Becolorful

Is This Heaven? No It's Iowa - The Neighborhood Photo Party

 

 

 

 

Is This Heaven? No It's Iowa

I saw that Tracy was throwing this party over at

Trinket's and Treasures

and I thought it would be fun to join her.

You could say I am a house whore.

:)

Houses? love them.

The concept of everyone linking up photos of houses in their neighborhood?

How different they will all be?

Oh yeah, I'm all in.

 

So welcome to my hood.

 Our home is located in one of those fly over states known as Iowa and

no we do not grow potatoes here. That would be Idaho.

Strange how everyone gets us confused.

I also do not live on a farm.

Less than 5% if Iowans live on a farm.

We are kind of misunderstood.

:)

Actually, our neighborhood is a delightful mix of older homes in an established corner of a mid size city.

Most of the homes here are rapidly approaching or have already reached the century mark.

Nearly every architectural style is represented in our diverse neighborhood. There is everything from the Prairie  and Colonial styles to Mid-Century Modern and Tudor.

No cookie cutter design  or "Little boxes on the hillside" here.

The homes on these few blocks range from charming bungalows to stately mansions and everything in between.

I love the mix. It makes life so much more interesting.

So take a walk with me as I showcase some of my favorites from this morning's walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things I like about older neighborhoods besides the gorgeous tree lined streets

is the lack of garages and cars in plain view.

There is a whole world of alleyways complete with four way stops hidden behind these homes. I wish they still built neighborhoods that way.

 

 

Just a few more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what do you know, not one cornstalk?

:0

These familiar blocks are my little slice of Heaven.

How lucky am I?

I often complain about our lack of shopping or that we have too few great restaurants but really?

I get to walk these streets and get my house fix every day.

I would say I am very lucky.

If you love houses as much as I do you will definitely want to join me over at the 

Neighborhood Photo Party 

by clicking here.

xoxo,

P

Motivated Monday April 11th and The Home Office Reveal

 

 

It has probably been a month since we painted my hub's office.

It is a large space for a home office but he uses every inch of it.

We call it command central.

I wish I had closed that closet door on the right tightly before taking the picture.

Photographer fail.

In an earlier post I wrote about the drama of adding onto a home that is nearly 100 years old and the logistics of having the new space blend with the older part of the house.

It took us two years to complete this project with the hubs, my father-in-law, and brother-in-law doing a large portion of the work.

This office and the additional garage space below were added to the back side of our home in 2000.

You can see that the roof over the family room to the left used to be a shed style roof. That part of the house was added on in the 1940's and our architect convinced us to remove that roof and replace it with another 12 12 roof that would blend better with the rest of the house.

So off came the old roof.

It was daunting to say the least.

 

It was quite a feat but it did finally all pull together.

 

 

 

It seems I am always taking pictures in early spring before everything leafs out.

It is so much prettier when there are leaves on the trees.

There are a few signs of spring in the yard though.

A few more warm days like today and this part of the world will look entirely different.

 

As for Mike's office it remained the same from when it was built until late February or early March when we decided to give it a new coat of paint.

We went from a pale yellow called parchment to this charcoal gray.

We were both happy with this new bold look.

There are still things to be done.

That cubby above the right closet used to have a television in it.

We never used it so when they took it down to paint we decided it wasn't worth the effort of putting it back up there. It was a ten year old set and seemed like it weighed a ton.

I may do some sort of sculpture piece up there instead or something organic looking.

We also are ready to change up the rugs for something a bit more contemporary.

Most of the wooden or case pieces in this room are one of a kind hand made items from Amana Furniture.

No China furniture here. :) ... just electronics.

I think he needs a bigger monitor. 

 

The Amana pieces have a finish that is unbelievably  smooth and it doesn't hurt that they are made only about thirty minutes away from where we live. 

 

Mike put a lot of thought into planning this office space and the conference table has a hole in the middle to hide all the wires for the conference phone set up.

The table, an Amana piece, is solid mahogony. We did put a glass top on it to protect it from the rigors of business.

Mike's dad, a builder and woodworker, said it was built like a tank and we could probably land a 747 on it.

:)

 

The closets hide the ugly stuff - copiers, shredders, files and the like.

The Herman Miller chairs were Mike's idea.

I thought he was crazy at the time but I'm so glad that is what he went with.

They are a timeless design, have held up wonderfully, and are amazingly comfortable.

So what took me so long to post these pictures since we didn't really make any changes?

Well that TV I mentioned was sitting on top of a file cabinet in the middle of the room for almost four weeks until we bribed someone to take it off of our hands.

Then we were able to move the file cabinet back into the closet.

That and this place is usually buzzing with activity which is code for it usually looks like a bomb went off in here.

 I did talk my big guy into editing some things out of the bookcases which can be a real catch all for all of his treasures.

 

 

We also removed the bumper stickers, I'm not kidding, from above the doorways,

and the Wake the F Up bag of coffee beans from the credenza.

I wanted to find a cool club rack to hold his collection of putters instead of his solution of lining them up all willy nilly against the wall.

I'm still looking for just the right thing so for now this is our compromise.

I do want this to be his space and I think it still is.

From the magazines he loves

to the posters that are a nod to the business he is in

 

 

There are momentos of personal achievements and fond memories.

The shots of Patron are what he calls "swing lube"

One for the front nine and one for the back :)

Because a guy can't work all the time.

Everyone needs to have a fun side and my big guy definitely has that going for him.

 

So now, on to Motivated Monday...

A Can of Worms aka The Hazards of Updating

 

The painter called last month and said he had some time to paint the hubby's office.

Little did I know what that can of paint would lead to.

After he finished painting the office I lead him up to the third floor to get some advice on the wallpapered boys spaces.

You guessed it. He's coming back to help me with that redo.

After twelve years we knew it was time for an update in that part of the house too.

We have made very limited progress up here.

It's true. Things will look worse before they look better.

 

The plumber has been here and disconnected everything so that the new floor can be installed.

Oh yeah.

I need to get that ordered.

That is project #1.

2. remove wallpaper

3. replace lighting

4. repaint

5. The verdict was terminal regarding the sink so number five is finding a replacement for my original one.

6. replace or add the BeColorful touch to the mirror/ medicine cabinet

7. paint the outside of the tub

8. order new faucet for tub

9 add new towels and accessories

That should be enough for starters but it doesn't end there.

In the meantime we began switching some beds around on the second floor.

This used to be Lizzie's room.

I'm pretty sure the marriage is working

and she isn't moving back home. :)

So.... add this space to the to do list.

We redid this room when she was a sophomore in college - not that long ago but it is time to let go of the pink and think of it more as a guest room and less as a young girl's retreat.

So sad. Why do they all have to go and grow up on me?

Someone is coming to pick up her bed today and I will be moving this bed from the real guest room into Liz's old room.

The projects in my head are really starting to add up.

How much will it all cost?

I would like that designer look but on a big box budget .

I really have my work cut out for me this time around.

For starters,

we will be bringing a king size bed into this room.

I have the bed already but the bedding will not work so -

1. Find new bedding for this room.

2. That God awful light fixture ( and yes I picked it out, but twelve years ago) needs to go. This is an old house and the windows in this room are painted shut. Argh. So I know the practical thing would be a ceiling fan. I want to make my guests comfortable right?

