Hello Yellow!

February can be a gray and dreary month - even in the "sunny" South.

So, hello yellow.
#tryingtoovercome
#februaryblahs

This cheery color sampler came from Country Living's website.

(I've talked about their color forecasts before.)

They call it Marigold and the article says it is

 "the color that is taking over" homes this Spring!

I like yellow, 

and it is Mollie's favorite color (she had a yellow room when she was young!),

 but I don't have a ton of it in my house.

Most of the yellow I DO have is on my porch.

I discovered this new Rustoleum golden-y yellow spray paint late last Summer 

and freshened up a few items from the screened porch using it!

It's called "Tuscan Sun" and since I love the book by Frances Mayes 

and the movie starring Diane Lane, I figured it was a good color to try. 

It's amazing how I make some of my design decisions :)

Then I decided to give a bamboo mirror I found while thrifting a coat of my favorite Sherwin Williams gold-y yellow paint to freshen it up!

I love when I stock up on citrus - especially during the Winter.

In the interest of cheering up a gray February day

 I found some more  inspiration pics that may have us all thinking

 about using yellow ASAP!!

Forsythia is a favorite of mine - it blooms so early here and it gives me hope that Spring is close!! And in that blue and white jar?? Perfect.

And I actually saw daffodils blooming today in Atlanta! 

This article is from Town and Country mag and explains that every house needs Buffalo Checks. I agree. And those drapes are fabulous. So check, check!

Y'all know by now I loooove anything bamboo.
#doubletrouble



And if you want to walk around and spread the cheer, 
how about this cuuuute top from Boden.


So, are you embracing yellow this Spring?

I Love Mushroom.

I love mushrooms.

The color. The veggie.

All good.

The color is popping up in all the "trends for 2017" articles. 

I love to read those even though I don't consider myself  "trendy" or a "trendfollower"

They are good for inspiration and if I've used a color, material or "look" they forecast 

then I feel all smug and happy and tell myself

 I was "ahead" of the trend.

 #whatevs

I pinned this the other day.
From Country Living's website.

'Cause we were snowed/iced in here in Atlanta for 3 days 

and I went "pinning" crazy with my extra time :)

I'm good with this forecast because ... you guessed it... 
mushroomy colors are already in my home decor.

I have a Sherwin Williams 'strip' that I use in my house. I've talked about this somewhere before on the blog but now that I'm "on trend" we are going to go there again.

My "strip" is the one on the far left.
 Shoji White to Urbane Bronze.
Very mushroom~y.
(They look a bit grayer in this pic but get a strip and look at it in your light. Mushroomy)



There is a method to my "strip" madness.
Since I move things around in my house a lot 
(there are people living here who say I move things "toooo much")
using the variations off the same color strip makes my decor mix and match~able. 
Like Garanimals 

We painted Mollie's bathroom cabinets in SW Porpoise
 when we did our Mother~Daughter One Room Challenge. 



Not gray. Not taupe.
But a rich, deep mushroomy color.

And perfect with our bargain agate knobs we luckily found!

And the stripes in our downstairs powder room went from blue gray to white and mushroom (SW Amazing Gray a couple of years ago.)



Yes, the vanity cabinet is painted a color right off that same strip.
And the color looks good with bamboo which is a necessity in my home.


(Fun fact: I bought this shelf on a thrifting app on my phone last January
 during an ice/snow day  and had to wait for the "thaw" to go get it!!)

My front door is  painted Urbane Bronze.



Looks great on all the holidays!



You get the idea. I could go on.
Find yourself a mushroom~y strip and feel trendy this year!!
Paint something mushroomy. You will be happy.

 And on the edible mushroom front.
We love stuffed mushrooms of all kinds so I leave you with this:
This is the closest I can find to our family favorite stuffed mushrooms.


via

Make them. You will be happy.

Crayon Day

Today is all about the color green but when I think about St. Patrick's Day

I  also think about the rainbow that is a major player in the stories of leprechauns.

 

( I think about what I could do with a pot of gold, too.

#notgonnalie )

 

 

And rainbows make me think about boxes of crayons

all lined up in the order of the spectrum.

 

This is the way my brain works... St. Patty's Day to crayons in zero to 60!

 

 

And I never think about crayons that I don't think about this...

 

Several years ago a friend of mine started teaching 3rd grade at a school in a nearby school district. We live in the Atlanta suburbs and sometimes forget that nearby there is actual need for even the basics. My friend told me about her class and the school which was an "at risk" school and almost all families qualified for subsidized lunch. All the parents worked long hours and they were not able to come to school during the day for programs or to be "room moms".

