Things I Love Month - Entry 2

I explained the whole February/Things I Love idea here if you want to catch up.

These are random things that I have loved for a long time - tried and true- not current flings!

Entry 2 of "Things I Love" 

is 

greenhouses or conservatories that are furnished

 and used like rooms - not just to grow plants.

I think it's magical and gorgeous when it happens and I am NOT looking for any feedback about dampness or mold or how impractical. 

This is a purely aesthetic "love."

See what you think...

Talk about farm to table. Or greenhouse to table. 

What an amazing place to host a dinner party.

I love. love a brick floor. 

I would start the day here. Then have afternoon tea. 

And then happy hour. And then a night cap.

You get the idea. 

I'm always good with a classic white conservatory.

The color of this structure is fabulous.

So many great details and look at the size of that bird cage!!

Moving in. Not leaving.

And herringbone brick! I die.

How gorgeous is this monochromatic look all lit up for the evening?

This is so good. I love the big bench on one side of the table.

So beautiful. And lush. 

They all look evolved and layered over time. 

I love that.

All images are from my Pinterest board here. 

You can follow the original links from there to see more details.

Monday Blues.

1.21.2019

I think a good dose of sunshiny, lemon yellow can cure the Monday Blues.

This breezeway from Mary MacDonald has everything going for it. 

If you were ever going to wish you were a potted plant then this would be it.

Gorgeous potted citrus on a slightly more manageable scale from One Kings Lane.

Want to make this happen at your house?

This porcelain planter is under $100.00 right now on Wayfair.

I bought a lemon tree at Home Depot last Summer for under $20.00

It's wintering over in the master bathroom - sunniest window and humidity.

 A lemon tree's dream home ;)

We are about to harvest our second lemon. PS. This is not an economical way to get lemons. Just pretty.

If you don't want to wait until citrus trees are being sold this Summer here are two options:

If you don't think you can keep a real one alive 

this is a pretty good looking "faux" lemon tree.

And for $27.99 plus free Prime shipping I would be willing to give it a chance.

And you can order a live lemon tree as well.

I found live citrus trees on Etsy!

This little tree is $34.99

Cure the Monday Blues with a lemon tree of your own.

via 

Come On In! Fall 2017 ORC -The Entryway

This should be "reveal day" but thank goodness it isn't. 
(I'm sorry for the reasons for the extension.)

After being lulled into a false sense of being in control thanks to the extra week this go 'round, I allowed my attention to be diverted from the ORC by, you know, life.

And refinishing the floors. 

#notonthelist

I said on instagram last week that I am participating in the One Room Indecision.

I have been to the fabric store a bit more than I should have. 

#epicindecision

I even went on a Sunday only to find out that they are closed on Sunday. 

I dragged Mollie up there. Twice.

Fabric and Fringe Warehouse, Marietta GA

Anyway. I finally bought something.

I was happy with it (for the most part.)

 Great fabric, just uncharacteristic indecision on my part.

(Its more coral than red in real life)

Then I mentioned to my Dad that I was looking for a rug 

and he loaned me one of my mom's rugs that was being stored in their basement :)

The rug wasn't "awful" with the fabric above but it wasn't head over heels "love" on my part. 

So back to the fabric store I went.

 Because I loved the rug. 

And Mollie loved the fabric I had already bought so she took it to use and I no longer felt the guilt of not using it. It would have been OK. Just not "love" on my part.
(Believe me - I know these are #firstworldprobs)

And then I saw it. From afar. And the colors were perfect.

So I bought fabric AGAIN. After dragging Mollie up there again.

Wait until you see it!!!!

And then I negotiated, in a way that would make some of the major players at international summits at the United Nations  watch in awe, with my husband to NOT put the dreaded, dust collecting rack of hats back in the entryway that is soon to be home

 to a fabulous rug and fabric that I am actually committed to!!

No more hall tree of hats. 

Just a lovely bamboo shelf that will hold all kinds of fabulous eye candy. 

