Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a nice day. I spent all morning cleaning my crafty stuff out of the dining room. Here is what I've got to do...



It's not really that messy all the time. I already started moving stuff around before I realized that I needed to take pics first. I was too lazy to put it all away for the pics. Here is a close up:



The sewing cabinet has to go. Everything I want to keep that's in and on the cabinet and all my drawers have to move to a shorter area behind the love seat. It has to all fit there along-side all the computer stuff... Yeah, it's a BIG job!

In the late afternoon we headed over to a nice family gathering, and from there headed to the Galaxy game. After the game they always have a nice fireworks show. The Galaxy have never lost on a 4th of July since we've been attending :oD





We hope you all had a GREAT day!!!

Adventures in Decorating - week 3

After I got the printouts of furniture and fabrics and held it up in the room, I didn't want my living room all blue... The whole thing came down on me...it seemed dull and depressing.

We went back to Ethan Allen on our own to look at furniture again. We went through so fast last time that I wanted to take my time and browse more. Caroline happened to be there, and we talked about my reluctance to the all blue pallet. She convinced me that I could bring in other colors with accessories. I was happy again and left.

When I got home, I freaked out again! LOL! I spent time on the computer looking at all the things that I pinned. Instead of looking for nice rooms, I looked for colors that made me happy.

I called her, she told me not to stress, and to text her the pictures. I told her that I'd have to use Jim's phone because mine doesn't have a camera. We couldn't figure out how to send a picture on Jim's phone, so I ended up emailing her:



Cheryl calls it "beach tropical" instead of "beach nautical" (aka "old sea chest").

The following day, Caroline called us in again... She completely changed everything for us... in ONE DAY! She said that the colors and designs I went for are for outdoor furniture. So she toned it down for us a little.... AND I am very happy now with an orange/turqoise/tan/ivory pallet. WOW! I LOVE IT!!!



We ordered a sofa/loveseat, dining room table and 4 upolstered chairs, coffee table, ottoman and pillows. The color is mostly in the pillows, so it will be easy to change the colors if I get tired of them.

I still might get two more dining room chairs. I'm also getting window coverings and carrying those into the kitchen.

After dragging my feet for a year, Jim and I made a decision and ordered in three weeks. Jim pretty much let me get whatever I wanted. Problem was that I didn't know what I wanted... I'm glad that Caroline knew.

Furniture should be here in 6-8 weeks. In the meantime, the window people are coming to measure, and I need to start purging my crafting supplies. I know there is a lot there that I don't use. All my stuff is sitting out in the dining room. Caroline told me that once I get the new furniture in there, I'm going to obsess about the mess against the dining room wall. I believe her... So, I figure it's better to start cleaning and purging now. I nixed her idea of a sofa back table, and I decided to put a cabinet behind the loveseat to hold my crafty stuff. Now, I just need to get all my stuff into one cabinet. YIKES!

Adventures in Decorating - week 2

Adventures in Decorating - continued.... :oD

We made an appointment for the following weekend, Caroline had to reschedule our meeting. Jim thought it was very unprofessional. I was okay with it. Cheryl said that I was okay with it because I didn't want to start making decisions... she's probably right.

When we met, it was as overwhelming as I thought it would be. Caroline put together three color schemes for us to look at. One was peach/green/grey, one was blue/burnt-orange/tan, the last one was blue/teal/grey. The peach one was out. Looking at it made me think of a woman's powder room. The orange in the second one was SCARY! Our room right now is mostly blue and because of that it was easier for us to accept the blue. We pulled colors from the remaining two collections and ended up with navy/cerulean-blue/tan. It's an elegant pallet that we thought would look nice. Caroline called it "nautical beach":



Jim and I fondly started calling it "Old Sea Chest" haha! I was worried that it would be too dull, but Caroline said that she likes to design a neutral background for whatever colors we wanted to add in the form of pillows and nick-nacks. Okay... I felt better about it.

Then we got a whirlwind tour of possible furniture picks and window coverings. That was TOTALLY overwhelming! After a while everything started to look the same...

Caroline: "Do you remember that coffee table in the room with colors? This end table will match perfectly!"

Me: {{{blank wide-eyed look}}} Which table?

Caroline is going to print out our floor plan, furniture and colors, and we'll meet with her again next week.

{{WHEW}} this is happening FAST!

Adventures in Decorating - Week 1

We are actually 3 weeks into the process now, but I'm going to split this up into several post, or else it would be HUGE!!!

Background:
We have been talking about redecorating the house for over a year. Exactly one year ago, Chris helped me strip all the wallpaper out of the house. Within that year, I replaced the TV stand and rearranged the living room (which I am very proud of BTW). It's not much showing for a year of planning... the walls are still unpainted, the sofa and loveseat still need replacing, and I haven't found window coverings or dining room chairs. I tried going to a sofa store, knew exactly what I wanted and was talked out of it TWICE by the sales women. I ended up more confused than when I started. It's all so frustrating! At this rate, there is no way that I'd finish before the family Christmas party!

Well, three weeks ago the lady down the street told me about the Ethan Allen design center. She said that the service is FREE and that she worked with a lady there who was wonderful! Her house is bright with contemporary coastal color, which is beautiful (light blue, sage green, white). So, Jim and I decided to go down to Ethan Allen. We met the designer, Caroline, and she's very nice. I told her that I didn't want my house exactly like our neighbors. Their house is a show piece with everything in it's place. They have a "show" room (a front formal living room that no one uses) with sea shells and drift wood... it really wasn't US. Our design needs to be more functional and comfortable.

She told us that was no problem and that she would put together something that we could live with and LOVE. She stopped by to look at the house THE NEXT DAY to look at the room and measure.

She likes the way I rearranged the living room. (YAY!) She asked us which pieces of furniture we wanted to keep. We told her that we are definitely keeping the computer table, the end table, Jim's mom's picture, and my crafting supplies. (Uh, excuse the mess... I'm in the middle of purging, which you will hear about later.)



I also gave her pictures of rooms that I liked.



Caroline took those and ran with it... more tomorrow :oD