My house: The "Granny Chic" sunroom

The sunroom in my house has been the dining room for the last 8 years because it's actually closer to the kitchen than the dining room. I was looking for a change and got the idea to switch things around a little bit. In doing so, on a budget, I found out I have a little bit of a 'granny chic' thing going on. Not intentional, just a mish- mosh of the last 15 years of my life, and somehow in pulling things together from other rooms, this is what I came up with. What do you think?
I have some work to do, that chandalier is going to have to go. ( I really, really really want THIS ONE)

So honestly, I think the best rooms are the ones with items collected over the years. I call this an 'acquired look'. As much as I salivate over glossy magazine photos, oftentimes they lack life and believability. And so few of us can decorate that way anyway. Here's how I got this look:

I bought those crazy chartreuse velvet chairs at a flea market in Chicago several years ago for 80 bucks each. At the time, chartreuse was UNHEARD of so I basically stole them. They're antique.
This one is my Yorkie Oscar's favorite snorin' spot.
The rocking chair is a little scary to sit in, it's the original recliner I think, but it pretty much only reclines.

I got the black and white striped flat weave rug at BIG LOTS. Yes, BIG LOTS. For 9 bucks. Wonder how long until one of my little canine buddies barfs on it?

The black bench was on clearance at an unfinished furniture store that was going out of business. The pillows were just collected over the years. The most recent is the big foo- foo ball, from Pier 1, and the large black and white bolster was made by my mother and my daughter.
I hope to get a funky loveseat, but until then, this bench will have to do. I stole it from my front entryway, which is now looking a little sad. (Never fails)

The artwork above the fireplace is a unique mix of really- expensive- actual- authentic- art, and my daughter's first grade self portrait. The frame around the self portrait was found at a garage sale. If my house was burning down, I'd ditch the real art and keep the self portrait, just sayin'.


Another garage sale find is this Victorian table, which yes, I painted and distressed.Upon it, I have my collection of Shirley Kramer pottery (the robot head, etc..). Shirley is a local artist whose work I buy, one piece a year at our local art fair.
I also have a sweet collection given to me by my daughter Charlotte: heart shaped rocks that she has collected here and there and everywhere. It's God's little gift to her, as she finds them all the time!

I created this plate collage out of mostly mismatched odd bits I already had. The only thing I 'ran out and bought' was the green plate, which I got on clearance at TJs for 4 bucks. I highly recommend the plate hanging discs, over those awkward wire contraptions.


Every "Granny Chic" room needs a real Granny! That's my mom in her Senior portrait. She still looks just like this, minus the bouffant, lol! (sorry Mom).

I know you can't see this, it's too tiny, but there's a little frame I've carried around with me since 1989 and in it is a photo of a 19 year old me, and my "Gramma Fay". She tragically died 2 years ago and I miss her every day. She was just the coolest grandma and she is really the A #1 person in my life who encouraged me to be ME! Love you Gramma!

My house: what we did today, and some big plans

On a personal note, I'm not moving. You can be sure there's a long story, but I feel good about staying put for a while.
My focus has shifted from decorating for a buyer, to decorating for me.
I've mentioned before the hallway ceiling used to be black (egads!)and was also, until today horribly under lit!
We found this halogen track light at Lowe's for 149.00. It's a lot of 'look' for a little cash. I love how it casts a design onto the ceiling!




Next I am shopping for new carpet for the hallway,and the master bedroom. I can't decide what I want to do here, I've never gotten all that excited about carpet. I'm considering a cut pile or pattern of some sort. I absolutely love this carpet (via jamesrixner.com) and hope I can find something like it in my budget.



I spent the last week and a half on a cabinet job and am looking forward to taking a little time off this week to get my house in order both literally and figuratively. My daughter M would likely love her room finished up and I want to flip flop the sunroom and the dining room furniture. The 'sun room' is currently the dining room, so I want to make the sunroom the sunroom and the dining room the dining room. Back in 1954 when this house was built, it had the smallest of kitchens. In the 80s, someone added on across the back of the house to open up the kitchen and create a 'sun room' of sorts that never really gets much sun.
I'm trying to decide if I should paint the kitchen cabinets, they are due for a facelift. Here's my favorite girl, J. Lo's kitchen. SWOON!!!!!!
via elle decor

The dining room table is currently red with a black overglaze, but I'm considering doing this to it:



I am really excited to do a few fun things around here, and I will be chronicling our progress here.
It's fun to think of how my style evolves; my first house was Santa Fe Bastardizing....the next few were yucky rentals, then I moved onto Vintage Chippy Paint Farmhouse, then Tuscan Palm Tree Elephant Crazy Town and now I have arrived at Crisp,Clean,Bold, Bright Mania.
Have a great week everyone!!!!

Accessorizing 101...

