White Walls

... something I have always associated as a negative thing

... so boring

... so dirty looking

... so blah.

...

but then I realized something- while looking at all of my magazine clippings that I have collected throughout the years (and my smashing new pinterest collection that I have recently plugged diligently away at on-line) I noticed that it appears that I actually LOVE white walls. They are everywhere in my "inspiration" collection... everywhere!!! -as in... almost half of the images that I have collected feature white walls in their backdrop... This hit me the other day like a ton of bricks... seriously... how had I never noticed that I had an intense longing for white walls, a repressed love that I have mercilessly coated over with every shade of the rainbow?! 

how could it be?... but then again... could it be true?

was my real true love ... white walls?

have I been wasting my time fooling around with all of these paint chips...

I mean they have always been short term flings,

I have yet to find a color that has satisfied me long enough to keep it around for more than a few years...

the greens...

the blues...

the yellows...

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...

Today, I love this...

Sigh.

How long would it take you...

If a bird took a sh!t on your window, how long would it take you to clean it up? (btw, I figure there are only 2 real answers to this question, so I have eliminated any C or D answer options)

A. You would clean it the second you saw it.

B. You would clean it when it finally gnawed on you enough that you couldn't stand it anymore, like say a month or two or ten...

I seem to be of the group that would opt for the B category. 

19 things...

I was recently inspired to make a list of my all time favorite things, you know those items that make your house and a home. Just as Julie Andrews says.. "these are a few of my favorite things..."

1.   MY FAMILY (the obvious answer I know, but the absolute truth)
2.   Our Pets (I love my little furry friends! A house isn't a home without a little fuzz on the couch)
3.   Family photos (photography is a treasured hobby of mine, photos are the wall paper of our hallways)
4.   Hand-made quilts (made of course by all the grandmas of yesterday and today)
5.   Paintings by my kids (what could be better than one-of-a-kind art, made by the ones I love)
6.   Vintage whale hanging (my grandparents')
7.   Antique transom equipment (Bill's grandfathers'- he was a surveyor and actually used the equipment!)
8.   Colored glass bottles that my grandmother collected
9.   Hand-made furniture that Billy has custom created for our home
10. Hand-painted items that Billy has refinished.
11. Chalkboard in the kitchen (the craziness of family life gets semi-organized here)
12. Paint - you know the kind that you toss up on the walls and it transforms everything about a room with just a days work
13. Apron sink - the amazing farm house sink that absolutely completes my kitchen)
14. Antique washer/ringer that Billy gave me many moons ago (and a great reminder of just how much harder my detested chore of laundry could be)
15. Vintage ice-cream churner (an ode to a simpler life and my all time favorite dessert)
16. 200+ year old french window (I love to imagine the life that this window had before living in our home)
17. Dimmer switches (seriously, I am beyond in love with ambient lighting, and completely loath florescent lighting)
18. Fresh cut flowers (every room, everywhere)
19. Living plants (never, ever fake/faux/silk/plastic ones... NEVER)

Quasi-Traditional-Bohemian-Country-Artist-Loft

(Whewww, thats a mouth full, but that is kinda what I am...)

A long time ago I came across a magazine article that featured a loft owned by an artist in NY. He had such amazing style. Mixing all genres and decorating techniques, seeming to effortlessly mesh them together. That was such an inspiration to me...
Take what you love and make it work!

I have never liked conventional things. Often times I don't like "the rules" that we are supposed to play by. I like to mess with things, turn them on there head, change them up to suit me and my style... take something ordinary and make it original. I think a home should be a reflection of who you are and what you love, the bits and pieces that make you one of a kind.

 lil' bit lofty

 lil' bit bohemian

lil' bit traditional

 lil' bit country

... now mix it all together, sprinkle with lots of love and comfort and then you have... home.

Small change = Big difference

I have been making a list of my favorite things, those little things that make a house a home. I am sharing two of them today. The rest will be coming soon :)

(Favorite thing # 36 Vintage "Drafting Table Stool"
& Favorite thing # 18 Fresh flowers)

 Seriously, I am so stoked that I found these!!! I just happened to be in Cost Plus World Market when I spied my dream bar stools hiding in a corner...

 It seemed like destiny when I realized that I was also carrying a coupon that would allow me to by 3 and get one free... The gods had spoken, these bar stools were to be mine.

 I had admired these ones above at RH, but the insane pricing kept me at a distance (seriously who pays nearly 400 for ONE barstool?!)

These from Crate&Barrel are cool too (and priced a bit more friendly at 200 each) but they lacked the character and vintage charm that I was hoping for.

The Best Gifts of All

It is Mother's Day 2011 and I am feeling the love... not only from being a mom (or for having the world's greatest mom for my own mom)... but the love of family.

 I can not even begin to express how grateful I am to be a part of such an incredible family. We love each other, and I mean it, we really do love each other. Does that mean that we always get along and agree.. HECK NO! But it means that we respect each other enough to laugh at our differences and forgive our "character flaws" this to me is the definition of family! I once described my life growing up as being "Beaver Cleaver-like" to which my brother scoffed "What house did you grow up in?!" haha! He was right, our life was nothing like "the Beavs"... (Thank the Gods!) But I guess what I meant was, our life has always been... fun, interesting, eventful, honest, forgiving, memorable, hilariously sarcastic... and most of all... filled with 

L-O-V-E. 

Lucky for me that I found a man with a similar family. Melting our outlooks on life and family together to form our own little house filled with love. Yep, how lucky I am indeed... Life is short, Family is forever. 

1.1.11

This comic, from the Calvin and Hobbes collection, has been a favorite of mine for many years...

Here we are busy embracing the spirit of the New Year

by taking the blank sheet of paper in front of us

and discovering all of the possibilities...

This year it is my goal to concentrate on things like living in the moment... finishing the rooms in our home that still need painting/decorating, making my family feel (even more) special, and being more (ugh!) organized.

Cheers to 2011... It's a magical world... Let's go exploring!