{Color Therapy} Tapestry Beige
I love when I find out what paint color is on the walls in a room that I like (ok, love). And before you start dozing off because it says “Beige” in the title, check out these photos of Benjamin Moore’s OC-32 Tapestry Beige.
It’s an off-white on the gray-green side. I love how it looks with the white trim, green bench, brown frames and dark floors.
The lighting/photo editing is obviously different in both of these photos, but you can still tell that it is a color that goes with anything.
I absolutely love the color scheme. Grays, ivories, greens and dark woods are my absolute fav. I’m not sure if this room (below) is the same color, but it looks like it might be, and it’s from the same house. *Update from the designer: it is the same color!
It reads white/ivory/light, but not boring at all. My kind of beige. I definitely tend toward the gray side of off-white. Perfection.
I absolutely love this designer’s work. Click along for more. {All images copyright Erika of Urban Grace Interiors, via Urban Grace Interiors and My Home Ideas.}
Read MoreMy Tree Trimming Trick!
Is ribbon! I have used the same red ribbon on my tree year after year for about 5 years now and I never get tired of how it looks. I also used to use a white one with a red, glittery candy cane pattern but lately I’ve stuck to the solid for a more sophisticated look. Get the thick, wired stuff (ours is from Costco) and weave different lengths of pieces around the tree on top of the branches. Ours don’t go in the back, and shorter lengths of ribbon at the top, longer on the bottom. You’ll see in my pics…this one is from Christmas 2005 in an old rental we used to live in, with our ‘oldest’ children…I love how we left the TV on in the background, ha! And trying to snap this picture was quite a task (1…using a timer, and 2…trying to get both dogs to look at the camera. Fun times!). But anyway, see the ribbon in the tree?
And here is this year’s tree! Same ribbon! Just make sure a piece of it isn’t falling off when you take your picture! Geez…
Do you have any year-after-year tree-trimming tricks? Please share!!
xo, L.
Read MoreDear Santa…
I believe in you. So can you please wrap this up and put it under the tree for me? Thanks! Love, Lindsay.
This is seriously the cheapest dishwasher on the Home Depot website. I figure ANYTHING is better than not having one at this point. Plus the rest of my appliances are white. And at only $219 I’m really hoping Santa can fit it on his sleigh (I know, I know – installation costs money, too, but this is all I want!).
I even know where it should go.
I hate those 2 cabinet doors. They are a shoddy after-thought and it turns my kitchen into a joke! It’s already tiny, yes, and I will lose that cabinet space, but that is something I am willing to sacrifice at this point. Did I mention that I hate doing dishes by hand? Ugh. Uuuuugggghhhh.
From afar it might look like it matches the rest of the cabinetry, but upon closer inspection you’ll see how weird my kitchen is. The inside edges of the cabinets aren’t routed and they don’t close very well.
See, here is what I think happened. During the last countertop update, whoever was doing it decided to scoot the fridge over to the right and add another cabinet and more countertop space. From who-knows-where they got a cabinet door, and they just ripped it in half to make 2 doors. And then the (fake) drawer panel came from somewhere else, but instead of ripping 1 piece into 2, they glued 2 pieces together to make 1 fake drawer. Look close and you’ll see what I mean. It isn’t even centered! Ugh. And now that they scooted the fridge to the right, it created this.
So here’s the plan…insert dishwasher ASAP. Eventually, when replacing the ‘awesome’ faux blonde wood countertop, remove current bar and build new ‘L’ shaped kitchen in former dining room (below, along striped wall, and coming out across the front of the picture), complete with a new bar.
During that kitchen renovation, bump back laundry room wall into garage to add even more cabinet space (on the left), and move fridge from it’s current location to laundry room. We would put it on the opposite wall (left side) but I think we’ll have to keep it on the right for water and plumbing purposes. That will get rid of ugly cabinets there but keep it right off kitchen. Currently we keep the trash can in there (and it hides the water heater), but I’d want a nice pantry and trash/recycling center in the new cabinets on the left. We might open up that wall to make it a more seamless transition, but it all depends on cost.
And what will go in the fridge’s current location? Glad you asked! Well, I would extend the countertop out to match up with the soffitt, and then either leave nothing there, or add a tall, skinny wine cabinet or something. There’s only a little more than a foot from the right edge of the soffitt to the sliding glass door, but something might have to go there!
So although I’d be losing valuable real estate in cabinet space right now, I’m thinking an inexpensive IKEA island in the old dining area will do for the meantime. Oh, the sacrifices you have to make as a homeowner…
And if you’re like me and have strange little shoddy DIY’s around your house, please share so I don’t feel so bad. Thanks!
xo, L.
