My Fall Living Room: Yep, You Read that Right.

I'm sorry, I don't remember where I found this word art. It was perfect for my colour scheme.

I've been feeling terribly inadequate lately. As a blogger with a blog, I mean, not as a person. (As a person, I'm feeling pretty awesome right now, actually, thankyouverymuch.) But geesh. As a blogger with a home decor blog?

Definitely lacking.

It all started with Fall, actually.

I planned to do a Fall House Tour and it was important for the living room to be just so.  I figured I finally had the decorating chops and I was going to prove it to you all.

That pouf has sure lost its poufiness. But look at that fake cotton! The scale! the drama!

At the same time, I began to think I wanted to expand my readership. I started looking into what it might take to grow my blog.

The first week of September I started looking at houses decorated for Fall. Um, seriously folks? The first week of September? I remember one or two blogs from Texas saying the temps were still far too warm "to get in the mood." But that's also when I started to get an inkling that this blog will never be like those blogs. I will never have my living room decorated for Fall by the first week of September. (Never mind styled, photographed and written up!)

I loved this mantle. I took photos of it soon after I created it, I liked it that much.

So, my blog will obviously never be a trendsetting home decor blog. That's not going to be my focus. I'm not even sure I want this to be a home decor blog. But the blog does need a focus, apparently. Moreover it needs a narrow focus. As one blogger advises, "The narrower your focus the broader your audience." Harumph.

And s we all know, I do love to decorate.

Yep, I bought a role of burlap and hot glued it to a mason jar for a vase.

So, I started to decorate the living room--as I also planned and executed my decluttering series (because a well decorated home is also an intentional home and while that doesn't mean one needs to be a minimalist, it does mean one needs to decrapify regularly--and boy oh boy did my house need decrapification!)

The living room was ready at Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving, mid-October)-- well, it was as ready as it was ever going to be.

The day before Canadian Thanksgiving I drove to a store in a snow storm to exchange the pillow covers I'd bought for a different pair. But the store was out of the ones I wanted, so, after wandering around the store for twenty minutes or so, I stood still and racked my brain --and remembered a throw I'd seen at a store across town that might work. If they had any in stock. Twenty minutes before closing, I drove across town --in that snowstorm--  to buy a throw that just might pull it all together for me.

yep, that's the throw. I'm not sure it can do all I want it to do.

And on that horribly stressful drive, I thought about how simplicity is one of the things I value--and how this decorating business --especially seasonal decorating--and decorating to a deadline-- is not -- absolutely not "simple."

I spray painted some sticky dots from Staples with gold and stuck them on fake cream pumpkins 
--and wound up with spotty pumpkins.

So, simplicity is a touchstone for me and my blog--but I'm still figuring out what that actually means. Among other things. Figuring things out, I mean.

I'm still figuring things out: like why the living room didn't gel like I'd hoped.

The sofa strikes me as too white for "fall" but lots of others managed to create the cosyness of fall with their white sofas. I think it's the cushions: one set in particular.

See the orange one tucked back there behind the grey one and the throw? It's from H&M and looks lovely in person--it is orange--but not a burnt or rusty orange--and I think it needs to be. Or maybe a clearer stronger orange? Just not this orange. The orange and the white together actually read as coral more than orange. I had orange velour pillows. I decluttered them a few months ago. Oh well. They were solid and I had wanted a pattern--but I had no idea the perfect orange patterned pillows would be so hard to find!

I wasn't all that happy with this corner, either. The Ikea blanket just didn't do enough for me, somehow.

The truth is, after Thanksgiving, I put the living room out of my mind. Working on my Mom's dressing room took every single minute I had after that. There was no thought to spare for it--and, certainly, no time to take pictures.

Then, I finished the dressing room. I rested.

That's when I took a course on blogging--on photography and styling, specifically. From the course, (and a bit of other reading) I learned that a successful blog should have a pithy tagline. Every post should contain stunning pictures and styling. Apparently, the blog needs to be a recognizable brand --and I need to be on social media pushing every post and instagramming on a schedule. (Good people, I don't have a cell phone--not even a flip phone).

I would totally instagram this awesome photo of the river valley if I did instagram, though.

I don't know if any of that will ever happen. I'm still figuring it out.

I'm all about making life more pleasant--and that means making my house pretty and functional--or at least trying to. Figuring it out. Housekeeping, as you all know, is a struggle for our family. But I want this blog to be about more than just that struggle--but I feel like I need to include it, too.

I've figured out this much:

The blog is my diary, my record of what I do to make this house of ours a home for us. I like to figure out what home is, wht that means to us--and then create it. What I do at home drives the content of my blog --always. This living room was so stressful, in part, I think, because for the first time I let the blog (and my aspirations for it) drive the content.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing--but I don't think it's my thing.

Like the pillows. In person, they aren't that bad.

But I was happy to notice they were starting to pill a bit, already. I can let them go.

But I am not sure I want to let go of wanting to grow the blog.

I'm afraid any plans I had of doing a fall home tour are now kaput. My husband has already put up our tree. But that's OK. I am feeling the urge to decorate for Christmas.

A little bit.

