Photo wall

I am still working on my stairway wall of photos!!! It is a slow process but well worth it.I have been buying frames for certain photos and when I got home I noticed they were the wrong size!!!! Also we had a few casualties while bringing furniture from upstairs to the down stairs level.I guess I have only had one frame break completely and the others that fell just look slightly worn.The common theme for this wall is sepia photos of our family .

Bathroom Sink

My fabulous hubby just bought me a new glamorous bathroom sink that has a marble top!!!! I saw it at a discount store and it was our style and a great price!!!! Now,I really didn't NEED a new sink since our bathroom has a great pedestal sink and I have really liked it.But the storage issue in this house has become annoying.The new sink has drawers and we really need a place to put towels/stuff away!!!!! The marble top sits on a mirrored dresser.I am so excited about this great find!!!!! Right now it is in my van waiting to be brought into the house!!!!! Here is a photo I took at the store.

Nine by Design

I finally was able to catch the show "Nine by Design" on Bravo.I am hooked!!!! I love the show!!!! I could totally relate to the 'craziness' of preparing meals and getting kids ready to leave the house.We have four kids and at times it was tough getting everybody ready.I also can relate to moving a lot. My older two kids got used to moving and asked when are we going to move again?.We have lived in this house the longest!!!! My husband and I were watching the show together and where excited to see their work.The houses they create are very unique.They think outside the box!!!!! They really inspired me to think everything you want is possible!!!! Here are a few photos from one of their homes.

Master Bedroom Reveal

Well,I didn't get new bedding yet, but tried to see how some of my other bedding would look like in here.I still have a lot of color going on but a lot less of it. I like the look , I am a gypsy at heart so have to have color and my things around me!!!! .I found a vintage Mary picture at an antique store here in town a few years ago and it was leaning against the antique mantel I had in here before but now I put it up on the wall.The antique mantel was brought to the new dining room/study.I also have a vintage church kneeler that I love!!!!!(I put it under the Mary picture) I am not a religious freak but consider myself spiritual.I also collect Buddhas and other types of deity statues. The things I would love to buy in the near future for our room,new bedding,new curtains and a area rug.One day we will refinish the floors.So here are photos of the room.....

Cleaning!!!!

The cleaning in my life never seems to end!!!! Today I am in the basement cleaning my office that has become an unruly mess!!!! When we put in the basement hallway light, we had to pull the wires to my office so I am cleaning all the old wire that was left behind on my table.I am also cleaning our downstairs bathroom.I am multitasking doing laundry,cleaning and writing my post in between!!!!! My bedroom is pretty much done being painted except for a small spot behind our flat screen tv.It is a challenging spot to paint.The TV was really heavy to install so I can't move it.The room is so much brighter but like I said before I want new bedding ,curtains,etc.I will post photos when I finish all the decorative details.

Lightening up!!!!

I am not one to go with the trends!!!!! It seems that in all the design blogs the color white and grey are all the rage .I do like the look but for our home it is not practical.We have two dogs and kids in our house so light colors don't work for us. Our master bedroom has been painted an orchid/purplish color w/ one chocolate brown wall .I bought the paint from Restoration Hardware.I looked up posts from the past and we had our room that color for almost three years!!!!!!( the chocolate wall was just recently added) I really loved the walls but needed a change so I painted our room an almond color!!!!!! I can't believe it!!!!! This is as close to white as I can go!!!! Our room feels so much bigger but now I need new bedding .I did leave the chocolate brown wall since our bed is an off white color and the dark wall makes the bed stand out.Here are photos of the beginning transformation.

more photos

Big reveal

So we broke open the wall last October.It is 95 % complete.We still have to install my two chandeliers and close in a small section of the tin ceiling.This room started out as a bedroom . Since my older two kids moved out the two younger boys took over the bedroom in the basement because it is huge.So this was a guest room/ dumping room for extra crap!!!!! We really didn't use our dining room, since we installed the wood burning stove we had to move the dining room table against the wall. So we combined the two rooms into one big room. The old bedroom became the new dining room/study. The old dining room is our new sitting room.So basically a new "great room". We are really using our main level now !!!! I painted the two rooms a dark chocolate brown.I wanted the ceiling in the study /dining room to pop.The tin ceiling looks great in there with the dark walls .Also I kept the sky blue ceiling in the old dining room. The molding is painted white.So here are before and after photos.