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allison704

Update On Our Remodel

Allison0704
4 years ago

Seems I left a few people hanging, so my apologies when I left for awhile. DLM2000-GW and Zalco nicely persuaded me to return and share photos. Our last house has not sold, and almost all of my artwork/wall decor is still there (trying to avoid painting the entire house!), so I really haven't taken many photos recently of finished rooms. Plus, I'm not really in a hurry to "finish." Where's the fun in that?!


(I see we still can't start a new thread with photos, or it disappears....)

Comments (264)

  • amykath
    3 years ago

    Allison, everything you do is exquisite! I love it!

  • bbstx
    3 years ago

    I second Peppa’s last paragraph!

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Thank you! Such a nice way to start a day!

    Peppapoodle, love that collection. I room wrapped in the wallcovering and fabric would be heaven. A small touch of it will make a room special.

  • User
    3 years ago

    Allison I missed your post with all that was going on in my life. I heartily agree with holding close the ancestral beauty passed down to us . Thus using the glass I just now unpacked after two years to make planters for succulents. Now I can enjoy all day!


    Your home is exquisite. c

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Thank you, Caroline.

  • martinca_gw sunset zone 24
    3 years ago

    “Having bits of my family brings me so much joy - seeing, holding, using. I was close to all four of my grandparents. I like being around things with history. I suppose that's why I love antiques and vintage things versus new or mass produced.“

    Yes yes ditto ditto!!! Me too, me too! It’s why I, and many others here, have loved following your home(s) journey. Just beautiful. And you do know how to gitter-done, and I do enavy that! !

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Well, no time likes the present to post finished photos of DD1's bedroom and ladies lounge -- photos taken before she moved out last week! ( I would say, without a doubt, DD1 has the nicest apartment in her complex.) I only wish the photographer had been here before she moved. If the rug had been an inch longer, it would not have fit in her new nest. The panels are in the living room of her new place. Chandelier, Circa. Bed fabric, Bennison. Wallpaper panels, Miles Redd for Schumacher. Lamps, Kelly Wearstler for Visual Comfort. Dressers (I'll have to ask.)



    The painting was a custom piece, and is now over the sofa in her apartment living room. During our remodel, we put new marble on the FP surround and hearth. This pair of chairs and round table are now in the tiny dining room. Swivel chairs and ottoman, Lee Industries.



    The TV and chandelier are all that is left in this room now. :( Drapery fabric, Bennison. Wood pieces are vintage Baker.



    DD1 started collecting antique Rose Medallion pieces.



    Her ladies lounge was never finished. This is the room that had the curved slate wall, hearth (more like a stage) and two accordion doors (previous office). She is having 5ft trimmed from the carpet so it fits in her new living room. I might have that piece cut down to use in the elevator at the beach. Stark Antelope Carpet. Drapery fabric, Mary McDonald for Schumacher 1889. Sofa and swivel chairs, Lee Industries. Coffee table, Ballard Design. Glass top table, vintage.



  • Jilly
    3 years ago

    Well, this is a treat! Sipping coffee while looking at your beautiful rooms. :)

    Your daughter clearly inherited your eye and exquisite taste. I hope she gives permission someday to let you share her apartment!

    What am I seeing in the fireplace, big ball shaped things?

  • teeda
    3 years ago

    Swoon. Everything is just gorgeous. She obviously inherited your talent!

  • User
    3 years ago

    Everything is beautiful— LOVE the drapery fabric. Rose medallion is w lovely pattern that perfectly suits her design sensibility. Her apartment must definitely be the most luxurious!

  • amykath
    3 years ago

    I can not believe that is an apartment!!! I live in one and it certainly doesn't have the interest that hers does.

    The decor is stunning. It looks like a very expensive house. I wish I could get my apartment to look like that!

    Where does she live? Is it in an apartment complex or an older home? It is so charming.

    Like mother like daughter. Exquisite taste and such a good eye for design!

  • Feathers11
    3 years ago

    So beautiful! I, too, cannot believe that's an apartment. Everything is lovely.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    @amykath and @Feathers11 - sorry for the confusion. I took the photos before she moved, so in my comments I posted how she was using the same items in the apartment. I edited to hopefully avoid any future confusion.


    Thank you, all! She has champagne taste!

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    3 years ago

    The colors are scrumptious and the details are lovely. On the table, is that a study for the painting?


    Love the idea of those chairs w the round table in a small DR; how romantic?

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Mtnrd, it is one of four the artist sent DD1 when they were working on colors. She gifted all of them to DD1, who had them framed by the artist's framer in NOLA. All the smalls are in ornate frames.


    Yes, I think her dining room is romantic. She wants to shove my Chinoiserie china cabinet in the room, but I think it will be too crowded. DD1 keeps saying she is going maximalism. LOL You walk through the dining room, along a wall, to enter the kitchen. She has a very large painting that belonged to my mother that has kittens playing on a chair on that wall. Both of our girls refused to let me sell that painting. It's been in the attic storage room the last three years.


    @Jilly I forgot to answer your gas fire ball question. They are by Rasmussen.

