Recipe for a Room ~ Step 1

After my last post, I got a e-mail that stated that the post was not a recipe at all, only the ingredients . . . they wanted the instructions, the tips, the budget ect.

Well, I am here to please, so I will attempt to do a few posts that give more info. If this becomes boring, just let me know.

Step 1 *'The feel of the space.' Whenever I have a room to decorate for myself or a client, I start by asking, "How do you want the space to feel?"

Do you see there is a big differences in how a room feels ? This room is very modern. It says , "I am cool and I don't follow the rules." I think the person that lives in this room would be fun to spend some time with . . .

I will ask a client to write 5 words that will describe the way they want the room to feel. Somehow the writing of the words makes them more important. I do this myself, as well. For my guest room (above) I wrote, white, patina, elegant-cottage , feminine and warm. Not a single piece will come into the space that doesn't somehow fall in line with those 5 words. They keep me on track.

As for the budget, I can tell by the rest of the house about how much I can spend. As for myself , I want to go as cheap as I can and still have a room I can be proud of. For this room, I set a $3000.00 budget .

I thought it might be fun to have you send me a picture of a room you want to re-do and we can all help you keep your eye on the prize. (I will pick one space only. e-mail me, with your own photo, if you want to enter the contest.)

My Recipe for a Room

Something old

Something new

Something primitive

And never blue . . .

My guest room . . . Happy Thanksgiving!

Starting a Inspiration File

I found this beautiful photo by John Minshaw a few months back and saved it for my guest room inspiration file. You can find things that inspire you everywhere. Start your own collection and refer back to the things that you love, whenever you start to feel lost.

This too was in my file. My guest room is almost done, and I can't wait to show it to you ! I would have been done sooner, but one has to wait for others to get inspired as well . . .

Can you see the direction I was going in ? Can you guess the style and the colors I used?

Take a look around and really notice what it is that makes your heart sing. We are all designers you know . . .

What are these photos telling you about my guest room? I want to hear your best guess. I can't wait to see who nails it !

Singing Mantels

A few post back , I did one of my "Pet Peeves " post , "The Line Up". . . I showed a few mantels that suffered from the mindless line of objects. This is a big pet peeve of mine, because I just know we can do better. This most important space should be given something interesting to look at. The cream of the crop of our accessories. I am really enjoying this beauty.

Even with no fireplace at all , the mantel will still become the focal of the space, so show some style. Let your creative juices run. I love this little cozy corner, small , interesting and just so perfect.

My own mantel, at Christmas time . . . special because the painting was done by my mom and all the little Santa's have special meaning to me as well, most were gifts from my girls when they were small. ( Note the Santa made from a toilet paper roll, just precious.) So take a look, is your Mantel Singing?

Things That Make You Go

ahhhhh . . .

Cheap Wood Flooring

So here is some of what has been keeping me so busy lately. We have been laying new floors in our home. I did this same floor in my living room 20 years ago and still liked it today, so we finally laid it in the rest of the house . It is not flooring that one can just go and buy, no, it is yellow pine 1x8 plank boards. It's cheap, if you don't count your blood , sweat and tears . . .

The first thing you have to do is sand all the edges and check for bad places. I do this and check each side to make sure we use the best side. Then you want to lay it randomly with floor glue and square head nails. These are the type of nails used in rail roads. I think they are called "concrete nails". They are wedged shaped, and hard to use, but nothing else will do for the look we wanted. You then have to stain them, followed by 3 coats of poly. This is a DIY job, but it is not easy! I just love how they look old and beat up. Everyone loves them and can not believe they only cost 70 cents a ft.

When I Grow Up ...

I'm going to live in one of these . . .

My Daughter's New House

This is part of what I have been up to lately . . . helping my pregnant daughter get settled into her newly built home. The first thing I want to tell you about this home, is that it is not my design, I did make a few suggestions along the way, like the flooring, but it is all " Jim and Lacey".

The kitchen with the concrete counters! The suggestion I made for this room was to add the stove hood, the microwave was over the stove in the blue prints for the house, we moved it over by the frig. The stone back splash, all "Jim and Lacey". Lace wanted the gray cabinets and we all loved that ideal . . .

This is the dining room right off the foyer. The photo does not do this space justice, you can not see the beautiful oil painting or how the natural light comes in so beautifully. The only thing I added to the design of this room was the light fixture . . . the rest all "Jim and Lacey".

Looking down from the staircase landing . . . the library ladder moves across to a very high bookcase, my ideal , just for that extra something to make one go "ahhhh", the stone fireplace was laid stone by stone by my very talented son in law, "Jim". This space is opened to the breakfast room and the kitchen.

The master bedroom is one of the few rooms with very much color at all. I wish you could see the three oil painting over the bed , they are so pretty. I helped Lacey mix and match the bedding, we had so much fun putting the bed together, all the pieces came from Penny's. She is looking for a new lamp, and the rug will come later.

So that is the tour at this time. I will show the baby's room later. I just got the bedding made and it is so cute.

Thanks for forgiving me for my lack of posts lately. I have been so busy with my guest room and laying wood flooring . . . I will soon have lots more to share.

Thanks for waiting

I'm almost done . . .