If you have been joining me on this journey, then you know how long we've been at it!  My first blog about our home renovation, Beech Street Bungalow: Before, was posted in May of last year.  Now, well over a year later, I can show you the progress that we've made in my favorite room(s) in the whole house!  Here is a little refresher of what the living and dining room looked like when we purchased our home.

We knew we loved the coffered ceilings, but we couldn't wait to update them a bit!  We also looked forward to relocating the glass french doors from both sides of the fireplace to other areas in the house.  Other than those two tasks, the most noticeable change was that we made the fireplace become the focal point in both rooms.  If you have time, check out Beech Street Bungalow: The Fireplace for all of the details!  Here is a glimpse of the room once we removed the walls and brick from around the fireplace.

Once the sheet rock was hung and our floors were refinished, it started to look like a home!  (You can check out Beech Street Bungalow: The Walls and Beech Street Bungalow: The Floors if you haven't already!)

Now it was time to get to work.  We had to remove all of the old trim from the ceiling beams in order to patch the problem areas.  Once the beams were repaired, we were able to hang new crown molding, and boy was that a job.  But, if you think that is bad, try caulking and painting it all!  We chose to paint the ceiling a flat "ceiling white" and paint the beams and trim semi-gloss white.  Me and my neck seriously wanted to throw in the towel on this one.  Jobs that are over your head are almost unbearable--I don't know how painters do it every day!  Other than caulking and painting, I also had to sand the beams in some areas to smooth them out due to the multiple layers of paint applied over the years.  I'll have to say, as miserable as it was, I'd do it all over again for these results.

Since we were able to keep the bead board wall on the West end, we had to find a way to finish the corners where it met the sheet rock.  We decided to go with lattice strips to create a smooth corner.  Once they were caulked and painted, they made the transition seamless!

​I chose "Still Water" by Sherwin Williams for the walls.  I knew this was a risky move, but I wanted to take the chance! And I'm so glad I did.  This big room, full of light and white trim, needed a dark color to add a little drama!

Not only did we have to caulk and paint the ceiling, but also the windows, door trim, and baseboard!  Thankfully, my mom was there to help me!  She worked on sanding the windows and painting the baseboard while I caulked and painted the windows.  This job was too big for one person, and I am forever grateful for how helpful our family has been.

We were able to use the original light fixture in the dining room and we ordered a brass colored ceiling fan for the living room.  (Can you tell how impatient my husband was about hanging our TV?!)

We chose to go with a carrara style tile for the hearth.  We thought this clean surface would complement the beautiful white ceilings! After I finished all of my painting jobs, I started tiling!  We had to build up the hearth with concrete to give me a (somewhat) level surface to work with.

I just love the combination of the brick, the bright coffered ceiling, the natural light from the windows, the carrara style tile and the dramatic wall color.  It couldn't have turned out any more perfect!

Phillip trimmed out the hearth and we were done! 

 Since these pictures were taken, we have moved our dining room furniture in! It was so fun to unpack our boxes of china and linens and put them in their place.  We have since hosted multiple dinners with family and friends, as well as a game night! We love being able to use this space and enjoy all of our hard work.  Breeze even loves this room too!

I hope you have enjoyed stepping into our construction zone!  We can see the light, and we are so excited.  We can't wait to put all of the finishing touches on the house and enjoy every minute of being "at home".

​Check out more Beech Street Bungalow renovation stories here!

​When I moved home twelve and a half years ago I had no idea what I was getting myself into! God is so funny that way, isn't he? I moved home to run my Dad's new retail shop not planning on staying long, and having zero business experience. Here I am, all these years later, now owning that business with my husband, who is now mayor of this little town we call home!

​Almost every southern cook I know has a recipe box or binder full of cards and slips of paper collected over the years from family, friends, and magazines. This is in addition to a cabinet full of cookbooks - from beautiful glossy picture-filled hardback books to spiral bound paperbacks filled with covered dish supper favorites and the name of the cook. My Mama had a dark wooden recipe box with a cornucopia painted on the top. She would pull it down from the cabinet above the stove, and we would know something delicious was about to happen in that kitchen.

When I got married, I received a recipe box, a couple of binders, and plenty of blank recipe cards. At the time, I had no recipes of my own to write on the cards and put in the binders or box! My mother-in-law gave me an old binder full of her and her mother’s recipes. This binder has become precious to me. Over the years, I have learned to make a few of those recipes, including my husband’s favorite - fresh peach cake for his birthday. (I shared this recipe in my blog Peach Cake.) ​

Last year, my Mama gave me the sweetest birthday present - her wooden recipe box! She included the card for my favorite meal as a child - Chicken Spaghetti! She’s also been working on typing up her other recipes to add to my collection. Of course, those in her own handwriting are the ones that are so dear to my heart. I have such sweet memories and feelings of home every time I look at that box.

Now that I have learned how to cook, I have lots of recipes in my everyday repertoire, and love gathering more. My problem is I have not organized all those recipes. I have a shelf full of cookbooks I’ve collected and lots of recipes scribbled here and there, but I don’t really have a system to organize them all. That’s one of those goals I’ve always hoped to get done, but never have! So, I’m trying to get my act together now, starting with our favorite recipe box from Rifle Paper Company. Choose from three different designs to match your kitchen and personality. We also have a cute Berry Basket Recipe Box you may prefer with its open top. And, all our recipes in the Recipe Archive are available in a printable format perfect for 4”x6” recipe cards to fit!

We love doing vintage shows because it gives us a chance to show off our true Southern style.  One of our favorite things to do is to use our new and trendier items to feature our special vintage finds.  We love the eclectic look this creates and we believe it brings our vintage finds to life again!

Each show we try to feature a different area or theme, so our booth at this show was heavy on kitchen and office items!  Of course, we still brought some of our favorite garden items and jewelry pieces to finish the look.

We are still obsessed with the unique jewelry that Sweet Auburn Studio produces.  These charming pieces are handcrafted with unique vintage finds to create the loveliest bracelets.

We mixed in a few vintage finds that felt like fall.  It is hard to transition into the next season when it is still so warm out, but then again, we're pretty use to that!

This was one of our favorite kitchen set-ups yet.  We are in love with this rusty old chicken coop and thought it would be the perfect way to display some of our recipe boxes and kitchen towels!

Vintage kitchen utensils and funky new kitchen towels make for a great pair. Our enamelware and jam was also a hit!  Full of personality, this area became a fan-favorite at the show.

We love to bring out our Rifle Paper Co. notebooks and calendars every chance we get! This office space is full of color, and color makes us happy!  

We underestimated how much everyone would love our paper rolls that can be mounted to the wall, so we're sold out!  They didn't make it to the website, but don't worry, we've re-ordered!  Keep an eye out for their arrival and in the mean time, tell us what else you want more of!

We are so blessed to have the opportunity to travel and meet so many new people!  We hope you've enjoyed a look at our last show and we hope you'll plan to make it to one of our holiday markets!  Check out our Events page to see what show might be close to you.

If you have seen anything that you are interested in pictured above that you have not seen listed on the web site, shoot us an email!  We aren't able to list all of our merchandise online, but we'd love to send it your way if it is still available!

Email us at:  thesouthernmercantile@fourthandcherry.com

Tara, Jorjanne, and I got a chance to hang out with our friend Carey this week to get a lesson in boiling peanuts. We had a ball spending the morning with him on his back porch, learning how he has perfected his methods of this very old, southern tradition of boiling peanuts.  ​