Navy Blue Walls, The Sequel?

I think it’s been 5 years since we painted our living room

Pittsburgh Paint Flagstone gray:

In my little world,

having any room be the same color for 5 years

is just NOT acceptable!!

Yes, it’s time for a change!

(Plus, I never really wanted gray.)

My heart was set on my favorite color — navy blue!

Sadly, as so often happens,

I was too timid to choose something so bold

+ instead, settled on the neutral gray.

(Don’t get me wrong — I do love Flagstone!)

So much for going big or going home, though.

Anyway, speaking of gray, our living room’s focal point,

this vintage sorter, is also gray:

And what a sad, sad coincidence . . .

. . . we also have a gray couch + not 1 but 2 gray chairs!

I think we can all safely say:

TOO MUCH GRAY!

So it’s not only time (5 years!?), already,

to change that gray wall color,

but I need to get rid of a gray chair or 2.

First, the walls.

Yes, my heart still belongs to navy blue,

+ who knows?

Maybe I’ll actually love this one!

Navy blue paint is really hard to get right!

Sometimes it’s COBALT!  Or PURPLE!

 

But, if it was a true dark navy,

wouldn’t it look fantastic with my beloved ikat rug, though?

Here it is in our most recent past house, the brick bungalow,

where it also looks great with that dark blue furniture:

This now brings us to the gray chair portion of our living room change.

I’m pretty sure we’re switching out that arm chair

+ getting this pretty mid-century arm chair + ottoman, instead:

Here it is, sans ottoman but in a tad larger photo op:

It doesn’t really look that dark blue,

but I think it will work.

Fingers crossed it won’t blend into the navy blue walls behind it, God forbid.

Uh oh.  Do you see what’s happening?

There’s that pesky color doubt of mine rearing its head again.

So, just in case, I’ve got “PLAN B”, + here ’tis:

It reminds me of a color, Beeswax,

that we used in our riverfront farmhouse

that we built at the turn of the century.

It’s just so darn cheerful,

+ wouldn’t it complement the pretty butter yellow in my rug???

Oh, here we go again.

Stay tuned!

A+ For Color Coordination!

What’s more fun than a day spent rearranging?

Nothing.

Here’s my inspiration, in Diane Keaton’s house:

And for my rearrange, see this BEFORE, with my books displayed backward:

AFTER, in color, with bowls on top:

Yes, that’s right.  My books are now color-coordinated, + I love it!

AFTER, in color, w/o yellow ware bowls on top:

The yellow ware bowls, while lovely, were kind of visually too much.

Meanwhile, back to my books + stuff.

During the re-do, I thought it would be fun to fill the cubbies

with all sorts of color coordinating bibelots:

Oh, dear.  I might need to edit a bit.  We’ll see.

Now it’s time for a closer look at some of my books,

+ while doing so, please notice the wonderful, old paint on my cupboard:

Had I mentioned where I got this wonderful piece?

Back in the 90’s, when I had my own retail store, Heart-in-Hand,

my friend, Bob told me that his grandpa had a huge sorter in his boat garage.

I think I paid $50 or something scandalous.  Yay.

Even after closing my store, I could never bear to part with the cupboard.

For about a decade or so, I held out hope that I might open yet another store.

Dreams!

My shop keeping dreams finally ended (more like a nightmare at this point),

but I still couldn’t sell my beloved cupboard.

It was a nice place for storing all my gardening supplies in our old garage,

but when we moved here to the Dutch colonial,

I told G.O. that I wanted to have it in our new living room.

HA!  I slay myself sometimes, with those dueling cats.

I honestly can’t recall whether or not an argument ensued, but please.

After a while, he did say — without prompting, even —

that it looked better than he thought that it would.

Well, thanks so much for viewing my latest project.

Next time, I hope to blog about something new I’ve been planning for months:

A TARTAN PLAID BED SKIRT!

Stay tuned!

 

Post-Christmas Paring Down

Funny thing.

