We made it, and a look at "French Linen"

We survived the move, and actually things went pretty well. That's because we've been "moving" in stages. We've had the furniture from the storage units delivered first, and then we moved some boxes from the storage unit and lease house, then Friday came the furniture from the lease house. So it's been much easier and more organized than any thing we've attempted before. The house was painted, cleaned, and ready to go, so that's part of what made it easy. Plus, we were mentally and emotionally ready; we've been working on this house since the end of August.

If you read my previous post about the French-y coffee and end tables, then you know that I was getting ready to paint them a shade that would "blend in" to the walls, rugs, and sofas. The antiqued white that they were before at the old house was just too "white" and imposing. 

I wanted to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint this time, so I tried mixing, Paris Grey, Coco, and Old White, but Paris Grey has a blue undertone and that wasn't working. I needed a gray/green undertone to match the new sofas. So I picked up some French Linen and that was exactly the right color to throw into the mix. I just added a little Coco, and a little Old White. (If you live close by to the Springfield MO area they carry ASCP at The Baglady Boutique on East Republic Road)

(love the details on these tables)

...and after a few coats, this is the color they turned out. Pretty close to my original little oval accent table that worked perfectly.

I invested in a ASCP brush, and I'm so glad I did. The paint went on beautifully and no streaking or brush strokes. I've painted a few other things with a regular brush, and now I wish I'd bought one sooner.

 It really gets down into all the little crevices and crannies.

I used liquid poly on these. I know the wax is wonderful, but I had just a short amount of time to get these tables finished and my Minwax Liquid Polyurethane top coat has never let me down. I did one coat plain, then a mix of a Fruitwood Stain and Liquid Poly, then another coat of plain. The liquid poly and stain does darken it a little, but the finished pieces turned out exactly the right shade and matched the sofas perfectly...mission accomplished!

Here's a peek at the Living Room in progress. I'm really happy how things are coming together. All the planning and color matching has paid off. 

I've just done a teensy amount of distressing so far, because it sort of made me nauseous to sand on these things, since I'd spent so much time getting these "right".

Now they blend in with the wall color and furniture instead of looking huge and too noticeable. It's a pretty tight fit in here (as it is with the rest of the rooms). The room size seems bigger because of the high ceilings, but in reality, this house isn't all that big. Cozy and efficient, and we love it.

I don't have much unpacked, so nothing is on the tables yet. I'm hoping to NOT clutter things up, but keep it more simple. We'll see... I DO have that "more is better" gene. The rugs are "busy", but then they help bring all the furniture and colors together cohesively. I thought about a neutral rug in here, but these won out. These close ups make the rug look extra "busy", but overall, they are just what these rooms needed to ground the seating area and pull it all together.

It's cool and rainy, and looks like November around here. Most of the leaves are down, and we had a killing frost Saturday night. The time change has me a little thrown off, but then the moving had me thrown off too. I have boxes lined up in the garage waiting to be unpacked, but I'm trying to pace myself, and not get crazy. I DO want to get out some of my Thanksgiving Turkeys so that may be next. gobble~gobble.

Thanks everyone, for sticking with me during this last rough year, I'm hoping things have taken a turn for the better. You'll never know how much you've blessed me with your encouragement, prayers, and support. you're the best!

Joining in here:

Coastal Charm

Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Cozy Little House

A Stroll Thru Life

Savvy Southern Style
Ella Claire
From My Front Porch to Yours
Shabby Art Boutique
French Country Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed

xoxo,

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,

Vintage October and a Give-Away Winner

Hey Everyone!

Hope you've had a wonderful week this beautiful October, and I imagine most of you have some fun plans this weekend. We're moving more things over to the new house (with the big move next week) but I wanted to take a minute and share some images from the last few years of some Fall and Halloween fun. This is my favorite time to decorate, but "Fall" was pretty minimal around my house this season. Since I didn't get to really "celebrate" my favorite month, I wanted to go back and see what was happening in years past. Here are some of my favorite images from this time of year. If you'd like to see more Fall Fun, then just type in Fall or Halloween on my blog search and you'll get tons more pics. You can click on any image for it to "biggify".

Congratulations to Jann from Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson in winning the pillow below from Elliott-Heath Designs! Thanks so much to everyone that entered!

OK, have a great weekend, 

we're having a warm up to about 80, 

so maybe we can get alot accomplished with the move. 

xoxo,

I have a tree, and other random house news...

Who would think I'd get excited over a little ol' tree!

But, my having a "tree" out here has become a pretty big deal. 

When we first put the contract in on the house, there was a beautiful maple in that exact spot. It was planted when the house was first built, so it was about 10 years old; just big enough to have a little shade and because it was a maple (my favorite tree), I was looking forward to a pretty show of leaves this Fall. Fast forward through the long dry spell we had here in Southwest Missouri, and an owner who had moved out, deciding that yard care and maintenance were no longer needed. By the time we closed on the house the yard was a disaster, the tree was dead, and the landscaping was a barren wasteland. Needless to say I was one unhappy camper.

(last week at the new place)

So once an official arborist had declared it long gone, we had to wait for the right time to transplant a new tree. Evidently October is a better time to plant as it's cooler, and the tree has a chance to settle in before freezes, and will be ready for the warmer Spring growing season. 

I didn't realize there were so many kinds of Maples, but my one request was that it be a showstopper for Fall. Here are a few facts about our pick:

The Shantung Maple is a midsize ornamental tree that is great for small yards and it tolerates alkaline soils, drought, and strong wind. The Shantung Maple steps up to autumn with leaves that are gorgeous golden yellow flecked with red before they launch into orange. The Shantung Maple differentiates from other maples (Red Maple and Silver Maple) in that the canopy is denser and the leaves are more delicate, which is reminiscent of a Japanese maple but with much greater toughness Tolerates full sun and drought resistant. 

Growth Rate	Evergreen or Deciduous	Height Mature	Width Mature
3' Per Year	Deciduous	25'	20'

(Next three images from Google Images)

This year, it only had a small leaf show, but the golds were gorgeous, until it decided that it was a little too stressed out to do much else. It was staked and mulch added, with a bag watering system that you fill once a week, for a measured release of water. Of course Hubbs was thrilled that I was adamant about us buying the most expensive little maple on the planet, but Hey, as a "leafpeeper" who only has one tree out front, it has to be a Fall Showstopper.

In other house news, the carpet is in and we moved furniture from the storage units into the Dining Room (or should I say "squeezed" into the Dining Room), downstairs family room, Kitchen (so nice to see my white farm table and china cabinet), and lot's of other random pieces of which I have no idea what to do with. We're in the process of trying to sort through boxes at the storage place that are priority. Right now I'm seeing lots of boxes that say "Basement Decor" and I'm just trying to imagine what kind of crap, junk, er, goodies, might be in them. This house is only about 2/3 the size of the old one, and I'm already thinking a Spring garage sale probably will be on the calender.

We've been in "move mode" for about a year now and I have to say I'm pretty darn worn out with the whole idea of it. And the way it's going, we might have things somewhat put together by Thanksgiving. Gosh, when I was younger I could decorate a new house in a few days. Remember "The Stepford Wives", uh yeah, sort of. Ugh, I was a lot younger then...

(I did locate a few boxes marked "Turkeys", so they came on over to the house.) OK, I'll have some pics of the basics in a few days. I won't be able to wait till the rooms are complete to share, otherwise I might have to give up blogging altogether...just kidding!

joining these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Share Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's
Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours

I'll be back later with the winner 

from the Elliott-Heath Pillow Give Away. 

Have a great week,

xoxo,