The Best Gift

See this??

 

 Yep, it is the motorcycle Reed and I got engaged on, left our wedding on, and then sold 2 years ago. But guess what?! WE GOT IT BACK!

Yep. After years of dreaming, and many failed attempts to save the funds up I was able to purchase this beauty back and surprise him with it on our 3 year wedding anniversary.

After this I had so many people say “you are a keeper”, or “best wife ever” and Reed even said he could never get me something as good as that. But ultimately that wasn’t my goal. I wasn’t trying to win a battle of gift giving, or the best wife award, or have the coolest pictures on social media (even though I do because my super awesome and talented friend Mary, of Mary DeCrescenzio Photography, made sure we captured this moment for all time).

My goal was to love my husband well. Show him that I see those long hours, I see that sometimes he feels like he works all the time and never gets time to just do what he wants. I see that. I see him agonize over being able to put gas in the boat to go fish or go out for a quick bite at the Mexican restaurant. I saw him sacrifice his wants for me and our family for over 2 years. I knew he wanted to give me more, he would tell me constantly that he was sorry he couldn’t just let me go out and get the shoes I wanted. But each month he took me out for a fun dinner, I got to buy fun little pieces for my wardrobe or save funds for a trip with friends. He made sure that even when he wasn’t getting what he wanted all the time that I was feeling loved and supported.

During that time, when he was so selflessly giving to me, I didn’t have a job. I tried, and my pride always got in my way but Reed would remind me not to worry. We would figure it out. He would tell me not to get a job just for the money, he had our needs taken care of. I could do what I felt I needed to do, even if that was wait for my dream.

So when the time finally came that our budget grew, that my dream job came true, I knew I had to let him know I saw all his sacrifice. That is what this was about.

That my husband acted out the love of Christ for me for 2 years. He put me first. He lead our family the way we needed to go, even when it was hard. I wanted to give him something to love him well and let him know that HE gave ME the best gift. So no everyone, I am not the best wife ever; Reed is the best husband ever and I am just saying thank you.  

PS> if you need some awesome photography for your fam and you are in SC go check out Mary and her photography blog! She is so talented and a blessing of a friend :) 

The Studio Fall Opening

Last weekend started the Fall Season at The Studio and I couldn't be more excited to see how much we grow. We are almost at the anniversary of The Studio dream. Well, I guess not the dream but the drive to make the dream a reality! I opened for the first time at the end of October 2014, Summer Fest of 2014 is what gave me the push I needed to sell my art in a shop setting. And once again, Summer Fest was successful this year and I think we will be seeing many more faces come through the doors!

 

To recap for those of you new to The Studio. 
We are a seasonal shop located in York, South Carolina on the Flying King Ranch. Nestled back behind the iconic white farm house we fill our walls with regional artists, including artists from Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. (If you are an artist and want to be featured in The Studio, please feel free to email me with examples of your work! langdon.gracie@gmail.com)  As a seasonal shop we are only open at select times of the year. The holiday season (Nov/Dec), Spring (May), Fall (August/Sept) with these openings we change out our inventory to keep things fresh and ready for you to find that perfect gift.

Right now I am featuring 11 artists all who have unique styles and products.

Annie Broom: Fort Mill, SC
Annie Broom makes beautiful, bright and southern, monogrammed products. In The Studio, we feature her Mason Jar Tumblers, Burp Cloths, and little girl Bows.

Anvil Artistry: Columbia, SC
Anvil Artistry is a metal shop the produces hand forged items for the home. Beautiful yard art or a small key chain, you can can find something for any price and any space!

Bangles n' Baubles: Rock Hill, SC
Bangles n' Baubles is a fun jewelry vendor who has many designs to choose from. Stack her baubles or wear a bold pair of her earrings, either way someone is sure to compliment you :)

Clothed In Hope: Columbia, SC
Clothed In Hope is a unique vendor. They are an organization that works with women in Zambia to produce hand sewn products. Each purchase of a Clothed In Hope item provides education and opportunity for a Zambian woman to join a skills training program that will help them provide for their family.

Dave Armistead: Atlanta, GA 
Dave is a custom fabrication wood worker who uses sleek design to create his home decor items. His biggest hit at The Studio are his wine stands that seem to defy gravity!!