This November found me a little down in the dumps.

To try + boost my morale a bit, I opted to decorate for Christmas earlier than usual.

Exhibit A:

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:

I totally know that Dachshund Santa is tacky, but how could I resist?

He’s almost as cute as Chloe the Dachshund!

Everything else is vintage + simple + natural, so I tell myself that things get balanced.

Exhibit B:

I’m keeping those darling vintage pitchers + tiny bottle brush trees out for a while.

Look!  There’s Chloe’s predecessor, Susie the Dachshund,

with our very young, very adorable grandlad (who’s now 11.5!)

But I digress.  Back to my holiday decor.

Away it all went, almost the minute Christmas was over.

How unlike me, Queen of Procrastinators!

 But isn’t it always great to see how spare the house looks after the holidays?

Take our sorter + art ledges.  Please.

You might recall that I was inspired by this photo to turn my books around:

I really like the way it keeps things looking a little less busy,

so my books are staying turned around, at least for now.

I also purged about half the stuff that had been on my art ledges:

They look great!

I hung our vintage map of Illinois on the front of the sorter:

We bought it at a pop-up antiques market in Grand Central Station

during our first visit to NYC.

Among all this paring down, perhaps you noticed one new item in our living room.

It’s an ottoman!

I’ve had it about 20 years or so.

It came with a matching chair + 1/2 (a.k.a. “Grandmother’s chair”),

which I sold about 10 years ago.

Its new upholstery will be a heavy horse blanket I’ve had forever, too.

I think it adds yet more texture + a little pattern to our room.

My plans are to attach it with some off-white twill tape + dozens of upholstery tacks.

(Sooner than later, I hope.)  I told you I was the Queen of Procrastinators!

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?

November Nesting

So.

If the calendar says November, that means Christmas is coming.

It means I should be doing the following:

Sewing pillows,

painting + stenciling everything in my path,

+ sewing yet more pillows.

 Exhibit A: painting + stenciling.

This coffee table is being re-done in my newest style obsession,

which I am calling Vintage Blanket.

I kind of love it where it’s at right now.

Perhaps I will keep it for myself!  Stay tuned!

But wait.

November on my calendar means merch, yes.

But is also has me yearning to binge eat the following:.

 3-packs of Affy Tapples

Countless containers of pumpkin flavored Greek yogurt.

HA!  JUST kidding about the binge eating!  (Or not.)

Actually, I find myself wanting to NEST.

Time to putter around the interior of one’s house,

after one has neglected said-same house all summer!

First, I have turned my attention to our living room,

more specifically, the windows.

  Look!  I’ve sewn curtains + lots of them!

My beautiful, semi-sheer fabric was once IKEA curtain panels, @$20 per pair.

2 pairs yielded more than enough fabric

for both our living room bay + our dining room bay.

6 window treatments for only $40-ish!

The embroidered stripes + knots are festive, are they not?

They add a little texture + a bit of pattern to our rooms.

I opted for only a single panel at each window,

as I thought the standard 2 pairs looked too puffy + granny’s house.

The single panel just looked better to me.

It allows lots of light to stream in (big priority for me),

+ we can still see outside.

Thankfully, it also handles my other concern — privacy,

both during the day + night time.  Yay us.

But wait.  What!?

Somebody’s forgotten to hem her curtains!

OOPS.

Fingers crossed I won’t procrastinate too much + do some hemming, stat.

Stay tuned!

 

Plates On The Wall + How I Overcame My Fear Of Granny Decor

Let’s recap my hopes + dreams for our living room walls.

Imagine, if you will, that this ladder has gone away:

Bye bye, ladder!

But now what?

Well, let’s envision our TV’s  “going away”, too.

Making a long story (slightly) shorter — we could do this:

Pottery Barn!

Enter a caption

Nope.  Too scared of all those nails.  So I/we did this, instead:

That’s great, but wait.

What about this empty + sad space?

