Victory Chateau

This is where we call "Home Sweet Home." 

Victory Chateau are vintage apartments in the heart of the Cultural District of Fort Worth.  Settled in a charming neighborhood within walking distance of boutiques, antique stores, dry cleaners, yoga and dance studios, bakeries and even downtown. 

Our place is cozy and quaint and we are so happy here! We want to take you on a tour as we promised we would... 

Our home is on the first floor, on the very right, with the big white windows.

Come on in...

The front entrance leads you into the family room, full of light with big windows, and enticing comfy couches recently piled high with throw pillows we made ourselves. Notice the white lamp in the corner...  it is the one Ben surprised me with for our Anniversary.  

 The picture below does not do it justice but we've featured our brother in-law Bryce's art that he gave us as a wedding gift.  His art is contemporary and unique and we love it.

This area of the room deserves more attention and in time will get it.  We do love our panther that is also a vintage lamp that we discovered at Montgomery Antique store.

 Our living room leads into our dining room. The mirror on the wall and the rod iron radio bench that we re-upholstered were once Grandma Snarr's.

We love the vintage features of our home... the six panel doors, glass door knobs, built-in shelving, vintage stove and hardwood floors.  Our dining room has become a place to display all of our travel souvenirs and pretty things. The Rooster painting is one that we found on our trip to the Dominican Republic; we put a gaudy silver frame on it and now it is a bold piece of art that stands out.  

 Ben grew up with this candy machine in his bedroom. We've filled it with skittles and it has become a big hit with our guests! I'm not sure why there are baseballs in the bowls but I guess that is what you should expect when you have a husband absolutely obsessed with baseball!

This closet off the dining room stores anything and everything... Thank goodness for some closet space! 

From the dining room you enter the kitchen, my favorite place in the house.  The old stove adds so much charm to this space!

The side door leads to a little walkway along the house and there is some room for us to one day plant some flowers and maybe even some vegetables.  The map on the wall has been backed by a cork board so that we can put pins in all the places we've traveled to and Temples we've attended.  We hope to fill this map with more and more pins! The sign above the door: "happy: delighted over a particular thing; cheerful & willing." Of all the words in the dictionary, "happy" is the one I want to describe my home.

 

Grandma Snarr's handmade rug. What a talented woman! We love it so much we want to use it, even if it that means wearing it out... so it sits under our sink, much better than having it boxed up where we can't admire it.

As you can see, we use every inch of the counter we can! The thermos dates back to before I was born; my father used to take it to work with him. The picture dates back to Ben and I on a date, eating sushi, before we were married.  The juicer is used for pretty decoration and of course, fresh squeezed orange juice-- it is the only way to go! 

Yes, that is a voodoo doll toothpick holder... we like quirky, silly stuff like that.

 Remember my birthday gift last year? The metal bird we discovered at an antique store has found its perfect place, hanging above our stove.

We collect magnets from places we've visited or lived, thus the reason our fridge is covered with them!

The hallway from our kitchen leads to a bathroom and our bedroom. We love our bathroom, especially the purple tiled floor! We are in the process of decorating this room and hope to make our own shower curtain.  Stay tuned for the "after" pictures.

Our bedroom is full of windows and a back door, which we have blocked since we don't need to use it. We have two closets, one for him and one for her. We've hung our Zebra from Africa that we inherited from Ben's late Uncle on the wall behind our TV. Since we can't paint the walls it is a great addition to the room.

Now that you've had a virtual tour of our place, you are more than welcome to come see our place and more importanly us in person! 

Getting to our "To Do's"

PROJECT ONE:

We inherited beautiful silver serving spoons from Ben's late Grandmother Snarr.  With a little elbow grease we were able to remove the tarnish and revive the silver (some even dating back to the early 1900's) to their original luster. Now, we can serve our guests using such dainty silverware--thanks Annabelle.

  

PROJECT TWO:

We've been wanting to brighten up our couches with some comfy throw pillows. After searching the store aisles and Internet sites we realized that the only way to get exactly what we wanted, for a reasonable price, was to do it ourselves. Once we found fabrics we fell in love with, we couldn't wait to begin the project. Once we started, we couldn't stop. We literally stayed up until 6am to make 8 pillows. Completely worth it.

Ben and I took turns measuring, re-measuring, cutting, sewing, and stuffing.  We made multiple shaped pillows, even a round pillow, with pretty little buttons.  Not to brag or anything, but seriously the pillows turned out pretty darn awesome.  You would never guess they are handmade by us!

Drum roll please... 

PROJECT THREE:

This is the antique highchair Ben grew up in. His parents have a great appreciation for antiques and they have many in their home, but this particular piece meant a lot to Ben. Of course his other siblings used this highchair as well, but once everyone was grown, his parents passed it on to us.  This chair has endured five children worth of mac & cheese, cereals, juice spills and birthday cakes.  We've taken it upon ourselves to clean, sand, stain and re-cane this old chair so that it will be perfectly refurbished for a whole new generation of hungry lil' Snarrs:)

NOTE: This particular project is quite the undertaking and is still in progress. Stay tuned for pics of the "After" product.

I Love Lucy

I love Lucy. I do, I really do.

I have such good memories from my youth, staying up late, watching reruns of her show during sleepovers at my friend Kristins house. I've been watching clip after clip of her shows tonight and can't get enough. She truly is a legend-- one of the very best actresses of all time.

Happy 100th Birthday Lucille. 

 

July Fourth Festivities

Best part of our Fourth of July celebration:

Most definitely the box sledding with our neices and nephew!

I've been snow sledding, ice blocking, and now i've expereinced the Texas (or anywhere that lacks snow) version of sledding: box sledding. Just find the steepest hill and grab yourself a box and you are bound to have a good time and maybe even a few grass stains.

After the sledding we watched the most amazing fireworks show put on by UNT.  My brother in-law taught art at UNT but he now has a job at a University in Alabama. I'm DEVASTATED! They moved away last week and now we are lonely without family in Texas. I guess it is time to start planning some family reunions!

We also celebrated the Fourth by enjoying the Fort Worth Symphony at the Botanic Gardens.  We picknicked as we listend to the Symphony play and it ended with a big fireworks display choreographed to patriotic music by the Symphony.  Oh, and we tried fried oreos for the first time...quite yum. 

Hope ya'll had fun on the Fourth too.

2 and a 1/2sy

Already?

And since when do we celebrate halves?

Seriously, Ben? Stop making me look bad.

But. THANK YOU. Love you. You're the best.

On June 17, 2011 I came home from work to see this big display of balloons and a lamp in my bedroom. Oh stink. I forgot it was the day that marked 2 1/2 years of marriage. How could I forget? But, how impressive that my husband didn't forget, and even better that he celebrated it!  He surprised me with a lamp I saw months ago at Anthropologie. I text him the picture from the store saying that I wanted to buy it-- it was the last lamp and it was on sale, but of course I didn't make the purchase.  A couple days later I showed up at Anthropologie, not planning on buying the lamp, yet I was still disappointed it was gone!  

Little did I know that my hubby was the one that bought it and that it was sitting in my storage unit until that special day when he would spoil me rotten and make me the happiest girl.

I want to remember and I want Ben to remember and never ever forget his sweet and clever message that day-so i've posted the note here.  I "light up" his world. Yup. He loves me.

And I love him. Happy Anniversary hunny.