tarpon springs day trip

Yesterday I shot up to Tarpon Springs to spend the day with a good friend and to check out their downtown antique shops. It was great to peruse the stores and indulge in the Greek food. I found some amazing gems that I wish I could bring home to my own house - 

There is something so sweet about pink glasses. They are feminine and fun and make me feel like every night should be girls night. I am obsessed and will be keeping these on my radar next time that I am in town.

Of course, no trip to Tarpon would be complete without some natural sponges! Have you had any good antique finds lately?

:: welcome ::

Hello! I am so excited to launch my new site and start sharing some of my work and day-to-day. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Lauren Andrews and I am an Interior Designer. I have recently taken the plunge to start my own business. I also work in graphic design and paper goods, with my lifelong friend Caitlin Doyle, that can be found here. 

So, for my kick-off post I thought I would share with you an at-home project that will be following me for the next forever. My husband, Jordon, and I purchased a 1920s Bungalow in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Tampa. We adore the character of the home and the size of the lot, not to mention the close proximity to Hyde Park Shopping Village and Bayshore Drive. But with the charm comes the wear and tear from years of love this house has received. So we will definitely be taking on our fair share of projects.

But first up, is the exterior........

As you can probably tell from the photo, the exterior has seen better days. We are giving this baby a well-deserved face lift and can't wait to see it come together. After putting in countless hours of research to decide exactly what direction I wanted to go in, I came back to a home that I have admired for years -

Architect: Peter Block Architects; Atlanta, GA

I love the neutral, creamy gray for the body of the house, the subtle light gray accent color, and of course those Bevolo gas lanterns! This is a classic look, with a transitional color palette. It is exactly the direction I would like to take my own exterior. So, where to start? ....Paint!

I struggled with researching popular colors. Every one that I tried on my house turned out completely different than what I saw on the internet. Exterior paint colors are challenging because they are easily affected by the surrounding environment, and depending on where you are a color can look drastically different than the chips. I knew the direction I wanted to go in, so I had to trust my gut and make my own selections -

I chose Halo for the body because it is a good, light neutral that takes on the characteristics of the colors next to it. I tried out Texas Leather for the accent color, but it ended up feeling too brown and Halo next to it looked very beige. But here, against Sabre Gray, it is the perfect balance between white and gray. I gravitated towards Sabre Gray because of the warm undertones. I knew that I didn't want a blue-gray that felt too cool. 

Stay tuned for the progress....