Plates on our wall?  Yes, please!

And even better, these plates are on a TV wall!

While I have some white ironstone platters,

I also love blue + white plates.

Notice how they’re hung in a symmetrical (traditional) layout.

More traditional + symmetrical happiness:

LOVE IT!

But how on earth do I do this?  Where should I start?

No problem — here’s a tutorial to help make it less intimidating:

But wait.  Needle scratch.

This is all fun, but here’s the thing:

 Everybody knows that plates on a wall are hopelessly granny.

Um, yes, I am a granny, but I don’t want my decor to be granny!

What should I do?

Um, maybe hang my plates in a non-traditional manner?

 Look at this!

decorfacil.com

I’m pretty sure these are decoupaged plates by John Derian.

mysweetsavannah.blogspot

Here’s John Derian now, in what looks like his NYC work room:

http://www.johnderian.com/pages/browse-by-shape

But let’s get back to my plate hopes + dreams.

Would layering them be out of my comfort zone?

pinkstreetdesign

How about turning a corner with them?

viewalongtheway.com

Okay.  Wait a minue.

Somebody needs to calm down, ’cause this just got crazy.

Does this mean I am still hopelessly indecisive?

Stay tuned — come back tomorrow.

 

Our Bungalow Is For Sale!

Hi again, sports fans!

Yesterday I blogged about our new art ledges:

While photographing said art ledges,

I took a few more snapshots of our living room.

Let’s have a quick look-see, shall we?

First up, my awesome red + white target artwork:

My friend, Alan, made it.

He has a new biz called Boxcar Home,

so look for him at pop-up markets in + around Chicago.

He + I may do one together, later this fall — stay tuned!

https://www.facebook.com/BoxcarHome/

Exciting, no?  But back to our living room!

The top of our sorter is currently sporting my old RedBird sign.

I stenciled it on an old plank from a cupboard,

which we found in the basement of our brick bungalow.

And look at that wonderful butter churn that G.O. bought last Sunday!

A couple of close ups of our sorter’s original gray paint:

Here are a few photos of the sorter’s cubbies.

Our dad caught this foul ball at a Cardinals game in the late 50’s.

The display stand is from Land of Nod.

I super love this miniature yellow ware bowl,

+ the small ‘pineapple’ patchwork ornament that my sister, Kathy, made:

Just a few of my dozens of books,

with the cutest blue + white floral bowl, ever!

I snapped some of our other living room happiness,

including this framed photo of my parents:

I bought that sponged frame at a folk art show, years ago.

My parents are seated on my old twiggy bench,

on the patio of the house we built on a riverfront lot.

Yikes.  That was 2 houses ago!

We just listed our most recent past house!

Disclaimer: we accepted an offer earlier this afternoon.

It’s been sold!

At Last, Art Ledges!

Jeopardy! was just on, + I didn’t get Final.  The humanity!

But let’s not dwell on today’s heartbreak;

 let’s discuss my new art ledges from IKEA, instead:

We have 4 of them on each side of that huge sorter.

I’m such a fan of art ledges — we had them at our old brick bungalow, too:

Art ledges are right up my decorating alley,

as they make it super easy for me to endlessly arrange + rearrange all my stuff!

They’re perfect for G.O., too,

as we don’t end up with Swiss cheese nail holes in our plaster walls.

But why, you ask, did it take us 10+ months

to hang art ledges here at the Dutch colonial?

  Well, here’s why  — I suffer from CDI.

Chronic Decorating Indecision

Let’s go back in time, when all this indecision was taking place.

I sit here, on our new-ish couch, while simultaneously watching Jeopardy

+ pondering where to display all my groovies.

Here’s my view while doing all that watching + pondering:

Disclaimer: I plopped that tall black ladder there just this morning,

so imagine this as an empty, blank space.

I just knew that it would be perfect for an epic gallery wall!

Here’s proof, all from Pottery Barn:

Yumm-O, am I right?

