Texas Glam-Estate (Vol 1)

Sharing My Top HOT PICKS for the Most Amazing Real Estate in Texas 
Texas Realtor, Stephanie Dawn Sjoberg, Luxor Leasing and Real Estate,LLC, Luxor Living and Style Blog
 
     Sometimes, when sifting through my junk emails for my Real Estate Business, I get side tracked because one link leads to another and the next thing you know, I find myself looking at the decor on listings well over a few million dollars.
 
 
Texas Realtor, Stephanie Dawn Sjoberg, Luxor Leasing and Real Estate,LLC, Luxor Living and Style Blog, closet decor
     I find the decor and well, especially this closet…to be motivating! 
 
Texas Realtor, Stephanie Dawn Sjoberg, Luxor Leasing and Real Estate,LLC, Luxor Living and Style Blog, bedroom decor 
   This listing is in the Fort Worth area and is currently listed for $2.8 million.  It’s fabulouslyTexas styled throughout. 
 
Texas Realtor, Stephanie Dawn Sjoberg, Luxor Leasing and Real Estate,LLC, Luxor Living and Style Blog, kitchen decor
 
 
 
 
   When I see wonderful homes like this, I often wonder about the people…why are they moving, how can they stand to move out and really…who could I possibly sell a home like this to?  
Texas Realtor, Stephanie Dawn Sjoberg, Luxor Leasing and Real Estate,LLC, Luxor Living and Style Blog
  This home has a fabulous pool area, privacy and a lot of covered porch area, and would sell for three or more times this price in other markets.
 

 
 
  I think I may continue sharing these types of real estate listings with the blog readers because you can get a lot of top notch decor ideas and motivations from some of these properties! ( Not only that, but maybe someone in the United Kingdom or France actually needsa million dollar vacation spot in Texas!) I’d be glad to help!
-September 9, 2013
-SDS

 

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FLORENCE, KENTUCKY GARDEN INSPIRATION

Florence Kentucky home and garden, Luxor Living and Style, Ken and Stephanie Sjoberg, top blog
     Years ago, I packed up and moved to the beautiful state of Kentucky. I moved there because my family had moved there, I liked it and needed a fresh start.
 
  One afternoon, about 3 months after I’d moved there, I still had no job.  I was driving in my car one beautiful afternoon, when I suddenly heard s news report on the car stereo, in relation to the National Census Report. (If you don’t know what that is…then you probably don’t read the blog, but instead just look at the photos.)
 
Florence Kentucky home and garden, Luxor Living and Style, Ken and Stephanie Sjoberg, top blog, flower boxes
   On this gloriously uplifting news report, it was stated that Kentucky had the lowest rate of salary for female workers in the nation. It was a pivotal moment for me, in which I realized that I needed to move back to Houston. I was over qualified for 99% of the jobs that were available, and I wasn’t from the town in the first place so I didn’t have a shot.
 
  On that note, I loved back to Texas, restarted my life and all went great, however Kentucky stillfeels so wonderful.
 
Florence Kentucky home and garden, Luxor Living and Style, Ken and Stephanie Sjoberg, top blog, flower boxes
     The air is less humid and thick. The landscape is fabulous, and the town we lived in was much more peaceful than the big, cold and cruel city.  
 
  It’s always been my dream to go back to Kentucky with my husband for a quick trip…to the Smokey Mountain area, but on this day, we took a quick jaunt to Florence, Kentucky because it wasn’t too far from Cincinnati, where we were visiting for a tennis event.
 
trellis, Florence Kentucky home and garden, Luxor Living and Style, Ken and Stephanie Sjoberg, top blog, flower boxes
    I believe late September or October is the best time to drive through Kentucky, for all the fall colors, but it was great to take a break, and see all the old Americana style homes. I enjoy landscape architecture so he humored me and let me drive around and snap some garden photos. 
 
