Decorating Walls

I used to have a lot of pictures on my walls -- pictures of my family and pictures of Imani but when we moved into our house, Jason and I decided that tons of pictures all over the walls just didn't look classy. 

In fact, I believe Jason said if the frames don't match, it's white trash.

I probably just offended half of my readers and all of my family members.

But take that up with Jason. I didn't say it. I have a whole other list of things I think are white trash that nobody else does . . . you'd have to ask my sister if you're curious because it's an ongoing list and I haven't ever written it down.

But I will tell you that 99.9% of the things on the list I have done . . . so in my opinion that makes it okay to classify it as white trash.

Anyway . . . we basically don't have any photos on our walls as a result of this conversation from so many years ago.  

In fact, we have one photo of Imani framed at the top of our stairs







 and one frame that was once an old window and now holds several pictures from our wedding.

Jason gave it to me as a gift and it's one of my favorite items in my house.

So everyone who has told me I appear to be a perfect home decorator or a perfect mom can rest assured I am NOT.  What kind of mother doesn't have pictures of her children on her walls, especially now with all of the cool canvas options that are available?.  I haven't purchased one, but I always think they look so nice, modern and clean.

Source: houzz.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

In some ways, our house looks like a model home that is going on the market to be sold. 

We have a few framed photos on our dressers and night stands but something feels WRONG about not featuring your family in your home in some way, especially when you have a new baby!

And I am not a fan of digital photo frames.  I know there are a lot of digital photo frame lovers out there, and that's fine but it's just not me.  I don't like a lot of electronics in my house and to me, a digital photo frame is just another black plastic electronic eyesore.

So we've been wondering what to do with the wall going up the staircase. 

We thought about lininig it with botanical prints something like this.

Source: decorpad.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

But that wouldn't help me get photos on the walls.

And then we were inspired by the staircases of people who framed lots of black and white photos with white frames.  Take a look.

Source: philigry.blogspot.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

I even like this one, which is just a bunch of empty frames but my goal is to get more pictures of my family up on the walls.

Source: blog.hannamac.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

Uh oh. I think I might need to find one of those fancy "&" symbols. 

So all summer we were on a mission to find cool picture frames (think antique) and Jason's been busy painting them white to prepare for our staircase gallery of our family.

We found some random frames at antique stores, garage sales and TJ Maxx.

I cannot wait to put it all together. . . but don't get too excited. It might take us a year to finish!

Keeping the Cape

As many of you know, Jason and I put an offer in on a big house out in the country and it was accepted.  The house was beautiful -- it was a renovated 1840s colonial and I was excited to have found it.

The entire process of listing my house and putting it on the market was far more emotional than I thought it would be.  I never realized just how attached I was to this little cape.  But we forged ahead, excited about our new venture.

To make a very long story short . . . as beautiful as a house might appear at times, what matters most is the home's structure.  Unfortunately, the home we were about to purchase had major structural problems.  Sometimes, when you want something really really badly, you try deny reality.  I was denying reality for quite some time in the process, but it became very evident that the structure had more damage than we were willing to take on and we decided to back out.

We thought about looking for another house, but after such an emotionally draining experience, we began noticing all the things we love about this little Cape and we've decided we love what we have.

Grace, at Sense and Simplicity is hosting a little blog party to list the five things you love about your home, and in looking around . . . I realized there is a lot I love about my house.

My house isn't overwhelmingly unique or awe-inspiring like this barn that was converted to a house (one of Jason's favorite type of houses by the way)

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

And my house isn't some 1800s Tudor revival mansion with a manicured lawn

traditional exterior design by chicago architect Eifler & Associates Architects

traditional landscape design by chicago architect Eifler & Associates Architects

My house doesn't have any incredibly fancy amenities, like an infinity pool.
 
(Who in the world owns these places and what do they do for a livng?!)

tropical pool design by hong kong architect Original Vision Limited

contemporary pool design by George W Girvin & Associates

contemporary landscape design by vancouver landscape architect THOMAS KYLE: Landscape Architecture

 My house is just a cozy little Cape Cod in a small town in Upstate New York.

I know, we have GOT to do something with those steps!

So, in looking around, there are a lot of things I love, but I will narrow it down.  You'll find that I'm not that difficult to please.

Probably one of the single best features about my house is the enormous family room with cathedral ceilings.

 

With skylights, sliding glass doors, plenty of windows and a big bay window where we sit and watch unusually large herds of deer roam through our backyard, what's not to love about this space?

 

But the best part about this room is that at Christmas time, we get the biggest tree we can find!
 

Another feature of my house that I love is my deck.  It's not big or elaborate, but I enjoy sitting out there and having a cup of coffee in the morning or reading in the afternoon on the weekends (sorry for the rain in this photo . . .)

Another feature of my house that I love is the gas fireplace in our sitting room.  I have to confess that we cannot use it to actually have a fire because, although it's new, it sets the smoke detector off every single time we start it!  We need to address that this year, but I still love having it. 

I love the slate tiles Jason put in and I enjoy having a mantel to decorate (which currently needs an update).