Eileen & Emily: Atlanta, GA
This mother daughter team comes up with the most precious little gifts! They have all kinds of stuffed animals for your little one to hold. And that football hat? I mean PERFECT for this time of year!!

Debbie Smith: Columbia, SC
Debbie Smith is a potter that creates pieces with a one of a kind flare. Each of her works have a body and feel of their own. Her bud vases, and french butter bells are some of our favorites.

Grace Langdon Art: York, SC
Grace Langdon Art (thats me!!) is a home decor vendor that produces custom furniture, lighting, and original works of art. The biggest seller from this vendor are the hand painted tin signs. The tin is harvest from York and Columbia South Carolina so many people feel a fun connection with the piece.

Mowgli & Baloo: Charlotte, NC
Mowgli & Baloo is a unique boutique that offers stunning art on wood panels. Not only do they produce art for your walls but they also offer totally one of a kind corn hole sets!! I have never seen a yard game more beautiful  than these :)

NTN Primitive Wood Works: Columbia, SC
Nate at NTN Primitive has a great eye for salvaging history. He turns tattered and old items in to unique pieces for your home. If you are looking for a piece of furniture that tells a story, NTN Primitive is your place!

Penny Pottery: Prosperity, SC
Penny Pottery has a unique term for her work. Clay as canvas is what she uses to describe her bowls, vases, and so much more. Each of the items are handmade by Penny, fired, then painted. Her stunning and whimsical florals make my heart happy!

If you see anything that interests you please feel free to leave a comment below or email me (langdon.gracie@gmail.com). We would all love you to come in and check out The Studio for yourself we are open for the Fall Season  Every Saturday in September  10 am to 2 pm  1546 Chester Hwy York, SC 29745 The Studio is my happy place. Seriously a dream come true and I am so blessed by it's growth and hope I can continue to provide a place for artists to sell their goods!  

Combining our Passions in to a Decorating Style

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by Compass, an online home finder company in New York, to share my starter story. You know, the story of your home and how it molded you as much as you molded it to you :) I loved the idea of this and totally jumped on the chance to really look at our home again.

So for starters, the home we are in now is not our first house together. In fact when Reed and I first got married we lived in a itsy bitsy house while we finished college, I mean it was so small you could plug in the vacuum in one room and do the entire house. Yes, thats small. If you wanna see more of how we made that itsy bitsy space in to our own check out these links >>

But for the purpose of this project, I felt like the home that we would say is the starter to our story is the one we are in now, our boondocks house.

We still don't own this house, but it's a step up from our last one because the landlords have agreed to let us make it fit our needs and style. Reed and I have done tons of projects both inside and out in the past year and a half. But I think the room that shows this the most is the living room. We have really combined both of our passions in life to make this space a beautiful expression of us as a couple. It gets changed around a couple times a year but the gist stays the same. 

Outdoorsman meets artist. 

Odd combo I know :) 

This room is bright and fun but oh so comfy. We've managed to have all our most important pieces in this space. Including some of Reed's animal mounts and my all time favorite painting. 

Most people think if you are gonna have taxidermy in your space that you have to go natural, rustic, or lodge/cabin style. But I don't agree! I think Reeds taxidermy is beautiful, and when paired with the bright teals, whites, and other pops colors in the room a beautiful juxtaposition happens and makes every corner of the room interesting. 

I'm not sure how I would describe our style, other than a perfect combo of the two of us. Maybe whimsical rustic?? Whatever you want to call our style, this house has allowed us to grow in to this style and really find out how to combine our contrasting passions in to a beautiful and unique piece of work. 

This house is in no way our dream, but it is exactly what we need.

What is your starter story?? Did you  have a house that molded you and your family in to what you are now?

PS. If you are in the NY area be sure to check out Compass and find your perfect home :) 

Master Bedroom Makeover vol. 1 - Dresser Revamp

Y'all, this is the longest Reed and I have lived in a single home. I mean it's only our second house together and it still isn't "ours" but we've been here almost two years so it's like time to make this thing "finished". And by finished I mean all of those "we just moved in half done projects" need to be checked off. And don't judge me, yes we have been here over a year and a half and I still have a couple of those projects laying around...

Our "master" bedroom (just one of the two bedrooms in the house, nothing "master" about it) was never finished. We kinda just threw our furniture and clothes in and said TA DA a bedroom!

