Lake House Peek

We got the curtains up in my dad's lake house this week and it made such a difference.  We still have a lot of work to do but it's really starting to feel good.  Curtains always seem to make a house a home.  It suddenly feels warm & lived in (in a good way.)   As you might remember, I had curtains made from my new textile line for the house and for some of these patterns, it was the first time I'd actually even seen them. 

My dad's a fisherman & I played around with a few of his things on the walls:

{Sometimes I like a touch if kitcsh and I hung my dad's old wooden fish on a nail}

I used my "Live Paisely" linen in antique beige for the living room curtains.  My dad built a fireplace out of massive stones and I brought the curtains right up to fireplace to soften it a bit and create a little more drama:

{Sorry for the grainy pictures...  The room was dark when I took these pics.}

Like I mentioned before, my dad's renovation of our family's lake cottage has been a sloooow process but it's now almost finished.  {Let the decorating begin!!}  The main areas are done and just need paint (I'm going a little bluer in the living room above and some walls have never even been painted} and the new basement is being drywalled this month.  The existing living room furniture is headed down to the new basement (sometimes I think basements are where furniture goes to die) and I'm bringing in new upholstery.  I think I'm most excited about adding new lighting to replace empty sockets & builder grade fixtures.

Like I've mentioned before, my dad and I have butted heads like CRAZY on this house.  He wants me to design it but deep down inside he thinks he's a very gifted decorator and fights me every step of the way.  He has a little old Italian lady inside him (maybe my grandma??) and mixed with his macho man attitude, it makess for very over-the-top more-is-more granny decorating:  Crown moldings can never be large enough (even when the proportions are wrong for a room) and everything needs to "POP."  Shiny is always better and any sign of age on something means it's junk.  (aaaaaahhhhh)   We fought like cats & dogs about the massive $10,000+ oak Thomasville media untit & bedroom set he owned & bought in the early 90s.  TVs don't even fit in the hole anymore but he refuses to part with it because he spent so much on it.  (The piece is now in storage...  another place I htink furniture goes to die. ;) 

My dad is my toughest client by faaaaaaaaar.  Anyway, he's always thrilled when I do something to the house & I think (hope!!) that he's finally starting to trust me & won't undo everything when I leave this time.  It always ends with "you were right," but decorating this way can be kind of expensive because I have to undo a lot.  (Why not just give up you ask?  I really don't know...  I guess it's because I love this house so much & it has so much potential.)

He finally agreed to paint over the newly installed knotty pine beadboard on the front porch ceiling and to tear down the Victorian cobwebs he'd added to the {very simple} house.  He also finally let me paint the porch spindles solid white instead of white with gray beads the way theyd' been for years and even though they "popped" so nicely.  I  removed the new red gingham cushions on the wicker furniture and replaced them with simple tan and put out an indoor-outdoor rug I'd bought years ago and I couldn't be happier:

{And my dad's happy too.}

This house has definitely been a labor of love (and war!) but it's all worth it in the end.   I'll take pictures of the other rooms & share soon!!

ps- love you dad even though I complain.  You're the best!

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