What a fabulous house in a dream location. You should be very proud of what you've accomplished.

Absolutely gorgeous, Allison, and so homey, too! The colors and style are so pretty and soothing. I enjoyed the tour, thank you for sharing. :)

(I could write a book here on everything I love, so I'll just say: all of it! So much character, you're amazingly talented! Please come to Tx, and help me with my house.) :D

I loved seeing your home. It's just wonderful and you should be so proud for all your smart decisions. Excellent.

Allison, your house has always been a dream home to me. It is so perfectly timeless in it's elegance. It has such charm and you have decorated it so uniquely. I bet your are so proud!

Thank you, all! I've never been to TX, unless airports count. Maybe it's time to take a vacation. Like I said, I'm ready for a new project. DD2 has been redoing her MBR and that's been fun, but is about over.

I thought all the GW old timers would have seen already! It's been awhile, but there was a thread with a ton of photos. Probably drifted off the pages years ago.

Allison, I think you may have my favorite house! It's been my inspiration for a while. And I've always coveted your Christmas reindeer :)

Thanks and LOL Stratfordroad! I am kind of attached to him myself!

Lovely home!

What a home. Loved looking through it.

I have long admired your magnificent home; iirc, it was
pictures of your kitchen that gave me the courage to select three discrete countertop
materials when we were refreshing our kitchen in early 2013.

I love your décor. Do
you have a favorite place to shop? When
you shop, do you find something and then look for a place to put it in your
home? Or do you shop for items with a
specific place in mind?

I have been looking for a piece with character to place on
this shelf since 2009. It is the first
thing you see when you walk in our front door.
I do not like the 27” resin (plastic looking) charger we have up there
now, but it has proven difficult to find anything in the right size. The shelf is only ~10” deep in the center.

Can you recommend any sources? Online, or I'm willing to travel!

Thank you so much, Allison, for taking the time to post links to your beautiful home! I started to look at them yesterday afternoon, but DH and I were in town running errands and I only had my cell phone's tiny screen then. I wanted to take my time to see each photo on my large laptop this afternoon. How I missed these when you originally posted them is beyond me, but I'm glad you've let us enjoy them here again. I not only love your home, but I very much admire your decorating talent and vision. Your ability to accessorize is amazing. Some of the best I've ever seen, and loving decorating probably as much as I do, I've seen a lot of accessorizing over the years.

Like you, I have a passion for lamps. I love the hunting dog that you had made into a lamp in particular.

Your use of old shutters is wonderful, as is your idea for the copper and wood screen cover for your tv. It works perfectly with the room.

Your guest rooms are all lovely and inviting. Each unique and charming in it's own way. The "Dog Room" is my favorite, I think, although then again . . . . (LOL).

I love that first photo of the drive up to your home. It looks like it should be a painting. The rail fence along the side makes it even lovelier.

I'm looking forward to seeing it all again tomorrow on DH's large desktop computer in the study, after he heads off to work. Thanks again for sharing your beautiful home with us.

Such an amazing home with lovely attention to detail!

Thanks, everyone. Wow, Lynn, you made my day! Your home is a favorite of mine, and I always enjoy seeing photos.

The dog room will definitely be going with us, if we move. I thought DD2 might want to use for DGS later, but for now she is eclectic with more modern touches. There is another bedroom not on the tour since it was an exercise room at the time. I took a few pictures when it became a bedroom, but it's hard to photograph. I may try again when the sun isn't out.

I'd love to see it whenever you can get a few pics. Actually, pic of anything else in your home would be great. I seriously love your home!

Gracefullyaged, I forgot to address you questions. DGS is out of school today, so we are busy playing (Gigi needed a break, go GW here I come!).

"Do
you have a favorite place to shop? When
you shop, do you find something and then look for a place to put it in your
home? Or do you shop for items with a
specific place in mind?"

I have favorite antique stores around town, and when traveling I always try to find something I love that will remind me of the trip. It can be small enough to fit in a suitcase or carry on. Or it can be shipped by the store or UPS/USPS. Most will ship, but some antique stores won't. Our oldest daughter went to college in San Francisco, then settled in the North Bay. I had favorite places to shop when I visited her for the decade she was there, and DS did the same but in downtown Chicago. etsy is a good source, and I try to look in the U.S. or Europe only (weed out China made items).

I have shopped both ways. Looking for something specific for a specific place. But finding something unexpected is more fun/exciting for me, but I am careful not to make rash purchases during an outing. Unless it is something I 100% know is going home with me, I make a mental note to look at it again before I leave the store. If I forget about it, that's a good sign I didn't need (or want) in the first place. And I don't always purchase items that gets a second look.

That's long winded, and I probably didn't answer your question well enough to satisfy you!

