Another call for advice on the Fireplace of DOOM

Brick painted white. I like this.













Here is brick that actually is nice. Generally, I have to say, I'm anti red brick. But in this house, it'salright.
















Another white brick fireplace.















Can you tell I'm getting close to painting it white?? Unless someone interferes with my evil plans, I will soon attack the brick with some primer! Okay, maybe not soon, since I don't actually have time to paint the fireplace anyhow.

Stella-isms

The latest from Stella:

"I'm not just ANY farmer, I'm a lonely kid farmer!"

"Get a grip, lady!"

I find Stella in her room, playing Leapster...

She raises an eyebrow at me and says, "What are you here for?"

"It's picture day. I came to see if your hair needs to get washed."

Stella, "It absolutely does NOT."

This is a picture of when the window in the bedroom was replaced. It looks so cool with now window. You can see the neighbor's nice pond in this picture, too.

Isin't this a nice entryway garden?













This picture is from Rafe's room. I love this wall decal thing I found on Etsy. You can pick the colors for the leaves and fruit. It's cheap and I think is so much fun.









Bedroom picture. See, I can't even be bothered to move the remotes for a picture. Too much work! ha! Anyways, I liked these lamps but Matt said that they were like alien's had landed next to the bed..... I don't know what he's talking about, but, whatever. We considered hanging some wall sconces but he made a big drama show about how impossible it would be to turn off the light while laying down on your back in the bed. For god's sake, man! the day you can't even sit up to turn off your bedside table light is a sad, sad day indeed.

At any rate, the bedroom looks diff now. Bed is in front of window and bedding is different. We badly need curtains as the red sheet held up with tacks (tacs?) is getting annoying.

The Prayer of a Perfectionist

"May the beauty of my decor

Compensate for the mediocrity

Of my personality."

- me

Stella's Mushroom

Stella says, "I like mushrooms, but think they are kinda weird. I like when they get really thin. I have to say, I like touching mushrooms. They feel like gooey. I found this mushroom in the yard. I left this in the ground for very long." This mushroom was 9" across!

I am thinking about this bed for my bedroom. It comes in lots of different colors.





















I'm an expert scanner, right? heh heh
Love this room!

I defy you to find a better bedroom anywhere on earth. (did i mention i'm prone to exaggeration?)

Trying to talk to my husband about making our gold-walled bedroom encorporate some blue, as well. SIGH! Sometimes I wonder why I try to talk to him about this stuff. His response is always negative. I'm tempted to show him this picture to change his mind...

House Pictures

A picture showing the wobbley shingles. The roof has to be replaced this month! Today the water was pouring down the wall in Stella's room!

This red room picture is mostly for Tina! I stole the chair from Stella's room for this room. It's still not quite right, but better than having the b and w couch in there? That was too big. I want to make this room so much lighter. The red is too strong. I wonder if I could go white and still ahve the curtains and wallpaper (not seen in this photo) still look good?

Again, sort of for Tina...I got the curtains up on the pantry! I've had these curtains for a while and so glad I found a use for them. Got them off of ebay a million years ago. Had to hem and iron them. They were the PERFECT width for the pantry! YAY!!!

Trying this arrangement for the living room. Feels more open this way.

And moved the black couch to the office. Matt says he doesn't want me to paint that room brown! I was suprised! It looks blue here, but is actually drab green.

Rafe

So easy to love.....

This lavender shade room is soooo dreamy....
More Swedish style...

Tina visits

Ug, I can't figure out how to move pictures on a page yet, so these are out of order!
This is one of 2 pictures of the bed Stella made for Rafe. (Aunt Margie - recognize that blanket??)






Recently, my good friend Tina came to visit from Seattle. Stella loved playing with Tina, and I loved getting to spend time with her. I guess we have been friends for about 10 years, now?

Look, quick! Stella is interacting with her brother!

Stella made a special bed for Rafe with this pillow and elephant. Her intention was to install this bed in the closet in order to keep him off of her own bed.

rooms i like

let me start off by acknowledgeing that i am, well, sort of "stealing" these photos. I apologize to anyone out there who cares! I have been saving these pictures to my computer for my own reference and so I never bothered to note the source of them. But seeing as how this blog is just for my own fun and no profit, I'm assuming it won't bother anyone too much?




Ah! It's just so pale! I love it. You can see why I dislike my own dark fireplace. I love light colors.

This dining room or kitchen area is, I guess, totally "girlie." My husband recently pointed out to me that I have decorated the house in a very feminine style. This is a topic I would like to discuss with others: how to create a masculine/feminine balance in your home if you, um, totally love very feminine looks! Honestly, I'm not sure what a "masculine" style would look like. I just know what I like.

I love monochromatic rooms. Perfect for control freaks like myself. I don't decorate this way, but I like to look at it!

The FIREPLACE of doom

This is my attempt at creating a "whitewashed" look - or something....SIGH! i dont know if it's better or worse this way! I would need a very tall ladder to finish the top half. And definitely need to do something about the shelf - maybe wider and more like a pine look instead of that dark dark stuff.

As seen in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!

Here is what it was like before...I think that this picture has in its favor that it was taken before we moved in and there is obviously no mess or anything!

LOOKING FOR ADVICE on changing this fireplace!

Any thoughts? questions? comments?

Would I be better off just painting it straight white so it doesn't look too faux-ie?

Here is the kitchen in 2007




And here are the "before" pictures in 2005
(backwards because I don't know how to do this blog thing yet!!)

This is where the kitchen/dining room are today!
The outside before we replaced the windows and landscaped!

The kitchen before staining and painting

Let's Begin

I am creating this post to try to connect with other people who love playing house. I love discussing decor, changing things around in my home, brainstorming for new ideas, etc. I'm hoping to get input from others about my house projects and to share ideas. My 2 little children are also fun to photograph and I think this might be a nice way for friends and relatives to see what we are up to!

Thanks to anyone out there who would like to discuss home life with me!

mwa! (kiss) (is that too personal?)
Kelly

n.b.:i have very little free time so please excuse typos, stupidity, lameness, apparent insanity. i just want you to see my fireplace and tell me what to do with it!