Posts

Hello Green!

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 Like a fresh spring green, like the chairs at the Jardin Tuileries in Paris. Like the leaves of my Monstera plant. I'm deeply in love with Matcha Latte from Clare paint. I get a hit of oxytocin every time I walk through here.  Some early morning Sunday photos. This top one is filtered for max green impact! WOWZA! Just a few things about the color to review. I wanted to follow the same bright blue I have in the front room and in the cabinets. The old green wasn't the same temperature and felt dull in comparison. This green feels the same youthful, modern color. And with the new chairs, white wainscoting, black and beige accents in the rug and curtain. It all mixes for just the happy vibe I was aiming for.  I hope people come to my house for a dinner party, and never want to leave the dining room. 

Lighting Up the Dining Room

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Let's talk lighting.  I love the chandelier over the dining room table. I love how it's long and black, and pulls the color of the cabinet and also the shape of the table. It also matches the rest of the house chandeliers and eventually the one that will hang in the foyer.  But a secondary light source is needed.  I briefly considered tall lamps on the black buffet cabinet, but that felt dated and will take up space. Not deal for this space. So sconces it is!   I searched for scones that were wired. But then I found this pretty cool innovation -- sconces that used LED puck lights on a remote.  I found these on Amazon for $50 for the pair. And they felt fight. A little goosenecked. A little rounded for interest. And super-easy to install. No wires. No wiring.  Perfect! And they arrived in a few days.  As far as location, I'm taking inspiration from our kitchen, and putting them up above the ledges. Centered off center.  Now they're up, I'll mention the lights are RE

In Love With Our New Dining Room Chairs

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I have been casually looking at dining room chairs for months. And months. But not getting serious -- just gathering ideas of what is available and to my taste. And prices. I knew I wanted more stylish, less used-by-children, and more comfortable chairs so diners didn't feel like they were sitting on a block of granite for the meal.  I was DONE putting it off, once I decided to repaint the walls, I added new chairs to the plan. So I sat myself down (on the hard dining room chairs, ugh) and made some hard decisions.  First,  I decided to stop worrying about the chairs matching the dining room table. It's an 8 ft warm/greyish wood tone table -- as was the popular style 10ish years ago -- we bought at Restoration Outlet for a steal. To try to match the wood stain, even new Restoration chairs, would never work. It's aged. It's seen lots of sunlight on it. I'm sure it's a different color.  And who cares?! I looked through Pinterest and thought the matchy-matchy set

The Dining Room Update Plan

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It's been a while since I thought much about our dining room, other than the chairs that I'm desperate to replace. They're in terrible shape, too big and not comfortable. But, lately, every time I'm in the room I find things that annoy me. And since there's no major renovations in the budget for the year, I'm going to pour a little time and effort into this room.  Let's review my to-do list ...  The wall color. While I love this "Greenwich Village" color, it's not the same temperature as the blue in the kitchen or front room. It's too muted, and the rest of the house with color is brighter.  There's a lot of holes in the walls from where I moved art. And I tried to patch areas, and the sample I used wasn't the same color.  It's dark at night! There needs to be another light source.  The light switch is lose and has needed to be replaced since we moved in.  The aforementioned dining room chairs. Too big, too uncomfortable, too &q

Currently Digging Early 2024 Edition

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I haven't done one of these is quite a while! What some of the things I'm currently loving or using or excited about? Here's what comes to mind ...  Nike Air Max shoes -- these are my new favorite shoe obsession. I bought a pair in San Francisco while on vacation this summer, that I wore the rest of the trip, including the two days I was at Disneyland. Let me tell you ... my feet, knees and hips have never been happier. They're super cute but they're also amazingly comfortable. I can stay on my feet for so much longer than any other shoe. I wore them last time I traveled and stood in the security line for 45 minutes and my feet never hurt. I love them so much that I've got my eye on my next pair. Maybe I'll be a sneaker-head!   New bras from Lively -- this month I decided to trash all the bras that are falling apart or uncomfortable and replace them with new ones -- what a way to start the New Year! I tossed 5 bras and bought 6 more from Lively during a gia

Open Shelves in the Kitchen Halloween Edition

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The best part of having open shelves in the kitchen means I can decorate them for holidays. I went all out for Halloween this year ...  Such fun. 

Basement Shiplap Project

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The guys left me all the unused shiplap from the bathroom and I've been trying to think about where to use it. I had so many ideas but not a lot of shiplap, so I eventually settled on this corner of our basement. It's where the exercise mats and treadmill live, right behind the sofa. And also where the Marvel-themed bathroom with shiplap is located. So it made sense. It took much of a rainy Sunday to cut and nail up the new boards ...    I even had enough to do on the "backsplash" of our little kitchenette in the basement I've been slowly building out.  Next up will be to patch all the nail holes and calk around the edges for a clean look. And then the best part ... picking out paint color. Since this is a "free" project, I'm hoping I can find a color in my paint cabinet.  I'll keep you posted.