Okay, the next thing I love is really silly and Jason will likely make me remove the photo if he reads this.  I love the marble tile he installed in the entry of my house.

Jason didn't really have any experience tiling and I picked out marble for the entry.  If you know anything about tiling, which we obviously didn't at the time, you'd know that marble is difficult to cut.  It is very soft and breaks really easily.  What should have been a small project turned out to be quite costly because of the many cutting mistakes.

To make matters worse, Jason wanted to just lay the tiles all straight and perpendicular.  I, of course, wanted a diamond shape in the center with little tiles bordering the center tile.  I haven't laid a single tile in my entire life and I am not the greatest at math with angles and cuts so I had no idea what trouble my idea would cause.  All I knew was that I saw something similar in a magazine and thought it'd be cool to have it in my house.

Jason argued with me that it was too difficult, so being the brat that I can sometimes be, I said, "Fine Jason. Just don't do it.  I'll just hire someone who can do it the way I want it done.  Forget about it."

But my good husband set out to tackle what he didn't know how to do and, in my opinion, it came out great.  I love this tile;  Jason hates it.  He sees his imperfections, but every time I look at it and see that diamond, I see my husband figuring out how to make my wish come true.

Like my bubble-gum pink toes dangling off that step?!  That pedicure was a celebration that recently, I survived lay-offs in my job .. . but I digress!

Back to what I love about my house.  Of course, I love my new tiled bathroom . . .

with a pebbled-floor shower. . . .

But what I love most about my house isn't any particular room.  I love that this house sat on the market forever and everyone laughed at it because it was so hideous and smelly.   But I had a vision, and Jason made it happen.

Every inch of my house has my husband's time and love poured into it.  He obtained his degree in Fine Arts and I often complain that he isn't doing anything with it but when I wake up each day, I realize his art is all around me. 

Our house has been his canvas.

Fabulous Foyers

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We got a lot accomplished over the weekend, including our "Meet the Addicts" page, so if you get a chance, stop over and get to know us a bit more!

If you've been following my blog, you might remember that my friend Lori recently asked me to decorate her foyer.  She even offered to hand over her credit card and just let me buy whatever I wanted, which was very tempting, but I thought it would be fun if we shopped for everything together.  Lori and I don't have the same style in home decorating, so I was honored that she trusted me to help her decorate. 

Here is her foyer currently:

I've been thinking about her foyer for a couple of weeks now.  I know she wants it to be a formal entry and she's mentioned that she wants a black console incorporated into the design.  She has even picked out a piece of artwork that she likes, so I have some ideas to work with.  I've been looking around for items that I think will look nice, so the plan is this Saturday, we are going to go shopping together so I can show her some of my suggestions.

I know how stressful decorating entries can be.  I just made the big decision to paint my door, banister and stairs black. 

Your entry foyer is extremely important because it's the first thing people see when they enter your home.  It sets the stage for what type of home you have.

In thinking about Lori's foyer, I've found that many foyers have three similar elements.

1. A table, Console or Bureau

2. Artwork, Mirrors, or clocks

3.  A place to sit

Here are a few foyers I found that offer an example of these elements.

Delores, over at Vignette Design just spruced up her entry and she incorporates all of the above-mentioned elements.  I love her wicker seating with the European feed sack pillows and the seagrass rug adds an element of texture. 

This foyer offers all three elements, a table with a clock hanging directly above it, and a bench. The shadow-box trim and the runner up the stairs make the space more formal.

Photo: Better Homes and Gardens

The next foyer has a bureau with a piece of artwork hung directly above it.  The bureau provides storage and at the same time serves as a display piece.

Photo: Better Homes and Gardens

Again, we see the three elements in the next photo: a clock, bureau and chair.  I like the antique bottles!

Photo: Houzz.com

The next traditional entry uses a card-catalogue type console to display candles, a picture and a beautiful vase filled with a touch of the outdoors.  This console offers an open space beneath it for baskets.

photo: Houzz

This clean, crisp foyer displays a topiary and an orchid atop the console.  Notice the mirror above the console which reflects the light provided by all of the windows.  I really like the baskets placed next to the door.

                                        traditional entry design by san francisco general contractor Harrell Remodeling (Houzz)

Here, the staircase takes center stage.  The round end table fits nicely with the curve of the staircase.

                                     traditional staircase design by los angeles interior designer Elaine Morrison Interiors (Houzz)

And finally, I love all the creamy whites in the next photo.  The enormous clock on the stair wall is gorgeous and completes the shabby chic decor.

                                               eclectic entry design by los angeles interior designer Brooke Giannetti (houzz)

What about all of you?  Which of the above foyers do you like and why?  I'd love to hear your comments.

If you have a foyer that you'd like to share, please email pictures of it to me!  We need as many ideas as we can get before Saturday!

Finally, if you get a chance, stop over to This Old House and check out our submission for "Before and After" home remodeling contest.  Don't forget to rate the remodel!  For more "Before and After" pics, see the "Our Fixer Upper" page.