Hey all, hope you had a great weekend!  We did a lot of lounging around, but I also took the time to snap a few photos of some of the changes I’ve made to our master bedroom over the last few months.  How about a quick tour?

Me and my mister have gone around and around in our master bedroom, him always representing in the left corner Mr. Traditional Lover of Dark Wood Antiques with me in the right corner as Mrs. Classic White Meets Touches of Modern.  The tricky part has always been how do we find a happy compromise ?  The agreement finally came to this:  If he gets to keep the dark wood antique dressers he’s so fond of, I get to pick the paint colors, fabrics and accessories.  Deal!

We both agree on one thing, we prefer soothing colors in our master. It’s a place to withdraw from the world, catch up on our reading, and on much needed zzzzzs.  I like to keep it in the neutral zone, but then play around with patterns. This year, I added a little bit of graphic, a touch of zebra, and a hint of Ikat in the sophisticated blue grays, taupes, and champagne tones I find so appealing. 

Yes, you can see, I did paint over the trellis wall!  Long story short, I wanted something less olive, much lighter and more gray, plus this Devon mirror and the linens were competing, so we said goodbye to the stenciled trellis wall and replaced it with the focal point mirror over the bed!  You like?

Under the window next to the bed, I tucked the little loveseat that I slipcovered last year in linen.  I found the Worlds Away gold leaf end table at One Kings Lane, and earlier this year wrote about the golden thrift store coffee table.  Ikat pillow from Pottery Barn, lattice accent rug from World Market.  

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Hey all, hope your weekend was swell.  We’re in ‘last week of summer’ mode around here which means relaxation is priority number one until school starts next week.  However I did manage to squeeze in a few front porch improvements over the past few days. 

I’ve long been in love with the idea of painting the front door something other than white.  All the colors of the rainbow seemed too strong and all wrong, and since the stucco is yellowish in tone, gray seemed the logical choice. 

I posed a question on Facebook what color gray I should go with, and many kind readers responded, thank you!  I reasoned it was best to grab those two samples I was considering, and maybe a couple more at my local Benjamin Moore.

Choosing the perfect gray is very challenging – there are so many ways gray can lean based on the formula: lavender, green, blue, or taupe, one must be careful! 

As always, you can’t tell much from a paint deck swatch, you need a real sample viewed in proper light so I picked up four samples from my local BM, and painted big swatches on a poster board to study which would be the best choice.   

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My friends, I’ve been keeping a secret from you.  It took me over five years to finish my dining room, and when I say ‘finish’ I mean install a much needed countertop, a backsplash, and some hardware on the built in cabinets.  Truth be told, there was just a piece of plywood as a countertop sitting in this little nook for many years that I would cover up when company came.  Seasons passed, I procrastinated and procrastinated until just a few weeks ago.  The time had finally come to finish the job.

Here’s a peek of how it looks today.

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I have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to spray paint, especially when I don’t want to spend any money on something new.  Long ago, I accepted the universal truth that paint in all forms is my very best friend.  It is the easiest way to change or reinvent an old thing, and make it something new PDQ. 

Case in point.  I’ve had a 5’ x 7’ outdoor rug for a few years, and the original border used to be deep red.  You’ll spy it in this porch scene and this one too from last year.  

I was over the dark red, and feeling something new, so I perused my spray paint collection and came up with a can of ‘Green Apple’ spray paint leftover from these painted pots, and my old rug was reborn. 

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