Time to Reflect

I have just spent the last couple of hours writing a new post and adding the photos and captions and clicked one wrong button and deleted all of that work! How frustrating! So, here is the photo "story" of my parents upstairs bathroom!

As I spent time traveling the past two days (13 hours in airports and planes on Monday and 7 hours in the car driving yesterday) I had time to reflect on some of the work I did at Momma and Daddy's. Most of the work is not visible because it is inside walls and beneath coats of paint, but we did the finishing touches on both bathrooms and the pantry.

This bathroom is on the second floor and has some funny roof lines. Because of the odd shape the only place for the shower was smack dab in the middle of the room. To the right of the shower is the toilet and sink and to the left is the laundry room.

Daddy added this room on a couple of years ago and it has functioned fine, but the finishes weren't complete until last week. I caulked all the trim, we painted, added shelves and then the fun part, decorated!

After

Before

There was very little storage because of the limited space and pedestal sinks. So they decided to add shelves to the shortest wall next to the sink. Because of the steep pitch of the ceiling, the space was not usable for anything else and yet it was too much space to waste.

We found the perfect bins to use for storage in the office supplies section. These bins are used for file storage, but worked so well here because they are square all the way to the bottom. (most baskets we found were narrower at the bottom and didn't utilize the space as well) We left the top shelf open for towels and since she uses only white towels, it looks very clean and organized!

I'm not going to pretend that we knew this would work out so well, but when we got home with the bins, they fit perfectly!!! I mean it was as if the shelves where built to fit them! What luck!

We used an antique metal kitchen canister for laundry detergent. And where this new addition met the old house there was an odd little niche that we closed in and made space for one more bin to store additional laundry supplies.

It is amazing how some carefully thought out storage made a tremendous difference in this odd space. The bathroom is actually quite large in floor space, but because of the odd angles of the ceiling, the space feels much smaller. The layout, use of every inch of space we could cut out for storage and the clean crisp color scheme, keep it from feeling cluttered. When it comes to organization and storage, think outside the norm. We found the best solutions in office supplies and antiques!

Hitting the Proverbial Brick Wall



The fireplace before.



Today has been the toughest so far. We are tired!  I've had some sort of allergic reaction and my eyes are red and  bloodshot, my hands and feet are swollen and bothersome. The good part is that my eyes don't hurt or itch, they just look bad and my hands and feet are still working. Momma is a bit overwhelmed and has some emotions that frustrate her, they are results of the stroke. The amazing part is that we, with the help of two aunts and two uncles, were still able to accomplish a number of things on the list!

The list gets shorter, and the projects on it get more and more tedious. These are the last details in each room, the minutia that give a room the "period" at the end of the sentence, (or hopefully an exclamation point)  but they wear on the nerves and the timeline. This is also why they are just now getting completed. We have a list of 23 items, most of them requring no more than a hour to do, but that's nearly an entire day, if we could work at it nonstop. The worst part is that you have to gather up the tools to do it, then you have to prepare the space to do it, then you have to do it and then you have to clean up the space and the tools. Thus, the one hour project just took over 2 hours to complete. You've probably all been there!

This evening we stopped earlier than we've been, we sat down and had dinner without the anticipation of getting right back to work, and we talked about what we've accomplished and what was left to do. We talked about the wonderful help we've received from neighbors and family and how grateful we are for each of them. We laughed about things that we've said and done and realized that we're already living wth the memories we're making.

The fireplace today.

One project that was not done this week, but that we enjoyed this evening was rebuilding the fireplace. (we only lit it for a few moments, and we had to crank up the air to be in the room with it) Now, as long as I can remember the chimney was outside the house and the rock fireplace was covered over and there was a woodstove in the house. My dad moved the walls back to bring the chimney inside and when he uncovered the rock fireplace he found a large hole where they had run the stove pipe. He meticuliously worked to remove loose rocks and mud that had been the "mortar" in the original and carefully rebuilt the fireplace.  It is not a rock surface on a masonary fireplace it is a true rock structure.

This weekend Momma and I finished the last bit of spackling around the rough edges at the wall and now the project is complete. It is absolutely beautiful, but there is no way to show the days of labor that were required to restore each old rock to its place, rather than to rip it out and build a new fireplace.  This type of attention to details is the reason that it has taken nearly four years to restore/remodel this house, but it is going to be sooooo worth it!

