Styling the Coffee Table

I am taking a small course from Skillshare by Justina Blakeney, called Style Your Space like a Pro.

I've been wanting to learn how to style properly for a long time. Copying pictures from pinterest  just didn't work for me. Justina's approach is kind of perfect for an analytical mind like mine.

First up, a mini lesson on bouquets. These are my efforts. I forgot to buy some greenery.

The most adventurous I get with flowers is to buy two different kinds but in the same colour. This time I bought three!

The first lesson in Justina's course is all about the coffee table.

Here is my before shot:

Yeah. That's a sorry sight.

To get started, she suggests I get books (for guests to browse through) and trays to hold things.

Um, guys?

I don't have coffee table books to browse through. Well, Ok, I have a few beloved decor books from eons ago (like before I was married ago) and I am NOT putting those on a coffee table where my husband just might put his feet or I might just spill a drink.

Just no.

So, I had a heck of a time getting started until I just decided to put the flowers and candles down.

Justina also provides suggestions for photos. This is the "overhead" shot. Oh--and that orange? It's my "sign of life."

Needs? Honestly? I want to discourage my husband from putting his feet on it!*

Shape? Love all the round things. There's actually very few straight things. I could almost use more straight things in my life, couldn't I? There are flat things and tall things. I need more variety for tall things. All I really have for that is candles.

Colour palette: Well, there's a lot of colour happening--probably more than I'd like--and none of it is related to each other--or the sofa. Definitely room for improvement, here. (I am wishing for another vaguely orange or coral thing by the candlesticks.)

Pattern: Given the coffee table's proximity to the sofa and a rug, Justina asks, "Do you need pattern?" I decided not to worry about it. (Though, I do confess, I'm on the look out for a small wooden zebra.)

Texture: the flowers, and the fruit, naturally. Also: the dog. Love the dog.

Placement: Three things on the table. Three things on the stack of catalogues. Three kinds of flowers. Say hooray for three!

Bling: Yep. Got that. In fact, I have far too many bling-like things.

Botanicals:  Yep, absolutely! And not just the sorry succulents, either!

And finally, the mid-shot.

Now, that was useful. And fun! I want to do it again. This exercise helped me identify what sort of things I'd like to have. For example, I don't have any pillar candles--or votives, either! I need tall things that aren't candles.  I don't have many things with rough textures--everything is kind of shiny and smooth. I need trays. I've been wanting something to help me figure out what I need: this is it. The list is long. And growing. I want to buy all the things. The frugal minimalist inside me is having a heart attack.

Up next?

That dratted sofa.


Assignment 1: Identifying Justina's styling principles is here.

*As I was finishing up this post, I glanced into the living room, and there was hubs completely chilled out on the sofa--with his feet on the coffee table!

Grace Note: Carnations in the Foyer

I've been in something of a funk lately. I don't like to post when I'm in a funk: I tend to whine.

So, instead, I bring you this bit of prettiness, via Pic Monkey.

Grace Notes

Back when I was a new wife and mother, I also contemplated a career change: from journalism to interior decorating. In pusuit of my new goal, I stumbled upon the inestimable interior designer and author Alexandra Stoddard in my travels through the book stacks at the local library.

One of her suggestions was to pop a vase of flowers in your fridge.

Say what?

Imagine opening your fridge and seeing it. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

"Grace notes," Stoddard defines further in a book of the same name,

remind us that it is ofetn the little things, the small revelations, that make a great deal of difference in handling dissappointment, frustration and loss. They help us celebrate moments of joy by enabling us to unearth the underlying goodness of things.

Well, OK.

For me, grace notes can simply be a little spot of beauty I find to share in the normal drudgery of the day to day.

Flowers on Friday

We've had flowers fairly consistently since Christmas.
It surprises me.
Of course, my husband bought a few bouquets for me too, and that doesn't hurt!


I hadn't realised it would be all that hard to find nice, inexpensive, long lasting blooms like these mini-carns. I love them. Classic, in a simple way.


My mom gave me this pitcher at Christmas. The hand-made doily was a gift from the mother of a boy I lived with for a few years a long, long time ago. (Honestly, I think it was 20 years ago, now. How can it be that long ago?)



I think it's actually the first time I've ever put it out. I think it's perfect, here, now.

Flowers and Finds on Friday

(There's the glorious happy sun pouring in from the east at 8:45 am! I'm going to have to wait another month to see it again once we switch to Daylight Savings Time on Sunday. Grrrr.)

They're just the thing for my new round table.

I don't know what they're called, though.


The plain glass vase was looking, well, a bit plain, so I put these plates I found at Value Village this week underneath them.

Two plates, two separate shopping trips, two different stores.



One price: 99 cents each. I would have preferred just the smaller one, but I found the big one first. I'm not complaining, though.

The back, in case you're curious:



I trimmed the flowers and put the "remainders"--you know, the bits at the side which don't quite reach to the top, in a glass and set it on my desk.


The lego sculpture showed up yesterday to keep it company. I don't know: they look like they're friends, don't you think?

I found these sweet needlepoint ducks, too, this week.



I need to re-frame them--something simpler. Though I kind of like the importance these fancy frames give the humble art.



I should probably paint those goldy frames white--right? At least tone them down a bit. Strangely, they seem to be growing on me. (My mind's eye is still impressed with the power of brass and grey (or gray.))