Florence Kentucky home and garden, Luxor Living and Style, Ken and Stephanie Sjoberg, top blog, flower boxes
   In gardening, I find it unbearable if a person plants..say a tropical palm in the yard of a traditional styled home.  They don’t match.  “Old school” shrubs, such as my favorite…the Hydrangea, go with old style homes.
 
  You can make a modest home look adorable and swanky with the right landscaping. 
 
  A friend of mine and her husband just bought a swanky beach front second home along the Florida panhandle, and she was packing things to decorate the new place earlier this week. 
 
 

I told her to go buy some cheap garden gnomes and to show them to her new neighbors when she gets there and say, “Hey, help me find a great spot for my garden gnomes!” 
 
 
 
   As for Kentucky, I love it, and I desperately want to go back for a fall drive through sometime, however in the meantime, I certainly got some garden inspiration from Florence, Kentucky!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-August 29, 2013
-SDS
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MASTER BATHROOM RE-VAMP

master bathroom, decor, home, black paint

 

     Let me begin by saying that I do not enjoy the act of painting. I do, however, enjoy having a completed, comfortable, and fun nest.  To get from A to B…painting must be done!

     In this case, the house was complete except for the small crack den looking master bathroom that I hadn’t gotten around to yet.

     I’d been putting it off this entire year, but my husband asked me to have it completed as a birthday present to him. He did help with the paint roller part, but the trim work was the part I was dreading!

     So I put on my ugly “painter girl” shirt, which actually is an old shirt of his that he wore on our first date to church, and has paint splatters all over it now.  It is my painting uniform. We got it knocked out in our spare time.  

  

     I’d wanted to add some character to the small area, so I opted for metal decor candle sconces as well as a metal trim piece above the window instead of curtains.

I find the garden tub area to be so much more inviting and soothing with the darker color, which is a black paint named Francesca by Martha Stewart, which is also in the master bedroom, kitchen, and the fire place wall in the living room.

When adding things such as towels or art…I had decided to be thrifty and use what I already owned.  However, one trip to Kirkland’s for some additional pieces was all it took to complete the look.

For example, the crystal hurricane lamp, I already owned, but the silk floral arrangement for the tub area, I purchased. The crystal ball shown below and the metal wall piece I already had.  

The decor towels are mismatched on purpose to try and create an undesigned, old world look. Using the old multi colored runner that I dug out of the back of a closet, also helped to add to the old world look. 


So how much did the bathroom re vamp end up costing me? Just under $250, including paint and painting supplies!

master bathroom revamp, decor, black paint, black bathroom ideas, DIY, blogger, decor

It was my intent to focus on yard projects this summer, as well as a few other DIY type projects (like maybe hitting the gym again)but I am so glad to have this bathroom project complete! Happy Birthday, Ken…your private sanctuary is complete!

 

-SDS

June 22, 2013

     Let me begin by saying that I do not enjoy the act of painting. I do, however, enjoy having a completed, comfortable, and fun nest.  To get from A to B…painting must be done!
 
     In this case, the house was complete except for the small crack den looking master bathroom that I hadn’t gotten around to yet.
 
     I’d been putting it off this entire year, but my husband asked me to have it completed as a birthday present to him. He did help with the paint roller part, but the trim work was the part I was dreading!
 
bathroom re vamp
     So I put on my ugly “painter girl” shirt, which actually is an old shirt of his that he wore on our first date to church, and has paint splatters all over it now.  It is my painting uniform. We got it knocked out in our spare time.  
  
     I’d wanted to add some character to the small area, so I opted for metal decor candle sconces as well as a metal trim piece above the window instead of curtains.
 
     I find the garden tub area to be so much more inviting and soothing with the darker color, which is a black paint named Francesca by Martha Stewart, which is also in the master bedroom,kitchen, and the fire place wall in the living room.
 
    When adding things such as towels or art…I had decided to be thrifty and use what I already owned.  However, one trip to Kirkland’s for some additional pieces was all it took to complete the look.
 
    For example, the crystal hurricane lamp, I already owned, but the silk floral arrangement for the tub area, I purchased. The crystal ball shown below and the metal wall piece I already had.  
 
