Southern Supper Club!

Halloween of 2017 I was planning a night in with wine and creepy makeovers with 2 of my favorite spooky chicks, Kir and Cece. We ended up inviting a few other gals we knew and loved and decided to decorate and order in some pizza while watching scary movies. Still to date one of my favorite supper clubs since I made the girls watch The Exorcism of Jane Doe and nothing quite fills my heart with wicked joy like scaring the people I love.

Fast forward almost a year and supper club had become a regular occurence. We began to meet up once a month where I would host and decorate and everyone would bring a dish to share. While the group itself has evolved over the months, the same general concept of gathering for drinks and light hors d’oeuvres/snacks, followed by dinner and then some sort of activity which often includes a movie, card game or sometimes just drinking.

One of my favorite supper clubs to date was our Southern Comfort theme which was inspired by the heat and humidity of August as well as a fabulous English china set I found at a thrift store. It was a lovely mix of vintage pieces, new and a few heirlooms. My grandmothers butter dish and my mothers silverware also made a debut and seemed to be a fitting part of the overall cozy, warm, welcoming nostalgic ambience.

Krysta photographed everything beautifully, of course, and captured all of the special little details. We had a spectacular menu put together by the girls, kicking thing off with Amanda, who has, of course been crowned our salad queen.

~Menu~

Amanda - Watermelon-Feta Salad

Cece- Mac n Cheesies & Hand lettering place cards

Krysta - Fried Pickles & photos!

Soleil - Cornbread & Collard Greens

Rachel - Sauteed balsamic Green Beans -

Janessa - Fried Chicken & buttermilk biscuits

Soleil - Apple Crisp & Vanilla Ice Cream with homemade caramel sauce -

Alex - brownies

Sarah Pete - Mint Juleps & Jam+moonshine favors

I decorated in true southern style with some magnolia blooms from the backyard and trimmed some of the limelight hydrangea which nestled perfectly in their wicker basket as the centerpiece to the table. For cocktail hour we mixed in more fab sunflowers that Janessa picked up!

Cece of course hand-lettered our place cards which tucked in between the seagrass chargers and the blue & white china I snagged from Homegoods with a few sprigs of Magnolia leaves to tie it together.

Candlelight was necessary when the sun went down and we enjoyed it’s warm flickering from a few tapers and pillars scattered across the table. Sarah Pete also brought everyone a mini jam and moonshine jar for each persons place setting and as a favor! It was a perfect way to spend a hot August day with some of my favorite people.

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Living Room: Before & After ***Featured on Apartment Therapy!

What you might not know about my current place is that I almost signed a lease elsewhere before begrudgingly deciding it was worth my effort to visit this place even if it was 99% probably not where I wanted to live based off of the photos online.

What happened when I walked in, however, was the old world charm and the exact location - steps from the downtown walking mall - all reeled me in immediately and I said to the property manager as i walked through the yellow walls “I think this is the place”.

When I signed the lease I didn’t end up moving for another 2+ weeks but as soon as I did I immediately painted as many of the rooms I was immediately using in Valspars creme fraiche to freshen things up a bit but keep that warmth and coziness. I knew the living room was going to be the place I spent most of my time between working from the couch, entertaining friends or watching netflix.

After painting everything white, I changed out the light fixture which was an old ceiling fan from the 90s and installed a fun one I picked up at Lowes. I wanted to get settled quickly so while I typically love the thrill of hunting for things slowly and intentionally, because I had a specific vision I found most of the initial items from Ikea (glass shelves, pink couch, storage boxes). Then I found some other accessories and things like pillow covers, rugs etc from a mixture of things I had an online.

Removing Chalk Paint

Years ago, a hot new interior decor trend took the market by storm. Chalk paint seemed to be a cure all for all of our drab, outdated furniture pieces and made even the most inexperienced home DIYer feel like they were worthy of their own HGTV show.

I have to admit that I was one of those people and when I initially picked up this beautiful vintage piece from Goodwill for $70. I decided the best way to fix it up, get rid of the smoky odor and cover up the slight blemishes without completely sanding down and refinishing was, you betcha: chalk paint.

Also like a lot of people, I realized soon after that I strongly disliked the finish but the thought of stripping, sanding and refinishing the piece was too daunting for me to do anything about. Until today when I had a random burst of energy and ended up finishing half the project in less than an hour. That wasn’t so hard, was it??

This brings me to my next point and what I really brought you here to talk about, do you know what else I was guilty of not knowing much about and largely ignoring because I thought it was way too hard for me to do anything about?

Systemic racism.

If you’re like me, you may have not been aware just how bad racism has been in America for our entire lives. Slavery ended, people marched on Washington for civil rights, MLK is a household name. But there has been a lot of media fanfare around ending racism without a whole lot of actual action and black and brown people still suffer each and every day.

