Every Week: A Bouquet

 How about this?  How about posting a photo of my dining table bouquet each week?  That'll encourage me to keep the practice of fresh flowers going!

I have two sweet young ladies who help me around the house twice a month.  I hired them, with a twinge of guilt, in January of 2017, because my homeschooling had gotten more intense (with addiing a second child to the mix) and because I was starting to teach two classes at our co-op.  By the end of 2017, I felt no guilt at all: my husband had been diagnosed with cancer, and frankly, I needed all the help I could get.  They've now been coming to my house every other week for seven years. I am endlessly grateful for them. Anyhow, sometime last year they said to me, "we love coming here because it always smells so good" (which made me laugh--it's because they come on one of my "crockpot dinner" days!) "and because we love all your fresh flowers."  Well, that stopped me in my tracks, because I realized I'd not had fresh flowers consistently for quite some time.  But I loved that they associated my home with flower bouquets--that's what I want to hear, because I do really, really love flowers.

There's nothing blooming here yet, but yesterday when I ran to Kroger to pick up antibiotics for Finn (pray for Finn! he just cannot kick this whatever-it-is), I bought a $5 bouquet of baby's breath and a 40-cent markdown bouquet of fern fronds.  In a needs-to-be-polished silver pitcher, my inexpensive bouquet is a good start. 

(The only drawback here is that baby's breath smells terrible, so I do have to move it away from the table when it's time to have a meal!  But that's the price we pay, at least this week, for beauty.)

A bouquet a week.  Stay tuned for more!

100 Years

 My great aunt turned 100 in mid-February, following in the footsteps of her mother (my great-grandmother, otherwise known as "Nanny") and her own aunt (otherwise known as Pauline, who lived to be--I believe--105), and another aunt, who lived to be very close to 100, I believe. Those are long-lasting genes. 

Her birthday party was in her home city, three hours away.  I took a solo road trip down for the day to celebrate at her favorite Italian restaurant, braving the traffic in that city of roughly a million people. I used the express lane once I got to the city and still sat in traffic for an hour (car accident!), but even though I left at 5pm--very scary!--I flew out of town with no problems at all. I got to see my Alabama second and third cousins--I hadn't seen them in years  (Mobile is far away, y'all!) and meet the next generation of little cousins--adorable! My aunt Mary is just amazing for being 100 years old--and she seemed to enjoy her party very much. It is astonishing to think of all the changes she has seen occur during her lifetime. Driving back home into the mountains I listened to my Dad's favorite country/bluegrass album, one of those collections that I heard over and over and over again when I was a child (I recommend!).  It was a really, really sweet day.

Because there were too many bouquets leftover, her children sent me home with this beautiful arrangement, which we've been enjoying ever since. I have to toss it out today, but it has made me realize I miss having fresh flowers around!  I used to have them all the time, but as life has gotten busier, that's one thing that has slipped through the cracks. No more!

Happy birthday, great-aunt Mary.  

Doilies

I've probably never mentioned this before, but I have a deep and longstanding love of doilies.  In fact, a couple of years ago my uncles insisted that I inherit my grandparents' custom-made walnut china cabinet (I have a distant cousin who is a semi-famous fine furniture maker! and he made it for them to their specifications). One of the most wonderful things about this was that I finally had an entire drawer that was solely dedicated to doilies (and other sweet domestic linen items). Yes, I realize that makes me sound like I might be 97 years old, and no, I don't care!

My paternal great-grandmother was a devoted doily-maker.  When she wasn't making doilies, she was gardening, pruning azaleas in her garden in Charleston, taking long walks, playing bridge, and teaching elementary school (for something like 50 years!).  She lived to be 100; that's a lot of doilies. 

In addition to my beloved doilies, I also have a lot of embroidered linens.  I believe this was done by my maternal grandmother.  I set it out for spring; it's so sweet!

And a detail on another linen doily.  This embroidery!  I love the care that was taken years ago to decorate and elevate this simple, functional item.  Hours of work could go into something that was basically just there to protect the table.  

Last time I was in Charleston, I found even more crocheted doilies in the attic.  I didn't have time to examine them, but they'll be coming home with me next time, carefully laundered, and set in the sun to dry.  Then I'll add them to my collection!

