Voting Time

I have discovered Microsoft Paint!

(Well, to be accurate, I have discovered how to PAINT with Microsoft paint.)

And so I virtually painted my trunk.



Which (if any) do you prefer?
(click on the image to see the rooms more fully.)

And what colour carpet would you put beneath it?

Thanks.

Grieving....shelves.

This is so darn silly. They aren't even gone yet. And yet, once they are gone, I won't have the room to hold things I'm not...quite...ready...to...let go.

I put my new lampshade on the lamp in the living room yesterday, today I took the old lampshade out of the living room. I was about to happily toddle off to the basement with it when I remembered: it has no home down there anymore. Ok, so it's a little ripped on the inside, so I should let it go. But it's extremely difficult to find a lampshade of its size in my budget. I'm not sure it's even possible.

The basement truly is the place where things go to die. And it seems I need a transition period for things before I can truly let them go. Maybe that's all it is. Maybe not. I don't know. I'm reminded of Einstein's adage:

The problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.

Since I was feeling so glum anyway, I packed up about 10 lbs of clothing I've been waiting to take to consignment. But the truly sentimental favourites are still here.

I'm disappointed in myself.

Small changes

I was so upset at the state of my drab living room, I went shopping Monday looking for inspiration. Fortunately, I found it--and cheaply, too.

I went from this on Sunday:


To this on Thursday:


Total cost?
lampshade: $25.00
napkin (on pillow): $3.50
striped pillow: $10.00
curtains: $7.00 (on sale at Ikea. I want to buy four more for the basement!)
"new" large pillow covers: already had.
"new" table: free, from Mom's porch.
Total: $45.50

Obviously, I have a way to go on some fix-ups and projects, but I feel much better about the state of things. I'd like to paint the trunk: any suggestions?

Boom da da boom

I went downstairs to start measuring the space to make a floor plan. I looked over at the area where the exercise bench lives and saw this:



It looked like this at the start of the Cure:


The funny thing is, I never consciously cleared that area. I never went over there and started tossing, on purpose.

The husband and I have agreed that we can eliminate the shelving beside it. That will give us 24" (the depth of the shelving). Lengthwise, that will free up the space a little more (103") than the length of the bench (90"). The exercise bike can be tucked in there, on an angle. (It's a dinky exercise bike! But it does the job.) There's also a window in there which will be uncovered. With a window on each wall, that corner might actually be a pleasant little spot. Who knows? I have no idea whether this will happen sooner or later, and I need to find a place for my luggage.

Glad That's Done!

eeeew.

We had a tiny invasion from some cold shiv'ring "wee tim'rous beasties" this winter. I had containerized everything vulnerable and I had washed out the shelves; but there was one we'd left to lure the vermin and attention was long overdue.

Well, attention was paid and the shelves washed and reorganized. It really didn't take that long, but it wasn't pleasant.

In brief, then.

Before:


After:
(sorry, I hadn't noticed it was blurry until now.)

Tossed:

(about 5 lbs.)

Did you know there's no expiry date for cake mix?
Bit scary to think about, really.

(PS. The instant gratification of the digital camera could get very addicting!)

Mixing Patterns

(Yeah, I'm procrastinating....)

I'm not sure my "vocabulary" is technically correct, so here's what I mean. All examples from Tricia Guild.

Floral:

The next one is what I call an organic floral: the pattern is less seemingly random that a "true" floral and the flower or motif seems, somehow, highly stylised. I also called it a "silhouette" on Mella's blog). It looks like this:



I would not mix these. Personal preference. They "say" different things to me.



As well, I think of damasks as "florals" since I typically wouldn't mix them with a floral, unless, it were, say, wallpaper. But maybe I would if it were neutral enough.

Now, the fun.

To pick the next print, you have to decide whether you want to go larger or smaller than the first: and, generally one would mix a geometric: a check or a stripe.

I'm not sure about the scale of this stripe. If it is too big for the floral, or not:



This, too is a stripe: if only because the pattern is so vertical:


Now, for the check:
Either:

or:

but NOT both.

So far, we have everything pretty much in one colour way: orange, green and yellow. But what colour do we truly love? That's where your solid comes in. It will tie the fabrics together, make it work as one expression, or another.

Shall we try green?



Doesn't the green make the pink pop? (So you'd choose green, not because you liked green, but because you love pink). But, it is almost too matchy, matchy. Still, it would be cheery!
How about orange?



I think the orange is too bright and I'm worried the dark grid lines in the green check will bring the whole look right down. I'm also not sure it's the right green. Colour is so hard to tell on computer monitors. The wide broad stripes, as I mentioned above may be too powerful for the floral.

Perhaps I should have chosen examples in black and white, but the last pattern mix illustrates something I learned from Lynette Jennings. It's a bit hard to explain. Look at the floral. Orange. pale pink, yellow and green plus a neutral gray. The stripes don't have any colour in common except the pale pink. The orange is in the same colour family, but it isn't a match. The chartreuse sort of melds the yellow and the green of the floral. That's why the orange solid bothers me: it should either match one of the two tones in the floral, or the orange of the stripe. Introducing a third is too much. Ditto the green: either the green of the floral or the chartreuse.

The other trick is using the right amount. Large patterns should be used for large pieces: duvet covers, maybe curtains, sofas (if you so inclined), maybe even floor cushions. Small and medium scale patterns can be used anywhere. But here's the thing--how much of a fabric will you use? What would be the proportions? Some can do this instinctively. Me, I enjoy watching my left brain and my right work together!



The combinations and permutation are nearly endless. You can mix two florals. Make sure one is large and the other small. Ditto stripes and checks. That's it. Just vary the scale. And if you do have two florals, mix in a check or stripe before introducing a solid. That way it will look deliberate and quite polished.

Check out The Designer's Guild web-site for excellent and bold pattern mixing. Analyse the colour, the scale, the type. It's fun.

Inspiration

I went shopping today and found this cotton napkin at Pier 1 Imports.

It's going to guide me in my careful, slow and deliberate "make-over" of my living room.

My curtains are already the brown: my sofa and Poang chair are green.




But more than just colour: it's the feel, sort of Fifties Florida Beach House in the Woods. It doesn't make any sense, but maybe it will work. I've already purchased a striped pillow in the same colourway.

As well, while I was at Pier 1, I came across a trunk/box in green. It looked like it had been vaguely spatter painted with red/rust gently along the edges. It looked very cool. It had a hard shiny finish to it, too, like a laquered box. Maybe it was laquered. How does one laquer? I just loved it and think I may have a direction for the nasty old trunk.