What Ana Does

My sister-in-law texted me recently about where I get the art on my walls. I have a LOT of art on my walls. And I replied with about 20 text bubbles of all the places I get framed art, or get art framed, and thought -- I should share this info here too. It's always interesting to hear where people shop for this stuff.  First you should know I will frame or hang ANYTHING. I have a special toy the girls loved hanging on my living room wall and look at it fondly all the time. And a plate with a dragonfly on it, too. We have collected concert posters from concerts we've gone to for decades. They're usually a unique and inexpensive souvenir from a great show or tour. And we'll frame them at Micheal's, when we get a good coupon. There are also a lot of travel posters we'll pick up shopping on our travels. I have a great print we got in Venice.  I recently tried out the Keepsake app to print and frame two photos from Greece and it was magical - quick and good quality....

Quarantine has spoiled me in one important part of my day: The mornings.  My only alarm clock is this little dog's bladder (or mine). We hop out of bed, head downstairs and while she and Bruce hit the backyard, I make my cup of coffee and we meet on the sofa where I think about my day, fill out my to-do list, grocery list, etc. I look at Instagram and play Words with Friends with my sisters. And sometimes I'll get in a 15 minute meditation on Headspace.   Most days, the girls will join me on the living room sofas and we'll chit-chat about the day or who they're watching on Instagram. They eat breakfast, too.  Then, on weekdays, I jump up to get dressed and into the home office by 8:30 to start work. And on weekends, well, it just depends on what I want to tackle first.  It's important to honor these natural rhythms that happen in life because, like all things, it's temporary. This will all change soon enough as another season of our lives begin. But, for now, I...

The fireplace area has always been a struggle for me in decorating this house. It's in our two-story family room and flanked by two sets of windows. First, some history: you might remember when I resurfaced the fireplace to cover the ugly bathroom tile they originally used. It wasn't a bad DIY, if you're looking for a project. And we thought about moving the TV over the fireplace , and I had it wired with an electrical outlet. But there's a snafu with the cable, so we'll be leaving it where it is, for now. ( Here's that post. ) I'm most stuck with how to deal with the space above the mantel. I've been in neighbor's homes and peeked at what they did and I've not found a solution that I liked. I've seen wood paneling and decorative molding that continues up the column of the fireplace. I've even seen some faux brick ideas. Nothing has caught my attention. So I've been putting art, or a large mirror but they look so unsubstantial ...

As much as I miss summer days, I love Sundays in October. Normally, we stay home. Dave turns on football ALL DAY. And the girls and I putter around the house, watching a few snippets of the games, sorting, cleaning, playing. Lately, Dave and I have been doing our weekly food shop on Sunday mornings. Just the two of us. It's kind of a date. Then, we'll make something BIG for lunch to eat with the girls in a very casual way at the island. Maybe in the crockpot? Dave has been prepping food for lunch and dinners on weekends, as well, in an effort to eat more balanced meals. So he also spends much of Sunday in the kitchen, where he can watch the football games while cutting up veggies and making rice. Last weekend, Leah decided to film him to make a cooking show. As a self-proclaimed, proud HOMEBODY, Sundays in October are just about perfect to me. And they make saying goodbye to summer temperatures and looking down six months of cold, winter weather almost doable. ...

In the spirit of changing up the way we live in this house since being in Paris, we decided to hang the TV above the fireplace, thereby reorienting the entire family room. Or did we?? First, we set the TV on the mantle and moved the sofa, to test the experience. We decided the TV wasn't too high and it wasn't like we were craning our neck to watch our shows and movies. Next, we asked the electrician to add an outlet above the fireplace, so we could minimize the cords that hang down. Ideally, there would be no wires visible. Then, we hung the TV and I started to think about what we can hang around the TV. I was thinking the records we have hanging in the living room. And we stared at those wires hanging off the right. And that made us unhappy. We just couldn't figure out a way to hide that pesky coaxial cable wire! Everything else we were able to hide. And that was a dealbreaker. So until we cut the cable TV cord (which we're not ready to do yet) or when ...

All Seven Chowing Down "Did I just volunteer to babysit seven puppies?!?!?!" This is what I asked as we got back into our car after visiting puppies. See, we're in the market to adopt. And since I'm home full time for now, we're considering adopting a puppy. We've never had a baby puppy before and I thought it might be an enjoyable life experience to try ... just once. So we got word there was a new litter of small breed puppies and we all jumped in the car to meet them. As we're rolling around playing with these teeny six-week old puppies, the foster mama was saying she's on vacation next week and would be leaving all seven of them with a neighbor who, unfortunately, works full time. So the pups wouldn't be getting a lot of attention until they got back. The Set-Up, In the Family Room Maybe I had a little puppy fever, but I offered our house.  It's Spring Break and we have zero plans -- we just arrived from Paris and we h...