I think I do.

Yes, I do.

Is it wrong, though, that my bigger concern is what will it look like?

I could really see a pendant fixture here.

So comfort or looks?

Do not even suggest the fan with the ceiling light. It won't be happening. I have never seen one that I like.

3. We also bought a flatscreen TV several months ago to replace this one that I think came over on the Mayflower and now will no longer work without a cable box.

so project number three is to get the new bad boy out of the box and on the wall. 

4. Now back to Liz's room. I think I am ready for a new wall color here. but what?

I will be reusing the white bedding with the black piping that was in the guest room so really all options are open.  Repainting this room will be project number four.

I'm not sure what is up with this photo but I don't have time to edit today.

The ceiling is not pink but it might have been pretty if I had thought to do that. 

5. All the accessories in this room have passed their prime. So new lamps and tchotchkies will be in order. Number five will be fun and easy.

Five projects here plus the nine in the boys bathroom equals fourteen.

Then there is this jack and jill bathroom between the two rooms.

Enough said.

This will be projects 15 - 21at least.

We can cut some corners on that third floor boys bath but this one sees a lot more use and needs to be throughly gutted. I can't even let my mind go there quite yet.

Let me give you a hint.

We painted over the tile here - twelve years ago.

It's nasty.

One bathroom at a time though.

Whose idea was it buy this money pit?

It is never really done.

By the time I had worked my way through the whole house twelve years had gone by.

 So now that we have been through the whole house once it is time to start over.

Some spaces were just kind of glossed over - like this bathroom and they are in need of some serious attention on round two.

It is so true that one project really does lead to another.

Last month I pretended that I was walking into my own home for the first time.

I imagined I was a prospective buyer.

Funny, how I had walked by some things so many times I didn't even see them anymore.

It was a rude awakening for me.

With my eyes opened I realized it is past time to get back to work here.

We had been busy living life and I don't regret that one bit and I don't intend to stop now but I will have to direct some of my energies back in to this big old albatross that we call home.

Yes, it all started with that can of gray paint.

 Was it really paint or a can of worms?

I'm thinking there won't be very many new shoes or handbags in my spring and summer. :0

Oh well, in the end I can only hope it will all be worth it.

xoxo,

P

Animal House Bathroom Step 1

Sharing this post in blogland here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's really going to happen .

We are going to take our Animal House bathroom from this.

To something with a whole lot more sass.

Something like this.

or maybe a celebration of color like this.

 

I've been thinking a green like this.

 

 

Because this bathroom is clear up on the third floor it is seldom used unless everybody is home at once.

 

We would really like to keep the costs here to a minimum.

Looking ahead our biggest expenses will be the flooring and the plumber.

To put the floor in the tub, radiator, and toilet will need to be removed.

The radiator and the tub ( without any shut off valves) will be the tricky part.

We will have to wait until it is a bit warmer to pull out the radiator.

The entire system needs to be drained first and it is still a bit early in the season to shut down the boiler.

That said, we thought we would forge ahead with some of the purchasing decisions.

So how do you feel about this?

We think this would be a good look for this 95 year old bathroom.

 

I would love to save this old sink that is most likely original to the house

but as you can see it is wearing the badges of age.

 

It has such a pretty shape but in the end it is a matter of $$$.

I am sure it will be considerably less to replace it with a new one.

 

We did take down the shower curtain bar.

There are other showers in the house.

We decided to go with something less practical and more visually appealing.

So we are ordering this little lovely.

 

Then there is the matter of lighting.

 

 

I want to stay with the vintage vibe and so the Big Box 90's light fixture needs to move on out too.

I saw this one today and thought it might work.

 

 

I've been down with a beast of a cold for over a week

but it amazing how the thought of a decorating project can improve my outlook.

 

So it is Sunday night and if you were here last week you might remember the issues I was having with my McLInky.

I unsubscribed and I am going to try inlinkz.

Hopefully, I will have better luck here.

Thank you for your patience.

You know the drill.

LInk up whatever.

Your favorite post, a decorating project, a favorite recipe, a gift you wrapped...

Whatever inspires you inspires me.

Please take the blog button with you and link back to this party.

Have a great week.

I'm so glad you stopped by.

XOXO,

P

 

 

An Office Tale

Ten years ago we added on to our home.

It turned out to be a major undertaking.

My husband has a home office here and he needed more space.

So this was our solution.

 

We wanted the woodwork to match the rest of the house and there had to have been miles of trim boards to paint.

A 12 12 pitch roof 40 feet up creates some challenges in itself.

Just getting the drywall in on this back side of the house was no small feat.

 

Mike and my father- in -law did the lion's share of the work.

It took almost a year a half.

Ten years later, and my father-in-law is just starting to talk to us again.

( Just kidding)

In the end, though, it was well worth it.

Thanks to a great architect it is difficult to tell what is old and what is new.

This was Mike's office space soon after he moved into his new office.

 

We call it command central.

This is where he grew his company.

There have been highs and there have been lows.

Celebrations and sleepless nights.

There is a couch in this room that we call the meltdown couch.

Over the years each of the kids and I have had our emotional breakdowns here while our rock listened, advised and ultimately had us laughing again.

His sense of humor is the glue in this family.

We have partied here, held meetings here, and tried out new skis here.

We watched the towers fall in this room.

This is where Mike was when our future son-in-law asked  to marry his only daughter.

Yes, these four walls hold a lot of memories.

Our lives have moved forward but other than new computers and the size of the monitors, little has changed in this space since then ...

until today.

We had been talking about repainting.

Mike was tired of the "parchment" color and so was I.

So last night we pushed all the furniture to the middle of the room as we anxiously waited for the painters to arrive this morning.

I was thinking of something in a lighter gray or like last week's Becolorful Color of the Week - Taupe post.

Mike wanted to go bolder. A bit darker, more dramatic.

I'm glad we went with his choice.

 
                                        Sherwin Williams Dovetail

Here is a sneak peek of where we are going.

I'm loving it.

I hope you'll check back in to see the finished product.

xoxo,

P

Linking up here:

 

 

Becolorful Living Room Step 2

Yesterday I showed you my copper ceiling and creamy white walls.

That was my first step into my living room madness.

I kind of jumped off here without a real plan in my head.

I just know when I like something

and when I don't

I knew I was over what had been here and it was time for a change.

 

 

We actually don't call this the living room.

For years it has been the piano room.

It is not an area where we spend a lot of time.

Piano Room sounds kind of hoity toity.

I don't want to leave you with the wrong impression.

For those of you that think I sit here and play the piano for hours at a time

while sipping Pinot Grigio 

or that I am some kind of cultured and refined type person ...

well let's just say

you would be wrong.

( well except for the wine part - and often times martinis)

I do love the piano but haven't really sat down to play for at least two weeks.

I have too many things I like to do.

I will never ever be bored.

Perhaps it really is Adult Attention Deficit.

I digress.

:)

Anyway, now that I had step one behind me I was ready for step two.

 

Step two was installed today.

 

 

 

I know this is an unorthodox way of doing things.

Selecting the drapes first probably doesn't make a lot of sense.

In the beginning, though, I thought that if I changed the walls and the drapes I would be happy.

It isn't working out that way.

Once I made these changes 

I knew that my old furniture, rugs and accessories really weren't going to fly with the room vibe I was going for.

