Welcome! Pineapples are a show of Hospitality!!

pineapples have long been a symbol of hospitality.  the display of pineapples, often seen in architecture and design, is a way to tell your guests "welcome"!
  
I have always loved this symbol and have them throughout our home.  as well, my husband and I decided to use the pineapple motif on our wedding invitations {which we collaborated on and designed ourselves} as a welcoming gesture to our guests, but, also, because we think they are beautiful and regal and represent where we're coming from since we live in a tropical place.  so, we thought a pineapple would be perfect. ☺

back to our home, though...  as I was gathering photos for this post I thought to myself, we actually have a lot more pineapples around than I realized {we even have slightly more than what I have pictured here}.  they must be discreet, though, because no one has ever come to my house and said, "hey, I see that you collect pineapples" as they do with other items we have a lot of... interesting, huh?  anyway, here they are!:

on the tea towel on our bar cart and as part of a flower arrangement {in the 1st photo}:

here they are in the flower arrangement again...

this is actually a candle.  it's on a sconce in our hallway:

...we have 2 of these candles; the other one is on our mantle:

right outside our home!:

this is a finial that I painted and screwed into an old lamp base, I liked both pieces better this way ;)

here it is unpainted:

it's the base of a lovely marble top side table- too bad you can't actually see how beautiful the marble is in these photos:

this is a pineapple lamp that I made, you can see how I did it here

and here's the proof of our invites!

xoxo

style sunday!

watching the golden globes red carpet is inspiring me to do an installation of style sunday - though i'm not going to be so literal as to do gowns...  just some loves and inspirations ♥

 

classic look with a punch- timeless, but still looks trendy

 

more red jeans...everyday look with a punch - i just put in my order for these {high waisted!} skinny jeans; khloe live in technicolor! 

 

go-to outfit...almost any boots will do! 

 

add a scarf for instant style- it brings up the whole look

 

i'm "recycling" this look - you may remember it from my tassel blog - i still love it and i'm still trying to find a blouse like this...

 

another blouse i need

 

classic outfit - i'm recycling this look from my tassel blog, too!

 

houndstooth blouse with tie - been looking for you!

 

classic blouse

 

gingham blouse

 

light blue blouse - another 'go to' piece

 

blazer i need 

 

blazer i need again...

more blazer... these all fit so well in the arms- know what i mean?  i loathe a baggy arm and i always have problems with that because i like a very tailored - sometimes structured - look.

 

supremely preppy chic

 

timeless chanel inspired jacket - great fit

 

some variation of this outfit will do...

 

okay, so maybe just a few gowns... 

 

i always love this one so much!

 

love emerald green... and i love christina applegate, too

style for underneath, too- nautical lingerie!

some of my all-time favorite shoes:

 

lilly pulitzer- just a knotty little wedge

 

michael kors seaport t-strap {which i'm still looking for} 

 my sperry palomas, which i have 4 pairs of- in three colors- and are my most favorite comfortable shoes - wore them all over europe on my honeymoon!!

today's project was a monogrammed lampshade...tutorial to follow!

you know when you get an idea in your head and you just have to do it?  that was this project for me today.  and i just had to get these photos up...tutorial to follow when i have a bit more time!! ☺

our Americana Thanksgiving Table

before + after w. card pulls!

navy is my new gray

gray was my new black but that was fleeting-  less than 6 months later, navy became my new black and there it stayed.

maybe because gray has been too overdone.  very likely because gray is neither here nor there and i need more powerful colors- black, white, pale pink... and i still love charcoal.  that's the best shade of gray.  it makes a beautiful, sophisticated impact.  so much to say about charcoal...  for more, see our charcoal bedroom here:  My color of the moment is Gray

but, anyway, back to navy:  navy is timeless, classic, elegant, nautical- so it still works here in south florida, preppy, masculine- in an elegant way for femmes too! -in a truman/roosevelt/hemingway kind of way...
we painted our bathroom navy with bright white crown moulding, and a dark wood 'medicine cabinet'- it wasn't really supposed to be a medicine cabinet, we repurposed it and it worked beautifully.  just the other day, my husband said to me, 'that's still one of my favorite of our finds.' 
i haven't photographed the WC yet because it still isn't finished- we have yet to find and add a strip of dentil moulding below the crown {harder to find than we expected!}- but, when we do, ill be sure to post pics right away!!
in the meantime, i only have a photo of another one of our cool, old finds that we've hung in there:

My color of the moment is Gray

My color of the moment is Gray- it's my New Black.

we did our {not so obviously nautical} bedroom in charcoal and LOVE it more than we even expected to.  
a happy surprise was that, with all our white trims, mouldings, furniture, accents...  a charcoal room stays light and bright and even 'airy', even in a north-facing room!!  {by the way, the hallway is black- for more on that one, see this post: back to the hallway!}
what do you think?