No one who walks into our home can say I'm a master decorator. I don't have an eye for color. For instance, to me, light sky blue is light sky blue. But my friend tells me it isn't that at all, it has hints of soft gray that are actually more relaxing than the blue I was considering.
Let me tell you what I have, and maybe you could help. We have a rather large house, with a basement that is as large as the upstairs. We've left it pretty much a storage area until recently, when we hired someone to care for Mom eight hours a day. She does wonderfully, but Mom always wants to know where I am, and so there we all end up in the same room together, the four of us, even, when Mel's home, because he wants to spend time with me, too. But a crowd of people in our cluttered unfinished office is not conducive to focused writing--we moved everything in there from the front room so Mom's familiar furniture could surround her and make her feel more at home. We realized we were in desperate need of another place where I could write in silence and isolation.
But for me it has to be pretty. Years ago we went to a local paint store and purchased a mural that would fit on one of the walls in our selected room. It's also our tornado shelter, meaning no windows. I need light. The room is huge, about 18 x 15, and we'll place the mural on the far wall. It's a mural of a lake scene in the woods, so we'll need to paint the rest of the walls the sort of blue that's in the mural. That much I've figured out. I'd like to take the hideous ceiling panels out and paint them blue, then sponge white for clouds, then paint the holders a sort of wooden brown or dark silver to make it look like the skylights are supported by wood or strong bars. Mel said something about curtains on either side of the mural. Since the whole room is concrete and dark paneling, we would need to paint the concrete floor and the paneling the right color of blue.
I have no idea how to go about any of this. You girls are a special group of very creative people. If you have any idea what I'm talking about and can give me some suggestions, hints, or even a dire warning not to do what I'm planning to do, please let me know? This will be my place for writing, relaxing, maybe even a place for Mel and me to share alone time without waking Mom when she's trying to rest. Any help? If you can come up with something that will really make this underground room shine, I'd be forever grateful!
Remember, I'm waiting for some answers. I'll even take pictures after it's all finished and hope it turns out to be as beautiful as I dream for it to be.
Much Love,
Cheryl
(aka Hannah Alexander)
Labels: colors and murals, decorating, lack of decorating skills
I'm no designer. Lately I've been pouring over color combinations because I want to redo my living and dining rooms. I am thinking of doing something with gold and punches of red like The Lightkeeper's Ball. The cover of this book is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, but I've been really blessed to have a fabulous team at Thomas Nelson work on my covers. ALL of the Lightkeeper books have had terrific covers. In fact, the first two are finalists for best historical cover over at Cover Cafe. I'd love for you to go vote
here!
But back to color in general. I have this great book called Can't Fail Color Schemes by Amy Wax. I got it at Lowe's and it's got terrific inspiration in it. But I'm finding it hard to make up my mind! I have a Victorian with gorgeous red oak woodwork but all the old houses I see have painted woodwork. I love the look of saturated color on the walls against wide white woodwork but it would be sacrilege to paint this gorgeous old woodwork. Any advice for me? I have all the rooms wallpapered right now but I'm tired of it. I want to do something with a mission style and great paint colors.
How about you? Do you have a favorite color scheme? And what colors go great with stained oak?
Don't forget to go vote for your favorite cover!
Labels: color schemes, decorating, The Lightkeeper's Ball, victorian house
I'm addicted to HGTV, and it's not just me. Millions tune in and watch people buy houses, fix up houses, get decorating tips. My favorite is Househunters. Is it because we like a peek at other people's lives or is that we like to imagine ourselves in that position? Whichever it is, that's kind of what we do as readers too. We put ourselves in the homeowners shoes and then take those things we learn and apply them to our lives.
Right now, I'm eyeing my dining and living rooms. I want to strip off the wallpaper and go with paint, even though this old Victorian seemed to cry out for wallpaper. My tastes have changed. I even look at the fabulous red oak woodwork and imagine what the decor would look like painted. But I can't bring myself to commit such sacrilege. LOL But I CAN imagine replacing it with boards I could paint without guilt. :) Not sure what I'm doing to do yet but I want to go with something traditional, just not Victorian. I'm tired of the busyness of Victorian. I even would like to see a gray green on the walls when I've always been a blue and yellow sort of girl.
How about you? Have your tastes changed since you decorated your home? If you could change whatever you wanted in your home, what would it be? And is it a surprise to you that you've changed so much?
Labels: decorating, HGTV
No one who walks into our home can say I'm a master decorator. I don't have an eye for color. For instance, to me, light sky blue is light sky blue. But my friend tells me it isn't that at all, it has hints of soft gray that are actually more relaxing than the blue I was considering.
Delicious
I'm no designer. Lately I've been pouring over color combinations because I want to redo my living and dining rooms. I am thinking of doing something with gold and punches of red like The Lightkeeper's Ball. The cover of this book is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, but I've been really blessed to have a fabulous team at Thomas Nelson work on my covers. ALL of the Lightkeeper books have had terrific covers. In fact, the first two are finalists for best historical cover over at Cover Cafe. I'd love for you to go vote here!
I'm addicted to HGTV, and it's not just me. Millions tune in and watch people buy houses, fix up houses, get decorating tips. My favorite is Househunters. Is it because we like a peek at other people's lives or is that we like to imagine ourselves in that position? Whichever it is, that's kind of what we do as readers too. We put ourselves in the homeowners shoes and then take those things we learn and apply them to our lives.
