Liking Lichen Green Living Rooms

Maire Claire Maison great room

I love a foresty lichen green. Perhaps because I like fungi? Could be it, but these two rooms are tops. This first rooms is from Maire Claire Maison. It was a cool article that took an unbelievably beautiful space to begin with and gave it 3 makeovers. I like the lichen green one for many reasons. Like I said, this was a great room to begin with. It has dark wood floors in immaculate condition. The ceilings are tall and the natural lighting is breathtaking. And there are great features such as millwork, the fireplace, the door hardware. I love the lichen green walls with the milk chocolate brown trim color. This is unexpected and a bit “moody”. The red accents make the green color pop. I like the room because it has a  cozy feel. Open shelves make books accessible and the large ottoman acts as table. And I’m a fan or antlers/horns. You put those in a room and I’m in love. This room has a very “exotic” feel to it because of the color combination and the mix of objects and textiles.

The other room, a foyer, was featured in Coastal Living. I love this room because the color combination is unexpected and I love this earthy green with wood tones. I also like this room because it is a coastal house that isn’t all light and white. I have been totally inspired by this room. I love the salmon door. I would love to see the exterior of this home. But, it looks awesome against the lichen green. I know what that color combo dominating some portion of my house. Lichen green walls and salmon painted thrift furniture or

Coastal Living lichen green foyer

salmon walls with lichen green fabrics…But, all of the colors work in here from the green to salmon to chartreuse to sky blue to sea pebble gray. I love it. Plus, the space isn’t too shabby with the all of the hardwoods. I also like steps playing bookshelf and the cool collection of pictures and how they line the stairs. And I love ship art. Especially ship art in a seaside home.

So, yeah. I’m liking lichen green rooms.

-Victoria

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DIY Inexpensive Patchwork Runner or Rug

Patchwork Runner from Martha Stewart Living

Here’s an idea that I found on Martha Stewart Living, a patchwork rug. I can not get over how expensive rugs are. I keep saying that I’m going to invest in one that I love because they “transform” a room. After getting Frink the Frug, I refuse to spend $500+ on a rug. Pets are nice but they aren’t nice to rugs. I also can not afford to spend at least $3,000 on rugs for the entire house (our entire home is sans carpet) and have a dog puke on it. So, we’ve been shopping at Ross and I’ve purchased some “it’ll do” acrylic fiber rugs for now. Lowe’s also marks rugs down more than 50% off, watch the clearance sections. We bought a hilarious “Frankenstein” floor sample “runner” Oriental rug for $5. I love the patchwork quirkiness to it, so I started looking up patchwork rugs and found…

This DIY project featured on Martha Stewart Living. I love a patchwork look. It’s quirky, unexpected. Lately, I have really been obsessed with mixing prints. The rugs featured in the pic above are about $5 each. I could easily make a runner for the upstairs foyer for under $40. Plus, I’m starting to see rugs as disposable with all the foot and Frink traffic and I don’t want to spend much. Here is the tutorial on how to make a patchwork runner. I’m positive I can do this. Heck, I may keep going and make a large rug.

I think I’ll go out today and price check some small rugs like this. Didn’t I say I was going to paint a floor canvas for the dining nook this summer? Yes, I did. Need to order that. This renovation mess is finally starting to look like a home!

Today I’m attempting to bake a fresh plum frangipane tart for the first time. I hope it turns out nicely. I have to run out and buy a rolling-pin. For 5 years I’ve said I need a rolling-pin. Today, I am being proactive and buying one.

-Victoria

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Welcome Fall: 2 Harvest Orange Interior Spaces

I don’t really do “color”. Just look in my closet. It is a collection of black and gray; however, you will see some orange and coral peeping out of that abyss. I have a thing for orange. I would love to have an orange room but it isn’t really fitting with the scheme of things right now. But, I can admire it and plan for the future, right?

foyer from Martha Stewart

This first little space if from Martha Stewart’s website. I love the bold harvest orange with the crisp white millwork. This really pops. I love it against the deep wood tones. (That being said, I love anything against deep, rich wood tones). But, yes. This is a great space. I adore the curiosities displayed on the walls and love their bold, graphic, and simple frames. What is that black/espresso stuff lining each edge? I think the website said it was ribbon. That’s a bit odd and time consuming, I imagine. I’m sure it would look silly in real life but it takes a great picture. I would personally just painted it. This is a nice small foyer, about the same size and layout of the one that we have. Currently, it is housing a dark ladder back chair until I find that perfect something. I still do not what that something is.

The other room is a living room from Southern Accents (RIP). This room has that colonial feel but it is really fun and vivid with the walls that harvest orange shade. This is another example of how nice this color goes with white millwork (doesn’t everything). I like to see orange look this formal and not like an Ikea show floor. Orange has the potential to really look elegant without being too immature or “modern” a.k.a Target’s “dorm” collections. It works nicely with deep woods and some rustic pieces. I must mention that this chair in this room is very weak. I am not fond of “skirts” but the chair could of benefited from a print or even another bold color such as ochre or brick. However, that’s my opinion.I can never look at a room and think that is perfect and to my liking. I do the same to my own space. Perhaps that is one of the many reasons why this is taking so long.

Southern Accents harvest orange living room

-Victoria

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Today’s Renovation Job…

Today we are finishing removing every piece of carpet and every staple and tack strip from the stairs. Sand down the stairs, paint them black, paint all the doors in hallway/foyer and add trim around a hallway door. We are attempting to completely finish the foyer and stairway this Sunday. The exterior is being painted this upcoming week if the weather permits it. We’ve decide to really put on “the ritz” and finish up the foyer to make a nice 1st impression. The rest of our house may be total chaos but we are trying to trick. Plus, Halloween is coming up and I don’t want to actually look like a decrepit, dangerous, scary house or a local PNW heroin den.