New Wall Color Review: Benjamin Moore's Soft Chamois

 Earlier this year I began the arduous process of choosing a wall color for our main room.  We have an open concept home, so the kitchen, stairwell, living area, dining area, and small hallway are all essentially the same space and need to be the same color.  On top of that, we get some eastern light, some southern light, lots of northern light, and plenty of western light, because when my mom designed this house, one of her top three requirements was "lots of light!" (The other two requirements were lots of electrical outlets and a closet in every room....can you tell that we had lived in old homes for a long time?) I was extremely tired of our Benjamin Moore "Golden Straw" walls; and besides that, after 15 years, they were looking pretty shabby!

{this section under the front windows was downright grimy!}

(All photos are unedited to try to show true colors.)

I finally decided on a color that I was sure was perfect: Benjamin Moore's Classic Gray.  It seemed perfect--a warm gray that would surely blend well with the piano, the kitchen countertop, the china cabinet.....

When I sampled it, I was immediately horrified.  Classic Gray read very, very blue--possibly the influence of the northern light.

I tried it all over the place.  I tried it against a white backdrop to be sure I wasn't reading it wrong. I tried it on every wall. It looked terrible against our oak-colored banister and awful near our brown leather furniture. 

(Here's a tip! If you know you'll paint soon, but maybe not immediately, sample your paints on various walls behind your large paintings. Then you can re-hang the paintings and hide the samples!)

I had to admit that it would never work. 

Earlier this year I'd bought a sample pot of "Soft Chamois," and for some reason I decided to go try that next to the Classic Gray.  I'm not sure why I had written off Soft Chamois; I think I thought it was "too white" earlier this year.  I went to the garage and dug it up, and I loved it.  So I painted a whole skinny wall with it.  I still loved it!

After spending a couple of days looking at that small wall, I was convinced.  I bought four gallons of paint and got to work.

And the end result is: I love it!

When I had read about Soft Chamois online, I had read that it was "cream" and had a yellow undertone, which I felt I could live with. I really didn't want a pink undertone, so I was okay with this.  But as I began painting, I saw a different undertone announcing itself. 

Green!! 

I worried over this a bit, but kept painting--after all, I'd purchased four gallons of paint. And once the walls were painted, and the furniture in place, and artwork back up, the green settled down. 

The color is a chameleon. In some lights, it is gray.  In other lights, it's creamy.  Sometimes, especially at night, it does seem greenish.  (We did switch out our lightbulbs, too....)  At times, it looks grey. It changes throughout the day. I actually kind of love this.  I think I'm sort of a chameleon, too. :) 

One description of this color that I read was that it's a "milky beige." I know Benjamin Moore classifies it as an off-white.  It has no yellow undertone, no blue undertone, and no pink undertone. I love that it feels so fresh and clean.  I love that it's neutral without being white, and I love that it looks great with all wood tones--it looks good with my pine floors, the oak railing, and the mid-tone piano and china cabinet.  It looks great with the leather furniture that my husband just loves.  It doesn't look great with my kitchen countertops, but it's livable for now, and since those may be replaced next year and the cabinets re-painted, I consider this a minor issue!  It fades into the background nicely so that our paintings--the one thing I actually "collect"--are the visual focus. 

This year I've gotten rid of most of the overly-warm tones that bothered me in our main room. The brown rug? Gone (the day Bosco died I rolled it up and threw it out; I'd held onto it because he loved it).  The yellow chair? Slipcovered.  The peachy piano bench? Slipcovered!  I painted our dark dining room table and chairs a creamy white, painted our dark wood side table the same white, painted our black front door "Yarmouth Blue."  The Golden Straw walls?  Covered now in a calmer neutral!  I even slipcovered the large brown leather sofa in white!

Here are two photos with the two colors:

Soft Chamois in the foreground, and Golden Straw still in the hallway:

And here, a side-by-side comparison!  I just love how "quiet" our walls are now. That gold was a little noisy.

Much better!  

And let me just say: painting this area of our house was so much work, I can't believe I pulled it off (without drama or major messes) in two weeks before Thanksgiving, while still homeschooling. It was extremely time-consuming! Let me tell you, though: I don't plan to do that again!  Next time I paint this bear of a "room", I'm going to make sure my children are adults first! 

Next on the painting list: kitchen cabinets.  But not until summer. :) 

Choosing Paint Colors

 For a couple of years now I've known that our golden walls are not long for this world.  But in my world, "not long for this world" means...I'll paint them within the next five years.  

