Maison Decor

Friday, September 23, 2016

A Fall French Country Home Tour with Soft Surroundings

September has ushered in the cooler fall weather, and I couldn't be more excited to be partnering with Soft Surroundings to create a new look for this room for our French Country House Tour.

I am working with a group of super French Country Bloggers headed by Janet Coon of Shabby Fufu blog. See the fabulous furnishings and accessories from Soft Surroundings and how we all have incorporated them into our own homes. The icing on the cake is that Romantic Homes Magazine is going to cover our French Country Fall Home Tour to spread the inspiration around!

So many ways to style a room for fall, and sometimes a new piece of furniture

or a great accessory is a fabulous way to get you inspired.
Pale shades of blue are my go to colors, and sometimes Fall decorating can be a challenge.

My fall palette is typically less of the oranges and more of the beige and tans.

Even then, I am a less is more girl, when it comes to fall decor, so I choose carefully.
I actually started decorating with only traditional fall colors....
but then I opted to add something softer.
(Thats why at some points you will see my big pink floral bouquet and other times it will be missing.)

How about these blue Cinderella pumpkins? I think they were made

for me, 'cause I rarely do orange! I snapped up a bunch at the farm stand

and knew they would work perfectly with my fall decor plan.

For starters, I used one of the French Norman Grain Sacks from

Soft Surroundings as a rustic runner and focal point of the large trunk/coffee table.

This is a vintage grain sack with a newly applied graphic in a romantic french style

and I just love it! Its a rustic tan color and has a dark aqua stripe down the middle.
Add some blue pumpkins (of course!) to create an easy fall centerpiece.

A plaid throw in grey and tan tossed over the back of the sofa is

also an easy decorator trick to bring in the fall season.

Don't forget to play around with throws and pillows,

you will be amazed at the different looks you get.

There are also a lot of things you can do with a grain sack for that casual

French Country look, but used as a runner its super easy and stylish.

Pillows made from these pretty old grain sacks are another option of course.

A great fall accessory, don't overlook the grain sack!

Similar French Empire Crystal Chandelier
Now, to my favorite piece from Soft Surroundings....

the Fontaine Wingback Chair in French Grey !!
Soft Surroundings is a clothing and furniture company both online
as well in brick and mortar stores. Their furniture is lovely and has a
French sensibility to it, which I adore.

This handsome chair has added that perfect balance

of masculinity to my room that has feminine touches.

French style can be fussy, and this chair mixes it up nicely.

The Fontaine has that deconstructed look that is rustic and appealing.

The chair is in a dark grey linen with tan burlap that is placed on the outside

of the seating area for a two tone look, with deep button tufting.

It's already my husband's favorite place to have his morning coffee.

It's such a gorgeous chair!

Last, but not least, the Riviera Nesting Tables were added to complete

the new look of the room. I adore these tables in the distressed blue finish.

The blue has some green in it, which is my favorite kind of blue.

My walls are painted in pretty Ben Moore Woodlawn Blue,

so you can reference that color if you are considering this versatile set.

Many of you may know I used to paint furniture professionally,

and these tables are done very nicely.

Even my son thought they were antiques!

They are made from solid poplar wood, not a composite.

Well built and sturdy, I couldn't be happier with them.

At the last minute I added these flowers....

And then I had to take photos of the whole room again.

So pretty!

Yummy pink and blue with grey and tan:

~the Maison Decor Fall Palette~

Maybe not the typical Fall decor for most, but its fun to make

it my own. That is what personal style is all about!

Either way, I love decorating and its been fun to play with my

new furnishings and accessories from Soft Surroundings.

Cozy up for fall and pull your chairs around the fireplace.

Set out some pumpkins and add some leaf garlands around your mantle

or mirrors. Use your favorite colors that go with your palette and

you will create a fall feeling in no time that is your style.

Our living room still has the romantic look I love, but the new additions

have given it a rustic flair, perfect for fall and the cooler months ahead.

Although I received compensation for this post, all opinions are my own.

I really couldn't wait to work with this company!

Now I'm headed to visit my blogger friends homes to see how they changed it

up for fall with Soft Surroundings, and get inspired to decorate for Fall.

