Southern Living Idea House - Family Room and More

This is the sixth and final post in a series about my tour of the Abercorn Place 2010 Southern Living Idea House in my hometown, Senoia, Georgia.

I sure did find lots of good ideas and inspiration from this house tour.

Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More



Today I am posting about the basement, which is made up of the Family Room, garage, and lower terrace.  Don't be put off.  Let's just say this isn't a typical basement.  Take a look.  

On the way down to the basement, I noticed the stairs had a painted faux runner.  Even though the design appears pretty simple, I know a lot of work went into it.  I wasn't bowled over by it, but then, I have learned a lot about painted floors - all the floors in my house are painted!  Most everyone else loved it and assumed I would, too, since I love painted floors.

Faux stairs lead down to the basement.

 I think something similar to this stair treatment from Donna at Funky Junk Interiors would have looked much better.

Clever Storage Under the Stairs

Equestrian look Coat Hooks

Pet station - dog bed, treats, toys

Brick Floor in the Family Room - loved it.  Love the coffee table, too.

Fabulous Sliding Doors - We have been looking for hardware like this!

Very Cool - Bulletin Board Calendar

Lower Terrace

Recycling Bins

 

A few more details

So that's it.   I hope to go back 2 or 3 months after they've decorated for Christmas. 

Want more?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House
Idea House floor plan

I have joined the following parties:

Friday Finding Beauty at Dippity Road
Inspired By at The Inspired Room
Show and Share Day at Just A Girl
Remodelaholic's Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic
I'm Lovin' It at Tidy Mom
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Southern Living House - Porch and Courtyard

This is the fifth post in a series about my tour of the Abercorn Place 2010 Southern Living Idea House in my hometown, Senoia, Georgia.


Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More



I took tons of photos and have more to share.  Today I am posting about some of the outside features. This will mostly include courtyard and side porch.   Click here to see the professional photos.

Even though this is a brownstone/townhouse, the builders made sure you felt invited to enjoy the outdoors.  There are porches everywhere and a fabulous courtyard.

Front view - the Idea House is the one on the right

On a funny note, this is the restroom area.  No port-o-potties for Southern Living!  Isn't it cute?  I wonder what will happen to this after the tours are over?

Pond in the back

There's a fountain aerator on the left side of the pond.  

I imagine the pond will have better color in time.

The Courtyard

Another view of the courtyard (from the side porch)

Potting Table - note the vintage sink - I love it!!!

Automatic door closer :-)

Landscaping used old Southern favorites as well as fun new plants.

Side porch - eating area

Side porch details - plus a closer view of the doghouse in the courtyard

I have several more posts about the Idea House.  If you are enjoying them, you really should become a follower to my blog so you won't miss any of them!  Plus, I plan to go back again when it's decorated for Christmas.  One of the guides told us a little about what's planned and it sounds wonderful. 

Want more while you wait?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House


I have linked this post to the following parties:

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
   ***She has a wonderful little garden.  It's mostly raised beds.  She never tills.  Be sure to check out her August 3rd post on weeds!

Outdoor Wednesday #82 at A Southern Daydreamer

Southern Living Idea House - Main Floor

This is the fourth post in a series about my tour of the Abercorn Place 2010 Southern Living Idea House in my hometown, Senoia, Georgia.


Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More



I took tons of photos and have plenty more to share.  Today I am posting about the main floor. This will mostly include the living room, dining room, and hallway.  The kitchen, scullery, and keeping room photos were in my first post.  Click here to see the floor plan.


When you first walk in the door, the foyer is actually a hallway and stairway.  A turn to the right takes you into the living room.

The picture hanging in front of the bookcase got a lot of comments.  We were told that most people had strong reactions one way or the other.  I have seen this done before.  It's interesting, but I wouldn't do it in my house.  It takes away from the purpose & usefulness of the bookcase.

 My favorite part of this room was the bookcase/window seat wall.   This shows a closeup of one of the small end bookcases.  By the way, the drape and window seat fabric was really pretty!