In regards to your column and resin plate question, have you tried having nothing on the column since it's an architectural piece? I like the color though, so that would then be missing. Do you have other plates/platters to do a collection of three (no column)? Maybe you can start a thread and get more suggestions for other GW members.

Lynn, since you love lamps, here is one I had made for the guest room mentioned earlier. Found painted cross at locally owned antique store that also sells new things (why!? oh why?!) Had my lamp shop lady put on a wood base.

She is so OCD that she painted the metal arm to match. I love her!

With light on:

Guest room. Bed came from my parent's lakehouse when it sold. Green coverlet and shams were hers. The Peacock Alley the cat is sitting on I already owned.

Bench and brown wood table also came from lakehouse. The two stenciled sisal rugs were used in kitchen and breakfast room, last house. I had them rolled up in storage room (just couldn't part with them!) the last 9 years. Large window looks out to the lake and ridge.

These two painting were done by my mother. French chair also came out of storage. Lower veranda out french doors, bathroom to the right.

Lower level has an L-shaped hallway. The first hallway has a niche with bookcases. Each hallway has two of these light fixtures by Hubbardton Forge. A favorite, but a pain to change the bulbs (luckily, that doesn't happen often and will go to LED next).

Second part of hallway. The guest room I posted is to the right (can't see door). The closed door goes to what was the Shabby Chic bedroom but is now DD1s private space. DH had so many books, and I refused to remove more family things and vintage finds, we added these a few years later.

Back (and only) stairway going to lower level. Etchings and lithographs... I'm running out of room. :(

One thing I did was buy resin candle covers with drips to replace the plain sleeves that came on the light fixtures. This one is at the bottom of the stairs, but have the same Hubbardton Forge fixture x 2 in our MBR closet. My lamp shop lady is so nice - she cut them all to my measurements for free. As in 40+ of them. I did all of the light fixtures in the house this way. Not expensive but takes all of the HB fixtures up another notch. (*Note to self - have housekeepers clean light fixtures/bulbs soon.)

Looking back towards lower level den (only TV in the house out in plain view).

Above bench in this hallway. Ran across a box of old photographs in a local antique shop. Narrowed favorites down to these and had framed. They are all so interesting - subjects and textures - in person.

Beautiful, Allison, just really beautiful! Thank you!

You've managed to combine two of my passions, lamps and crosses with your wonderful lamp. What a great idea. Your is an unusual Coptic cross. One of the hand-held ones, but the starburst-type of symbol is one I haven't seen before. Nor have I seen one painted. But, I like how your lamp shop lady turned it into a lamp. She did a lovely job, as the rod and the base are perfect for it.

I collect crosses and my husband bought me beautiful antique Ethiopian Coptic processional cross a few years ago for Christmas. It's lovely and very special to me, but because of it's bell-shaped bottom, which is where a wood staff would fit in, I had no idea where or how to display it. It's 18" tall.

I ended up hanging it on the small side wall of my built-in dining room hutch. Across from this small brass rubbing from England.

An odd combination (LOL), but I was thinking it a temporary solution until I could come up with a better way to display it. After seeing your beautiful cross made into a lamp, I may go that route myself . . . if my own lamp shop lady is up to it. She did turn my plaster santo from the Forties, St. Roch, into a lamp for me a number of years ago. BTW, the shade is black, with a gold lining, not all gold!

I've moved back to the study, to look at your pretties on our large screen. Love the guest room with the barley twist bed. And your wonderful bench. What a peaceful, welcoming room for your guests, especially with that lake view. Are there alligators in it, BTW?

I don't recall ever seeing stenciled sisal rugs with that much great detail. Beautiful! Are they common in Alabama or the South?

Love, love, love the hall bookcases! What a great idea and you've done a wonderful job with your accessories on them. You've made them so interesting to look at.

I need to add that the rustic wood bench and framed architectural photographs on the wall are the perfect foil those hallway bookcases.

I'm curious as to what inspired you to collect etchings. I think you mentioned earlier that most have water of some kind in them. Oh, and you've also inspired me to finally replace my candle sleeves with the resin drip kind. I've been meaning to do that for years, but only think of it at odd times when I'm too busy to write myself a reminder (LOL). They look so much nicer than the usual ones. I may see if I can (quickly before I forget once again) order them on Amazon.

Thank you for more photos of your beautiful home. I've thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Just back to say that, yes, Amazon does have some very nice ones and I've just ordered 6 of them for our dining room chandelier.

I noticed earlier my DR chandelier was skipped. Need to get on that! lol Does the Amazon covers you order come in the right height, or need cutting? She used a tiny hand held saw. Like a band saw, with tiny blade.

Oh, Lynn... that santos lamp needs to come to my house! LOVE it! My lamp shop gal posted a pic on their FB page of a one she made with a silver/pewter finish vintage piece she picked up. I immediately sent her a PM saying I wanted to buy. She made it for herself. :( But the good news is she hasn't taken it home yet. Still in the back of the store over a year later. Every. Single. Time. I go there I remind her he needs to come live with me. He isn't attached, but resting in a wire sling she attached to the post.