This year I decided to start taking seriously the search for a new wall color for our main room.  This room includes the living area, dining area, kitchen, stairwell, and hallway.  We live in a very small, open concept home, so all these areas will have the same paint color.  Back in 2005, I painted them (for the first time-they'd never been painted before!) Benjamin Moore's "Golden Straw." It worked well for us for a while; we had a blue sofa in those days and white carpet (!).  But times change. 

You can see the Golden Straw here......(and the fabric strip is a sample of my curtain fabric. I adore my curtains!).

At first I thought I was going for a cream, but I didn't want anything too yellow or peach. 

I spent much of the summer sending paint chip pictures to my cousin, who likes color and interior decor and shares my slightly-obsessive personality.  I'm grateful for her!

I began to realize I really think I need a warm gray, not a cream. Not too cool.  Not too deep.

I made lots of notes on different colors. 

I acquired so many paint chips!

I ordered two different orders from Samplize (I highly recommend them!). None of the six colors I chose from Samplize ended up being the right one.  I had more honing to do....

An interior design friend sent a few 8x8 panels.  I mounted them on posterboard, along with more paint chips. (Ignore the blue; my front door is Yarmouth Blue which is much, much lighter than it looks in this photo!)

And now, at long last, I may have decided on a paint to try--that means, for me, buy a sample pot!  

 I tend to be quite deliberate in making these types of decisions; I'd rather take my time and really think it through and make the right choice than start to paint too soon and then regret my decision.  

I am not in a big rush, although painting sooner would be so nice; homeschooling is very demanding for me this year, and I doubt I'll be able to take the time to paint until next summer.  But I might surprise myself. Until then......

I continue to hone in on the perfect warm, light grey that will play nicely with my curtains, my china cabinet, the piano, and the enormous brown leather sofa that my husband loves--and I think I'm almost there.

Tell me I'm not the only one who does it like this......

Front Porch in Fall: Silver, Cream, and Sage

My front porch used to be one of the banes of my existence, domestically-speaking.  It was a plain, unstained, unpainted wood porch whose stairs were placed in the wrong spot; I couldn't wait to tear it down and rebuilt it. (You can get a glimpse of what it was like in this post.)

But a couple of years ago we hired a painter to stain our newly-built deck. When he was at our house assessing the deck, he looked out the front window. "How about that deck?" He asked.  The decky-ness was one thing that always annoyed me about the porch. I wanted it more porch, less deck. He offered to stain that as well, and I thought--well, why not.

I was stunned!  I couldn't believe that a couple of coats of "weathered grey" made such a difference. I love my porch now!  The configuration still annoys me, but not enough to rebuilt it anytime soon. The silvery stain is perfect to my eyes, so soft and pretty (we chose the same stain for the deck).  After he stained it, I splurged on some grey-and-cream furniture and a good place to read was born.....

I like decorating my porch in different seasons now.  This year I bought two urns to flank the stairs.  I bought the green stool at an estate sale for $15 a few weeks ago. The little jack-o-lantern in the front right foreground is Annie's addition. :) 

I'd hoped to stack some sage and white pumpkins, but flat white pumpkins were nowhere to be found this year.  So I just went with the silvery-sage ones and added some sprigs of common sage and Russian sage as well. 

....these are my white mums in September....note how they had turned purple by October. I didn't see that coming! But I like it. For autumn I cover the blue and green pillows with more neutral covers.  

 

Here's the porch last year, with our sweet Bosco enjoying the sunshine.  What a wonderful dog he was!

I love to sit out here and read a book, sip tea or coffee, and watch the birds. It's good for the soul.....

Grandma's Needlepoint

This needlepoint hung in my grandparents' dark wood-paneled family room beside the back door (the one we always entered) for as long as I can remember. I have loved it for a long time.

After my grandparents died, I naturally assumed someone would claim it.  But no one ever did.  Finally, I was up at the house (it's on the hill above my house, on the same family farm) not too long ago and I asked my aunt about it.  She and my uncle purchased the house from the trust my grandparents had left, so they were mostly in charge of clearing things out before they move in (from their house, which is the original farmhouse on the property where my grandmother grew up--is anyone confused yet?! ha!). 

She shrugged.  "Take it!" she said.

So I did. 