Wrapping up this project and feeling pretty good about it. To recap, here's the BEFORE ... with that hideous square tile and brass fireplace insert. BLAH. And here is the AFTER photo ... all updated and pretty ... Overall, I give this project a Moderate on the difficulty scale. It was my first time grouting and demoing tile  -- a messy and sweaty endeavor. But, otherwise, most of the tasks used skills and tools I had from other improvements. And my conversation with  an "expert" before I got underway was crucial, I think, in keeping the overall scope manageable. As far as budget, I spent about $360, with a majority going to tile materials and the stone. Not a hefty price tag for a thing we look at every single day. And I love the end result. The room has more texture and an updated feel. And our huge brownish sofa looks better somehow, too. The next questions ... should I paint the white trim of the fireplace? And does it need a larger mantel? ...

I can't stop looking at my fireplace. And not in a good way. When we first moved in, I painted the trim white and it stood out because the walls were that awful beige. But last year, we painted the room white. So now, it's basically camouflaged into the wall. And it's all very builder-grade, including that horrible peach tile (that is also on my kitchen floor). There are too many days I want to take a hammer to it. Here it is in all its current glory: The Before Picture It's time for it all to GO! I really think we need to introduce some natural texture into this room. And some warm wood. I've been doing some fireplace Pinning and here's the goal ... I'm Not Planning to Hit the Ceiling, But I May Change My Mind I started scouting for materials that I can DIY and I found this product called AirStone at Lowe's. It's faux stone that is applied with glue directly to the wall. I checked it out this weekend and it's pretty cool. And I...

It occurred to me this week, after scrolling through some Pinterest images, that I used all black frames on my navy gallery wall. See ... Exhibit A: Black Frames on Navy Wall And it hit me: that makes no sense. Why would I use a frame color you can't even really see on a navy wall? Because we switched out the TV for the smaller one (the bigger screen was sent to the basement), I had to rearrange the pictures here anyway ... but this time, I decided to use all (or most) white frames and images that POP OUT of the navy wall, not get hidden away in it. The results ... Exhibit B: White Frames (Mostly) on Navy Wall Ok, so it may be a few too many frames, but it's a pretty serious (and fun) focal point in the room. And, as assumed, those white frames really POP at you. Hello! This wall and the cabinets below are a constant work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with the collection right now. Hooray!

When we moved in, I wanted that TV wall in our family room to be dramatic and full of built in cabinetry, because there's a niche there. Because of price and lack of cabinetry skills, I went with a customizable cabinet. So we got a few pieces from Pottery Barn, which looked pretty good. But then Dave went and bought an enormous TV, so the media cabinet began to look dinky. Before - Dinky Media Cabinet With Huge TV Around Christmas, we collected a few of the gift cards we gathered from different places and ordered two more cabinets to complete the wall.  Long Wall of Low Cabinets I've got to reorganize the wall of prints and style up the cabinets, but the whole niche wall looks more custom and complete. And, of course, now Dave thinks his TV is too small.

The family room mantel is all done up for the season. We've got all of our Hanukkah laid out and ready for the next week of celebration. The girls continue to shake and sort their gifts; they can't keep their hands off of them. Family Room Mantel  The greenery above is sage and eucalyptus. I love the smell but it's drying out much faster than I thought it would. Memo to myself: Go with an evergreen next year. 

It took the painters two days and some really tall ladders to get the family room out of beige and into the LIGHT! Wow what a difference it has made to this space.  Before - Beige and Beige The painters also painted the baseboards and trim. There was some concern about the blue wall, but they handled it beautifully. (Ugh, that fireplace looks even more terrible.)  White Goes On! The Navy Wall Now POPs with Drama! The Behr paint was low-odor, so I didn't need to worry about all of us living in the terrible smell. Since it is February, I couldn't leave the windows open all day.  After - The Corner All Spiffed Up I even got to vacuum the accordion shades while they were down and you would not believe how WHITE they look now. I really thought they were beige, too! Now, they look more ivory. It's some kind of decor miracle. One more thing about the curtains: the top curtains run on batteries to roll up and down. Those batteries have been dead since...