Even I haven't seen them yet!!

There are two groups showing off their amazing homes (along with mine)

on Thursday and Friday. See below.

Click on the links to visit each blogger and prepared to be WOWED!!

Thursday

Shabbyfufu | Maison de Pax | Dixie Delights | Cedar Hill Farmhouse | Confessions of a Plate Addict Savvy Southern Style | Housepitality Designs

Friday

Edith and Evelyn Vintage | Maison Decor | Designthusiasm
So Much Better With Age | Eleven Gables | Slightly Coastal

Please note there are links to purchase similar items under some of my photos.
I am a member of the Amazon LLC Associates Program, designed to allow
bloggers to earn fees from linking to Amazon.com.
I earn a small commission off of each sale, and that helps to support my blog.
This commission does not effect the pricing on your item!
Know that if you purchase through my links and other bloggers links,
you help support our blogs. Thank you!

Day One: French Country Fall Tour with Soft Surroundings

Hello and Welcome to the First Day of The French Country Fall Tour

with Soft Surroundings and Romantic Homes Magazine.

I will be back to share my home tomorrow with a group of amazing decorator bloggers.

Today you can visit the bloggers listed below on Thursday's links

and tomorrow the links for Friday's group will be active.

So if you click on my link, it won't work until Friday, got it?

I know you will not want to miss this...

These are some of the most incredible decorators on this tour~

and with the beautiful additions from Soft Surroundings,

you will find inspiration galore!

French Fall Decorating Tour....

Just a special notice to let you know that I will be joining twelve

other French Country bloggers in a French Fall Home Tour.

We are partnering with the amazing Soft Surroundings company

and Romantic Homes Magazine!

Thursday and Friday, there will be homes showing off the

best of the best in French Country for fall.

Don't miss it!

My Photo Shoot with Fifi O'Neill and Mark Lohman

I had the pleasure and the honor of being selected to have my house featured in

Fifi O'Neill's Romantic Country magazine. For months it's been in the making, and

the last few days were killer, getting everything looking polished and shiny.

Living with a pesky puppy in particular means white slipcovers need to be washed

and I didn't dare put them back on until the morning of the shoot. As soon as I

did, Colby came over and wiped his breakfasty mouth on one of the cushions.

Grrrrrr!!! I decided to have him spend the day with my son Brandon to get him out

of the house and away from what was about to take place. While I waited for

Fifi to arrive with photographer Mark Lohman and his assistant, son Taylor, I took a

few shots of my "before" status. I was very interested to see what Fifi would do to

style the rooms in the house. As soon as they arrived, I gave them a tour of the

house and they rooms they wanted to shoot. They spoke their own language it seemed

as they made decisions rapidly about what angles would be shot, and what things

needed to get changed up for a good looking photo. They have shot over 50 homes

together and they work efficiently and playfully to capture the best these private homes

have to offer. So for me it was a pleasure to observe and sometimes chime in on

the different stages of how the photos were coming together.

Although we started in the bedroom, these iPhone pics show them in action.

Little adjustments are made between each shot, and then accessed in the monitor.

Notice how dark the room is...after having sunshine for the last three months, it decided

to be the darkest day ever the morning of my shoot. But I was told not to worry.

And boy was that the truth, as I soon would find out.

They set the monitor on the piano top and focused for this shot, only the sofa

and coffee table. Fifi set up a cup of tea (actually diet coke with water) and some

other items she rummaged from my kitchen. She asked if I had a few cookies...errrr...

no I did not. But luckily I had my mother in law (who lives next doors) to rely on.

I proudly told Fifi and Mark that she was a Swedish gal who loved baking cookies and I

would run and get a few for this shot. But when I went over to get them, she looked

flummoxed and said all she had were some Keebler elves cookies in the freezer.

Hahah!! OMG, the cookies were little elves....with writing on them. Not so Romantic.

Then Fifi asked me if I had any mint, and when I gave her some sprigs from the garden,

she arranged the cookies on the plate with the mint and it all looked quite nice.

This was the resulting shot. Most beautiful!

