MidLife....

I can remember being intrigued with the term 'middle age' when I was very young. 

If someone said they were middle aged

 then I thought they were literally at the half-way mark of their life!!

 If you were 35, and said you were middle aged, then 70 was going to be it!! 

Luckily it does not work that way!!

That being said, I'm now in the older half more than the younger

 and I recently listened to a fun, new to me podcast - Midlife Matters!

I happened to start with an interview with one of my favorite bloggers, Emily A Clark, whom I've followed for years! I'm sure many of you can say the the same thing. 

She spoke about design - not about being middle aged, BTW! 

And she's definitely younger that I am!

 But so many podcasts and bloggers who are big time right now have little children and are young and it's getting harder for me to relate to their ideas and areas of influence. 

We are just in different places in our lives.

There were so many great ideas that the podcasters (is that a word?) 

and Emily chatted about. 

And it made me feel good about some design choices I have made along the way because I have reached the point in life where I am doing me and I'm not going to be changing things up or following trends. If something I have is trendy it just means it finally came back around as a trend! Cause it's been here all along!

That's really what Emily shared. 

But here are my "take aways" anyway!

Emily talked about using furniture in rooms or ways 

that may not be the original intent. 

I'm so on board. 

I have a china cabinet in my master bathroom for one thing. I put it in there during my Fall 2016 One Room Challenge. I bought the traditional china cabinet for that room. 

It was never intended for a dining room. 

There isn't a closet in this master bathroom so this china cabinet stores a multitude of necessary items and looks gorgeous at the same time!

I've also recently inherited some family furniture and I'm going to need to get creative to be able to use find ways to use it in our home.

Emily stated that she thinks we will be seeing more monochromatic rooms in 2020 as far as painting goes. Rooms where the windows, trim, doors, walls - everything - are painted the same color!! 

I did this in my Library when I refreshed it in the Spring of 2016! I still love it. The walls were actually already black. I had painted my dining room black over 10 years prior to that but left the trim white. Then I took out the dining table and added black bookcases. Then I painted everything glossy black from top to bottom except the ceiling.

 (And honestly I'm toying with a color for the ceiling one of these days!!)

 PS. The wood faux bamboo china cabinet was purchased for the Library and waaaay after this room had been a dining room :)

There was also a quick mention about "white kitchens" and if they are "out" and I've got more on that coming on another day!!

All the ladies on the podcast chatted about their homes and open concept vs. traditional room layouts - you know, walls, doors, lower ceilings. 

Emily mentioned that the traditional dimensions of the rooms in her house attracted her. That she can stand on a ladder and reach the ceiling, trim work, etc. to paint things herself. Or hang pictures or whatever. 

I've always wanted  to live in a loft or non-traditional building as a house. But now that I'm "mid" and not as young and bend-y I like the ability to reach things from a stepladder and I'm more concerned with heating spaces and such. I've had a very traditional "5, 4 and a door"  home for many years and I had to make it work. 

We are thankful for it, we love it,  and we couldn't move to follow housing trends.

I'm looking forward to listening to more of the Midlife Matters podcasts 

and their very relatable subject matter. 

 Are you a Podcast person? 

Library Refresh!

 I'm supposed to be gearing up for my EIGHTH One Room Challenge 

but I took a little time to refresh a previous ORC over the weekend. 

The Black Is Back Library got a shot of color 

and an amazing (in more than one way) new rug.

More on that in a minute - you're going to want to hear this one!

I posted these two pics on my Instagram last week saying that I was realllly thinking about painting the two comfy wicker chairs in the room. 

I chose a soft turquoise blue, Watery by Sherwin Williams, and we all love it!

Cooper approved!

  (I guess it's pretty obvious that I need to find one more globe on one of my thrifting outings!)

This large cabinet is on the wall opposite the chairs. 

I just moved it from our family room and got rid of two open bookshelves 

and a bench in front of them. You can see that library layout here.

We found the cabinet in a thrift store almost 25 years ago.

 It came from an old school library. 

It still has library information pasted on the inside of the shelves.

Now for the rug. 

I love the look of a zebra rug (faux, always faux!)

I found this Ethan Allen Rug brand new in it's original packaging at a thrift store. 

I had already bought quite a few items and was headed out of the store when I saw the stack of Ethan Allen bags and a sign that said "new Zebra Rugs $50.00."

I was hesitating... One had been partially pulled out of its wrapper. 

It looked nice but did I need a rug that was predominately white (I know us!)

 even for $50.00?

And then the salesgirl said. "It's 50% off!!" 

Sold. I'm willing to risk it for $25.00.

Then when I walked over to pay she told me a store going out of business had donated a truckload of items and brought a price sheet to help them price items if they wanted. 

She told me the rug originally retailed for $2000.00.

Seriously?? I was doubtful but guess what??

I looked it up and it was originally OVER $2000.00!! $2529.00!

It is no longer available but there are quite  few listings for it on resale sights!!

I think this may be my greatest thrifting deal so far!

(They were folded so the wrinkle is still relaxing a bit)

Be sure to follow along for the next few weeks here and on my Instagram

 as I work on my 8th One Room Challenge.

