Liquid Paper

i was not scared a bit

I found a mouse in our house last night. Specifically, in the big laundry sink in our basement. I have no idea how he got in there but he sure couldn't get out. Mark would want me to tell you that I might have freaked a little at first. Here's what happened: I was loading clothes into the washer and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small something running around in a circle in the sink. Gulp. I froze --  staring at the sink. You know, I think that the whole fear of mice thing for me is more of a "Why is something moving when I am in a room filled with inanimate objects?" type of thing. I mean seriously people. Nothing should be moving! I ran upstairs and hollered for Mark. After we spent a minute looking for the proper receptacle (turns out a watering pitcher was perfect), he scooped him right up. It also turns out that the proper thing to do once you've caught your first house mouse is to have an impromptu photo shoot starring said mouse. He was so teeny. The photos make him look gray, his fur was almost black on top. And although he was tiny and cute, I really hope he doesn't come back. 

The End

Item no.1 on the christmas list

I am no good at making a Christmas list. I always put it off. This year was no exception. There was only one sure thing... the yellow + gray Daydream wallpaper by Julia Rothman. It was a tough decision, so many lovely color options, but I persevered. Whew. Almost went with the purple + gray, but I wanted something with more contrast since our walls are gray. I'm only getting one roll and plan to frame big pieces of the paper. I'll put them into nice big frames which I'll paint white. At least that's the idea for today. It may change. Maybe.

Wallpaper For Me

I was on ebay the other day and found the perfect wallpaper for our foyer. I ordered a sample and as soon as it arrived Mark and I agreed that it is perfect! You can't tell from this image, but the lighter gray is quite silvery. Now... if I only knew how to hang wallpaper I could actually put it up on the walls. 

Catch The Falling Leaves

I tried to catch the yellow leaves before they're gone. As much as I love living in a Winter wonderland, I'm no where near ready for Fall to end. It has been a beautiful season this year. So much color, so many long warm days and crisp cool nights.

Another lovely thing that happened this Fall: the mod spoons fabric I got from A Little Hut's etsy shop. Thank you Patricia! I love it and am trying it out as well as testing the Orla fabric I picked up last Summer on my travels. The fabrics are just wrapped around the pillows to give me an idea of how they'd look. I only have one meter of that pear print oilcloth (why-oh-why didn't I buy more) so I'm carefully considering how best to use it. 

Here's a view of the living room and sunroom, looking from the dining room through the living room. It's sort of the opposite view from what I've shown before. Sigh. We have so many boxes that are full and in need of unpacking. So it should come as no surprise that I spend 99% of my time these days in the rooms that are less, how shall I put this? The rooms that are less needy. See it bigger here.

Decorating For The Season

Our Front Steps (I didn't add the leaves, they fell from the trees.)

Dining Room Table

So I put them next to each other

I'm seriously obsessed with the portraits in this book + with plants that have deep purple leaves. The former started last Winter when I watched this documentary about Tina Barney. That film included footage from some of the photo shoots in the book. Begin obsession here. Right away I did a quick internet search and found that a copy of The Europeans was going to be a serious splurge. So I waited. And waited. And every once-in-a-while I'd do another search. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I found a secondhand copy on ebay for a steal. Nice. And the plants? Oh, I discovered a long time ago -- back when we lived in Texas -- that succulents were the perfect specimen for a poor plant caregiver such as myself. They thrive in almost any amount of light, require infrequent watering and look great alone or grouped together. Double nice. If you've been around here for even a short time, you probably remember how happy I was when I bought the Zwartkop. Well, multiply that times ten to describe how I felt when I spotted this Paddle Plant. It was love at first sight. When viewed from above, I think it looks like a giant rose.

Plus Two

We're making interior progress!

+ Sofa

+ Dining Table

This week I hope to hang some pictures and make a few throw pillows. 

Update:

Thanks for the heads up about the link not working properly Erin. Here's a new one, if you'd like to see this picture bigger! Hopefully it works a little better.

Homecrest

It all started with the chair that Mark got me for my birthday. It was made by a company called Homecrest in Wadena, MN. We're guessing that it was made sometime in the mid 50s to early 60s. Apparently, the company is still in business today -- making outdoor furniture. (This is a camera phone photo so it's a little grainy.)

A couple of weeks ago Mark and I were shop-hopping in St. Paul, MN and spotted three more of the same chairs (sans arms) sitting out front at Pete's shop. We snapped up all three for less than half of what we paid for the first chair! Nice. Mark found the small table at Swank Retro in St. Paul and I got the danish slatted bench from craigslist in Minneapolis. 

Here's a shot of my chair next to one of the new ones -- same back and leg construction. By the way, these are the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in. Seriously. Do you like the messy corner in the background. Mark said I had to get rid of the "piles of blankets and stuff." Because it looks cheap. Or was it messy? (I'm sure he'll remember.) So I cleaned up a bit in anticipation of the new furniture that will be arriving sometime this evening.

