Christmas In July

Since July 1st is here, it is only appropriate to do a follow-up Christmas in July post of Judd's cousin, Richard Keith Langham's annual dinner party featured in Veranda magazine. Click here for the entire article. What an over the top Christmas. Very loud, yet tasteful. Merry Christmas in July!

Skiing in Colorado

I am a little late with this post. Maybe it will help you to cool down in this summer heat.

Aspen Tree

Judd and I took a trip in February 2009 to Denver, Colorado to visit our friends from graduate school, Adrienne and Scott Burton. They were amazing hosts. They took us to Keystone and Breckenridge to ski. It was freezing, scary, fun, and breathtaking all at the same time. This trip was the first time that Judd and I had ever snow skied. Needless to say the first day was spent mostly in the snow rather than on it. Thanks for your patient teaching Adrienne and Scott.

We also spent some time in downtown Denver, at Red Rocks Amphitheater, and we drove through Golden (Where all the beer is brewed). We officially tapped the Rockies. Ha. See photos below.

Abby and Judd on Gondola at Keystone

Adrienne (Front) Abby (Back) at Keystone

De-frosting in the lodge at Keystone. It snowed hard on us all day!

Scott, Adrienne, Abby, and Judd at the Dam Brewery

Second Day: Judd and Abby outside of our Condo (Look at that view!)

Abby at the lodge at Breckenridge

View from the Continental Divide (Check out the linticular cloud. I mean spaceship.)

Judd and Abby at the continental divide (elevation, 11,990 ft.)

Abby and Judd with the stage in the background at Red Rocks Amphitheater

Back side view from Red Rocks Amphitheater

New York, NY-Is E-Stalking Ok If You're Related (By Marriage)?

Ok, so I probably shouldn't post this because it might make me look like a loon. But what they hay, here goes.

My husband, Judd Langham, is from the small town of Brewton, Alabama. It is just a few miles from the Florida line. Anyways, he has mentioned several times that he has a cousin he would like to meet who is an interior designer in New York City. I have met this cousin's father a few times because he owns the local dry cleaning shop in Brewton. In fact, I have had a rather tense encounter with him when his assistant instead of hemming Judd's brand new white linen Ralph Lauren pants for our honeymoon accidentally cut through the leg and ruined them. Even more reason I should probably not post this. (Keith if you ever read this please forgive me for e-stalking you and for my persistence with your daddy on reimbursement for the pants. I sure would like to meet you in person sometime.)

One day while my husband, who is a landscape architect, was working on one of his Master level projects in studio at Auburn University, a dear friend and classmate, Tripp approached him. Tripp had a copy of Southern Accents magazine in his hand and said "is this guy the cousin you mentioned was a designer." Judd looked at the article and said "oh, uh-huh." Tripp and I were both amazed. This cousin, Richard Keith Langham, is extremely talented and even more extremely well-known. Apparently, he has designed homes for Jackie O, Hilary Swank, etc.

When Judd and I moved to Philadelphia, PA 2 years ago we made several trips to NYC. While walking with our friends to Serendipity for some yummy frozen hot chocolates we just happened to pass a red lacquered door that said Langham and Company. I even stopped to take a picture of it and said oh cute we're famous--just teasing of course--because our last name was on it. As we walked off, Judd said "I bet that was Keith's studio." The studio seemed very grand and we shrugged it off thinking well maybe not. I mean, of all the doors in New York City, we just happened to wander by his. Nah, no way.

Well, once we got back to Philly I couldn't help but Google him. Yes, that door was the entrance to his elegant studio. I wish he had been there, we sure would have gone in to say hello. My husband is much younger than Keith so they don't know each other well. Judd says he thinks he remembers meeting Keith once or twice when he was little. I think it would be so much fun to get the two of them together. They both apparently inherited the eye and talent for design gene.

Anyways, I am really blown away with Keith's work. I wish I could find more images to share. See below for pictures found during my e-stalk of his studio, a beach home featured in Southern Accents, and a picture from a movie premier with Keith and Renee Zelwegger. Also, Keith was referenced in this article on painted floors.

Cabin Chic

So when blogging the other day, I came across this beautiful post of a family farm. The blogger, Julie, went to my alma mater, Auburn University, and was also in the same department (College of Architecture, Design, and Construction) as my husband. I feel like I should know her, but unfortunately I don't. I just loved her post about her grandparents farm. It has inspired me to think about some ideas for my in-laws cabin on their farm in Brewton, AL.

My mother-in-law, Dot, and father-in-law, Terry, own a cattle farm outside of town. When they purchased the property it had an existing cabin near the pond. Until this year, there was no running water out there. They recently had a well dug and pump installed. It has yet to be plumbed to the house. The cabin is currently undergoing a make-over. My handy brother-in-law, Colby, with a little help from the rest of us replaced the exterior wood, re-decked and screened the porch, installed new electrical wiring, put cedar boards on the interior walls, re-did the ceiling, and installed a new steel roof. The cabin has come a long way, but still needs some major work before it can be inhabited.

It is basically a small one room type of dwelling. The kitchen and living space is divided by a double sided fireplace. There is not a bathroom yet, but I am assuming that is the next thing to be added. Please note that no one plans to live here full time. It is just a place we currently use as a fish camp and gathering place. The cabin is on a much smaller scale than most of the following pictures, but I figured we can still use them for inspiration.

I have really enjoyed dreaming and thinking about how to make the cabin a beautiful, comfortable, fun, and special place for our family and friends to gather for many years in the future.