And a plant. Definitely a plant.

So here are a couple of little peeks at my progress
 and the vintage family heirloom rug that is on loan from my dad :)

Starting to put a few accessories here and there in the room...

And the rug. I just love it!
(And yes, we got stain on the bottom of the door. We are playing rounds of the "touch up" game over here. 
Touch up trim. Touch up floor. Touch up trim...)

I also took time out of the ORC schedule to go to the Atlanta Lights Festival with Mollie. 
She got tickets for her birthday in September. 
The weather was perfect and it was an amazing experience. I highly recommend it!

Of course, I am now, once again, scrambling to finish by next week because there has been a change on several major points with the introduction of the new fabric choice. 

#imsuremostofyouhaveclickedtothenextblog

And in case someone, anyone, is still reading:

So here's "the list:"

1. Stain the floor (stained - now watching poly dry )

2. Continue looking for  rug. (I may be on to something)

3. Add fabric border to the bottom of the curtains- Fabric purchased. Again.

4. Pillows for Brighton chairs.

5. Paint hall tree :)))))) It's outta here!!!!

6. Paint back of front door - something fun that works with fabric and rug which is TBD :(

7. Decide on accessories for the chest - they are in front of the mirror.

8. Decide on accessories for Brighton table 

9. I want a plant in there somewhere... 

10. And I completely forgot that I planned a gallery wall above the Brighton chair and table. :0

See you next Thursday. 

#fingerscrossed


Be sure to check out all the other Guest Participants progress!!

Spring 2017 ORC "Half The Time" Project ~ Week 6

"Running the last man home..."

That should be the title of my reveal! I'm last.

 My daughter ran Cross Country in high school. When a teammate was late coming in because he/she was injured or sick or had fallen and lost their spot in the pack the first one or two teammates who had crossed the finish line early would run back and run in beside the struggling runner offering encouragement the whole time. The first time I saw this I almost cried. Not every team did this. They were doing this after a hard, fast 5K they had already run. It was so kind and they were teenagers in that stage that so many older people label as thoughtless and self absorbed. Mollie's team won most of their meets and championships so these were runners who had just set records going back to run the last guy home.

So I hope you will come to the back of the ORC pack (so many great rooms already posted) and hang with me in last place :)

I'm happy to have this room completed and I thank Linda of Calling It Home blog

for sponsoring this motivating experience. 

Whenever I cross the Finish Line!

Now enough sports metaphors - let's look/talk decor!

This was my "Half the Time" ORC. 

I was in and out of town during this challenge and busy working on a #secretproject as well.

(Please be sure to read about my #secretproject!!)

Let's see how I did!

Here is my Olio Board from the beginning of the process.

You can see the "befores" of the room here and here.

I think I stayed pretty true to the vision with a few fun additions 

that I squeezed in after I finally got the ball rolling around here!

The bamboo chair and its wine colored cushion was behind the color shift in this room.

The other motivator was to put the finishing layers and touches on this room that was improved greatly in the first ORC I ever did but I never went back 
and really pulled it all together.

So, no more chit chat. 

Here is where we ended up with a couple of weeks work time 

Before:

And, come on in... 

(Hey, look, it's my reveal photo and I forgot to go back and put on the outlet cover !!)

Small disclaimer: I finally finished but it was pouring rain. Not a good photo shoot day.

These are all iphone pics. You gotta do what you gotta do!

Spring 2017 ORC "Half The Time" Project~ Week Two

Do not think that just because I am revisiting a previous ORC Challenge room 

that there isn't painting or mucking out to be done!

Sadly, there is plenty of mucking to do.

I let this room become a resting place for homeless items 

during the dresser shuffle downstairs 

and some reorganizing upstairs and the Christmas boxes on the way back to the attic. 

Did she just say Christmas???

(Not quite this bad... stock photo. But sometimes I feel this way!)

Moving on...

I found this chair on an online sale site last November and made an offer. 

