happy thanksgiving!!!

look how tiny stella is in this picture...gives you an idea of how long we've been working on this place! i forgot that the bedroom window was picture (didn't open!) - i'm thankful it's not like that anymore! ha ha! but really, even though this house has been a 5 year project with no end in sight, i am thankful i have a home. a nice home with heat, with food, with lovely people living in it. thanksgiving should be a more regular part of my life, since i too often focus on what i still would like, rather than what i already have!!! what a shame, right?

bareness, walls

the hallway where i can't hang a picture because i still haven't finished fixing the patch/painting...

a corner which is no longer bare. i found this retro foal print and thought it was perfect for rafe's room, since he is interested in cowboy things...very exciting because i did always love those little boy rooms which are decorated so "western," especially with a 50's feel would be lovely. i think a rustic wood wall shelf on another wall might be just right.

my bedroom walls are extremely bare. but an unscarred wall is such a perfect thing! no nail holes yet makes it pretty in it's own right. it's also my way of being picky and saying that i won't hang up just anything in my bedroom. i'm going to wait until just the right (also cheap/free) thing comes my way.

and i am the opposite bedroom wall, also naked, 'cept for wallpaper. and i don't have a picture, in part, because someone thinks i should have a window right in the center of me. sigh!

and here is a freebee for you - some sweet sunshine, yellow hair and all. sweetness, sweetness, sweetness.........

fireplaces and tvs, and why

fireplaces and tvs?
well, looks as though we are on to another project, leaving the previous and untouched project (the exterior) in the dust. and, knowing matt this project might also be destined to gather dust. it often happens that matt says he is willing to commit to a project only to change his mind. hmmm, maybe because i am the person most interested in these things, and he is afraid to tell me no? it's puzzling, but it happens often.

so - why tvs and fireplaces? well, new open-ended project is sort of fun and possibly relatively simple? can i say that? finishing the basement! now, this is a project that matt has said for a while that he would like to see happen. i have been pushing more for a paint job, our house looks flakey and sad right now.... however, it IS wintery outside, so a much better time to pursue something indoors. I took some pictures of the basement but haven't downloaded them yet. downloading pictures is a project in itself - it always takes me forever to remember how to get them off of that little memory disk into the right place. at any rate, it will be fun to see the transformation if we ever do fix up the basement, even a little - because it currently is pretty dismal, even for a basement! it was built with teeny tiny windows, even though larger windows would have worked. it also has double doors which are solid - and could be glass! this would make a huge difference down there. some paint and some of that cement epoxy (?) on the floors would be huge!!

being a bit of a junkie for renovating, i've already gone ahead and measured the place and have been contemplating different uses for the huge space. there is a jutting-out spot where the upstairs fireplace comes down and makes a basement fireplace. the fireplace is finished in a yucky red brick with blecky grout, exactly as it was done upstairs. this area in the basement seems the obvious spot for a seating area with tv. there is not much wall space, so i began to investigate this new phenomena, well, 2 new phenomenas: flat-screen tvs and flat-screen tvs mounted above fireplaces.

oops, this one is not a tv, but the picture could easily be one...liked the stone and wooden beams, actually.

i have absolutely no idea how this business of a tv on a wall works. i imagine there must be wires involved. and electricty. and there is the volume knob? you would think i am 75 rather than 35. at any rate, it seems to me that putting the tv above the fireplace would double-duty the wallspace, provide an obvious focal point, and also give me a good excuse to cover up the blecktastic brick with something...drywall, plus pretend stones, mantel, ??? the fireplace has a big ledge that im sure has a name - ive considered just smashing it to pieces and having the firebox be elevated off the ground, maybe creating a sort of contemporary fireplace...hmmmm.

diversions, diversions! there are times that i feel sort of guilty that i devote so much brain power to projects such as these. but i suppose what a person doesn't see in a blog is that i also devote so much time to children and food, and in particular, dealing with a child who seems to have a mental illness. mmm, im dropping a bomb in a way, but all two or three of you who actually view my blog i suppose already know all about this so it's no suprise. honestly, thinking about decorating is a creative outlet for me that keeps me hopeful and gives me something that i feel i can actually control. it gives me respite from the emotional rollercoaster of stella's moods.

more nice exterior pictures. i love the dark shutters and door here, and of course the amazing driveway/walkway.

don't remember exactly why i saved this picture but, it is an exterior, so ill just throw it in here.

luckily, i already have the right man for the job.

spying on others: took these pictures of somebody's garage doors. i think this style is perfect.

a stone i am considering (though have no idea about prices of these things yet!) called harvest mix by earthworks.

playing house summore

here is an architect's rendition of what we could do to the front of the house. wow, he is a really good artist, huh? threw in the cupola for good measure, although we would obviously not need that extra expense, ah-hem.... yes, tear off all the brick and the cedar designs (half-timbering), and replace with brick. i think the plan is a good one except for closing up the entryway with the stone wall. it would look great from the outside looking in, but the view looking out would be even more obscured than it is already. the door would remain where it is currently, but where there is currently a single post, there would be a wall. to about where the broom is standing in this picture. rafey, get back to your sweeping!

