Were you Raised in a Barn?

Cassandra's renovation before..
And after
An interior shot. Love those dark floors with the step. The glass doors are original (once the tack room!)

My mother in law Patricia has this amazing old barn in the back of her property that I always dreamed I'd turn into a home away from home. I'm not sure if she'll ever let me, but you can understand my excitement when I logged on to Cottage Living (where is my April edition??) and saw this amazing renovation by Cassandra Naylor in Baltimore County, Maryland. And eco-friendly to boot! Here is the article if you can't wait:

http://www.cottageliving.com/cottage/homes/article/0,21135,1721650,00.html

The Irish Eyes are Smilin'

Flavor Paper's Nouveau Riche wallpaper out of New Orleans 9th ward.

I wish I could remember. Pulled from a wonderful blog.
From Lulu DK's new contract line- "Rope"


Lulu DK's Madison fabric

Here in my city of Scranton, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in a big way. We are the third largest Parade, and we expect well over 100,000 revelers tomorrow including one Senator Hillary Clinton to march amongst our finest ( and Barack on Monday). In honor of our fine Irish heritage (being from County Cork myself), I wanted to post some of my favorite greens.

Dreams Do Come True (ha ha!)

The original picture that caught my eye courtesy of Habitually Chic's scan of Vogue Living.

The gorgeous cottage from the water.

That amazing lattice- clad dining room that I keep thinking about. I believe it was originally done by Sister Parish and then re-discovered.

Gwen on the porch in that fabulous orange dress.

I love the mounted sailboat. Do you think that was Windsor Smith's idea?
One of Gwen's adorable daughters in a vintage swim cap. Sofa now available at Windsor Smith.

A huge thank you to Heather at Habitually Chic and Courtney at Style Court for coming to my rescue on the search for Gwen McCaw's Maine House (see last post) featured in Vogue Living. These two powerhouses in the design blogging world went above and beyond to help me find and locate these pictures Thank you ladies, its nice to have blogging friends! And the pictures are just as fabulous as I remember!

This House.....

This house has been on my brain lately. Let me explain. I remember reading an article about this Islesboro, Maine cottage (yes, cottage) that was built by a Philadelphian named J. Kearsley Mitchell (1871-1949). This wealthy businessman earned his fortune by selling his rubber works business to B.F. Goodrich. He then went on to marry J.P. Morgan's business partner's daughter, Edward Stotesbury. I can't find her name. Their wedding gifts, according to The Summer Cottages of Islesboro, by Earle Shettleworth, Jr., included "a diamond necklace, a diamond tiara, and a string of pearls valued at $500,000." In addition, a big check for 1 million.

Ok, here is why I know and think about this house. It was featured in a magazine article (Vogue Living, maybe?) with this fashionable, young family. My goal was and still is to find the great, interior shots of the renovation. I remember the first picture of the story was the woman in a row boat with one of her children in front of the house. The story went on to say that she retooled the house after purchasing it from Kristie Alley and Parker Stevenson. I remember giggling at the fact that the new owner had to strip some of the frilly details from the celebrity couple. I think she said Kristie tried to out-Parish Sister Parish ( in Kristie's defense, it was the 80's).Sister vacationed in these parts and had worked on the house, including a lattice filled dining room. Is this ringing a bell for anyone? I'm obsessed. And if I had any sense, I would have just torn the article out, but I never do. I always think I'm going to save the magazine and catalog it. Yeh, right. So upon searching everything from Sister Parish, to Islesboro Inn (it became one for awhile) to Kristie Alley (boy, they had a nasty divorce), I only found these two photos from Around Maine. But I love the awnings on the porch picture, I don't think it holds the same design, but doesn't it look so current? I hope you can help me.

****UPDATE****

Courtney of one of my all time favorite blogs, Style Court, remembered the article from the first Vogue Living (remember Jennifer Lopez on the Cover??) I'll have more info to come! Thanks Courtney!