Goodbye (and the future)

06.29.2012

Not to be dramatic but… today is the last time I’ll post to Salvaged Grace, at least for a while. Did I ever tell you that my original plan was eventually to open Salvaged Grace as a retail shop? It’s been a dream of mine to be a shop girl – I imagine I’d be a little like Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail.

But I realized that I’m not ready to leave my career in advertising quite yet. Someday, if/when I open my little shop, you can bet I’ll be back on Salvaged Grace, writing all about it!

In the meantime, I mentioned on Monday that I do want to continue blogging but on more personal subjects. Sometime early fall, I’ll be launching According to Pepper, my new web home where I write about the goings on in mine and BC’s life, as well as anything else that makes me happy. It will be infinitely easier to manage with a broader subject matter and a less rigid schedule (though with regular updates, for sure!). BC’s actually helping me build the website, so it’s becoming a bit of a family affair.

Here’s a little preview of what you’ll read about on According To Pepper:

I imagine you’ll see some reminders of Salvaged Grace on ATP from time to time. You can take the girl out of the blog, but you can’t take the blog out of the girl…

Thank you all so much for 2.5 great years of Salvaged Grace!

With love,
Erin

A happy ending

06.25.2012

I’ve been so nervous to write this post. Salvaged Grace is only a blog but it’s been my home on the internet, my creative outlet, and my space to connect with you for almost three years now.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the long term sustainability of writing Salvaged Grace. On one hand, I love blogging, I’m obsessed with this subject matter and I enjoy spending the time researching, writing and designing posts for Salvaged Grace. On the other hand, the time commitment is pretty major and the self-imposed stress is beginning to wear on me. I’ve been feeling for a while that I need to restore some balance to my life. For once, I would like to go on vacation without fearing how much work I’d have to do following to get caught back up on Salvaged Grace!

My priorities are shifting as well. BC and I are getting married in the fall and we want to start a family before too long. I’d like to continue growing and focusing on my career. And I might even decide to train for another amateur boxing fight! I definitely want to continue blogging, but I’d like the subject matter to be more personal, so that my blog is more integrated into my life – even an extension of it. (More to come on that later in the week!)

And so… I’ve decided to stop writing Salvaged Grace. For now, anyways. When I started this blog in November 2009, it fit my life perfectly. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the time for this blog comes again and I hope it will. In the meantime, please stick around for one more week of posts. Salvaged Grace deserves a proper send-off.

Thank you guys so much for reading. It’s meant so much to me! Please enjoy the last week of Salvaged Grace!

Manly last words via The Art of Manliness

This Week

06.19.2012

Oy. You guys… I’m afraid I may be a little absent this week. I didn’t get all my posts finished over the weekend and I’m realizing (quickly) that this week is going to be super demanding at work. Forgive me if I’m quiet the next few days, but I’ll plan to catch up with you later in the week!

image found via Partners and Spade

Antiques in Kitchens

06.04.2012

You guys, what an incredible weekend. First, BC and I had an amazing time at the Bon Appetit Grub Crawl though Williamsburg. Then, my cousin/maid of honor threw the most kick-ass wedding shower/potluck picnic ever. Amazing food and drinks, badminton and croquet, and GREAT friends and company. Emmy had everyone write down travel tips and they took pictures with a Polaroid camera… it’s the perfect memory book for our trip. We’re going to keep adding to it on our honeymoon. Some members of my family were skeptical of a honeymoon registry, but we’re totally loving having our friends and family connected with our trip.

ANYWAYS… lately I’ve been thinking about how fantastic old antiques look in kitchens. I mean, I think most rooms look great with character pieces and bathrooms or kitchens are no exception. Think an old buffet doubling as a kitchen counter top or an old worktable doubling as an island. It’s such a simple, easy way to add warmth to a typically more sterile, and oftentimes, unimaginative space. Here are a few examples I’ve been saving to share with you.

I especially love the combination of more contemporary kitchen cabinets mixed with the older pieces.

Images via Myles Henry Blog, Automatism, House and Home, and Two Ellie.

Kitchen Updates

05.25.2012

The new kitchen table chairs came right in the midst of my mom’s trip and last weekend I finally got all my ducks in a row, cleaned house and straightened things up to share some of the recent updates in our Brooklyn apartment. There’s always plenty to improve but I love the way the kitchen is (finally) beginning to come together.

This is what I come home to everyday and I LOVE it. It’s a wee bit formal but when we actually sit at the table, we like to make an occasion of it. I do have extra side chairs (that I got with the table) to strip and refinish, so eventually we’ll add chairs for guests. But for everyday we only need two chairs and it allows for a cleaner walking path.

The story on the chairs is pretty fabulous. I bought them from Barefoot Dwelling on Etsy. (There’s also a physical store in Severna Park, Maryland.) The owner, Mary, sent me the following note on the history of the chairs:

“We picked them (8) up at an estate sale that turned out to be an old client of my husbands. The chairs were purchased by him in the 1990′s at an Annapolis antique shop for a whopping $5,000. The are dated to the very early 1900′s and we have some of the paperwork on them. They are really gorgeous chairs, the detail and craftsmanship are incredible and despite the fading fabric they are just beautiful. In some ways I like the fading better, gives them a certain aged patina and character. I hope you love them as much as we do.”

We are definitely happy with our purchase and I basically feel like a king sitting at our table with the way we have the room set up!

I gave you a sneak peek of the industrial armoire we bought a few months ago. But here’s a more thorough view. It’s nice to have the balance of metal in the room. I think it cuts the femininity and formality. And despite how it looks, the armoire is actually pretty organized. I don’t know how I made due before. The detail pic is of my growing candlestick collection. The gold, silver and glass ones will be used on the welcome table at our wedding around a giant bouquet of flowers.

