Orange You Glad It's Time? (Color Theory)

Orange is a fun but strong and energetic color. Interestingly enough, people feel strongly about using it (or not) in home decor.  Orange increases energy and boosts creativity so maybe we should be more open to it!

An inherently happy and uplifting color, orange is a hue that should be used more often in home decor. A shade that can be both contemporary and rustic, orange has a reputation for being a difficult color to decorate with, but that doesn't have to be the case. via TheSpruce.com

This chinoiserie lamp has a fun, bright orange background and it adds a pop of color to our garden room. 

I have another fabulous chinoiserie lamp in orange that is in our upstairs bathroom. I found this one in a thrift shop and love the touch of color it brings to the room. I've never found another orange and white one while out vintage shopping.

And long before the zebra rug made an appearance in our library there was a bright orange rug in there! You can see a little bit of it in the (poor quality) shot below.

But truth be told, at our house, the "orange" items tend to skew coral which is one of my favorite colors of all time. It's warm and easy to use with every other color. Not pink and not orange, coral is a blend of both and that makes it a win in my book.

I painted this faux bamboo cabinet a gorgeous, glossy coral. Our main bathroom is closet-less so I found this china cabinet to use as creative storage. It's amazing how much this bold color changed the cabinet! This was the listing picture in the thrifting app.

I have a second faux bamboo piece painted in the same cheery coral. This one is in our kitchen and you can see I even use coral-y orange plaid bows in here at Christmas time. The curtains in the kitchen are a coral and orange leopard print. 

I used a coral-y orange fabric to create this faux pleated lampshade for our kitchen. The directions are here and it was even featured on Apartment Therapy (which was a thrill for me!) 

The orange color is nice during the day but it absolutely glows at night when the lamp is on. 

Not ready to fully commit to orange or even coral? I have a coral throw and a couple of shades of orange-y coral pillows that I add to the family room couch to cozy things up in the winter. They pick up the color in the shells in the cabinet behind them which is a bonus.

My monkey often holds a pile of oranges - real fruit is a great way to add color (and you can snack on it, too!) and I often buy orange and bright coral roses because they add such a fresh spot of color. They are a great addition during the winter. 

I have this great piece of Jane Shelton faux bois fabric in a coral and orange stripe. I'm not sure where I am going to use it but I love the colors and anything faux bois so I had to grab a few yards for future use.

I have used orange pillows on my porch from time to time. Orange looks great with all the blue on my porch because they are complementary colors on the color wheel. 

Last Summer we used coral and orange accents to accessorize our trough pool that we fondly call "the Bucket."

I found this great orange paisley on a soft blue background when I was fabric shopping last week. Pillows in this fun print would be fabulous on a Summer porch! It was such a beautiful combination of bright orange and soft blue, cool and warm colors and that large swirling paisley to top it all off. I love a good paisley!

Orange can be a great addition to your spaces - even if it's just a few flowers, some fruit or a pillow. The warmth and vibrancy adds a little something extra to a room and is much easier to incorporate than it initially seems. Orange is associated with success and confidence. And bravery. Be brave and try a touch (or more) of orange in your decor!

Painting the Porch

I honestly didn't know if I should call this post "Painting the Porch Floor Green" (which is basically what this is about), "Messel Green", or "My Obsession with Amanda Lindroth's Bahamian Home."

We have a large screened in porch on the back of our house. 

We are porch people. 

We live outside about 9 months of the year and any unusually warm days in the Winter months. 

It has been added on to over the years and is a bit quirky for this reason. 

People always want to hear the story of our porch "evolution" when they see it the first time :)

When the pandemic struck and lockdown started I began a series of #pandemicprojects to keep myself busy. They all needed to be done anyway and they were a great distraction.

One of these projects was painting the screened in porch floor 

and the wall that is inside the porch but is the exterior of our house. 

This has been a process because A) it is a large porch as I said B) it is fully furnished with some rather large heavy pieces to move around and C) it has to be painted in a way that the dog rowdy puppy Cooper doesn't track through wet paint so that means blocking off sections to paint one at a time.

