Decorating...
I am so ready to decorate our house. We've lived in this house for 10 months now and I've finally decided on a "style," if you can call it that. I want to make it feel like an artsy house in the woods, even though we are in the city. We are graciously surrounded by some trees and the house is historic, so I think it will work. I'm going to start by painting the French door in our kitchen black. The walls were already painted a cafe au lait color, so I think this will go nicely. Then I want to hang a few wooden shelves on the wall above the table in the kitchen. I was thinking of using a pair of old shutters and painting them black to use as the shelves. We have the perfect sized ones in the garage. I just have to decide if they'll be sturdy enough and if they look good. Then I want to collect a large amount of handmade pottery in pretty muted tones and fill the shelves with it. I'd love to replace the ceiling fan in the kitchen, but I think I'll just reverse the blades so they show the dark wood color rather than the light. I'll also replace the shades on the fan lights with something a little funky. For the tops of the cabinets, I want to get black and white checked pots and plant houseplants in them. I love the look of nature inside the house. Plants trailing (a little) down the cabinet sides would be most welcome.
For the dining room, I really need a corner cabinet to replace the one we have. Ours is not interesting enough, and doesn't fit into the corner. I'll fill the cabinet with all of the dishes we have and possibly paint a cute design on the doors or something. I wish I could paint for real, but I can probably only do an interpretation of a tree, so that's what I'll do. I think a rug might look nice in there, but the bare wood floors are so beautiful that I can't cover them. I am thinking of stenciling a neat design below the chair rail, but then I thought I might get tired of it and have to repaint the entire thing. If I do the design on the wall, I don't think I'll paint the corner cabinet. That would be too much.
The foyer will be the biggest change. It has horrid Victorian-style wallpaper (our house is 1930s). I want to have it stripped and painted or rewallpapered, whichever will be most cost effective and result in the least damage to the plaster walls. I think only one layer of paper was applied to the walls there, so I hope they can be painted. I'd love them to be lavender, I think. The only thing is that all the other walls in the house are in muted earth tones (greens, tan, and cream). Maybe a very pale lavender would work well. After all, the foyer needs to be impressive and reflective of the entire house's feel.
I also need more art. I am very into handmade pottery and sculpture, as well as paintings that are realistic but have a quirky or fantasy nature theme. Don't think I could explain THAT except by showing examples of what I mean. Needless to say, I definitely need more than my puny collection. Oh, how I wish I could paint. I am going to try my hand at collage, though.
Lunch is ready (my famous jambalaya). Later.
For the dining room, I really need a corner cabinet to replace the one we have. Ours is not interesting enough, and doesn't fit into the corner. I'll fill the cabinet with all of the dishes we have and possibly paint a cute design on the doors or something. I wish I could paint for real, but I can probably only do an interpretation of a tree, so that's what I'll do. I think a rug might look nice in there, but the bare wood floors are so beautiful that I can't cover them. I am thinking of stenciling a neat design below the chair rail, but then I thought I might get tired of it and have to repaint the entire thing. If I do the design on the wall, I don't think I'll paint the corner cabinet. That would be too much.
The foyer will be the biggest change. It has horrid Victorian-style wallpaper (our house is 1930s). I want to have it stripped and painted or rewallpapered, whichever will be most cost effective and result in the least damage to the plaster walls. I think only one layer of paper was applied to the walls there, so I hope they can be painted. I'd love them to be lavender, I think. The only thing is that all the other walls in the house are in muted earth tones (greens, tan, and cream). Maybe a very pale lavender would work well. After all, the foyer needs to be impressive and reflective of the entire house's feel.
I also need more art. I am very into handmade pottery and sculpture, as well as paintings that are realistic but have a quirky or fantasy nature theme. Don't think I could explain THAT except by showing examples of what I mean. Needless to say, I definitely need more than my puny collection. Oh, how I wish I could paint. I am going to try my hand at collage, though.
Lunch is ready (my famous jambalaya). Later.