The sisal rugs were ordered from Ballard Designs (on sale) about 15 years ago. I've never seen any others like them in person or online since. It has dark green, gold and the burgundy - not sure the colors show up well in those photos.

btw, the painted base part (same as the cross) is part of the cross. So it was standing when I spotted it. Your cross on the wall and brass rubbing are beautiful.

No alligators in central AL, except at the zoo. But we have coyotes, fox, deer, rattlesnakes, copperheads, Bald eagles, water moccasins, snapping turtles, box turtles. Neat frogs and toads. Hawks - on Sunday I watched a ginormous one fly through the backyard, caught a squirrel for him and his mate. I'm watching my 7lb dog more closely now!

All this antique store talk made me ache! I went to my favorite store today to stroll and found two etchings. Well, I found more than that, but only two came home. You are correct. Most of mine have bridges and/or water. Or are architecturally pleasing to me. I started buying 16 years ago after my first trip to Europe. Spending three weeks in Italy, Switzerland, France and England made a lasting impression on my decorating.

Thanks again for the comments and compliments.

Oh my gosh, that lamp is fantastic! The sculpture itself is lovely and it's detail, amazing. On this large screen in our study, I can see that the reins look to be brown leather. The shade's shape and color are perfect for it. I don't blame you at all for wanting it. I do, too! My almost 22-y/o daughter just shakes her head whenever I start talking about a beautiful lamp that I've seen (and am lusting after). I keep trying to get her to take some of my less-special ones so that I have room for a few more here. But, right now, she's sharing a large 4-bedroom furnished home with three of her sorority sisters. Once she has her own place at grad school, I'm hoping I can get her to take at least a few of mine (LOL). After seeing these two lamps that you've shown me here, I'm starting to "shop the house" for another piece of my art that I can have turned into a lamp.

I saw the article and tour of your home quite some time ago, Allison. It is one of my favorite homes ever, truly beautiful and so comfortable and inviting. Perfection!

Thank you, Cattyles. So sweet of you! Jane recently moved AM to another server so the pictures could be larger. She asked me to update my photos, so almost all of them were recently retaken. DD1 now uses the Shabby Chic room, so most of that is stored. DD2 took the sofa for her MBR sitting area. I'll probably get DD1 to sell the RASC and other bedding on ebay. I really don't need and it's silly to store when someone else could enjoy.

Lynn, she made the reins from leather jewelry cording. Perfect touch, wouldn't be the same w/o it. I just took a vase DD2 bought 9 years ago, but has been stored the last 6. Always a chance drilling hole could break, but it wasn't an expensive vase and will make a cute lamp for her MBR sitting area. I also have several lamps in closets... I really should start selling things I don't use/haven't used/don't plan to use. We actually lease to an antique store and the owner has told me to bring whatever I want to put in his space. I need to make a list/take pictures to send him, making sure I'm not overstepping his offer and that there is room. But then I go back/forth on if/when we do move, what bedroom(s) do I want to not have in the next house. Don't want to get rid of something only to regret it later. I kept thinking DD1, DD2 or DS will want something. So far, not.

It really is an exquisitely beautiful lamp, Allison. I hope someday she'll sell it to you.

I feel the same you do about wanting to save some of my wonderful pieces for our son and daughter. With DS living and working in Augusta, GA, and DD 's shared house at college already wonderfully furnished by the girls (and we moms), I despair that I'll every get them to take much of it. And, like you, I hate to just get rid of some things, as I'm not sure what I'll need or want someday whenever we downsize. Not all of it, but which?

Try and post a pic of the lamp you're having made now to show us.

Here is a picture of the vase w/the round base I sent to DD2 that day.

I voted for the square base, but the lamp shop lady and DD2 voted for the round one. I like that the square base was not as thick, and broke up the round/round of lamp/shade... but I was out voted. lol That's the shade we picked out behind it. The vase is about 18" tall.

LynnNM, sorry it's taken awhile to take picture of the vase turned lamp. Turned out nice and DD2 loves.

I moved plants to table to take picture since I removed frames w/DGS pics in them. The plants usually are on small table in front of window. She doesn't have a green thumb but has somehow kept them alive.

Allison - Looking at your bookcase you've got two of my favorite authors: Lee Child and Michael Connelly. I even had a cat named Harry Bosch!

DH is a big fan of both, and others, as you can see! We are anxiously awaiting the next Jack Reacher movie.

Ha! What did you think about the casting of Tom Cruise as Reacher? He is nowhere near the description in the books. Not even 6'.

DH said the same thing when it was announced! We thought he did a great job, and enjoy him as an actor.