There's Been a Few Changes

I was looking through my photos the other day and realized that there had been some changes to this room since I last posted it. To be fair there have been changes throughout most of the house but this area is feeling more and more "finished" than the rest. Plus, it is one of my favorites, so I thought I would do an updated post on it. So let's check out more evolution of this space shall we?

The chair was here last time we visited this area. I still love it to pieces. I bought the little table for staging the Ogden house last year. I had intended on putting it on my downstairs landing but it just felt more right here, so that is where it has stayed. I absolutely love this room. It always feels warm and calm to me. It is one of my favorite places to sit when I feel hectic inside.I added the curtains last spring. At first they just hung on the ends, it wasn't long before I realized that they needed a little bit more. So I ran back to the store and luckily they still had them, and not only just on sale but on clearance! I grabbed the last one and did the dance of decorating joy all the way home. I had my super sewer friend Shawnee cut it in half and add them to each panel for a little more fullness. Then just this weekend Nate put up my tie-backs. Love it! Now they are perfect. Back in August I added the covering on the windows on Nate's office doors. He is a piler, so I start to get hives and a tick when it gets bad in there. Since we have that huge window into his office and I couldn't nag, er, persuade him to organize it, I did what any woman on the verge of a meltdown would do. I hid it.
Here is a close up of it, to give you a better idea. This area really hasn't changed much. I found those awesome blue urns a while ago and fell in love. I never really thought of myself as a blue person but I am definitely thinking about incorporating that hue into my house a bit more. It's an actual warm blue, in my naivete I honestly never thought that there could be a warm blue. I guess there is because that color melts me like butter!

Sorry for the crazy black circle around some of the photos. My wide angle lens adds those in, but now you can see the space better. For those of you who have never actually been here.

Another shot of the newly covered office doors. Luckily he wasn't offended, in fact he actually likes it a lot. Now whether that's because it is a pretty bamboo which hits his asian button or because it has gotten me off his back significantly I will never know. But, I can guess which one it is.

This shows the hallway that leads to the Cincesses room, a bathroom and my master bedroom suite.

Since the day we found this place and knew it would be ours I have dreamed about what to do with this space. I went back and forth on what to put here. Things that crossed my mind: a grandfather clock, some chairs and a small table, etc. Well, I finally landed on this table. It took me almost four years to find just the right piece. Not too big, not too small, plus the right color. I finally ended up with it around September I believe. I had a lot of people try to talk me out of putting anything here and keeping the walkway open. I am so glad I didn't listen. This area now feels so much more warm and cozy to me. More like a home. And we still have plenty of space to walk. In fact we have moved at least 3 pieces of fairly large furniture through here and we didn't even need to move it. We are currently playing another game of musical furniture around here. We have played this game before and I am sure it won't be the last.

I think it's funny I always seem to photograph this area when all of my fall decor is out. It's one of my absolute favorite times and since my home is mostly decorated in fall colors I guess it stands to reason.

I love this lampshade. Well, if I am being honest I love the whole lamp. I found it last spring at Target on clearance for like $15.oo. It hung out in a closet til about September when I finally got the table. This photo doesn't really do it justice. It has so many fun colors in it. Blue-ish grays, rusty maroon/reds, golds, etc. I love it! It looks so pretty all lit up too!

Well, thanks for going on another tour of this area. I promise there is more to my house than just this space, but I just love it! One of these days, hopefully soon, I will show you around a bit more. Since it's not the summer months and I am not all consumed with playing in the dirt. I am in over my head in room transformations and tweaking, although a bit behind schedule thanks to my Hysterectomy in October. I am working feverishly to get some things done inside before being lured back outside after the big thaw. Wish me luck!

Evolution of a Room: Piano Room, Entryway, Stairwell

We have been in our home 3 1/2 years now and I still feel like there is so much to do. It is frustrating not having a room "done". Although are they ever really done, I mean, really? I think not. This post is a little photo heavy, but I wanted to show how far this room has come. I have been waiting to do this because I still have projects in the works for this space. They are taking longer than I anticipated, which is frustrating. I get impatient with this kind of stuff and my current projects I have to rely on someone else's help. Ugh. Anyhow, here is where the room started from the first time we saw it to this afternoon.



This photo was taken after we lived here over 2 years. I hadn't really done anything to this space except move in a couch, a piano and hang up a piece of art. For a while it also housed Nate's weight set.......I am so glad that has been evicted to the basement. I don't miss it at all. The entryway table was given to me by Nate our first christmas here.
Flash forward to the Fall of 2009. The room had definitely progressed. I had the room repainted, white ceilings and a faux finish on the walls. The large fern I got to go next to my railing but at this time it was hanging out in here, waiting for the holidays to be over.




This photo is a before of what the stairwell looked like til this last Novemeber.

This is the after. Let me tell you getting that wall done was intense. I worked on it when Nate was out of town, late at night while the kids were sleeping. Crazy, I know. That is insanely high to be perched on the top of a ladder without another person around to help hold it! It also took forever because I was constantly up and down getting more paint or readjusting the ladder. It was still fun though. I painted it in a Ralph Lauren suede finish. It has a cool texture to it. The pictures don't do it justice. I definitely still have plans for this area.
This is today, showing my fern where she normally resides.


At the end of February I found these window panels and fell in love. Of course it helped that they were on clearance! I also got the curtain rod for 70% off! Score! The room was feeling too gold to me and I felt like the couch was getting lost in tbe wall. There is the littlest bit of a rust color in the details of the pillows and I have been trying to pull that color into the room for a while. The paint job in the stairwell, the piano room, some of my accessories, my hallway rug all help to pull it out. It still needed a pop to help pull it though. The curtains were definitely part of the answer.

So were these pillows. The moment I saw them I knew they were what I was looking for. When people ask me what I am looking for I feel like my answer is alway, "I will know it when I see it." I wanted a solid color pillow because of the pattenr on the couch, but I loved how I still got a cool texture with the criss cross pattern sewn into the pillow.

Doesn't that make such a difference? I love it!

With our Ogden house finally going under contract a few weeks ago I got to bring home the things we took over there to "stage" it. I originally bought this to go in my downstairs. However when I brought it home two days ago I decided to put it here to see how I felt about a little table in this spot. Instantly I knew that this was where it was meant to be. I never thought that it would work there because the yellow of the table was more bold and I had a vision in my mind of what I thought I wanted. As soon as it was placed in the room though it was amazing to see how much the color transformed to fit into the space. Another awesome thing is that it works wonderfully with my current project for the space. What a happy coincidence. Seriously, if you were to see this table in a different space you would swear that I had painted it. Awesome. Then I had to set about rearranging the accessories in this space. What an adventure. Because of another room in the house undergoing a transformation I feel like EVERY accessory is finding a new home. It is fun but also disconcerting to have to find a perfect happy home for everything.


The piano has been one of those areas that I really struggle to decorate. It is constantly changing and I have yet to step back and say "Yes! That's it!" Still waiting for that to happen.



So there you have it. Atleast thus far. Stay tuned for more evolving to hit this area.