I had a big list of things I wanted to do to this room and the first one was make our furniture "match". We still have our hand me downs cheap or free furniture and we love it. I'm not the type of person that wants to go buy a bedroom suit. I would rather find a really cool bed, a rad dresser, and whatever else just slowly collect to make my space perfect. So I didn't really mind the mismatch but at the same time it was just not put together. We had like 5 different wood stains going on and I just couldn't handle it any more! 

So for Vol. 1 of our bedroom makeover was to get our furniture to look like it at least belongs in the same space! That meant I needed to refinish the dresser to match the bed. (Love the bed. It was a gift and so we decided to center the room after its name sake, the bed.)

Luckily the mirror I had matched the finish of our bed so seriously it was just refinishing this super simple dresser. The stain I used was Red Mahogany by Minwax and painted the frame with Ivory Dust by Valspar. Seriously, like the simplest thing ever. I lightly sanded and applied the stain or paint and DONE. But as you can tell in the before and after it made a HUGE difference. No more orangey wood that didn't fit with anything I had, at all. 

Basically I'm pretty happy with it and am excited about how easy and life changing (yes, I know so dramatic but hey it's January) Vol. 1 of our makeover has been. 

I keep saying Vol. 1 so maybe if you are like real interested in my life you may be wondering what the other Volumes will be. Well, in the pictures above you can see part of Vol. 2! One of our biggest struggles with this house is lack of storage and we basically had stuff falling all over the place. So we have built a shelving unit along one of our bedroom walls. It's a slow process because we are kinda making it up as we go. Basically I didn't realize how many shelves Reed was gonna need for t-shirts and hats so it's taking longer than I thought ha. 

I wanted to throw in this picture because I felt like I was lying to you in some of my pictures of my dresser. Our room looked so uncluttered and fresh. Well if I turned to capture the other half of the room this is what it looked like.... all my clothes on the floor cause I didn't put them back in the dresser yet, 2 dog beds, and a boot dryer. Perfect blog material :) What are some of your undone projects you are hoping to check off the list this year?? 

2014 Project Review

Yesterday I posted my year in review post with lots about lessons I've learned in 2014. It is a lot of personal posts and things that I learned A LOT from.

But for those of you who could care less about my life and just want some good project ideas, here is the year in review just for you!!

Murphy Bed Tutorial - complete with not so great pictures :) 

DIY Cloud Light - a gift for a babies nursery 

Whimsical Stump Chairs - my favorite part of our yard! 

Industrial Hanging Planter - cheap cheap look for less 

Not one but TWO dress refashions! 

Long Bridesmaid Dress 

Little Black Dress turned Skirt 

DIY Arrows - rustic fall decoration

Halloween Costumes for you and your Pup!

Custom Built Wine Buffet - by far my favorite project of 2014!  

What a transformation to look back on 2014. I can't believe it, but at the rate I'm progressing I'm excited to see what projects I come up with in 2015!! 

Bloom Where You Are Planted - year in review

WHEW! When did 2014 disappear? I mean for real I feel like we just moved here and started life in the boonies, but it's now been over a year and a half!!

2014 has been a year full of lessons.
Lessons on life, love, and laughter (cheese ball, sorry). In all seriousness looking back on the year I've realized that Reed and I (mostly me) have learned a lot about growing up and living life. I believe we truly have finally started to bloom where we were planted :)

To give you an idea of how much we have grown here is a quick review of some of my big lessons I've shared with y'all here in blog land!

 Learned to control my social media tendencies and challenged myself to be a Supportive Wife On and Off Line. 

 Realized that my pride was hurting me and talked about how that realization changed my life.

Started the Envelope Budget! It may not sound exciting but it has been a HUGE help, and exciting experience :) 

Went to New York City!!!

Had an amazing summer with so much fun I didn't post about it :) oops! 

Took part in my first ever craft festival and it was a hit!

Rebranded myself to help shake out some big ideas. 

OPENED UP A STORE! 

The biggest and most exciting part of my year. 

It's a seasonal shop and I plan on doing an update on it again in the new year. Who woulda thought that at 24 I would be business owner, complete with taxes :) 

If you look back at my "blog year" I didn't do much. But if you look back at my LIFE so much has happened! I'm excited for 2015 and all that we can learn and achieve with another years time! I hope each of you learned lots and enjoyed your 2014 year but I hope even more that you will learn to bloom where you have been planted in 2015!