Spray Paint the Ugly Away

Do you ever find things you love but hate the color of? Or they simply don't match your other decor. I'm a person who hates multiple finishes. I am more than okay with two but that is my Max for a house. A house starts to look junky with multiple metal finishes.

I made a trade two years ago for two over the door signs. This one is able to hold a wreath. I'm sure back in the day it looked great. I had stuffed it in our attic and forgotten about it until we moved to TN. I was really hoping to make it work in our new home. I used rustoleum's bronze spray paint. I didn't prime it just a good scrub down and two light coats. Much better don't you think?

I am in love! I think it looks so much classier. The white gave it a cottage feel and the faded gross later just made it look like a trip to the trash can was needed. This is much more my cup of tea.

My wreath was a 2.99 Goodwill find when we lived in NC. I paired it with a Pier 1 bird from my Mum. What things have y'all brought back to life with spray paint?

Inspiration

I'm definetley a type A personality this can lead to procrastination when things are not turning out perfect. We moved into our home in March, threw some cheap $100 for the lot furniture in the living room and called it good. After trying for months to make a really workable layout so I could progress from onward I figured it out. Our main goals were to have as much seating as possible while still keeping as open as a floor plan as possible. I hate closed off sectionals. *****Please squint hard and visualize with me.

This long wall will house a extra long sofa with a chaise on one end. Squint hard! I pushed the coffee table to act has a chaise. I'll be looking for a piece shorter by about a foot to eighteen inches.

I being a weirdo measured the deep that the current sofa bulges from the door frame into the kitchen. Here's to hoping for a slender, comfy, extra long, cushy dream of a sofa comes my way.

You've probably noticed the little cutie in my pictures. I feel so grateful to watch this little 7wk old. She is such a sweet baby and so cute!

Squinting again we can see a leather recliner. I'm not sure if the sofa will be leather but the recliner will be for sure. The back wall will have a huge console similar to this.

I found it on Joss and Main marked down to a crying $1700. It's by Hooker furniture and gorgeous. It checks off every category: sexy legs that do not obstruct the huge floor vent, lots of storage, a whopper of a size (105inches!), and stunning. Sadly not in my budget but I'm on the hunt down here and will DIY something if I need to.

The art work above the back wall console will be a DIY. I was looking at the new Ballards Design magazine that came in and fell in love with these maps. They make the over all scheme a bit more manly. The honey approves. At $289 a piece though these will definitely be a DIY project. I love the warm hues they give. Well that's it for now. I just had to log the inspiration before I lose it. :) One Last shot from entryway so you can see how open it will be. LOVE IT!

Great Nightmare

Does anyone else have awkward walls or at least one? Our house has several uneven walls or awkward little nooks. Made the house look gorgeous on the empty walk through when we bought but the design a nightmare.

This wall for instance is 16ft tall and 12ft wide give or take a few inches with a vent that starts about a foot in on the bottom and is 18 inches long. SWEET! Lol

The french doors open to the patio, the small opening next to them is a micro hallway into the master. Other end the wall is a taller opening that leads to two random rooms and extra bathroom. Exactly opposite of the hallway to the two rooms is the stairs to the second level.

I'm really at a loss on design. I favor open floor plans and having a sectional in this tall and long room would close off several openings. I've tried having the furniture at different angles or facing opposite each other and it annoys me. I can't handle the furniture covering part of the stair rails. Call me weird, I don't mind but it is a huge pet peeve of mine. Having the sofa all the on this large back wall would make it way to far for us to enjoy our subtitle movies not to mention the remote is to far away from the t.v. then. Standing and walking halfway to the t.v. to use the remote the horror! ;) Did I mention that we have a corner fireplace?

Oh yea we do with a wide off center opening to the kitchen.

I truly love this space but I need to kick up the functional aspect of it. I am saving up babysitting money for a dark brown leather set and I'm not attached to anything in the room. Honey does want the t.v. to stay over the mantle just mounted a tad higher. I'd love to have a blown up picture of each of the kids in the frames on either side of the french doors. So what do y'all think of this nightmare of a room. Thoughts? Ideas?

