Haven't lifted a paint brush yet, but I have picked the living room colour. It's Mushroom Risotto (and no, I didn't pick it on an empty stomach!)
Here's the colour chip from the Valspar site. On my screen it looks very gray, but the paint chip I picked up at Ace Hardware is very cafe au lait. I'll try scanning the paint chip later.
I also tried cutting out the Navajo stencil pattern I found, and it works. His Grace tells me that he's tried stenciling before and the paint always got under the stencil and gummed up the works. Any advice from experienced decorators appreciated.
We're leaving on Wednesday for three or four weeks ministry trip to Canada, so it will be quiet on the decorating front. But as soon (yeah, right) as we get back, the decorating will commence! One thing we'll be doing on this trip is arranging for the things we've had stored with family and friends in Canada to be shipped to their new home. Yay! Us and our stuff in the same place. What a concept.
Oh, and I forgot to tell you, the purple couch is gone. His Grace hated it so much - like, as much as I hated the brass and glass - that we craigslisted it out of here. I'll look for a replacement when we get back in June.
and the corner china cabinet that will arrive from Langley later this summer.
But check this out... new dining room set and new "Navajo" patterned rug. I went to my favourite thrift store mall 'cause there's a shop there that sells Avon, and I was in desperate need of some Skin So Soft - Arizona is DRY! Anyway, just outside the door of that shop were some rugs for sale, and I found this one for $10. You heard me right... $10! Just needed some serious washing, but init purdy????
Did you notice that my Mothers' Day flowers still look great?
And there's more news on the shopping/decorating front. You know the plan was to recover the purple-y sleeper sofa in the living room with drop cloth material, right? Well, His Grace has finally indicated that the sofa is not only ugly, it's also uncomfortable. Which means that I get to hunt for a replacement sofa and chair! Awesomesauce... back to the Lutheran Thrift Store ('cause they deliver, and they have probably the best selection).
However, the brilliant drape plan is still on. I went to Ace Hardware just up the street today and bought a small drop cloth to test my idea. I had to go to Office Max to find full sheet labels, and it was a bit iffy running it through the printer, but I think it's going to work. Here's my test sample done using instructions from this blogsite: http://www.myrepurposedlife.com/2010/08/printing-on-fabric.html
And while I was at Ace, I bought the stuff I need to start on painting my night stand. The excitement is palpable!
!
that the Brass & Glass is semi-gone. It's just been moved out to the lanai, but it's gone from the dining room. And been replaced by
It's a very small maple table and chairs from the 1930s. The table top without the leaves is only 28" x 37". There are two leaves about 10" each that slide under the table when not needed. I'd show you a picture of them, but they're a little stiff and difficult to move. $100 for the set on craigslist.
And the lovely flowers are for Mothers' Day from my wonderful daughter, Bidango.
There's one more purchase to tell you about, but that's for another day.
If you remember back to the grand design for the bedroom, I want French Provincial ish night stands painted silver. Last week I went to the Lutheran Thrift Store in my favourite Thrift Strip Mall at Peoria and Dell Webb, and found this.
The finish is absolutely shot, but that's what I was looking for. The price tag said $34, and I figured that was okay. Then it turns out, everything was half price, so I got it for only $17. Whoo hoo!
When I was walking back into the store after having brought the car over to the loading zone, I happened to spy this for only $6 with the half price deal.
It's solid wood with art deco feet (maybe art deco, what do I know?) I'm still hoping to find one that's more the style of the other one, but for now it's in the bedroom. If I do find a better one for the master bedroom, this one will go into the guest room because the set that's going in there only has one night stand.
The perfect one I found needs some sanding and priming, but I'm going to leave that until June when we get back from a working trip to Canada. The jet lag is proving harder to overcome than usual for both His Grace and me... probably because we were super tired when we got here.
There are two more purchases to tell you about, but they can wait until tomorrow.
And has been shopping... I know, I know... quelle suprise.
The first thing I found was at a thrift store just a couple of blocks from our condo. A Navajo style rug 5+' x 8+' for $30. Which I carried home on my shoulder - I should get points for that alone.
It has a navy border with teal, brick, tan and beige. And there are parts that look purple-ish but are actually brick and teal combined. In some bizzare way, it actually makes the blue chair, the teal recliner and the purple couch (along with the maple rocker with the dark rust cushions that came from His Grace's ancestral home) and the orange drapes with the holes in them actually go together in a not really horrible way. At least to my eyes, and the eyes of our friends who have seen it. His Grace is of another opinion.
Anyway, here's a close up of the cleanest parts of the rug which I took for letschipit.com to determine the colour palette for the room.
Which gives me this.
Which actually doesn't work. For some reason, they think the navy is black and the tan is cafe au lait and, and, and. Not sure what I'm going to do. I'll either have to just pick the colours that I think go with it or wait until DangerGirl gets here in July. Or, I guess I could try with a different camera at a different time of day.
The adventure continues.
