Regret

Until this past week when I dropped a little bomb on the hubs, I had been living with a secret. A regret. I hate the color I chose for our dining room walls. I knew almost instantly when it went up that it wasn't the color I was hoping for. The deep, warm, glowing, tomato soup ember that I was hoping for, looked much more like a freshly sliced tangerine. It made me cringe. It made me want to wear sunglasses. But if you know my hubs, you know I could never admit it was the wrong color. Oh, you don't know my hubs and "it's just paint", so why, you ask? For a couple reasons which I'm happy to outline below:

1. It took me forever to convince him to paint the dining room orange in the first place
2. he hates to paint and wasn't going to be a party to any do overs
3. he's never uttered the words "it's just paint, it can easily be changed"
4. and he really hates to paint. Wait, did I already say that?

So yes, I kept that regret all to myself. For years. YEARS! But I think years is suffering enough, don't you? IT'S JUST PAINT, RIGHT?!? And now I am just dying to re-do the walls, and everything else, about our dining room. We've had a lot of disagreements about this room: we used to have a rectangular table and wicker chairs that I swapped out for the round table and cane back chairs which he hates. In his defense, at the time of their purchase I had promised to re-paint the table & the chairs. I DID reupholster the chairs though! I'm blaming it on my spark. It had gone out. I had no motivation to do any decorating. But now it's back, and I want to start with paint.

Initially I wanted black walls. Of course hubs immediate reaction was NO! But I've thought about it some more, and I'd actually love to use the navy I used on the nursery ceiling on the walls in the dining room. It's one of the few colors I feel like I got exactly right, and I just know it would look amazing in there. The room gets tons of light, and doesn't have a lot of wall surface space because of door casings & windows, so I feel like it's the perfect place to try out a dark moody navy. Yes??

In an attempt to convince the hubs, I tried a little color visualizing on Sherwin Williams. Obviously my online painting skills have room for improvement, but nice, right? Who's with me? Who has a paint brush?

And just so you get a feel for the room from every angle, here you go. Now really, who has a paintbrush?! Can you come over tomorrow?!

I'm So in Love...

...with black interior doors!!!

 You thought I was going to say my hubs, didn't you?  Well, yes, of course!  But recently a friend asked for my advice about black paint for interior doors.  I'm a big fan of the look, though I've never done it in my own homes.  Several years ago I painted the trim in my kitchen & family room black and LOVED it.  I was scared to dip that paintbrush and paint the first strokes of black, but once I did, I knew it would be amazing. Painting interior doors is the same- it instantly elevates the look of your rooms!  As I was doing a little research for my friend I was reminded of how much I love the look, and am wondering what it will take to convince the hubs.  Here are some looks I love...

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I like this pic because this is about how our upstairs would look if we painted all the doors.  There are five, yes FIVE, doors at the top of our landing, but I think this looks amazing!

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I like this one too- we have a couple glass doors and this is a great visualization of how they might look painted black.

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I don't care for this one.  It may just be the lighting, but it's too gray for me.  I'd prefer a true black, or a blue-black rather than a grey-black.

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This one scares me because I don't think it looks too hot.  Again, it could be the lighting, but I feel like you can see the roller marks.  Eeek.

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My jaw about dropped when I saw these doors.  I'll take two please!!  Oh my goodness, how great are they?

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This one is just a weeeee bit too glossy for my taste.  You want a little gloss, but this looks almost lacquered!

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These are utterly gorgeous- a mile high and lovely glass knobs.  Love Love Love.

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Perfection.  And can I tell you how much I love those draperies?  Wow.  Check out that link, she has several more beautiful examples of the doors she painted in her home!

So, what do you think?  Have I convinced you to paint your doors black too?  Oh, and I learned a couple things in trying to find pics to post here:

1) It seems that every blogger has done a 'black interior doors' post sometime in the past 2 years.

and 2) Said bloggers generally suck in sourcing the original poster of the pic.  There were so many more pics I wanted to include, but couldn't track back to the original author.  I always try really hard to track back to the original author of the photo, or just not post it.  It takes a little longer, but they really should get the credit.  Now I see why so many folks watermark their photos with their web address!!

Hope y'all had a great Valentine's Day with your loved ones, we sure did!

Things I'm Loving...

It seems that every blogger in blogland does these type of posts on a semi-regular basis.  I've shied away from them, but the lighting in our house has been dreadful due to way too many dreary rainy days, and I need all the sunshine I can get to make my pics look even half-decent!  So I thought I'd do a little round up of some of the things on my radar lately.

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These are so not me.  I mean SO not me.  But I saw a pic of them on someone and I've been obsessed ever since.  In my mind I see them worn with leggings or super skinny jeans.  I'm pretty sure the reality wouldn't look at all like the picture in my head, but can't stop a girl from dreaming!

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I saw a potted Maidenhair fern at the supermarket the other day in preparation for Valentine's day and fell in love with it.  I don't know if it was the vibrant green sign of life in this gloomy weather, or the delicate scalloped leaves, but I wanted it terribly.  At $24.99 it seemed a bit steep, but I'm hoping that ferns won't be the #1 seller this v-day and it will be marked down!

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Speaking of greenery, Natalie did a post on orchids earlier this week, and I've been thinking about them ever since. I've only ever had one orchid that was given to us as a gift, and I killed it.  I'm not the best with houseplants.  But, now that I know the trick to keeping orchids alive is lots of sunshine and an icecube a week, I think I could give it another try!  Ikea, of all places, always seems to have really pretty ones, and at $9.99 or $15.99 each, I think that's a pretty good deal!  Does anyone know what the heck you're supposed to do once the flowers fall off?  I've never figured that out...