Monogramming and Sales

Garnet Hill has been having an awesome after Christmas sale! I found a backpack and lunch box for a fraction of what they originally cost. Backpack $44.95 down to $14.00 and matching lunch box for $8, markdown from $18.00

Being a girl who loves monogramming I sprung for the added touch. I was going to put Jacob on the backpack but when I asked Jake if wanted Jacob or Jake, he asked for Jake because he didn't want to be in trouble at school. Ha! We only call him Jacob when he is in trouble or when we have to be stern. Honey and me thought his reasoning was hilarious so Jake it is for school.

I also love that his backpack has clips on the front so it will not only cover his name but help keep the lunchbox hopefully from not getting lost. Wrapped the pair up and now we just wait til August so Jake can unwrap his first school backpack :)

Front Room Seating

We've been looking at some eye candy for the front room.

We are both over this East lake style furniture. This one has been recovered in gingham. It's our favorite.

We like this set also. Very similar, about $100 less on craigslist. Neutral fabric. Still not sure about the front room idea. Justin pointed out we can easily fit a upright piano in the Great room or guest room so we shall see where we end up :)

Front Porch Living

Moving into our new house this past March, I had no idea how much we use our front porch!

Nearly every Saturday and various times throughout the week we have neighbors come over for porch time. We talk neighborhood gossip, what is going on in our lives and just enjoy the company. Porch sitting is actually how we have met several of our neighbors. They would see us sitting out there enjoying a drink and stop by to chat. What's crazy was many of our neighbors have lived here 5+ yrs and never spoken until we introduced them to each other. Our new neighborhood has turned into a small community for us and I just love that. It feels like we are meant to be here. Right now we have two black rocking chairs I found at Walmart clearance for $25 a piece. The table between them actually goes with the two green chairs we have pushed together for a make shift bench. I can't tell y'all how much I love the Lounge pillows on the chairs. I found the this past summer at Hobby Lobby. We get complimented on them often. I like that the chunky lettering can be made out from the street. I see those pillows being on matching chaise loungers once we get the back porch sorted out.

We plan to hunt down the perfect porch swing this summer to replace our chair/bench. As well as a outdoor rug to serve as a large welcome mat.

One of my favorite things though is to use the pitcher that belonged to my husband's grandma. It looks so elegant when it is filled up with sweet tea on a hot day.

Flu Times

We've been bitten by the flu bug here in Memphis. I've been taken back by it, I haven't had the flu since I was in high school. The kids have been troopers about it. Laying in the big bed watching Netflix with us.

How cute is this lil sleeping angel? She and I have logged some major Sesame Street time this past week.

Even Holly has been taking advantage of laying around and being her normal lazy self. Jake has been a huge helper with the laundry. He loves getting to stuff the clothes in and push the buttons. We have new front loaders so both kids have a blast just watching the laundry swish around. Back to resting y'all!

Front Room or Formal Dining?

Hi y'all! It's been awhile since I wrote and I'm going to be blogging alot more in 2013 so gear up for daily posts!! After some heavy antique shop browsing today in Memphis I'm left with a strong longing for a front room. I can't remember my Mom never having one, she still does to this day! We have a really nice house with a somewhat awkward layout particularly in the living room. That's for another post, another time. Off entry we have a dining room. We have one long table now that is currently in the kitchen so this room is without purpose and become junking looking spot of stroller and military gear. Yikes! I need to get on that!

I've started with placing my antique secretary desk in the nook of formal dining room. It's been awkwardly placed since we moved here. Before it was in Charlotte's room but a 2yr old and my beloved desk were not playing nice together so I rescued it when we moved. I do plan on putting it back in her room when she is older but this works for now since I can't find a china cabinet to my liking to fill this space. Since moving it into it's nook, I keep visualizing this room as a formal room with a piano over here

We plan on the kids taking lessons when they are each 6 so I have a few month's to save til my oldest is ready for lessons.

Two chairs by the window and a settee underneath the wall of frames (the frames will be leaving). Starting to visualize with me? ;)

The current lighting is placed center for the room but the pillars are not center with the light. Yet another reason it drives me crazy when a table is in there because either it is off center from the pillars or off center from the light. Even if we found a round table I think it would still be an issue. I think possibly putting a long rectangle light with our long rectangle table would help but the there would be no room for a piano there. You can see from the front door straight into the living room so I'm undecided if making the dining into a formal room is completely pointless.

So what do y'all think should I keep the hunt up for another dining set or start looking for a parlor set?