So I was thinking...

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately that primarily cover home decorating and renovation. There is a great "home tour" this week at Poppies at Play that has been a lot of fun to follow. Not only am I getting a great list of ideas for future repurposing projects to create for my business, Junque Rethunque, but  I'm also getting ideas for my own home.

This, for example, is the answer to what to do with my vintage umbrella table (found it here). How awesome is that??? I seriously have this exact same table sitting at my mom's house waiting for me to bring it home. I also considered painting a facsimile of a vintage souvenir plate on it... that's still being decided.

Which led me to think "what if I start blogging about my own home redecorating projects?" I live in a traditional sprawling ranch built in the 1960s and have a great pile of projects to complete. I also write. And I have a camera.... Luckily, there was a fire that resulted in some folks buying the house and remodeling the parts we as buyers most wanted remodeled - the master suite, laundry room and kitchen. Also fortunate (in my opinion) is the fact that the guest bath is still stuck in the 60s and the exterior was not affected at all.

While the homes in the blog tour I mentioned are all leaning heavily toward shabby chic and cottage style like this great look from Funky junk Interiors - which I do love - I would say my own favorite look is more of a eclectic mix, and includes more color than most of the blogs I've seen so far. These women are, as a group,  keeping Heirloom White at the top of the paint colors charts. :)

My home is decorated with a mix of antique furniture with flea market and curbside finds, modern/contemporary furniture, and retro accessories like lamps that harken back to the original build date of the house. We also have a lot more color on the walls than most shabby chic styles use. However, I have been rethinking that last bit...

So I believe there may be room for yet another blog that shares images and ideas for decorating. Now, to start getting some "before" pics taken and some projects started. There is already a long list... and I have a feeling it will only get longer.

The niche is shrinking!

A while back, I shared my wish for a little shop. A little corner where I could stock with lovely handmade items (mine and other artists and crafters I love), vintage finds, and repurposed items. I don't think it's uncommon for creatives who decide to start selling the results of their crafting to the masses to eventually at least think about what owning a little shop would be like. Or maybe I'm a little off my gourd. But whatever.

My sister and I have started (or re-started to be more accurate) a business and rented out space at a local flea market to test the waters. We have paid for our second month's rent with the sales of the first month - which is great - but the space still doesn't really suit our vibe. We need to punch up the color and have decided that covering the walls with white burlap will be just the ticket. It will lighten the space a lot, but it's forgiving if we hammer a few nails through it to hang things on the wall. We also need to come up with a logo, get some rubber stamps made, create a packaging plan for the things we make ourselves... a little at a time.
 

Our original idea was to experiment with our ideas in the booth, with an eye on the possibility of opening a stand alone shop someday.

Fast forward to this week. We found out about YET ANOTHER boutique recently opened in our area that seems to have the vibe and viewpoint that our non-existent shop would have. It sells vintage finds, repurposed goods, handmade art and homegoods...

SCREEEEAM!!!

My sister went by today and checked out the evil competitors who are stealing our dream. She found the new shop to be awesome. It's run by two delightful, creative women, and too perfect and lovely for us to hate.

*sigh*

So... we're rethinking our plan now. Instead of opening our own shop, we're thinking that we need to focus on production. We can still sell vintage finds in our Etsy shop, but we can get our brand put together and wholesale our creations in OTHER people's shops. No overhead, no employees or payroll, no working weekends. Kind of a win-win, right? As long as we find the right shop, a shop that looks like what we would make our own shop look like...

So, updates will be forthcoming. But until then, if you are hanging out in Northwest Arkansas do visit Red Hill Gallery & Homewares and let us know what you think. Tell them Laurie and Erin sent you. :)

Bedding! And eventually drapes.

Got the bed and the go-ahead to "do what I want" in the master bedroom. Awesome! But the queen-sized duvet was barely stretching from one edge of the mattress to the other. Not awesome. So it was time to look for a comforter or quilt.

Criteria:

goes with purple

not too formal

has to be a bargain

I want our bedroom to be light-hearted and whimsical, but not too "girlie". Florals are not completely out of the picture, they just can't be frou-frou. Don't want to freak the Hubster out the first time he gives me free reign...

Here are some things I'm loving:

    

these gorgeous prints are from mincingmockingbird.etsy.com

  

and these fluffy beauties are from PierOne.com

I thought these might look okay with purple walls. But still wasn't sure. Then a miracle happened. Hubster told me he might be okay to lose the purple. Hallelujah!

New Criteria:

goes with purple

not too formal

has to be a bargain

After looking at a ton of websites and several stores, I wandered into TJ Maxx recently and happened to find a HUGE home sale! I was thinking of trying a spa feel with a cream or white blanket, and these would have worked:

But they weren't the most colorful options. And I can change the wall color now, remember?? Then... I found this:

It's not as light blue as it looks here. More of a dusky blue/green. The flowers are made of ribbon, and there's not a ton of them, so it should fit the criteria of "not too girlie". And the best part - it was a whopping $49.00 for a king-sized comforter and two shams! I even sprung for a great little green pillow to match the leaves... :) (Obviously, someone needs to add king-sized pillows to her shopping list.)