So for now I have a room with a piano, new paint and new window treatments.

 

They look silky in the photos but this is the fabric - more of a woven pattern.

 

I do love how they puddle on the floor.

 

 

We did have to allow for the radiators under the front windows and do those two windows in a sill length.

Just another decorating challenge that comes with an old house.

 

 

Once the fireplace is flanked by a couple of oversized chairs I am confident that this little flaw will become much less obvious.

I also like that we took the window treatment above the windows to give the illusion of more height -

especially since we had opted for a darker ceiling.

 

Somehow we were short one set of drapery rings so they weren't able to hang the last panel today. 

That's okay.

I'm not in any real hurry.

I don't have any furniture now anyway.

The red rug will eventually be leaving too.

I'm thinking an animal print or maybe a quatrefoil or a stripe.

What do you think?

In the mean time

I am taking the minimalist look to the extreme.

Tomorrow I will decide what can come back in

and what needs to find a new home.

Then my next goal will be

to find a sofa.

XOXO,

P

 

Linking up here. I hope you will join me.

Holy Mess

Oh good Lord.

What have I done now?

I've made a holy mess of my living room.

Do you remember it?

It looked like this.

Circa 1810.

 

 

I'll admit it.

There was a time when I LOVED this room.

It was everything I wanted it to be.

I can't remember when that was exactly but I know that I did.

I've moved on.

My room didn't.

 

I tried making little tweaks so people wouldn't think I was stuck in a time warp.

 

 

It wasn't enough.

Two months I took a leap of faith and ordered new draperies.

Ten days ago the big guy helped me take down the the old ones.

Originally I was going to store them because I spent so much money on them.

The more I thought about it, though,the more that just didn't make sense.

Looking at them just makes me feel bad about myself.

Sometimes you just have to take the hit and let go.

I'm letting go.

I decided I would like to donate them to TCR - our community theater that was devastated by the 2008 floods.

They lost so much and maybe this is an opportunity for us to give back.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was thinking about painting the ceiling a color to draw attention to the  interesting woodwork.

So when the painter came Monday he painted the ceiling a metallic copper.

 

 Then took the walls back to a whiter shade of pale.

You know when Becolorful goes with off white walls that she has been influenced by the decorating blogs.

I haven't lost my sense of color.

There will always be color in my house.

I'm just rethinking where it will come from.

I like the casual slip covered look but after a lot of thought maybe that look would be better suited for the family room.

 

I am kind of leaning towards a more of a sophisticated casual look.

Therein lies the rub.

The furniture I took out of here -

I don't want to bring it back.

So for now it is stacked up in the library.

The only thing I know for sure that I want to keep is the piano.

What have I done?

I feel like I have let the decorating beast out of it's cage and now I'm wondering how to tame it.

I really don't want to spend a lot of money in this room.

This big old rambler of ours all of a sudden has too many needs.

We will have been here thirteen years in December.

It took me probably eight years to get the house where I wanted it.

Now it is time to start over.

I'm freaking out a bit here -

and if I'm freaking out you can imagine what the big guy is thinking. :) 

We've already had the "we're going into the slow season" talk.

Why do I always want to tackle these projects when we are going into winter?

So, needless to say, I want to keep my investment here small

but I want it to look rich.

I loved this.

Can I do it?

 

I'm hoping that maybe a more casual feel will make it more welcoming space and I have even given some thought to looking for a bar cabinet.

Instead of calling it the piano room we could call it the piano bar.

  :)

 

That fireplace might be pretty painted.

It is the original mantel. 

Over the decades it has been painted, antiqued and then stripped and refinished.

It's pretty but it is also pretty boring.

The rug just isn't working for me anymore.

The red damask wingback chairs have already left for the consignment shop.

What will we sit on?

I'm beginning to wonder if I should have just left well enough alone

Dearest readers, I'm going to need your advice.

Please don't desert me now as I morph into a raving crazed decor diva wanna be. :)

Bar. 

Yes.

I think we need a bar.

This decorator could use a cocktail.

The draperies come tomorrow.

I'll be sure to share some pictures.

XOXO,

P

Linking here and hoping for some great ideas.

 

 

Small Rooms Discipline the Mind aka The Teeniest Bathroom Ever

Small rooms discipline the mind 

                                  ~  Leonardo Di Vinci

 
 

I live in an old home.

We have five bathrooms.

When we moved in, though, there was only one powder room on the first floor.

It was and still is miniscule.

It was obviously added later -

after the house was built.

It is tucked in under the front stairs.

It is so small you actually step down one step into it so you don't hit your head on the sloped ceiling.

 
 
When we added onto the house ten years ago we made sure to add another bathroom on this level.

Interestingly enough,

our guests seldom use that one.

They always seem to gravitate to this one.

I truly believe someone saw this room and then came up with the term water closet.

 

So when I saw a post on Houzz today featuring small bathrooms,

I just knew I had one that was in the running or could take the cake for smallest bathroom ever.

It does pose some decorating challenges.

First of all,

see that top row of tile?

When we first moved it it was blue.

Country blue.

I did country blue back in the day.

I'm over it.

Never again.

So, I painted over it.

A temporary fix...

twelve years ago.

Funny, some things just drop off of my radar.

Someday I will revisit this but it isn't high on my list right now.

There isn't any color in the world that I could have painted this room to make it look larger.

 

Sometimes you just have to embrace the obvious and look for the positives.

For instance, I think I was able to paper this room with about half a roll of wallpaper.

I've never been able to say that before.

Or, and I don't know how to say this delicately, but this room is designed perfectly if you have a bad case of the flu.

Think about it and study the picture.

Need I say more?

The biggest draw back here, there isn't an exhaust fan.

To solve that problem, the light is a motion/timer light.

Your stay here should probably be brief or you will be sitting in the dark. :)

There weren't any real options here.

If these walls could be pushed out or up I'm sure someone would have done that decades ago.

This space is what it is.

So I roll with it

and decorate accordingly.

When I found this quote I knew I had the perfect spot for it.

So I printed it out on my computer and framed it.

Probably five dollar wall art

but definitely appropriate here. :)

As I look at it now I'm thinking I need to print it out again.

This font is looking dated.

I tried this.

Too small.

I  

This is better.

 

It was time to lose the faux flowers too but I would like to bring a pop of red back in too.

I'll shop the house later.

So like I was saying.

Some people may say I have accentuated the negative.

I like to think of  it more along the lines of being able to laugh at yourself.

What's the saying?

Women admire men for their strengths but love them for their weaknesses.

 Maybe it is that way with houses and rooms too.

Too perfect may not be a good thing.

At least that is what I keep telling myself.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

Have a great weekend.

XOXO,

P 

Linking up these great parties: 

Library Love in This Old House of Ours

 

 

Those of you that know me are familiar with my old rambler of a house. 

It was built in 1916.

We bought it in 1997 and moved in six months later.

The house didn't come with a library.

In fact there weren't even any book shelves at all.

Nadda. Not a one.

Apparently they weren't familiar with Cicero's tagline  "A room without books is like a body without a soul."

So we added our own book shelves but this set didn't come about until about five years ago when we did our kitchen remodel.

When we bought our home this space was the dining room.