In the three year's we've lived in this house, we have not once been able to open the shades on the five windows that are around the second-story of our family room. The previous owners installed blinds run by batteries. But those batteries ran out long ago. So, they stayed closed. The painters are here painting the family room a bright white and the room looks like a greenhouse with all the morning sunlight pouring in. It may be 12 degrees outside, but its sunny and warm in my family room. Look at Those Windows!

I'm so excited I'm nearly bursting! This month we'll finally be doing some major redecorating in our family room. Family Room - The BEFORE Picture Let's review the to do list: -- Paint those AWFUL beige walls. Painters will be here next week. Teehee! -- Replace the sofa with a newer one ... as posted earlier this week. -- Replace the coffee table (which isn't sooo bad) with the matching ottoman. -- The Legos that took up the space behind the sofa have been relocated to the basement. What will go there now, I ask myself. -- The matching armchair that was by the yellow lamp in the corner has found a new home in our bedroom. Another design dilemma in that little space. What belongs there? -- And if I'm feeling sew-y, I have material for the valences on the new windows flanking the fireplace. It could happen. -- Then rearranging all the little decorative stuff around the room. That's aways fun. BEFORE: The View From Behind the Sofa ...

Early Look! It was a successful weekend for sofa shopping -- as we found our next family room couch on the showroom at Macy's Furniture. Yippee! In brief: For the last year we've been searching for a sofa to replace the old and tired one in our family room that has been with us for nearly a decade. More details to come as we order, wait and wait and finally get the new sofa delivered. Patience.

I discovered this cute little yellow and white desk in my random internet travels. Oh how I love yellow furniture. And it's metal, so it matches (kinda) my little yellow stools. So, yeah, I purchased it. The price was right and I'm a sucker for free shipping. Anyhow, it's here now and I've set it up in one of two spots I thought it'd be perfect for -- behind the sofa in the family room. We had a dark-wood console table back there, and it did a pretty good job of looking big and dark, but not much else. My idea was installing a desk with a direct line to the TV to make multi-tasking easier. For example, some evenings I have brainless tasks for work to do. Then I starting thing that maybe this table could be used to build a puzzle and the puzzlers can still feel part of the action instead of in another room in the house. Perhaps even a homework spot? And a sunny spot to work from home during the day. You get the drift. We'll see how the rest of the...

I haven't actually sat down and watched a game in, well, years but (as I've mentioned before) I love football season. Mostly because of this ... Thumbs Up! My adorable football fanatic husband will watch the NFL Red Zone channel for hours and do load after load after load of laundry.  I can putter, run errands or take the kids to a play (as I was about to do just before I took this picture) and he'll just keep washing and folding. Marvelous. Related links: More Family Room posts

Here's a blast from the past. Remember this space?  Family Room: Circa December 2011 This was a few days after our furniture was delivered. I took the picture from the balcony that overlooks the bright family room. Maggie, my Mom and Dave are watching TV -- likely relaxing after slaving away over some task I set them on, unpacking or hanging something.  And now, a mere 19 months later, here's the view from that balcony today.  Family Room: Circa July 2013 We made some good improvements here. A few new tables, the curtains (of course) and a far better rug -- though, from this angle, it looks too small. I'll need to add some tiles. (*Adding it to the list*) That poor, sad little sofa is on its last springs, I'm sorry to say. And it's on the to-replace list for 2014. It has served us well over the last eight years. Sometimes it's nice to look back at all we've accomplished in such a short time. Hooray!

Since I posted the picture of my new Family Room curtains and mentioned their relationship to the blue wall directly across from it, I figured you might need a refresher on what the heck I'm talking about. So, here you go: Window Wall: "Well, hello!" TV Wall: "Welcome to the Neighborhood, Good Lookin'!" Now, just imagine the beige walls painted a bright white! Perfection! Related posts: More about my Family Room

Adding the Tabs So Dave has been campaigning for curtains in the family room since we moved in. We love the room because it has a ton of windows, but they're not always ideal when you want to watch football in the middle of a Sunday -- with the sun streaming through the windows. (Poor guy). Curtains are a lot cheaper than finishing the basement for his man-cave (waiting for the lottery to start on that project.) As I mentioned earlier , I found thick, navy upholstery fabric at the Loomcraft outlet and after I had finished my glorious dining room curtains , I set to work on these. Measuring Out the Tabs  I'm doing a hidden tab design using grosgrain ribbon as the tabs (as suggested by a blogger tutorial I found). I'm also making a rod pocket, just in case I change my mind. I needed three panels, as I have three windows that go 119'' across the back of the room. Big space. It's challenging to work with this amount of fabric. And it's heavy,...