Category Archives: Decorating

~Just a Few of My Favorite Houzz Thanksgiving Ideas

Gosh I love Houzz.  It is just so much fun to sit with a snack or cup of coffee for a few minutes and look over all of the ideas. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I like to make it special so I usually make place cards and decorate the table with a little twist. I need some inspiration this year so I spent a few minutes looking around Houzz.com this morning.  I could post a thousand photos, but here are my favorites so far:

Thanksgiving Tablescape traditional-dining-room
This first arrangement is just classic and pretty. I like the way the textures of the runner and ribbon accent the shapes of the pine cones.

Custom Dining Room traditional-dining-room
Beautiful pinecones and textures again, but with a little bit of glam…

Thanksgiving Mantel - 2010 contemporary
I don’t have a mantel but I  have a server that I could decorate like this.

White Pumpkin Thanksgiving Tablescape
Simple and restful… I love it!

White Pumpkin Roundup
And a different take on the idea,pumpkins that were painted white.  The “white” centerpieces really allow the food to shine.

Fall - Thanksgiving Tablescape
Candles and acorns…

Strictly Simple Style traditional-dining-room
More white (white seems to be all the rage this year) embedded with upholstery tacks…

Winter Tablescape dining-room
And finally, mason jars, candles, greenery and a nice natural wood base…

At the moment I may use white pumpkins, pine cones,mason jars, candles and some greens, with some asparagus foliage for color.

I’ll keep you posted!

Love, Michele

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Potting Bench Heaven

Do you have a potting bench or potting area? For many years I made due with whatever space I had. I remember keeping all of my potting equipment on the bulkhead steps of our old house and working on the sidewalk. Before that we lived above the West India Goods Store on Derby Street and my potting bench was a bucket with a few tools in it.  In this house I have a designated area. Unfortunately the winter has been rough and it now looks like this:

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Poor thing, I think it’s  time to clear away the wood and sleds.

I spent some time in potting bench heaven (also known as Pinterest and Houzze) to help inspire me to freshen it up.

You all know how much I love Houzze.

Check these out:

What a great sink and pretty shade of blue…

Between Naps on the Porch traditional-landscape

These watering cans look familiar and using the plate racks to store the saucers is really creative. The baskets and stool are functional and beautiful.

Gardens and Terrace shabby-chic-style-deck

Pinterest has some great ideas as well:

Here’s a very cute and functional use of a garden gate

 

This one reminds me a little bit of my bench. I like the pegboard and the green stain on the doors. I think a little green stain would really dress mine up.

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The chalkboards are an excellent idea! I’m a list person, so having a list of the day’s or week’s tasks and events would be wonderful.

I think the white wicker shelf might have been a headboard. Awesome!

Source: hometalk.com via Michele on Pinterest

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Great use of a hoosier cabinet!  I have one of these tucked away in our basement. We use it for seasonal storage, winter hats and stuff, then summer toys when it’s warmer. It’s almost time to change it over.

Source: bhg.com via Michele on Pinterest

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And finally, carved from stone? Wow…

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Check out my pinterest garden ideas board for a few more great benches. I’m sure that I’ll continue to add there!

My work is never done 😉

Enjoy everything!

Michele

Who’s found Houzz?

I have and I think we’re in trouble here!

Houzz.com is kind of a gathering place for anyone and anything related to design, decorating and gardening. It probably extends beyond that but I’m completely overwhelmed and I’m too lost to explain further.

You can browse rooms;  both indoor and outdoor in any style or decorating interest area that you can think of.  You can also create your own idea board and look at thousands of others ideas, including designers everywhere. It looks like you can post photos of your project and ask for input from others. You can collect ideas and post them to your idea book, or to pinterest or to facebook or to your blog/website.

It’s madness!

I can easily share things that I find there, here.

Check out these photos of winter arrangements:

Houzz Photo
Houzz Photo

and fun garden markers

Basil Mint Rosemary Thyme Silverware Garden Marker Set By Beach House Living eclectic-gardening-accessories

and beautiful rooms

Cat Mountain Residence transitional-living-room

You can then click on the photo and you’ll land right at the houzz page that I found it on.

Then you can create your own profile and idea board

and we can share, and discuss our projects and ideas

and I may never get another room vacuumed again.

Help!!!

This is so. much. fun!!!

Check it out and follow me and I’ll follow you!

and we’ll all eat take out tonight.

A Little Office Update

Not a “big” office update, but a small, little check in, just to let you know how it’s going.

I’m very happy to report that the painting, temporary floor and heat are done so this space is now being used as our official office! This is a folding table/temporary desk/temporary chair, but it works.  I have a great Ikea desk picked out, but I’m wondering if we (“we” being used very, very loosely here) should build one into the corner instead.

IMG_0490My change in thinking came from this project

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This is going to be a workbench/table that will fit perfectly into this spot:

IMG_0482This is right inside the door coming from the kitchen. It’s going to be used for projects, for wrapping, for study and for storage.   I think we’re going to install shelves above the work bench between the door and window, and maybe some above the window too. The possibilities completely overwhelm me sometimes. Needless to say, my office ideas pinterest board is getting bigger and bigger.

As I thought about the infusion of color that I’d like to add I came across these pretty boxes at TJ Maxx right after Christmas.

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I love them and I think that their the perfect inspiration for the rest of the storage boxes, office supplies and artwork that I’d like to add to the space.

