My Quest For The Perfect Gray-Green

G.O. is working on the upstairs bathroom,

so I’ve been busy thinking about paint colors, etc.

I was all set to get Glidden’s Prairie Sage (bottom right),

since it was described as a neutral alternative to gray.

Trust me, we have enough gray walls downstairs.

 I am ready for a change but want to stay neutral-ish.

Besides, green is a thing now.

Anyway, off we drive to Home Depot for a gallon of Glidden Prairie Sage.

Long story short — neither of us liked it.

I thought it looked too bright + too mint.

The minute we got home, I headed to Pinterest,

where I began a furtive search for green-gray paint.

When I saw these being described as matches to

Restoration Hardware paint, my search was officially ovah!

I mean, people.

Everything from Restoration Hardware is exquisite, is it not?

Sadly, it’s almost 5 bells, so I shall have to wait until manana

to drive to our (brand new + local) Sherwin-Williams.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, earlier today I casually suggested we do this

to the bathrooms walls:

I mean, how cool!  Plus, isn’t it easy to install?  I hope?

Oops.  I think that’s where I lost him.

Wish me luck with the paint, though.

  I’ll report back — so stay tuned.

 

Colorful Magazine Inspired Re-Do

This special issue of Country Home magazine is available right now,

+ you must go get a copy!  It’s that good.

Away with less is more decorating + just say no to neutrals-only!

So, as one does after reading a really good home magazine,

I immediately engaged in a really fun re-do, starting with this:

Please.  How much do we love that sorter of mine!!??!!

The color’s perfect, + the patina is so wonderful!

I bought it in the early 90’s from a friend + happily used it in my old retail store:

Sadly, there are no photos of said sorter in said store.

Please.  I take dozens of pictures every week!?

WHY DIDN’T WE TAKE ANY PHOTOS WAY BACK WHEN??!!

I guess we’ll never know, but back to the sorter.

  After I closed the store + moved across the state to be with G.O.,

it’s been languishing inside our garage for years.

Then we moved into our Dutch colonial about a year + a half ago.

I mean, come on.

Was that blank living room calling for it, or what!?

Yes, it was.

So.  Speaking of being inspired,

a few weeks ago I spied a photo of this room in Diane Keaton’s house:

Next thing you know, I’m rearranging all my books by color!

I really love how the cubbies display some of my ‘smalls’,

including these cute milk glass chickens from Grandma:

And in honor of Grandpa, who always carried a buckeye in his pocket for good luck:

A commemorative beer glass of the Cardinals ’64 World Championship,

(+ check out that adorable rock baseball made by my grandson!)

Omigosh, how sweet is my girlhood bank?:

A sweet red (Cardinal?) pie bird from my friend:

And this fun pair of Dachshunds:

Our framed map of Illinois is from the 1880’s;

we bought it at a pop-up vintage market in Grand Central Station in NYC:

But wait.  There’s more.

My beloved new Country Home magazine

has inspired me to ‘busy up’ the top of my sorter!

My son’s name is Jonathan,

so naturally, I got a bag from Jon’s grocery store in LA + had it framed:

A wonderful handmade basket from a fellow artisan at a show in the 1990’s

+ my heavy glass Pottery Barn vessel filled with old baseballs:

Now then.

Never fear — there have been other revamps in + around the Dutch colonial:

And in our canned ham:

Stay tuned for updates!

 

My Diane Keaton Lady Crush

This morning I stumbled upon the portfolio of Stephen Shandley,

a NYC-based designer whose clients include my fave, Diane Keaton.

Shandley was named to the Architectural Digest’s AD100,

the list of the world’s best interior designers + architects.

I tried but failed to access his website this morning —

perhaps it was just a temporary issue — I dunno.

+ + + + +

Now, then.  What was I saying about my lady crush, Diane?

Remember when she won the Best Actress Oscar for Annie Hall?

Oh, how I love that movie, + when it came out,

I was inspired by Annie’s wardrobe to sew myself a similar blazer + skirt!

+ + + + +

In addition to her highly successful acting career,

Diane is also a home design afficionado + author of this book:

 Next, let’s have a look-see at some photos of Diane’s many** homes,

(**she moves more than we do!)

the interiors of which were designed by Stephen Shandley.

Seriously?  A leather sofa porch swing?  Genius!

People.  This is SO me!  I’ve even sewn pillows with the Swiss cross like these.

 

OMiGosh!  Pillows in a rolling cart!

Check this out (below) — Diane + I also share a love of the “re-arrange”!

I wonder if it provides her the same morale boost as it does me?

I am loving the version at left, with all the colorful pottery.

 I love color, + am growing a tad weary of the trend of all-white decor.

What say ye?

Look at Diane’s inspiration board —  I love it.

And last but not least, here are a couple examples of phrases (stenciled?)

incorporated into Diane’s homes:

I’m not surprised to see that Diane has so many books.  I want one of those rolling ladders, please.

I am feeling a yen for stenciling something on the walls of our house,

since that’s what I do.

Now I have to choose a phrase, don’t I?

Stay tuned!

