Rugs Made For Walking

Our homes are where we come to relax, feel comforted, and just be! With the floors being one of the main decor pieces it is immediate in a positive or negative feeling.

Years and changes have brought floors from carpeted areas to cold and hard surfaces--hardwood, laminate, tile. For all those hard surfaces area rugs are the happy medium to offer that cozy feeling. 

Area rugs can be pricey or affordable. They can change the look of a room with their neutral, color, pattern, texture. 

Removing shoes at the door is a way to keep the outside germs and dirt away from all types of flooring. But with that removal the texture becomes more important.

I used Pinterest, blog reading, Instagram as an input to the look I desired for rooms in the house. With a wrong purchase it became a waste of money. 

The latest area rug was purchased from Overstock. It supplied a gray and white neutral. I was striving for more of a beige neutral but from the reality that the last area rug we had showed stains.

That rug came from RugsUSA. It was a rug I absolutely loved. But, it had to be removed because the stains were horrible. To be honest, most of the stains were from the dog eating morning snacks on it. Picture a few bites of a shared pop tart from one's husband.

After reading about how seagrass rugs were very durable, easy to clean stains, and a neutral color I ordered two of these--one for the living room and one for the dining room. The color was fine--definitely the beige neutral I was seeking.
I purchased these from Decorators Collections which is a Home Depot site.

However, the texture was rough. Very unpleasing. Rough to the feet. 

As you can tell the weaving is large. For me, it was anything but cozy. I disliked the feeling immediately. The rug was moved from the dining room to our home office. It is usable there. 

The next purchase for the living room became headache #2. Searching for the neutral color seemed almost impossible. Anything that was light was going to transcend to a stained area rug quickly. I happened to find this shag rug in gray with white accents.

The pile is deep and lush. The shades of fiber will tend to hide stains. And, it is cozy to walk on. My dog absolutely loves it! He gave his approval!

Problem #3 was the dining room. I decided to give seagrass another try. This one was from Pottery Barn. The texture is a big smaller so it isn't as rough. I hope that it is just as durable. The price was reasonable since I used a sale with a coupon.

I like the neutral that allows the decor to come from drapes, place settings, and holiday decorations.

Isn't that the way decorating is--sometimes it works perfectly and sometimes it doesn't. If I would just do a little more reading and googling next time, maybe it will be easier on my pocket book!

The rugs made for walking--and enjoying my home.

Best Farmhouse Decor Purchases---EVER

I have to admit that I have joined the farmhouse decor group (if there is such a group). I took a look around the house and saw that there are a few purchases that meet that style for me.

White slipcovers: These are easily found in many homes today. Ikea Ektorp sofa and loveseat met the need at a very affordable price. They are a part of an active family or a family with pets because of their ability to be laundered.

Mirrors with a look of old and antiqued look was possibly the first addition to my living room. Hobby Lobby had these on clearance a couple of years ago for about $40. The mirror isn't the best and can add pounds with a glance. But the over-all look is right on target.

My favorite two tier stand is from World Market. The round plate stand has the touch of metal and wood. It is easy to change the look of the kitchen by adding holiday decor.

Our family get-together meals are usually buffet style. The wood and metal stand is perfect for those. It is beautiful when displaying a cake or salad. I hope to find a glass cover to fit it.

The two shelf piece was another Hobby Lobby find. By purchasing on the 50% off week it was easily under $20. I have this in the guest bath. The best part was how easy it was to adhere to the wall since the screws went through the round ends.

Any old piece of furniture can be updated with a coat of paint. I added a backing to the open shelves with luanne. By using chalk paint I mixed with the color of the kitchen cabinets (SW Westhighland White) so the entire kitchen would blend. I may add beadboard wallpaper to the back since I've had a roll in the garage for several years.

Countertop spaces are always at a premium. I like using this shelf so I can double the useable area. I know...it is wood and metal. There isn't a difficulty in finding those. Hobby Lobby was another 50% off visit.

Craigslist is always a good place to find used furniture. A few years ago I was always searching for Broyhill Fontana pieces. Since the popularity grew after viewers saw it on Everybody Loves Raymond, the furniture was available. But, it involved several trips to various cities and states. My husband was a dear to take me wherever! I transformed the pine to a two tone farmhouse look for pennies since I mixed my own chalk paint.

After taking a walk through my house, I see I have a problem. Maybe too much wood and metal leveled pieces. This too, shall pass. But for now, it means home to me. HomeFrontThoughts for sure.

First Project 2017

A couple of years ago I transformed my Broyhill Fontana family room furniture with chalk paint. You can read about it  here. 

