We’ve been having some fabulous weather here in the Midwest … enough rain for the garden and plenty of sunshine to enjoy. Of course, this means the weeds are growing like gangbusters and in order for me to get out in the garden as much as possible, I need to simplify things indoors. As part of…
White made its grand entrance onto the home decor scene with the introduction of Rachel Ashwell’s shabby chic style. The color white is used profusely in shabby chic decor, using the color to unite worn objects from different eras. While some may think decorating with white is falling out of favor, numerous home decor sites…
Less than 2 months ago I received an email from Annarita Triarico, an Italian journalist working for Lotus Publishing. She wanted to feature my home in one of their magazines, “Gli Speciali di Casa Chic.” At first I thought it was a joke, but I looked at their publishing site and realized it was a legitimate…
Ever since I’ve had my own homes, I like to brighten up the interiors with whites and cool blues. During spring and summer months, I’ll bring in more color with flowers and accents. Our dining room only has one window in it, but I’ve managed to bounce the light around with pale walls and white…
You may remember my post about stenciling the glass china cabinet doors. Fortunately or unfortunately, a cat hurled itself at the glass door (obviously something freaked him out) and the glass on one of the doors broke. Now mind you, I didn’t see this happen but I heard a crash in the dining room and…
About a year ago I started blogging in hopes it would motivate me to turn my home from a hodge podge mess to a more cohesive style. Problem is, I like too many styles and needed to fine tune because I’m not that good at pulling together eclectic. So I looked at Pinterest and several…
A little green and white pair together this year to set the scene for a farmhouse holiday dinner. Mismatched white dinnerware is flanked by vintage silver plate. Book pages provide a makeshift table runner. The white glasses are identical to ones my grandmother had. When I found them at the flea market I had to…
Normally I would wait until closer to Christmas to reveal all of the house decked out for the holidays, but I wanted to get everything ready for Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Home tour party on Monday, December 10th. This post is an overview of my holiday decor, with more detailed photos coming soon. Needless to say,…
So I thought I was done with my dining room. But then I submitted a couple photos to Hometalk as part of a Favorite Room thing they were doing and they posted my dining room pic (along with other people’s favorite rooms) on their Facebook page and that’s when the fun began! Some people said…
When I bought the new buffet, it replaced the dry sink which meant the dry sink needed to move. The dry sink took up residence where the bookshelf used to be. The bookshelf didn’t belong in the dining room anyway. The dry sink is painted white using regular latex paint. I think I’m going to…
I wasn’t expecting it. Really, I wasn’t. A recent trip to Carter’s Cottage for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint resulted in taking home more than a simple can of paint. You can’t just go into Carter’s, grab some paint and go. No, you have to look around and admire all the new eye candy that the…
Although Autumn is my favorite season, I hate letting go of Summer, so the arrival of Fall is bittersweet for me. Fall brings with it a rich range of colors but I thought for the end of summer, a neutral tablescape would be the perfect choice. I started with a strip of dropcloth and added…
For the most part, our dining room has been complete for the last few months, with the exception of some minor details … like stuff to hang on the walls. But after a few shopping trips I feel like the dirty deed is finally done. Here’s the dining room the way she looks today ……
Sometimes you get lucky and things just come together. But first, the bad news. A Geneva, Illinois store icon recently closed its doors after 82 years of business. The Merra-Lee shops were a series of 7 women’s specialty clothing stores (all owned by the same family) that occupied a prime piece of real estate in town. Before closing, they…
About a month ago, I was inspired by a stencil project that Heather at Love and Life at Leadora had created. She applied a beautiful stencil to the glass window in her front door. While thinking my china cabinet needed some lace in the glass doors, I remembered Heather’s project. This is Heather’s front door,…
One of my 2012 goals is to finish making over the dining room. It’s a small cozy room whose walls used to be sage, which I loved, but after ogling over many a Swedish dining room, I decided to lighten it up with a coat of Steamed White from Lowe’s. The Windsor chairs were re-painted…
