YARD SALE - $40 GOTTA LOVE IT!Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
A COATED MESSAGE
Houston, we have paint...
Remember, you can click on each picture to make it bigger, then click the 'back' button on your browser to come back.
Above, you see the yellow (French Pastry) main wall, red (Cherry) fireplace wall, and brown (Desert Sandbar) stair landing wall (in shadow). All colors are Valspar Signature.
In this second picture, you see two Desert Sandbar browns (even though they look like two different browns, they are not), and the one OOPS, albeit a big one, about my color choices: Valspar's Brioche, a.k.a. bright-freaking-orange. It looked tame and stylish in all my sample blotches, which were applied with a foam craft brush, not a nappy roller. Certain times of the day it is likable, but in some lights it is down right hideous. I think I'll have to do a sponge treatment on it in a lighter color glaze. I will gladly take all your "I told you so's" now. In my defense, it is very difficult to find a lighter version of orange without its looking peach.
Here you see one of the other two places this Brioche color appears: the niche around the front door. Again, for about an hour each day it looks great. The rest of the time, not so much. Fortunately, the third place I put it is the small area around the under-stair closet door, which you can just see at the right in the picture below.
The bulletin board wall is the French Pastry yellow, which I absolutely LOVE. It is SO buttery and wonderful. Even though it didn't work for the orange, I have to say I am SO glad I did a whole bunch of patchwork sample blotches in several places throughout the house. It helped me choose the most perfect yellow, one which I NEVER would have chosen from looking at paint chips alone.
Here above is the family room side of the fireplace wall. The Cherry is rich and wonderful. I love it.
Not all the walls in the family room have been painted yet. I chose a much lighter brown for them, called Milk Toast, but it will be painted later this week. However, I chose the Desert Sandbar brown for the bar wall and the six inch edge of the dropped kitchen ceiling. It will set off the kitchen nicely, and I was surprised to see the color goes nicely with the green leaf wallpaper as well. I had planned on doing red in these two places, but the fireplace wall is accent enough, believe me.
And this is what Cherry looks like at the top of the living room, flanked by buttery French Pastry now, and adjacent to Milk Toast when the family room gets its coat. Boy these walls are making me hungry!
GOOD NEWS! I GOT MY ROOSTER! Happy birthday to me! I have wanted this rooster for the better part of a year, and finally sprang for it. I got it at the same time I bought all my paint and was therefore stung by buyer's remorse in the face of the cost of everything. The rooster was sitting on Sophie's car seat when I drove through a fast food place for breakfast shortly after spending a small fortune. A very flamboyant Hispanic worker there confirmed the wisdom of my rooster purchase when he noticed it and said, while handing me my food, "Oh my ghosh! Where dee yoo ge tda cheeken?? Ees SOO kyoo!" To make matters even better, I received a birthday card from Mom with a check for the exact amount I'd paid for the rooster! I'm telling you, this rooster was meant to be!!
Remember, you can click on each picture to make it bigger, then click the 'back' button on your browser to come back.
Above, you see the yellow (French Pastry) main wall, red (Cherry) fireplace wall, and brown (Desert Sandbar) stair landing wall (in shadow). All colors are Valspar Signature.
In this second picture, you see two Desert Sandbar browns (even though they look like two different browns, they are not), and the one OOPS, albeit a big one, about my color choices: Valspar's Brioche, a.k.a. bright-freaking-orange. It looked tame and stylish in all my sample blotches, which were applied with a foam craft brush, not a nappy roller. Certain times of the day it is likable, but in some lights it is down right hideous. I think I'll have to do a sponge treatment on it in a lighter color glaze. I will gladly take all your "I told you so's" now. In my defense, it is very difficult to find a lighter version of orange without its looking peach.
Here you see one of the other two places this Brioche color appears: the niche around the front door. Again, for about an hour each day it looks great. The rest of the time, not so much. Fortunately, the third place I put it is the small area around the under-stair closet door, which you can just see at the right in the picture below.
The bulletin board wall is the French Pastry yellow, which I absolutely LOVE. It is SO buttery and wonderful. Even though it didn't work for the orange, I have to say I am SO glad I did a whole bunch of patchwork sample blotches in several places throughout the house. It helped me choose the most perfect yellow, one which I NEVER would have chosen from looking at paint chips alone.
Here above is the family room side of the fireplace wall. The Cherry is rich and wonderful. I love it.
Not all the walls in the family room have been painted yet. I chose a much lighter brown for them, called Milk Toast, but it will be painted later this week. However, I chose the Desert Sandbar brown for the bar wall and the six inch edge of the dropped kitchen ceiling. It will set off the kitchen nicely, and I was surprised to see the color goes nicely with the green leaf wallpaper as well. I had planned on doing red in these two places, but the fireplace wall is accent enough, believe me.