But...a couple of years have passed and I was ready for a lighter top. The family room receives little light and the dark table tops seemed to soak the limited light right out of the room.

The tables were acquired via Craigslist and were from different locations. Some had been used as a pounding board for little kids apparently. The coffee table was the worse for being "distressed". I decided to do it "right" this time. Using the Dremel sander I used three different sand paper discs to sand the distressing away.

It really wasn't as bad as I had dreamed. I broke up the sanding into two days. The only issue was I decided to do this project when it was 10 degrees outdoors with snow on the ground. My car was living in the garage so the family room became my work room.

I decided to strive for a whitewashed farmhouse look. I picked up this arrow at Hobby Lobby and used it as a visual reminder of what I was duplicating.

I like to make my own chalk paint. First, it is so much cheaper. And it seems to be much smoother in texture. I don't know what Annie Sloan uses in her recipe but it ends up with a sandy texture and I constantly have to add water to the paint. With my use of latex paint and calcium carbonate it applies just as in regular latex. Like chalk paint it dries in a few minutes and can be recoated in minutes.

I googled to find a recipe and used this one here.

There are several places to find close matches to Annie Sloan with different brands of paint. Since I prefer Behr I used this sight to match the colors I chose.

Vienna Pink site was the one I saved on my Ipad to take to Home depot for purchasing the latex paint.

My first two coats of paint were Behr Ethiopia PPUS-6d (ASCP CoCo match).

I then dry brushed Behr Dainty Lace MQ3-11u (ASCP Old Ochre match).  If I thought it was too light in places I dry brushed some of the Ethiopia back on. Once I was satisfied I let it dry for a few hours. I don't know if that was necessary or not but I could relax for a bit so it was a win-win!

The final steps were adding the wax. I didn't have any of AS dark wax so ran into Lowes and picked up the Valspar antiquing wax. This was applied with a cheap chip brush in a dry brush technique. After it dried a bit I rubbed it with a soft cloth. Next came an application of AS Soft Wax.

All in all, I am satisfied with the result. With the lack of light in the room, it is difficult to acquire a good picture of the actual result.

I may go over the bases and legs again in the future. But for now--the first project is complete.

2016 Home Front Memories

It's fun to go through pictures from the last year to see what happened on the home front. A little trip down memory lane...

In January we were still enjoying our newly painted WHITE kitchen cabinets. We did add trim to the island to give it more definition. Also adding under cabinet lighting definitely brightened up the space. Since it was the dead of winter with dreary days this was a perfect winter project.

 By the time February came Tennessee had been covered with days of snow. Projects had to be of the indoor type. Spending days viewing the walls gave me a chance to brighten up the spaces by lightening the wall color. Previously I had painted the open space living area Mindful Gray. I was searching for a warmer and lighter gray tone. Agreeable Gray (SW) looked so light on the paint sample but proved to satisfy my need for more light.

Mindful Gray (SW)

Agreeable Gray (SW)

March rolled in and I was still striving for more white in my life! Target came to the rescue as I found the bookcases to flank the fireplace. It must have been meant to be because the bookcases barely fit in the space. Of course I would rather have custom built ones but these satisfied my needs. The mirrors above each do reflect the light from the windows.

I sold the tables that had been stained and added new ones. The sofa table, coffee table, and end tables all have cabinets with windows. I am still not sure of how to decorate inside but have placed the many remotes my husband has accumulated. A win is a win!

Spring arrived finally! When the days warmed and the time to think of outdoor projects arrived, I was singing on the inside! Ferns are my favorite plant to begin the summer planting season.

The dogwood trees blossomed and all was right in my world!

May arrived and we traveled to Vegas. Talk about pretty decor--is a moment in time of enjoying the beauty of nature. Vegas is a wonderland!

The final change to our living room was the addition of a white slipcovered sofa and loveseat. I researched the pros and cons of white but I only read of pros. Since they were slipcovered it was possible to wash them as needed. After living with the Ikea Ektorp set for six months I can totally agree. It isn't a pain to wash them and it gives such a feeling of lounging on CLEAN furniture. The smell is also wonderful--especially since our schnauzer thinks they are his sofa too!

The last small changes to the house this year were both in the kitchen. A glass front corner cabinet became a black hole because there was no light and the inside of the cabinet hadn't been painted. I painted the inside of that and also changed the breakfront from dark wood to the same West Highland (SW) color of the cabinets. I think my home has been transformed by the use of paint from dark and dreary to a warm and sunny white!

All in all, my trip down memory lane for 2016 has been a refreshing one!