New House Journal: Painting the Woodwork

These photos are really not blogworthy, because they were taken with my phone and the lighting is so poor in these rooms. The little chandelier is so pretty, but it's throwing shadows on the wall that look mottle-y and dirty. (the walls WERE dirty, I think they must have used a lot of candles or the fireplace soot built up over time) Anyway, it was either using these pics, or waiting until I could get my camera over there. The flooring will be installed next week, so I'll wait and get some better ones when they are in.

Dining Room

Is "Mushroom" the New Gray in Wall Color Trends?

Have you checked out the February Issue of Country Living? They have a feature in their "Field Guide" section on decor trends called "Wild for Mushroom". Here's what they say: "Warmer than Gray but cooler than Taupe, this neutral, earthy shade is popping up everywhere."

Country Living Magazine

Painting Antique Frames

What a joy it was to turn over those calender pages, to see what March will bring. February was cold and snowy and brutal for so many of us. March is my Birthday Month, and it always signals the start of Spring. I feel my optimism and mood lighten with that one little flip of a calender page.

A week or so ago, Hubbs and I hung up a few oil paintings that he's given me over the years. They are my favorites, but I was just guessing at where they should be. Wall space in this house is scarce, and I'm trying to be selective about what I'm putting up. So we ended up changing things around because the space really needed something bigger.

When you just have to decorate something...

This Friday is the big move, but we had furniture delivered from the storage units last week, and it was good to see a few of my things that had been packed away. I've been taking bits and pieces over to the new house, like baskets and pillows and some odd things that could fit in the back of my car. But a few days ago my deep inner need for some sort of a vignette took over, and I grabbed what few things that were within arm's reach and put together something (even if temporary) in the living room. I know I can do better, but bear with me...I'm ready to decorate this dang house!

This sofa table won't stay against this wall, but it was a flat surface (that wasn't being painted), so it was fair game. The lanterns made it, but no candles to be found. The basket and corbels from the baker's rack, one of my Autumn Trays, some bittersweet, pumpkins, and a wonderful soup tureen from a garage sale for a dollar. really. yes, a dollar. (and it's not even busted!)

You can see that the rug is rolled up while I'm working on the coffee and end tables. They're turning out great, but taking more time than I'd figured. It took me quite a while to mix the exact color, but I'll have pics soon. 

I'm not sure why the walls look blue, but trust me, there's is no blue in them. Just a great neutral taupe. (Benjamin Moore Smokey Taupe). I never knew there were so many grays, taupes, and whatevers. My advice if you're thinking of painting your walls...get sample pots of paint, lot's of samples, You won't know what color it really is until it's up on your wall.

Speaking of pillows, my two little squirrels made it to the new kitchen. 

The perfect time of year for them.

And my hat boxes and old hats are up on the hutch 

above my computer in my new office.

Here are a few pics from the Dining Room; it's snug in there. I've realized my chair slips are in "no man's land" somewhere in the depths of the last storage unit that was filled. I hope to have them located and in my possession before Christmas... hopefully that will be this Christmas.

My Staffordshire bowl with velvet pumpkins that I hand carried over. I think my table runners are all with my chair slips, so ditto for having some decor tablescapes on the big brown DR table.

The clock looks a little "white" and by itself, but with the chair slips and prints up, I think it will balance out.

And here's a sneak peek of my new antique mirror I found a few weeks ago in a great little shop in Ozark, Missouri. It will go above the buffet that you see here. It's my gold scroll-y French-y mirror that I had been looking for.

 

I'll be without email and the computer for a couple of days, while we get things transferred to the new house. Have a fun Halloween and weekend. I'll check back when the dust has settled!

xoxo,

A little "greige" for the coffee table....

or, how to make the elephant in the room 

not so "noticeable".

This is a project I could see coming a long time ago...

The Living Room at the old house was a little more formal than this one at the new house is turning out. The big difference is that I sold my two massive damask twin sofas to my sister (where they look fabulous), and we purchased the Chesterfield Sofa and Love seat in a gray-griege lineny fabric when we moved to the lease house. I loved my sofas, but I knew that wherever we moved they probably would not fit and that was certainly the case at the smaller lease house.

Antique white French-y coffee table and end table.

AKA Momma and baby Dumbo...

Living Room at the old house with the twin Damask Sofas

Living Room at the lease house with the new Chesterfield set.

The Chesterfield sofas are a little more "masculine" in their lines and appearance, than something French-y. I had to choose wall colors and the rugs based on the color of those sofa fabrics. So now to my predicament. I want to use my antique white French-y coffee table and end tables again, which by the way are massive. We had a huge space to fill at the other house, so it swollowed up any and all furniture that came in there. But the new house Living Room, even though it's larger, still has it's issues with traffic flow and TV viewing. So I want these massive things to "blend in" to the room and seating area; not stand out. They look like small white elephants right now, I'm hoping a coat or two of a gray-taupe ASCP mix will work.