It was refused.

Then right before Christmas I got a message saying she would take it.

So I drove to meet the seller and picked this chair up. 

Black with a magenta/wine cushion.

Well, true to form I wanted to paint it. White.

From black to white.

Working on it...

Should be ready for the ORC room in about 420 more coats. 

(Bamboo table is going on the porch. It's the old Library ORC table. 

We obviously don't nail the furniture down around here!)

Think back to the magenta/wine/raspberry cushion from when the chair was black.

It's a custom cushion, practically brand new and 6 sided. Yep. Beyond my sewing skills.

So I decided I would just add a textile to the room that would pull 

the raspberry/wine pink-y color into the mix already there.

 

After a lot of looking I have found this fabric that has the raspberry/magenta color with the added bonus of a lighter pink and the correct greens to work with what was in there.
And I like it. It took a while, for sure.
( I should add that I went back to my go-to fabric store 
and the first place I looked and it was on sale.
 #whenwillilearn )
 I already have a brown zebra print pillow so that works.

There is a lot of coral in there and I think that is going to move on out 

since there is not a fabric in the whole wide world 

with magenta/raspberry/wine, correct greens and coral in it. 

Not even one I don't like a lot. I mean, none!

I'm OK with that. I can use it several other places and I'm excited about the pinks.

 I have felt since the first Reveal Day  for this room that it didn't have that final layer of special touches to "make it complete and us" and I was right to revisit it.

Saturday morning I pulled up a favorite site, One Kings Lane, 
and this article, The Truth About Finishing Touches, 
validated my thinking!

Here's a little Olio Board action that pulls together a few of the things I'm thinking about.
(And my armoire and daybed are slightly less fancy!)

I think we are headed in the right direction.
Now to get it together in half the time!!
Other than the bamboo blind and new fabric, I'm shopping the house 
and using more creativity (I hope) than cash to pull this off!

Be sure to check out all the rooms that are being greatly improved 
during this One Room Challenge!!

One Room Challenge. One More Time. Half Time.

This will be my 5th ORC.

One Library. One guest bedroom.  Mollie's bathroom and Master bathroom.

Four rooms greatly improved by this awesome event.

I have plenty of rooms that need ORC caliber attention.

But life is a tad nutty right now
and I'm going to be out of town 3 or so of the 6 weeks of this ORC
 so I'm going to go back and give my first ORC the finishing touches it truly needs.
Is she crazy?? Half the time??
Or maybe you are thinking  I'm lame
 to go back and tweak a room that has all the hard stuff already done.
But I just love the challenge of the ORC and don't want to miss out!


During my first ORC I underestimated my 5 week time frame,
spent too long mucking the junk out and painting the walls white



to really give it the final zhush it needs.
I talked about being an 85%-er when it comes to the final, final details
 and that was so true with this room.
So this is the 'before.'
We are starting where the I left off.



I still love my previous inspiration rooms but I also have a few new images that I'm inspired by.

Maybe I can tweak a few things in my "half the time ORC."

I love this pic from IG which is of the Caspari shop in Charlottesvillle, VA.



So maybe more pillow variety. Looser arrangement?
I love the orange chinoiserie on the bed. 
I love white bedding that I chose previously but this is fun!




And art.
I painted a large blue and white vase with coral in it the night before the reveal



(that's how things go sometimes) and it's the only art in there.
That's bananas!!

I feel like a big fabulous gallery wall around this armoire might be just the thing!
Lots of vintage and thrifted bamboo frames would make my day!



Remember this gallery wall?

I have this fabulous thrifted chair...



I block printed some fabric that became curtains in a #secretproject (still to be revealed)
so I might want to print some to use in this room
 (I must remember I only have 3 weeks to pull this off!)
And as always the game plan is more creativity than cash!



So follow along here and on my Instagram and see what I can pull off in my "half the time ORC!"


Thank you Linda for this event and all the inspiration and motivation it creates.