The 90's

Sorry about the grainy picture. It is copied from the list sheet circa 1997.

The windows look so pretty here but this room is on the front of the house and with all of the joggers and dog walkers passing by we felt like we were in a fish bowl.

As for the chandelier, unfortunately for us they took it with them.

The one they took wasn't the original though.

That light fixture had been gas and was later converted to electricity. 

Another previous homeowner and  friend of mine has the original one.

Here a an old photo of the room, the fixture and my chandelier robber.

She doesn't look like a thief does she.

The 60's

 Maybe someday she will let me buy it back.

I find it interesting that those windows at the end of the house were covered in sheers.

I suppose that was the fashion but it is kind of a shame.

Here is another photo taken by the next owners in the 1970's

Actually it is two photos taped together.

The 70's

Maybe it's just me but I like to see how furniture and decorating styles have changed over the decades.

The door in the left hand corner was a swing door that went into the kitchen and just out of the frame to the near left was a second set of stairs, servant stairs that led to their rooms.

Really? Servants rooms?

The house isn't that big but apparently it was big enough.

There is even an old button in the floor of this room to buzz the kitchen help.

I have pushed and pushed that button but nothing ever happens.

So sad.

Maybe it's been disconnected. :)

I guess the help went the way of telephone operators, milkmen and doctors that made house calls.

No, don't even think about it.

I am definitely not living THAT life.

After we moved in to the house we added our own chandelier and window treatments and the room looked like this.

I'm not sure why I did that rag tag garland under the windows. Sometimes I think because I have something  I need to use it.

I'm learning to edit. :)

Well about five years ago we decided we were ready to jump into that black hole known as a kitchen remodel.

The original kitchen was quite small and there weren't a lot of options for bumping out walls. 

In the end we moved the dining room to the other side of the kitchen. 

We took down the chandelier and what had been a room with no real purpose became our new dining room. You can read about this room by clicking here.

 

Because of our limited expansion options we stole about three feet from the old dining room and wrapped the new kitchen around it.

Sadly that meant losing these windows.

 

This smaller space would become our library.

I like libraries to have a more traditional feel and because this room is off of the foyer I kept it a bit more formal.

 

 
 

It has been an awkward space to furnish.

With the  radiator, the bookcases and a large entry that shows signs of  since -moved french doors there isn't much play room.

I had a large leather sofa, chair and ottoman that I thought I would move right in here.

Hmmmmm. I forgot to measure.

The sofa had such a slope to it's back that when I placed it against the wall it looked like it was in the middle of the room.

It was just too big for this space.

But after a kitchen redo that was "stupid money" over budget I didn't want to buy any more furniture.

So I made do

and that is what I'm still doing.

I used the leather chair and ottoman and pulled in a leopard print one also.

I had a chest along the left wall but again it made the room look too narrow.

Not Working.

I think this lighter lowboy works better.

The picture is something my dad bought me quite a while ago. For that reason alone it is priceless to me.

 For me the devil is in the details.

Like the quote at the top of the bookcase, the two toned painted woodwork or the lighting.

I wanted sconces not an overhead fixture here.

 

 

I've had these Fredrick Cooper lamps for years. They still work for me.

Because the left wall was was torn out, moved  and rebuilt we had to reconstruct the wood panels and the Lincrusta so it would match the rest of the room.

 

 

I think the valence may be a bit to frilly for this room so like the living room, I am thinking of taking it down and storing it in the attic. I think I'd like to see the window bare again. I don't think the fish bowl thing will bother me so much since those chairs are tucked over to the side. 

I'd also like to see a bigger rug and a new shade for the floor lamp.

It just drives home the message that style is ever evolving and this room will be no exception. I wonder what different looks it will wear over the next ninety four years?

xoxo,

P
 
 Along with Met Monday I will partying for the first time with Romantic Home and Along for the Ride and  visiting and linking at up at Remodelahoic  I can always count on some great decorating remodeling inspiration there. I hope you will visit there too. 
 
      

This Old Dining Room Has Stories to Tell

Welcome to my dining room.

 
Last week I finally finished hand painting a sideboard for this room.

 I needed a piece to store my overflow of table linens and seasonal tchotchkies.

This functional element does that job well,

while also adding a touch of whimsy to this overly formal room. 

 

We live in an older home. 

It was built in 1916

and has a rather interesting history 

with stories to tell.

I have already written about our living room and sunroom. 

So after completing this sideboard and posting my painting progress along the way,

it just made sense that this would be the next room I would feature in my Life In An Old House series.

If you came over for a visit today, this is what you would see.

 

The kitchen is just beyond that door you see over to the right with the WC on it.

 

 \

Funny thing is, this wasn't even the dining room until about five years ago. 

The dining room was on the other side of the kitchen. 

I was able to talk to the daughter of the builder and original owner of this house a few years ago.

She told me her parents were "quite the partiers". Back in the 1910's.

I like to think of all those flapper girls and men in linen suits. 

She remembers them having a number of large social events in this space.

Once they had a party and had an entire roasted pig with the apple in its mouth in this room. 

Another one of the previous owners told me that when the house was originally built this area was a porch. 

Sometime during the early 1950's two more garage stalls were added. 

A new sun porch was added above those garage stalls and behind this room.

This older porch was enclosed and used as a den. 

When she lived here, during the 60's, this wall where the buffet is was a wall of windows.

They looked out onto the new screened in porch.

 . 

She told me that because the kitchen was small they ate some of their meals here on TV trays where they could still see into the back yard. 

This is a horrible picture but you get the idea and you can still see the windows here.

 

Sometime during the late 60's the windows were removed. 

Then they made the room REALLY pretty by adding dark wood paneling.

Design gone bad.

circa 1980.

 '

As  if that wasn't bad enough,

they did one wall in skinny white brick. 

Design gone DOA.

 

I know. It was bad.

Apparently the next owner thought so too.

They went to work removing all of that paneling and brick.

I will be forever grateful that they tackled this mess so that we didn't have to.

When we bought the house almost seventeen years later

there was a billiards table right where the dining table is now. 

This was the room that really didn't have a purpose. 

When I interviewed previous owners some called this space the game room, 

others referred to as the den or family room. 

Nobody knew what to do with it.

When we moved in, we painted it red 

and for lack of a better name we just called it the red room.

 

Wow. This is the equivalent of showing you pictures of me in my acid washed long denim skirt and work boots.

Fashion gone wrong and plaid overload.

It wasn't long before we lost the plaid furniture that was a nod to my country phase.

We quickly replaced it with leather pieces. 

The problem was we had a living room,

 a media room,

 and what amounted to two family rooms.  

This was redundant and a poor use of space.

So when we finally remodeled the kitchen five years ago

we decided to enlarge the kitchen footprint into the old dining room.

Then we recreated this space.

It was reborn as a dining room. 

It was easy really. 

Because this area is just steps away from the kitchen 

it made perfect sense. 

Having it so close to the family room makes it flow better when we are entertaining.

 Really all we had to do was move in the furniture and the chandelier.

 

Voila! We had a new dining room.

Looking forward I still like the red 

but I'm beginning to visualize something new. 

I know neutrals are all the rage but I like a dining room with drama.

I always consider what it will look like over the holidays since that is when we use this room the most. 

I've thought of gold or maybe a lighter brighter version of red. 