Today we are feeling a bit tired, frustrated and just plain fed up with the whole thing, and that's when we find that jobs that have already been done are restoring our spirits. I say all the time, that our homes are our sanctuaries and that these are the spaces that should renew and restore us. It's so wonderful to know that this house has been doing that for our family for several generations. So, while we feel like we've hit the proverbial brick wall, we can sit back and admire a lovingly restored rock one.

"its final resting place"

Since the last post, we have not completed all of the projects we anticipated, but we still have gotten a tremendous amount done. My dad's youngest brother and his family came to visit and were able to share in restoring a cabinet that was in the house when my dad and his brothers and sisters were growing up. This cabinet was re-purposed around 1955 to this house from the house of a relative.

When Mom and Dad started construction this time they put the cabinet in the workshop of Uncle Ray and yesterday we brought it back home. As my little cousins (my uncles younger 5 children) scraped off the loose paint, they discovered years of paints in green, red and more layers of white in between. Then my aunts and uncles who were here discussed how many different colors they remembered it being. We spent most of the afternoon, and until just after dark, scraping, priming and re-painting the cabinet to put it in the new pantry we had built this week. It is now where my Aunt Pat has declared its "final resting place"!

We aren't really using it for a new purpose, it will still store dishes and other pantry items, but even in my lifetime this cabinet has been in many locations in this house and is now in a room that was a porch just over a week ago. It will continue to fulfill the needs of the entire family as this is the gathering place for many-a family meal. I heard my little cousin Noah tell my mom yesterday that she was one of the best cooks in the entire world! She definitely needs and deserves this awesome pantry!

Everyone, right down to the smallest one, took part in the cabinet make-over and at the end of the day we took a marker and each one signed and dated the back. It was once again, like years before, a big family affair. We had lots of fun, we made lots of memories and we helped to fill this home with love! 

This Old/New House

Well, it's been over a week since I got here and we've worked almost around the clock! We've accomplished so much, but haven't had time to take pictures or to sit down and write about it. We've got one bathroom completely done, one that just needs touch up paint and caulk and the living room within an hour of completion! We've added on a utility room and in the next 24 hours it will be complete and stocked. (and it was just started 3 days ago!)

The original house was  built in 1889 and it has been remodeled several times. I remember the year I graduated from high school, our entire family worked weekend after weekend getting it "updated" for my grandparents! It has had a few things changed here and there since then, but this remodel is the biggest one yet!

The house in 1984 after the remodel for my grandparents!

One of the best things about this transformation is that the majority of the materials used are reclaimed. My parents tore down an old building for the materials which needed some work to be usable, and they have  worked for months pulling out nails and sanding, etc. I know it was a lot more work, but the savings to them financially were tremendous, and the savings to the environment were even more! And it has been so much fun to look at some of the old pieces and find ways to use them in the house.

I ache in places that I didn't know I had, and I wonder how Momma and Daddy have been able to keep this up for so long. Even though we are exhausted beyond belief, it is so exciting to get up every day just to see what we can accomplish that day before we go to bed! If you have ever taken on a do-it-yourself job you know the frustrations as well as the joys of the undertaking and accomplishments! The absolute best part of this particular time is that we are making memories and with my mom suffering a stroke just over a week ago, we are just too aware of how important those memories are.

As I think about home and my entire philosophy of home and design, I've been thinking about how this home will fulfill every aspect. Not only will it be a place where they can live and will satisfy their needs daily, it will definitely be a place where the love and care and memories abide that will nurture and renew them every single day!

a personal note

Mom and Me in SLC in July.

I'm sitting here tonight thinking of so many things and none of them have much to do with designing interiors, exteriors, or anything to do with decor. I'm sitting here tonight thinking of my mom, who I just found out last night, had a stroke over the weekend. I will be leaving SLC tomorrow on my way to NC to be with her for a while, to help her and my dad with whatever I can.

My parents have been remodeling/restoring the house in which my grandmother, and all of her children grew up. They have been in a major transition with this house for four years! The two of them, with the help of my two uncles and and two aunts, have done all of the work. There have been times when they had no floors, holes in the walls (not in the winter months) and saws and tools all over the dining room, etc. My dad has done some beautiful work, and he designed the space himself! It has been tough on them, but they are closing in on the finish line. I'm hoping to be able to help my dad continue with the work and hopefully do some of what I do to make the finished spaces functional and nurture them through this time.