Part of the reason we got such a good deal on them is because the vinyl on all three chairs is damaged. We spent last Saturday afternoon searching out fabrics to get them recovered. Mark wants one (a.k.a. "his" chair) to be redone in tweed -- some sort of a brown/caramel hue. The other two will most likely be redone as a pair in a grey plaid. Something like the sample you see on this red/orange chair. Mark thinks this fabric is too soft and will pill. I, typically, am in love with it and stubbornly want it even more because: 

a) He said I should consider a different one.  

b) I am a child. I don't want something until you say I can't have it. 

c) I really do think it is PERFECT with our new wall color. No, really, I do. 

Yeah, pretty typical. 

QUESTION:

The fabric I want is called Lanesboro in Pine by Robert Allen. The fabric content is 70% ACRYLIC and 30% COTTON. Does anyone out there have experience? What do you think? Will it stand up to some wear. We don't have any kids and will probably sit on them rarely.  

Mmm. I love how the red/orange color looks against our walls. I really wish the two red chairs didn't need to be recovered. To console myself, I'm determined to incorporate that color somewhere in the room. I also like the original color of the yellow/green one too. But it's got damage too and I'm okay with having it done to go with our color scheme.

Assembling

First, thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your comments, ideas and suggestions about the fireplace dilemma. You're the best! I figured it would be a good exercise to write about my decorating dilemmas here, but, I honestly didn't think anyone would be very interested. So thanks all. I really appreciate each and every comment. In fact, I'm still going through all of them so if you haven't chimed in yet and want to -- please do! Later this week, when I have more time, I'm going to tally up all of your votes and see what the results are. I'm so curious!

***

Yesterday I headed over to the Farmer's Market with my new friend Julia (hello!) and returned home with mums for the front steps, lots of veggies, fresh eggs, and a half dozen new succulents. This one is an old favorite of mine: it's called a Ghost Plant.

In a move that I would consider typical of my gardening prowess or lack-there-of, I planted the two Zwartkops (pictured below and also known as Black Roses) in plastic planters from the hardware store. Almost immediately, I realized that they were just too small in relation to the scale of the planters. After a quick scramble, I planted and replanted everything into an Ikea bowl and my four stoneware butter crocks. I also added blue-grey stones to cover the top of the soil in each container. The stones were my husband's idea and we picked them up at World Market. Prefect! 

I should also mention that this past Monday the electrician came and put up my chandelier. I found it this Summer at a local antiques shop. Yes, it is very sparkly. Yes, normally I adore a simple clean-lined pendant lamp. But, watch out because this Modern/Mid-Century girl (with a dash of Arts & Crafts) needs a bit of elegance and sparkle in her rooms too. You know? 

 

Oh, and have I told you the best part  (I think I did over on flickr, maybe)? Tomorrow our new dining room table arrives! I found it at the Room & Board Outlet store in Minneapolis. Well, actually, I found the table top at the outlet and ordered the base from the store. I got that top for a steal though. Our new dining room is quite large and I decided that a square table was the way to go. How perfect is it that I found a 60"x60" solid cherry wood table top there? Mad perfect. Here's what it looks like now, with chandelier + the new plants. 

Don't be fooled -- there's a mirror in the background so it looks like there are more plants back there. I don't plan to leave them all on the the table permanently. I just enjoyed looking at them all together -- so I could appreciate all of my hard work. 

Speaking of the outlet, did you know that there was only one Room & Board Outlet store? Yep. The one in MInneapolis. And it's only open on weekends -- Saturdays and Sundays. And did you further know that the prices are literally marked down up to 70% or more? Oh, yes. And I was able to hit it two weekends in a row. We made a huge dent in the furniture to do list. Drumroll please... after two years we will have a bed! No more sleeping on a mattress because I can't decide what kind of a headboard/style/finish I want. Hooray! So be watching for many more photos of the house saga to show up on this blog in the future.

An Original Design

I don't think I ever mentioned that we have the original blueprints and construction contract for our house. Or did I? It's pretty cool. At some point when we remodel the kitchen I'd love to use the original design as my inspiration. I probably won't need two flour cupboards, but, who knows? I do love my carbohydrates!

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in.

And below is what it pretty much looks like now. My friend LaDora came up from Tennessee during the Summer to help me settle in while Mark was on the road. We removed the drop ceiling and painted it white. This is only a temporary change until I can do something, read anything, to bring it out of the 80s. After three coats of white paint, the green is gone. But, I discovered that I'm not such a fan of the bright white everything. How much time and effort is too much when you're just waiting until you can remodel? And don't even get me started on the flooring. We hope that there is wood under there, but don't want to tear everything up yet to find out.