  • amykath
    3 years ago

    It is funny, I knew the rooms looked like the were in your house. For one the windows were a giveaway but I completely misread your post!

  • MaryBocaTX
    3 years ago

    Hi @Allison0704 - you have an exquisite home! Would you mind sharing the source of the chandelier in the breakfast room? Any details you can provide would be much appreciated.


    i apologize if you already mentioned the info. I think I read through the entire thread (and the previous one), but I must admit I was so busy drooling over your stunning pictures that I might have missed it.

    Thank you for bringing us along on your wonderful journey as you turned a lovely home into an absolute masterpiece!

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Thank you, Mary. The copper fixture is by Low Country Originals. They were great to work with, and contacted me for the exact height of fixture for our ceiling. The finish is their Darkened Copper. (For some reason it does not show up in their chandelier section, so I linked directly to it, above.)

  • MaryBocaTX
    3 years ago

    Thank you so much!

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    Adding two kitchen photos here since someone on another thread requested photos.





  • Cran
    last year

    Perfection!

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    Thank you, @Cran. Sad to say the next owners didn't feel the same. Modern hardware, floating shelves on range wall and painted cabinets. Modern lovers. :-/

  • Cran
    last year

    Heartbreaking

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    You should see the rest of the house. My parents are probably haunting them. :D They built the house and were there 30+ years, then we bought and did the large remodel only for things to be taken down and sold or taken to the dump. Luckily, I did not listen to DH who thought I didn't need to remove all of our antique light fixtures and bring with us. In hindsight, we should have just skipped the remodel and moved to the beach sooner. LOL

  • nicole___
    last year

    Beautiful!

  • amykath
    last year

    Allison, you have such a gift and talent. I love all of your houses!

    It sickens me that the new owners did that.

  • Arapaho-Rd
    last year

    Allison, seeing your lovely home never gets old. Every time I look at photos, I appreciate your skill and talent even more. Such a heartbreak to think it was not appreciated.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Thank you. It is disheartening, and it's been like a trainwreck. I cannot look away. The stranger the new owner's remodel got, the more comical it became. One day I mightl share a few photos with you all. Their decorator (not an ID) had professional photos taken recently, but has not posted. Pretty sure she is trying to get it published, at least locally. If anyone wants to message me, I would be happy to share her IG account. She usually just posts in her stories, but has one (whatever its called) pinned at the top of page with construction photos.

  • Zalco/bring back Sophie!
    last year

    No way will I be DMing you for that IG. No, no, no. What is wrong with people?

  • Cran
    last year

    Ouch! i misunderstood and thought it was the before. Fortunately I couldn’t open every page for some reason. I think the kitchen is scary how would you cook or relax to eat in there? What a shame i can tell it was a beautiful home …someone should be arrested !

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    @Cran you couldn't get her IG things to open to see what the new owners have done? A bit confused by your post.

  • palimpsest
    last year

    It wasn't even so much that the decorator and the new owners changed things and tore out/disposed of practically brand new things. That is almost to be expected at certain price points. That's the sort of society we live in.

    It's that they were so dismissive and critical of some of the existing finishes, as if they had bought a house last touched 30 years ago, and they replaced things just to replace them and they replaced some quality stuff with cheap stuff. The decorator basically made fun of stuff, and then replaced it with some really cheap ugly stuff.

  • Jilly
    last year

    So … tacky in taste and behavior. It’s gross.

    I want to see, but don’t. It sounds awful. The house was perfect.

    Ditto the lake house. I loved that house. I’m still reeling at hearing they painted the kitchen cabinets.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Yes, what Pal said.

    (edited/deleted a bit)

    The week before we moved out, I allowed the wife, decorator, contractor, cabinet lady and window lady to come over for two hours. I came home to find the to-be-owner's copy of a 7 typed page To Do List. Her name was penciled on the top. Everyone got a color coded copy with what they were there to see and discuss. That was bascially a shock because I asked what they would be doing when we met them and she basically lied to me saying "not much." But whatever, once it was their house.... The two hours turned into more, and the next day I noticed someone had knocked over my grandmother's pie crust table, breaking the rim, some of the veneer top in that area and one foot/leg. YET NO ONE TOLD ME! Someone was taking photos of all the curtains to resell per the pages, so whoever was doing that knew what they did.

    Back to her 7 pages - in regards to the Jack & Jill bathroom and the handpainted Pierre Frey wallcoving, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea, she had typed "put the wallpaper out of its misery." So that told me everything I needed to know about her. If DH had not been alive, I would not have gone through with the sell and gladly taken less. That and everything Pal said in his last sentence, LOL He has watched the progress, so he is well aware.

    Thanks for letting me rant. I'll probably delete this post tomorrow. Or not. :D

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    @Jilly Did I tell you they painted the exterior of the lakehouse white? Not the stone, just the mortar washed brick and retaining walls. SMH

  • Jilly
    last year

    NO! They painted it?! Omg. That makes me sick. A beautiful house ruined. :(

    And the behavior of the buyers and decorator of your last house is appalling. The hostility, arrogance, childishness, and derision is so disgusting. And breaking your treasured pie crust table!

