Monday, February 25, 2013

Around the House

I'm moving right along in my clean out the house project.
Of course, I'm doing all of the easy rooms first:-)

On the left when you enter our home is our living room.
I confess that we don't use this room much.  If I were building a house, I would eliminate this room, although in this house, this room has many of my favorite things in it.  
This house has a living room and a combo kitchen/family room.  In my dream house I would combine these spaces for a big great room.
In fact, when we were house hunting we did see some houses like that, but unfortunately there were always other reasons it didn't work out.

Luckily I had all of these furnishings from our previous home.  Nothing in this room is new, even the pillows are about 8 years old.


But you know, I still love everything in this room.  I hear on blog land that red, yellow, and green rooms are outdated ~
but I'm not tired of it yet. 



I left this little picture up after Christmas.
My aunt made it, probably in the 60's, out of her "teacher" jewelry.  She stopped teaching at that time, and took many of her costume pieces and crafted this tree.  It is made of mostly earrings and pins and I just love it.

It's one of those things my girls will fight over when I'm gone:-)





More of my real plant project.






Since I took the above picture, I have added 2 crosses to my collection of family and antique prayer books.  The one on the left is actually a rosary from a little shop in Vatican square.  The other cross is made from the stained glass window of the tiny little church in which I was baptized.


The painting above the fireplace was the "cookie" that started my redecorating about 8 years ago.  Do you know the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?  I bought the painting at Nell Hill's because I loved everything about it.  The colors and the subject.  It's hard to see but it is just a corner of a living room with a comfy red chair and a table piled with books.

I brought it home to a house with burgundy and hunter green.  My house had been decorated in those colors in some form for a long time.

So, just as in the book, the painting "required" new living room furniture, which of course meant that the dining room needed change, and on to the kitchen, and you get the idea.

Of course, this was all in our previous home, but I wasn't tired of the look when I moved so I tried to make it work in this house too.

We had the woodwork painted white and the walls yellow, and changed the tile around the fireplace to absolute black granite. 



A better picture of the painting.


That box on the table is my treasure chest.  Full of little trinkets and JUNK.  The grands, especially Cooper and Ben just love it.  It was put away for Christmas and Cooper just noticed it was out.  He kind of hinted, because he knows that you can't ASK for a gift from the box, but he was sure hinting:-)

I also have a pile of books from place we've traveled.  We don't buy one everywhere, but we frequently purchase a book with fabulous pictures of the place we are visiting.  It's fun to read and learn more about the area.  And, the pictures are 10 times better than the ones I take.


On the books is a little dish I picked up on a trip to Door County.  When we travel, I don't do a lot of shopping, but I pick up souvenir pins of different places we've been and I keep the ones from overseas here.  The USA pins live in a little basket in the guest room.


These are some from our cruise to the Baltic this summer.  It's a little thing, but fun to look at.  They fit easily in your suitcase, and are pretty easy on the pocketbook too.





Little glass candy that I bought from street vendors in Venice.  Love it.





This is probably my favorite candle of all time.  I love that it is from Kansas City too.  I used to shop at the Trapp flower shop in KC.



Favorite photos greet you when you come into our home.


Laura bought me this little pillow in Arizona when she was expecting Elizabeth.  Little did she know that Elizabeth and Grandma would love to have tea together,  those are little tea cups and teapots on the pillow.


Just a glimpse of the before, with the previous owner's stuff ~ gives an idea of the paint colors when we moved in.



Whew, that was a lot of pictures and if you have been reading my blog for awhile, there aren't a lot of changes either:-)

Thanks for visiting.

Joining Richella for her Grace at Home party.

10 comments:

The Martys said...

Pretty as always. You do have lots of fun little collections. That is one of my favorite spots in your house too. I will never tire of those colors.

Shenita @ Embellishments by SLR said...

Sue, everything looks so beautiful! I just absolutely love your home decor. Your style is so gracious; and those are still our favorite colors, too! I love the orange/vanilla Trapp candle, as well. I find mine at Sample House.

Debbie said...

I have told you before how much I love your home. That spot with the yellow chairs and the table between is one of my favorite spots. I love it. I also LOVE your fireplace!

As for yellow, red, and green. Well, just ooooops. I just did a yellow and red kitchen last year, and I'm not going to change it. Everything else might be changing, but those colors will stay.

Take THAT Blog Land decor bullies!

In all seriousness, I have finally learned not to care all that much what everyone else says is the "in" color. You just can't chase it down forever, and it was the choice of "in" colors that got me into the mess I'm trying to redesign.

Lovely, lovely HOME.

(And you will soon need to get the newly expanded family to post for a new header when the new granddaughter arrives. Woohooo!)

WendyBee said...

Oooh! I am chuckling because my living room has green walls (pale sage, sort of), and there are antique red curtains at the window. I don't think I will ever tire of it....
come to think of it, probably everything about me is "out of date". At least I am consistent.
Your home is lovely!

Rettabug said...

What a GORGEOUS home you've created, Sue! Don't let anyone tell you that your colors are outdated...I think they are timeless & classic!

I understand why you fell in love with the photo over the fireplace & I also love how you displayed your rosary. I have a very similar one in turquoise colors that my Father gave to me on the day I was married...the first time! LOL
I shall get it out now & put it on display. many many prayers have been said with it.

I need to catch up on your posts now that I saw Debbie mention a new grandbaby on the way. Congratulations!!

Hugs,
Rett

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Well, I for one love your home and the colors you are using. They are very much the same colors I use. I agree, that I have heard the same thing about the colors, but I think everyone chooses colors that make them happy. Some like all white, some pastels, some intense tangerines. Your home is beautiful.

Dayle ~ A Collection of Days said...

What a gorgeous space you have here. I love the yellows and reds.

Visiting from Grace at Home.

Richella Parham said...

Your room is so lovely! I featured it at today's Grace at Home party! Thanks very much for linking it up. :)

Elizabeth "Libby" Day said...

I so enjoyed meeting you and visiting in your lovely, welcoming home for the first time today. I feel like a special, invited guest and shall return. Thank you.

Stacey said...

Sue, your home is so pretty. Your house has some similarities to mine. I can get some great ideas from you. :)