What Ana Does

I am loving this view. Three rooms, all lined up, freshly painted in coordinating colors. And the cutest little dog.  Dining room: Village Green by Behr Hallway: Gossamer Veil by Sherwin Williams Living room: English Channel by Behr  I'm not great at a lot of things. But I'm darn good at picking colors. 

Light lime green isn't my color. And as of last week, it was the last not-my-color color in the house. But we had to wait a few months before the painter had an opening -- because I certainly was not getting on a ladder to paint the two-story foyer.  Here's the before photos, from the listing and a look at the ceiling ...  It's important to me that the colors in this house all coordinate, so I choose Gossamer Veil from Sherwin Williams -- that was a nice natural against the gray-green of the dining room and blue of the morning room. I think it turned out quite nice!  It feels more tranquil, serene and not as dirty or jarring when walking through this hallway now. And the best part ... I didn't get full of paint getting it done. Another thing done on our long list of updates for this lovely house.  Of course, my next thought is to replace the two chandelier lights with more modern colonial of my overall design plan. The smaller will be much easier, and less expensive...

I had various scenarios for my birthday weekend that got changes several times when Dave's trip to Paris was cancelled and my out-of-town brother and girlfriend arrived at my surprise party (a very happy surprise). And in one scenario, I had thought spending time at Ikea on my birthday might be loads of fun. Besides, I told Dave, that second bench in the entryway has been on my mind for at least a year. I'd love to get the second one, get them painted together and check that off my house to-do list. And Dave looked at me funny and asked why I haven't just ordered it and have it shipped like everything else in the house  -- from toothpaste to paper towels. And I frowned and said I didn't want to pay the shipping charges. But I went on to the Ikea website anyway and decided $24 to ship a bench that I haven't been able to rearrange my precious weekend schedule enough to commit to the hour-drive to the nearest Ikea and deal with the loading lot (nightmare, right?!) ...

I can't help it. Every time I paint another wall navy blue I fall so in love with it, I start considering what the next wall is that should go blue. This weekend, I tackled the piano wall. It was quick and simple to do. The only difficulty was moving the piano out of the way to do it.  The best part is the carpet in the entryway is navy, so there's a lovely complimentary thing going on. And the piano looks a little fancier done up with a dramatic wall behind it. The Piano Wall - Before. Beige, Of Course! After the First Coat Waiting For the Paint to Dry What will go NAVY next?!

This weekend we got started on the entryway. Finally. We were having some people over and wanted to clean it up and start construction before the party. So Dave hit the Home Depot Saturday morning with my schematic and in 45 minutes, we had wood and nails. Before : Picking Up the Entry Rug and Cleaning Out the Furniture While he was away, I marked all the studs and picked up the current carpet tiles, which were supposed to be temporary when we put them down three years ago. The rails went up very easily and quickly, but with very loud hammering; we had to stop at bedtime. The vertical rails will be next (likely over Memorial Day weekend) and then painting them all a glossy white. After : Navy Carpet Tiles and the Start of the Boards on the Left The rug in the entryway is dark navy flor tiles, which will match the outside of the entry door (when it gets warm enough to paint outside). And this rug is longer than the last one, going past the piano. The rich color really...

Today I decree that painting season is officially open! First day of spring was this week. And, hey, it's the first Saturday all year that it's above freezing (a balmy 43*) and not snowing. So I packed my crew into the car and headed off to Home Depot for supplies. Painting the foyer white is Step 1 in my framing/molding project . I taped to the top of the current framing schematics and laid down the base coat of glorious white. (And got rid of that awful blue-green sample I didn't like one bit.) BEFORE: The Foyer Prepped for Paint ... And, while I had the white paint out, I said "why not paint the arch and wall that leads to the back hallway..."   The Back Hallway: The Arch was Soooo Dirty From Hauling Stuff in From the Garage But, once we got started, it was impossible to stop -- and we went around the corner and across to the basement stairs. I kept thinking, the more we do ourselves, the less the professional painters (who we'll need ...

I've been having a hard time taking photos of the entryway -- being tall and narrow. So, here's what I've come up with so far. In this angle, yes, you'll see the gold pendants I made for Christmas falling down. Classy! But you'll also see that piece of molding under the second floor railing. See it? OK now imagine if I continued it into the entryway -- all the way around ... thus dividing the tall space into two. That's good, right? The top half would be painted the glorious white that I'd like to paint all the awful beige walls. The bottom half, well, that's the fun part. It can be just about anything! I thought about adding some built ins or bold wallpaper. I have a Pinterest board that is slowly getting filled with inspiration. BUT, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning... What are my goals for my entryway? 1. Hooks! This space isn't a daily dropzone, but I have lots of neighbors and playdates who ...

Here's the awful before picture of my entryway from the office. The main door to the house is on the right, the rest of the house is on the left. And it is just .... not good. Entryway -- What Happened Here?!  I've been pricing entryway furniture -- something with hooks, a shelf, a bench. Maybe some storage. A mirror would be nice. But, DO YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE THAT STUFF IS?! I just can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on the foyer! Plus, I want to keep the profile thin -- so it doesn't jut too far out into this hallway and cut off running space. So, I have this CRAZY idea. Whatif Whatif Whatif I BUILT IN a piece of entryway furniture? Trim, beadboard, some hooks, pre-made shelves and bench? I'd get the style and sleek profile I want. And get to decide on color and overall look. Than reality check (!), I don't have carpentry tools or skills to undertake something that big! So, I did some shopping around IN MY OWN house for other options. ...

Now that I've done the dining room/sitting room all gray, I'm now obsessing over this slanted wall. It divides the sitting room with the foyer. Should it be: -- Gray, so it belongs to the sitting room? -- White, so it belongs to the foyer which will eventually be white? -- Navy Blue, which is the official "accent wall color" on this floor? Decisions! The Slanted Wall - What Color Should it Be?