This is sooooooo ME...

(I am totally going to make my own version of this sign)

Dreaming...

I can't help but wonder how many people remodel/redesign an entire house and then a year later are already thinking/dreaming of what they want to do next... I know of at least one... ME.

I absolutely love CHANGE! Some people don't, I know... some people are totally sentimental about familiarity and resist change at all cost, but I am not one of them. I am always embracing change as an exciting adventure...

I am always switching up my paint colors (walls and furniture) and shaking up my throw pillows, curtains and bed linens. There are just so many beautiful things in this world it is hard to just so hard for me to stick with one look for too long.

The walls of my last house were painted in all cool tones, grayish blues and soothing greens. While pretty much all of the wood throughout was painted white, offset by light oak flooring. So when given the chance to design my new house I went as opposite as I could... Sunny yellow painted on the walls, with dark wood stained furniture and flooring.

I wonder what that says about me... always looking for a change. I really don't believe it is the "grass is always greener" philosophy... I think it is more of an internal desire to experience a fresh perspective of things on a regular basis.

The following images are from our last home:

 A very "country kitchen" with barn inspired cabinetry and island.

 I don't have any pictures of our first couch and over-stuffed chair, but they were covered in a skirted denim fabric that I just loved at the time...

 Here you can see that I have changed up my pillows and curtains (from the previous picture) for a lighter look for the summer months.

 I don't have any pictures of my original dining room chairs, but they were also painted white.

Of course... as the name of the post implies, I am already dreaming of a new color palette: more colors and fabrics and paint... OH MY!

When Somewhat mid-century modern met Not-so-shabby-chic

I wish I had some "before" pics to share, cause this dresser was quite a site when we picked it up from the local Goodwill a few weekends ago.  We were able to snag this really well constructed piece for the bargain basement price of just $10! (What a steal!)

Structurally speaking, it was in great condition with Bill just having to do some mild patch work to one of the drawers, but the wood finish left a lot to be desired. So we painted it a fabulously stand-out-a-lishous shade of teal and then we distressed the dickens out of it to add a bit of "character and patina". The style of the dresser is a twist on mid-century modern, but of course we had to put our own little spin on things .... awwww,  LOVE!

It turned out so... perfectly imperfect (sigh...)

 I just love the idea of using a dresser somewhere other than the bedroom, it just helps to give an unexpected punch to a space (while allowing for much needed storage of board games and kid's books :)

Now I am thinking of adding a few knobs to the 4 plain front drawers to help soften up the ridged lines a bit.

 I am digging both of these choices... hmmmm, which one to pick?!

Update!

The knobs are on. While I was out shopping the other day, Bill came across some vintage crystal knobs that we had stuffed away in a drawer and he decided to go ahead and give them a new place to live... since we only had two, we decided to forgo adding any additional knobs to the two lower drawers. 

I think it adds a little softness to the boxy construction, giving a little balance that the dresser needed ... just the way I had imagined. :)

very (P)interesting...

There is a new "social media" website in town and it is called Pinterest...

The minute that I heard about it I wanted in! I remember getting my first glimpse of the concept on one of my favorite blogs (Lisa Leonard) and I was in love... this is a website that allows you to "pin" your favorite images from the world wide web on a huge virtual cork board and then share these images with a growing on-line community... all with the ease and simplicity of clicking a single button... sign me up! sign me up! sign me up! .... but wait... I tried to sign up and I found out... you don't just get to sign up.?.?.?  

you submit a "request for an invitation" 

OK... seems a little weird... but I get it... trying to be different... no problem, I can wait 24 hrs to receive my "personal" invitation... right? 

But then a week had passed and I was getting impatient... I went back to the Pinterest website and tried to resubmit my request for an invitation... they responded with... "your request for an invitation has already been received" UGH!!!

Then months passed... MONTHS! LIKE 6 MONTHS!!!... and I became desperate, so I sent out a seemingly rediculous plea to my facebook friends... "can anyone out there please send me an invitation to Pinterest?!?!?" ... I thought it would be a shot in the dark, like trying to find a needle in a haystack or brain cells in Charlie Sheen's head!...But NO, I was wrong!!! Quite a few of the members of my very small FB family responded that they could send an invitation to me... Wow, there are people out there in this world getting easily accepted into the world of Pinterest... 