Perhaps something in a coral or copper family. 

 

( I saved this image a while back and now can't figure out where I found it... sorry)

or maybe a raspberry like this from Savvy Southern Style.

 

I wish I had seen this when we were picking out lighting. I love the double chandeliers.

 

( again, I can't remember where I first saw this... note to self, document images for future reference) It wasn't that long ago that I found this. Does anyone recognize it? Please let me know if it is yours.
 
 
 

I am really thinking I would like to see a leopard print rug in this room. 

I'm just ready for some excitement here.

Nothing terribly drastic.

Still, 

I think an animal print element like that would give this room that added dash of moxie.

To my mind a home is never "finished" 

it is always evolving.

This room will be no exception. 

Change can be good. 

If not for change this room might still be covered in dark wood and faux brick.

hugs,

P

LInking this post up with Blue Cricket Designs 
The Power of Paint @ Domestically Speaking

Transformation Thursdays @ Shabby Chic Cottage

Remodelaholic
 
Metamorphosis Mondays @ Between Naps on the Front Porch

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

The Evolution Of A Family Room

Our home is a very old home, just shy of the century mark. As a result it has changed a lot over the years. Last month I did a post on our living room but this time I thought I would feature the family room and how it has evolved over the last few decades. 

When I hear the words family room that conjures up for me an image of warmly painted walls and over stuffed leather seating with a fireplace and a big old distressed coffee table. That is not what I ended up with here. Instead mine resulted with bright colors, chintz florals and polka dots. I probably went this direction with this space because the room we use as a family room started out as a screened in porch and it even though it has walls and windows now it still sort of has that  porch like feel. 

 

This photo was probably taken back in the late 60's or early 70's. After we bought the house in 1997 I contacted all of the previous owners and they were kind enough to tell me about the years they spent in our house and some of them even had pictures to share. This is one of those pictures.

This is the view of this same porch while looking out of the kitchen window. I am guessing this  picture was probably taken at about that same time period.

 

Another family moved in during the '80's and converted this space into a family room.

 

You can't tell from the photos here but the walls were papered in a moire. I thought it was much too formal for the space so even before we were fully moved in we went to work removing the wallpaper.

 

Notice that nasty tile floor. Now those of you that a purists need to quit reading. I really really tried to live with it and I did live with it for about three years but eventually we covered it in wood. I know some of you hate me for this but really just because something is old doesn't mean it is good. This was just plain ugly. Who can decorated an airy bright space around a brick red and black checkerboard? Not me.

Have you ever done some things that you look back and think Really? What was I thinking? Well I did that more than once when it came to this room. To begin with I took the moire down but I put up something just as bad, maybe worse, a peachy pink and white stripe. Now I had my reasons but when I really think about it none of them come close to justifying this egregious error in judgment.

 

Combined with those window treatments it really takes on an ice cream parlor vibe. Yikes.

During our third year in the house we put on a large addition. The roof over this room was a shed roof and it didn't really blend with the rest of the roof line of the house.

 I've heard it said that the four most expensive words you can say when you are in the midst of remodeling are, "While you're at it"  so in true remodeler fashion we uttered them and then we ripped off the roof to this room.

 

 

No your eyes aren't going bad. For some reason I taped two images of this room together and that is the file I have on my computer. 

 

In the end it was a good decision. We were definitely pleased with the new look.

 

We pulled the room back together but I still had that ridiculous floral sofa. Now the room really was kind of pretty during the day but night time shots with all of these windows just aren't flattering. Keep in mind this photo was taken around 2000 or maybe 2001.

 

The pink striped walls were gone but another nemesis to my dream space was that floral sofa. A word of advise. Don't EVER buy a floral sofa. I don't care how pretty it looks in the store or in the swatch book, you will grow to hate it. I was tired of mine by the second year and then I lived with it for three more years after that. Yep, hated it.

Finally about six years ago I made some furniture changes in this room and recently took down the window treatments. This is the way it looks today. 

 

 

 

Hmmmm. I think I need some more red over in that part of the room and something with some weight to it. You see, for me,  a room for me is never really complete. It is constantly evolving. In this space I am considering a bolder green on the walls and the hubs wants a big screen. The sofas are beginning to show some wear and I would like to find an ottoman for the overstuffed chair. Too bad I'm never content. 

Linking up today with:

Remodelaholic at Remodelaholics Anonymous Friday 

The Girl Creative Make A Friend Friday 

Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up

and a new blog I just found today - Our Suburban Cottage. She is having a How I Met My House Party. - Very clever don't you think?

 

 
 
 

 
  
 
 
 

The Many Looks of This Old House - The Living Room

I live in an older home. A ninety four year old home to be exact. 

My last post was a link up to Transforming the Home. At first glance it seems a bit shameless to do a post on my own house but I think it could be interesting to share with other old home lovers the ups and downs of living and updating these old money pits. You either love them or are grateful you don't have one. They are a constant work in progress but for the last couple of years I have been happily focused on other things in my life and this has taken a back seat. Things here are quickly  beginning to look neglected though and I am realizing that It is time to redirect some of my efforts back into this old rambler that we call home.

(This is the door I am considering painting yellow. Thoughts ?)

Let me begin at the beginning.

This photo is of Ellen and her brother. Their father built this house in 1915-1916 and Ellen was born here. The picture was taken when she was about three  She figures that this was not long after the end of World War I and that explains the patriotic attire. She laughingly commented that her brother looks like the kind of boy you would like to bully.

 

I talked with Ellen in 2003 when she was 88 years old. She was delightful. I want to grow up to be a cool 88 like her. She was twelve when her family left here and moved to California. She hadn't seen the house since she was quite young and she was thrilled to see the pictures I sent her of the house today and of our family. She told me she so enjoyed her trip back in time. She shared her memories of her life here and of servants ... hmmmmm wonder what happened to them? There certainly weren't any of those here when we moved in. Ellen shared with me her memories of pony rides out back and of huge flower gardens, of breakfasts of bread dipped in milk and sugar with her nanny in the kitchen and of parties her parents would throw on the sunporch. She remembers one in particular where they roasted an entire pig and served it with the apple in its mouth. She said her life while she lived here was good and she thought we were carrying on that tradition.  I'd like to think so even if it is more about egg beaters and salads in a bag, cigars and martinis around the firepit and movies in and eating out.

I thought it might be fun to share with you in a series of posts, the lives of some of the various people who have lived here and the different decorating styles and changes that this old house has experienced over the years and where I hope to take it next. So here goes nothing.... In this post I will feature the living room. Do you think they called it that back in 1916? 

 

 In 1928 there was actually a wake in this room for the lady of the house, a young mom that had died in child birth. From here there was a procession down to the church. It all seems weird now but I guess it was common back then.

The earliest picture I have of this room is from the late 1950's. 

 

Those stockings are so retro cool. The whole thing kind of looks like something out of A Christmas Story. It's only missing one of these babies.

 
 

By the 1960's the bricks  in the fireplace had a coat of white paint and a new fire screen.

This is how the mantel was decorated for the holidays in the sixties. Lots of brass going on here. As for the lady of the house, isn't she pretty?  I actually knew her before we even bought the house but it wasn't until after we had moved in that I realized that at one time she called this place home too. Small world. 

