House Progress...

After working all weekend painting at the new house, I've come down with some kind of flu or virus. Who knows what this junk is, but Sunday it started with a sore throat like maybe just allergies, and by yesterday morning I could barely swallow. I'm better today, but have laryngitis. bummer. I'll survive.

We did get a lot accomplished over the weekend; our younger kiddo came over to help and between the three of us we finished painting the living areas of the lower level. (2 bedrooms, bath, hall, family room, and small kitchen/bar area)... yay! I don't know why I didn't get any finished photos, it was late and I'm sure the lighting wouldn't have been the best. But we can cross that huge job off the list!

Here's the World Market Gray Vintage Chandelier I tweaked a couple of weeks ago. It was just installed, so I need to straighten the arms a little, but it helps get this area moving in the direction I'm headed. If you look closely next to the window, you can see the first coat of the Benjamin Moore Smokey Taupe paint. It's a warm browny gray, and I think we'll be using it throughout the house. I had a lot of angst over choosing the color, but after two coats, and getting rid of the original color, it's turning out really pretty.

This is an area I didn't show you in the earlier house pics. It's the kitchen eating area, and I knew we were going to change things up in here with a little demolition. Some of you will probably think I've lost my mind, but this is a nice size area, 11x14, and it was completely taken up with cabinets and a counter the previous owner had installed as a homework station for her three kids.

If I were to leave the cabinets and counter, I wouldn't have room for my white kitchen china cabinet or much of anything else. So our guys removed them and are in the process of filling holes and moving electrical outlets. The cabinets are being re-installed in the laundry room, so I'll still have access for kitchen items that I don't use often.

(Kitchen China Cabinet and Farm Table from the old house)

I think the space will even out nicely when the furniture gets in.

Here's Hubby scrunched into the tv niche in the basement. It's a little larger than the one upstairs. We thought painting it the same color as the walls would help make it look better. We'll see...these tv niche things are making me nuts!

I finally decided on area rugs and they came last week. (yes, I just went with the black) They are gorgeous, and have a little trendy take on a traditional oriental rug. (Hint...there's some major pattern going on) Here's a peek. Can't wait to get the painting done to roll these babies out.

More on the rugs later...

time for a throat lozenge and a nap.

joining in on these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

Finally...September

The weather might not have realized that it's the start of all things Fall,

but the calender says it's September, so it's good enough for me!

Last January and February when I was packing up all my boxes of faux flowers and Holiday decor to take to the storage units, I tried to grab a few Fall things and keep them separated to bring to the lease house. Back then I had no idea where we would be this Fall. Fall was about as far from my mind as it could get, but I'm so glad I had a little forethought to do it.

I have tons of Fall stuff over at the storage units that I might not find or unpack till months down the road, so these few little things will have to do for now. Decorating here at the lease house is slim pickins, as we will probably be moving by the end of the month. This little house is filled with boxes and odds and ends from the "clean out" of our old house, so just a taste of Fall will have to do.

This little paper mache squirrel was a gift from my younger daughter several years ago, and he always has a place of importance. This year he took up residence in one of my Pottery Barn lanterns here on the old trunk, that we've been using as a coffee table.

The base "tree trunk" is really a little box and the squirrel is the lid.

This is one of my wonderful Pumpkins that I bought from Becky at Timewashed, last year. She's in full Fall mode, so check out all her creations HERE. If you want something special, just let her know. She sells out before she can get them listed.

I made these late summer sunflower bouquets a few years ago for my antique mall space, and saved a few for myself. The urn is from Pottery Barn a few years ago, and it's one of my favorite decor pieces. This was last year...

Here it is from a few years ago...

...and my favorite version from 2012.

No dried hydrangeas or pumpkins yet,

 just a scraggly ivy that's managed to hang on.

I'll check back with you on a house update. I've been tearing my hair out over the right paint color. Seems that Ben Moore Smokey Taupe changes throughout the day due to lighting. The old paint that was pinky/sandy/fleshy/salmon has been driving me crazy cause it reflects on my new paint. I cannot get that suff covered up fast enough! It's taken a few sessions of my husband talking me down from the ledge to finally get it settled. See that sofa in the background? Somehow it wants to read as dark khaki/green at the new place...just a few of the issues with paint.

more to come, soon.

the new house saga continues...

joining in at these parties:

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage 

Shabbilicious Friday at Shabby Art Boutique

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.

French Farmhouse Kitchen Chandelier Paint Project

OK, that's a mouthful. 

With only nine days until we get the keys to the house, I'm trying to get a couple of projects out of the way ahead of time. We've been making a list and it just keeps getting longer and longer. No matter how much you try to be frugal, moving just always ends up costing you more than you want to fork over. I'm trying to reuse our big Country French Chandelier from the previous Dining Room, but I wanted something new for the kitchen.

I'm showing the "afters", first...

All the rooms flow together, and while the lighting won't be "matchy matchy", I've sort of felt like the kitchen lighting needs to "blend in" and not stand out too much. I thought about a lantern, but I've opted to use a lantern in the entry, so I wanted to do something French Farmhouse-y and light for the kitchen.

I've been scouring the Internet since we put the contract on the house, and I found a great little chandy at a great price from World Market. It was just the right size, distressed wood and metal, and a pretty gray/white finish. We even checked it out while we were at one of the St. Louis stores a few weeks ago. perfect. but they didn't have it in stock.

So I ordered it as soon as we got home. It came in a few days, but the only problem was that it was painted a much darker sort of greenish gray than what I'd seen online or at the store. hmmmm?.... I had read the reviews before I ordered, so I wasn't totally surprised.

Hard to see, it's still a pretty chandy, just not what I needed, which was a grayish white. And it had a black cord which needed some camouflaging.

So, first thing was a coat of ASCP in Coco.

Then a coat of French Linen...

with a coat of Pure White on top.

then I mixed a combination of Pure White with a little Coco

 to tone it down a little.

So now it's more what I had in mind. Just took a little experimenting to get there. I will put on a light clear spray finish once I've had the chance to see it at the new house. Glad I didn't give up when I saw the out-of-the-box color finish.

love these acanthus leaves.

I probably should be packing some stuff, but I packed so much stuff for months and months, I'm totally burnt out. I've just decided I'm throwing the majority of things in laundry baskets and carting them over in the back of our suv. the lazy man's way of moving... But it's only a couple of miles away, so I think I'll take my chances. te he. 

Joining in at these great parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours

Share Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's

Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo

Shabbilicious Friday at Shabby Art Boutique

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Sunday's at Home with Thoughts from Alice

Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality

xoxo,