I hope you enjoy my rant as I attempt to explain my ideas for the cabin from each picture. Note: I found most of these images on flicr so I can't necessarily cite them. I will try to do so if I know the source of the image.

View of Cabin

Side View

Barn

OK, bare with me. This is a pictorial tour of everything I have had in my mind for the cabin for the last few years. We'll start with the idea of taking up close and personal shots of the cows to hang on the walls. I got this from idea from a calendar with photos of puppies taken in the same manner. Originally I had planned to take them myself of the cows actually at the farm. I found these on flicr, however, and think they are so cute that we should just use them.

I think this little lady is just hysterical.

Moving on to the dining space in the cabin. There is a small space on either side of the fireplace. I am hoping to find a drop leaf table to keep folded in the down position against the left wall when facing the fireplace with 2 or maybe 3 chairs around it. The idea is to have something small and available to eat on all the time, but when we have a big crowd to have something than can be pulled into the living room and opened to accommodate a large group. A drop leaf table is perfect because it will still allow us room to walk in and out of the kitchen and into the living room. On a side note, look how great that painted china cabinet looks against the wood walls. Love, Love, Love.

Perhaps a table like this one. Does the dog come with it?

Also, I think red chairs would be precious around it. This picture is from Pottery Barn. Note the table is also drop leaf.

These are the chairs from Pottery Barn. I think all of the colors would work, but I especially like red for the cabin.

Case in point, how cute and rustic is this?

Time for the kitchen. The kitchen is located in a much smaller space than seen below. It is located behind the fireplace. I just like this picture for idea purposes (i.e. paining the cabinets red). Again, the cabin is no where near this scale.

Another rustic kitchen with red cabinets.

The scale of the kitchen is more along these lines, although it is still smaller than this. The walls are also a natural color like the picture below. Perhaps instead of red, the cabinets would be a better contrast with the walls if they were painted cream.

I think a light like this would make a great pendant for hanging over the kitchen sink.

I absolutely love dishes. I especially loved thinking about what kind of dishes and flatware to use at the cabin. I bought my brother-in-law an 8 place setting of antler flatware like this one from Ballard Designs for Christmas two years ago.

There is nothing like southern sweet tea from a mason jar. I think these jars would make perfect drinking glasses.

I have been eyeing this Spode Woodland pattern for quite some time now. It would make the perfect rustic place setting at our drop leaf table. It comes with lots of great themes (Turkeys, hunting dogs, etc.)

I am especially partial to the hunting dog series. Cole, our black lab, would be so proud of his mommy for finding such a cute plate on which he is the key feature.

The restaurant chain, Cock of the Walk, uses tin dishes like these. These would make a great casual choice for our dinnerware.

The living room is on the opposite side of the fireplace from the kitchen. I think there is room to float the sofa in the center of the room across from the fireplace with two chairs on the cabin's back wall and a bench on the front wall adjacent to the porch. I love this dark denim sofa with nail head detailing.

The fabric that covers the sofa has to be durable. After all, this cabin is used as a fish/hunting camp. We all come in pretty dirty. If we decide against using the dark denim, maybe a good alternative would be leather

On the back wall, two cowhide chairs similar to these by McCall would look great. I would prefer a darker cowhide.

These were a fantastic idea. I am so glad I found this picture. They are throw pillows made from feed sacks. I think they would especially look cute on the dark denim sofa.

Depending on if there is room or not, this rocker would make a nice addition to the living room. I am thinking about putting it close to the right side of the fireplace.

This is the kind of bench I am picturing for putting along the interior front wall. I think it would provide some much needed extra seating while still allowing traffic flow to and from the kitchen.

These end tables from Cabella's might be a nice touch on either side of the sofa or in between the cowhide chairs.

This weathered coffee table would look great in front of the sofa. Plus it would make a great place to play board games.

A small end table similar to this one would also be cute.

Behind the floated sofa is the small sleeping area. We already have a loft bed to put in this space with a full size bed underneath it. Since the cabin is essentially one room, a curtain room divider (perhaps with blackout fabric on the back side to reduce light pollution) will be the perfect solution for differentiating the living and sleeping space and also will add some much needed privacy.

Another curtain example. I like this fabric so much better. I am thinking a linen that will resemble burlap.

This is a primitive example of a curtain room divider. The cabin is actually similar in scale to this photo.

I found this lovely hardware at Pottery Barn. This fixture can be mounted on the ceiling and the curtain can be moved back and forth on this track rather than hanging a rod. I really like this idea and this fabric.

Behind the room divider will be a loft bed on the back wall similar to this one's style. The one we have was custom made by a friend and is in a more rustic finish. The bed in the photo is from Broyhill.

Judd's grandmother, Mamaw Read, was an amazing quilter. Thanks to her, there are numerous family quilts to drap on the beds--similar to the bedding below

On the interior front wall of the cabin across from the bed, behind the front door, a chest of drawers with some country decor would look nice.

A painted one like this would look especially great!

The ceiling of the cabin is plywood sheeting. It looks perfectly fine, I just liked this photo and thought the painted ceiling was a nice touch.

This is the best ceiling photo yet. The ceiling in the cabin is low. Any type of lighting will hang down too far. The best solution is pot lights like these. They really look great.

These are two random things that would be fun. A barrel cooler like this one to go on the porch.

And this fishing garland for the cabin Christmas tree.

What do you think? Any suggestions?