Spring Brights

With spring comes the desire to lighten and brighten. I recently made a few minor and inexpensive changes to the master bedroom to bring the glorious sunshine in.

No, I didn't paint the walls a lighter color. No, I didn't rearrange the furniture.
Actually I went shopping! My favorite go-to store to pick up inexpensive curtains is Marshall's or TJMaxx. Since I was not concerned with keeping the room warm or closing out the cold temperatures I picked up white curtains. I think they were $16.99 a pair of panels. I did add two panels on each side of the windows so that was a total of four sets. Not bad in order to lighten the room immediately.

This is the winter look. The drapes I love! They are from World Market and are great fabric and are lined. Perfect for adding warmth to the bedroom. The dark gray background is highlighted with a beige, aqua, and rust colors of decor. It blended well with the beige quilt and gingham duvet picked up from Ikea. Just gazing at this picture I feel cozy.

Yes, a dramatic difference for the light streaming into the room. I did change the quilt to a white one. The aqua colors scream spring. Target supplied the throw pillows. I like the way the solid aqua is picked up in the throw quilt. Stein Mart always has a big selection of quilts in a wide array of colors. Since I wanted this to be used as a throw I decided to pick up a twin size one which also saved me $$$.

Target does have some great pillows if one searches in various sections of their home goods. The flowered ones were part of bedroom accessories. Once I walked past them I was pulled in!

I am satisfied with the bright room. Since it is on the back of the house it gets a short time of morning sun and a short time of afternoon sun. The room isn't large. So I hope to capture all the sunlight and use it to it's fullest.

I will enjoy this look for another few months before transitioning back to the darker decor.

New Floors Nightmare

You know how what one dreams of happening may not be the end result when it comes to home decorating. Our home is a split foyer. The downstairs area consists of a bathroom/laundry room, bedroom, and family room. Since we have lived in this home for thirty-five years it has gone through a couple of changes in the flooring. What was once a dark chocolate carpet was changed to a lighter taupe carpet approximately twenty-five years ago. The carpet remained in the family room. We had changed the laundry room and hallway to ceramic tile--a DIY project. The bedroom had been changed to laminate--another DIY style. 

There was no consistency from the rooms to hallway. Each had different flooring.

Since the carpet had met it's life expectancy many years ago the decision was made to replace with laminate since it sits on a concrete slab. My thought was to just go ahead and change the hallway and bedroom also.

When entering the hallway from the garage now the laminate leads straight into the bedroom. It has a much nicer and cleaner look.

The family room is now fresher and feels much bigger.

But, you think--didn't the title of this post say New Floors Nightmare?

Looks pretty.

Clean. Neat. Eye-candy.

This was not a do it yourself. Yes, we hired it out. I won't mention the big box store that we purchased the flooring from or the company that provided the installation. The floor looks fine. No problem.

The first nightmare was that I was sick the day it began. Think stomach bug and lots of noise in the downstairs drifting straight upstairs. That noise sitting on top of my headache. Since I felt so bad I wasn't checking on the progress or peeking at the beauty. Nope. I was on the couch. Hoping that the whole thing would be finished soon. I should have suspected something when they arrived at nine and left at two. I heard something about needing a tool that they didn't have????

The next day they did arrive around eight and started working immediately. I still wasn't feeling too good but did peek in the bedroom and the baseboards and shoe molding was being placed in the bedroom. Progress! They were beginning on the family room with the actual laminate.

Tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were being predicted. I anticipated they would stop working when the bad weather arrived. Yes it did rain and rain and rain--heavily. Yet, the workers stuck with the project. The ceramic tile had to be taken out of the hall and cut at the laundry room doorway. Think lots of louder noise and my head is still hurting!

At five o'clock the main installer came upstairs and told me I needed to show them where to place the furniture in the family room. We had moved a lot of it before they came. The bedroom furniture had already been placed. Still thinking of nothing but the hope that this would be finished today. Quietness would resume. My downstairs would become part of OUR home again.

Homemade quilts sewed by Mr. Spouse's grandmother screams home and family.

Home, Sweet, Home!

Cozy white farmhouse sofa!

I signed that the project had been completed and off the installers went.

The furniture and flooring looked so nice. I was pleased. I was happy until I took a look at the baseboards and shoe molding. Not one corner was mitered correctly. There were gaps that Mr. Spouse and I could have done much better and we are not the best DIY people. Some of the baseboards were broken. Some were not even completely against the wall.

This is an example of what we had. For some reason they had even beat on our door frames. Holes were knocked in the walls and cracks from removing the old baseboards were our guess as to the damage we had.


I took pictures and sent them to the big box store and the
installer's company. It was decided that they would have to "fix" them. After waiting a few weeks the supervisor was to come WITH the installer to repair, replace, just make them right.

The installer came first and let's just say he wasn't too happy with me! The supervisor arrived later and from the conversation I heard--it sounded like it was just me and my OCD that was the issue. You know, caulking really isn't part of the installation. Mr. Spouse talked with them and stayed most of the time they were here.

Guess you are thinking that it is OK now. Yes, it was...until I began painting the baseboards and shoe molding. Well, the "fix" was to caulk to hide some of the lesser problems. Now, there is paintable caulk and there is silicone. They used silicone. Which has turned a nice shade of gray. And isn't paintable. Now I guess I will sand and sand and sand.

From a distance everything is fine. 

Guest are welcome.

Next time I think DIY sounds like a better plan. 

All in all, it has been a lesson in the fact that hiring a project may not give a better result.

OCD and all,

Spring to the Dining Room

When I think of Spring I see warm and bright pastel colors. I think of birds singing and flowers blooming.

The easiest way to incorporate those things into the dining room is with fabric. The table runner fulfills my vision perfectly. Aqua, yellow, and touches of gray mingled in the tree branches and birds scream spring time!

It only takes a bit of other decor to add a touch of elegance into our lived in and used every day dining room. I am so glad that we don't have a formal dining room that is used only a couple of times a year. Our living area is open space so we we use this at every meal. Years ago the separate kitchen wall was removed. I have memories of the kids gathered around this dining room. Memories are things that become more precious when the kids leave home!

I happened to find napkins at Pier 1 that matched perfectly. My dishes are Mikasa French Countryside. Again we use these dishes every day. No fine china for our family.

The dining table leaf was only placed when the entire family was around. But I decided to put it in a few weeks ago. Without the six chairs on the sides it gave the entire family room a feeling of area. For some reason it "feels" less crowded. That is free real estate.

Of course greenery is always a sign of life. The scales allow me to add seasonal decor. These plant holders say Grow and came from Target's dollar spot last year.

The little bird nest was a recent find at Pier 1 and also has the spring colors of aqua, yellow, and white.

It makes my heart sing to enjoy Spring's New Life!

Time for a meal cooked on the grill. Maybe a steak, baked potato, and fresh salad. Top it off with home-brewed tea.

Home Thoughts. Spring. Warmth. 

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.