The paintings in the house were wonderful.  I'm not fond of the gold frames.  I think I would have preferred to see them framed in dark wood.  The paintings are terrific and you should notice them before the frames.  To be fair to the decorator, the gold frames add just a bit of glitz and glamor.  If they were framed in dark wood, the room would seem less special.  I'm being overly picky here and thinking totally about personal preferences.  I would love all of it at a friends house.

I took a closeup trying to show the painted detail on the mantel - it's a tree. It was nice.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It looked nice from across the room as well, adding another element of interest.

I didn't get a good picture of the whole dining room.  I was too eager to get to the kitchen.  This shot captures a few details.  The pocket doors were wonderful.  Luckily, this visitor was trying them out.  The chandelier was about the only light fixture in the entire house that I wasn't crazy about.  I love the paintings.

This table arrangement was really pretty and drew lots of compliments. The pottery was lovely - so much nicer than it looks in this hastily taken photo.

Everyone seemed to love these Ethan Allen slipcovered chairs.  I have loved them for years.  A couple of years ago, I found one of the slipcovers (in a different fabric) on clearance - one of the ties was missing.  I don't have one of these chairs, but I figured I could make it work on one of the chairs I have around here.  I now have it on a chair on my screened porch - I didn't even have to alter it.  I have a love affair with slipcovers, but usually I have to make them myself.

There were many more wonderful details throughout this floor.  The transom windows above some of the doorways were fabulous.  The ceilings were glossy.  When the lights were on, the effect was stunning.

The main floor also has a wonderful side porch.  I'll post about that and the courtyard in my next post.  Let me just say, they are fabulous!

I have several more posts about the Idea House.  If you are enjoying them, you really should become a follower to my blog so you won't miss them!  Plus, I plan to go back again when it's decorated for Christmas.  One of the guides told us a little about what's planned and it sounds wonderful. 

Want more while you wait?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House


I have linked this post to the following parties:
Anything Related # 17 at All Thingz Related 
All Things Domestic at Crazy Domestic

Southern Living Idea House - Master Suite

This is the third post in a series about my tour of the Abercorn Place 2010 Southern Living Idea House in my hometown, Senoia, Georgia.


Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More



I took tons of photos and have plenty more to share.  Today I am posting about the master suite, which is on the third floor.  Click here to see the floor plan.


The master suite picks up the colors used throughout the house - robin's egg blue and earth tones. 

I always like to see beside tables.  You can see if a person is more interested in creating a look or if their main thought is to keep what they need close by. In this case, since it's a staged house, it's not quite as much fun.  But I still found it interesting that the picture was propped, instead of hung.  If this were my house, I know that sometime in the night, the picture would be knocked over by me or one of the cats.  The lamp would go flying and my husband would wake up cussing.  Decorating is not easy at my house!  :-)

There's a sitting area opposite the bed.  I liked that the basket table pulled in another natural texture.  Everyone seemed to like the dog pillow.  You picture the owners of the house having a little four legged baby that they adore. It makes the decor less serious, which appeals to me.  I am not in love with this room.  I have tried to figure out why.  It's a nice room. I certainly don't dislike it.  At first I thought maybe I was wishing to see a few pops of a vibrant color.  But I love the bathroom, which you'll see in a bit and it uses these same colors.  I finally decided that this room is too serious and grown up for me.  I'm 54.  I should like a grown up room, right?  I guess I'm immature.  I like fun and whimsy.  I would like more whimsical touches - like the dog pillow.  I want to see a little more personality. 

The closet area is nice.  On one side of the hallway leading to the bath is a bank of built in storage.  Very nice.  Everything is tucked behind closed doors or drawers, so even if you make a mess in a last minute search for something, no one but you will know.

The walk in closet area is opposite.  The whole closet has this great organized closet look. 

Now, my favorite part of the master suite - the bathroom.  The tub is lovely.  Shut the door, fill the tug, Calgon take me away.

