Global, collected Summer Home Tour

I am so glad y’all are here visiting me in the mountains of western North Carolina today! I’m excited to be part of this wonderful group of bloggers that Marty has put together for her 2018 Summer Home Tours. If you are stopping by from Starfish Cottage, you’ll already know just how talented all these ladies are. I’m humbled to be among them.

If you are new here, you can find out about the property we live on and why it, and the things we use in our house, are so special to me. Trust me, *everything* has a story here, and you can find it all HERE.

If you’re a regular reader, skip ahead. If not, this is who we are. My Puerto Rican husband and I, along with our children, live here in the mountains of North Carolina on property that has been in my family for five generations. It started as a pheasant farm, then my great grandfather came up from Hypoluxo, Fla., and bought the property, complete with victorian farmhouse and several other buildings, to be his summer home. 

My grandmother visited on a break from her boarding school, met and fell in love with my Virginia-bred grandfather, and the rest is history.  My grandparents tore down the old house in 1960 to build a new mid-century modern house, which my parents live in now, but my resourceful grandfather bundled and stored all the wood — from windows, stair treads and doors to wormy chestnut trim, all of which we have been slowly incorporating into our house. I like to think he did it just for me:-)

We are surrounded by woods, a rushing mountain creek and porches on three sides of the house.

We do enjoy the porches all summer, and it really expands the living space, which is so needed as our house is small.

You can already see I like color, so come on in, and see the rest.

I have a pretty eclectic mix of things from family antiques to found items and collected treasures from around the world. I am passionate about recycling, reusing and repurposing and feel it’s the only responsible way to live. As for color, I like it and love to mix patterns, textures and colors. I was really into pinks the last six years, but when pink got so popular, I decided to go back to another favorite — red.

First up is our living space, which is multi-purpose and a comfy place for us to hang out. 

Those of you who follow will notice some *new* to me pieces of furniture. 

I found the couch in an amazing historic building some friends of ours own. I asked to make a trade with my white french sofa, which I’ll sell, for this one because I love it’s curvy shape.  

It was just so dramatic, not to mention much nicer quality than my thrifted french sofa, so I had to have it. It’s not old, maybe 10 years, but too nice to sit in a hallway and convey with a building. 

I have added a mix of pillows including Turkish kilims and some eBay finds, to keep it from looking too formal and 2005;-) 

It really is a fabulous piece and super comfy for those Sunday afternoon naps. 

Behind the sofa, I’ve mixed Bolivian pottery with inherited Chinese ancestor prints and windows from the old house.

Some of y’all will notice I did sell the Eames-style lounge. It was just too big and hubby did not find it comfy. I found this chair on eBay that also reclines, but doesn’t look like a traditional recliner, and he loves it.

As I said, I mix things up, so on my great grandmother’s table is a 1969 Pieri lamp from my childhood that I recently rewired.  A vintage fiberglass, double, whipstitched shade completes the retro look. 

Another lamp from the 1970s hangs on the other side of the room over an inherited antique Indian tea table.  

The chaise belonged to my great grandmother, and the channel back chair was also inherited.  Cherokee stick ball sticks and a Nisqually basket are from my collection of Native American art. 

Another thing I was doing way before it was trendy is layering rugs. I was at an Air Force training competition in the 1990s and noticed the Saudi Arabian team had layered Persian rugs in their hospitality tent, and I fell in love with that look. Here I’ve layered several Afghan kazak rugs over a jute rug just to add some color, pattern and softness to the scratchy jute.

Next up is the dining room, which recently got a dramatic, dark gray wall.

I’m so glad I went with my instinct and am loving this change.

And again, we are real global in here y’all! Original art from my late 

Montana uncle, Mexican Talavera pottery, inherited Indian tea pot, Moroccan lanterns, Turkish kilims, my great grandmother’s cuckoo clock, and inherited brass from India and China make up this eclectic space. 

I made this table about 14 years ago from wormy chestnut off one of the old buildings here and had a local crafstman make the base I designed. I’ve had several different styles of chairs over the years, but really love these Eames-style mid-century modern chairs. They are super comfy, and I can easily get eight around the table. 

Next up is the music room, and I say room, but it’s really just a corner that functions as our entry and a place for my piano. 

As in every other room in our home, there is a mix of old — and older! Ha. 

The 1880s pump organ, an early 1900s art print and a fabric runner I bought in Turkey all just kind of work together. 

There is always a selection of guitars to choose from for accessorizing here, and this Taylor, with the amazing wood grain, was my choice for this shoot.

Regular readers will notice I took up my beloved Turkish yahyali rug for summer and replaced it with a neutral jute rug and another Afghan Kazak. I did that so my awesome, funky and oh so colorful curtains could take center stage. 

As much as I love this happy fabric, I’m seeing it in the outdoor version *everywhere* now, but I still love it, and love how it makes me smile every time I walk in here.

A red, sparkly Duesenberg guitar adds some more pizazz. I like pizazz:-)

The cabinet in the corner is one my husband made from reclaimed wood trim and a walnut tree my dad cut years ago.  

On the other side is my inherited 100-year-old Harden settle that was originally in the old house here. It had been sold some years ago but was gifted back to me by the sweetest neighbor on my birthday. 

I have kept it current with velvet and kilim pillows along with the cute white pillow I found on clearance at Michaels. 

Now we are in what might just be the most colorful kitchen on this tour:-)

Our kitchen is open and pretty large for a small house, and despite the lack of trendy appliances and counters, it has its own kind of style.