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I'm going to blame this one on subliminal TV advertising- I swear I saw a flash of an emerald green teardrop earring on a lady in a commercial, and now I want some!!  I don't even wear earrings much, though that is a habit I'd like to change.  These are sooo pretty, and hey, emerald green is the Pantone color of the year! 

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I know I'm totally late to the colorful skinny jeans bandwagon, but last weekend I saw a pair of turquoise ones and I wanted them like crazy.  I'm just not sure I'm brave enough to wear brightly colored skinny jeans!!  These ones from Old Navy are super cute, and $12.97 isn't much of a risk!

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I've been itching to start working on our guest bedroom for ages, but we don't have the spare cash right now, and I'm not 100% sure what I want to do.  I know that I've been drawn to bold black & white stripes and buffalo check.  Every time I see this blanket at Ikea, I'm tempted to buy 2 and stash them away until I can get started on the room.  It's such a soft blanket and I think it would look perfect folded over the foot of the beds dressed in fluffy white duvets.  And this headboard of Jenny's has totally inspired me.  Ah, I wish I could get started, like yesterday!

Well those are just a few things on my dream shopping list, what's on yours?!

Brainstorming: A Blogging Schedule?

Not too much to report over here today, just been thinking about a blogging schedule, what do you think?  By blogging schedule, I mean, have regular posts on regular days.  On Mondays I do my "Weekend Update", but what if I always did a DIY on Tuesdays, and a recipe on Wednesdays, etc.  I'm thinking it might help me to stay on track with regular posting because I can prepare for specific posts ahead of time, or know what I need to get ready.  It can be a little daunting trying to come up with something interesting to write about each day, without focus.  I know several bloggers do this, and honestly, I never even realized until they pointed it, so I don't think it has to be annoying or cheesy, unless I let it get that way.

Hmmm, just thinking out loud, errrrr, online...

Opinions?  I know you guys are reading and staying quiet, but pipe up!!!  :)

Leaving you with a pic of my babygirl because I have the cutest daughter in the world (besides all of your daughters, of course!), who clearly loves shoes just like her mama...

A Scarf with a Story

After we painted the powder room downstairs, we moved a painting that used to hang in the foyer/hallway into the powder room.  Since then, there's been a big empty space on the wall.  I've left it alone so it could speak to me, and finally it did!  I remembered a beautiful silk scarf I had inherited from my gran, and I knew this would be the perfect spot for it.  Now let me warn you, the scarf is a bit unusual, but I think that makes it even more endearing.  And it has the best story behind it.  

Here's the scarf:

And now the story...many years ago (I'm thinking early-80's, but I could be wrong) my gran & grandad traveled to France.  While in France, they bought my nanny (great-grandmother) the above scarf.  She was the kind of lady that was impossible to buy for, which I think explains why they picked such an unusual gift!  She apparently loved pheasants, so they brought her back this pheasant scarf- nevermind that it also prominently features two rifles, a target and a myriad of bullet holes!!!  They gave her the scarf, and I bet she said she loved it.  So imagine their surprise when they visited her and saw a woman in her apartment building wearing the exact same scarf!!!  Turns out she DIDN'T like the scarf, and promptly gave it away!!!  My grandad was so upset he demanded she ask for the scarf back, or he would do it himself!  This story cracks me up everytime!!

I'm thinking the foyer/hallway will be an excellent place to display the scarf- what a conversation starter!!  I'd like to try and build a simple frame with moulding & plexiglass.  I haven't quite worked out the details yet, but I don't believe it's a standard size, so I know that building a frame will be the best option since there's no way we can afford a custom piece!!  The colors will work wonderfully downstairs, and should tie in nicely with the new gray walls.  Exciting!!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I Googled the words at the bottom of the scarf "Gibiers et Fusils" and it translates to "Game and Guns".  Conversation starter, I'm telling ya!!

Brainstorming: DIY Pull-Down Map

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I saw this picture a few weeks ago, and it's been on my mind ever since.  I've always loved vintage maps, in fact I found one many years ago at Goodwill, of all places!  It was a prized possession, until movers lost it in my move from Phoenix.  (I knew I had blogged about that awesome map many years ago, and dug through the vaults to find this post.  Ha!  Good times!  Man, I miss that map.)

Anyhow, I love vintage maps, especially those of the pull-down school variety, and I love the clever use of the map above to conceal a TV, because if there is one thing I DON'T love in home decor, it's a glaringly huge TV.  The hubs would of course disagree.  We have a flat screen TV that we're hoping to wall mount in the next couple months, so I decided to start my search for a vintage pull-down map to conceal the TV once it's mounted.  Lemme tell you, the search was short-lived.  Unless I happen across a cheap one at Goodwill again, the cool ones are way out of my price-range!!  (I checked eBay, just do a search for vintage pull down maps and you'll see what I'm talking about.)

As I was browsing eBay for the pull-down maps, a few pull-down educational charts popped up.  I also adore their weird quirkiness, but unfortunately the cool ones are also out of my price-range.  But, it got my wheels turning...

A few months ago we installed cheapy roller shades in babygirl's nursery in an attempt to make it darker and cooler.  It didn't make a huge improvement, but it does create a really beautiful diffused light during the day.  But, I digress.  The point I was going to make is that those roller shades are DIRT CHEAP.  So I started thinking: what if I had a roller shade cut down to my exact measurement, found a cool pdf of a map or educational chart, had it blown up & printed at an office store, mounted it onto the roller shade, attached a dowel to the bottom and built a simple shelf to mount it to, and then hung it on the wall above the TV to make my own version of a vintage pull-down map/chart?!?

I'm soooo excited!  I'll keep you posted, and will be sure to post a tutorial!