Well, Mollie was away at college at the time and I was missing those cute and fun Room Mom days.

 I volunteered to be her Room Mom and come every month to do a special project, etc.

I was probably more excited than her kiddos!

I went for the first time that October and took a very simple cupcake treat ( that they thought was the most amazing thing ever! They had never seen those little candy pumpkins that I decorated the cupcakes with. Remember that their parents were just trying to put food on the table), a favorite seasonal book that I left with the class and a craft project for them to get creative with. We played a game and it was a great afternoon. I went back in November and followed the same format. They loved everything and thought each treat, project or new to them craft supply was simply amazing and wonderful.

It was a joy to prep and go each month.

I asked my friends from church to donate small gifts for them at Christmas and we played games and chose the gifts as prizes. Several of the children chose things that they could give their moms for Christmas because  she wouldn't get a gift otherwise. So sweet and selfless.

Many of these children had little or no expectations of gifts for themselves either.

 

So what does this have to do with crayons?

I'm getting there!

 

 

 

While the children were playing games and eating their  Christmas  Mid Winter Holiday party treats  my friend and I were talking about the children in her class and how they were doing and her concerns. They would be out of school for over two weeks. The lunch they got at school in addition to a healthy snack of fruit or veggies each day was sometimes the only healthy and hot food they got each day. She was also concerned because they had testing when they came back in January and so many were so far behind.

 And then she said something I could not believe.

She told me that the teachers at this school couldn't send homework home with the students because they didn't have even crayons in their homes to do homework with at night.
A few might but it put so many of them at a disadvantage
 to not be able to keep up with homework.
 

What??? This is America.

 Every child should be able to have a box of crayons.

I could not get this out of my mind

For weeks I thought about this.

Then I asked her how many children were in that school.

I talked to the Mission Committee at the church where I was Children's Director at the time and we started a campaign to get a box of crayons for very child in that school.

And we did.

 They were stacked everywhere.

We counted and recounted. We sorted by number of crayons per box.

One of my awesome volunteers ( never married, no children and always willing to support whatever crazy scheme I cooked up) bought a box of 64 crayons for every 5th grader in that school. I think it was the first time he had ever bought crayons :)

 

People texted and FB posted about where crayons were on sale for the best price.

It was an all out mission.

 

And then the day came when we had enough to tell the school that they were on the way.

 

Almost 800 boxes of crayons were put in boxes and bins in the back of my friends' car and hauled to that school.

 

The next day I had two messages on my answering machine at work.

The first one from my friend who teaches there telling me that they ended classes early that day in the entire school and the support staff helped to pass out the boxes of crayons  to every classroom. My friend said that there were children who cried because people they didn't know cared enough to give them a box of crayons. Many couldn't believe they could take them home.

The second message came from a very choked up and appreciative principal saying that "Crayon Day" had been the most amazing day at their school.

 

So, if you can't imagine that there are children who don't even have a box of crayons somewhere near you, I challenge you to look around and see if you can drop off a rainbow of crayons somewhere nearby and change the day for a child.

 

 

And if you find that pot of gold this St. Patrick's Day maybe you can drop off a lot of crayons!

St. Patrick's Day is a lot of fun but maybe Crayon Day should be the new holiday.

 

 

#crayonday

#itshouldbeathing

 

*This post was not supported or solicited by Crayola Crayons.

Neither was Crayon Day.

It's a true story.

 

Turquoise!

 

This is pretty funny.

 I never. never. take any of those zillion "quizzes" that show up on FB.

 What Disney character are you most like? What food are you most like?

What state should you live in?

(duh. Hawaii)

 

But for whatever reason I took this one from Coastal Living: What's your true blue?

And well, this is pretty funny ( read below the color swatch)

cause I loooove turquoise and my porch ceiling is painted blue (Charleston SC gal)  and melon ( or coral) is a color I often choose to accent my turquoise with!

 

Hello Sunshine! Your cheerful, optimistic disposition can brighten even the stormiest day. Like turquoise, you're on everyone's most-wanted list, and you decorate your home to uplift one and all (the laughter bellowing out from your kitchen and back porch doesn't hurt either.) Speaking of, nice work painting that porch ceiling a fun shade of aqua, making your guests feel like they're lounging in Key West. And since you pride yourself in a well-stocked bar, that's a great spot for your turquoise collection of vintage barware, wall frames, or porcelain. But even the crowd-pleasing turquoise comes with a word of caution: The same way you wouldn't invite only shrinking violets to your party, you should resist playing it safe with an all-pastel palette. The more interesting its contrast color (think melon, chartreuse, olive, and lilac), the more turquoise shines like the color star it is.