I fell completely in love with the burlap-textured curtains and bronze rod.  So much so that I think that's the look I'm going to go for in my master bath.  I have some make-do curtains there now.  I still haven't committed to a look for that room.  Now, I have a good starting point.  A while back I bought a set of the large grommets in this style of curtain.  I wanted to try them out and see if I could make it work and look nice.  I've never been pleased when trying to do smaller grommets in the past, but I keep hoping I can master them.

I like the over-sized ledge next to the tub.  The glass containers are pretty, but again I picture a catastrophe waiting to happen.  Wet hands, slippery glass...  big mess.  If I were more mature, I'm sure everything would be fine.  I would scoop out what I need before getting in the tub... before my hands were wet.

I've seen this idea before, and I love it.  The bathroom chair is covered in soft terrycloth.  My fanny would be very happy here.  However, I would have preferred to have a chair with a removable cushion, slipcovered in terrycloth.  My fanny would like that slipcover to be washed often!

His and her sinks like this were on opposite sides of the room.  The cabinets are nice and they work well in the room.

I didn't take photos of the shower and toilet area.  I think someone was in there looking around.  I should have waited.  I think I glanced in and decided there wasn't anything spectacular and I wanted to move on.  Anyway, I was still in the thrill zone from the curtains.

Want more while you wait?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House

I have linked this post to the following parties:

Making the World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter  

Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple 

Show off Your Cottage Monday at The House in Roses 

Blue Monday at Smiling Sally

Southern Living Idea House - Top Floor

This is the second post in a series about my tour of the Abercorn Place 2010 Southern Living Idea House in my hometown, Senoia, Georgia.  The first post is here.

I took tons of photos and plan to share them in a number of posts.  I'm not going in any certain order.  Today I am posting about the top floor.  Click here to see the floor plan.

When you reach the top of the stairs leading to the fourth floor, you enter into the entertainment room.  There is no lack of sitting space in this house. 

To one side is the front terrace.  There's a great view of downtown Senoia from the terrace.  Imagine sitting there and watching the fireworks display Senoia puts on every Fourth of July.  Or imagine watching some of the many activities in town - outside movie nights, film productions and more.  

The entertainment room has a bar.  One thing that caught my eye there was an old library book case hung on the wall and being used to hold glasses.

The room has some interesting furnishings.  Note the rustic tables, the painted lampshade, the pottery, the collection of glass jugs... plenty of inspiration there.

This is the view towards the stairway side of the room.

There's a nice craft room on the top floor, too.  The table is taller than it looks in this photo - sort of bar height. Note the stool on the left that looks like a spool of rope.

There's another great view on this side of the house.  This time you can see a few of the many old houses in Senoia.  This porch here is called the meditation garden.  There are not French doors leading out to this terrace.  Instead there are windows that open out to it.  Apparently, houses used to be taxed based on how many doors lead outside.  One trick was to install low windows to lead outside instead.  This is just another old time detail that was included.  I don't know about you, but I appreciate the details.

Storage for the craft room was included in the plan in the form of a nicely organized walk-in closet. There was a also wood and metal shelf in the room.  Noteworthy in this room was the huge inspiration board leaning against the wall.  The freshly sharpened colored pencils also caught my eye. I wanted to sit down and draw.  In fact, taking the dream a little further, I would love to sit in that room on a Fall or Spring day with windows and doors open to the breeze and work on a project. 

There is also a nice bathroom on the top floor, but I'm not fond of the one photo I took there. 


Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More

Want more?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House

I have linked this post to the following parties:
Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming
Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
I'm Lovin' It Fridays at Tidy Mom

Southern Living Idea House - The Kitchen

Southern Living is a very important magazine here in the South.  If I wanted someone from another part of the country to know a bit about us, I'd give them a subscription to this magazine.  It's THE magazine that you or your mom or sister or best friend always has a subscription to.    They have features on cooking, gardening, decorating, places to see in the South, house plans and more.  Once a year, they feature an Idea House that they built and decorated.  That's always my favorite issue, with the Christmas issue being a close second. 

