interior design Archives - Upcountry Living

Creating design I LOVE

October 6, 2016 · 2 Comments

Hi, my name is Joy and I struggle with designing my own home! ha!

Y’all the struggle is real!

I find it so hard to make decisions for my own home. I think part of that comes from loving some many beautiful fabrics and furniture. However, I know immediately the things I do not like… but there are so many things I do love!

We come across so many talented people in this world via social media and I think it blocks us from really doing what we want in our homes. I know it has for me anyway. I am working hard to find my design esthetic again and creating design I love! I have been in the process of removing things from my home that I do not need or love and trying to figure out ways to use our home differently.

Currently I am trying to figure out how to create a room for our teenage son to go hangout when he has friends over. We are thinking gentleman’s lounge but fun not stuffy. My son wants it to feel cozy and warm and a little rustic. Who does that better the Ralph Lauren!?! My husband has always wanted what he refers to as a “Polo Room” and for me it has to be classic. I am a little scared because I know the walls need to go dark and I need light and bright to function. I want to incorporate build-ins in the space to hopefully display some trophies and art in a cool way. Stay Tuned!

Design I love-

All of these spaces inspire me and I am wanting to push the envelope a bit and go outside of my comfort zone, something I rarely do with my home. Fingers crossed I can pull off something great…then again its mostly paint, right?

Upcountry Living Market

November 2, 2015 · 2 Comments

Good Monday morning!

I wanted to share a little bit with you today about Upcountry Living Market.

I started Upcountry Living Market via Instagram in September and it has been a blast! I am so grateful for all of you that have purchased items from one or more of the “Insta Markets”.

In order to bring you a well curated sale of vintage goods I decided to switch gears and do a larger two-day sale that is coming up this week. It will be this Thursday evening, November 5th, 6pm – 9pm and Friday, November 6th, 10am – 2pm eastern standard time. I invite you to grab some wine or coffee and make it a fun time with your girl friends. Shopping is always more fun with friends! I want you to enjoy shopping the Upcountry Living Market and I will work every time to make each sale better than the last!

My goal is not to run around and gather whatever I can to make a dollar. NO! I search for things I would love and enjoy in my own home and that I find value in and hope you will as well.

You have no idea how many years I have spent in antique stores and flea markets! I love it and I am thankful to have finally found a way to turn a hobby into a business. It is a dream come true. I have so many things planned and in the pipeline for the future and growth of Upcountry Living as a brand. The sales are so fun and I would love for you to share the @UpcountryLivingMarket instagram page with your friends and family.

This sale will include black and white sketches, pottery, brass, linen napkins, blue & white, lamps and so much more! Can.Not.Wait.

Thank You for coming along with me on this journey.

Big News!

August 31, 2015 · Leave a Comment

I have Exciting News!

I am starting a new venture selling vintage home decor and pillows!

All items will be sold via my new Instagram account @UpcountryLivingMarket

The sale will be open only one day a week on Fridays from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm eastern time.

Starting Friday, September 18th with the first sale!

(several items in the this picture will be sold!)

RULES:

Items will be posted with description and price. All Shipping will be included unless other wise noted.

To purchase you will need to comment the word SOLD with your email address under the picture of the item you want to purchase.

All payments will be through Paypal and invoices will be sent ASAP. If you do not pay your invoice within 24 hours the item will go to the next person in line for backup. So if you see an item already SOLD before you got to it go ahead and comment SOLD with email and the word BACKUP. You never know!

All items will be shipped as quickly as possible once payment is received.

I am really excited to be able to bring you unique vintage items and beautiful pillows. I have spent many years collecting and buying things in hopes to one day be able to have a shop. This is the first steps toward what I hope to be a fun venture.

The first sale will include about 20 items being sold on a first come first serve basis.

Please follow my new Instagram @UpcountryLivingMarket and share with friends and family.

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : THE REVEAL!!