Yes I am right, but for some reason I just couldn’t commit.

Then, 0ne day, out of the blue,

I was struck with the idea of flanking our sorter with art ledges.

Perfect!  I love symmetry!

View from the front door. Our poor Eames-style recliner needs some TLC!

Let’s have a closer look-see at just a few of my groovies, shall we?

On the lower left side, I’ve incorporated some ‘leaners’.

Beatles Revolver LP . vintage map of St. Louis . folk art measuring stick, made from an old window sash (by me)

Now let’s view the lower right side, with its own leaner + a vintage child’s chair.

I’m sewing a cushion for it, for my biz — but I kinda like it here.

Perhaps I’ll keep it.

Cubist painting of Susie, our late great Dachshud by David Holsted of Harrison, AR . photo of our grandson with Susie . President Kennedy window cling

A framed map . Blackhawk statue in Oregon IL . Hogue Hall (now demolished) at my alma mater, Greenville College . vintage metal weather vane arrow.

Vintage letter cards . corresponding dictionary pages for ‘Oh’ (for G.O.) + ‘Kay’ (for me) . another vintage metal weather vane arrow

Close up of a print of my beloved Busch Stadium, from an etsy seller

Oh, how fun!

So many groovies, so little room left in this blog post, though!

Perhaps I will share more on another day — stay tuned!

Oh, + happy Labor Day weekend!

2 Pairs Of Lamps, Lots O’ Waiting

10 years or so ago, I bought a pair swing arm pharmacy light fixtures.

They were discontinued from Pottery Barn, for sale on eBay.

I can’t recall what I paid, but they were fairly “spendy”.

Natch, I wanted to bring them to the Dutch colonial,

but it took a while to persuade G.O.

Finally, just yesterday afternoon, they made it!

He attached them to the woodwork of the middle window of our bay,

right behind our couch.

They are taking the place of the pair of Target lamps

that were on our sofa table.

Here:

Those little Target cuties were moved to another window bay,

which is in our dining room/office/what-have-you room.

Here:

I think they look fantastic!

We have a chippy gray bench that will go on that empty side of the table.

I promise to take a snappy of it + share with the class.

I hurriedly staged this table late yesterday afternoon,

so it’s a sure bet that I am going to move things around or add stuff.

I promise to take snappies + share with the class when I do.

I shall take additional photos of our pharmacy lights in the living room, too!

Stay tuned!

Mama’s Got A Brand New Rug

Last Christmas, my sister Lisa gave me a Pottery Barn gift certificate.

After much pondering, I finally chose this cool rug:

Who doesn’t love navy blue ticking stripes?

As a reminder of days gone by, let’s look back at my old, much loved kilim rug:

I loved it because it had all the “Kay colors” of blue, red + buttery tan.

I bought it way, way back in 2007, so I was ready for a change.

Meanwhile, this cute little rolling table is also new:

I bought it for my biz, RedBird Vintage Home, 

to resell at one of my upcoming spring markets.

Who knew?  It would look so great in our living room!

Check out the way the white bead board top echoes the white stripes.

So.  I may or may not sell it.  We’ll see!

I love how you can tell that it has been made from parts of other furniture.

The white top + apron have the best chippy patina,

while the graceful, natural wood legs surely came from something fancier.

And the wheels!  I’ll buy anything with wheels!

In fact, our living room has not 1 but 2 typewriter tables,

which, as you know, have wheels.

Sorry about the naughty photo, but it’s  been so dark + dreary here.

Anyway, I bought a sample 12″ square marble tile for the top,

yet more white in the room.

Now, then.  This concludes the tour of all wheeled items in our living room,

but before I go, may I show you some other newcomers to our living room?

Golf trophies!

My dad won those, + when we were visiting last month, he said I could have them!

I’m not sure how sentimental he is about his “major awards”,

but I promised him I wouldn’t sell them.

How could I?

But stay tuned for whether or not I sell my little table!

I have a market this coming Saturday.