I painted this little accent table (below) when we moved to the lease house, just to have a place to set a lamp. I'm hoping to come close to this color finish on the coffee table and end tables. (more taupe and less green) I'm using Coco and Paris Gray, maybe with a little Old White. I'm not sure of the ratios, but I'm getting started this afternoon. The little table is in Benjamin Moore with a coating of liquid poly on top, but latex paints just don't hold up on a tabletop. I love this kind of project, just not a few days before we move. We're planning on the big move this Friday...Trick or Treaters beware!

(see how this little table just melts into the background)

I'll check back in with you a little later on this project.

Keep a good thought for me, 

I'm hoping Greige is their color!

joining in on these parties:

The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

Faux Painted Chandelier...

Honey, I shrunk the chandelier,
and painted it too!

Seems like all I've had to share lately is lighting (and I have one more exciting one coming up soon). But having the painting done and the chandies installed have been two of the bigger things that we needed to accomplish first. The painting is completed except for that one wall of the kitchen that needed dry wall patching.(where the cabinets and desk counter were removed). Hubbs, Aly, and myself did about 2/3 of the house and our contractor/handy guy and his brother did the rest. You can see below how the Ben Moore Smokey Taupe turned out. I'm so happy I stuck with it, it does change color with the lighting during the day, but all in all it's just the perfect light gray/beige, and I think it will "go" with everything we have.

So when we moved we took down and crated up my "in your face" frenchy chandelier from the Dining Room. It seemed enormous due to the low ceiling height and ended up feeling like it was right on top of the table. But...I love it and even though it was big, it had just the right Country French feel I was going for.

previous home last Fall

I loved the twigs and vines wrapped around it from last Fall and Christmas. I packed away the little linen shades, so I'm hoping to find those soon.

(This is a photo from that time that shows the canvas print 

someone was asking me about a couple of weeks ago.)

So the jest of this blog post is that even though I love that hunky chandy, once it was installed at the new house, it just wasn't the right color any longer. The gold and platinum paint finish was just too bright and stuck out like a sore thumb. Our new house has most of the metals in black and dark bronze, so a gold chandy in the open Dining Room just wasn't going with the flow.

Here's the new space when we first got the keys. This is the old fixture and old wall color.

So I wanted to try to tone the chandy down a notch or two and make it blend in more with the rest of the metals. This black railing (which I'm NOT in love with) is staying for now. The gold was just too noticable. I headed to Michael's and grabbed these supplies to make the transformation...

The bronzing paste wasn't quite dark enough, so I added a little black to take it to a darker bronze. I found the black at Lowe's. The bronzing paste and enamel are both oil based so they mixed up well, and went on easy.

Hubbs fixed me a "paint station" alongside the ladder, so I didn't have to keep getting off to add more paint to the sponge. That saved a bunch of time and effort.

I worked in layers, putting on a darker coat first, then sponging in the antique gold paint on top. It's just a trial and error process. I'd have to have someone come and look at it with me at intervals, just to make sure it was looking right.

I can't say I like it "more" or "less", it just needed to be different. So please don't tell me it was better all bright gold and platinum. It just wasn't working for the new space. That's one of the things you have to consider when you have an open floor plan. You can see more of the gold at night when the bulbs are lit, otherwise in the daylight it looks dark bronze.

All in all I'm pretty happy with how it turned out; it looks like a real antique to me now. The lower luster of the darker metal paint finish looks like oxidation. But it did shrink in size. What seemed huge at the other house, seems a lot smaller here. I know it's the height of the ceilings, because the Dining Room area itself is smaller. With my big furniture I'm sure I won't be able to get much else in there. The little shades may not make it back on, I think it looks a little more elegant without the shades. hmmmm...

I'm giving you a peek at my new entry lantern. That's another reason why the chandy had to go a darker bronze. I'm going to tell you all about it soon, It's from a new sponsor and I'm totally crushing on it!

The carpet stretching will be done tomorrow, the carpet cleaned next week, then some things can start coming over from the storage units. Our guys can hopefully start on the outside later this week. The landsaping has to have areas redone and new plantings, plus building new shutters and door paint. Things are rolling along, and it's exciting to see it all come together. I'm so glad we've had time to get these things done ahead of time. As hard as it was to move to a lease house, it's proven to be a life saver, literally.

On a side note, the flu had me down for almost a week. Such poor timing. It's all a blur. I coughed and/or was in a Nyquil induced sleep coma for most of it. This last Saturday I MADE myself get up and over to the new house. Once I was there I got a few things done, but that stuff really took it out of me. I'm so glad Hubbs didn't catch it. It was a bad week. you all take care of yourselves...

I'll be joining in on these great weekly parties:

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Daily Cup at Mrs. Olson

Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Hope you all are off to a good week, 

now I have to play catch-up on everything else...

xoxo,

We have the keys...

...to the new house.

 yay!

Now the work starts. 