My dad and uncle working on the house! Stay Tuned!

I will be sharing the projects as we go and hopefully we'll do something that will inspire you!  No matter where we are in life things can change in an instant, you can't prepare for something like that, but you can prepare yourself for how you'll respond to it! I hope that no one is offended by my making this so personal, but this is just another example of how life gives us something that affects how we live and we have to adapt our spaces to fit the next phase of our lives! Stay tuned to see how things go!

Holiday Decorating | by a Salt Lake City designer

As the weather starts to cool off I start thinking about holiday decorating. One thing I used to have a problem with was how to decorate my house for the holidays or seasons, and not have to change everything in my house to make it match. If my regular decor isn't fall colors, how do I add those great fall decorations? How do I make the red and green of traditional Christmas decor work in my space of pale blues and creams?

One way to do this is to change out the throw pillows on a cream colored sofa and add a cozy throw along with candles and a tree. That would feel like a holiday space, but how about selecting holiday or seasonal decor that actually goes with your design? 

No one said that your holiday decor had to be red and green or that your fall colors had to be orange and yellow! I love fall! I love fall colors, but I don't want to live with those colors all year around. I also don't live in the country, so the homey style fall decor of baskets, pine cones, colored leaves and pumpkins won't exactly go with my downtown urban condo. So I had to find a way to get the feeling of fall in my decor without feeling like I put a barnyard in my less than rural surroundings!

When you enter our condo the first thing you "en-counter" is a large kitchen counter! To me, this is the best place to set the "tone" of the space. If it is clean and clutter free, the rest of the space feels more open, if it is crowded with piles of mail, keys, and all of the other things that we carry in, the rest of the condo could be empty and it would still feel cluttered. So, this is the first spot I wanted to decorate, thinking that if I can put the "flavor" of fall here, the rest of the space benefit from the aroma, so to speak! 

I don't have a great number of spaces to add decor of any kind, practically every inch of my tiny space is filled and has to be functional, but I love the changing of season and I love having a little touch of change inside to reflect the changes outside. I try to find decor that doesn't scream the season to you, but gently puts you in the season's frame of mind.

Now, for my husband, it's not autumn, it's football season, and it would be fine with him if we decorated the entire space in red and black and covered it with University of Georgia memorabilia! Ain't happening! But what I did was use decorations that went with the color scheme I already had in place and had a more "contemporary" fall flair!

My bathroom is teals and browns and I found this beautiful blown glass pumpkin in those colors and I think it looks awesome, without changing the style of my bathroom.

Now fall is not necessarily about pumpkins, but it is about wonderful rich colors. The best part of fall to me is the changing of color and the crisp air, it just smells different than any other time of year. I wanted to bring that into my space as well, so in the kitchen, I gave a little nod to the purple wall and used it as my inspiration for color.

I found beautiful candle holders that have a dark purple paisley/floral pattern on them. They aren't typically a fall decoration, but the color was wonderfully reminiscent of deep fall leaves. I paired them with deep green, gold and purple flowers. The flowers are in a julep cup which is pewter and I just loved the tie in to these little turkey salt and pepper shakers. I didn't feel like the items I added were necessarily Thanksgiving, but rather that I could have them here all through the fall and it would feel fresh and timely.

I'd never thought of grapes as being fall colors, but I absolutely loved the way these grapes were the colors in the candleholders, and the colors in my kitchen. I also didn't think of the kitchen as being fall colors, but it just worked perfectly! Adding scented candles in pumpkin spice or whatever scent you associate with fall, will make your home instantly feel more festive.

Now, I said that fall is about color, but my bedroom isn't and I still wanted just a touch of fall decor in there, and I found the perfect little touch. I had found this little ceramic pot of cream roses and I love the romantic feeling of it in my bedroom, so when I found these ceramic cream pumpkins, I just had to add them to the space.

I'm not suggesting that you should add holiday or seasonal decor to every room in your house if that's not your taste, I'm simply suggesting that there are ways of doing so without changing the style, look and feel of the space you've designed in which to live or work. Interior decor and design is about structuring the space for the lifestyle you want to live. It's about reflecting who you are and what you love in your surroundings. So, if the season is one you love, or if you just want to have a new look and feel to your space, then don't be afraid of adding that seasonal touch, but make it all yours!