Coral - I Love It!

I expressed my excitement on Instagram

when I heard that the Pantone Color of the Year for 2019

 is 

Living Coral!

It was right before the holidays 

and I just hadn't had a chance to 
gush any more about my love for this color!
But now it's gray, dreary January in Atlanta so we need to talk about color!!

I did recently paint my Foo Dog thrifting find a delicious coral color. 

There were some doubters out there but it's only paint

 and I personally think he looks pretty fab.

Before 

and 

After!

My fabulous china cabinet turned bathroom storage extraordinaire 

was painted coral for my Fall 2016 One Room Challenge 

(a little ahead of Pantone's announcement)

I can't imagine painting it any other color! I love it so much.

I love blue and white chinoiserie in a big way 

but I fell in love with a coral-y orange lamp while working on this bathroom

 and now I can't pass this color chinoiserie up!

And this china pattern is gorgeous.

No surprise - it's by Mottahedeh who brings us the much loved Tobacco Leaf among other patterns. This coral design would be beautiful mixed in with almost any other pattern.

And look at this coral lampshade on this fun monkey lamp! 

Just that one spot of coral in this colorful room adds so much.

I Suwannee

Summer Thornton went allll the way with gorgeous deep coral walls.

I have a Pinterest Board called Color It Coral.

 I'm sure I'll find a lot to "pin" this year!

Here is a favorite image already on the board:

I could happily live in this coral house with it's fabulous potted topiaries! 

What about you?

And since Pantone's color is called "Living Coral" I can't pass up sharing this picture

 I took a couple of years ago while I was on site in SC for post- hurricane debris clean up. There was devastation all around and we worked incredibly hard all day long 

but this sunset was our reward!

So will you be using more coral in your home this year!
I will. I always do and I feel like this Pantone choice is license to go coral crazy!!

First - Get Organized.

So much of social media and blogging right now is all about getting organized after the holidays. 

I feel inspired to purge, paint and organize at the start of the year. 

I'm off to a slow start because I missed the first several days of 2018 

because I had the plague :(

No kidding - worst flu or whatever. Ever.

But back to organizing.

I bought a faux bamboo china cabinet a couple of years ago. 

From seeing it online to texting the seller to loading it in my husbands truck 

was about an hour and a half. 

I do not mess around.

However, we had already turned our dining room into a Library.

Did we need a china cabinet?

The plan was always to put it in the Master Bathroom!

Yep, you read that right.

We do not have a linen closet or any storage space in the MB but we had a good sized L-shaped layout that would accommodate a big bamboo china cabinet.

My husband was less sure about this plan but we loaded it up, got rid of the cigarette smoke smell and carried it up to the MB.

And then a coat of fabulous coral deliciousness!

Sherwin Williams Ravishing Coral. 

And suddenly that dingy yellow-y cream china cabinet was ravishing.

I wanted the openness of the glass doors so I started collecting every wicker and rattan suitcase I could find. They all came from yard sales and thrift shops 

and not one cost over $5.00.

They hold a multitude of not pretty items and are easy to pull in and out. 

There are stacks of towels and a few decorative items but mostly 

there is just storage for all those odds and ends that are necessary in a bathroom.

This is one of my favorite storage solutions ever- china cabinet turned linen closet.

#itsthelittlethings

See more of this Master Bathroom here,

ORC Pre-Party...

Here's a little One Room Challenge Recap:
If you aren't familiar, the One Room Challenge is a blogging event that takes place biannually. Within a five week  period those participating completely transform a space and give weekly updates on the progress. The sixth Thursday is the Big Reveal!! 

My first ORC was also my most recent ORC.

Wait, what?

I really had no idea what I was jumping in to when I did my first ORC- our Guest Bedroom. I never quite "finished" it so I went back last Spring and crossed the T's and dotted the I's.

Spring 2017 One Room Challenge:

Here it was after the first time it was an ORC room:

I definitely "punched things up" the second time around. It just needed a little more attention!

My Fall 2016 One Room Challenge was our Master Bathroom:

It was all about the coral faux bamboo china cabinet.

(You have a china cabinet in a bathroom?  Yep!)

And before the Master Bathroom I redid our Library.

 It was formerly the Dining Room

 but turning the room in to a Library several years ago made the room more useful for us.

Spring 2016

It's all moody and glossy black with lots of bamboo and blue and white touches.

The only room in our house that doesn't have white walls!

Before the Library ORC, Mollie and I did a Mother-Daughter ORC project and gave her bathroom the bohemian chic look she loves.

So this is from Fall 2015 One Room Challenge:





And Spring of 2015 the One Room Challenge was the Guest Bedroom which was the most recent ORC as well. 



The One Room Challenge is a great motivator.
 Jump in if you are thinking about it- You'll have a fresh new room for the holidays.
Most of the time there is a lot of support via positive comments on your posts
 (last time was sadly not the case but I'm back anyway!!)

I'll see you on Thursday with the "reveal" of what room I've chosen for my 6th ORC!!