My last find is this lamp base. I had thought I would spray paint the black bits white.



It's just the thing for my desk. I'd like a cylindrical shade for it: I don't know if I'll be able to find it.

Linking up to these parties, today. Such kind women at these events--please check out their stuff, too. Thanks for stopping by!

Home Sweet Home #5 at The Charm of Home

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Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage



and Junkin' Finds Friday #19 at A La Carte.

Flowers on Friday--and a Find!

Are you ready?



Really ready?



Here they are, then.



Hooray! Daffy down dillies.

On my desk, between the computer screen and the printer.
Let's take a closer look, shall we?



I love the frill:


Just the thing to help pretend Spring is around the corner.



Of course it isn't. It'll be a long six weeks of slush before we see green. But I found these to keep me happy--year round. I got eight of these pretty bread plates at Value Village for $10.00.



The kids think they're "too fancy." They said they are afraid to break them.
I say, good.

Linking to new parties today. If you've come from these great sites, welcome!

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

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Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage



Junkin' Finds Friday at A La Carte.

Flowers on Friday

This is a lovely bunch of....


I don't know what they're called.

They are a riot of colour, full and lush.



Delicate purple and yellow,



luscious pink,



and dramatic orange



combine in the sunshine



on this impossibly cold winter day.

Flowers on Friday

I recently discovered a new blog--from Canada--called Maillardville Manor. The blogger has impeccable taste and she's decorating a new home. Inspiring. It doesn't hurt that she's from Canada, either! Though she is in Vancouver which in February can be hard to take as most tend to gloat over their greenery just waking up and poking through the ground about now. (Not the blogger from Maillardville Manor. I don't mean to imply that! This Vancouverite from Meet My Ugly Baby was planning her balcony garden yesterday, though!) We, however, still have snow. Piles and piles of it. More expected, too.

A view of the yard taken from the upstairs bathroom. The roofs are bare because we shovel them with contraptions called roof shovels. It is, actually, above zero today which is nothing more than a cruel joke.

Anyway, I ramble. The point is, she thought of this first, and I'm stealing it. This Friday, at least. I may not have flowers next week, or I may and forget to take pictures of them. Who knows? But these tulips were beautiful and I wanted to share.

It was my daughter's idea, actually. She convinced my husband to get them for me--and I'm sure she picked out the colour.


Purple is her thing.

I hadn't realised how much tulips droop. Nor how they open and close with the sun.



I was utterly fascinated by the colours inside.



Look at that orange! That teal blue! It was amazing.



That was a week ago, of course.


They have died and they're gone now.

But I was glad to have them.

AT Fall Cure: Days 11 & 12

Day 11: Clean One Room

Thank goodness for this one.

I tackled the Master Bedroom. I did it in four parts.

1) 15 minute surface and quick de-clutter
2) Changed the sheets
3) 20 minute surface "Cure Clean"
4) Put on love seat cover

I have been wanting to restore this room to serenity for ages. Ever since August. That's when I decided to use it as a dumping ground for both my daughter's things when I cleared out her room and for the things from the bathroom when I redecorated it. The room had not been properly dusted or vacuumed in 2 1/2 months. Ugh.

So, the bathroom isn't quite done. I just have the new shelves to put up -- and they are coming along, albeit slowly. I'm tired of having the bathroom's contents on my dresser, though, so I moved it all into a laundry basket: now sitting on the old school chair. Once I had solved that little problem, the cleaning could commence.

I got all the dust bunnies! I swear, I chased them all away. I used my ostrich feather duster on the furniture and I swiffered and vacuumed the floor. I pulled out the couch and the bed and bedside tables and got everything along the walls. It was most gratifying.

(I have no idea why I took all of these vertically.)

Ta Da!


I figure that if I pick up daily and swiffer weekly, I'll only need to vacuum once a month. Wouldn't it be fantastic if I could manage that?!


Day 12: Buy Flowers.

In honour of ephemera:



And now, I'm all caught up!

(I have no idea if I shall stay caught up, though.)

AT Fall Cure: Days 1 & 2

Yep.

I know the website is on Day 9, today, but I only found out about the Fall Cure a few days ago. The format has been changed: from eight week to four. I don't know if I will enjoy this home cure as much as I have done others in the past. I'm combining it with the kitchn cure, too. I don't know why I think I have to keep myself so busy with these sorts of projects. But I do enjoy them. (And I'd just do something else, anyway. This way, I get to share.)


Day 1: Floor and Surface Clean One Room.

Not terribly exciting, this one, agreed, but essential. I decided to do my dining room office.



Because I am also taking Time Management at Simplify 101, I decided to see just how long everything really took.

Dusting, with a feather duster: 5 minutes
Picking everything up off the floor, putting it away, sweeping the floor and clearing the surfaces: (table and desk): 15 minutes
Mopping the floor: 6 minutes

I didn't time actually washing down the table, or cleaning the computer screen. I didn't time taking a scraper to the tougher bits on the floor (I think someone ground in red licorice. At least I think that's what it is.)

Ta Da!



All in all, I am pleased to know that in about 1/2 hour I can clean the room so that it is quite presentable. The shelves above the desk need a serious de-clutter and clean, though.

Day 2: Buy Fresh Flowers

I cheated and had hubby pick some up for me on his way home yesterday. I asked for "nothing dyed" and this is what they had. I put out one stem in a vase at my desk.



It makes me smile.