 

My Love For A Classic Rug

Yesterday I blogged about our new curtains that I sewed:

Love them!  Don’t love hemming them!

Anyway, as I mentioned, I am officially in NESTING mode,

which means I long to make a huge pot of chili + re-do the living room.

Time for a new rug!

My beloved kilim rug has been retired,

after 10+ years of total grooviness . . .

. . . + here ’tis its replacement — a denim rag rug from Land of Nod!

http://www.landofnod.com/true-blue-rag-rug/f1794

People — less than $300 for an 8 x 10 rug!

Say no more!

But wait.  Needle scratch, even.

Isn’t a rag rug something that I would have had in the 90’s?

Um, excuse me?  Granny!

Further more, doesn’t G.O. hate rag rugs?

Please. I don’t think that it’s hopelessly outdated.

No way! — it’s more of a timeless classic!

Like jeans — they never go out of style + they go with everything!

Check it out!

The Land of Nod rug is chunkier (+ softer) than those of years gone by,

which adds a lot of texture to our room.

At this point, I am fretting over how monochromatic my room is.

Gray, blue, gray, blue.

Time to add some of my other favorite color, red!

RED!?  HA!  I think I’ve got it covered!

How about you?

What classics do you still have in your decor?

COLOR FOR OUR UPPER CAB’S INTERIOR

I amused myself the other day,

as it occurred to me that I should re-name my blog:

things-that-I-want-for-the-Dutch-colonial-that-GO-ix-nays.blogspot.com.

Oops.

I doubt that he finds all this as amusing as I do.

But wait.

Here’s yet another idea I must have —

painting our upper cabinet’s interior a contrasting color.

Oh, + the bead board?  That, too.

BHG.com

I would love to accomplish all this in our own glass door cabinet, here:

When I first sprung this idea shared this idea with poor G.O.,

he was definitely not on board.

Pinterest images to the rescue, once again!

Feast your eyes on this yummy-ness, below —

I’m so loving the yellow ware + ironstone with the pretty gray!

Oh, + more bead board!

BHG.com

When was the last time I saw old school cup hooks, like this (below)?

apartmenttherapy.com

How retro!  How cute!

Looks like I’d better get showered + dressed + be over at the Dutch colonial!

STAT!

 

Our Kitchen’s Color Story

Let’s have a look-see at the color story of our Dutch colonial kitchen, shall we?

At the far left, we have Chambray (Pittsburgh Paints),

a medium blue that is already up + at ’em on the kitchen ceiling.

Yikes! — that swatch is way too bright!

This photo is more accurate:

Much better!

I’ll admit that the blue ceiling looks a tad odd by itself,

but I think that it makes sense when combined with my other color choices.

Speaking of which:

The small white swatch represents the room’s future white crown molding,

all the woodwork + our white IKEA cabs:

Third from left is the palest of grays —

Thin Ice (Pittsburgh Paints) — for our walls:

Yes, it’s pale, but pale’s a good thing, sometimes.

I made certain that it does pop a bit against the white cabinets,

+ yet, it won’t be as dark as the gray backsplash tiles I’ve chosen:

Home Depot

I love those tiles so much!  I want them to be the ‘stars’ of our kitchen!

Just look at this inspiration of mine!

Don’t you love the gray tile backsplash?

heavyontheveggie blog

But I digress!

Back to my color swatches + the darkest of my grays, fourth from left.

It’s Volcanic Ash (again, from Pittsburgh Paints):

We will paint our kitchen door (see below) this dark gray,

along with the other interior doors throughout the house:

So far, I am very happy with all my colors + hope they’ll play nicely together!

But wait!

There are a couple more colors — the 2 dark squares to the far right:

They represent my choices of floor tile for our kitchen.

I’ll talk more about them in another post.

Stay tuned!

Garage Makeover Excitement

I’ve not posted much about our Dutch colonial project,

because lately, all our progress hasn’t been that photogenic.

We’re talking framing walls, beefing up beams, etc. . . .

. . . which has to be done, but it’s just not that exciting (sorry, G.O.)

* * * *

The good news is that he’s finally bringing excitement back!

Now, THIS is exciting!

Yes — it’s time to complete our garage’s makeover!

‘Before’

Our plans are to turn this homeliness . . .

. . . into something a tad more cottage + charming, like this . . .

. . . using white vinyl siding, + lots of it.

Yes, that’s right — I said vinyl.

* * * *

Okay, okay.  I know.  Not cool.

Nothing screams “VINYL SIDING” more than an errant J channel!

What’s a J channel, you ask?  Here ’tis:

This is the J channel
required by most brands of vinyl siding,
to clad windows.

The good news is that at least one vinyl siding company . . .

 http://www.certainteed.com/ —

makes vinyl trim that eliminates J channels + thus, doesn’t LOOK like vinyl!

Cool, no?

So, off we go to the local build-o-rama, to order.

* * * * *

But wait.

You know that occasion,

when you’re telling the male sales associate +/or your husband

 what you envision + what you want . . .

. . . + they’re looking at you blankly, as if you were speaking Martian?

Of COURSE, you do!

That occasion was happening to me at the build-o-rama.

* * * * *

Time for lil’ mama to punt + go to plan B.

