Unique Unique Design

It’s been a crazy week. Mayron and I went shopping at First Monday and, sadly, Mayron fell and ended up breaking her wrist in 2 places. She had surgery to have pins put in and is now on the road to recovery. She’s still uncomfortable when the meds wear off, but hopefully, will improve everyday. She has about a 4-6 week healing period. She doesn’t have a traditional cast, but some sort of “Frankenstein” apparatus as she calls it. (We’re not called Unique Unique for nothing!! :0). Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Here are some more pics from our Grand Opening.

Large silver punch bowl filled with purple slag glass.

The men’s bathroom.

Some mirrors in women’s bathroom.

Another view of women’s bathroom.

Vintage pebble swan.

Turbine lamp with burlap shade.

Metal cart, ladder, mirror, and pendant light.

Chunky buffet and urns.

This is taken from outside the store looking in. The chandelier in front is outside.

Gather has already had several events in here and we need to restock….especially once everyone picks up their purchases.

It’s been going well, except for the broken bones.

We’d love for you to come by and visit. We are open Thursday through Saturday from 10:00am to 5:00pm.

See you soon and WATCH your STEP!!

We did it!!! Gather and Unique Unique Design officially opened this new business Thursday night to a very receptive crowd. It was alot of work and took the hands of many people to get the completed project ready, The place looked wonderful with delicious food being served and oohs and aahs being heard all around. These pictures were taken before all the food was placed and one table wasn’t completely set, but hope you can get an idea of what was there.

Large paper flowers by Theresa made exclusively for Unique Unique.

Olive jars and horn floor lamp before paper comes off windows.

Large shirt counter with awning in the background and antiqued mirror that can be customized for you situation.

Large basket and ironwork.

Metal shelves, large trough, cheese mold pendants, linen covered bench.

Another view of mirrored table and acrylic containers. That’s a canvas and iron voting booth in the background.

White pumpkins, purple velvet pillows and a better view of the voting booth.

This is a really neat industrial cart with linen cushion.

A large piece of original art done by Carol for our store.

Stone fireplace, tall conveyor belts, wicker settee with linen covered down cushion, and homemade marshmallows on the sticks and on the cake plate.

French table with cast iron urn and downspouts.

The table in the background hasn’t been set yet and food is not all out on front table, but the coconut cupcakes are waiting to be eaten!

This is a venue for events such as luncheons, meetings, rehearsal dinners, special occasions and weddings. Really for all manner of things folks want to “Gather” together to do. And it is, also, a fun place to shop during your gathering or walking in off the street. Unique Unique Design is the design end of this with lots of wonderful merchandise you can take home. Most everything in the store is for sale or can be ordered. We’d love for you to come by and visit if you find yourself in McKinney, Texas. Mayron and I plan on having the shop open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays from 10:00am to 5:00pm. You will, also, be able to shop by appointment.

I will add more pictures taken on Opening Night soon. Hope you enjoyed the little tour and wish you could grab a marshmallow or cupcake!!!

See you in McKinney!!!

I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted on our blog or even checked out other blogs. We have been extremely busy!! The house project we were working on changed to an “opening a store” project. The lady we were working with on her house ended up leasing a large space for an event center. She asked us to come in on the project with her. As a result, she decided to put her house on hold until she got this new business up and running. Just in the last couple of weeks she actually found a preexisting home that she has decided to purchase…..so our projects have changed greatly.

We will be showing and selling from this new venue. We will, also, be working in conjunction with events that occur there. Our merchandise will be for sale, but, also, add to the decor of the events. When some one wants extra for an event, they can hire us to come in and do more than the basic package. “Not your standard” rental items will be available from us, too.

This has all happened very quickly, so we have been pretty slammed. Our inventory had gotten low as we had been selling from the house, but not really making a huge effort to replace it. So, here we are about to open this exciting new project where you can shop, eat, have a party or even get married!!

Gather in conjunction with Unique Unique Design will officially open the doors on Thursday Oct. 21st at 6:30 pm.

There will be

Sensational Shopping 

and

Scrumptious Snacks

and a fun time for all.

If you are anywhere in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, please join us and bring a friend or more. We are located at 207 E. Virginia in McKinney, Texas. If you have any questions, please e-mail or leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Sorry, we’ve been away sooo long, but will try to do better once we open.

Put on your shopping shoes and come say hi!