Just as soon as I get over being intimidated by all those beautifully decorated kitchens. living rooms, and bathrooms (!) out there in blogland.

PS. If you don't mind my asking--why do you read this blog? What would make it more valuable to you?

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Makeover Magic: The Back Hallway, Before and After

It's past time I showed you how it turned out. We started taking down the popcorn ceiling on July 26th. I believe I finished the last thing on September 29th. (The hardware for the dresser was back ordered and arrived some time in October.)

It took us two months to totally transform the hallway with a little paint, some hardware and a little furniture hacking.

There isn't much to this awkward, little space. It's the area with the blue magnifying glass.

There are four doors, three openings, and no windows. As one of those doors leads to the bathroom (and our single solitary tub/shower), all of us use it --a lot.

Taken at the kitchen doorway looking into my son's room.

I've cobbled these photos together from a few different time periods. I liked to change up the runner on the dresser.

Standing in the bathroom. Hey there.

ew, looking at all that yellow-green now makes me shudder.

And finally, the reverse angle--standing in the bedroom doorway looking back towards the kitchen.

I made up my list of what I wanted to do back during the January Cure. I had thought we would tackle this area during the Spring One Room Challenge, but at the very last minute, I switched my focus to the dining room. (I know, I need to show you what we did in there, too. Soon.) This funny little space had to wait 'til summer.

As we accomplished the various items on the list--I linked to them.

• Remove popcorn ceiling Day 8&9
• Paint walls Be Gone, Yellow-Green!
• Paint doors (4) Inspired by Dressers All Dressed Up.
• Paint trim Inspired by Dressers All Dressed Up
• Clean out dresser
• Paint the dresser--or just the top?

Then, just as I was finishing things up --October happened, with the Fall One Room Challenge (my Mom's dressing room) and the 31 Day Decluttering series. (I have no explanation for November.)

But hey. We're done. All this week, I've been waiting on the sun: but I've decided not to wait any longer.

Ready?

The doors are simply amazing. We took all of them down and put them outside where sanded them as far as we could. They were primed and then painted in Hague Blue (by Farrow and Ball) mixed into a Sherwin Williams semi-gloss. I would have to drive four hours each way to get genuine F&B paint. I just might, one of these days. The walls are painted Martha Stewart: Glass of Milk and the trim is Benjamin Moore: Cloud White. And yes--those baseboards are painted! No more knotty pine.

Chris bought a second hand door to replace our old bathroom door. While he rebuilt it to fit,  I washed all the hinge pins, the doorknobs and their backplates with bar keepers friend.

It's all original to the house and the varnish had worn off for the most part.


Remember when I wasn't sure what to do with the dresser? (I did exactly what Gina suggested.)

The top was scratched and someone had started to drill holes into the top drawer to install hardware.

The old top came off fairly easily.

You can see where some of the dowels are, still. Chris just built the top and matched the holes. The wood top will lift off the dresser if we try to move it that way.

Here's a proper look:

Hey there.

So handsome.

We took the lessons we learned from making the table top in the dining room (namely, plane both long edges of your planks. The saw mill rounds them; for joining them, you want the edges absolutely square.) Chris got a wonderfully tight fit.

They're fence boards (!) stained with dark walnut by Minwax and finished with three coats of matte varnish by Varathane. Beautiful.

sorry for the blotchy lens!

The stairs are finally finished-- but I need to do just a couple more things before I'll consider the stairwell ready for its reveal.

The dresser has so much more weight and stature now. Those pulls remind me of a military coat. I just love it to pieces. Almost more than my navy blue doors.

And there we have it.
So good.

Linking to a few parties--just to get it out there!

Home Stories A to Z.

Dwellings: The Heart of Your Home

LadyBug Blessings.

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From the Weekend: Sizing Up the Trim

This is 51/4" baseboard (5/8" thick) with 3 1/2" casing (1/2" thick.)

Chris and I go over to install it Monday morning. We'll be using plinth blocks at the base of the casing to deal with the difference in thicknesses.

I am so excited.

(And yes, that is the exact same floor I installed in the dressing room. This is the study.)

The Case for Bigger Mouldings

My Mom has asked me to figure out the trim work for her house--you know, the baseboards, casings, the headers over doorways and windows, and, maybe, crown.

First, there's no doubt that trimwork increases the value of the house, is there?

Look at this:

source 

Isn't that amazing?

And this:

source

source

But, it has to be the right size. Most of the mouldings in our houses (unless you are lucky to live in a house built before WW1) are downright dinky.

source

Look at the difference here:

source

I have been researching what size they ought to be and while there's really nothing that says exactly, there is agreement that each of the components should relate to the other--and the height of the ceiling (not the size of the room).

It all starts with the baseboards.

These are 9 foot ceiling with 7 1/4 inch baseboards and 6 5/16" crown.

source

The same in an 8 foot hallway:

source

These photos come from a thread in Houzz where someone asked if her 5 1/4" baseboards were too wide. Someone answered, "Asking if your baseboards are too wide is like asking if your diamond is too big."

But tall baseboards can get expensive.

There are three ways I've found which might work. (But I have yet to figure out which will work for us).