it's all such a lovely distraction right now - since we haven't actually gotten a bid yet for how much this renovation would cost...

the research photos

it there is one thing i learned in school...it's that tequila is not meant to be drunk by the mug-ful. in addition, you might as well do your research. in fact, i remember sometimes having the problem that i would in fact do too much research. i would get distracted by interesting details and go off on a tangent. and lose sight of the big picture. okay, so maybe what i really should have learned is that i shouldn't get too focused on details? what? something about a mug? what? ugggg.

oh ya, i remember now. research. yes, i tend to want to get a lot of information before making decisions. rather than simply paint the front of the house, there is a grand new plan....replace the schoolhouse red brick with STONE. please nod politely while i say - stone is almost always superior to brick! unless you are a post office or a hospital.

so STONE. talk about a research project. composite stone? oh yes, it is manufactured something-or-other that is made to look like stone! stone veneer? that is actually REAL stone. then there are stone suppliers and retailers and even just plain stoners. it's terribly confusing.

you might be wondering, and what about this house? this house is so pretty, isin't it? so many details that i like, in particular the stone and the trim color, and also the shutters. and it's got a cupola, for goodness sake! and it happens to be for sale, so i looked it up to see if there might be good pictures online? this house is for sale for 2.2 million dollars. have you ever heard of such a thing?? maybe in california? shocking.

but all of that is really irrelevant. i went and took my own pictures. i was hoping that a builder person might be able to tell me what this stone is, and i also wanted to try to match the trim color.

how about i just move here? sigh! could this house be any more darling??

another example of colors and stone.

i'd like to end with a picture of my actual house but guess what? i still can't figure out how to move pictures around on the page. i try to drag it, it pops back into place.

exteriors again

EXTERIOR COLORS

LOVELY houses! none of them mine, obviously! but looking for ideas of color combinations.... picking out a color for one interior room is nothing compared to trying to do this outside, when the sun changes things so much, and you have to account for multiple colors (trim and body) plus window and gutter...yikes! this is not likely to be figured out soon enough to complete this fall.

bo's kitchen tile

I'm kinda predictable in this: if you ask my opinion on something, I'm gonna do a google search and find pictures for you! I love projects. I love tile, too. My mother in law is redoing her kitchen countertops and backsplash and I can't wait to see how it turns out! She has probably already made all her decisions, but I thought I would throw out some ideas in case she has not. t the first photo - i like the small squares with slight variation in color, thought she might like that, as well

i am thinking that the mix of shapes in this tile pattern might be nice - could be monochromatic, but have a little interest to it. i think this would work well if all countertops were off white.

again, the mix of rectangles and squares (not in these colors)

more of this idea: the squares of multiple shades of the same color.

and again, but on the diagonal. I also can picture all countertops dark green, the small brick pattern in green, with off-white+green for the diagonal square pattern. actually, I really like this one a lot. I like this sort of "trim piece" look that the brick layer provides.

distractions called rugs

okay, so this is not a rug...but i wanted to post it before i lose track of it...the most beautiful kitchen in the world, most likely. can't put my finger on the why of it.... i like the modest size. the stainless with the gray finish, the stainless lights. it's got that "pretty" of martha stewart style - pretty but practical (speaking of the lighting) and tidy. i love it.

speaking of martha stewart, here is a rug that i just love in the m.s. line from safavieh (spelled wrong, i think). i love the coolness of the colors and the retro pattern.

i would love a faux bois rug, of course.

and this one is so darling, too.

did i mention that the rug is for the front hall? and i'm absolutely not buying one any time soon. that's why it's only a distraction, not a project.

thoughts

this time of year is beautiful, no question. but i have to say, i get a little nervous when the leaves start to fall. i have to keep reminding myself that they will come back again. i love the green living things and i love to be outside, and i get so lonesome for the green things when they hibernate. stella made this flower decoration - she poked the stems of the flowers through the wide leaf, to keep them all together.

i took this picture at the beginning of summer. tiny plastic streamers can be incredibly beautiful in the sunshine.

random bedroom picture which i may have even posted before! i love the colors, the striped paper, and of course, the lamps.

another random picture i have saved. i think so much of a beautiful room comes from the architectural details. imagine this room without the wall panelling and i think you will see what i mean. i don't think anything that i've put inside this my house would look very good if it weren't for the fact that we replaced things like the old flooring. unfortunately, it's those structural things that are most expensive to change! unless you're terribly handy, which i am not. if i were, i'd be tearing the old chair rail down from the hallway, putting up crown moulding, and installing bypass closet doors right this moment!

i so very much want to go to sleep, and i know i will get woken up before too long. sleep deprivation is a cruel thing. rafe is lucky he is so very darling that i can't help but worship him, even though he steals my sleep every night.