I’m pretty happy with how it’s coming together! I need to add cafe curtains (if ever I can choose a fabric!), frame the Italy paintings in the back and (someday) finish the table.

Here are the room sources:

Table – from my childhood home, Rug – Dash and Albert, Chairs – Barefoot Dwelling, Industrial Armoire - Repop, Vintage Stool - Ugly Luggage, Chalkboard/Repurposed Window – found on a Brooklyn street, Paintings (LA Vintage Furnishings)

Hope you have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! This afternoon, I’m heading down to Raleigh to spend time with my friend and bridesmaid, Brooke. I don’t know about you, but I could use a quiet weekend doing absolutely nothing. See you here on Tuesday!

Images via Salvaged Grace

Moms

05.14.2012

Yesterday, after a lovely brunch at Sunday Suppers with my mom, cousin and aunt, followed by a perfectly relaxing trip to the nail salon, reality hit and I turned back into the giant stress ball that I’ve been lately.

So I called a time out. My mom and I went for margaritas and nachos at a local mexican place and had one of the best, most honest conversations I’ve had with her. My mother makes everything better and I want to soak up as much good mom energy as possible while she’s here this week.

So I’ll be on hiatus for the rest of the week, enjoying time with my mom and keeping the daily stress at bay.

Image via Elis Lids

Partners in Preservation

05.11.2012

Friday… sigh. Really long, tormenting week. But on the upside, I can do a little good, right here on my little computer. Have you heard of Partners in Preservation? Every year, this organization, a joint venture between American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, provide grants to endangered buildings in one lucky city. This year, that city is my own, New York City.

Partners in Preservation enlisted the help of some of my favorite blogs to spread the word. Read about Heather of Habitually Chic‘s visit to the LES Tenement Museum. Which by the way, if you’re visiting NY and want a less touristy place to really soak in some NY history, I’d highly recommend a Tenement Museum tour!

The brilliant Scout at Scouting NY introduced me to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital. The buildings are in various stages of decay and I agree with the Scout, they are most fascinating. Especially when you see, as in the picture below, how the spaces looked then and today.

The benefit of Partners in Preservation is that we actually could have the opportunity to see these spaces come back to life. Check out the website and VOTE every day until May 21 to help save one of NY’s relics. It’s not hard and costs nothing. Why not do a little good today?

I’m a lucky girl, my mom’s in town this weekend for Mother’s Day (along with my aunt Ann). We’re going up to Hudson to see how the tableclothes that she and my aunt MADE for the wedding look. Can you believe that!? I’ve seen one of the tablecloths but I can wait to try it out with a table setting and vase, all set up. My cousin and I have a surprise for the moms on Sunday as well. Should be a good weekend, hope you have a lovely one as well.

Images via Habitually Chic and Scouting NY.

NOLA

05.04.2012

Everyone kept telling me I’d love New Orleans. And everyone was right, I definitely did. Old, historic buildings with a lot of charm and personality win me over every time. I love that it was possible to forget that I was in an American city and perhaps instead on some side street in Paris or even Buenos Aires, exploring a foreign land. I love that there was history on every corner and I wasn’t even mad about the cobblestones being clearly not conducive for platform heels. I love how engaged people are in the city – from the buskers all over the French Quarter sidewalks to the friendly people in the stores and restaurants. The only thing I can’t quite comprehend is how people live tucked away inside houses with those giant door sized shutters. Don’t get my wrong, I love the shutters but… isn’t it dark in there?

Yes, my trip to New Orleans, my first introduction to the old girl, was quite something. Thank you to Emmy, Em Ab, T and Caroline for making it a trip to remember and to Swirls and Brooke for planning this amazing weekend for us all. I appreciate and adore these ladies so much.

Happy weekend to all!

Biloxi and New Orleans Places

05.02.2012

Over the weekend, we visited or saw quite a few places that peaked my interest. Here are just a few:

My cousin, Em, and I flew into Mobile on Friday where we met up with our friend Swirls* who lives in Biloxi on the Gulf Coast. Swirls had to run a secretive bachelorette party errand so she dropped Em and I off at Mary Mahoney’s for an afternoon beverage. The story of Mary Mahoney’s is that it was built in the 1730s and then opened as the “old french restaurant” in the 1960s by one Mary Mahoney. The space itself consists of an beautiful white house, a wine cellar (that is currently the bar) and a idyllic courtyard. We chose to spend our afternoon outside, enjoying the light breeze and a glass of wine.

*My iPhone incorrectly corrected my friend’s name to Swirls, henceforth she shall be known by that name.

On Saturday morning, my gang of rock stars had brunch at The Court of Two Sisters. The two sisters, Emma and Bertha Camors, born 1858 and 1860 respectively, belonged to a proud and aristocratic Creole family. They ran a notions shop on the site, which was previously the home to five governors. The building is now home to a fabulous brunch place, with an unending buffet of breakfast delights. At the beginning of our meal, we were encouraged to go through the line at least four times. Especially interesting to me was the front hallway which featured the four flags that ruled over New Orleans throughout the years: Spain, France, the Confederate States, and the United States.

We hit a lot of traffic on the drive into New Orleans, which gave us optimal time for reading up on New Orleans’ most haunted places. Some days later, while waiting for dinner at Mona Lisa, we found ourselves standing in front of the LaLaurie Mansion, reportedly one of the most haunted houses in New Orleans. I’d tell you the story but I’m actually getting creeped out just writing this. So if you’re into horrific ghost stories read up on it. If you’re a big chicken, like I am, enjoy these photos of the home when Nicolas Cage was the owner back in 2009. It looks much less scary from this perspective.

Interiors of LaLaurie House via Examiner

04.30.2012

…as they say in New Orleans, let the good times roll.

And oh, we did! See you tomorrow!

Image via Old Time Friend