 

 

So in honor of my true blue and because I have Spring Fever in a big way

and I'm ready to sit on my porch with the "fun shade" of aqua ceiling, here are some images to celebrate "my color"...

 

Best color to paint a faux bamboo chair?
Yep.

 

 

 This could facilitate sweet dreams...

 

I've realllly been wanting to paint my front door turquoise.
Like for years.
 Dratted green roof.







Things would just taste better, wouldn't they?
(This kitchen is amazing on so many levels)







Only map I need.



I have a turquoise bread box in my kitchen already!!


Could this place be for real???








Don't you feel relaxed just looking at all these calming, turquoise images?

Of course, it makes me want to paint something turquoise and soon!



All of these images are found on my Pinterest boards
 where you can find the original sources for these gorgeous turquoise images.

I've Got Color on a Snowy Day

Looking for something entertaining to do while you watch it snow??

(If you are anywhere on my side of things,  the East Coast above Florida, then apparently you've got a Winter white world!!)

 

 

So go to this website  Lamps Plus and shop the rainbow

Seriously so fun!!

 

You just click on the color samples

 and the lamps appear in the color with a plethora of shade options.

Need some sunshine on a snowy day? Not loving that shade???

 

Or maybe you are feeling blue??

 

 

 

Or I was reading about Design tension which is used to give a room that" little something extra", the unexpected zing, so maybe this color lamp

 

or maybe

 

this could brighten your day and room??

It's called "Lime Rickey"??

Just saying that makes you smile!

 

So go to Lamps Plus  and entertain yourself!! *

  

 

*I am I in no way affiliated with Lamps Plus or have been compensated for this post.

 I just think this is fun and I love any site or store where you can shop by color.

Those ROY G BIV lessons really stuck!

#whiteisalwaysagoodchoice

"White is always a good choice" is one of my most frequently used hash tags 
on my beloved Instagram

Is there a way to track that?

I don't know but I do know that white is the best.

via Mark D. Sikes
( Who wouldn't want to hang out in that room?)

I have taught children in a variety of venues for many years and 

when they would ask my favorite color 

(And BTW, don't you love that this is one of the "get to know you" questions kids ask? Maybe we should do that as adults. Their questions are better than ours!)

I have said the same thing for decades, "WHITE!!" 

Sometimes they are perplexed and really think about it and sometimes they say that white isn't a color and I can't pick it.

I don't know if there are "favorite color" rules or who is the "favorite color" police 

but I think white is always right and now it's getting it's moment in the decorating sun!!

Ta-da!!!

White is a color of the year!!!

Simply White by Benjamin Moore.

I love white.

My car is white. The only request when my husband left to buy it? #whiteplease

In the Summer if I don't have on Toms then I'm wearing white leather Keds. 

( My mom sends me two pair every Mother's Day. Thanks Mom!)

Mollie bought a pair of white leather Converse. I'm now dying for a pair! 

( Knee deep in the mud in Honduras in my white keds!!)

I wear a white turtleneck constantly during the Winter.


( Audrey rocked the white turtleneck)

I have a white picket fence and white Adirondack furniture on my porch. 
White wicker, too. 

I only use white candles in my home.

My current favorite at Bath and Body works. Fresh and spicy!!
I'll burn this until Spring.

I love Vanilla, even!!! 

Madagascar Vanilla Bean Souffle  - tell me that doesn't look amazing!

People often comment on how much they love all the color in our home.

I think it's because white is the backdrop.

We used to have lots of colorful walls (my kitchen was red for years and we loved it but about 8 years ago I went in the basement and grabbed a can of white paint we had and spent hours covering that red with white. Literally days on a ladder.

 For a while we had a pink glow coming from under the white.) 

And I haven't looked back. 

White is still the wall color in there.

And many other walls now, too.

 It has presided longer than any other choice (except one). 

And then off I went. Slathering gallons of white paint everywhere. 

And using any and every color I want in the artwork and fabrics in our home.

I think white walls give me decorating decision freedom :)

It's classic.

(Bunny and John's place. I'm ready to move in.)

It's clean and coastal (and I'm a beachy girl.)

12 Signs You're Meant To Have A Beach House

Finally a test I can score really high on!! Click on the link above and see if we should be neighbors!!

I love white
 but sometime soon I'll show you the one room in our home

 that is about as far from white as you can get.