And this is what Cherry looks like at the top of the living room, flanked by buttery French Pastry now, and adjacent to Milk Toast when the family room gets its coat. Boy these walls are making me hungry!
GOOD NEWS! I GOT MY ROOSTER! Happy birthday to me! I have wanted this rooster for the better part of a year, and finally sprang for it. I got it at the same time I bought all my paint and was therefore stung by buyer's remorse in the face of the cost of everything. The rooster was sitting on Sophie's car seat when I drove through a fast food place for breakfast shortly after spending a small fortune. A very flamboyant Hispanic worker there confirmed the wisdom of my rooster purchase when he noticed it and said, while handing me my food, "Oh my ghosh! Where dee yoo ge tda cheeken?? Ees SOO kyoo!" To make matters even better, I received a birthday card from Mom with a check for the exact amount I'd paid for the rooster! I'm telling you, this rooster was meant to be!!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Rearrange!
In trying to get the house ready for painters to come, I cleared out all the extra stuff and was left with only furniture. This was a good time to experiment with furniture placement. I took pictures so my team could see the possibilities ahead of their visit, and perhaps 'vote' on their favorites.
In these first three photos, the long couch is against the East wall, and the love seat is coming out at an 'L' angle from it, into the room. The space between the end of the love seat and the wall is narrow. As you can see, I moved the piano, which was no small task, truth be told. My feeling as I sat in this little area was that it was LITTLE. Of course behind this area there is ample room for what we have dreamed as a library, but I almost feel like it magnifies the smallness of the space. While having the fireplace as the focus of the sitting area is ideal, these couches are too big, and this space a bit small to not feel crowded.
Next I opened the space entirely, and put the long couch further south on the East wall, and the love seat against the wall formerly known as the "piano" wall opposite it. This opened the space in a lovely way. Knox was drawn into the area because there was so much room for back walkovers and handstands. In this scenario the library would be over across from the fireplace, and would share space with the piano. I love the feeling of this layout; it was open and large, but I did NOT like the fact that to get to the family room, you had to walk between the couches, or in other words, the traffic lane went right through the middle of the sitting area instead of behind or around it. Here are two pictures of that layout, including Knox and Sophie and their acrobatics. I should note that the coffee table in the corner, covered in paint supplies is not part of the equation, but was just left there for want of where else to stash it. As you can see in the second picture below, the hall was already full of stuff.
Finally, I put the small couch in the Southeast corner and the long one parallel to it coming out from the east wall. Although this is still a small sitting area, it allowed for a comfortably wide walkway from the front door to the family room entrance. I also like that the "formal" living area is the first thing one walks into upon entering the house. Again the library in this scenario would be at the north end of the room and share space with the piano. But get this: my decorating wheels are turning so much, that I actually considered doing away with the piano all together. Where it sits now (between the fireplace wall and the window on the north wall), would be a wonderful place for my five 4' IKEA free floating shelves. Am I crazy or what?
Well, that's it for now. Let me know what you think, Dream Team.
In these first three photos, the long couch is against the East wall, and the love seat is coming out at an 'L' angle from it, into the room. The space between the end of the love seat and the wall is narrow. As you can see, I moved the piano, which was no small task, truth be told. My feeling as I sat in this little area was that it was LITTLE. Of course behind this area there is ample room for what we have dreamed as a library, but I almost feel like it magnifies the smallness of the space. While having the fireplace as the focus of the sitting area is ideal, these couches are too big, and this space a bit small to not feel crowded.
Next I opened the space entirely, and put the long couch further south on the East wall, and the love seat against the wall formerly known as the "piano" wall opposite it. This opened the space in a lovely way. Knox was drawn into the area because there was so much room for back walkovers and handstands. In this scenario the library would be over across from the fireplace, and would share space with the piano. I love the feeling of this layout; it was open and large, but I did NOT like the fact that to get to the family room, you had to walk between the couches, or in other words, the traffic lane went right through the middle of the sitting area instead of behind or around it. Here are two pictures of that layout, including Knox and Sophie and their acrobatics. I should note that the coffee table in the corner, covered in paint supplies is not part of the equation, but was just left there for want of where else to stash it. As you can see in the second picture below, the hall was already full of stuff.
Finally, I put the small couch in the Southeast corner and the long one parallel to it coming out from the east wall. Although this is still a small sitting area, it allowed for a comfortably wide walkway from the front door to the family room entrance. I also like that the "formal" living area is the first thing one walks into upon entering the house. Again the library in this scenario would be at the north end of the room and share space with the piano. But get this: my decorating wheels are turning so much, that I actually considered doing away with the piano all together. Where it sits now (between the fireplace wall and the window on the north wall), would be a wonderful place for my five 4' IKEA free floating shelves. Am I crazy or what?
Well, that's it for now. Let me know what you think, Dream Team.
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