    I know how much your homes mean to you, the love put into them … I’m so sorry they went to people with no appreciation of them.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Thanks, Jinx, but as DH says the check cleared. LOL You know how i feel about the whole grey, white, black color schemes. At least let the architecture of the house guide the remodel. As a dear friend told me, "the house" was ours (after we built and after we remodeled) and will always be "just ours." So I have to think of it that way - no one else got to enjoy living in that house, both houses the way we did.Just us. But secretly I hope my parents are haunting the buyers of that house. LOL

  • enduring
    last year

    I am so sorry to hear of these events. I don't visit Garden Web/Houzz that often any more. I did not know you moved and sold this lovely home your parents once owned. I hope your new place is providing comfort and opportunity for your creative expression.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    @enduring Thank you. I know it doesn't read like it, but I honestly don't dwell on it. Not to say I can't get worked up if I talk about it long enough. LOL . Like I said, it's their house now. Our family enjoyed it for almost four decades. It was "Gma's house" to our children, so it espeically bothers the girls. I'm glad someone that wanted the draperies and 4yo light fixtures wanted them and will enjoy them.

  • enduring
    last year

    Did you share the story of your new digs? Is there a thread on that topic?

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    @enduring I've shared very little, but there are two threads.


    Screened Porch


    Foyer and Laundry


    Thought I had done the bunk room, but guess not.


    This thread I talked about the decision. It will be 2yrs in early January when we went contract on our new/current home.



  • DLM2000-GW
    last year

    In hindsight, we should have just skipped the remodel and moved to the beach sooner. LOL mmmm, maybe - but then we would have missed out on the process and results of your work and that would have been a shame. Of course it's now theirs to do with as they see fit but that doesn't mean we won't call them out for their classless idiocy! TBH there were times during your process that you mentioned specific items by name or designer and I had to look them up for lack of familiarity (papers and lighting mostly as I remember) but I learned and more importantly appreciated your choices as a result. From what you have said of the changes, I don't want to see it - it would hurt my heart and I don't even have the decades and family ties to the house but there's a tiny bit of that connection for those of us who watched her get dolled up for a new generation.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    Thank you, @DLM2000-GW. That is very kind of you. We did enjoy the process, so the time wasn't wasted. I enjoyed sharing with you all here since most of you are as obsessed with decorating as I am... or was. While I still want our home to reflect us and be comfortable for us and our guests, there are times when I think I am not into it as much. Or at least it is different now/here. Probably because we have not made any changes to the house itself. Just the furnishings. Although the exterior is getting painted this Spring.

  • enduring
    last year

    Thank you Allison, for the links. I enjoyed reading the posts. Enjoy the winter and see what spring brings with the new paint. I would love to hear about paint choices.


    Since I have retired this past year, my interests have changed. I have picked up weaving! It has been a fun exploration for sure. I love textiles so its a good fit. I love mechanical things so a loom and its workings has been a real new adventure.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    You're welcome. How exciting to start weaving. I've always been fascinated with weaving on a loom and weaving baskets too. The sound of a loom! How big is yours and what are you making? Did you find it easy to start learning?

  • enduring
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Totally hijacking here

    I have a 40" 8 shaft Toika Eeva countermarche floor loom from Finland. A 27" Louet, Jane, 8 shaft table loom on a stand, from Holland. I just resently brought home 60" counter balance LeClerc, Canadian, floor loom, Mira, with 4 shafts. I have woven lots of family gifts. I wove a wool and mohair blanket double width weaving for my DS2 and DIL2. It came out 100"x70" and fits on a queen bed. I also wove a smaller wool blanket that DD1 uses as work to keep warm in her cold office. I don't have a picture of my DD1 blanket, but i submitted it to the Iowa State Fair and got 2nd place in the blanket division. The blanket below wasn't done in time to submit. But it was done for the wedding.

    Wedding Blanket, fuzzy mohair:


    ETA this closeup of the tassels:


    Wedding Shawl out of silk and merino wool:


    Closeup of the random tassles in silk and wool. In this pic the tassles still need trimming at the ends. This picture makes me want to just scrunch it up to my face, lol


  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year
    last modified: last year

    They are all beautiful! You really went in big time - already three looms! Thanks for sharing.


    ETA: You should start a thread on the Home Decorating & Design Conversation side about your looms and weaving. There are a lot of talented people here, and we always enjoy seeing what everyone is making.

  • enduring
    last year

    Thanks for the tip Allison. I'll give it some thought this morning as I get my coffee.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    last year

    "put the wallpaper out of its misery."


    What an idiot. Does she even have any training? Even if something is not to your taste, any trained person would immediately recognize what they are looking at. In any event, even if something is tacky, respect is in order. That's one thing I always hated about HGTV, is how they would make fun of people's choices sometimes.


    I love the juxtaposition of your antiques against all the white in your new home. the backdrop gives them an almost museum like quality. Wonderful.

  • Allison0704
    Original Author
    last year

    The buyer is the one that said that, Mtn, but the ID said several rude things during her IG story postings. I won't say what the buyer does for a living, but consdering her PhD field, she knows better.


    Thank you.