And now it hangs beside our "back door," where we come and in and out of the house, above the dresser that holds my sunglasses and keys, in the blue laundry-and-sewing room which serves as our casual family entryway.  I love the colors--they look so pretty with the walls!--and the familial sentiment.  It makes me so happy to see it hanging here, greeting me when I come home, and watching over me when I'm folding laundry or sewing, and reminding me always of the importance of love in our family life. 

The Six-Year Master Bathroom Renovation: D-O-N-E!

Our bathroom renovation is finally done!

We have worked on this slowly over the years.

When my mom built this house in 1993, I carefully helped her choose the pink laminate countertops, almond toilets and shower stalls, oak cabinets, and pink-and-cream floral linoleum for the two bathrooms we had.  It was basically all my 16-year-old dreams come true. I loved it.

After my husband and I moved in about 8 years later, I'd outgrown the love of pink laminate, and I began to make plans to change the master bathroom.

Here it is in 2014 when we'd ripped out the original stuff and we were putting in beadboard.  I had also decided to keep the fiberglass shower at that point, because 6 years ago we definitely could not afford tile. 

Later in 2014, our cabinetmaker delivered the new vanity.

Here is a post from 2015 after we had the new plumbing installed.

And that's how things stayed for a long time.  For several years we had everything done except the shower.

The last step was having the fiberglass shower removed and the shower tiled.  It took us a long time to get to that point because we knew we would hire the work out, and that it would not be cheap.  So we had to save and plan.

Before we went to Disneyworld in April 2019, we had everything all planned. I somehow thought it would be done while we were in Florida (ha!), but I was wrong. 

The first steps got done....



And then our tile man had a terrible summer which involved losing a close friend, health issues, and the need for knee replacement.

I had several people tell me I needed to find a new tile guy. But our tile guy is THE tile guy in our area, and I only wanted him to do the job. I had total faith that he would do it once his life settled down, and that once it was done, it would be perfect.


{Work in progress.}

And as it turns out, I was right!

It's bright and beautiful. I love our bathroom!  It's tiny, but all of the white makes it feel so bright and happy. I'm so grateful for it.  

It's all my 42-year-old dreams come true!

Autumn Means Sage and Pink

For me, autumn is about the colors sage and pink.  (But I do still put out orange pumpkins--on our deck!)

I took this photo on an 8-mile hike with my husband on our 20th anniversary weekend "staycation."  Moss and leaves, so beautiful to my eye!

On the porch, this translates to lots of cream, with bits of sage and pink.

I took this grapevine wreath we had in our garage and added some pink flowers....I am not good at wreath-making, but I can do something simple like this! And I like the simple look better anyhow. 

The pillows I used here this summer were patterned with blue and green. I covered them with neutral covers and I love, love, love how it calms my eye when I look outside. 

Peachy and white mums, galvanized buckets (we've had them forever), sage pumpkins, the asparagus fern, and the old guard dog.  I think I'd like to put new shutters or something around my front windows, but I'm not sure what yet.

I am trying to read out here as much as possible before the weather gets cold....I just love the colors of the porch in fall. Simple and pretty.  The porch is old and nothing to write home about, but it's not hard to make it into a cozy spot for tea drinking and chatting with a child.  The other day I couldn't find Annie, and she was out here with a book!  

We're all loving it....even old Bosco!

Relax and Smile

During this time between surgery and radiation I am busy getting my house in order.  Lately it has rained here, so I haven't had the opportunity to finish mulching my flower beds.  I'm working inside the house on rainy days!

Two days ago I hung a painting and a framed note in my bathroom. 

I would like to frame the painting someday, but for now it will hang unframed.  It's a beautiful original oil painting that I found in a local thrift shop a couple of years ago.  I think I paid $3 for it.  

This little handwritten paper is something I found in my grandmother's piano bench when we inherited her piano last year.  I love it!  I think it must have been a prayer that she read aloud in a gathering or meeting sometime; I particularly love her note to self at the top to "relax and smile" (because isn't that an important thing to remember in motherhood?).  I set it aside after I found it and knew I'd frame it one day, and that day came this week.

I like to read it while I brush my teeth--a little twice-a-day inspiration!

Sewing Room Mirror

Technically, it's the laundry room, which is also the passageway from the schoolroom to the garage.

*But* since my husband's wonderful suggestion to convert it into a sewing space, I'm calling it the sewing room.  

And finally: we have the perfect mirror.

Beautified Bookcase

A few months ago my neighbor gave me a free bookcase that needed some TLC.  I painted it soon after we got it, using leftover paint I had in the garage from previous projects. 