May 7, 2015 · 21 Comments

It is time for the reveal of my One Room Challenge!

To see the before you can look back to Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four and Week Five.

I am super excited to have this room finished for my family. We LOVE it!

It looks even better in person! I can’t believe I waited so long to do this!

I hope you enjoy seeing our new space.

One Room Challenge Living Room Makeover Reveal

Remember the Before…

living room makeover before

Adding the wood planks to the sides of the mantel changed the entire feel of this room. Before it was dominated by the brick and it sucked up every ounce of light that came in.

All of the trim, walls and bookcases are painted BM Simply White in semi-gloss.

Living room makeover orc

orc living room

The art came from my husbands grandparents house and his great aunt painted it. The large basket also came from the great aunt.

ORC make over Living room

Living Room Makeover

My son has a collection of wooden boats and my father in law gave him this one for his birthday last year. It is really big and trying to find a place for it has been a challenge. This worked out great!

Living room makeover

In the end I ended up using orange fabric. I was shocked at how much I loved it. I normally would never choose this color.

living room makeover pillows

stripe candles living room makeover

After the planks were installed I knew they need something. I found these simple candle sconce and added the black and white stripe candles for a fun twist. I love them!

Living room makeover pillows

One of the things I am really excited about is the fact that there are so many items in this room that have special family meaning. Those silhouettes are my husbands grandparents. The ones in the bookcase are my father in law and my husband. The blue candy dish above was a mother’s day gift from my son a few years ago. Because he knows I love blue and vintage things.

Living Room Makeover One Room Challenge

Living room makeover beverage station

All of the shells in the lamp are from our trips to Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

living room makeover 1

The rocks were picked up on our honeymoon.

living room makeover tv console

The TV console we built out of lumber and I added the skirt to hide much-needed storage.

Thanks to Linda from Calling It Home for hosting the One room Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Joy

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : WEEK FIVE

April 30, 2015 · 5 Comments

As we approach this last week of the challenge I have to say… I am feeling Challenged for sure!

This is my first One Room Challenge and I have learned a lot about myself.

I have worked on a tight schedule before, but this pushed me to make some decisions that I have put off for longer than I should have. I am so thankful for that!

If you are lost on what I am doing you can look back to see my plan.

Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four

On to Week Five…

I have selected my fabrics and I am excited to get some beautiful pillows put together.

Fabrics

Next up is selecting art. Please feel free to share in the comments what you think about what you see below.

My sofa is not that red in person.

sofa art

Moved this chest from our foyer

working on a skirted table for the T.V.

console cover

That is where I am as of today. I still have a lot to finish up.

Have a great week!

You can see what all the other participants are doing here.

Joy

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : WEEK FOUR

April 23, 2015 · 2 Comments

I can not believe that we are already on week four of the One Room Challenge!

To catch up you can take a look back to week one, week two and week three.

This week I feel like we got a lot done.

The wood is up, bookcases are installed and everything is painted.

Everything is painted in Benjamin Moore-Simply White.

This picture below is where I am trying out a lighter grout color. It is a little to white I think. What do you think?

Started adding books and playing around with styling the shelves.

All of the photos were taken quickly with my phone while working. Better photos to come 😉

Thanks for stopping by!

Joy

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : WEEK THREE

April 16, 2015 · 1 Comment

Welcome back for week three of the One Room Challenge!

If you are new here be sure to check out WEEK ONE and WEEK TWO.

We have finally settled on a plan for the way we are adding the wood to the brick and built-ins. We have encountered a few challenges along the way but I’m really excited to have that part figured out!

This week I want to share a few more details to the design.

I want to lighten up the brick to make it look more like what I call “Charleston brick”. That is not the name of my brick but the name of what I see in my head! Try explaining that to your husband! LOL

charleston brick

William Aiken House in Charleston, S.C. found on Pinterest

My goal is to lighten the mortar and the brick in a way that it will look original. I think I have finally found the solution.

