I began this transition from baby room to big boy space several months ago, but I hit a few road blocks along the way.  One of the challenges was finding a proper dresser for my little guy ~ one that provided plenty of storage, complemented the style of his room, and was the proper scale for the wall where it sits.

For months, I’ve had my eye on the IKEA Hemnes dresser in white.  I delayed purchasing it because it’s a two hour round trip to the closest IKEA, and it’s $300 buckaroos, plus California state tax, plus assembly.  Grrrr.  Delay. Delay. Delay. 

So when I spied a listing for an Hemnes dresser on Craiglist last week for sale by a couple in my hometown for half the retail price, I scooped it up.  Only problem ~ it was black.  Not that I don’t like black furniture, but it was too dark for the little lad’s room. 

So I painted it.  Then added some blue stripey trim around the drawers just for fun. 

Before:

After:

Perfect !

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Picasso went through his monochromatic blue period ~ clearly, I am going through my own blue phase.  I went through my first blue period when I was first married over ten years ago, but it was more of a cobalt blue fixation back then.  Then I rejected blue altogether and banished it from my house.   Blue was forbidden for years!  But being a fickle and forgetful gal, I’ve returned to yet another blue and white phase, this time I’m drawn to soft gray blues, robin’s egg blue, soft turquoise, and intense hues like peacock blue.   

My home office?  My living room?  My master bathroom?  Yep, they’re mostly blue.  I make no apologies, I happen to find the shade is extremely calming, and complements just about everything.  Think about it.  Soft blue works with chocolate brown, red, pink, orange, gray, green, white, everything !  So I prefer it over other colors, as long as it has plenty of gray in it. 

Now I’ve gone and saturated the family room with blue too, but more by force than by choice.  Allow me to explain.   

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I can’t quite put my finger on it.  I think my love affair with all things French may have begun when I was younger when I watched Gene Kelly in ‘An American in Paris’.  

Perhaps it was when I lost myself in Peter Mayle’s novel ‘A Year in Provence’ that I devoured many years ago. 

Most certainly, my l’amour was made permanent when I took my first trip to Paris in 1998. 

Whenever it happened, it happened, and my decorating style was forever altered.  I can’t help myself ~ I’m a self professed Francophile.

Despite my love of traditional French decor, I do like to inject a little modern flair, and the new mirror and trellis pattern rug in the living room certainly help.

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Awhile back, it was my grand idea idea to spruce up the living room walls with some traditional panel and picture frame wainscoting – in fact, it was my specific “please, oh please, honey can we please” request for Mother’s Day.  I managed to catch the Mister at a weak moment, and with a little charm and a lot of begging, he agreed to take on this project. 

We started our adventures in wainscoting back in May, and over the course of several weekends, we were finally able to finish, whew ! (dramatically swiping hand across brow)  There was some intense labor involved, some minor curse words muttered, a few panel do overs, plenty of cutting, a whole lotta caulking and spackling, and then there was all that priming and painting. 

I need to sit down, that was exhausting. 

Here’s the first peek:

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