It now holds an array of history, science, and religion books for children....and our nature field guides, too.  

Now I need to start daydreaming about having new deck furniture, and maybe that'll appear at the doorstep. You never know....a few years ago I got a couple of chairs for free...!!

A New Bookcase

I was thinking about how it would be nice to have another bookcase, and my neighbor called today.  "Do you want a bookcase? I'll send a photo."  As soon as I saw it I said YES!!  

She even brought it down the hill to me. 

This is the kicker: it's a duplicate of the bookcase I bought for Finn's room last year! I actually paid real money for that one; today's bookcase was free. But Finn's bookcase was in better condition.

This one needs a fresh coat of paint; otherwise, it's fine. I was sorry that someone had cut holes in the back, but what can you do?! Here it is, in a temporary spot in front of another small bookcase.....

Experience has taught me that these bookcases hold a lot of books.  Although I'd love to put it in Annie's room, we can't reconfigure her space, so I think it'll live in our schoolroom for now.  That's where it is most needed anyhow!  I am hoping I'll have enough self-discipline to get that fresh coat of paint ASAP, because the urge to go ahead and put books on it is so strong.  Something about an empty bookcase just begs for reloading.

(Also, Alice approves.)

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

At last, Finn is framed.

My Little Spot

My new chair is in place next to the bedroom window, where I can sit and look at the lilacs, peonies, coral bells, crepe myrtle.....not all at once, though, since they bloom at different times....

....and not that I've had time to *do* this yet!  But I will soon. 

A New Chair

My quick pop into the thrift store over the weekend yielded a book for my sister, a twin sheet and a curtain (both to be made into articles of clothing for Annie), and the golden egg: this gorgeous chair upholstered in blue silk, in my favorite shade, in good condition....for $25.  Mmm, those upholstery tacks! Those creamy legs!

In this photo she's showing off in the living room, but she's now in her permanent home by my bedroom window. And I'm happy because I've been pondering our bedroom makeover, now that we can probably take the crib down (yes, it's still up), and now I see the direction we're going....understated glamour.

It strikes me that last year I planned a whole room around a white vinyl chair from the thrift store.  I guess I have a thing for chairs!

The Substitute Nightstand

Today I moved the behemoth nightstand out of Finn's room so that I could begin the process of beautification, and in its stead (he must have a nightstand for his lamp!) I put a little three-legged table that usually sits in the kitchen. 

I love how airy and light this is!  I tried to convince Finn that perhaps this could be his new nighstand, but he rightly pointed out that it doesn't have nearly the storage space he needs.  For the lamp, plus the Harry Potter book and the flashlight and the toy snake and the.....well, you get the picture.

Today I lugged the behemoth into the living room, washed it down, and removed its doors and hinges and pulls.  Tomorrow my husband will move it outside and I will sand it before putting on the first coat of primer.

Also in today's news: I set out the Easter decorations, sewed a dozen more square pairs for Annie's quilt, made vegetable masala (yum!), finally--after over a year--fixed my Nikon camera (MYSELF!) and figured out how to package it to send it to Nikon for a spa day (cleaning), and managed lots of laundry. The reward: a hot bath and a flannel nightgown.

White Denim + A Sharpie + Marimekko's Siirtolapuutarha = A Pillow

My love of Marimekko designs goes way back to 2006, when my husband and I spent a few weeks in Finland. I had never heard of the quirky Finnish company's designs back then, but was immediately enchanted by their cheery graphics and pops of color--and the fabulous storefront.  Ever since then I've kept one eye on Marimekko's fabrics. 

This year I became enamored by the Siirtolapuutarha design. I decided it was perfect for Finn's room and tried to rationalize having new window valances made for him with it--but that $53/yard price tag stings. (Plus, Finn insisted that his current valances are perfect.  Okay!) Then I thought about buying some to make a pillow.  But still: $53 for a pillow?  For a boy's room? 

I have many yards of white denim fabric.  And I own Sharpies.  So one day, gripped by inspiration, I just went at it. 

And golly, it was super fun. 

I don't mind the imperfections a bit; in fact, I kind of love them because they make it mine. 

Now I shall back it with some leftover black fabric with a white dot (and a strip of red, because I need to piece the back, and the red will look cool), stuff it with a pillow form from our old fancy living room pillows (Pottery Barn silk, now threadbare), and call it done.

For FREE!