Today (or Inspiration 2.0) | by a Salt Lake City Designer

Well, folks, I've been in SLC for just about two weeks. Well, two weeks and two days...but who's keeping track? I have to say that starting this blog has been the highlight of coming here. I feel good about it and am certainly enjoying learning what it's all about! I am very thankful to my friends who have helped with technical,  as well as, emotional advice and support.

The past couple of days have been tough for me. I'm feeling the closeness of the walls in this space and frustrated at the lack of "creative" space. I have ideas and a desire to be creative, but I don't have space to do crafty things and believe me I've rearranged the furniture in here so many times we finally just left the sliders under it so we didn't have to pick it up again!

In my tiny (rented) living room I have one long wall that is painted eggplant! I don't own anything eggplant and I'm not that big a Donny Osmond fan! When I was in high school, this would have been my dream room, but now, not so much! What have I done with this eggplant wall, you ask? I ignored it. Decorated my space with the colors and things I love and acted as if the wall was not even there. I don't know if it "works", but it's worked for me, until  a couple of days ago when I realized I've been sitting here for days, blogging and reading emails and other blogs and all day long I stare at the eggplant wall!

So, yesterday I decided I was going to do something creative that doesn't require a great deal of space but gave me a great deal of space in which to work. I had to see something other than the four walls in here, especially the purple one! I went on an inspiration trip! It doesn't hurt that I'm in one of the most amazingly beautiful places I've ever seen. But, you can find the same kind of inspiration wherever you live! We rented a jeep, took off the top and hit the road to explore the beauty that is around us! (I'll post lost of photos to my Facebook page)

Not only were the varying landscapes awe inspiring, I got inspiration from a somewhat unexpected place. We stopped at Robert Redford's Sundance Resort for lunch and I got a great idea from the halls on the way to the restroom!

Sundance Resort

There are simple black-and-white photos in wood frames in collages down both sides of the hallway. They are framed in various sized frames, some with mattes, and from various time periods.  What is hard to tell in this shot is that between the sets of photos are quotes painted on the wall.

I had taken so many beautiful photos of waterfalls, lakes, trees and flowers on this little journey and nothing inspires me like written word, so I couldn't wait to get home and put this inspirational idea to work!

I always have lots of black frames. I buy them en masse! When I see framed artwork on sale (cheap) and I don't like the art, but the frames are in good shape and especially if there are mattes included, I buy all I can afford. These are great for putting together collages and can be used over and over. So, I had all the tools to make my idea come to life!

One detail that I really liked about the photos in the hall was that they had noted on the matte, the date and subject of the photo. This is such a great idea. I love that you can see the photos and know when and where they were taken.

Now, I like to change the art on my walls with the season, and being able to just print new photos and change them out regularly is something I do, a lot! But, the notes on the mattes are written in pencil, the graphite has a lends a nice look and it's changeable, so I didn't have to give up my ability to reuse!

I have an all-in-one photo printer, but you could also print your photos inexpensively at some grocery and discount stores where they have digital printing stations. If you like black and white you can print them with a regular printer.

I use plain printer paper for most of my pictures, but I have used textured photo paper, glossy photo paper and even canvas that is cut to go through your printer. I don't invest in expensive paper, because I know I'm going to change them out again in a few months. My wonderful husband had to hear about how this was going to translate into the art at home, and he not only listened, but he helped me create the look when we got home!

I, typically, only use black-and-white photos in my black frames, but I just loved the way the aspen trees looked against the green ferny floor of the forest here. The water and the sky, the green leaves and the blue berries were just a great compliment to the black frames and white mattes. Perry, who has great handwriting, printed the date and locations on the mattes.

I interpreted the inspiration of the quotes on the walls with a printed and framed quote that I found online when I did the research for this blog. The quote is by Ernest Hemingway. I had already decided on the name of my blog and "googled" it to see what came up, and this quote is what I got! I love it!

"Prose is architecture, not interior decoration..." ~ Ernest Hemingway

So, here's how I translated the entire inspiration! Now, it's not going to stay on this purple wall, it will go back on my entertainment center, but I wanted to you to see the inspiration next to my "Deep Purple" nightmare!