I love that dress and all of that hair. Gorgeous. Wouldn't it be fun to dress up like that? Seriously, I was born too late.

Oh Lu you distract me. By the 1970's the fireplace was no longer white. In a practice that was common during this era, it looks like it was "antiqued" a technique of paint and stain. Check out those mirrored tiles. Yikes. 

I think that this must have been the decade of mirrored surfaces and lots of plants. 

Here is a look at the other end of the living room. Definitely an asian thing going on here at that time.

During the eighties the house changed hands yet again. This family had their work cut out for them. For starters there was a lot of termite damage under the front porch that had encroached into the front of the house. A huge support beam had to be installed that meant pulling up some of the living room floor. Thank Heavens for Orkin and our lifetime warranty that I renew every year. This had to be an expensive fix. The good thing is after they refinished the floors you can't tell that there was ever a problem.

In the 80's the fireplace got another facelift. The stain went much darker and the mirrors were replaced with marble. Apparently there was some plumbing work done too. Trust me, there is definitely not a toilet in this room. :0

 
This is how it all looked in the the early nineties.
 

and in 1997

I actually wish they had left that red sofa I would rather have that than the gold love seat that is there now. 

Here  is how it looked the day we moved in.

 

The first thing we did was lose the blue draperies since I had done the whole country blue thing a few years earlier and I was sooooooooooo over it.

I wanted to bring happy colors into the house so we went with yellow. This picture makes it look REALLY yellow. In reality it isn't quite this vivid. We had a party here before we even moved in and I had wallpaper books and paint sample options sitting around for our guests to vote on. We didn't have any furniture here yet so we just borrowed some lawn furniture (Thank you McGurk's) and scattered it around. It was a totally fun night. 

When we first moved in I needed to buy rugs to cover all of these wood floors and I filled the corners with dining chairs since I only had the small love seat and one wing chair. About a year in it looked more like this. The wing chairs came from the Salvation Army and I had them recovered it the red damask which I still love but I'm just ready for a change so these are the chairs that I want to add off- white slipcovers to. Notice I still didn't have any window treatments. Does this bare look bother you?

 

Shortly after that picture was taken I did add the draperies and I loved them for about five years. Now, not so much. Everything is so formal. Really? who was I trying to impress???

This is how it looks today. I guess I could say it is complete but I am definitely ready for a change. I'd like something more inviting, more casual, more me.

The clock is an attempt to bring a little whimsey and lighten the mood up in here. That plus the fact that it didn't sell at my Traveling Door Show. Sigh. Oh well, now I kind of like it here.

 

 
 Yes, this room is crying out for help. This old house doesn't want to look like an old lady. No 2000 late look for her. No not at all she is ready for something fresh. A bit of a lift and a tuck. She is a party house and she is ready to get her freak on and fly her party flair. All suggestions welcome.
 
 I am linking today with Blue Cricket Design  and Remodelaholic two new to me fun and inspirational sites where I go to be inspired. 

 

Rooms of Color A Mini Tour of My Home

A new blogging friend told me to be sure and stop by Transforming the Home and Domestically Speaking for some amazing paint and decor ideas. Well, you know me, I love a good house party. I just need to add some of my own pictures too. So in true Becolorful fashion I am calling my post Rooms of Color.

 

This is my family room but we call it the green room since it really doesn't look like a traditional family room with its banks of windows on three sides and because even though it is on the first floor the lot drops off and you feel like you are on the second story here. For those of you that are revisiting I did get those fun number pillows from Pottery Barn that I featured last month. Yay.

 

This is probably my favorite room in the house and where we spend most of our time. I like to change out the accent pieces with the seasons and I think it is at its best in the spring. So if you visit frequently you will probably be seeing plenty of variations on what's here now.

 

 

 
 ... and here is the breezeway. I wanted a screened in porch when we did an addition ten years ago but it really became just a pass through to Mr. Rosie's home office. Here the color comes from a bit of yellow floral wallpaper (yes, wallpaper) and yellow, green, red and my black and white accents.

 

We live in a house that is closing in on 100 years but the breezeway and media room were added about ten years ago. 

The front rooms in this old rambler are quite formal. My goal is to dial that down in the months ahead.

Here is our dining room, traditional red.

 

I sold that chest but I miss it and plan to paint another one. I like to see something funky even in these formal areas. 

This room wasn't always a dining room but that will be another whole post ... someday. When we first saw this house there was a pool table complete with a pool table light fixture here. Not what I wanted my guests to see as they looked down the front hallway. So for a number of years this room really didn't have any purpose. We just filled it with some stuffed furniture and added some bookshelves. It wasn't until we remodeled the kitchen that this became our dining room.

 I like mismatched cocktail glasses so I usually only buy one at a time. This way if the party gets a bit crazy everyone knows which glass is theirs.

Typically there is a black table cloth in here or none at all. This is leftover Valentines.  

We also went with reds and golds in the media room.

 

Isn't it interesting when you look at your photos on the computer you see things you otherwise seem to miss. For instance, I am going right down stairs and removing that leopard print runner on the buffet ... not necessary, too busy. Plus I think I will paint the buffet. We bought it and a small matching china cabinet that is in the living room for $150.00 when we were first married and I have been reluctant to paint them because they are in really good shape. Whatever. They're ugly. The lamp on the buffet is also too small. Crazy Daisy here I come with some new castoffs for you. I am, though, feeling those Target pillows. Wonder if I can find two more?

 The half bath is brown. It looks kind of green here but trust me, it's brown. I think that is the plunger handle you see in the bottom left corner. This is a real life home tour after all and that is just  a constant part of the decor in an old house.

Because an old home can sometimes look stuffy and we were a young family when we moved in I knew I wanted to work with happy colors. A yellow living room fit that bill. Years later I am seriously wanting to remove the valences that I paid way too much for and paint this room more of a gold. I would also like to start all over with the furniture but since that probably won't be happening anytime soon I am thinking of off white slipcovers. I really don't sew so I will have to find someone that does that sort of thing.

 

 

Something kind of like this minus the ruffled coffee table thing. Add in a bit more black and some leopard print and I think we're almost there.

 

The kitchen was teeny tiny when we bought the house and we lived with it like that for eight years. When we were almost finished with our kitchen remodel and my first visitor stopped by she looked at my pale gray/tan walls and asked,"Did you pick this color?' I knew what she was getting at. I LOVE color so why the colorless kitchen? Well after living with a dated kitchen for that long I knew I wanted something more timeless. What could be more timeless than white? I get my color fix from the accessories.

 

Upstairs I feel like I can let my freak colors fly and so I do.

Here is my office which used to be an old sleeping porch.

 

This is my absolute favorite color. I don't know what you call it. Watermelon? I love it. I also have a crush on my vintage velvet chair in pea green even though my family thinks it's hideous. I think it kind of has that Friends feel. I had wanted a room with a black and white floor for years and I finally got one here.

Two of the bedrooms on this floor are green.

 

Hmmmm. That Marilyn picture looks a bit high. Seriously, after I finish this post I'll be tweaking things around here for a week.

The boys bedrooms are in the middle of a redo aka future post.

Our room is a major yawn so no picture yet. Another future post.

Like I said this is an old house so the laundry is in the basement ... but at least it is a walk out. I figured that because this was an entirely different floor then this would be the spot where I would experiment with blues. This was a real shift for me. I started with my studio.