The Big Reveal
Wow…have you missed me? If you’re reading this, I guess it means you might! I have been working my fanny off, but am able to spend a little more time blogging today, and I finally took all sorts of photos to share! So I have to say that I am LOVING our new set-up. I hope our pool table is enjoying his freezing cold new home in the garage, because I don’t think he can come back. Sorry, dude. Especially now that we have a giant new dining room table that has taken his place! A F-R-E-E table at that. It was just sitting in the barn out at the ranch (my in-law’s ranch). And I hope she loves her new home (yes, she’s a she!), because if so, the feeling is mutual! Plus with the whole house (inside and outside) decorated for Christmas I am finally able to relax in here and enjoy my home! Isn’t that the best?
I haven’t really posted any new updates on my living room in a long time (it was never my favorite room in the house), but we’ve inherited a lot of free furniture (my favorite kind!) and accessories that I get to borrow for now (more on that later) so it is much more pulled together, which makes me happy. Not my dream living room, but definitely one that makes me happy. So here is an old photo of the living room, from last February, which is the last time I took photos of it.
And here it is today, after the big switcheroo and Christmas decorating has been all done! So here are the photos, in their un-edited glory (wayyy too many for me to have enough patience to edit, plus I just want to get them to you!). Enjoy!
This end is where the pool table used to be (hallelujah!), and it is now the living room.
And this end is where the living room furniture used to sit, so it is now the dining room. With a real table that will allow us to have more than 2 guests!
Now with the lights on…(Glenn wouldn’t get out of my shot, hehe). He’s enjoying the new space, too.
Instant dining room!
But now my ‘original’ dining room, which I loved as it was but it was just a little cramped, is now a sad little nook again. Someday we plan to extend the kitchen out there for additional countertop and cabinet space, which will help so much with our tiny little kitchen.
Before…
Today…home to dog beds and high chair.
I can just see an ‘L’ shaped kitchen extension going in there. Okay, back to the living room…husband included.
And the funny thing is, rearranging really breathes new life into furniture for me. I had stuffed my black cheapie coffee table into a corner in the old arrangement (because I didn’t like it) but now it fits here and I like it again. And I was also not too happy with my curtains in the other arrangement, but now I like them again! Before it was because they were stuck behind the sofa and behind a cedar chest on the other window, but now they have space to hang and be shown and just be how they’re meant to be! Not hidden. I like it.
Boy Scout wreath…complete with our little hanging puppet, and bow that is falling apart, hung on a Wal-Mart wreath hanger. It smells very good, though.
Dog’s stockings…hung on the metal sun, which I think is going to be moved to the backyard come spring. I have big plans for that ‘new’ dining room wall!
And our stockings (a la Pottery Barn)…hung on the baby hearth gate.
Did I mention that I love my new table and benches? I do. They just need a little TLC after being out in the barn for a few months.
My house is full of borrowed accessories right now (via my sister-in-law). Her stuff is in storage until they find a new house (they’re staying out at ‘the ranch’ for now), so I get to babysit. And I’m really going to miss them when they’re gone, and by ‘them’ I mean the faux orchids, not my sister-in-law (they’re not going anywhere!).
We’ve even decorated the outside (and have gotten a couple of honks of approval – we live on the highway and are the only house that’s all lit up!). Now, I want to say that we’ve never been on of ‘those people’ with blow-up Christmas characters, but at $20 a piece at Wal-Mart last weekend, we just couldn’t resist. Because Harper would love them, of course.
Maybe tonight I’ll take a night shot for the blog.
And even though it is still technically fall, winter has arrived in Likely. I can’t wait to let Harper go play in it, but she has to get over her cold first! She’s excited!
So I’m dying to know…should we bring the pool table back or is the new living room better? Do tell! And what do you think of our Christmas decor? I always miss it when it’s gone! xo, L.
Read MoreIt’s an Etsy Christmas!
Just had to share this gift guide from Etsy. Seriously…go check it out. Majorly cute stuff to deck your halls in the handmade-way!
If you don’t subscribe to Etsy’s newsletter, click over and sign up NOW! I get goodies like these sent straight to my inbox daily!
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About Me
I'm an interior designer and a draftsperson, but I live in the country. I like it that way. I'm also a firefighter's wife, mom to 2 cute kids, and a homeowner and I like that even better. But right after that is a pretty and affordable space...and I mean a REALLY affordable space. Because I believe good design can be for EVERYONE!
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