Inspired

I was inspired to post this picture of my dining room after seeing a fabulous dining room makeover at Reese & Marie. Soon I will post more photos of my home that capture it's "open living" concept.

Happy Saturday!

A Favorite Friend

Meet my friend, who helps me immensely with my too often decorating indecisiveness.

In my home pictures often go up in one place, are then rearranged, added to, rearranged again and then moved altogether. This leaves my walls looking abused by all the nails I have pounded into them. Thank goodness for wall patch, it provides an instant "fix" and removes the guilt of my indecisiveness. And given that most of the walls in my house are in the creamy white family, sometimes I don't even paint over the wall patch, yes I don't!

For example, remember the arrangement of pics in my new and improved bathroom?

After looking at their symmentry (there is such a thing as too symmetrical) for a few days, I had to rearrange. Below is the new and improved version, wall patch and all.



Off to rearrange....Have a great weekend everyone!

For the love of.....

I thought it would be fun to start a series called "For the love of..." and feature something in my home that when I walk in the door makes me happy just because it's there (besides my family of course!).

I just very recently started putting original art in my home. One of my first blog posts was about the new nest painting I received as a gift from my parents. I had always had lots of botanical prints and black and white photography on my walls but found REAL art hard to incorporate.

Recently, through blogging I found the blog of artist Janet Hill. Her mostly petite and a few not so petite paintings really captured my attention. Why?

Many of Janet's works feature cozy home interior scapes. Many of the rooms I would love to live in and much of the furniture I would love in my home. Another favorite subject of Janet's to paint is clothes, she paints the most beautiful "girly" wardrobes and shoes. The photo above is title "The Reader" and is one in a series of paintings of women holding books and wearing the most beautiful clothes and shoes!

Each day, at about the same time, Janet posts an original painting for sale in her Etsy store. Warning! They are scooped up fast! I have been lucky enough to have fast fingers a few times (ok, maybe like 6 times). Grouped together, Janet's paintings are one of the things that make me happy when I walk into my living room.

How do you incorporate art into your home? Do the pieces in your home have a story?

Bus Driver...Move that Bus!

It's done! I am very pleased with the results. I am happy to share some pictures with you - finally! Waiting for the new Pottery Barn sconces really delayed the reveal, so I was relieved when they finally showed up last week and my husband was able to install them over the weekend.



Our home was originally a 1920's lake cottage that had endured some "interesting" renovations in the 1970's and 1980's. About 3 years ago, a talented neighbor of ours purchased the house and proceeded to gut it and bring back it's original 1920's character. He wisely chose old cabinets to serve as bathroom vanities and just dropped in sinks. We purchased the home about 9 months ago and have steadily made cosmetic changes. I loved the "look" of this cabinet but just felt the red paint did not fit with the goregeous subway tile and overall character of the house. The cabinet lost it's dated red look and I painted it a greyish, taupe-ish color. Then I applied a brown glaze over that and then proceeded to apply about 15 coats of wax on top. By the way, waxing/buffing furniture is a great upper body workout!



It just would not be a room in my home without a couple of nest prints - these I bought inexpensively on Ebay a few years ago and had them framed. They are vintage.



I added a Dundee Marmalade jar to hold my girls' toothbrushes and a vintage stand mirror I got at a flea market many years ago.



And finally, a bit of inspiration for my girls as they get ready for school in the morning!

In the past, I had always done my children's bath for children. This time, I decided to grow it up a bit. My girls are 10 and 6 and I think they don't need a brightly colored, just for them bathroom anymore. Plus, we live in a cozy home that I believe flows better when the colors and look are cohesive.

It's Coming......I Promise!

Ok, so I promised a bathroom makeover. Blame it on the overzelous, new blogger to over promise and under deliver. I know all 3 of you who read this blog have been waiting on pins and needles for the "big reveal".

I am sorry.

I am realizing that LIFE gets in the way of blogging, and home projects. Between shuttling kids to sports practices, dance rehearsals, mounds of laundry, homework, auction chair duties (yes, I have the honor this year) my little bathroom re-do has had it's fair share of stops and starts. The final touches will be added this weekend and I PROMISE the BIG REVEAL will be posted on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend.