Fresh green floor paint on the left and the dingy old paint on the right.

And, yes since it's 2020, let's throw in a broken bone and a walking boot :(

What does this have to do with Messel Green (whatever that is you ask) and Amanda Lindroth?

If you are as obsessed with her book "Island Hopping" as I am then you are probably beginning to figure this out.

Years ago our deck floor was hunter green but when we screened it in I knew I needed a medium green for the floor because we had some dark green porch furniture and I needed there to be a difference in the greens. I knew my ceilings would be light blue because I am originally from Charleston SC and that's what we do.

I decided to look through some pictures from a trip to the Bahamas for porch inspiration and I kept seeing this unique, not too dark green color that seemed like it could work as a "neutral" on our porch floor. We had a partial 5 gallon bucket of dark green so we mixed in some OOPS paint (remember that??) to lighten it up and matched that green as closely as we could.

(Pictures from the good ol' days when we could travel)

(I'm also now wondering why I didn't buy that center painting of the palm trees on the yellow background?)

Fast forward a bit and the porch needed a fresh coat of paint. This green we mixed had worked out great but it was still a bit yellow-er than this Caribbean green I was after. I had seen pictures of Amanda Lindroth's home in some of the shelter mags by then and she used that same Caribbean green I liked so much! I started searching through my Sherwin Williams fan deck for the perfect color. I narrowed it down to SW Lounge Green. (By the way, another fav designer Eddie Ross recently used Lounge Green in his home restoration!!)

About that time my long awaited copy of "Island Hopping" arrived and there was the story of that particular Caribbean green. It is one of Amanda Lindroth's go to colors and it is named after a famous designer/builder  in the Caribbean named (you guessed it) Oliver Messel. He designed homes in Barbados and Mustique in the 60's and 70's and used this green a great deal. 

So my color had a name - Messel Green - and if that color is a favorite of Amanda Lindroth whose style is everything I love then it must be the perfect color for my porch floor!! #validation

So here we are, 5 months in to a stay at home situation, and I'm finally about to finish painting my porch floor!! 

I'm pretty sure this is more than you want to know about my (or any) porch floor paint color but, then again, we have time on our hands still and this long winded explanation of why my porch floor color is this green might just be what you needed to fill 5 minutes of your day!!

Here is a little look at our porch with it's pretty green (freshly painted!!) floor.

I'm going to start with some pictures I took in the evening.

(I know there's a whole thing about not taking pictures for blogs and IG with lamps on but that's when I love the porch most so I'm going for it.)

I'm standing in one corner (which is against the house) facing the opposite corner. 

In this next picture I'm standing in the opposite corner from the one above 

looking back toward the table and chairs.

I'm standing in this nook (below) that has our hanging/swinging bed 

and a big, comfy wicker chaise.

If you look at the first picture you can see the golden seahorse outline and the wicker lamp if you need a point of reference for this to make sense. See, it's a lot of floor to paint. That's why it has taken me this whole lockdown to get it done! Not to mention the 629 other projects I kept coming up with :)

What's under the big green tarp, you ask?

It is a pool table. I"ll uncover it and show you sometime. 

It's tarped to protect it from the weather and me. 

Mostly me because I like to do big, messy projects on it.

(In this picture I am standing at the kitchen door which is where we come out onto the screened porch from the house.)

If you've been following me for even a second then you know all of this furniture, lamps and accessories have been thrifted. Everything is comfy and nothing is too fancy for propping up your feet, sitting a drink down on the table next to you, eating on the furniture or sharing a nap spot with Cooper.

Speaking of Cooper...

We have 10 chairs at the table but we can squeeze in a few more if when we need to.

Ready for a laugh?

 My BIL made this checkerboard for us several years ago. 

Look at the bottle caps he used :)

I think this year is "Corona Extra!"

So now we've come full circle. 

I was standing in front of this bar cart when I took the picture across the porch to the opposite corner. 

Thank you for joining me for an evening tour of my favorite place "in" our house at my favorite time of day. And if you made it through all of this long-winded look at our screened porch, double thank you!

Everything I Know About Thrifting - Why?