Next up new pillows. I found these fabric last week and will be using one or two of them.

Art. I have a very large painting that was gifted to us by my husbands great-aunt.
upcountrylivingstyle.com

It’s beautiful and we love it but not sure if in the end it will stay in this room. I also want more family pictures and I have a pretty good collection of Audubon prints or some type of botanical prints above the sofa.

Pulled all together I think it is going to be our favorite room in the house.

Come back next week to hopefully see all the trim and woodwork installed. For now here are a few more beautiful images from the home of my inspiration photo.

All images are from Jackson Built Home website and it did not list who the interior designer of this home. I will assume they have a very talented team!

Joy

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : WEEK TWO

April 9, 2015 · 10 Comments

Welcome back for my ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : WEEK TWO makeover!

If you are here for the first time you can see my plan in my first post here One Room Challenge : Week One

I have to admit up until Monday I was still trying to figure out exactly how to go about getting the look I want without it taking a ton of work and a ton of money. I have really been torn on how much of the brick I want left exposed. We actually enjoy the warmth and texture the brick adds to our home and do not necessarily want to completely hide it. My goal is to lessen the 70’s vibe I get from it.

This is a little drawing of it I posted on instagram this week.

This is where we are at week two of our makeover and I am very happy with where this is going. My husband is just kinda going with it until he can see it. I think he trust me. We will be married 15 years next week and I just keep telling him this is my anniversary gift. We have been in this house for 12 of those 15 years SO it is time! He has a hard time changing things because he lived here until he was 12. His parents built our home in 1968.

I am super excited to have gotten these bookcases from my sister for FREE! A BIG money saver.

I plan to trim them out to make them look my “built in” than free-standing and add to the top so they go all the way to the ceiling.

Thanks again for following along and come back next week for round 3 of the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE! Also wanted to add that there are lots of others participating in this challenge and I encourage you to check them all out here.

Joy

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : WEEK ONE

April 2, 2015 · 22 Comments

Welcome and Thank you for visiting my blog today!

I am excited to announce that for the first time I will be participating in the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE! It is hosted by Linda from CALLING IT HOME.

The ONE ROOM CHALLENGE is a six-week challenge to finish a room. It is not a competition but a fun way to share great design and see lots of amazing bloggers, designers and DIYer’s do amazing things in their homes or clients homes.

Every Thursday for the next six weeks you can come back here to see updates of my room and then follow the link of the ORC icon to see all the others.

I have decided to do my LIVING ROOM

Fortunately we have two living spaces in our home and they both function well for our family. The living room is the first room you see when you enter our home. The front door and the back door both lead to this room. I want it to set the tone for my house and style.

Lets talk about style.

My husband and I have differences in this area but I am determined to make it work for us both! He likes a formal, richer look and I like light, bright and comfortable. However we both love antiques, wood tones and details. Since we live in South Carolina I want our home to have a southern vibe and be classic,comfortable, casual and fun.

The plan is to add built ins on the side of the fireplace and add a new mantel. I also want to lighten the mortar on my brick (somehow).

Here is the before:

This is my inspiration photo for the built ins and mantel.

However my t.v. will not be mounted above the fireplace and I have a leather sofa that will stay. New pillows, window treatments and possible two new chairs and coffee table!

We will see…

The fact is this is a BIG project to tackle but it has been on the back burner for years!

Don’t forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM for more on the journey and come back next week to see what I have accomplished.

Thanks for following along.

Joy

Master Bedroom Design (maybe)

September 24, 2014 · Leave a Comment

I can not believe I did this!

I have been having so much fun playing around with making design boards.

So I thought if this helps other people…maybe…it can help me!

If you were to purchase the exact items in the design board it would be WAY more than I am willing to spend.

My goal was to use a lot of similar items I already have on hand. I kept this in mind while “shopping” around.

Going with an “Americana Modern Country” look. That’s just what I was thinking in my head.