LOTS OF THEM! 

just... not me

anyhow, the point of all of this ranting is to say that I feel a wee bit miffed that I did not receive that invitation that I had so desperately been waiting for, and I can not help but wonder what the heck the criteria is for getting a gosh dang invitation?!?!? 

but oh well, now I am "in" (snuck in the backdoor and gave them a fake room number just like I always do ;) and now that I am here I am going to "pin" the heck out of this fricken' place! 

(btw, I can't help but wonder if all the people that receive these "special" invitations have "iphones"... ugh... such elitists ;)

~in the meantime my Droid and I will continue to be sneaking in the back door... if anyone else wants an invitation, let me know and I will leave the door cracked open behind me.

"un-original" sin...

I have always loved art and I have always loved original things (objects, clothing, people, etc.) so it kind of blows my mind when I think about all of the completely tacky un-original things that I have hung on my walls throughout my life... I mean let's go way back (way, way back) to the MJ days, the days when my room looked a little bit like this...

(Yep, I posted pictures of Michael Jackson on every square inch of my bedroom... and that is exactly what every other little girl growing up in the early 80's did)

Then came the black and white photos with the highlights of lightly colored objects...

(Yep, I hung these posters everywhere in my late teens and early 20's, just like everyone else did)

So I guess it was of little surprise when in my later 20's and early 30's I began collecting "art" from such fine galleries like "Target" and "Pier 1 imports"

Now, don't get me wrong... I dig the example above, I think Rodney White is totally original and did an amazing job of taking everyday pop culture objects and turning them into great pieces of visually interesting, mentally stimulating >>> ART.  But once they hit the mainstream reproduction outlets, they began to lose their luster. You know, cause how special is something... when anyone can buy it... anywhere... at anytime???

Which leads me to a revelation that I had a few years back... Art should speak to you, art should call your name (whether a whisper or a shout) it should tell a story, any kind of story... like, who you are, what you love, where you want to be... and art should never say "ummm... I shop at Target... a lot!"

So anyhow, my rambling (somewhat misguided) message is that (just like I would wish that no one in the world would ever again by a "bed-in-a-bag") I would love to see people stop buying silly re-production pieces from big box retailers and instead support their local community of artists, buy something original... shop your local gallery or craft boutique, check your local goodwill for unique finds and hire a professional photographer to take beautiful pictures of your family (notice I said "professional" do not go to Sears, JC Penney, The Picture People, etc. as these outlets WILL NOT produce beautiful artistic photographs) or even better yet, pick up a camera and a paint brush and let your own creative juices flow, get the family involved, purchase a large canvas and let everyone take turns adding details... you just may be surprised how talented you are. And in the end you will definitely have something original that will speak to you!

(Bill took the picture of this old truck in Santa Fe, then he constructed the frame out of reclaimed wood from our old porch)


The walls of our home are now filled with many original pieces... photographs taken by Bill and I through the years, paintings done by our kids, projects that we have worked on together, and antiques that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Our style is miss-matched and imperfect and you may not like it... but we do, and I can guarantee that you won't find an exact replica of it in anyone else's home-

and that my friends is what truly matters when it comes to art.

~vacation...all I ever wanted... vacation... got to get away~

We just got back from a little family vacation. During our week long adventure down the Southern California coast we made a pit-stop in Laguna Beach. And while this is one of my all-time favorite spots to catch a little sun and a wave or two... I love it even more for all of the one of a kind shops, galleries and boutiques hidden throughout it's quaint little streets. While searching through one of my most favorit-ist shops ever (EVER!) - "Art for the Soul"- I spotted a fantatic piece of art... and now it has a brand new home-

hanging on my wall! I am so in love with this reclaimed art spinning wheel :)

but most of all, I love the message that it has hidden inside...

yep- "love makes the world go round"

Suburbia...

blehhh...

I often find myself wandering along all of the decisions I've made in life, you know the big ones, the small ones... all of those decisions that have lead me to where I am... right now.

and where am I? suburbia... really?! I would have never guessed I would end up here.

I am not knocking it, I mean for being stuck in the suburbs, we have created an amazing life here...  it's just not what I would have ever "dreamed" of...

when I look at myself, my thoughts, my dreams... they just don't seem to match up with this suburban life.

I belong on the beach, an "ocean community" if you will (inside joke between Bill & I) or a big city... I know these two ideas seem worlds apart, but there is common pulse in there... a heartbeat that feels more like my own. 

maybe. someday. just maybe...