Bringing the tour to You!

The Living Room:




Welcome to our living room. We have gone with soft stony-blue and brown theme through out with gold accents for the holidays. I apologize that some of the pics look very yellow (darn that tungsten lighting) but I wanted to give you a feel for how things looked with all the Christmas lights on. Our friend and very accomplished artist Kirk RIchards was generous enough to donate a print of The Last Supper for the tour. It was very well liked and the room overall was big hit.

The Hallway:


Here are some shots of our main hallway. I used my favorite color combination, Tiffany blue and black, for this area to create a Victorian-Glam look. I have to confess that I love it. The painted on blackboard was well loved by all and a new favorite for Atticus as it's right at his level.

The Family Room:


Our family room (also known to us as the pocket-door room due to it's fabulous pocket doors that closes it off to the rest of the home) showcases our Fantasy of Tree's Christmas tree that we purchased 2 years ago. The tree pretty much takes up the entire room as you can see but it was well liked by all. You can also see the beginning of a family portrait painting I working on for our good friends The Harts. Daniel Hart did our landscaping and let me tell you, he is amazing! Everyone went nuts for it (pics to come soon).

The Water Closet:


This is the downstairs water closet. The things I like the most about this room are the oil rubbed bronze doorknobs from ebay (that replaced our cheap brass ones that used be be throughout the house), the $2 Shabby Chic shelf from ebay (yes I really did win the bid at $2!!) and the adorable "Toilet" sign from one of my favorite local Knoxville stores, Abode.

The Dining Room:


Ahh...the dining room. I really loved working on this room. It's truly a girly indulgence of pinks, blacks and splashes of lime green.

The Kitchen:

Please ignore the counter clutter in the kitchen (remnants of the pizza we fed our gracious tour guides) and enjoy the cute counting birdies, new green paint and touches of the outside brought inside with the tree branch atop the cupboards. Everyone loved the birds and I was continually asked if they were mine. One girl even had the same set and was ready for me to sign it. Regretfully I'm not the cool artist that did these but you can find these delightful prints at a boutique near you I'm sure. If I can find out who the artist is I'll be sure to post it.

The Stairwell:

Framed Amy Butler prints and icicle lights lit up the stairwell.

The Studio/Office/Craftroom:

Now we are upstairs and entering my office/studio/craft room with the much talked about pink and black tree. I had several of my books out for tour guest to view as well as business cards for them to take on their merry way.

Upstairs Bathroom:

The Master Bedroom and bath:



And last but not least our master suite. My favorite spot in the entire house just might be my little vanity nook complete with black damask chair. It was also a favorite of many a teenage girl who came through the tour (which I guess just goes to show that there is a young girl in me that will never grow up and I can't say I mind that).

As a whole the tour far exceeded my expectations. The patrons were so generous and respectful of our home, not to mention extremely complimentary. I think the all time high was when HGTV (Home and Garden Television) programmer Connie Schmid said she couldn't believe that I hadn't tried out for Design Star (just missed the extended Nov. 30th deadline). Can you believe it! I was on cloud nine for the rest of the night (in fact, I'm still pretty excited about it). I promised her I'd try out for next season and she said she'd come by next year just to make sure. Never mind that I'm consistently busy with illustration and other design work and that being a mommy is number ONE on my list. It's still nice to dream though!

A big thanks to all of our tour guides for you generous help. We had several friends from church helping, many of the first year theater graduate students and volunteers from the Old North Knox. historic board. Thank you, thank you all for a wonderful success!!

*(side note: I don't have any pics of Atticus's room up yet because he's always asleep when I go around with the camera. I'll be sure to put up pics when I have them).