The light is perfect with no need for lighting during the day. The shade of white that we used (White Fur by Behr) has just a bit of a pink undertone so it’s cozy and welcoming.  It pulled all of the  crazy angles in the room together, just as I’d hoped.

It was great to go from this

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to this

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and I love the view

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This project has taken a very long time. It sits on the outside (literally) of our house so it was possible to avoid it while we took care of the five children (who now enjoy it too) and the many pets, plants and commitments that we have. Even unfinished we’re all ready feeling the benefits of having a dedicated workspace.

Now I just have to get this wonderful pile of paper sorted and stored.

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But that’s another post for another day.  🙂

Enjoy Everything!

Michele

Which White? and a Cute Christmas Theme Change

WordPress just released this cute Christmas/Holiday theme and I couldn’t resist.  I had also struggled with the formatting of this post for hours and a few clicks to change the theme solved the whole problem. Talk about a win, win for me…and for you too I hope! In other good news, our sunroom/office project has come along nicely lately…

Here it was a few weeks ago

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and here it is now

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Again, a few weeks ago (actually this photo is dated September 26th, so quite a few weeks ago)…
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and now  🙂
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  I’m planning to paint it white to pull it together and tone down the effects of the crazy angles and window sizes.
So, which white should I choose?

Navaho white, seems to have some yellow in it..

Antique White, definitely a green undertone…

Off-white, a pink undertone

Linen White, a pink undertone, I like this one a lot, it reminds me of our first apartment on Derby Street, I had the whole place painted this color, except for the bathroom, which was supposed to be green with white trim, but the NPS decided to paint the trim olive. Eventually I talked them into fixing that, but it took a few years…

Cottage White, this may work, I see some pink here too.

Will This Be an Office?

When we’ve not been out in the garden, or at soccer games or dance rehearsals, we’ve been working a little bit on this project.  I’m using the word “we” rather loosely here since Michael does the work and I pretty much run interference with everyone else so he can work. But I do hand him things, hold things, consult about decisions and cheer him on. He doesn’t love this project but I think as it comes together he’s starting to enjoy it more. We’d both rather be outside in the garden.

We’ve always called it the “sunroom”… We used it as a three season playroom, which was wonderful when my kids were very small.  The exterior wall leaked quite badly a few (actually maybe four) years ago. Since then it’s been kind of a no man’s land. Michael tore out the middle section of the interior wall  because it was very damaged. Then he spent lots of time replacing the trim and some of the siding on the exterior. Last summer we added new windows on the sides and replaced the door.

He recently added insulation and new paneling, and the heater and outlets went in. My hope is that we’ll now be able to finish the trim and the floor and paint it. Our goal is to use it as an office. I have visions of counter space, storage space and work space. That’s a pretty big challenge given that it’s a walk through to the deck and it’s quite compact.

As you can see  we have some crazy windows and peaks and angles.

panning to the left

It’s a decorator’s nightmare but I am determined to make this into a beautiful, usable space.

Here’s the view

That’s the garden just to the right of the dogwood tree. I have to admit that I’ve flirted with the idea of taking down the tree so that we have a better view of the garden.

Since I’ve had time to think about it, I have ideas about what to do here… maybe some type of shades or window treatments that are all hung from the same height would bring the windows together? Maybe we’ll paint it all one color to decrease the chaos? What color will that be?  Blaire found a nice raised desk at Ikea for me awhile ago. I think I’d like to sit up high so I can look out easily.  It’s on my list for a little further down the road.

What do you think? Thoughts, ideas? Share them please!

and we were all wondering what I was going to blog about once garden season was over, lol!

A Painting Story

In the beginning

there was a garage full of furniture that needed to be painted (along with 1,555,698 other things)…

Then there was paint…

and a great painter!

and wonderful helpers!

and more help…

and the great painter was very patient (as he almost always is)..

and soon there were painted furniture pieces…

strewn throughout the work area…

of many amazing colors…

and shapes and styles…

and in the end

there were nice places to have a snack..

and to relax

and to visit

And it was good.

Amen.

The Fourth of July at Salem Willows

We are back from our road trip just in time for the 4th of July in Salem! We got up early this morning and headed down to the Willows neighborhood for their annual Horribles parade and party. There’s no place else like the Willows on the fourth of July. The whole neighborhood has a party and many of us who live in other parts of the city go down to enjoy it too.

Here’s our friend, Jane Dionne!

Of course there was music..

and some social/political commentary.

The Secret Service were there

like you’ve never seen them before 

The “mayor” marched too, as she does every year…

The game theme was fun and creative.

There were red drinking cups… I think I kind of  missed the message here, leave a comment if you can help me with that. They were having a great time!

The decorations are amazing!

beautiful

patriotic

and fun!

It’s a party like no other!

Happy Fourth! Tomorrow there may be fireworks, let’s hope that my camera works..

I’m so happy to be home and blogging again!!

Michele

The Green Monster

No, It’s not Fenway Park… It’s my house. I have my very own Green Monster here in Salem  It’s what  Michael is calling this wall outside our back door that we painted a few weeks ago…

What should we hang on it or decorate with? Any thoughts or ideas are welcome! Yes I did go kind of bright with the paint color but we wanted it to be cheery and welcoming.. it’s always been a very dark space full of clutter, but it has such a nice view of the yard.  We wanted to brighten it up a little and make a nice place to sit for a few minutes.

I know that there are a few wonderful designers out there who might be reading…. share your thoughts please!  Comment away!