Fall is in the air

In celebration of the start to fall, we decided to invite a couple close friends over for some great laughs and good eats. Being that the fall is one of my favorite seasons, because of the beautiful colors and smells, I thought I would bring the outdoors in and utilize the season for inspirations for table decorating. We decided to go with a menu that involved the grill. I love to use the grill every chance we can knowing that the cold months are quickly approaching. To start we made a cheddar beer fondue, which is always a ton of fun, accompanied by an old time favorite, freshly squeezed Salty Dogs. For the meal we had 4 different types of kabobs. Honey Thai chicken, Greek chicken, Twin Anchors (Mine and Frank Sinatra's favorite rib joint in Chicago) Prohibition BBQ chicken, and balsamic veggies. We also had a baked potato bar, zucchini, hericots verts and salad. It was a success!!! Everyone let with a very happy tummy an another great memory of a wonderful evening.

                                               Name Cards. Always a nice personal touch

                                                  Fall pumpkins with a little east coast twist

                                                                           The Meal

                                                        Baked Potato Bar. Yummy!!!

                                            Zucchini was straight from our neighbors garden

                                                             The Salty Dog Station

 Napkin decorations became hair accessories 

The After

After!!! The contractors were here for a week, painting, electrical and odds and ends around the place. So here is the results. Please keep in mind...... Its a work in progress. I'm sure I will post more pics on the progress over time.

                                       AFTER!!! The lighter walls and white trim open the room
                                               Still waiting on the furniture at this point

              Some furniture has arrived. Please note the chandelier is too high. It needs more links to the chain

                                                 Living room with what furniture has arrived.

Here it goes.....

Yipppeee! This is my first post of many. I have been wanting to start a blog for the past year, and today I finally bit the bullet and away we go! So, just to bring you up to speed, my name is Meg Bernier and I moved from Boston, MA 5 years ago this past August to Chicago, IL. Over the past 5 years I have meet a ton of amazing people whom I have shared tremendous experiences with, One of whom is my boyfriend Chris. We recently moved into a first time purchased home (condo) in Chicago with our dog Fenwick. Its truly perfect, and has opened up the door to endless amounts of projects to blog about. So today I wanted to kick off this new adventure with some before and after.... but still in progress photos of the new place.

When we first set eyes on the condo we knew it was perfect. And with a little cosmetic work, we could call it a home. You will see 3 sets of pictures. One set is with the previous owners furniture prior to move in. The second set is us having moved in, but prior to the contractors and the third set is after the contractors with a little of our furniture and little to no accessorizing. Lets just say its a work in progress!!!

                                                    
 Previous owners layout and our realtor

                         The space was very dark and had a lot of Arts and Crafts style influence


                    We MOVED!!!! These are the photos post the move but prior to the contractos.

                             The space is perfect. We just needed things to be lighter and brighter.

                            A lot of dark woods and track lighting created for a slightly dated space

                    I love red walls, especially in a dining room. But the red in the entry just did not work


Stay tuned for after......