I can say what I did in the title because it’s not my house, so it’s not bragging! This house belongs to my good friend, Andrea. She’s one of my favorite flea market and yard sale buddies and she’s also a proud military wife, like I am. She has an absolutely incredible sense of style and everything she touches turns to decorating gold. She owns her own shop, Mildred & Mable’s, in historic downtown Clarksville, and we’ll be hosting a giveaway for her soon. Take a peek because there’s still time to have stuff shipped before Christmas!
Seriously–don’t you love this tree?!
Andrea and her family live in on-post housing, which I think makes her home doubly amazing, because it can be hard to personalize a house that you don’t get to keep after putting in tons of hard work. Even the paint colors on the walls have to be approved by the incoming tenants or you have to prime them before you move out. So it’s understandable that lots of military families live with plain vanilla walls–and decor. Not so Andrea’s family! Her gorgeous home is the high point of Ft. Campbell’s annual holiday tour of homes. To prove my point, I took over 150 pictures when I was there last week–not sure how I’m going to get them all in this post (just kidding)! I’m going to start with the downstairs and hopefully do a part 2 in a few days. The whole house is truly to die for, and you’ll want to see every inch of it.
The dining room in shades of gray and silver.
Be sure to note all the chandeliers she’s installed throughout the house–most of them are antiques. Those will come down when they move and be replaced with the contractor-grade lighting that came with the house. This is why most of the military wives I know can hang their own light fixtures! She’s also removed doors to closets (and rooms) to create the illusion of more space and hidden them in the garage.
Gorgeous silver and white tablescape
Just two shelves of her fabulous milk glass collection.
Sorry about the glare in the picture below. I had to get a shot of this 6′ tall feather tree in the dining room, but there’s a window on either side and I’m the worst photographer on Magnolia Lane!
Silvery gray feather tree
One of the things that Andrea does best is arrange large groupings in a way that’s just pure eye candy. I have a hard time bringing in a lot of items without making things look cluttered, but just take a look at her bookshelves below–lots of cool stuff to look at, and it’s all so visually pleasing.
Even the top of the bookshelves in the living room are full of Christmasy touches.
Even Santa needs a stiff drink sometimes!
The back entryway, shown below, is where the dogs have their own space to rest and eat–and their own chandelier. 🙂
The family room tree
Now I’ll show you a few vignette shots from the kitchen…
Hanging pot rack holds everything!
I “borrowed” the kitchen Christmas tree idea from Andrea in this post from last year, but I did give her credit!
Andrea’s done amazing things in her laundry room. She’s got a lot more room in hers than I do in mine, and she’s decorated it in such a great retro style.
What a great collection of vintage enamelware!
I borrowed my chip rack idea from her, too. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Andrea!
When she found this shopping cart at the Nashville flea market, we thought it was going to go in the shop as a display. It was a great way to transport our flea market purchases home, though!
Vintage shopping cart holds drinks in the laundry room.
My other shots of her desk nook didn’t come out well, but I had to show this chandy medallion painted black. I think it really pops against the ceiling color this way.
That’s all for the downstairs…there’s more but I know I’m very photo-heavy on this post already. I’ll do the front of the house and the upstairs rooms in Part 2. Let me leave you with a sneak peak from her office/closet area, which is probably my favorite room in her house.
Yes, there’s an Audrey Hepburn picture in this room!
Dre, thanks so much for letting me take pictures of your house AND post them on the internet for all eternity–you’re a dear friend! Merry Christmas, y’all, and thanks for stopping by!