I receive a lot of comments on my Instagram account about my thrifted finds.

I'm the co-founder of a hashtag #thriftwithus 
because I love to see what everyone is finding on their thrifting outings!

People want to know where I go, how I find great stuff, 

how am I so "lucky" to find so many things and more.

details here 

So, I thought I would do a little series about my thrifting "habit" so to speak.

I'm starting with "why" which is different for everyone 

and my own motivation to thrift has been varied over the years.

1. I am genetically predisposed to go antiquing, thrift shopping and to take those finds and refinish, paint, recover, repair whatever "re-" they need. My mother was the queen of repurpose, reclaim, reuse before it was a "thing."  I grew up in a house full of family antiques and treasures my mother found and used in our home when I was growing up. 

I was born in Charleston SC where buying something new is unheard of when there is a family piece or hand me down that could be used, recovered, painted whatever.

So basically what I'm saying is the "why" is that I had no choice :)

details here

2. There have been times when a yard sale or thrifted piece was all that was in the budget. Period. 

Plus, I just think it makes financial sense. 

A lot of vintage pieces are, in fact, higher quality pieces than I could afford to buy new. 

And there are other things I want/need to spend money on.

details here 

3. I think thrifting is good for the environment and it's certainly good for my community.
 I thrift in some private stores that support local causes like drug rehab
 and in organizations like Goodwill that put people to work.

That's a win in my book.

porch details here

4. I enjoy it. I do not thrift for clothes because I do not have the patience for it but I have friends who find outrageous bargains in the clothing areas of thrift stores. I think certain areas are better than others for finding high quality or designer items but people find gems in the craziest places. 

details here and  here

5. We have a big dog - 80 pound puppy right now - and we always have had and will have dogs. They are family members and I worry less about losing something I thrifted if something happens (running, chewing, accident) than if I paid a fortune for it. I also want them in the house with me and sitting by me in the evening, etc. We are those people. 

6. We also have always had a lot of people in and out of our house and I want everyone to be relaxed and have a good time. I don't want anyone to feel like they can't put their feet up or get comfy on a throw pillow. I don't want to be an uptight hostess.

7. I like that I can feel guilt-free about "trading" something in if I find something I like better. #fickle  
If I paid top dollar for a decorating item or piece of furniture 
I would need to live with it for a loooong time. 

Not so if I've thrifted something for a good price. I can change it up guilt free.

details here 

I'll be sharing my thrifting tips, thoughts and more in the next few posts!
 Stay tuned!

Lately...

Just a quick "catch-up" post. 

I attempted my 8th One Room Challenge this Spring but it did not come to fruition. 

If you are not familiar - you post your room redo process on 6 consecutive Thursdays which means you have 5 weeks to complete your project.
 I was going to refresh my kitchen. 
Out of the 5 weeks I knew I was going to be gone 2 weeks so it was a bit ambitious at the start. Then I missed a couple of Saturdays for work and conflicts 

and you cannot rush a kitchen refresh project!

I wanted to do it right.

Hopefully I will be showing you some kitchen improvements 
along and along as I get to them. 

I have completed several other ORC's

 so you can check out the links at the bottom of this post.

I have been cleaning my porch and prepping it for Summer relaxing!

We plan to enjoy our porch this Summer since last Summer we spent doing construction in every spare moment.

Decorating the repaired porch was my last ORC.

The pictures above are from last Fall but I'm always moving things around!

I found this cute bistro set , in perfect condition, at a thrift store. 

I added a couple of benches to the porch this Spring.

I love the checkerboard weave on top. This bench has storage in the seat, too. 

It's a very versatile bench and has been in our family room, library and now the porch!

I added the bench below as well.

The finish wasn't great and after trying to revive it I decide to spray paint it.

I love it in this blue!!

It's so fresh and crisp.

The porch is ready for naps on the bed swing, lunches at the various tables and relaxing with a book (or a baseball game on the TV) so now I'm on to projects in the back yard.  
Or garden as the British say!

Lamp and fan strategically placed for napping and reading!!
#illbehereifyouneedme