I thought for the longest time in my life that just being “not racist” was enough. But in the fight for equality, you’re either for or against, there is no neutral party.

Essentially, if you take WWII & the Holocaust as a similar metaphor, you couldn’t just “not be a nazi” or “not like Hitler” if you were living in Germany or any of the surrounding countries that the nazis had invaded and held power over. if you weren’t actively resisting the nazis, you were complicit with the atrocities that were committed, plain and simple.

Thus, when we talk about modern day racism, police brutality and straight up murder of black and brown people by the hands of the police, complacency is just about as guilty as being on the side of the oppressor. You may have heard the term “white silence=violence” and that’s because when non-black people stand by and watch things happen but say “that’s not my fight” or “oh how awful” but don’t decry it publicly or take action against it, it is this “neutrality” that is actually a form of racism in and of itself.

Now, if you are reading this, you can no longer feign ignorance to the plight of black and brown people in America. You can no longer stand idly by while people are dying and suffering at the hands of people put in charge of a system that was formed out of racist leaders and policymakers and continues to be managed by them.

Here are some great resources for you to read to find out more about what people are doing in response to the recent murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the countless black lives lost at the hands of police:

How to be an ally to the BLM movement

When Silence equals violence

BLM White People Toolkit

White Activists Can Change Culture

If you’re afraid of Covid-19, or you can’t march or physically make a change, here is an extensive list of places you can donate. I know you got a stimulus check and you’ve been ordering things on Amazon that you don’t really need so what better way to help the cause by setting up a recurring monthly donation or even a one time donation. Even $5 helps, so if you can buy things on Amazon that make Jeff Bezos become an actual trillionaire, you can divert. those funds to people who actually deserve it.

115 Ways to donate & support people of color

Lastly, money TALKS. Marching and conversations with your sphere of influence as well as your government representatives and policymakers is priceless. However, we all know that in our capitalist society it’s that paper that does the most. I’ll be posting about some amazing black owned businesses with CUTE AF stuff in the near future so look out for that!

Now that you’re done signing petitions, making donations, marching and having those tough conversations, I’ll give you a little breakdown of what I did for this piece!

Literally picked up a can of paint stripper at Lowes (which btw. has a black CEO and is 1000x better than Home Depot so shop accordingly!). I grabbed a brush I use for paint that I already had and poured a little bit directly onto the drawers. This stuff is THICK. With the consistency of shampoo so I didn’t worry about spills. Either way I took these outside and did them on the concrete slab. I highly recommend putting a plastic tarp down and having a plastic bag or disposable cup to toss the scrapings into afterwards.

The can says to wait 15 minutes after applying the stripper but literally as I was painting with the brush it started to come up. So after just a few minutes i took my scraper and began scraping off the paint along the wood grain. It’s very important to go along the grain and not against so you don’t scratch the piece or chip it.

After I removed it all I wiped off the excess with a damp, soapy cloth. Now if you remember, the pieces still smelled smoky from previous owners and the smell definitely started to come back with the wood exposed. So I sanded them all down, wiped with a damp cloth and then used my UV light for 30 minutes (locked in the bathroom with no houseplants or living creatures around).

Afterwards I took my magical furniture polish/restorer and just wiped those babies down until they were deep and shiny. A lot of times the pieces I pick up look old and sad because they need some love. It’s amazing what you can do with a quick cleaning and a little moisture for some vintage wood pieces!

I also found the very same dresser being sold online for $1500 which is one of my favorite bits of information when researching a piece I thrifted!

I realize I still have to do the the legs of the piece but that will be another day. I also took this opportunity to go through the drawers and organize/throw out anything that I didn’t need.

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Front Porch Refresh

I moved into this house in September but between the time spent out of the country traveling and in DC for work, it wasn’t until about February that I even spent an entire straight week here.

That left plenty of projects, unpacking, cleaning and organizing in limbo and I yearned for some time to really work on this space and make it my own.

Obviously with the current Coovid-19 situation, I’ve had a lot of forced time at home to put some creative energy into making this space my own!

It had always been a dream of mine to live in a little old house walkable to my favorite places in Charlottesville and when I saw this was available to rent I jumped on it. This house was built in 1925 so it’s just shy of it’s 100 year birthday. I’m 2 blocks away from the walking mall, 3 blocks from my favorite taco spot and a short drive to plenty of dog parks and all of my favorite wineries!

The front porch quickly became one of my favorite spots. A perfect place to sip my morning coffee, read a book or just decompress and see the people and their dogs walk by from the front porch swing.

