cute.

Stay tuned for more progress here.  Happy Friday ya'll!!

xx
sharon

Welcome

Welcome back to the blog. In case you hadn't noticed, I took a long break from the blog over the summer.  I'm back in full swing now and am committed to sharing more of the projects we've been busy working on over the summer.  So, welcome.  And Thank YOU for your support and for visiting!

The front of the house was painted this week!  What do you think?  It's a Benjamin Moore paint called Dragon Breath.  {Funny name, I know...hehe} I've used this color before and love it.  It looks sort of black here in the photo, but it's definitely more of a brown.   Will did such a nice job cutting in on the molding, don't you think?

Okay, here's my question for you.  What color do we paint the front door?  We initially were thinking red, but now I'm not so sure.  The tile color might conflict.  Thoughts/suggestions welcome.

xx
sharon

Art Collecting

I'm always inspired by the vintage art I find while flea marketing and in travels.  This is Jay Jeffers design studio/shop Cavalier in San Francisco.

Yesterday I found this boat picture here on a local flea market jaunt. It was a steal for less than $150.  I've started my own collection.  You should start yours today.  Need art guidance or a helping hand with arranging your walls?  Give Pickwick House a ring:)

Have a nice day!

xx
sharon

Burn Brightly

May candles burn brightly in these delicate, colorful, and fragile glasses. For the victims and heroes.  Today and everyday.

Random Work and Play

Fortunately we took a few road trips over the last week.  I took the babies and Eleanor to the beautiful hills of Mineral Springs just outside of Cassville, MO.  This is the old Mineral Springs school house {circa late 1800s}. My grandpa went to school there as a young boy and he bought it went it up for auction in the 70's.  A place to escape the city life {and sometimes chaotic life of 10 children}.  It's been also been a great family gathering place ever since.  My uncle David hosts the family reunions every Memorial and Labor Day.  Favorite part is listening to my uncles play and sing blue grass tunes on their banjos and mandolins.

We always take a trek down the gravel country road to the largest un-commercialized cave in the Midwest.   Rock House Cave.  The property owner always mows a nice path for our clan to come visit so we can cool off and let the kids spelunk.   This land and these parts of the Ozark Mountains are virtually abandoned, but I love, love that they are still somewhat pure in a lot of ways.

Here's the mountain of kids.  Don't worry, we didn't let the babies ride loose in there.  Just the big kids.  That was a treat for us to ride with cousins growing up.  This is a little less than half of the Arnold grand kiddos.

Back at home, Will slaved away while we road tripped.  This is just a glimpse of the nastiness he's shoveled out of the house.  The kitchen had old asbestos linoleum adhered to the hard woods.  The muck you see in the bucket was the under side of the linoleum.  The underside of that linoleum floor took a lot of soaking, scraping, shoveling, and scrubbing down with bleach, then pine sol, then wet vacuuming.   They are in really good shape underneath all of that:) The floors in the rest of the house are a somewhat different story.  Dog pee stains everywhere. Refinishing is on the long list of things that cost $$.  Will is going to try to tackle it himself.  

Ever get so excited about something new, that you don't know where to begin?  Well, we can hardly wait to transform the whole inside and outside of the house.  Will decided to slap some paint on the outside, even though we should probably tackle the inside first.  You can see the new house color in the far left corner.  It's almost a chocolate brown.  I think it will set the white trim off nicely.  We're thinking no shutters, What do you think?

Will chose the aged looking urns and pedestals and I chose the new light fixtures.  What do you think?  The over grown ewes will be going, and gone soon.

Bubs is sitting so calmly in his lawn chair.  I think he's in complete shock that we decided to paint the whole entire family room black.  Even the ceiling.

I really want these antique Louis xv dining chairs for the house, but will try to sell a client on these instead.  How perfect would a pair of tall antique wing-backs look as the head chairs to accompany eight of these beauties?

Happy Monday ya'll!

xx

sharon

Pickwick House Feature

Pickwick House is ecstatic to be featured in the fall 417 Home Mag.  You can pick up your copy at Barnes and Noble and you can also read the article here.  The chairs, cypress coffee table, and large crystal have already sold, but you can be sure we're bringing out more cool things for customers and clients continually.  Happy Friday and Happy Labor Day weekend!

xx
sharon

Hop and a Skip!

Hi all!  With the change of seasons, we also have a new change of address on the home front.  Gulp.  AND.  Gulp.

I haven't quite come to terms with it because for those of you who know me, I've always lived here on Pickwick and in Rountree.  It's home.  Where I grew up.  And it's where I have raised all my kiddos to this point.  Mom and dad even blessed me with this house {910} before they both passed; which is right next door to where they raised nine of us kids, which is now currently my brother's family.

But the one bath and 2 closets is what it all boils down to.  It had me and all of us feeling a bit anxious.  The house is sweet, and homey but not so convenient for a family with four bouncing kids and teen boys. So, we're now moving from one family compound to another...Arnold's to the Lampe's.   A 'hop' of the pond, if you will.  Well, more like 'hopping over the Phelps Grove Park water run off'.  {Less than 2 minutes away.}

To this.... 'a little diamond in the rough'.  We got SO very lucky {thanks to Will's good charm}.  I am happy that we will now have three baths, SEVEN closets, a mudroom, a 2 car garage {with a driveway!!!!}, a 'play area' loft above the garage, a high ceilinged basement, a master suite balcony, mostly all original everything {hardware, door knobs, 5 paneled doors, a special mail slot, milk man's entrance, a sweet little telephone cubby in the wall} a stair case {which we've never had} a second lot as a yard, and lots and lots of elbow grease to boot!

I hope to journal the progress here, but meanwhile, you might want to check my regular snippet posts on instagram.  Will has been a working machine. I've never seen him more motivated to a create a display of sorts for 'what we do' as well as a life long home for our family.  I have to snap him out of 'the zone' on occasion because he'd be scrubbing in his sleep if he could.  Meanwhile I watch the babies, order paint, and pizzas and try to help where I can after my work day is done.  I should mention that Mimi Lampe's home will be right behind ours and our properties will be one big playground.  Another bonus.

Before we touched the house, it should have been on the Hoarders show for certain, but I do have to hand it to the previous owners, because underneath the mounds and mounds of stuff/trash and dirt, the historic integrity of the house was left in tact {for which we are pretty, pretty thankful for indeed}.

At the rate Will is going, we'll be in by Christmas:)

Hope this finds you all well.  We hope to have a house warming party once the dust settles.  In the meantime, feel free to stop by if you see us on University, or give us a ring if you need any thing for your own home or party or business or landscaping needs.  {Haha!  In order to spend money on this new house, we'll need to earn some money too!!}

xx
sharon