Now I have to decide on drapery fabric... you can see that the window right above the bed is about four feet off the floor. I'll take the drapes from ceiling to floor to create a bigger impact, but probably won't make them go all the way across - sheers or some shutters or blinds will work for privacy. So this is what I'm thinking...

Your thoughts?

Mine, All MINE!!!

Maniacal laughter? Yes! Happy dance? Yes! Things are about to get interesting in my bedroom!

As a friend on Twitter pointed out... that kind of comment can be taken one of two ways. My intent is HGTV-interesting, not Playboy-interesting. Just so we're clear. (thanks @TomRedwine!)

My husband commented this weekend - sort of offhandedly I thought, given the gravity of the moment - that I can do whatever I want when I am making decorating choices for our bedroom. You may nod your head in  when I tell you I got a little light-headed with joy, and had to ask if I'd heard him correctly. Thank god I was already sitting down.

We have lived in our house since 2006. When we moved in we painted a few walls and uninstalled a large chandelier in the dining room to replace it with a projection system. That's about it. Now, it's not like I don't have plans. My plans are AMAZING! But things have been a little nuts for the last few years, and those amazing plans haven't quite come together.

Part of the reason for the delay rests in the fact that Hubster and I don't always see eye-to-eye on decorating. He likes intense colors and knick-knacks that play around in the Gothic realm, just this side of weird. We both like the terms "Unique" and "Interesting" used on a metaphorical mood-board, but I prefer to also include "Attractive", you know what I mean? Unique for the sake of being Unique just doesn't cut it for me.

Thankfully, a change in Hubster's attitudes toward decorating has occurred, and I can only assume that I have HGTV to thank. Over the last few years Hubster and I have watched HGTV together, and I believe the shows have begun to turn him. He has started to appreciate the beauty of re-purposing furniture (and other items) to give it new use, and he can see the value of finding things that can serve a different purpose than originally intended. I think that Candice Olson and Genevieve Gorder have also proven that soft colors and even florals can be used in a way that is not too prissy and girlie. Lucky for Hubster, I at least have his interests in mind... if not in the forefront of my decision making.

More on the inspirations I'm thinking about later... for now - here's what I am working with so far: 

Grape walls, extremely white molding and ceiling, and a crazy deal of a bed from a local thrift store - king size Henkle Harris WITH the mattress set: $1,000. I know - stupid, right??? There was no way this was not coming home with me! (sorry for the crappy pic - it's from my phone. I'll put up a better one later.)

I'm working with a very large room, a lot of purple, and a mid-60s ranch style house with these funky windows halfway up the wall... as I said, things are about to get interesting!

Sometimes I dream...

of having a little shop. A small brick-n-mortar storefront with a big front porch. I would sell vintage and re-purposed furniture and decor items... goodies that I currently pile in my garage, or just have to pass up because I can't own it all.

I would sell creative, beautiful indie art and crafts, made by local and almost local artisans. I would decorate and stage my shop by creating little vignettes throughout the shop, and sew up slipcovers and curtains out of vintage tablecloths and tea towels.

I would provide baskets and vintage market carts for my buyers to use to carry their goodies. Because they wouldn't be able to buy just one item!

I would plant a garden of herbs and hostas and lovely flowers. I would place vintage statuary and handmade stepping stones in it, along with some metal gliders and perhaps a porch swing... or maybe that should be on the porch? A little quiet reflection in the middle of a day is never a bad thing. For buyers or sellers. In the fall, I would divide my hostas and give some to my buyers. In the summer, I would include a little bag of fresh herbs for every visitor.

My front door would be painted turqouise. A yellow ceiling would brighten up the inside, but the walls would be a lovely shade of eggshell white. However, this would look pretty amazing too...

Seller's Remorse

A few weeks ago my sister and I (have you met my sister? She's awesome!) had a spectacular and exhausting estate sale at our mother's house. My grandfather built the place, and mom bought it about five years ago. She died last fall, so we've had the house on the market and need to get it sold. Before that can happen though, we needed to get things cleaned out. We've spent time out there over the last year going through the things in the house, cleaning out cabinets and closets, and deciding what's going to be kept and what's not. It was a long, but not as emotional as I expected, process.

In the end, we spent a couple of long evenings tagging and organizing and staging the things that were going to be sold, and had a line of eager buyers queuing up outside when we opened the doors Friday morning. By the end of the first day, almost all of the large furniture pieces were sold and gone. The second day all of the remaining furniture sold, except this dresser and a few antique beds. I think we had them priced right - the challenge is to sell full-sized beds. Most people seemed to be looking for queen-sized.

We can post what's left on our local Craig's List, but I may just store the beds until I have guest rooms to put one or two in. And the dresser may come home with me as well. We'll see... I already have several things set aside to keep, including this table. It was in our house since I was a kid, and it's perfect for a corner of my living room. I'll cover it with picture frames full of smiling faces of my family.

Even with the things we're keeping, I keep thinking of a few things we sold that I wish I had kept. There was this gate leg table, for example. I had no use for it and no idea where I would use it, so it was priced and sold. Then I saw a spread in the October issue of Country Living where a very similar table was being used as the breakfast table in the kitchen and thought "dammit! I could have had that table!" Not to mention, I'm sure the price we put on it was a bargain. But we wanted to get stuff out, not make a fortune.