We’ve been working on elevations for the house mentioned in the previous post. The Historical Society is involved, so that makes it a little more challenging. Sometimes Historical Societies have strict guidelines on what you can do and not do. Not so much with the one we’re working  with. It’s much more subjective. That can work for you, but it, also, makes it harder to nail down what they are after. I guess you hope the guy who is working with you hasn’t had a fight with his wife the day you submit your elevations! We’ve made several changes as you can see below. Right now we are waiting to hear about one that isn’t shown here. I’m sure we will get it all approved before too long.

In this one, we have the center roof line too high. The window above the garage doors will be changed to the large area of the roof. The garage roof will no longer be a hipped roof, but a gable.

Here, the roof line over the garage shouldn’t include the door. We don’t want the timbers above the garage doors. We do like that the center roof has been lowered. Still tweaking. Will have it all figured out soon and hopefully it will be approved by the “powers that be”.

We have been working on this project with a great architect. All the above drawings are done by Steve. Check out Steve’s website at www.sshomedesign.com. We have, also, been working with Ed at Jered Homes. Both guys are fun to work with.

Will continue to update our progress. We are, also, involved in another exciting project. Will fill you in soon. We’ve been quite busy.

Thanks for following our blog. We love to hear your comments.

Stay cool!

Literally, we are looking for the rock to go on the different areas of the house we are working on right now. The main part of the house will be a very light stucco. We are looking at stone that has some variation in it, but is still very light and muted. We took these pictures of some stone work that we thought would work with the design of the house. Some of the stone is a little darker than we are thinking, but we like how it is laid out.

This first picture is closer to  the color we are wanting,

but….

the walls here are more like the style.

Haven’t decided for sure yet, if the roof will be a darker color like this..

and then use a copper roof over the bumped out kitchen window and another arched window with arched roof above the garage doors.

These are just samples of colors not actual roof material.

There will be a small courtyard in the front of the house that can be accessed from the kitchen and a side gate.

We love this stacked stone wall for the courtyard. If you notice there is a planter that runs along the length of this.

We still have a little more planning work to do before we actually break ground. Soon, we hope.

What do you think of the stone?

Have a “rockin’ week!

Before we left for vacation, our friend Laura from Dela Designs, wanted me to come by and see the house she’s been working on for several months. This was originally an older farm house and they gutted it and redid it all. The day I was there the contractors were still there working on the house. It was getting very close to occupancy, though. It is located on a beautiful piece of acreage. I’m not really sure how much land it was sitting on, but it was quite lovely.

This is the breakfast room. The seating will be part of a banquette.

A window above the sink in the laundry room that looks out into the back yard. Notice the countertops are galvanized metal.

The sink in the guest bath is an urn. It looks great!

The teenager daughter is getting this precious vinyl covered headboard with mirror surrounding it. Note the cool pendant light in the dormer. This will be a really fun room when finished.

This is the covered back patio overlooking the pool. Way back in those trees is a creek.

Same patio looking out to tennis court. In the lower left corner is Laura’s great Dane, Rocky.

A view of the front of the house. It looks smaller than it is when you get inside.

If you look straight out from the patio, past the tennis courts, you see this absolutely wonderful barn! You can’t see it in this picture, but there is gorgeous  rock waterfall (large) in the very back of the barn. These are some lucky horses!!

Thanks, Laura, for letting me come by for a tour and take a few pictures.

Smiles!

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but we have been on vacation.  We took our 2 oldest grandkids to Colorado to look at schools in Colorado Springs (the Air Force Academy), Golden (Colorado School of Mines), and Ft. Collins ( Colorado State University).

This is a view of the campus and Chapel at the Air Force Academy against the Rockies.

The library at CSU.

We didn’t get any pics in Golden at Mines, because it was raining. Golden is a quaint little town nestled in the foothills of the Rockies.

We went on up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to visit my brother and sister-in-law. They have a beautiful home in Jackson. Everything was so green and all the lupines were in bloom. There was not a bad scene any direction you look!

This is their house with all the beautiful trees and green. The hill in the back through the trees is the foothills to the Tetons. It is sooo gorgeous there!

We visited Grand Teton National Forest. The sights are breathtaking!

Overlooking the Tetons. The barns were built by early Mormon settlers

Another view from an enormous picture window in Jackson Lodge.

We, also, went up into Yellowstone National Park. What an amazing, but strange place with its geysers and bubbling mud holes and sulfur boiling up out of the ground.

The clearer the water the hotter it is.

Mud volcano.