Amazing how once you get the keys, the rooms become smaller, you see all the spots on the carpet, and the woodwork and trim change color. (Plus, because the yard wasn't watered we now have a sad dead maple tree to take out and replace...insert mad and unhappy face) We're glad we don't have a deadline on moving in as there are several things that need to be done ahead of time. That's one of the things about a move that make it so stressful; trying to move all your own stuff in before things can be cleaned. We always try to leave a house in better condition than when we moved in. I don't want the new owners of my old home badmouthing me because I didn't clean out the fridge, wipe down the cupboards, or sweep the floors. (just a few of the yucky things to clean up)

source

Immediately after signing papers, we started slapping sample paint on the walls, I didn't think any of my first three samples would work because they were too light. Then I went back to the store and bought 2 more samples...too dark. Then I tried mixing samples...still too dark. So the way it looks now the Smokey Taupe from Benjamin Moore will probably be the winner. I had a wide range of grays and the grays with a hint of blue just didn't work at all. The woodwork has a touch of "sand" color, so the Smokey Taupe works, giving contrast but not too much. It also doesn't play up the color of the woodwork, which I wish were more of a true white or off white.

This will be a working weekend for painting. I'll be doing the cutting in, and Hubbs will be rolling. He's not fond of the painting process, but we're going to try to get a little done in the bedrooms/soon to be offices since our handy guy can't start till next week. I'm itching to see the change in the spaces with paint. I have an area rug on order that I'm not sure about...lot's of gray in it, so I want the paint up before it's delivered so I can make a decision.

I'm in love with this rug from Haverty's, but I don't know if it will match all my "stuff". (the leopard print pillows are a must-stay) We'll see... they also have one in brown which may work better.

Here are pics of the new sofa and loveseat at the lease house this Spring.

Gosh, looking at these pics, maybe I just need to stick with the black. The rug I'm using now is too small, and I wanted a lighter look at the new house because of the lighter hardwoods. But here's another Haverty's option...

Now, I'm really confused...

Ok that's it for now, just keeping you posted on all the fun!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend.

I'll be checking in with the progress...

joining in at these parties:

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours
Home Sweet Home at the Charm of Home

Inspiration Board for the New Living Room

I had so much fun putting together an inspiration board for the New Living Room here at the lease house that I thought I'd try it again for the Great Room living area at our new house. I didn't use any actual photos of my own furniture pieces, but just found approximations of items that were already listed on Polyvore.

Below, you can see what I put together 

for my current living space that we're in now at the lease house. 

There will be a few differences in the two spaces, the main thing will be that the new house living space is larger, and I'm hoping it can be a little more formal than it is here at the lease house. We will have a large family/media room in the lower level walkout basement, that will be a more informal area. But upstairs, even though we will be using a tv, I want it to look more pulled together and traditional.

I'm hoping that I can use this armoire that matches our bedroom furniture to house the television. We'll be downsizing the tv a little, and putting our bigger one downstairs with the media center. In the new house we have a niche above the fireplace for a tv, but that's a "no way" for me. I'm not sure what guy first came up with that clever decorating/design idea, but I can bet you he didn't consult a woman...just sayin'...

Not sure yet how we will cover that up, but we have our contractor/handy man meeting us next week to discuss some options.

Another big change will be the lighter hardwood floors.(OK, I've gotten over the shock of them not being darker, but I'm embracing a lighter look, so I'm making sure my happy face is on at all times.) I love hardwoods, but I also want a large area rug. I've been scoping out rugs, and after trying to imagine a variety of styles and colors, I keep coming back to something that is lighter and in a traditional pattern. I'm looking for something that blends in with the hardwood's color. I haven't made any decisions yet, I'm waiting till we have the wall paint up before I make a huge commitment for 2 area rugs and a runner...big commitment. This is one of my ideas.

source

We need to find another recliner, and that's something else, that even though I looked at Lazy Boy and found just the right style, I couldn't choose a color or fabric until I find the right rug. Are we seeing the domino effect? Gotta keep Daddy comfortable, so maybe something like this...

Lazy Boy Furniture

Hopefully, not either of these...

moving right along...

Another change I hope to make is going back to my distressed antique white coffee table, end tables and sofa table. They were way too big for the lease house space, but I'm hoping that they will work at the new house. Not sure if the off white will be right, but the other option is to paint them a taupe-y gray that will blend in with the sofas and wall color.

These are photos right after I painted them back in 2011. Gosh, I got so much flack about painting these pieces. One person hounded me for days saying I'd regret it. So far I haven't.

I don't think I told you, but my sister adopted my twin damask sofas and I have to say that they "look mahvelous" at her new house!

The white Balustrade lamps that I found this Spring will be going on the end tables (hopefully...I'm using that word "hopefully" alot) Truth is, I have no idea how all this will go together until we actually get there. I can see it in my head, but who knows. At least it looks good on the inspiration board. Love love love those wonderful linen lampshades.

We stopped by to get samples of Benjamin Moore paints, and after about 45 minutes and studying them all around the store, I came home with these two sample pints. This will get me started, I imagine there will be a few more sample pots once I get these up.

Ben Moore Nimbus

(more gray undertones)

Ben Moore Smokey Taupe

(more brown undertones)

There are tons of things to do and think about. The design board just helps keep me focused. Right now I'm concentrating on paint for the walls. one thing at a time...at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

Hope you have a great Sunday!

Joining in with these great parties:

Sundays at Home with Thoughts from Alice
Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings
Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life
Show and Share at Coastal Charm
Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo.