Yellow?

Is it just me, or do y'all think that this area needs yellow accents? I've seen so much yellow around lately, and I love it, but just can't figure out how it will work with my taste AND I am sure that yellow is just a passing fad so I refuse to spend a fortune on anything yellow... but seeing those bananas in the green bowl on the table made me think... wouldn't a great wire, or otherwise sculptural bowl in a bright glossy yellow look sublime on that table? Or maybe a grouping of yellow candlesticks or something...

Gah! Not sure how that will work the the paint color on the opposite wall though...

This is the "color story" I am playing with... (Don't you love that phrase?)
Do you think yellow in place of the River Bank would look totally out of place in a room edged by Spanish Galleon? Any suggestions as to how I can change things out to suit? (Remembering that the dining area and living area are in one big space together, and my couch is a dark chocolate color (that really looks like a chocolate grey if such a color exists...)

Weekend Project Update!

We made some progress on the porch this weekend! One coat of white trim paint down, one more to go... well, we're going to wait until after we put the new decking on the porch before we go with the second coat, in case of nicks and bumps during installation.

The bench looks fabulous out there, don't you think? I am a little nervous because the bicycle chain that we bought won't fit between the slats, nor the tabs I sewed into the cushions. Dumb me forgot to measure properly before buying the chain, but another one is not going to be hard to find I am sure.


For now, I will just hope for the best and pray that no one would think of messing with our cute little porch.


In other news I went ahead and painted the last of the coffee table paint onto the dining room wall and LOVE it! There wasn't enough to do the whole wall, and it still needs a second coat, but this gives me a good idea of how it will look when it's done and I love it! What do you think? I know it's not a great color for resale, but we can neutralize it when it comes time to sell.



So far the progress on the spare room is still limited. I did manage to empty two boxes and get them out of there, but if you could see the state of the room, you would know that this really isn't much progress at all in the grand scheme of things. It is literally wall to wall boxes, bags and stuff in there and we're nowhere near to calling that room "done" just yet. I want to make it my mission to remove at least one bag or box per day this week and see how I do with that. It's probably a good thing that my mom is coming out for my birthday in July as I HAVE to have the room finished by then, so that will light a fire under my butt.

Ohhh what the heck... here's a picture of what is becoming known as the black hole...
... don't judge me....

A Bar in the Desert

You know, I find decor blogs sooo inspiring. Lately I've spent WAY too many hours reading through archives of some of my favorites and I've picked up so many great ideas. Also, my Domino Decor book has been incredibly helpful. (TOTALLY love that book, just wish the free year's subscription to the magazine could actually still be honored. :( )

Anyway... we have this odd little corner in the living room. It's sort of in no mans land between the couch and the dining area, but has a prime spot next to the window. I've been wanting to do something with this area, other than plonking a lamp there where it is neither attractive nor necessary. I have admired Katie's bar nook over on BowerPower blog and tucked it away in the revolving to-do list that has taken over my brain. Then I stumbled upon this cute, keyoot idea in the Domino Book and put two and two together. (Bar tray on pg 69 for those of you who own the book).

{photography by Deborah Jaffe for domino}

We happened to be in Pier 1 yesterday for some placemats that I needed for another project -- pictures soon -- when I came across this beautiful little tray and eureka, a plan was hatched. (See those little birds? I am totally bird obsessed lately and don't care if they're passe')


Last night I grabbed one of our TV tables (previously used as guest room nightstands), plonked my little tray on top and grabbed everything I could find that was remotely bar themed. Yes, it's sparse. Yes, we only have one bottle of rum (Yeugh!). No, we still don't drink alochol. But I feel like this once awkward little corner now has a purpose, albeit one rarely used by us.

I've never been a big fan of formal living rooms that are only used for special ocassions and rare guests, and I realize that the bar is just a smaller version of a formal living room for our lifestyle. But I figure what the hell, the corner makes sense now and bridges the gap between the living space and dining space and best of all it's pretty, so there! haha

I love it so much I am almost tempted to crack open a bottle of wine or something just looking at it!

New Rugs -- Squeeeeeee!!

I want to give a big shout out to Heather of at home with H for sharing the wealth today. I recently saw this post on Baltimore Rowhouse and lusted after their gorgeous dining area rug because it worked so well between the white chairs and dark wood table which is exactly what we're dealing with. If you read this post you will see that they paid the unbelievably low price of $123 from rugsusa.com - TOTAL steal right?

So I rushed on over to rugsusa.com only to find that this rug was no longer available. This morning in Heather's post about some great Urban Outfitter finds I nearly wet my pants with excitement to find an almost identical gorgeous rug available for just $39.95... you read that right!!


While I was there I picked up a gorgeous grey chenile rug for the living area at $49. Not 100% sure it will work, but for $50 it's worth trying! Otherwise it might end up in the guest room which could use a calming influence color wise.

LOVE me a bargain on a Friday! W00t!

Shedding Some Light on the Situation

We're soooo excited! The electrician made a visit this morning and made all outlets GFCI, upgraded the trip wire (or something...), installed an extra outlet in the garage, pointed out that my dryer socket DID in fact match the plug... (LOLZ!) and last, but certainly not least... he finally hung our West Elm Capiz Chandelier. Just LOOK at it in all it's sparkly, tinkl(e?)y glory!


Something to note for those of you out there who have bought this chandelier...

1) It doesn't come with a ceiling plate. We had to reuse the brass one from our old chandelier. Not pretty, but it will do for now.

2) As it is designed to be a "plug-n-play" lamp, the wiring side of things is a little more technical than you'd think.

3) When cutting into each little plastic wrapper on the strings of shells, be VERY careful not to snip the fishing gut on one that has already been released. (We lost one string in the unwrap process).

All in all, I am VERY happy with it. Because we don't have a separate dining room, the chandelier grounds the area and makes it feel more defined. I also like the play between the stark, dark table, the "classy" chandelier and the modern white chairs. The chandelier brings just the right touch of drama to the space, and makes it feel special. Now if I could just find a bowl that fits the scale of the new dining table, and something for the wall to further define the area I will be happy.... Peach paint, textured walls, vertical blinds and popcorn ceilings are still there unfortunately, but we'll get there eventually. It took us a year to finally have a home to put the chandelier up in, whats a few more months to give it the surroundings it deserves.