A Day to Celebrate Us

No matter where your political thoughts lie, today is a day to celebrate our democracy and our country. Cheers!

I swear I am still working on my bathroom project and promise to have pics next week. I have needed "man help" - taking down mirrors and light fixtures and other things that require power tools and my man happens to be out of town this week. Someday I am going to sign up for some of those classes at Home Depot so I am not so "man help" dependent!

I did want to take this opportunity to thank those who have stopped by my blog to check it out, all 5 of you (plus my great friend Carrie!). Seriously, I have really enjoyed checking YOU all out on a daily basis and YOU have all inspired me to just go for it. I am still learning about how to navigate and make me blog all that it can be, so bear with me.

Oh, and I found some great antique stores today. I actually bought a great cabinet(for just $98 - and you won't believe it when you see it) that has inspired a makeover in my laundry room. Of course now I really want to get that bathroom done so I can move on.....

My House is Personal

I had to share this wonderful piece of art that I received as a birthday gift from my parents. I spotted it when visiting them over Christmas and instantly felt I NEEDED this in my home. I have long loved nests of all kinds, references to nests and nesting. Why? Who knows, probably because it best describes the way I want my family to feel when they come home to our "nest" - safe, loved, nutured ... Ahhh, just wait until mama bird pushes them out and makes them fly on their own.... Anyway, this painting just spoke to me. The artist is a young woman who has done a series of nest paintings as well as wonderful works of bicylces. I am thrilled to have one of her pieces hanging over my fireplace. This, among many other things, makes my home personal. What in your home makes it personal for you?

"Before" Picture of the Bathroom

Here is the "before" picture of my girls' bathroom. It is difficult to get a good image - my house is "cozy". I spent the afternoon painting and will continue over the weekend. I hope to share with you (all 4 of you!)the "after" photo next week.

Can it possibly be Wednesday already. Oh, I had big plans for this week - the first week back to school for my mess-making kiddos. I was going to clean out closets, organize my laundry room, do some laundry while I was at it AND work on some painting in my kids bathroom. What have I done? A BIG FAT nothing. Just getting myself unburied from the holidays has consumed these three days (plus I did make it to the gym twice). Iwill post the "before" photos of my girls' bathroom tomorrow, promise.

Is anyone else in mourning over the cancellation of Cottage Living magazine? I cannot believe it! Who do we call/write? I still have the very first issue. So much inspiration in my own home came from that magazine. More on that later......

Blogging is hard work, it is a miracle that this picture exists on this post. Please bear with me as I finish adding to all the do-dads on the sidebars (I think that is what you call them!).

This week, while corporate guy husband is away finishing a masters program (thank God!), I am going to work in my kids bathroom a bit. I look forward to sharing the "before" and "after" pics with you. Currently the bathroom has lots of potential - subway tile, an antique piece for a vanity, and a cute shower curtain I bought from Anthropologie when we moved in 8 months ago. In it's current state, the bathroom is not being all that it can be. I plan to use a bit of paint to change all that.

Happy New Year! I can't think of a better day to post my first entry on my blog (never mind that Darcy had it designed well over a month ago!).

I feel an ENORMOUS pressure to live up to my favorite blog authors who I stalk almost daily - The Nester and Layla at The Lettered Cottage to name a couple. I have felt a real familiarity with how they feel about their homes and thought, "hey, if they can do it, so can I". Plus, I want to be their BFF's in blogland...

Anyway, I am currently in the process of "homemaking" the 9th home I have lived in since being married 17 (gulp!) years ago. My corporate guy husband has moved us around a bit but I pray this will be our "forever cottage" (so do my 2 daughters). I look forward to sharing with you my process and what I have already done to make our sweet 1920's cottage in Minnesota our family home. Let me warn you - I have decorating ADD and don't always get it right the first time around!

What can you expect? I love anything french, cottagey (yes, that is a word in my vocabulary), from flea markets, chippy, ironstone, alabaster lamps, brown tranferware, Dash & Albert rugs, egg prints, nest prints, signs that say things that speak to me, black & white photography of my kids, a really great mudroom, urns, adirondack chairs, feed sacks, slipcovers, sisal, bamboo, texture!, .......

I look forward to this journey and seeing it where it might take me. Come along for the ride!