On a Whim

Remember this wall?

I wanted a change:

I painted this 3'x4' painting on a nice rainy day. I wish we could have a few more of those all day drizzles! (The above photo was taken with an iphone. I will have better pictures soon. )

Have a wonderful weekend! I love Fall!

My Summer Decorating Plans

School is almost out, and I cannot wait! I feel like it's my Summer vacation as well as the kids'. No more homework, no more driving to pick up kids from school...

It is when I get a lot of projects done around the house. This Summer, I'm planning on finishing up this wall before I tire of it altogether (all pictures taken with iphone):

I need to clear the clutter from these bookcases. See how we have more books than the shelves can hold? Books are spilling out the front:

Then, my most labor intensive project is painting this entry. It looks sorta pink right now - it's actually BM Shaker Beige. It looks like a yellow-beige in my house. I'm thinking of painting it either a white, or BM Gray Owl. 

I need to do something with this vignette. It's the first thing you see when you enter. This was supposed to be temporary to fill up the space when we gave the grandfather clock to my husband's brother.

We'll see how much I actually get done. I still need to put away some Christmas houses that are in the basement!

Dining Buffet Before and After

Hi Everyone! I am back from Fall Break - we didn't go anywhere, but it was a packed week. Sleepovers, projects, kids activities.....

Anyhow, I realized I have a few projects I did over the summer that I didn't get around to posting. One project I had been meaning to do for years is painting our dining buffet, if you can call it that. It is actually an old dresser that my husband and I purchased when we were first married 16 years ago. Below is the after:

Here's the before - it was functional, and I hate to throw away good furniture....

I never intended to paint it this blue color. I was going for grey, but I had a quart of blue I was sampling out several years ago. I am glad I went with it; it goes nicely with my painting. Plus, I was able to get rid of one more can of paint that is taking up space in our basement!

I was able to recycle the handles by spray painting them. I made sure to prime first. I painted them black. It gives it a nice balance of the traditional shape with the modern color. I accessorized with silver inherited from my husband's mother. There again, I like the shiny of the tarnished silver, mixed with the distressed buffet, with the modern/traditional handles.

As I write this, the wind is BLOWING hard outside. Today is trash day, and there is trash all over the street! I am so glad I got some of these painting projects done this summer. It may be a long Winter.....

Breakfast Party and the Dining Room Christmas Decor

This past weekend, our family hosted a breakfast party. The reason for breakfast instead of dinner? Well, this particular group of friends we invited do dinner very well in their homes. Very gourmet, very intimidating, and very delicious. Some of them have been to the finest restaurants in this country. One of them is a writer for a industry nutritional magazine, and has tasted the best food. They know good food. They are foodies to say the least!

My husband's and my idea of a dinner party would consist at best marinating some salmon in soy sauce, garlic, and cilantro.

We do, however, make a mean breakfast! And, after a camping/hiking trip where my husband brought the most inedible freeze dried eggs, he had to redeem himself.

Being part Swedish, my husband makes great Swedish pancakes. Breakfast is his specialty. His mother used to wake up at 5:00 am every morning to fix a nice, hot, breakfast for her boys every day. Every day. Yikes! I wake up at that time every day so I can work out, but there is no cooking involved :) ! I never really enjoyed breakfast until I married him. Was I missing out!

So, here was the menu:


Swedish pancakes, Stuffed Blueberry French Toast, a green chile, sausage, and cheese egg dish, Poppy Seed Bread, and of course, Mimosa and Espresso/Lattes for the adults. Orange juice for the kids. We used 72 eggs. Call the cardiologist! Wait, he's a guest!

Here's a not so clear picture of the holiday decorated dining room. I decorated the chandelier with some glass ornaments, a garland of clear and silver beads, and crystals that I wired. (I am planning a chandelier makeover after Christmas is over and all that stuff comes off. This is a builder's basic chandelier that I do not really like much.) The table is set with greenery, my moss balls, and branches from our yard. We used silver inherited from my husband's mom, which, by the way, we use every time we have guests over. Why have silver if we don't use it? Our water goblets are one of my favorites - pink and green glass which resemble Depression Glass. They hold so much water! I'll be so sad if one ever breaks, as they are irreplaceable.


Then there's the food. The presentation is not so great. It's difficult to make it look pretty when one is feeding 8 adults and 11 children. One of our friends even brought a yummy potato dish as well. It was a foodfest!

By the way, one requirement for our guests - must wear pj's.

Before and During...the Dining Room

I promised you I would invite you into my home, and I could kick myself for speaking writing before I think. I am quite awed by many of your homes, and am a little embarrassed to be showing you mine.

I am only an amateur home decorator. I have always had a passion for design and decorating. I have had a passion for art I think since I could hold a pencil. I would have loved to have gone to an art and design school for college, but, the left side of my brain (and my parents) won. I have a business degree in accounting and marketing.

I am always redecorating, and making many mistakes along the way. I don't mind though, because I always learn from them. I get tired and bored easily with various looks. I love almost every style there is. I don't know what I would call my style. I loved Tuscan/Old world for a long time. The colors throughout the house go with that warm feeling. It looks fine the way it is; I just want a change. I want less clutter, more neutral walls, and a way to marry my dark woods with the new light feel I'm looking for. I want a fresh look!

I feel like my house is always a before picture. I'm calling my dining room my "during" phase because there are many things left to do. I would love everyone's input, because, like I said, I do not have any expertise in this area. Only my instincts and the things I've learned from books, magazines, and now, wonderful design bloggers!

Here is my before of my dining room. If I had known that I would be blogging when I took this picture, I would have taken more pictures. While I love red, I was very tired of it. You can see my sample color boards on the wall and on the table:



Here are some during photos:

Here is the painted dining room. After such a drastic change, I almost repainted the walls. I felt like the window treatment and painting clashed with the new wall color (a warm beige/grey). I now rather like the clash, but I'm going to make new window treatments out of 20 yards of white linen. I'm also planning on making some white slipcovers for the chairs, switch out the painting, add some molding to what's existing, and get different end chairs. I'm thinking of painting that chandelier. We will tear out the carpet and put in wood floors like the rest of the first floor at some point. The wood floors are a dark, warm rosewood stain:

Another view. I need to take off the table cloth and re-accessorize the top. You can see the living room off to the side:

This hutch belonged to my in-laws. We inherited it when my mother in law passed away. No one in the family wanted it. It's a high quality piece, but it was that 70's wood stain with the greenish tint. We took it, I painted it, and put in new knobs.


Here is the back wall. I have been planning to paint the chest for a few years. Maybe this summer I will finally get around to it. I need to clear off some of those accessories:

So, in summary, here are my plans:

1. wood floors


2. new window treatments


3. slipcovers


4. end chairs


5. paint the chest : white or black? I'm thinking a distressed white.


6. practice restraint with the accessories


7. anything else?

Any suggestions? By the way, I'm not married to the wall color, either. I should also add that I have mostly dark wood on most of the furniture, as well as dark cherry cabinets in the kitchen. The dark wood will have to stay. The labor in painting all of it will be too intensive. My upholstery is also dark, but I can also make slipcovers for that. So much to change.... maybe I just need a psychologist!