Howdy Pardner!!!!!

Okay, this is why I listen to what my heart says when my head and other heads are saying different. The days of week before last were the last we had to move out of our Ellicott City shop of which my portion was still full, prep days for a one-day show that weekend which included driving, packing, and hauling items from the Frederick shop, and my middle son's, Justin, 21st birthday. Sooooooooooooo, what do I decided I must do on Tuesday morning? Go to Janine/Nene and Woody's house and take pictures. It made no sense at the time as they haven't finished their new home, weren't moving out of or putting on the market the present home until some time in May, and there appeared to be no hurry to get party pics of that house before they moved. Here's the thing about trusting your "gut"...this guy knocks on their door last week, asks about the house next door, Nene tells him that one's not for sale but this one is, he puts a contract on the house and they want to close before the end of the month!!!!! Whew, remember, life can change very fast.I'm gonna play catch up here at some point. Chronologically I'm planning to back pedal and fill in blanks in case there's anyone out there who cares. So this is a picture of Janine and me on photo-op day. See how we are both wearing our vests? It was just a coinky-dink, happens all the time. Hers she called a "fishing" vest, I had deemed mine my "photographer's" vest as my appropriate costume for the task. Janine, mostly known as Nene (I call her J), and her daughter, Heidi, opened a shop at Oella Mill a couple of years after I did. They were an instant hit with all of us, both merchandise and personality wise. And of all things, Nene is from Oklahoma and had lived many years in Texas! After a bit of time, Nene was looking for someone to share space with at Oella and Paul of PJ's set the two of us up. Knock wood, for five years it's been a match made in heaven. We are soul sisters and she's a better friend than anyone could imagine. There is just not enough time for me to tell about all the wonderful things about Nene, she's FABULOUS! She's Meg Ryan meets Polly Anna meets Martha Stewart (Martha wishes) meets Scarlet O'Hara meets Santa Claus meets Helen Mirra meets...well you see what I mean about time. We've had three shops and a decorating business together for five years~and we are pretty much hand and glove. Here's the end of the bikini wax for now~she's a very special person (it's not just me, lots and lots of people think so too).

Here's the start of the house tour...above and below are in the kitchen area. Nene is THE MASTER of staging. And it's not staged looking at all, it is total creative nature coming out of her. Her put-togethers are ultimate eye candy~not cotton candy like me~dark chocolate cake~rich and satisfying.

This is in their pantry area. They have travelled a lot and have picked up a lot of cool pieces then Nene puts them together and wow!

Here's the dining area. Woody hand made the table himself to fit the area perfectly. It's beautiful and I think it stays with the house because he designed and made it specifically for that area.

This is one of Nene's original designs, the striped side board. She has so many things that she made or put together years and years ago, long before we started seeing the ideas in Martha or Mary, and this is one example. She even striped the tri-fold mirror that its topped with! She made urn-turned-lamp herself as well.

Another fave of mine that she does is the craft paper rollups. She makes rollups of brown craft paper then adds the coolest ribbon to finish it off. Most windows she's done in this house then have the addition of decorative panels. She does all her own sewing. I know, gag me with a spoon, but she's just that good.

The living room is where Woody took the top picture of J and me. She MADE the mirror screen~I don't mean she propped it in the corner~she hinged wood frames which are each about the size of a door, had glass cut for the inserts, then sprayed the mirroring on herself. She finished it off by gold leafing the frame. As you can see in the picture we are sitting in front of the screen on her zebra fabric covered chaise with the suitcase table she made by my side. Above is across the room~a round table which she made the dressing for and see how she covered the chair with half stripe, half red? U-huh. And the red curtains with the black and white striped border? U-huh.

Here are some close-ups of what you're seeing on her tables.

Below is the powder room on the main floor. Saying that J loves books is an unreal understatement. The Matisse painting is by her good friend, Gabi. See the book hanging on the standing lamp? See the books in and on the fab cab? U-huh. What you can't see (believe it or not a lot of my photos didn't come out well) is the set of encyclopedias stacked in a twirl next to the antique side board sink base (all of their sink bases are antique pieces and THEY'VE been doing that for over 30 years!

Upstairs, one whole wall in the hallway is a built in bookcase.

Crap, I keep accidentally deleting the pictures while I'm putting in the text. So, there will be a sequel right after this. To left is the dresser in the master bedroom. Here is where the photo of the headboard and the rest of the bedroom is supposed to be. Plus the pictures of the master bathroom. Please see next post, crap... Pics here and there from the guest bedrooms...

One of J's favorite photos she's got on her dresser.