wallpaper download

it's been a long time since i flipped through a copy of architectural digest and felt inspired. several weeks ago, i was at the doctors office with my daughter, and picked up the july issue and was STUNNED at the transformation that margaret russell has made to the magazine. (a fact that i failed to realize until janell left a comment on my post here.)

margaret left elle decor to become editor at architectural digest, and i know i was not alone in thinking..."what is she THINKING?!" 

well, she is a true genius. she has turned what was (at least in my mind) an 150 page advertisement with a few pictures of obscenely expensive european estates and mega mansions into a streamlined, sophisticated display of jaw-dropping interior design.

feast your eyes:

thank you ms. russell. if i was young and daring, i would move to new york and beg to be your intern/assistant/errand girl. unfortunately, i am only sometimes daring and definitely verging on...NOT young.

This room is truly beautiful with it's venetian mirror and beautiful lighting...I love the idea of a chair in a children's room and the little children's table and chairs are to die for, such a pretty room it even has a plant. Wishing you all a very special day xx

the new antoinette line from ballard designs comes in an array or great colors...15 colors,

to be exact, including some of my favorites:

distressed red

 distressed fog grey

 distressed blue grey

 distressed grey

 ochre brown

a client of mine recently ordered the sideboard in grey for her family room. it is a grey wash over wood and is distressed, and the inside is a creamy white.

here is what it will look like in her space...

image via Tumblr

i had a lot of plans for the last 6 weeks of my life.

i was going to be completely unpacked by last week.

this week, all the rooms i planned on painting were going to be painted.

i was going to keep up with the laundry and the housekeeping like i was june cleaver.

i was also going to lose 10 pounds and fly to the moon...ok, not really. but that's about how absurd those "goals" seem to me now.

we have been in our new house for a month now, and the boxes in the garage are still at shoulder level. i would feel so much better if they were at waist level, but hey...that's life, right? not a day goes by where i don't ask myself, or get asked by someone in my family, "where's my---------?" what ever it happens to be... i have NO idea. maybe i'll know by christmas.

i wanted to give you a glimpse of the floor plan of the house...or, at least the rooms that i will be trying to tackle first. i can't find my scanner , so excuse the lousy iphone photo. (proof of how bad the unpacking situation is...i can't find a scanner/printer!?)
the rooms that i am going to focus on first are the library, my office, and grady's room.
first priority: the library.
***

i want this room to be a library. *duh. where most of our books are stored.
a sitting room.
a room where my kids can do their homework, we can sit and talk, entertain a guest or two,
play a board game, and curl up with a book.

i originally envisioned my leather sofa, centered on the back wall, flanked by our two large black bookcases. i wanted to add some sconces to the sides of the bookcases, put my two metal ottomans in front of the sofa, and use temporary wallpaper on the wall space in between the bookcases. it was going to be spectacular, y'all.

fast forward to moving day, and i realized that there were these DUMB plant ledges on the top of the right and entry wall. (we had only been in the house twice before we moved in, and i failed to notice this detail.) UGH. that totally threw off my plan! how could i not have spotted those? so, the bookcases could NOT fit along the right wall OR placed symmetrically along the back wall. they also can't be placed on either side of the entry. what a bummer, right?

those bookcases HAVE to either go in this room, or my office. since my office (the room to the left of the entry) is rather small and awkward, i felt the bookcases would overwhelm them. so, i had to figure out a way to use them in this room. the solution i came up with was to place them on either side of the window. this will add some symmetry and visually balance the visual weight of the bookcases.

another challenge is the corner bookcases that we had custom-built for the dining room/library in house #5. this room is LITERALLY the only room in the entire house where these bookcases will fit. it was either put them in here, or put them in the garage. as you can see from my terrible pictures below, they are in front of a small window. i am planning on completely ignoring this window by covering it up with art or a mirror. it doesn't really add anything to to room, and since part of it was already covered up, i figured i would just pretend that it doesn't exist. i realize that this is a huge decorating sin to some people, but it's my house, and i can commit all the sins i want. (insert evil laughter.)

so, here is the revised plan/vision:

remember my thrift store chairs?

i spent $60 on the pair, and they have been sitting on my garage for the last 2 years. i want to paint them, recover them, and place them in front of the large window with a table (probably my aluminum one) in between. the octagonal table (a hand me down from my parents) will be placed about where it is now...maybe shifted towards the bookcases a tad. i would like to have at least two chairs around this table, (i love these, but they are way out of my budget!) and possibly some small stools that can be used for extra seating of ottomans for the thrift store chairs. this will be the homework/game table.

the corner bookcases need to be painted, i just can't figure out what color yet. painted white? the same color as the walls? i can't make up my mind. i also have a few other chairs floating around my house that i would need to recover and possibly place in the corner where the bookcases end. i would love to see the chair that was in my last family room in here. it's comfy, and totally due for an upholstery job, as it is just over 9 years old, and has desitin and toothpaste smeared all over the back of it. (the product of one very mischievous and curious 2 year old boy named grady.)

the cow hide rug will stay. i originally had it my son's room in house #4, but haven't had a place for it in the last 5 years. i was excited to see it come out of storage.

as far as colors...

painting the bookcases is a NO. they are laminate, and my husband had them custom built for his office once-upon-a-time ago, and he is very attached to them and does NOT want them painted. (see, even i lose some battles in my own house!) so, i have these two, big black hulking bookcases i have to deal with. in my last house, i painted the walls black to make the bookcases blend in. i love the way it looked, but i would like to try something else this time around. (or maybe i don't? i don't know...) i want to room to feel cozy and intimate, and have considered painting the walls a dark grey, a deep blue, or just a "better" neutral than they are now.

up first...deciding what color to paint the corner bookcases. i can't put the shelves in and unpack the books until i have figured out what to do.

***

please let me know. as you can tell, i am feeling a bit overwhelmed, and i change my mind about this at least 5 times a day.  any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! 

have a great weekend!

image via Tumblr