We made the counters from wormy chestnut off an old building here, and I painted the lower cabinets the same gray I found on the old boards from the house. I just recently painted the uppers a light gray.

So I do have to say that the Anthropologie Blue Volcano candle does smell ah-maaa-zing and is perfect for summer! 

I also painted the open shelves white, which is just unheard of for me, but I like how they turned out and how they look with the light uppers.

This is definitely the United Nations plus some on these shelves with China, Japan, Turkey, Italy, England, Puerto Rico, the USA and Cherokee represented. If only we could all get along that well with each other! Right? 

I love a good Turkish kilim, and this one grounds the room. 

The sink skirt is simply a vintage Indian sari folded over a rod.

The screen door was in the old house, so I restored it several years ago and backed it with hardware cloth and burlap. The bottom is open because our heat pump return is in the mud room. 

One of my favorite pieces of Cherokee art is this cutting board by Cherokee artist, Ken Smith. I can never imagine cutting anything on it though.

In the middle is this huge island that we have wanted to rip out and redesign for years. In the meantime, it’s where we all hang out to eat, chat and is a great place for large buffet suppers — and Thanksgiving dinner of course.

Next up, you can see the French makeover I did for my girls several years ago. 

I finally got around to getting rid of the baby nursery colors and gave my 12-year-old son’s room a Star Wars makeover last summer.

Last on the tour is the master bedroom, which is again filled with inherited, found, and thrifted treasures. 

 

The iron bed was in an old house here, so I restored it several years ago and gave it a new life. 

As much as I love color, I have always loved white linens and have used an old white chenille spread, vintage embroidered pillow cases and a down comforter.

  The curtains are late 1970s from my childhood home, and have always been favorites.

I really think this white room needed that jolt of color to tie everything together.

All of my art is original and by family artists. I’ve hung several pieces gallery-style in the far corner.

A vintage Turkish rug, again, really helps tie everything together and grounds the room. I took up all the rugs except this one for summer.

An inherited Victorian mahogany dresser has lost its original mirror, but works equally well without one and gives me a wall to showcase more original art.

My crafty grandmother made this jug into a lamp years ago. Her rose paperweight reminds me of her.

I used this telephone until recently when we upgraded to internet phone in our area. I was so upset to find it would no longer work because we could always count on this phone when the power was out. We have such spotty cell service here in the mountains that a landline is necessary. 

The tole lamp is from the 1970s, but I broke the chimney a few years ago and never found a frosted replacement. I just added an LED Edison bulb and love the soft light it gives off at night. 

My grandmother’s trunk sits at the end of the bed and holds keepsakes and mementos. 

Another view of this room shows some of the doors that I found from the old house. They had been stacked neatly more than 50 years ago, so when I found them, I started measuring and had doors for our entire house — and in oddly different sizes. It’s like my grandfather put them there for me. I restored each one and reattached rim lock sets on most, and a couple that had mortise locks. 

I made a mantel out of one of the doors by attaching some old pieces of trim and painting it white. 

A Turkish plate, Turkish lantern I made into a light, Moroccan mirror, Lebanese candelabra, Indian incense burner and old family books complete the eclectic and very global look. The chair was a thrift shop find here.

My Cherokee cornbead necklace always hangs below. 

Corn bead necklaces are made from the seeds of the corn bead plant, also called “Job’s tears.” 

The gray color represents the sorrow of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears in 1838, where a third of the Cherokees forced by the U. S. government to march in winter, died along the way to a reservation in Oklahoma. According to legend, where tears fell on the ground, a corn stalk-like plant sprouted producing seeds in the shape of tears.  It’s a reminder of my mother’s heritage and ancestry here in western North Carolina.

And that is the inside of our humble mountain home. I just try to make it comfy, warm and happy for my family using things that mean something to us and not random store bought objects. Because home should be personal and tell *your* story, not someone else’s. 

I’ll be blogging the porches in the next few weeks as well, so please come back to see our outdoor spaces. In the meantime, you can see some of those from last year HERE.

Also please join me onfacebook and instagram for more behind the scenes.

Thanks so much to sweet Marty for wrangling us all into this marvelous tour. Be sure to go back to the beginning and visit all these talented ladies!! 

2018 Summer Home Tours

Monday – June 11

A Stroll Thru Life – Marty

Pink Peppermint Design – Tammy

Setting For Four – Heather

Nesting With Grace – Brooke

Cuckoo4Design  – Julia

Southern Hospitality  – Rhoda

Tuesday – June 12

ZDesign At Home  – Bree

 Inspiration For Moms  – Laura

Clean & Scentsible – Jenn

Simple Stylings  – Summer

Life On Virginia Street – Sarah

Remodelando La Casa – Cristina

Wednesday – June 13

Our Southern Home – Christy

House By Hoff – April

Our Fifth House – Carmel

Dimples & Tangles – Jennifer

Decor To Adore  – Laura

Follow The Yellow Brick Home – Amber

Thursday – June 14

Haneens Haven – Haneen

Monica Wants It – Monica

Duke Manor Farm – Laura

My Sweet Savannah – Melaine

11 Magnolia Lane – Christy

Life Love Larson – Andrea

Friday –June 15

Decorating Delirium  – Jennifer

Thistlewood Farm – Karianne

Thrifty & Chic  – Alicia

Hymns & Verses – Doreen

Starfish Cottage – Kristy

Far Above Rubies – Anita

I’ll be joining:

Wow us Wednesdays

Feathered Nest Fridays