Not all the sights were as strange as these. Here are a few more picturesque.

Yellowstone Lake…the largest lake above 7000ft is USA.

The lower falls cascading down this unbelievable canyon!

We saw moose, elk, deer, antelope, osprey, buffalo, a red fox, and various other critters. What amazing animals were roaming around.

Last but not least, you didn’t think you’d get away without a picture of my grandkids, did you??

Here is Mason and Madi with my brother. We were waiting to have a chuckwagon dinner and watch a show put on by some very talented ranchers. They were fabulous musicians and so funny our sides hurt!

Well, that’s where I’ve been. Now we will be getting back to work. We are still in the layout and planning stages of house we are helping design. Will show pics of some of this as it progresses.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. No doubt the best designer ever is our Creator! We saw some awesome real estate the last few weeks.

Here’s to beautiful sights in your life!

We’ve all waited for this day and now it’s upon us!  Luann, Kaci and Kaci’s husband Robert have put the finishing touches on their shop, because in a few short hours at 10:00 AM the doors will open for the first time.

If you are anywhere near McKinney, Tx you need to go to their opening. They have a warm, natural, organic look. You’ll love their wonderful vintage finds.  Luann told me their merchandise  seems to be either local or french. Robert, a classically trained chef, will be serving up tasty treats for lunch or to take home to enjoy. Fresh flowers, herbs, plants, and dried twigs and branches will, also, be offered.  So, stop by Patina Green Home & Market and sample for yourselves the fruits of their labor.

Below are a few pictures of past shows they have done.

Photo from Patina Green

Hope you will have a little time to run to the “market”.

116 N. Tennessee

McKinney, Texas 75069

Happy Weekend!!

Now for the rest of the story. These pictures are from Judy’s (J Hill Designs) bedrooms and bath. All the bedding and pillows are Judy’s own line. Also, she does the curtains and valance in the master bedroom. She calls her line “Whitewashed”. It’s 100% cotton in whites and oatmeal. Every piece is prewashed with that soft, inviting feel. Remember when sheets were hung on the line to dry. They had that fresh air smell and freshness. These will bring back those memories from a time gone by.

Old brass bed in front bedroom.

Sitting area in front of bay window in the same bedroom.

This is a twin bed in the middle bedroom.

Snacks for overnight guests!

A slipcovered chair in masterbath.

Judy had 2 full size beds set up in her master bedroom.

Looking out the window between the beds. Note the beautiful valance she designed in these 2 pics.

The rest of the pictures were taken on her back porch. The food for the day was served out of a 14′ metal boat. This was the room I got to help with. We had fun
“playing” with all this! Because of the weather the porch was dark and for some reason these pics are blurry. I’m posting them anyway, so you might get an idea what was done out there.

The back of the boat. We had lights in those pots. Also, the food was not put out yet.

Here’s a seating area across from the boat. All the eating utensils are in various containers on that metal shelf.

Length of the boat with old cot at the front partially tucked under.

Another view.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing some of Judy’s amazing creativeness in these last two posts. Would love to hear what you’ve seen here that “floats your boat”.

Happy Fathers Day!

Last Thursday Judy of J Hill Designs held her always anticipated spring home show. I got a ring side seat, as I went a day early to lend a hand.  Since Judy is a very good friend and we don’t live close to one another, it’s always fun when I can go to supposedly help her and Billy get ready, but we actually get in a whole lot of “talk time”!!

As always Judy’s displays and arrangements are “over the top”.  Everything looked beautiful and shoppers were certainly not disappointed. Sales were brisk and soon the house was looking alot more sparse.

The weather was dark and dreary as you can tell from my dark pictures. I tried not to use the flash.   Even so, a fun time was had by all and the show was a big success in spite of the wet day.

Entry hall.

Harp in living room.

Small Italian metal table.

Table in center of living room with large iron urn. Notice all her custom pillows on the sofa.

Jars with shredded paper and Mary.

Full view of sofa and pillows.

Vintage chair newly upholstered in beautiful brown fabric with crazy quilt rolled up on top.

Music sheets rolled up under cloche.

Umbrella with custom cover in living room. Sorry about the bright lights!

Great fabric on this reupholstered chair.

Birdcage with lamp inside.

Place setting on dining room table.

Slipcovered vintage sofa in Judy’s breakfast room.

This is not all the pictures I have. I’ll post more in a couple days. The rest will be of the bedrooms and the backporch.

Enjoy the tour and keep cool!