 

 and then carried it into the adjoining laundry room. 

 

 

I also have a thing for black and white so I decided to pull out all the stops and deck out the powder room off the kitchen entirely in my black and white fetish.

 

Because houses of this era usually didn't have a bathroom on the main floor this is one of those find a spot for it under the stairs bathrooms and I am pretty sure this is the smallest bathroom EVER. I decided to roll with that and topped it off with this framed quote.

 

This post was a really great exercise for me. The pictures really make me see things with new eyes. Changes are definitely in the works. 

Thanks for stopping by. I love visitors. I hope you found something unique to inspire you and I hope you will drop in again. Now I can't wait to go tour everyone else's homes.

Hugs,

Pam
 
 

 
 
 

 
  

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Decorating Dilemma: Bedroom Walls

Today I am linking up with Amanda at Serenity Now for her Decorating Dilemmas Party. This is a fun spot to get some positive feedback and give and receive some helpful suggestions when it comes to decorating quandaries .... and you know we all have them.

In an earlier post I featured a bedroom I am in the process of updating. The hallway still has the blue and white stripe wallpaper and for now I think I will be leaving it up. So I want this bedroom to flow off of that. I thought about bright green but Adam wants me to leave the trompe l'oeil window up and green paints really didn't do it justice.

 

I think he likes the window best at night because I painted the windows in a glow in the dark paint so at night the windows in the buildings look like the city at night. It really does look kind of cool. I tried to take a night time picture but you have a camera much nicer than mine.

So this is what the room looked like until about a month ago. I call it country meets city.

Then last week I began stripping the wallpaper.

I had originally thought about white walls and white bedding with just pops of blue but this old house has such beautiful woodwork and trim - even up here on the third floor that I want to showcase it. When the walls and trim are the same color the woodwork just disappears. So it is back to the paint store for more samples. I could go with a charcoal  or mid tone gray for something different and a bit more sophisticated because I have opted for the white bedding.

I would then shock the room with accents of cobalt blue. I considered a lighter grey like what I put in my kitchen. 

* Note, I tried to scan a color chip here but it scanned kind of pink. Scanner FAIL

Oh well, try and imagine something along this color combination.

 

The grey would still give me a bit of contrast with the woodwork but the carpet is more of a beige with warmer undertones. Do you think that would work?  I considered camel but I really don't like camels with the painted window either. 

I do love color. I always have and always will. Thus the name Becolorful. So when I saw this room it also inspired me.

It would probably be crazy though to paint the walls so close to the color I took down. Wouldn't it? Still, it wasn't that I didn't like the color, I did. It was the fact that the paper and bedding  were worn and tired. Looking at this dark blue bedroom I am also enamored with the black furniture here. Probably something I will carry over into my makeover too regardless of the wall color I end up with. 

Another option would be a lighter version of the blues I had up there before. Something with a bit of grey in it too. Like this.

 

It would contrast nicely and give me a different color than I have ever worked with before. I like that. Does it look too feminine? I really have a dilemma here.  Light or dark? Blue or gray? I am so confused. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. I can't wait to hear from you. xoxo P

 

How to Strip Wallpaper Without Pulling Your Hair Out

 My kids would tell you there have been times when I looked just like this and they knew to be anywhere but where I was if I were trying to remove wallpaper. I am not proud of some of the things that came out of my mouth back then. It must have warped my kids because those memories of my wallpaper meltdowns seem to be etched on their brains and they remind me of it every chance they get.

I'm just old enough that I have had a lot of wallpaper in my house and I have slowly been eliminating it. Unfortunately, I have another wallpaper removal task looming and I won't let myself buy the new bedding for this room until I have this unpleasantness behind me.

January is already in my rearview mirror but I am just now getting around to getting the wallpaper removed from Adam's room. It was one my New Year's resolutions to get this room updated. I even declared my intentions last month on a blog post but I think the whole frustrating, maddening and messy process was leaving me less than motivated.

This morning, though, I couldn't put it off any longer so I climbed up to the third floor armed with a bucket of water and a clean paint roller. I have tried steaming, using that lady bug looking thing that scores the paper, and more than once I have used Dif. Honestly, none of them really worked for me. In the end I always just came back to a bucket of water and a sponge. 

This is the room that has been taunting me.

 

So how did I do it this time you ask? Well, the trick is to get the paper really really wet. This room has a lot of nooks and angles and I figured my arm would be really tired after scrubbing each wall numerous times with a water laden sponge. So I thought why not try a paint roller instead? Wow this worked so well, I wish I had thought of it on earlier projects. I'm not going to lie to you and say this has been a FUN day but it has gone so much better than I expected.

 I actually put this paper up about ten years ago and it probably helps that I sized the heck out of the walls when I did it.

 

One wall down.
 

To start removing all of this paper I would roll one section and then let it set for about five minutes. Then I would go back and roll it with water a second time. I knew that when the paper started bubbling that the glue was disolving. When I thought the paper was ready I would try lifting it from the bottom corner. If it started pulling up easily I would just keep pulling until I hit some resistance or the whole piece pulled off. If it started to tear I would hit it again with the watered down roller and wait a couple of minutes - usually moving on to the next section and dousing that one with a layer of water. I would have to hit the top part of of the wall more often because of the whole gravity thing that made the bottom naturally wetter and easier to remove. 

I also used a lot of water so you might want to protect your floor or carpet with a sheet or towels. I would also advise putting some duct tape over your outlets if you are really messy. I didn't do this but I know I should have. 

The result would be BIG sections of wallpaper like this. What is it that it just feels so good when you get a great big piece all at once?  It's an insane sense of accomplishment that's what it is. If there was a bit of paper liner left on the wall I would re-wet it and use a metal scraper or spatula to ease it off.

 

So save your money on all the fancy stuff and give this a whirl first. It worked for me. I hope you have the same kind of luck. 

 

A New Year and So Many Projects

( Image lifted from Bedding Envy ... love that site). 

Every year it seems that most people make resolutions to lose weight, reconnect with seldom seen friends, or get organized. I do that too but I also make a list of home projects that need to be done or I would like to accomplish in the next twelve months. This year it seemed like the list was insurmountable so I have broken my list down further and came up with some January goals. At the top of my list was to pack away all of the Christmas paraphernalia. Check. I got that done yesterday and I have the sore muscles to prove it. After a short business trip I hope to get on board with the whole weight loss/get healthy thing. So that brings me to the home improvement side of my list. I hope to clean out, purge, and reorganize my kitchen this month. I don't think I have really done this since it was remodeled four years ago. Yes that will be a big job but my biggest undertaking will be to redo a bedroom. I have several that could use an update but I think I will start with one of the boys rooms. It probably depends on which room I find bedding for first. I've learned that it is easier to find paint to match the bedding than the other way around. 

This is one of the bedrooms that I am getting ready to update. This room is up on the third floor. You know, the kind of room that only kids would want to climb up to on a regular basis. The kind of room that makes you feel like you are up in a tree house. The kind of room that only has one window. Consequently, Adam, my son, and I painted this faux window about eight years ago to give the illusion of openness. I'll need to remove the wall paper but whatever I do I think I will try and work around this window. It has happy memories for me and it is definitely unique. Adam was fascinated with skyscrapers at the time so we painted this city scene and finished the windows of the buildings with a  glow in the dark paint. It is fun to lie in bed at night  with the lights off and see a night time city scene come to life.

