Monday, February 24, 2014

Living Room Progress at the Beach Place

Since I am not at the beach place all that often, I find it's hard to make progress.  That being said, I recently looked at some before and after pics and thought to myself, despite the fact it's not completely done, I have made progress.


The picture above must include a short story, which served as my inspiration.  Several years ago, while working as a fundraiser, I had the pleasure of meeting a couple who were super philanthropists.  They also happened to have excellent taste! One thing I quickly learned in my role as a major gifts fundraiser, dealing with donors who often had tremendous wealth, was that money did not buy good taste.  I remember the first time I entered their beautiful penthouse that faced the most glorious view of the Gulf of Mexico, I thought "wow".  While I had been in many fabulous homes, theirs was the most cheerful home, full of color and just stunning.  Jean and Lawrence impressed me with not just their good taste and beautiful cheerful home, but also as genuinely wonderful people.  While I NEVER thought I would have the chance to have my only little place on the beach (after all I was a poor solo mother at the time), I remember thinking that one day if I ever won the Lotto, I too would want with a beautiful view of the water and would want it filled with color.

While I did not win the Lotto, I somehow was blessed with a life that a decade later afforded me a little place at the beach.  Not a penthouse, nor a beautiful grand building like Jean and Laurie's, but my own little view and guess what I did? Yep - made it colorful.  Sort of my tribute to my continued friendship with Jean.  Her husband, who has now passed away, gave me an original painting he had painted and to this day it hangs in my little place and reminds me of him, his generosity and his kind, magnetic personality.  The rest of the shots just remind me of Jean - cheerful, full of life and the kind of woman who remains always interesting and ageless.

A couple of shots of what I started with, canary yellow, some light green and very dark trim.



And a few more of the after shots - definitely still a work in progress.



And as we sit and enjoy a glass of wine or Jean's favorite champagne, I often think of them while taking in this view.


And at sunset.....I realize you don't need to win the Lotto to have a dream or two come true.  Here's to inspirational people who come into your life and also to the power of many gallons of white paint!
 


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Our Compromise on the Purple Tween Room

So everyone in Blogland knows that the color of the year picked by Pantone is "Radiant Orchid" and SW listed "Exlcusive Plum".  However long before those purples were picked, my tween girl had decided she wanted her room purple.  Have I mentioned I am not a fan?  As a little girl, she had blown through her pink stage and now the tween wanted a more teenager looking room.  So, when we moved into the new place - we took an old guest room that looked like this:



We removed everything from the room except the mattress.
Saved the Persian rug and the red bench, with both going to the other twin's room....everything else donated or put on CL.
 
Then the discussion came back to purple walls.  Have I mentioned I am not a fan? :) oh yes, I guess I have!  So I start trying to sway her to a VERY light shade of purple with maybe some grey/light purple in the bedding.  Then she starts in on the fact that she loves real color and wants real purple.  I think this was when I opened a bottle of wine and poured myself a glass.  The poor child is as determined as I am and I decided it was one of those "pick your battles" moments.
I also know that there will be much bigger battles that I choose to not back down on - so I give you our compromise on the purple room.
 
One purple wall, the balance in white. 
Purple and white sheets and a wildly colorful comforter. 
Purple bed skirt fabric is purchased, I just need to find time to drop it at the fabric wizard's workshop. 
White headboard and her old white desk and table tone it down a bit more.
The rug is the real deal.  It came from a relative in the Middle East and was given to my mother. It resided at our summer house in Northern Michigan.  When I asked her for it, it was never sent my way.  When her grandchild asked for it for her room, it was promptly mailed.  Grandchildren certainly have more clout.
 
Random shots:
 
 
So these are pics above are the views I have of her room from the kitchen. 
Our compromise is she keeps the hoarding to a minimum and places all her teen stuff or mess either in her closet or on the wall I do not see unless I am actually in the room
 
 

 
And in my attempt to repurpose useable items
 here was an old mirror on it's way to Goodwill

 

Now living in it's lovely shade of purple (behind a door).
Sort or reminds me of:
"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the smartest of them all"??
She is!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Living room and the Gallery Wall

I had a blank wall staring me down for months in our living room.  Months!  Then I had the good fortune of a very good friend coming down from Atlanta and "offering" to help me with the project of placing some art.  Ok, so the word offering is used loosely.  I think there was some begging on my part - after a few glasses of wine.  So a huge thanks to CW for all the help on this one. 

Wish I had a good before shot of the plain gray wall - but instead I'll just go for the after shot.


Hanging any gallery wall is difficult.  It is one of those jobs that just requires 2 people.  So we did the "hold it and you go look" many times, then switch - you hold it and I'll go look.  You get the idea.  My friend has a good eye and I knew would be a great partner to come up with something that would somehow please my eye.  I didn't want precision, rather randomly placed pieces I loved. 


The very old oil painting in the heavy frame is a piece that I inherited from my late husband's family.  The contemporary canvas is a relatively new piece, purchased from a FL artist, who just lost his wife to breast cancer.  The matted print of mother and child, I purchased in Paris.  Oddly enough, while with the friend who helped me hang all this. I took one canvas and cut it into 3 pieces and framed them in cheap IKEA Ribba frames.  The carved panel came from an outing to a local shop, which I found in of all places, their bathroom.  Yep, that's me....I look through a whole store and come out of the bathroom and ask how much that panel in the bathroom is.  A couple of the other prints came from another house and most of this has just been in storage, during the merge of the 2 households.


Odd how merging lives brings a mix of things together.  Also after 7 years of being a solo mom, I am again learning the fine art of compromise.  Breakdown on the merge would go like this: sofa and coffee table were his (but I did help pick them out when we were dating), big white chair from Ballards was his too.  I find it huge, he finds it comfy. 



Bergere chair, ottoman and old Asian basket were mine.  Mind you the chairs were recovered from a peach fabric to the natural linen and the wood finish was stained from a lighter wood to a darker color.  At one time I was going to pitch them.  Now I'm glad I didn't.  They look wonderful and completely different than they once did.  Two white garden seats, mine. All the art, mine.  While maybe not his thing, my friend and I did this project while he was at work.  To my surprise he came in later and actually said he liked it. 

Lamps - both new.  The one behind the sofa was my choice.  It looked like a piece of sculpture to me.  His choice:

 
Will admit that I like the lamp too.  The white "thing" he had purchased from Z Gallery and covers a light fixture and ugly cord. 
 
So the merge continues - but I like the way we are working through mixing our things together, or agreeing on a new purchase here or there.  Like my zebra rug!  You just have to love a man that buys you that for a wedding present.  And believe me when I say that I have taken a load of shit from my vegetarian friends and all those animal lovers - #letssavetheanimals.  Oh well, I can deal with a little shit on this one.
 
 
 
So there you have it.  The wall is no longer blank and the room finally looks somewhat finished  Oh yeh, one more thing. Please imagine beautiful orchids in the container on the coffee table and the doors all painted black.  Future project on my to-do list.