You ever get one of those 'wild march hares' that just makes you want to get busy. Call it Spring cleaning, call it seeing my own mess with new eyes. Whatever it was I decided to tackle the kitchen hutch that usually is such a big pile of paper and junk and ...well, see for yourself here:

This is the landing spot for mail, school work, permission slips, recipes, coupons etc. Paper is my biggest obstacle, with 4 kids in school and a home based business. My resolution for 2011 was just to get organized, and it is happening by tiny degrees.

So what started this whole project was a trip down Hobby Lobby's 90% off Home Dec. aisle, also known as the 'spray paint aisle'. I scored these two hideous fruits for 2 bucks a piece. The last time I was at Farm & Fleet I picked up a can of yellow Krylon Farm Implement spray paint, which is coincidentally the exact same color as my dining room walls.(which cracks me up) So I knew I could make these 'almost funky' fruits 'funky'.

before....


....and after. (forgive the fuzziness....the project also required a coupla glasses of Moscato)


This cake stand was a gift from my mother. I have never really found the perfect spot for it until now. The porcelain eggs with duck feet are from Pier I (several years ago). The milk carton cream and sugar set are actually from the dollar section at Michael's.




I think displays in the home should be a combination of pretty to look at and useful every day. I do use the water goblets and wine glasses daily, and occasionally the the cream and sugar set, and the egg tray. You'll notice I got rid of all the cookbooks, because seriously people, I never follow a recipe. The only recipe I ever use is the one for beer bread.
The white footed bowl actually holds photographs that come in the mail or home from school or church and need to be placed in albums. I found the wire locker basket at a yard sale years ago and have used them mainly for magazine storage. This display was starting to take on a definite egg theme (dare I say" theme"!)so I loaded the basket up with white plastic Easter eggs which I found for 77 cents a bag. (You can't see the little hand painted bird dish that is next to the egg tray.) I can't really reach the top shelf without standing on a bar stool, so it doesn't bother me that the top shelf is purely decorative.


I decided to organize the two junk drawers too. Target carries a 'junk drawer organization set' for just seven dollars.

My personal accessorizing rules are this as applied to this project.
1. Have an even mix of purely decorative objects and things you actually use.
2. Mix in a lot of white with small pops of color (the cake stand, funky fruits and pencil cup)
3. Create balance by repeating a color or 'theme' (eggs and chartreuse color)
4. Add something with a sense of humor or sense of whimsy. I love the duck feet eggs and although they are Easter decorations, I leave them out until Christmas.
5. Less is more. You don't need a bunch of stuff just to fill it up.Seriously, people... less really is more. Step away from the silk florals, okay!!! Use simple, white objects for filler, if you need a few things to beef it up. Use spray paint or items from discount stores if you have no budget. (cream/sugar set cost 2 dollars, simple white candy dish was 4 dollars at TJ Maxx)
6. Create a circular shape or a triangular shape when placing objects. This draws the eye from item to item and creates excitement.

My house. What I did today.

Since I started blogging heavily ( that sounds like a medical condition!), my house has been a major disaster. Could be a coincidence, but more likely....it's that we are trying to get this house ready to sell. In my former life, my former life partner was somewhat of a hoarder, an organized one, but still...the amount of 'stuff' he left behind is insane. Today, for some reason, the bookcase was driving me batty. I decided it was time to thin down the collection, organize it and put a new spin on the whole display.
I had already painted the bookcase Sherwin Williams Grand Canal, which is about as straight up Turquoise as you can get. The inside of the bookcase was painted Sherwin Williams Camelback (aka' the boring beige').

The first thing I did was take every book off the shelf and remove all the dust covers. Then I could see the real color of the book. I organized them into piles by colors, and put the 'colored' ones in ROY G BIV order, starting with blue.

On the next shelf, I placed my daughter's collection of National Geographic magazines, and all the black books, as well as a funky ginger jar I bought about 10 years ago.
The uppermost shelf has all the white and off white books and a collection of glass paper weights.

I covered my gardening books in black and white wrapping paper, because their spines were all beat up. I got that huge Avocado green vase at I O Metro on clearance for 20.00. The urn is from Hobby Lobby, as are the grassy balls (again, a possible medical condition!) I tinkered around with this display for hours until I got it right. The addition of a chuncky, black number 4 finished it off. Sometimes it's best to just move the things around in your house, try them out in places you wouldn't have considered.

I liked the rainbow ordered books so much I did it to the DVDs too, although I have friends telling me that is NOT how your organize movies, and that it is sacrilege to have The Godfather sandwiched in between Pirates of the Caribbean and Independence Day.

Feb. 25....woke up to this blog posting at I O Metro's site.
check it out, all about arranging books.
http://iometro.blogspot.com/2011/02/take-it-off.html

You might notice on my rainbow shelf, a blue book with chairs on the spine. It's a re-issue of Jane Austen's Emma.
I have just started collecting these classics with awesome covers. I got mine at Niche in St. Louis, but they are available at Barnes and Noble as well.

Books are a great way to add a shot of color and culture. Have fun with it!
Via The cultivated home