She added big fluffy pink hydrangeas to my Costco bunch of roses

and the floral arrangement went from standard to luxurious.

Fifi plucked elements of my pink lusterware collection for the "tea" service.

A snap of the camera would result in micro adjustments of a pillow or a throw,

and those little adjustments often made the difference between average and glorious.

The shoot actually started on the top floor of the house with my bedroom and bath.

The equipment was all brought up by Taylor and set up to include lighting

and the camera and the monitor. Here Fifi checks the shots from the bedroom.

After checking, she would go make adjustments. When it came to my bedding,

she opted to switch out some of the pillow cases and added toss pillows and a pink

chenille bedspread to give it a more layered Romantic look. Colby hates that pink spread

and when I did have it on the end of the bed once, he made sure to get it off in short order.

After the main shot of the room was taken, Mark zeroed in on some detail shots.

The small swedish chair came out of the bathroom, as did my pashmina.

It ended up being a very pretty shot, and I loved it.

Seriously, how good is this?!

The master bath was the second room to shoot, and they worked on an area

that centered on the sink. White rugs were replaced with a vintage hooked rug

I had and Fifi set up my vanity bench in the center. It looked pretty before

they even snapped a shot! She switched things around and used some of my costume

jewelry and my big bottle of Chanel No 5 to make the shot more glamorous.

Other rooms were the kitchen, my tiny dark kitchen.

But they made it look bright and beautiful.

And the dining room, which centered on my transferware collection and the Swedish bench I got

from Matthew Mead and then they did an overall shot showing the whole room. So pretty!

After six hours, my day of watching styling and shooting had come to an end.

Things were returned to their rightful spot and we said our goodbyes.

It was such a fun experience for me, as I covet home decor magazines,

and have examined lovely rooms over the years in their pages.

To have my house come out in Romantic Country will be such a thrill!

Due to be out in December, it will officially be the spring issue.

Other homes around New England will also be featured.

If you have instagram check us out!

Fificoconut and Amymaisondecor are our account names.

Since we both hate having our pics taken we decided to just

look at each other, hahah!

At the end of the day, the wires were all corralled and the dog was let back

into the house. Life begins again, regular style.

But I will always love the idea of how it could be... with a small village to help!

A Shocking Green Paint for the TV Room

A picture is worth a thousand words, so they say.

This is our tv room, or man cave. It is possibly the least photographed

space in the house, because I have always kind of hated this room.

With a photo shoot on the way, I kind of felt compelled to do something

about the room I hated so much. Enter paint.

If any one thing can change a room, it is the power of paint.

This is a good "before" shot, taken last Christmas.

You can see for yourselves the changes that were made.

We edited out a lot of extra furniture and then

I added new curtains and a rug and some pillows.

The only other thing was the paint! I took a risk and picked
a green that was out of my norm, I wanted a fun and modern green.

Fun this was not.
When it started to go on the walls, it was a yellowish green that
looked simply awful. My son Brandon was helping to paint, and we were laughing but
kind of nervous....however I always think of the idea that most things look horrible before they look
better, so we continued to reserve judgement until coat number two.
(Although commentary included words like Frankenstein Green and Nickolodeon Slime.)
Above you can see the second coat on the left,
and one coat over the door and the wall on the right. We painted out
the door because we have a sofa in front of it, so that makes it kind of disappear.
However, this is pretty scary looking green, don't you agree?

After it was all painted, it was incredibly bright, but not as scary.
Just kind of scary.
We moved around some wall accessories and I added a big clock

next to hubs favorite chair. Curtains in a buffalo check from Country Curtains,

and a plaid indoor outdoor rug from Overstock.com were the new additions.
When everything went back up, the room came together nicely.

A vintage painted table in a black floral and some new pillows from

HomeGoods added a bit of femininity to the space. I am so glad this

room is over, and the end result is that everyone LOVES it!!

I will say that when Mr. Maison Decor saw the first coat, he actually said

outloud, "how could you pick such an ugly color??". The next day when

he got home and it was all finished he yelled, "ITS AWESOME!!".

Phew. I was getting kinda nervous.

But again, it's only paint and you can paint over ugly colors. Hahha.