Then there was the dining room table my grandfather built, which I didn't get a picture of, unfortunately. It had a narrow middle-section, two large drop-leaves on either side held on with piano hinges, and mortise-jointed legs. I remember hearing conversation about the hinges when I was younger, how they were difficult to do well and how great the table turned out. And we sold it. I do appreciate that the man who bought it was also a woodworker like my grandfather, and he seemed impressed to hear that my grandfather made it. That's how I took his reaction, anyway. I just have to keep reminding myself that I really do have enough things he made to share with my kids someday.

At the risk of being annoying, I took the time to tell the stories that went with particular pieces as people bought them. Like the little bucket with the nut cracker and pick set that set on the fireplace since forever. It was always full of walnuts and pecans, and my grandfather sat next to the fireplace and ate nuts in the winter. I considered keeping it, but 1.) I'm far too lazy to eat nuts out of the shell; and 2.) have enough other memories of my grandfather. You just can't keep all the Things in an effort to stay connected. It's an easy mistake to make, but my sister and I made a promise to ourselves early in this process to let things go unless we truly loved them, and/or we would be able to use them. Neither of us need more stuff. She's been better at keeping that promise than I have.

We were really pleased to see several things go to people who appreciated their history and their ownership. One of my grandmother's cousins bought a chair that had been in an upstairs bedroom for years. Turns out, according to another family member, the chair was a gift given to my great-great grandmother in the 1920s. They were thrilled to find out it was a family piece, and we were happy that it stayed in the family. A couple of bakers' racks that my grandfather built also found good homes. One to a young couple who are also cousins. He used to mow my grandparents' yard and spent some holidays at the house. When he found out his wife was at our sale he told her to get something my grandfather made. The other went to a woman who worked with my mother and went to church with my grandparents.

Life goes on. Things find new homes. I've got to find room for my new stuff...

60/30/10

I get email from HGTV almost every day.  It's freaking distracting on a good day, and downright evil on a day when I would rather be doing anything else but sitting at my desk at work.  Or on those days when I don't mind being there, but I'm supposed to be writing something and the words aren't coming.  On those days, an email full of suggestions for redecorating my bathroom or how to plan color palettes in a kitchen are obviously going to get bumped to the top of the priority list.

So today was kind of one of those days.  Or at least it was for a couple of hours.  I did actually get work done.  Shut it!  I did!!!

And I got the email from HGTV that, after clicking a dozen or so links that led to other links, and so on... led me to this Very Important Tip: when planning a color palette, one should use the formula of 60/30/10.  Your main color should occupy 60% of the surfaces or space in the room.  Another main color - or perhaps a neutral? - should dominate 30%, and the remaining 10% is your accent color.

This is huge for me, as I am struggling with what to do with my master bedroom that is currently painted a lovely grapey purple.  Don't look at that table!  What do you think, does having Jay-Z on my bedside table make me hip?

We painted it that color four years ago when we moved in, and now I can't walk by a decorating magazine without seeing a big, crazy cover photo or a huge spread inside that proclaims the perfection of purple.  I'm so way ahead of my time that way.  HOOOOOWEVER.  When the walls (and it's a big room - there's lots of wallspace) are covered with a medium-toned grape color, what the hell do you do to balance it?  I mean, that's a shitload of Barney, which is not conducive to romance and relaxation.  My original plan was to go black and white on the linens... and of course that's all trendy now too. Or it was a year ago, actually.  But it's seeming like it might be a bit too stark for my taste.  I am a collector of stuff, and love a good thrift store, and my stuff is generally more colorful than black and white.

I do have some amazing lampshades that have a black design on the inside (and the real thing looks a good bit better than my rendition above).  When the light is turned on the black shows through the shade.  There's one on each side of the bed, all matchey-matchey cuz the hubster likes it that way.  Thank god my boobs are symmetrical.  The shades sit on top of two practically edible white milkglass lamp bases handed down to me from my great-grandmother.  (pics will follow!)  I also have a white chenille bedspread that I'm not in love with, "temporary" white linen curtains that are actually table cloths I got on the clearance aisle at Walmart three years ago, and white crown molding around the room.  Where to go from there??

What about my 30% color being a kind of dusky sea blue... like the blue on this image of the Tom's Shoes label?

Or this barn, but greener (the brown horse could represent my bedside tables):

I have some fabric to cover an as yet un-located headboard, and would also come up with some pillows and maybe the curtains should be white but with a design or stripe in a shade of the blue?

Then what to do for the 10%? What about this??

I'm kind of loving it. That chair is allegedly from Target?? What the WHAT????  It needs to be in my bedroom right now!!!  So, that's a combination of colors I don't think I've seen before.  Sure, turquoise and yellow, purple and yellow, but not all three together, right?  Oh, and I might even be willing to sacrifice my ceiling fan if I could get this little piece of bedroom jewelry:

I'm typing cross-legged to keep from peeing my pants.  It's that cute. *sigh*  

What say you??