Thanks for visiting. This is a big year of changes for me. I started with my house. When I moved it, it was all white, pink, mint green and stencils. I had certain things I had to change immediately, so other things I had to live with. My mint green counters and vinyl floor had to stay, but I painted the walls yellow and red in order to live with it. My carpet was a plan white berber with no fleck and no colors. I had the Mary Engelbreit thing going on.
These are all from once the construction began. I wish I had gotten some pictures from before then. But as you can see, it's pretty colorful. Everyone always told me how cute my house was. Please notice the word "cute". All my accent pieces in the kitchen were red. I had hand me down couches from my grandmother that were slipcovered in white. The table was a $10 garage sale find that I redid myself. The chairs were $10 a piece at a thrift shop. The console (the only piece staying) was $60 at a antique shop and the cost of a can of white paint.
So, for 10 years I've been dreaming of houses, flipping through design books and watching design shows. I've collected a scrapbook of options but never been ready to move forward. I have a bi-level, and the living room, dining room and kitchen are all connected. You can't really start and stop that easily.
I think I've picked hundreds of schemes and driven my family crazy as we shop and shop and shop. Finally I was like the boy who cried wolf. Sure sure sure you're going to redo your house. What have you picked this week? It was time to square my jaw, roll up my sleeves and commit to a design direction. That's really the hard part because by picking one, you're abandoning all the other options. And when you work at a design store, something even more beautiful comes in every week.
Here's what I discovered. Go through all your design books and whittle. Pull out pages you absolutely love. Look at them again in a few days. See if you find any trends. I consistently picked out white cabinets and dark counters, big chunky moldings, fireplaces surrounded by bookcases, crisp beadboard, glamorous chandeliers.
Another from Brooke. I love the molding work and the backs of the bookcases. The slat board gives a lot of visual interest even while staying all white.
Rex Brown does gorgeous fireplaces as well. Here's one I drooled over
Rex Brown does gorgeous fireplaces as well. Here's one I drooled over
I love this fireplace. Did I mention i LOVE this fireplace? It has major drama and the coffered ceiling is so lovely.
After I marked every white fireplace I found, I realized this was a must have for my house. My bi-level came sans-fireplace and I was determined to have one. Where to put it was another question. I finally decided to sacrifice a side window that looked into the neighbor's side window. It was actually a straight shot from my bathroom into their house. I'm thinking I made the right choice for both of our houses. However, everyone else thought I was crazy. But, this is where we start. Window out, fireplace going in, seriously committed at this point.
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