By the way, the color is Benjamin Moore, Basil Green, in Aura matte.

And it was definitely a two coat job.

One more look....its a fun modern lodge look, to quote my pal Matthew Mead.

In other news, I am preparing for a Romantic Country magazine shoot

with noted author, editor and stylist, Fifi O'Neill.

She will be here next week, and I have tons of other things to get finished.

Colby is already exhausted from all of it as you can tell.

Toile Curtains from sheets and an Amazing Decorating Book!

Decorating is a never ending process for me.

A space should never get old or boring to your eyes and keeping things pretty and fresh is kind of what I do....all the time, in between my mom and housewife duties of course. My kitchen is quite small and dark and has one window that used to wear a pair of lace panels. Next, I made some green and white buffalo check panels, but moved them to our back door for privacy and light control. So I have been pondering what to do with the kitchen window, especially since the house is going to be photographed in ten days or so for Romantic Country magazine. While shopping for bedding I ran across a set of twin sheets by Tommy Hilfiger, in a pretty green toile with deer and a woodland setting. I decided they would make cute curtains in the kitchen, perfect for the cottage vibe I have going.

Incredibly easy to stitch just a rod pocket at the top, and hem the sides, as I split the flat sheet into a pair of panels. They are a 60/40 cotton poly blend so they should wash up without any shrinkage. I think they are really sweet and add that bit of personality I was looking for in the kitchen.

The leftover bit is on the dining room table for now.

Yardage with sheeting is fantastic and its easy on the pocketbook too.

And speaking of always decorating....

Hold on to your hats!! I have just finished reading and drooling over this new book from Leslie Sinclair, SEGRETO VIGNETTES. Leslie is a gifted decorative painter turned entrepreneur, author and designer. This is the third book she has written and its fantastic! Let me tell you about Segreto, if you are unfamiliar. They are a company of incredible artists that create amazing finishes for the home. From walls to ceilings, from floors to cabinets, you will never see finishes more beautiful than you will from Segreto. Based in Texas, some of the most beautiful residences have been touched by the artists of Segreto. What is so wonderful about this book, and her other books, is that you get to have amazing tours of incredible homes, one after another.

Leslie sent me some of her book images so I could share them with you all. This dining room has a special plastered ceiling that has been polished with wax to give it a reflective glass like quality. Of course she did the walls too, and I love seeing the light fixtures and the beautiful furnishings in these rooms, don't you?

This book not only discusses trends in fine finishes, but it also focuses on some of a home's rooms in particular: The Kitchen, The Bedroom, and The Bath. When she told me that part of the book shows off Bedroom Retreats, I was very happy as that is one room that has always been difficult for me in my home. I hoped I would get some ideas and inspiration that I could steal and use for my bedroom.

After seeing so many beautiful bedrooms I came to the conclusion that I would need to start from scratch, hahah! Well not really, but her lovely rooms all start from a calming zone of neutrals, and that indeed is one sure way to get a bedroom that is a retreat. Of course many of these rooms have a french flair, and the fabrics and furnishings were just a treat to look at. Look at the big trumeau mirror and the slipcovered chairs in the sitting area of this bedroom. A window over the bed is disguised with shutters and balanced off with drapery panels, creating a back drop for a pretty bed. How to work with problem areas and use finishes and other tricks to are also covered in this book. It is essentially a decorating handbook for creating a GORGEOUS home!!

Ideas are worth millions. At least I think so. When I get my hands on something as special

as Leslie's latest book, Segreto Vignettes, I know it will stoke the fires in my imagination as it relates to my own home or other projects I may be working on. Stenciling a wall can be so amazing, when it is done as beautifully as the Segreto team does it, and images such as this, make me wonder where I can create similar magic. So get inspired and get your hands on what will sure to be a staple in your decorating library. I still look at my first two books from Segreto, and I know this new book will get dogeared pages from repeated reference. One thing I like to mention is that Leslie is a very lovely person, and she has been supportive to me in my business and family life. She has created an amazing small business for herself, and I am so impressed that she self publishes her books to bring her portfolio, her ideas and her tips to us readers. So best of luck Leslie, and I am proud to have your newest book in my collection.