House Guests

My husband and I love to entertain and we LOVE to host house guests. Nothing is more fun than a weekend showing our out-of-town guests all the wonderful and local gems of New Orleans. It gives us an excuse to get out and do all the fun things the city has to offer that we might not normally do on a random weekend.

So, when I realized we were going to get this house, I was ecstatic that, not only were we going to have a guest bedroom for our friends, but a guest bath as well! This post focuses on the guest bedroom, which is very simple, and next week's post will cover the guest bath which was quite the face-lift.

We didn't need to do much to this room either - as has been the pattern with most of the rooms at the front of the house. We had some paint touch-ups (same grey-blue as the living room) and we put in a different ceiling fan (an old transplant from the living room actually).

Before:

After:

We need to get add wall decor, but so far the calm, serene room as seemed to suit guests just fine. We look forward to having more out-of-towners as we get closer to fall!

The First Impression

I've always been a person that is big on first impressions - I think that they are a make-it or break-it scenario and that is how I feel about Foyers/Living Rooms in homes - they really set the tone for the rest of the house.

Our front door & entry way when we walked in the first time as homeowners

Today I continue our renovation results - following the Master Bedroom we come to the Living Room/Foyer (as I mentioned previously, I am working my way from the back of the house to the front and back again).

The front room is super cool and really sets the tone for the house - it has a free-standing fire place as the walls on either side were removed when it was converted to a single from a double (prior to our ownership). We also decided to hang our flat-screen on the fireplace, and since this is not a working fire place, we ran the wires for the TV through the brick and clay and down the chimney to the DVR & DVD that rest on shelves that were made to fit beneath the fire place.

We didn't need to do too much to this room as far as the renovation went - just aesthetic changes. We touched up the paint (kept the grey-blue color), refinished the original wood floors, installed a new ceiling fan and added our AV touches to the fireplace.

Before:

Now:

First thing you see when you open the front door (we still need a piece for above the bar).
View from the other side of the Living Room & our master AV work.The Living Room
And yes, we will get matching curtains one day. PS- the charcoal grey ones are the permanent ones.

The Sanctuary

A bedroom should be ones' sanctuary. A place that is quiet and clam where you can relax, away from the hustle and bustle of life. So that is what we tried to achieve with our sanctuary (as you can see there isn't a TV or computer allowed in this room).

The last two renovation results posts were the dressing room and master bath, so that leads us to the master bedroom (I am working from the back of the house to the front & back down the other side with my posts - just FYI). We didn't need to do much in this room besides, patch/smooth some Sheetrock, paint and get a new ceiling fan (we went with a remote-controlled model since our ceilings are so high and how nice is it to be able to lay in bed and turn off the lights?).

Here is the before:
Here is during:
And here is the now:

The furniture, light fixtures and décor are all left over from our loft in Birmingham. I hope to change the linens soon though to get rid of that brown duvet. It worked in the loft with cream carpet, but not now with the wood floors and mantel, there is way too many shades of brown.

FUNemployment

Well here we are in July and I’m still living in the world that is FUNemployment.
What have I been up to you ask?

Arcade Fire & all of its 13 +/- members onstage.

Well Jazz Fest started right after I was laid off, so that was a nice distraction and we got to have some fabulous house guests to spend time with. So we ate a lot of amazing food and saw/heard some great musicians such as Jeff Beck, Anders Osborne, Dr. John, Soul Rebels, Bonerama, Leah Chase, John Mellencamp (well he stunk actually), Arcade Fire, Lupe Fiasco, Marcia Ball, Allen Toussaint & Jimmy Buffet.

Then a fantastic wedding in Alpharetta, GA for some good friends of ours that now live here in NOLA. Followed by an impromptu jaunt to the FL panhandle to visit with friends on Hwy 30-A.

My view of Seagrove Beach

June brought more out-of-town house guests and a trip to visit family and friends in New York where I got to see the Alexander McQueen (RIP) exhibit at The Met called "Savage Beauty," a performance of Fuerza Bruta and Andrew Bird perform in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Sis & I at The Met

Andrew Bird onstage at Celebrate Brooklyn!

While I was in the Northeast, I hoped over to Boston to visit a friend who just moved to the Brighton area and got to see that city for the first time.

Returning to New Orleans, I was met by another fantastic wedding – this time in the Douglass family (and we know how fun those Douglass weddings can be).

Recently, 4^th of July brought me back to Seagrove Beach along Hwy 30-A where we dined at Bud & Alley’s and its Taco Bar, along with the new restaurant V Seagrove and Red Bar in Grayton Beach.

This weekend I will be making my way over to Birmingham to visit with some friends and former colleagues. But in between all these travels, I have been working part-time at my Dad’s law firm and interviewing/begging (j/k) for jobs. No outstanding opportunities have come along so far, but I might need to lower my standards soon.

I’ve toyed with the idea of starting my own PR practice, but I admit, I find it pretty scary. Apparently, I need to grow a pair when it comes to being more business-minded and taking that leap.

So stay tuned and I will keep you posted on my journey of starting my career over in New Orleans (again) and will also feature the rest of the house renovation completion in future posts.