The Evolution of a Room

Several years ago, we added on to our house. What had been our deck, became our family room.  I made a critical error when we added on, and that was letting the contractor talk me out of something that I really wanted.  I had requested white trim and windows in the room.  The rest of our house still had oak woodwork everywhere, but I had a vision in my head, and that was to eventually change it all to white.  I love the look of white woodwork. 

Anyway, he thought I was insane, because everything in my house was oak.  So I caved.  Take my advice.  Don't cave.  Hold your ground.

This is how things looked many moons ago.  We don't even have that furniture anymore.  Anyway, I painted the walls AND the ceiling yellow.  Emphasis on the YELL.  It kind of smacked you in the face every time you walked in the room.  And that room has extremely high vaulted ceilings.

Fast forward about seven or eight years and my vision has finally come to fruition.  (Love that word.)  Scott actually suggested we get the woodwork painted, because just like the vision in my head, we had changed all of the woodwork on the rest of the first floor to white.  White windows, white doors, white cabinets...all so clean and bright and happy.  Except the addition.  I would have lived with it, because I'm cheap like that and I was not going to tackle that job myself.  There are twelve huge windows in that room plus a glass door.  It would have taken me years.  It took the painter and his crew two days.  They actually removed all of the windows and wrapped the house in plastic in case it rained.  All of the wood got a nice oil-based paint on it so nothing sticks.  It's the same paint they used on my kitchen cabinets.  I love it.

I chose a nice gray-blue for the walls.  "Tradewind" by Sherwin Williams.  I just like the name, I say it every once in awhile when I walk in the room.  "Tradewind..."  And I had the ceiling painted white.  Ahhhhh.  So much better.

I also switched up my gallery wall.  It used to be mostly floral pictures.  Scott said, "Can we get rid of the flowers?"  Happy to oblige.  I just used things I had on hand.  Now, it's three watercolor prints of old ships that I found in an antique store in California years and years ago (shopping with two of my favorite people to antique with - Mom and Barbara Diamond) and pictures of the kids.  And my homemade stick fish.  I thought ships and fish kind of went with the Tradewind theme...  My kids, well, that's just eye candy right there.

I can actually feel my blood pressure go down when I walk in there - it's a very calming place.  Tradewind, tradewind, tradewind...

My Favorite Footwear & Gainfully Employed

I have always wanted a pair of old, broken-in cowboy boots. Every time I went into a thrift store, I searched. And I always left empty-handed. Well, without cowboy boots, anyway.

A couple of years ago on our epic road trip out west and then up north and then home again, I hit paydirt.  Or cow pies.  However you want to see it.  We were driving through Montana and stopped in a one-horse town (literally) for gas.  On our way to the single gas station, we passed a "Flea Market" of sorts.  It was an empty lot with a bunch of junk strewn about on tables, and a few broken down cattle trailers stuffed to the gills.  Scott dropped the kids and I off to browse while he got gas.

I didn't even have cowboy boots on the mind, and then I climbed into one of the cattle trailers and I heard angels singing.  I swear a shaft of light fell directly onto the boots.  My size.  Complete with crust on the bottoms of them.  I kind of scraped that off on the side of the cattle trailer and asked the proprietor (who was missing a few teeth, but that is neither here nor there) how much they were.  "Eight bucks."  Which, in my opinion was a little spendy for the sort of place it was, but I didn't argue.  I handed over the money and I had my very own pair of kickers.

I actually wear them a lot.  Even to church. (ALWAYS with socks, mind you.  I think used shoes are a little gross - I even sprayed lysol in them before I wore them the first time.)  I always get compliments on them - best eight dollars I've ever spent.  If you ever have the chance to get some, you should.  They look good with everything.  Even jammies, especially if you're wearing your jammies out to the mailbox.

On another note, I have a new job.  I am the new promotions coordinator for the kids' school.  It's something I was doing anyway as a volunteer, but now I'm officially hired for ten hours a week.  I'll work from home mostly and pretty much set my own hours, so it's a great thing for me.  Finally using my college education again after all these years.  And even though I'll now be raking in the dough (haha - not really), I still think eight bucks was too spendy for that place in Montana.

A Walk With Maggie

Mags and I decided to take a walk the other day and brought the camera along. We love our country setting and thought we'd share it with you.

We started with a little sitting on the porch, to gear up for the walk.  It's a delightful place to sit.  Some neighbors stopped by yesterday and sat a spell with Maggie and I - they also commented about what a delightful place it was.

As we started our walk, we stopped to admire the pops of color along our sidewalk.  I love the tri-color flowers; wish I had planted more of those.

Although we have neighbors all along our road, we have a field across the road, and a lake on the other side of our house, so we still get that country feel.  We're excited for the corn to get tall.

Some of our neighbors have beautiful landscaping.  The deer are fake, but everything else is real. :) We love how green and lush Minnesota is in the summer.

This is Maggie's favorite tree.  I have no idea what kind it is - any guesses?

One of our cute neighbors stuck some wooden cutlery in her flower bed.  Makes me smile every time I walk by.

Maggie and I decided we love the combination of pine and willow trees on this lot.  And that little shed - too cute.

This barn sits at the end of our road.  I wish it was mine.  I have big plans for it, if it ever should become mine. :)  A girl can dream...

Can't you just picture window boxes with colorful flowers spilling out? 

Maggie would like to keep a couple of horses in it.  For now, we'll just enjoy the neighbors' horses.

And the wildflowers in the ditch.  Probably a weed, but we don't care.  Still beautiful.

Not only are we near a lake, there is a little pond right across from the world's coolest barn.  It's surrounded by reeds that are home to hundreds of birds.  For several years, we had baby geese marching back and forth across the road this time of year.

This is the country lane that leads up to the barn.  I would walk up and down that lane several times a day if it were mine.  Just because it's so darn pretty.

One of our neighbors make bird houses/mansions. 

Complete with fireplaces and stone chimneys.

At the dead end, there's a path through a field.  It has become a favorite spot.  We call it "The Jungle."

Some natives (named Jake and Maggie) built a tee-pee there.

There's a huge culvert in the jungle...many hours of pooh-sticks have been played there.  (If you don't know what pooh-sticks are, I feel sorry for you.  Go read Winnie-the-Pooh.)

Along the creek is a path...

To a dam, with a little footbridge over it.  At least, we treat it as a footbridge.

It's fun to stand there and watch the water rush through.

And sometimes, when you're standing up there, you can spot junk in the water and you have to check it out.

We never go the same way back...there's a path mowed through an empty lot (thanks, Scott!!) that leads back to the road.

And lots of long grass along the way to whistle with.

Thanks for coming on our walk.  You are all welcome to come for real sometime. :)

Blustery Day Art

Since we are still awaiting summer here in the north reaches, we're finding things other than swimming and boating to occupy our time. Today, we decided on an art project.  First, we gathered a bunch of sticks.  Fresh from the forest floor.

Then, we found some old pieces of wood.  The one I used was pulled out of the lake by my son.  It had been drying up on shore for a few weeks.  I brushed it with a little bit of gray paint to give it an even more weathered look.

Then it's time to arrange your sticks in your desired shape.  Can you guess what this will become?

Someone decided to do a sign for his room.  He picked a very appropriate word.

And then we just used some hot glue to attach the sticks to the boards.

Mine.  I actually started out with the idea of a door hanging for the door into my garage, but it got a little large for that.  I'm going to put it on a wall in the lower level of my house.  "Lower level" is Minnesotan for "basement."

His.  It's going in his room.  Or on his door.  We're still trying to decide.

Evolving Style

So, I have finally figured out what I like.  I think.  A few years ago, I jumped on the "everything should be light" bandwagon.  After making fun of my mother for years when she would paint all of her walls white or off-white.  Sorry, Mom.  

Anyway, this was what I did in my bedroom. I liked it. But I never loved it. It felt very stark and cold.  Plus, the white bedding didn't stay white very long, and don't get me started on the rug.  Pristine is not how we live. 

In the last few years, I have realized that I do love white - white on furniture; white trim, etc.  And I love light colors on my walls.   I really love shades of gray - blue gray; beige gray; really all gray.  But I have realized that I also love color.  So I've been adding color back into my life.

Terrible picture, but it shows what a few accessories can do to change the entire look of a room.  Same wall color, same furniture, just changed the bedding and the curtains.  (It really does look better than this in real life.  Someday I'll get a new grown-up camera and take real pictures.  But probably not.)  And now that I know what I like, I can stop redecorating all the time.  :) (Hahahahahahaha)