This year, I nearly fainted to find out that the idea house is in my town.  Senoia.  I am not surprised that it was chosen.  Senoia is a wonderful little town and they are really doing some brilliant development while keeping the quaint old town look that makes the town special.  Senoia is known for movies & TV shows filmed here - 24 in the last 20 years including Fried Green Tomatoes, Driving Miss Daisy, Sweet Home Alabama and Drop Dead Diva.

 These are some photos I took last week.  If it hadn't been so hot, I could have stayed outside and taken some really good ones.  One day, I'll do a better job and post about it - maybe this Fall.


The Abercorn Place Southern Living Idea House is a 4 story brownstone townhouse right in Senoia.  They call it urban living, but urban in Senoia is really a different pace than what you might usually associate with that word.  Just picture urban living in Mayberry and you get the idea.  Tours are available through December 12.  Sometime in October the house will be redecorated for Christmas.  I hope to go back then.

I did the tour a few days ago.  I took lots of photos (which are allowed now that the magazine is out) and I plan to share in the next few posts.

I'm starting with the kitchen.  Enjoy.

This is the view of the kitchen from the dining room.  There are so many things in this view that are wonderful.  I love the table in front of the island.  The seating is wonderful. The light fixture is so perfect for the spot - from any angle.  The colors - greenery and earth tones and the robin's egg blue.  Very nice.

The only thing that guests seemed to have a problem with was the horse's head.  Now, even though I'm clearly on the "wish it weren't there" side, I totally get why the decorator put it there.  The house has equestrian things scattered around the house.  The dark of the horse is good against all that expanse of cream and light.  It provides a bit of whimsy and something unexpected.  But if the house were mine, that horse would go.  Animal heads (even ones that aren't real) make me sad.

 I fell in love with the herb box on the table.  I immediately thought of the salad tables I have been dreaming of.  By the way, I have started some lettuces and spinach for indoor growing.  I came up with some containers and a spot to put them.  I'll post about that soon. I must say, my solution is nowhere near as pretty as this planter.  To me, this planter is hugely important in this room.  Look at the first kitchen photo and try to envision it without the planter and you'll see what I mean.  Greenery adds so much to a room.  I think I need a trip to the garden store.

My heart did a few flips over the color on these chairs, too.  My friend, Martie, and I are smitten with this color family - robin's egg blue, aqua, turquoise, vintage green...  This color is used throughout the Idea House.

These pretty napkins pulled in some more of the robin's egg blue.  Martie found them in a shop in Senoia and bought a set with 4 different birds.  I'm thinking they might be pretty to frame. 

The keeping room is to the right.  The TV is above the fireplace, behind a picture that opens up.

The scullery is to the left.  This room was very intriguing.  It was small, but still very conducive to work.  The refrigerator is there as well as another sink.  There's an incredible amount of storage and enough counter space to make working nice.  When entertaining, a good bit of the mess you make would be just out of view.  I kept picturing myself working in there.  Very interesting.  Or maybe I should dream bigger and picture myself in this house and my wonderful cook, who I love like family, is in there preparing a low calorie, gourmet meal.  

 This rolling pin holder in the scullery was a fun idea.  Sue Ellen said it looked like a gun rack that had been cut down.  There were more available in a shop in Senoia.  One was painted a nice, vintage-y, blue-green - about the color of the handle on the cream colored rolling pin.  I liked it best.

The large window in the scullery lets in lots of light.

The light fixtures throughout the house were beyond fabulous.  Amazing.  Swoon-worthy.  I'm amazed I didn't end up with a sore neck from looking at the ceiling fixtures in every room.


Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More



Want more while you wait?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House


I have linked this post to the following parties:

Friday Finding Beauty at Dippity Road
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Saturday Soiree #11 at A Little Lovely
Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
Mosaic Monday at Little Red House