Painting and Needing Advice

When the floor went in, I had to empty the bookshelves, tabletops, buffet, etc so we could move the furniture out of the way.

Before the carpet was removed: Now there's no red cube ottoman,
dog kennel is out; just the basic furniture left.

I have to admit I'm liking the pared down look...so much so that I haven't really put anything back (ok, I might be busy painting the baseboards)!

But one thing I noticed was how tired the color looked on the lower part of the walls in the entry and dining room

Color is called "Coconut Husk" It's a brown green. And I'm so over it!

and the whole kitchen.

This is a sage green. It's lighter than what's in the dining room

(Oh, the floors in here are still tile).

It's like, so yesterday! I want to change it but the question is to what? Grey doesn't work, otherwise I'd have the perfect color to use. I don't want yellowy colors (Can you say "Golden Oak"?). And no, I'm not going to paint the cabinets (I wish I'd stained them darker back when we redid this kitchen) although it would make my choices easier.

So I'm coming today to ask for your help...what color/colors do you think I should try? Give me some ideas - please help!

I am definitely going to be purging all the stuff I removed. I want to keep this looking nice and clean looking - not to mention, we don't need all that stuff!

Thank you in advance for your suggestions! I'll definitely check each one out in the space to see how it looks.

Hope you have a great 4th of July. My sweetie and I are off to go on an anniversary trip. 35 years and he's still the one! 😘

from our 30th anniversary

Last year right after our 34th in Cape Cod

Having fun together at Halloween last year

Here's to many, many more years together!

hugs,
Cecilia

Dreaming of an Office/Library Space

Our living room at the farm is challenging - it's small...cozy.That's not a bad thing really. But, with two armchairs and a loveseat, it feels crowded. Sure we could get rid of some furniture. Yet again, we'd really like for people to have places to sit when they visit. And a full sized sofa would really overwhelm the space. Plus it has an awkward layout with the fireplace angled on the wall.

A good solution would be to close in the garage and use it as the living room. It would definitely give us more space. It already has paneling on the walls (it will need to be painted) and two nice windows.

Then the current living room with the fireplace can become Bruce's office with my dream feature - a library spot. Since Bruce already has a mission style desk and shelf, I can envision this space with a western flavor. Here's what I'm thinking:

Mission style furniture

source

(We'd add more shelving along the wall for all our books. Plus, I'd leave an armchair in there by the fireplace for a cozy reading spot. Perfection!)

Bruce has a really cool Texas map he bought from a artist. It's big and will make an nice focal point. (Sorry for the awful picture - I couldn't get a good one of it)

I would use western accents I already have like my grandfather's saddle,

 a cowhide rug,

and cowboy boots.

Here, I placed my boots on the fireplace and styled them for the 4th of July.

I added a flag, wooden Uncle Sam with a rusty star, windmill painting, antlers and a shooting star garland.

The boots add the perfect touch, don't you think? If you're wanting a pair for yourself, you can find some nice ones here.

The office/library is just a dream for now. Once we move to the farm full-time, we can make it a reality. Then you'll find me snuggled up by the fireplace in my comfy chair, enjoying a good book.

Until next time,

Getting New Floors At The City House

We're updating things at the city house that need it. We'll be painting the outside soon and I want to repaint the kitchen (I've loved the green, but it looks tired - or I'm tired of it).

kitchen shortly after adding tile floors. Love the green color but it's time to change it 

It's a wonderful house - 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Open living and dining rooms. Lots of windows, lots of light. I fell in love with it the moment I walked in. It had everything we were looking for at that time - perfect for our young family. I knew it was a house we could stay in a long, long time.

Not long after we bought it - I added the flowerbeds along the driveway and around the trees

Over the years, we've made the house our own - took wallpaper off, put wallpaper up, painted, redid the kitchen (new countertops, appliances, tile floor), master bathroom, added tile to both bathrooms, painted again. We took out the dining room windows and put in french doors and a small deck. We took out the rose carpet and put in berber carpet in a nice neutral color.

new french doors - back when we used the dining room for an office

a look at the berber carpet 

And now we have replaced the carpet in the dining and living rooms plus the entryway with wood-look laminate flooring. It's going to be a big change and I am so excited! With two big dogs, it will be so much easier to keep clean. Here are some before photos:

old tile in entry and carpet

looking toward the kitchen and entry: dining room on left, living room to the right

dining room

living room with Herbie and Buddy

Living room looking down hall towards the spare bedrooms

looking towards the master bedroom and dining room

We picked one that is a medium brown called toffee. It's beautiful. Now that it's down, I'm giving all the trim a fresh coat of paint in antique white not (cough) bright white. I might have painted all the shoe molding bright white before I realized all the trim is actually off-white. Oh well. On the bright side, it will have an extra coat of paint on it. That's good, right?

I'll be back to share a final reveal when the trim is done and the furniture is back in place. I'm pretty sure I'll be paring down the amount of stuff that goes back into those spaces. Here's a little sneak peak  until then. I just wish we'd done this two years ago!

It's just beautiful!

Here it is going in:

Progress!

Left the carpet in the bedrooms

Please come back on Wednesday when I'll be sharing my ideas on an office space for Bruce at the farm. It's going to include something I always wanted since I was a child.

hugs

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Making Progress

Things are growing and filling in the flowerbeds at the farm. This is the back bed along garage. The mint is going crazy! The green swimming pool is for the dogs to cool off in 😊

Another view of the back bed - the edging I found buried under the dirt by the driveway!

Another view further back - of the driveway bed (on the right). Farm Road sign is from Canton. I'm thinking about changing the "1" into a "B" so it says "Farm Road B" for the B Farm, of course!

Lantanas in bloom

The studio has been wired and insulation installed

The floor needs to be redone where the workbench is going plus Bruce needs to build a big door to go between the studio and workbench area.

The fire pit has been redone (it was torn up for brick to use for the walkway to the studio)😀

rebuild in progress!

The bees are thriving:

And mowing happens at the "Spot" and reception areas to groom the grounds every.single.time.we're. there!

Reception tent going on the left side of the fence line

Things are progressing nicely and everything should look nice in October for the wedding. It's a happy time for us as we prepare and get things ready.

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In other news, we got a new refrigerator. This one is nice and big! The smaller one is out in the garage to be used to store drinks and just have extra space when needed. We had a moment of panic when we got up to the farm and found the small one was warm inside. Fortunately, it only needed defrosting but we ended up losing everything inside of it. I decided to see it as an opportunity to clean it out. ha.

I even had time for a quick makeover of the metal chairs I picked up in Canton. They will be great around the fire pit!

Sorry for the less than great picture. I was in a hurry to take it before we left to come back to the city. They are super comfy! My grandparents had similar ones on their back porch. So these bring back happy memories too!

Then here at the city house, we are finally replacing the carpet in the living and dining rooms with laminate flooring. I'm so thrilled! With the dogs keeping the carpet looking nice has been a challenge. It goes in this Friday. Whoop!

It's going to look great and should help with resale when that time comes. 

Lastly, I continue to enjoy being part of KariAnne's book launch group. Not only is she amazing, but the group is too. In case you're interested in her book, "So Close To Amazing", you can pre-order it here:
https://www.amazon.com/So-Close-Amazing-Learni…/…/1496422015 
"This is a book celebrating the incredible, awesome, special individual within each of us. It’s also a book for anyone who has ever mismatched her shoes or trimmed her own bangs when a professional might have been a better choice or added too much soap to the washer and watched it overflow.

(Not that KariAnne Wood has ever done any of these things.)"

I really think you'll enjoy it! I know I am. 

Until next time!