I was wasting valuable time yesterday and was trying to find lobster mushroom recipes before we went out to forage. One thing led to another and I was looking at before and afters on Sunset magazine’s website. I found a beautiful Victorian home “transformation”. In my opinion, the home was a work of art to begin with. When you have a 155 year old Victorian in Napa Valley, don’t complain, please. It’s just rude. They painted the stairway black. This is what we plan on doing. I like the drama. The house needs that at the entryway. I was going to paint the steps black and the backs white but that is too much work. I think I’ll be happy with the solid black look. Our foyer is a neutral, boring taupe, the trim is white, there needs to be some drama there. I went with Behr floor paint in Stealth Jet (how warlike of me and yes I actually got a paint mixed, no mistint for me this time). I went with this because it appears to be a softer black, something that will distress well on a high traffic area. It will still be dark and dramatic but not “new”, not overly crisp and modern. I sure hope I like it. The ultimate plan is to get an Oriental runner in a deep red and add the brass rods down the stairway. Considering the budget and all the work to do, that is not a priority. I just work with what I have and usually that makes me happy.

I guess I should wrap up my cup of coffee and get to work.

-Victoria

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Funky, Retro Floral Wallpaper Rooms

I’m back and I finally have Internet connection! I so went through serious withdrawals, but I’m fine now…It’s been a super crazy week and I’ll share pics of the house as soon as I’m able. That means not checking all my junk email and social networking…

After all the time I have spent removing wallpaper, it is going to be a long time before I can wallpaper. However, I do love the look. It is quirky and fun. Wallpaper is great. I’m talking about clean and in good shape wallpaper, not what we inherited.

bedroom in Marie Claire Maison

I love this little London bedroom found in Marie Claire Maison. There are so many prints and colors! It’s just a fun, quirky room. I love all the different shades of blue and pink.  All of these prints make it a thrift store fantasy room. I have a few of those Russian boxes. They house cotton balls and stuff like that. They are cheap and take a beating. I like this room because it is small. That’s what most of us have. We don’t have these huge magazine perfect rooms with amazing architectural detail. This room is small but still fit for a magazine. It utilizes space and has lots of storage (too bad we can’t see the closet). I love how this room houses all these treasures and little collections. Somebody has spent some time at thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales and still looks put together. And who would of thought that rose shade would actually work with cobalt blue? Well, it does.

The other room or rooms photographed by Paul Raeside (if I had a restaurant this is the man that would be snapping it), I should say, are very special because of the mix of prints/wallpapers. It’s an airy and whimsy space. The lighting is romantic and the entire space is just so darn girly. However, I don’t know if you notice but the 1st thing I noticed other than the prints in my face was that the ceiling is need of some repairs. Geez, even I can repair that, what’s this home owner’s excuse? It sure isn’t money.

Cute home photographed by Paul Raeside

Anyways, the floor could use some cleaning too 🙂 And the loose porcelain door knob. Maybe all of this a part of the elegant, whimsy, cottage mansion style.

It really does sadden me that there is no more wallpaper in the home. Wallpaper does so much and then you have to do so much to get rid of it. Bummer. Don’t tell my husband that I am thinking of adding it to one of the bathrooms.

-Victoria

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Foyer Pleasure: What To Do With The Foyer

I have never lived in a place with a “foyer”. I have no idea what you do with these spaces and I don’t know their function. I guess I’ll have this set up for the ticket booth for the entrance fee for what we have as a freak show of a house. My “foyer” is not grand but by definition it is a foyer. We have a closet by the front door to hide coats in, this is good. I’ve been looking for ideas for this space and I’ve found 2 that are OK. You see, I don’t want a table there, even though that makes sense design wise. I just know whatever I put there will be cluttered and I hate clutter. I see David coming in and putting random stuff on it from keys to beach pebbles to like microchips/computer crap. I see myself throwing the mail there and trash from the beautiful things that I will mail order. So if we get a table it must have drawers!

Adler foyer

The first foyer is a Jonathan Adler. I love the simplicity of color. It’s light and airy but it is still fun because of the robin’s egg blue chair and the little owl. I like the feel of this one. It feel proper but it still feels “young”. (Our foyer is not this grand, this is much more open and larger). I guess I fret about the foyer because it is such a first impression. It is the first thing that people see when they enter the home, heck, even if you just answer the door and say you can’t come in. I want it to look nice and give a positive first impression. I want it to lure people in and say “I bet their house is cute. I want to see the rest of it”. So, I feel a bunch of pressure to make it look nice and put together.

Anyways, back to the Adler foyer. I am a sucker for painted floors. (Still do not know if I’ll have those). And I love the black painted stairs, very dramatic and bold. There is a lamp in there but I don’t really know why since there is a light source up above and that lamp really doesn’t provide the best lighting for reading if you decide to relax in that cute chair, but anyways. I’m not a designer…

Ned Marshall foyer

The second foyer, and Ned Marshall foyer,  is much more formal and proper. It says if you dare track mud into this home, then you are dead meat. It’s an upstairs “foyer”, we have one of those too, geez, didn’t even think about decorating it either. Anyways, I am loving gray these days. It is a great neutral that makes everything regal. I like this foyer because of the 2 chairs and table. It gives me a reason to refinish chairs, one of my favorite things in the world to do. I think there needs to be books on the table, geez, give your audience something to read while they wait. I love the white furniture, and once again the floors. These floors are dark. We’ve decided to not do this to ours, mainly because I am scared that it will be too dated. So, I guess we’ll be keeping the original 1936 light oak where we can.

So yep, these are some of my foyer ideas and inspirations. Since we haven’t officially started the home restoration, I just have to collect ideas while I can. No hammer in my hand yet.

-Victoria

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