 

Other than that painted window, though, the room is basically a complete do over. The  furniture, which was mine as a kid, is looking old and tired. The bear is still with us but I did, thankfully, lose the flag pillow. The quilt is an old Ralph Lauren purchase from the outlet mall in 1998! Wow. I can't believe it is twelve years old. I really should climb these stairs and come up here a little more often. This photo is actually from 2004 and I honestly think it  looks better here than in real life. 

So I'm ready to start looking at linens.  The photo of the fun Lacoste tennis bedding made its way into my inbox a few weeks ago.  I don't think I will use it because it was really our daughter that was the tennis player but I loved the bright green color so much that I thought it qualified as fun enough to share. I never thought of green for up here but it just might work. Any suggestions? Send them my way. I am open to ideas. I'd also love to see some of the room make overs you would like to tackle this year. I may even try and figure out that whole linky thing. 

Laundry Room Panache

Voila! Finally I have been able to get back on track and "finish" my laundry room. Our home is very old and our laundry is in the basement but with large windows that let in a lot of light and look out over a brick courtyard . The view outside is a pretty one so I don't feel like I am laboring in a dungeon. 

About a year ago I decided I was really over the green and white vine and leaf patterned wallpaper in this space and decided to do something totally outside of the box for me. I painted this room a pale aqua. I later did my studio space in a bolder version of this same color but when I first stuck my toe into the blue world it was, for me, a risk. A year later the paint job was all that I had accomplished in my laundry room make over. It was an improvement but I didn't love it. 

I would still like to replace the TV with a small flat screen... someday, and I would really like it if I didn't have the drop in ceiling tiles but hey, in this old money pit we never know when we are going to need access to water pipes or electrical wiring. It is much easier to pull out a few tiles than to tear into drywall. So they stay. 

Still, I was able to make a few improvements that make me happier when I am sorting, shifting, folding and ironing.

I made some curtains out of Pier 1 napkins and a little black fabric. My windows are dirty so I closed the curtains for the picture. :)

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I added a few tchotchkes in black and white.

 

and I rescued this lamp from storage and added a new shade. I bought the lamp at Target a couple of years ago for $10.00 and knew that eventually I would find a home for it.

The wall decor is a big black tray from Ikea

 

 

and so are these great red press on vinyl poppies. I love black and white but I have an addiction to color and these gave me the pop and wow factor I needed to be happy.

 

I struggled to find just the right rug. This tile floor gets cold in the winter. Then Liz sent me a link to a shopping site where everything is black and white. She knows me so well.  This site had me at hello. It was love at first sight for me and it was here that I found my rug. The best part was it was only $39.88! 

So now I have one more room that I can check off my to do list for awhile. The next projects will be more difficult. I think I will wait until after the holidays to start in on those but it's never to soon to start mulling over ideas and possibilities.

 
 
 

 

One Project Always Leads to Another

Last month I updated an area of my basement into my studio space but now I am looking at the adjoining laundry room and thinking it is such a yawn. I spend enough time in here that I think it needs to be a bit more fun. Now it doesn't need the major makeover that my studio needed but I thought it would be fun to show the befores of this rather mundane space and hopefully next week be able to show you the tweaked version of my boring, pretend it doesn't exist room. I haven't set a budget for this little project but I always like to do it "on the cheap" and since I have some much bigger projects calling out for attention upstairs, ( I'm feeling future posts coming on) I will be doing this one with very modest investments.

Keep in mind this is a very old house - built in 1916. This laundry room is in the basement but it works well for me because that door just beyond where my purse is hanging leads to the garage. So I have to walk through here everytime I go to my car and that helps me to remember that I need to do another load or to switch things to the dryer. Because the house is old we opted to keep the drop in ceiling. I can't tell you how many times we have had to get up in there for electrical or plumbing work. So although I don't like the looks of it - it needs to stay that way. When we bought this house in 1998 this room had the exposed foundation walls and a concrete floor. We added the drywall and tile then and I wall papered it with a green and white vine looking pattern that I thought I would never tire of.... but I did. So last year I got as far as paint on the walls but now I think it is time to revisit this room and finish what I started.

Chimney Swifts Not Welcome or I Guess I'm Not a Bird Lover

The symbolic image of this free flying, and mind you federally protected, Chimney Swift  may conjure up sentimentally green thoughts for many of you. In fact, when I googled our little friends I found out that they are referred to as "America's Mysterious Birds Above the Fireplace" Yeah. Whatever. Until recently I  also enjoyed looking up and watching the birds gracefully soaring in the sky. Now, not so much. Nope. Now the birds just creep me out. It started with the owls. When I mentioned to somebody how much noise the owls in our yard were making I was told that it was their mating season. That was back in March.  Now it is June and they are still going at it! These randy birds are driving me crazy! It goes on day and night. They are actually making me feel a bit bad about my own sex life. Who knew the life of an owl was so much fun? When do they ever sleep? I thought owls were nocturnal? I expect to look out my window someday and see all of the tree branches lined up with baby owls starring me down - the ultimate end result of all of this owl sex. These beefy birds have wing spans of like four feet and when they swoop down and land on the roof of my office they sound like B-52's. Enough already! We remember back a few years when one of these bad boys actually swooped down, picked up, and took off with a remote control car that Adam was playing with! 

 The owls have been annoying but even more unsettling is the fact that recently there has been just a little too much nature InSIdE my home. I mentioned in an earlier post that I like taking in nature from a screened- in, bug free zone. This most definitely  also applies to birds. 

Last week we walked in only to discover a bird had invaded the laundry room. Now that will get your heart rate up. My imagination goes wild and every time I would pick up a dirty towel I could envision a bird jumping out at me. Logically I know birds don't jump but hey that's how it works in MY head. I also know it could have been worse. It could have been a BAT, but really, dive- bombing birds in small places aren't a whole lot better. 

We left the door to the garage open and our unwelcome guest finally discovered the exit and flew out. Being the great parents we are, we assumed that Adam had most likely left the door leading to the garage open and that was how the bird had gotten in the house. So, of course, we promptly jumped him about it. Poor kid, no wonder he can't wait to move out for college. I figured we had solved the problem, but oh no, the next day I come home to find yet another bird in the laundry room flapping up against the window. I also learned that this type of bird can't perch on anything horizontal.  Very Creepy! Well, I'm not one to stand around and see what will happen. Nope, I just ditch and call the local Critter Control. I guess it wasn't Adam's fault. One bird could be an accident. Two is incontrovertible home invasion. As for the Critter Control guy, you have got to love that man. I call, he comes right over. He identifies the intruder as a Chimney Swift. Then he shows me where my party crasher is coming in. The where he is coming in and what Bird Boy is going to do to fix the problem are all I truely care about. I really hope, though, that I don't have to have an on-going or long term relationship with this guy because his little visit and two new chimney caps to keep out this dim- witted, directionally impaired bird out of my house has set me back over $400.00. Yikes. 

Don't mention this to Critter Man but if it works it was worth every penny.

So anyway, here are my shiny, new, life- time warranted, stainless steel chimney caps. Aren't they pretty?

Ahhh. So much better.