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.