     The decor towels are mismatched on purpose to try and create an undesigned, old world look. Using the old multi colored runner that I dug out of the back of a closet, also helped to add to the old world look. 
 

     So how much did the bathroom re vamp end up costing me? Just under $250, including paint and painting supplies!
 
black bathroom decor ideas, Luxor Living and Style, Stephanie Dawn Sjoberg
       It was my intent to focus on yard projects this summer, as well as a few other DIY type projects (like maybe hitting the gym again)but I am so glad to have this bathroom project complete! Happy Birthday, Ken…your private sanctuary is complete!
 

 

 
-SDS
June 22, 2013
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MASTER BEDROOM REVAMP – Totally Haute In Black


    

      Where to begin my tale of the re-vamp?  Well, if you’ve seen any of the other re-vamp posts like the kitchen, dining room, living room, office or guest bathroom or guest bedroom…then you already know that when we got married, I left my perfectly wonderful home (in my mind) to move into his.  I put my things in storage, rented it out and stuffed myself into someone else’s world.

    

      How romantic! Not so much.  The house was so naked and sterile that it freaked me out when I first met him.  It was too perfect, simple, clean, organized…the soup cans were even lined up too perfectly! (A sign of deep rooted control issues… didn’t you watch Sleeping With the Enemy?!)

Luxor Living and Style, black paint, black bedroom, decor ideas in black, Martha Stewart paint in Francesca, Martha Stewart paint, Luxor Living and Style, Stephanie Sjoberg

 Eventually I realized he was somewhat sane and we were married, so there I was…moving into this white house with white furniture, no warmth, no fun.

     Jazzy and I tiptoed around on eggshells feeling uncomfortable in a new place, but then when we adopted Bella it really helped to break down the need for everything to be perfect because it clearly would never be. (Do you know any chihuahuas ???)


     As far as this bedroom goes, I wanted to be fair and not make it too girly for a grown man, so I decided that black painted walls in Francesca by Martha Stewart would be perfect for us.

     The kitchen is black and there is a black accent wall in the living room, so the black flows well enough with the rest of the house.

 

     I created a black canopy over the otherwise bland headboard to create the illusion of layering and depth.  I used a wall sconce to hold the fabric.  I may do a D-I-Y post on the canopy in the future if anyone cares!

     I used the bench for the foot of the bed, that was originally in the living room.  We needed it for depth, to dress up the bed, and of course, a place to sit while putting on your Spanx!  The detail in the 30 year old piece adds a high end, old world charm.

Setting the dresser top was simple.  I used an old lead crystal lamp that’s been stored in a closet for almost two years.  The statue belonged to my mom and I used old crystal candlestick holders that were also tucked away unused.  The perfume tray is perfect being out in the open, so I can throw on a scent before running out the door.  I think it looks cute and girly, too!

 

     The tiny snow scene art collection has been stored in a closet and is something I already owned.  I was actually thinking of using it in our bedroom when I chose the paint color.

     The large gold mirror next to the bed is something I’ve also had for years!

 

I feel the need to disclose that this bedroom revamp cost less than $400.  We all could decorate fabulously if we had an endless supply of funds with which to squander on luxuries.  Living well on a budget is an art!

    The paint job took 2 cans of paint.  The only new things that were purchased were the lamp shades, the mirrors above each nightstand, the comforter and a few pillows a well as the wall sconce and curtains hanging from it. Everything was less than $400.  

     I really, really loathe the prospect of showing a before photo but I suppose I should for contrast.

    

      That bedroom made me cringe every time I walked into it.  It had no heart.  It wasn’t cozy or fun.

The new look flows more with the house, it’s fun and cozy and functional and it didn’t cost a lot to transform into a happier space!  

   Dark wood flooring is on my list for next year, for the entire house, however the master bathroom is next on the re-vamp project list for now!

     I love doing the blog posts because it forces me to stick with the time lines and goals I set for myself.  I would be interested in your comments on the project!

 

-January 22, 2013

SDS

      
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