The porch faces south which makes it perpetually sunny and in the summertime that means bright and hot. I’ve always loved the look of outdoor curtains and knew they would be a perfect aesthetic fit but would also help make the porch usable even on the hotter days. I wanted something in a pinch while I was back and forth so much so I initially took some old sheers I had and perched them up precariously on some wonky indoor curtain rods. They looked fine but definitely didn’t do anything to block the sun. See exhibit A of my poor, sweet, pale friend Alex wrapping herself in them to protect herself from the sun:

It was actually mid October and event then it was in the 60s but still felt scorching there. Also explains the blood-stained pillow (halloween decorations).

You can also see how barren the porch looked then and again in December where my little reindeer was sunning himself waiting for Santa.

Because the house is a lot smaller than my last house, I knew extending the living space to the outdoors would make it feel so much larger and expand my actual living space by a ton for 3/4 of the year.

The porch decor technically started with this blush pink velvet chair I spotted at a thrift store for $10. It initially went out on the front porch to dry after I had thoroughly cleaned it but I found that I liked having 2 options to sit outside and having purchased furniture that just exactly fit inside the house, soon realized there was no room for it inside.

I realized it actually fit perfectly into the space next to the front door on the opposite end of the porch where it was basically just wasted space. I eventually added the white garden stool you see above, (you can find it through my amazon affiliate link here!) and hung the ferns to give it some privacy and add a little touch of nature to what felt like a barren space. I also had the “fresh cut flower market” sign from before that never quite made sense inside the house but was perfect for the front porch (alternate options that don’t blow away in the wind can be found here , here and here).

I wanted curtains that were heavy enough to block out heat but still enough to keep things relatively sunny on the front porch. I also have a beautiful dogwood tree in the front yard and wanted to take full advantage of it’s beautiful bloom so I didn’t want anything to block that. I also took a few cuttings from the dogwood so I could enjoy them inside also!

I went with these cloud grey ones here that also come in taupe, winter white, and vanilla.

I also needed heavier duty outdoor curtain rod that wouldn’t rust and would withstand the daily tug and pull of the breeze on the curtains so I dropped 3 of these guys in my cart too. 2 Shorter ones for the 2 ends of the porch and the longer one for the front. Pro-tip. If you have super old hardwood porch beams like I do, the screws that come with any mountain bracket just won’t do, I always recommend having a box of sturdy wood screws around just in case anyway!

The final pieces I added were some comfy cozy pillows and a cozy throw to cover up the old, ugly yellow & green flower print of the cushion. It’s a much less expensive way to update a piece like this without having to buy a whole new cushion or cushion cover which I was having difficulty finding one I liked anyway!

Here are my absolute favorites on Amazon:

Similar Outdoor Throw (also great for a picnic!)

Adorable outdoor pillows (would also totally put these on my indoor sofa or a little kitchen banquette!)

And of course the piece I wanted more than anything, a cute little foldable plant stand that now hosts a variety of flowers and lettuce that’s growing happily on the front porch. It’s also a really great indoor option if you want to start a little potted vegetable or herb garden of your own, or just want to give your plants a little condo treatment. I purchased this one and love its warm wood tones for my space but can also be painted any color you want if you decide it doesn’t match your decor!

I’ve also been looking for a cut outdoor flag for the front of the house, something that just shouted cozy and was a little bit more modern and summery than the other floral-heavy ones I found. I ended up with this cute striped “Hello Sunshine” house flag which now blows beautifully in the breeze on those perfect spring days!

I also picked up a few fun spring flowers to have the perfect balance between outside and in and to add pops of bright, happy colors!

Lastly I moved my large white outdoor rug from the front porch to the back deck because it was too large and overwhelmed the space, so I snagged this lovely natural jute rug for $32. If you need a larger option, I’m obsessed with this one! Also please note, these jute rugs work best for indoors! I don’t get any moisture up on the porch so my jute rug is fine but if you live in a rainer area and/or don’t have a covering over your space, I recommend going with an actual outdoor rug like this one that I have on my back deck!

There you have it! My front porch refresh for next to nothing that has expanded my reading, relaxing and drinking area and is the perfect spot to get some fresh air and vitamin D. Especially now, having a little retreat you can go to that isn’t just in your house is so necessary. Sometimes when I sit out there and see people walking their dogs I can almost forget about this whole pandemic garbage and just listen to the birds chirping and my wind chimes and take some deep breaths and another sip of my moscow mule.

*Disclaimer - all of the links are things I have purchased on my own from Amazon but am sharing with you now as an Amazon affiliate so if you do purchase them you’re helping me out big time! Please use the links to purchase anything you find and love so I can buy more cookies for this goober:

If you do your own little outdoor space refresh or reno I would love to see it!! Share on Instagram and tag me so I can see your fab spaces and get inspired to do even more outdoor living spaces in the future!