Here’s plan B:

4′ x 8′ sheets of real wood.

We are going to trim it out with real wood 1 x 4’s + 1 x 6’s,

which is going to be awesome.

Next, we’ll stain everything with solid color stain,

which comes in 100’s of scrumptious colors.

I’m currently searching for the perfect pale, pale gray, like this, for the siding:

What do you think of that black door?

I like it!  A lot!

If I don’t have the nerve to pull off black,

a medium-tone gray would be cool, too:

Or, if I’m feeling particularly adventurous, a gray-blue would be awesome:

Stay tuned!

Garage Hopes + Dreams

Yesterday a.m. G.O. went to our fixer upper, as usual.

As you may know, we’ve been in demo mode, inside . . .

Our very, very naughty ‘before’ bathroom.

. . . so I was a little surprised when he came home for lunch

+ announced that he had spent the a.m. tackling the garage roof!

WHAAAAT!?!

NO PROBLEM.

I just switched from house re-do mode to garage re-do.

Look at the inspiration I found:

Vertical board + batten siding from Certainteed.

For our garage, I want vertical board + batten siding like you see here ^^

 . . . in white, please, like this:

Nothing says cottage quite like board + batten siding!

Look closely, + you will see the highly-coveted garage door arbor

(or is that a pergola?)

I dunno.

Yummy!

No garage door should exist without one . . .

. . . + every single one would have something climbing + flowering on it, like this:

What’s prettier than the blue flowers of morning glories? Nothing!

But wait!

I also think all garage doors should be a color.

I think the dark door ‘pops’.

Our door may be 1 of the 2 siding colors I have chosen for our Dutch colonial house re-do.

Remember, the garage will be white + cottage-y!

Sterling gray from Certainteed.
This will be the 1st story of our Dutch colonial.

Flagstone gray,
which will be on our house’s 2nd story exterior,
hopefully in shingles if our budget allows.

Of course, I can’t decide, because that’s how I roll.

But wait!

Another ‘must-have’ for the garage would be

your roof spire, like this:

Kay’s tan door, brown arbor + roof spire.

If you want your own cool roof spire . . .

. . . a fab antiques store in my former town has a really nice + very affordable one!

I blogged about the shop last month:

https://redbirdv.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/artifacts-antiques-art-accents/

Call Karen Tucker @ 815.440.4931 + ask her to set it aside for you!

Artifacts Antique. Art. Accents.
221 W. Washington St.
Oregon, Illinois

Now the exterior lights!

I’m going to insist on something industrial to flank our garage door.

What say ye?

The Original Warehouse Gooseneck
from Barnhouse Electric Co.
$187

The gray of the galvanized metal would complement my gray garage doors.

http://www.barnlightelectric.com/

People.  This company has the most fabulous light fixtures.

Their motto is ‘Where Vintage + Modern Collide’ . . .

. . . I love it!

Anyway, here are more light fixtures in my most favorite color, ever . . .

Sydney gooseneck.
$284 :-O

Sinclair 12″ gooseneck.
Oops. Didn’t get the price.

Esso 10″ gooseneck
Darn, forgot to get the price.

Pretty cool, no?  Well, feast your eyes on the light fixture I really, really want:

Seaside radial wave 12″ gooseneck
$237 each. :-O

I’ve always thought that red is a great accent color when one has a gray house.

My very 1st house sported that color scheme!

I think it’s time for the sequel!

Window World + Welcome To It

Today G.O. is headed to Home Depot

to order the 1st of our replacement windows.

We’re using this brand: http://americancraftsmanwindows.com/

High quality

Disclaimer:  I know SOME of us consider vinyl windows to be a faux pas,

but our budget is quite modest, as is our new neighborhood . . .

. . . which is NOT here.

Please don’t judge.

Or go ahead . . . I know I would!  😉

But I digress.

 I recently blogged about window sashes + my love of the colored ones:

YUM!

Here we have Hunter green in action.

Perhaps you’ll recall  my saying I liked red sashes

with our gray + white exterior plans:

If not red — black would be equally awesome.

BLACK!?

I see a red door + I want it painted black. No color any more . . .

Yes, I had this LP when I was in high school,

+ yes, this song will be stuck in  my head all day . . .

. . . and yours, too.

But I digress.

It’s twue! —  black window sashes DO look fantastic on a gray house!

http://anurbancottage.blogspot.com/

But the harsh reality is that colored sashes are 2 X’s as spendy as white ones . . . and besides, the American Craftsman windows we can afford aren’t even available in colors!

Only white or beige!

We will compromise + choose white, + I’m sure they will look great + not boring at all!

But wait.  All is not lost.  There are grille choices!

First up, I’m insisting upon getting these ^^ high-profile grilles on both the inside and exterior.

Looks more authentic than the flatties between the glass.

And for the grille pattern?  Here’s our  winner + first runner-up:

Farmhouse, which we considered . . . .

. . . . and Estate, which is what we chose.

So I’m happy that our windows, while vinyl + white,

will look cool because of their on-trend, period-appropriate grilles.

Stay tuned; I’ll need your approval, after all.  😉