Sunday, September 20, 2009

Gap in the Hedge

We are planning several fall decorating projects to share with you, but before we begin I thought I would share a little story about our home, or "Gap in the Hedge" as it has lately been dubbed....more about that later.

When our family relocated to Atlanta in 1999 I had dreams of finding a lovely farm house on some acreage to fill with antiques and animals. After a rather frustrating search for our dream home we decided to shelve the idea and purchased a smaller house in a nice neighborhood close to the children's schools. While reading the Sunday paper a couple of years later I spotted a stamp sized advertisement in the real estate section that caught my eye, "1860's Era Farm House on Two Acres, " in our zipcode! It was no more than two miles away from where we lived. Later that day we drove over to the house and as a I walked up the drive to get my first view I had the most eerie feeling come over me, deja vu if you will. As I gazed at this lovely "plantation plain" style farm house from the street with its long front porch welcoming all I could hardly contain my excitement. It was so familiar somehow as if I had seen it in a dream...but how? We walked along hand layed brick pathways to the backyard and discovered a boxwood bordered herb garden with its own period summer kitchen that had been plucked from an estate in Alabama. We made an appointment with the realtor to view the interior a couple of days later. As we entered the house it was as if we were transported back in time, we were surrounded by period lighting, hardware, and furnishings from the 18th Century. Then it all came together! The realtor explained that the home owners ran a local antique business that specialized in 18th and 19th Century antiques and reproductions. Furthermore, she pointed to a stack of magazines on the table that had featured the home in several articles, books, and tv programs over the years. I began to flip to the marked pages in a Country Home from 1983. It was as if these images were burned into my mind. I remembered this article and each and every picture was still familiar to me...but it had been published 16 years earlier. Later at home I went through my stash of boxed magazines that I had saved over the years and viola! The very same magazine was there waiting to join the others given to me when, after many sleepless nights and prayers, a couple of months later the keys to the property were handed over to us.
The Lord works in mysterious ways and if we trust Him and are very patient we can all find our Gap in the Hedge.

Deborah Dean Scarbrough Nelson

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Pass alongs




This week I have come home each day to Spider Lilies popping up in borders and willy nilly throughout the property. By October I usually have a few hundred bulbs gathered and shared by my sweet cousin Hilda. Most visits to Hilda's produce a car load of various pass alongs including potted plants(pomegranate seedlings on the last visit), canned vegetables and pickles, frozen blueberries(hand picked of course), and of course bulbs from her garden, just to name a few.
As I plan my next bulb planting weekend I think of the seasons to come when Daffodils and Spider Lilies will greet me and I will be thankful for the dear ones that have so lovingly shared their time and treasures with me.
Stay tuned as we begin our own fall projects and pass along ideas and inspiration.




Sunday, September 6, 2009

Hello and welcome to our blog:)

We are a mother and daughter design team living in an 1864-era Plantation Plain home in Powder Springs, Georgia. Between us we have over 25 years of experience in the design field. We specialize in window treatments, bedding, furniture, carpet, and much, much more.

life·style n. A way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group.

We want to help you create a home environment that is a reflection of your personal lifestyle. In this ever changing environment with so much information to access and share with others we are thrilled to bring you some of our own passions as well as those of our friends and colleagues and hope you will enjoy our updates. To enquire about our design services please contact us at deananddean522@aol.com.

"The fruit exceeds what the flower hath promised."


Deborah Dean Scarbrough Nelson & Chelsea Dean Nelson