1. Fool the Eye 

source 

Imply a taller baseboard by installing a narrow piece of trim some distance above (no more than half the width of the original) --and paint it all the same glossy paint. This is an excellent solution if you already have baseboards and do not want to rip them out. It works well for adding heft to crown moulding, too. I'm not so sure it is a good solution for door and window casings, though, as the difference between the texture of the wall and the mouldings would be too apparent. Backband moulding is excellent for that.

2. Add backband moulding

Again, this is an excellent solution if you already have casings or baseboards and don't want to rip them out.

This example shows how you it works. (Worth clicking through if you've no idea. It is a great little gif.)

source

3. Stack the mouldings.

Apparently, this is the traditional way to install baseboard. It helps the trim move with the house--and so minimizes shifting and cracking. You could do this over existing baseboard, I think, if it is plain and wide.  The top piece is called the cap and the bottom is called the fascia.

source

In classical moulding, the height of the cap is equal to the total depth of the baseboard from the wall. (It's profile.)

Of course,no one says you have to adhere to classical proportions. Here, this enterprising gal just used a casing and flipped it so the narrow edges met together in the middle.

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Or, of course, you can do this before you install anything to build up a profile you like.

source

As I mentioned, though, proportion is important.

From what I've read, the consensus seems to be that the baseboards and crown moulding should be about the same size, headers a bit smaller and the casings about half the size of the baseboards.

So, for example,

base: 5 1/4 to 6"
casing: 3 1/2"
crown: 4 1/4"
headers: 4 1/2"

or

base: 4 1/4"
casing: 2 1/2"
crown: 4 1/2"
headers: 4"

Another guideline seems to be that once baseboards reach 5 inches, casings should not be smaller that 3 1/2". I also read that the profile, or thickness of the boards should not be less than 3/4". That makes stock moulding from big box stores pretty much out of the question (unless it's stacked, of course). The thickest I've found is 5/8ths

This is what it looks like when your casings are roughly the same size as (or larger than?) your crown and baseboards:

source

The baseboards and casings are the same width here, too.

Contemporary Kids by San Francisco Architects & Building Designers Winder Gibson Architects

source

So, as soon as you think there's a rule--somebody breaks it--and breaks it well. It's all interconnected--and it all has to do with your own eye.

I'm off to the Big Box store to see what I can come up with!

From the Weekend: The First Snow

It was very late this year!

I think it actually snowed, if you can call it that, this little skiff, on Thursday.

I made sure to run out and get a picture on Saturday, since we were going up above zero again, today.
It didn't melt.

Minimalism and Decorating

interior by Nicole Franzen. Source.

This is minimalistic decor, as a style of decorating. Not what I'm talking about.

Can the two ever be compatible?

In March of 2014, I flexed my minimalist muscles and eliminated over 500 things from my home. (To be truthful, I am still in the process of eliminating them. There are books still in the garage.)

The next month, I spent a great deal of time--and money--buying stuff and transforming it for a makeover of my mother's bedroom.

Recently, it happened again. Everyday, Mom bagged up stuff to remove from the house--and as she was taking that out the back door, I was coming in the front with bags and bags of stuff to transform another room and decorate it.

Do I simply have contradictions in my personality? Are these two endeavours even remotely reconcilable?

It is cliche, but true: minimalism is about living with less. It's about decluttering, letting go, getting rid of stuff. At least to start. The goal, as I see it, is to live only with what is essential to your life whether that's a backpack and good shoes and lots of socks or a modest house, a yard, kids and a dog (and all that goes with that.) It's about buying only what's really necessary when it is really needed. (And then asking yourself, is it really necessary? Is it really needed?) You could say it is quite anti-consumerism. It's about being uber intentional.

Decorating, however, is not anti-consumerism. Not at all. Even in the world of DIY decorating (and maybe especially in the world of DIY decorating) one has to buy all kinds of stuff to make the room work. Line, shape, colour, texture, balance, unity, contrast. These are the tools to create harmony and beauty. A mirror, for example, can't be just any old thing one has on hand. It has to conform to specific dimensions. The frame needs to be a certain finish to either blend in or stand out from the other elements in the room. The shape should be just so.

The gorgeous Trumeau mirror my husband made for my Mom's dressing room during the Fall 2015 One Room Challenge. Most definitely, not minimalist mirror frame!

What brings the two together? Draw a venn diagram. Label on circle minimalism and the other decorating.The intersection? William Morris, of course.

It is quite OK if, for you, beauty is essential.

I believe it is--and, I'll take it even further.

I believe beauty is an essential component of being a minimalist. 

One perfect set of dishes, for example, eliminates many that may be just so-so. One perfect pair of jeans replaces five mediocre ones. A pair of perfect mirrors eliminates ten held onto "just in case." The best drill you can afford, the best couch makes so many other less satisfactory purchases unnecessary. (In fact, I read on a blog somewhere that someone's father had given her the advice to buy the best bed, table, and couch she could afford and all the rest would sort itself out. I wish I had had that advice!) This is one of those lessons you can learn after much trial and error (and money wasted) or you can embrace from the get-go. 

One doesn't need much, (that's the minimilaist part) but what one has--that can be beautiful (the "decor" part).