rustic « Covet Living

(center inspo image via: Steven Gambrel)

Hola Sugarplums! Happy (long) Weekend! I hope you guys have killer BBQ’s and lots of feet-up-chillaxin’ on the agenda. Sorry the Bachelor Blog is a cool 5 days late… but look at it this way – you’ll probably totally get a double feature in the next few days. Think of it like bingeing on Netflix.

I’ve fallen off the blogging map some in recent months because life just got REAL bizay. In the best way possible though. In addition to doing sales & design for the best dang custom cabinetry shop in SoCal, I also branched out on my own super legit-like and have been doing a lot of design work. I got all licensed up as Stephanie Ballard Interiors, but am flip flopping to Covet Living Interiors. You know, to pay homage to the Mothership and all (#represent). And cuz dang – it’s just such a good name for what it stands for, and it really is where it all started. Anyway – ya wanna see one of the projects I’m working on??

This is for the sweetest couple ever back in the Heartland (Midwest). About my parents’ age, and this will be their forever home where their grandkids will come on Christmas, where they’ll sit by the crackling fire at night and read – wrapped in cabled throws – etc. Bah! So cozy. Their taste is definitely more on the traditional side: warm, rustic earth tones. Classic finishes. Think bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens // brown paper packages tied up with string. A *touch* of country without going all crazy Cracker Barrel. You get the idea. I got an email from them a few weeks ago which basically said: “We trust you implicitly, and this is your blank canvas. Make us proud…. go!” Which brought a single tear in my eye. Mind you, I’ve never met these lovely people in person – just via email and some conference calls (where I could tell they were both hovering with their heads together over a rotary phone, like George & Mary when Sam Wainwright calls in It’s a Wonderful Life – SO SWEET I COULDN’T TAKE IT).

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This project is also right down the street from my Modern Farmhouse project that’s just wrapping up. WHICH I CANNOT WAIT TO PHOTOGRAPH.

Anyhow. Here are the concepts I sent them. I have a fave, but you tell me – what do you guys think??!

Farmhouse Kitchen 1 | Covet Living Interiors Farmhouse Kitchen 7 | Covet Living Interiors
Farmhouse Kitchen 3 | Covet Living Interiors Farmhouse Kitchen 2 | Covet Living Interiors

I am LOVING this sage / layers of cream / patina’d metal / reclaimed wood / calacatta gold marble / copper palette, and all the finishes are pretty interchangeable depending on what they wanna put where. The one thing we’re working around at this point is a black range – a Mac Daddy they got a screaming deal on. At first I was thinking: “ohhhhhh fuuuuuuudge” / and saying: “nbd we’ll totally make it work!” And now I really love it. Stainless isn’t the end all be all after all. I would’ve loved to have incorporated some soapstone in this kitchen, but it might be a bit much with the black range… and even if we put it on the island, this kitchen doesn’t get a ton of natural light, so a lighter island (calacatta oro marble, or something similar) will brighten ‘er up and do a much better job of reflecting light.

Anyhow – these were the original elevations (before I tweaked em)… it’s just one back wall where the range and fridge will be, and then an island. 10 ft ceilings, and cabs will go all the way up, so we’ll likely do pretty glass peepers way up top:

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I’m also kicking around the idea of doing leaded glass in some of the cabinet doors, à la:

leaded glass

That’s it for now! Have an amaaaaaazing weekend, thanks for ALL THE LOVE (always!) that you guys send our way. And if you need help with your project, gimme a holler (stephanie.m.ballard@gmail.com).

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo,

Last week was one of those work weeks that seriously made me want to put my head through a wall no less than 700 times. I have never been more delighted to see a Friday than I was a few days ago… just to be able to stand still for a second and decompress. So naturally, I kicked the weekend off by rearranging the house on Friday night (because apparently cleaning is calming) and putting the $1 Yard Sale scarf to good use to dress up the headboard:

After Planes Trains & Automobiles (aka Matt) came home from his 5-day business trip, I squeezed him for about an hour, then squeezed Gus for another hour, then finally got some sleep. And had coffee Saturday morning like this – in peace, on the patio, watching Gus watch patrol the back 40. It’s too bad the basil’s in the way and you can’t see those big beautiful birthing hips my boy dog has.

An unseasonably cold, rainy weekend is not what we envisioned for a lake retreat, but it was surprisingly calming. We were heading up to Catawba Island (on Lake Erie, just across from Canada) to Matt’s childhood best friend’s family’s cottage. And this is what we rolled up to Saturday afternoon… a little slice of heaven.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the old cottage… Nothing has been touched since the early 1900’s. There are vintage photos on the walls… piles of pillows and blankets everywhere for guests… open windows in every room… huge cans of sharpened pencils for crosswords… and chipping beaded board ceilings, like this one on the sleeping porch that overlooks the lake:

After a little marinating at the old cottage, we took a jaunt into town for some pops (Put-In-Bay = the Key West of the Midwest… so lots of Bachelorette parties and penis paraphernalia, lots of hair gel, and LOTS of good people watching):

Passed through the Food Beer (that is literally the name of it) on the way home, where I requested fried okra, and got a look like I had 7 heads.

After consuming about 7000 calories worth of (delicious) hot dogs, hamburgers and taters back at the house and taking in the sunset, we posted up for a looonnng, long sing-a-long. With the talents of Matt’s self-taught BFF on the guitar, and the tone-deaf vocal skills of yours truly. I think a few kittens probably died during that jam session.

On the way home Sunday, I soaked up Saturday’s liquid intake with this, and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it:

And then Matt – aka the best boyfriend, EVER – suggested we stop at a few antique stores on the drive home. And I shed a single tear of pride / gratitude.

Last night we had Matt’s Ma and her Man Friend, Jim, over for dinner. We had to toss it together pretty quick, so I just put out the pretty blue napkins I got in the Hamptons, a few candleholders I pulled out of storage, and some green & blue glassware: