I might paint my front door pink.

(Let’s pause briefly while that all sinks in…  You ok?  K.  Let’s continue.)

Yes, I’ve lamented for months now that our house is mauve.

And yes, I’ve previously stated that perhaps a muted plum door would tone down the pinkness of the siding on our house while still looking sophisticated and coordinated.

And yes, I’ve even mentioned (several times) how much I’d really really like to repaint our old mauve house and be rid of the pink altogether.

But (this is where my anti-mauve plans go a bit awry), then I noticed this…

See those geraniums slyly photobombing this pic of my front door (and my beloved new house numbers?)  They’re coral.  And they’re pretty.  And see how nice they look against my (much despised) mauve siding?

Dear Mother Nature: you sneaky fox.  You’ve coyly inspired me.  Big pat on the back for you, missy.  Nicely done.  :)

So I might paint my front door a corally-pink.  It’s absolutely mind boggling, I know.

And don’t get me wrong: we’re not talking fuchsia here.  (Random diatribe: FUCHSIA might, in fact, be the oddest-spelled word in the entire English language.  It always takes me at least three or four attempts to type it out correctly.  FUSHIA looks right, but it’s not.  Fuscia could even be correct, but, strangely, is not.  Nope.  Fuchsia is indeed one of those words that makes me yearn to have a stern conversation with the good folk at Miriam-Webster and ask them what the heck they were thinking when they decided to add so many miscellaneous letters to a rather simple, two syllable colour.)

(Thank you for letting me rant.  Carrying on…)

Nope.  We’re talking a corally pink.  Like this (via ByStephanieLynn)…

Or like this cheery door (courtesy of Marty’s Musings)…

Or even this (the top paint chip is Benjamin Moore’s Glamour Pink, and I THINK it could work, although it’s a bit more pink-ish than coral-ly.)

Please ignore the partially painted screen door – that’s a whole other project for a whole other post.  (But I need it to stop raining first.  Once the rain stops, the door will be painted.  Until the rain stops, it’ll stay splotchy.)  (Sorry neighbours!)

So yes.  This is my new plan.  A coral door for my mauve house.  Who would have thunk it, eh?

Mind you, Sweetie and I haven’t discussed this yet.  He might have issues with the words “pink” and “coral”, so I may call it a “muted light reddish-slightly-orange colour.”  Or perhaps even just “geranium,” since I’m doubting he’d know which flower I’m describing.  Sweetie isn’t much of a flower guy.  But give him some rare weird variety of tomato plant and he’s all over that like ants on an apple.  :)

However, let me break in on this little newly painted room love-fest with a bit of a confession: my kitchen was supposed to be gray.  A nice, light, slightly bluish airy fairly neutral gray colour.

The Coles Notes version of the story?  I got blue.

Like, really blue.

Grumble.

What I was hoping for?  A slightly brighter lighter version of the same colour that adorned my happy little 1940s kitchen at our last house.  That kitchen was painted in Benjamin Moore’s Stonington Gray, and I loved it.  Loooooved it.

Our current kitchen, in our old mauve house, gets far less natural light than our previous sunny little kitchen did.  And it’s less open and needed brightening up a bit.  So my seemingly obvious solution was to confidently (ie “ruthlessly skipping the whole test-pot phase of painting”) go one paint chip lighter on the same paint-swatch card thingy from my previously adored Stonington Gray colour.  Seemed foolproof enough, I thought.  And, even when I held the paint chip up in various places around my kitchen, my newly decided upon colour (Wickham Gray) appeared to be a light gray with a teeny tiny smidgen of blue-y green-y muddy undertones mixed in for a bit of wall colour pizazz.

The real-life post-painting result?  Apparently Wickham Gray turns blue in my kitchen.

Like, very very blue.

Here’s where we started (all gold-y and dark and such):

And here’s where we are now.  Blue blue blue.

Yep.  Definitely blue.  Super ginormous sigh.

Don’t get me wrong!  There are lots of lovely blue kitchens out in the world.  In fact, my Pinterest Kitchens board features several blue-hued kitchens that I’ve admired for a while.  There’s this one, from House Beautiful (although I searched the House Beautiful site and couldn’t find a link directly to this particular image – sorry!):

And this super lovely kitchen featured on the Better Homes and Gardens website…

And, my favourite (pretty!), this cheery blue kitchen courtesy of…  um, Pinterest source unknown.  (I hate those source unknown sorta Pins, don’t you?)  (If this is your kitchen, a: I want to move into your house please! and b: let me know!)

So see?  I’m not at all against blue kitchens.  In fact, I think blue is so fresh and pretty in a kitchen!

But… it’s not what I had planned for my kitchen.  And against my currently cream coloured upper cabinets and brown-tiled backsplash and countertops the blue looks a bit… off.

I’m going to live with it for a bit.  And maybe (with a little tweaking and accessorizing and such) it’ll grow on me!  With Baby on the (ever nearing) (ack!) horizon, and my painting budget tapped for the time being, blue is definitely, if nothing else, better than the muddy gold colour that was there before.  And, when I someday get around to painting the kitchen cabinets a whiter crisper shade of white (Benjamin Moore’s Snowfall White, my all-time favourite trim and cupboard colour, to be be exact), I think the blue might actually look quite spectacular.

But, for now…  meh.  At least it’s not gold.

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that the nursery will be a light teal-ish colour (which I see as very gender neutral – once baby is born we can add a bit of coral and yellow if we have a little lady, or navy and green if the bump is currently housing a little gent.)  Here is our (ok, well, my – Sweetie has sorta given me free-reign on this whole nursery decorating project) inspiration pic (from The Farmer’s Nest)…

Happy sigh.  Prettiest nursery ever.

And here’s what we I have planned to date…

Rocker

Remember the rocker from our staged quasi-nursery at the last house?

This chair once belonged to my grandparents, and my mom (hi mom!) has sweetly offered to have it reupholstered for our nursery here.  The room that’ll be our nursery is quite a tiny little space, and this rocker is small but super comfy.  And I love that it once belonged to my grandparents who, while no longer here, were such an important part of my life growing up.  Having this rocker in the nursery is a little like having them be part of Baby’s life, and I absolutely love that.  :)

Mobile

Have I ever mentioned that I love sheep?  I love sheep.  Weird?  Likely.  But there’s something so awesome and peaceful about those grass-munching field-frollicking balls of white fluff that makes me insanely happy.  So when I stumbled upon this mobile (courtesy of Etsy-seller GiftsDefine) I was sold.

Oh, lamby sweetness.  I love everything about it.  I haven’t yet hit the purchase button, but I plan to very very soon.

Bunting

Yep!  I may fall into the whole mobile-PLUS-bunting (how decadent for baby, eh?) category, mostly because (surprise surprise!) I can’t decide between the two.  The mobile will likely float above the crib, and the bunting will likely hang above the change area.

This one is my current fave for a little girl…

And I love this option should we have a little man…

…both from the awesome Etsiers at The Spotted Barn.

Pretty little things

Have you ever noticed that Chapters has the absolute best stuffed animals?  They really do.  I’ve adored the super soft, squishy stuffed creatures from Chapters since way before Sweetie and I had baby-thoughts.

My favourites are the ridiculously adorable bashful lamb…

And the ever so sweet bashful bunny…

So much cuteness.  So much.  Like, an immense amount.  (I’m seriously swooning over here.)  Here’s hoping that Baby loves them as much as his mom does.

And then there’s all the other (far more important) stuff

And then there are the bigger, scarier, expensive-er, non-decorative purchases: the crib, the dresser (that’ll double as a change table), a bookshelf of some sort for stuffies and books and such…  THESE are the items that I need to make decisions about soon.  Very soon, in fact.  I have a couple of friends who’ve had their babies far earlier than their due dates over the last few weeks, and I’m starting to get a wee bit nervous.

Let the nursery decorating frenzy officially begin!  :)

But my favourite pastime at the moment?  Nursery planning.  I know: swoon!  The colour options.  The decor.  The accessories.  Where the crib will go.  Mobile or bunting or both.  Sigh.  There are so many happy possibilities for the room that will one day contain someone so tiny but so important and so very very loved.  With about 18 weeks (insert panic attack HERE) left to go until my official due date, here’s the nursery inspiration pic (from blogger She Walks in Beauty) that I can’t stop looking at…

So peaceful and lovely.  I absolutely adore this colour scheme.  A-DORE it.  We’re still undecided on whether we’ll find out the sex of little Baby in advance of the big day, but this soft teal-based colour scheme fits perfectly for either a little girl or a little dude (in my humble opinion, at least.)

Once baby makes his or her arrival, we can then add in some gender-specific colours to the mix, if we want.  Maybe a little navy and/or some bright lime-ish green if the bump turns out to be a boy, like this nursery from Spearmintbaby…

…or some coral-ly pink and yellow (like in this gorgeous nursery from CraftinessIsNotOptional) if I’m currently housing a baby girl.

Either way, I can’t wait to get started.  Can’t wait!  And that’s probably where Part Two of this (likely drawn out due to indecisiveness) nursery natterings series will go.  Regardless of everything else that ends up in the nursery (and all the decisions yet to be made), teal is one of my absolute favourite colours.  I’m hoping that Baby (boy or girl) will really like it too.  :)

One thing that has helped increase the kitchen brightness-factor a tad?  Removing THIS…

Yep.  That awkward repurposed-window-but-half-valence-thingy came down recently.  Not entirely because we wanted to take it down.  But rather because it needed to move in order to access the window so that we could thoroughly weatherproof (since our kitchen window is definitely drafty and quite a pane.)  (Get it?  Pane?  Pain?)  (Groan… K.  Carrying on…)

Initially, Sweetie didn’t like the kitchen window sans the odd-looking-not-really-a-valence, but I asked him to live with it for a while.  The result?  The look has grown on us both.  Much more light floods into the kitchen now, and the window just looks less… odd.

Our new problem?  The light over the sink.  I’ve never been a huge fan of this light (or of any of the lights in this house, truth be told) (once budget permits, they’re allll getting a good swapping.)  However without the quasi-valence in place, the light definitely looks odd and hangs too far down.  And the yellow-hued shade makes it a wee more traditional than I’d prefer.  And it’s honestly just not us.

After a little online big box store searching, I’ve narrowed the new over-the-sink light options down to a few contenders.

My absolute fave?  This one from Lowes…

Pretty, no?  I adore this light.  To get all technical, it’s the Allen + Roth 12-in Bronze Edison-Style Pendant Light with Clear Shade.  And it’s LOVELY.  The chain makes the light feel… (searching for the correct words…) (let’s go with…) airy-er than it would if the light was hanging from dark solid rods.  And the shape is vintage-ey, but not old-looking.  It’s modern, but antique-ish.

Does that all even make sense?  Likely not.

Regardless, I love this fixture and desperately want this for my kitchen.  There are a couple slight hiccups, however.  It’s quite large at 12 inches in diameter.  I searched all over Internet-land to see whether Allen & Roth make a slightly smaller version (the dreaded “mini-pendant”, if you will) and, sadly, they do not.  Secondly, 75% of the reviews for this fixture have mentioned that the amount of light it casts (with it’s maximum 60W Edison bulb) isn’t particularly great for task lighting (and doing dishes and cleaning vegetables and the other mundane things that I do around the kitchen sink definitely seem to be task-lighting sort of tasks.)  Could I outfit this light with a normal run-of-the-mill clear incandescent bulb and have it look just as pretty?  Maybe?  I’m not sure.  But it’s also the most expensive light of the lot I’m considering.  At $128 it’s quite beyond my “lovely little light in the kitchen window” budget.

But I love it.  A whole lot.  So it’s staying on my list.

Much smaller, and also available from the good folk at Allen + Roth via Lowes is this one…

Sweetie likes this one better than the first, and, from a cost standpoint it’s mucho cheapo-er (at only $49 bucks.)  But there’s that whole low-wattage Edison light issue again.  And it’s very square.  And there’s already a lot of squareness in my kitchen.  I think I’m gravitating more toward a little spherical illumination.

Which lead me to THIS light…

Which is pretty.  SO pretty!  I squealed just a wee bit when I stumbled across this fixture – the green glass is just so incredibly lovely and will look amazing in my kitchen one day (once all my painting projects are all finished up.)  (Eventually.)  The problem?  (Because there’s ALWAYS a problem?)  It’s only available at Lowes.com.  Or at Lowes stores in the states, I’m assuming.  And I am most definitely sitting here typing away from my Canadian home, with limited access to an American Lowes store.  Sigh.  And, with a maximum allowance for a 40W bulb, this light would be even dimmer and less kitchen-task-friendly than the others (I keep reminding myself of that – it keeps me from getting super sad that it’s unobtainable without a jaunt across the border.)

So where does this all leave me?  It leaves me mighty light-less.  Sorta.  The existing light works for now (and until we find another far prettier one for the space.)  But now that I’ve found a few almost perfect options, I want to find the one.

More lighting obsessing to follow, I’m sure.  (Sorry about that.)

So imagine my delight when she posted pictures of this kitchen in her regular National Post column…

And imagine all the swooning (from me) that followed shortly thereafter.  That blue – it’s perfect!  That marble (or a close lookalike!) countertop – how lovely.  The whole kitchen screams the word “fresh!”  I seriously want to cook in there.

And now I’m seriously rethinking my kitchen plans.

Our kitchen currently features cream-coloured cabinets on the uppers, with dark navy lower cabinets.  I didn’t paint these (the house came like this) and while the two-toned look has grown on me, I’ve always found the combination a little dated and dark (despite that two-toned cabinets seem to be very in style right now!)

I’ve always planned to repaint both the uppers and lower cupboards in a crisp off-white, Benjamin Moore’s Snowfall White, to be exact.  We painted our last kitchen’s cupboards this colour, and it was the perfect bright white, with just a hint of creaminess to take away any overt starkness.  It was lovely, and made me very very happy.

But now I’m changing my mind just a little.  The upper cabinets will still get a good-sized dose of Snowfall White, of course (since the existing cream-colour is just so… dark) (if cream can be dark?  I think it can…) but I’m now second-guessing my bottom-cupboard intentions.  How pretty would a little electric-ish blue be?  My answer?  VERY.

We’ll see just how brave I’m feeling come kitchen-painting time.  I’m a bit of a kitchen cupboard painting chicken, truth be told.  Kitchen cupboards take a long time to paint, so it’s one of those tasks where I’ve always returned to my safety-zone hues (since I can’t imagine having to repaint all my kitchen cupboards for a second time.)

Here’s hoping that kitchen-painting time comes soon!  Only 743 other projects to finish up first….

]]> /2014/02/blue-cabinetry-lust-pretty-pretty-pretty/feed/ 3 /2014/02/wishing-winter-away-because-spring-means-outdoor-painting-projects-and-less-snow-and-cold-and-general-miserableness/ /2014/02/wishing-winter-away-because-spring-means-outdoor-painting-projects-and-less-snow-and-cold-and-general-miserableness/#comments Thu, 06 Feb 2014 11:00:26 +0000 /?p=5352 So, it’s winter.  And it’s really winter.  It’s let’s-hibernate-under-the-blankets-and-pray-for-beloved-spring-or-even-an-unseasonably-warm-weekend-might-suffice-for-now winter.  And, honestly, it’s getting to be a bit much.

So I’m looking ahead!  I’m preparing for outdoor projects.  Because I need something to look forward to right now.  Something more beyond carbs and sleep and snuggling in under the blankets.

Sweetie and I already know that we have several projects looming once spring hits.  We need to critter-proof the house (since we’ve discovered that small four-legged furry creatures – the kind that squeak, btw, not the ones who meow – seem to find our house rather, unfortunately, hospitable.)  We need to re-insulate our laundryroom (since our laundryroom water pipes froze last week, but – luckily! – didn’t burst.)  And we have tonnes (tonnes!) of yardwork currently pending (trees that need to be trimmed, gardens that need to be moved, wild flowerbeds that need to be tamed and made far less wild, bushes that need to be relocated…)

But most important to me?  Curb appeal.  Yep.  The old mauve house desperately needs a facelift.  The burgundy shutters make me cringe.  The weather-worn front deck looks neglected.  The big front window is far too dusty rose-coloured.  And the house just looks… tired.

Which is sort of how I feel in the dead of winter, I suppose.

I did a little Pinterest searching and found a bit of spring-project inspiration.  Because we don’t have a lovely grandiose covered front porch (although I’d really like one!), I looked for similar “front deck”-style front porches as I searched through everything.  Unfortunately, most porches (or at least the Pin-worthy ones) appear to be of the covered kind (and, honestly, with good reason!  Who really wants to fumble with the front door locks in the midst of a rainstorm on a non-covered porch?)  But I did find this house, which, despite also sporting a covered front porch, is now my inspiration for this spring’s big “make the house look pretty” project…

Pretty eh?  I sure think so.  The white trim, the dark gray shutters, the white-painted porch rails with the stained (or maybe painted?  I can’t tell) porch floor…  It all looks so lovely.

And if I squint just a little, and look at the house out of the corner of my eye while chewing gum and folding laundry, I might even swear that there’s a touch of mauve in that siding.

Or I may just be getting my hopes up.

Regardless, I’m now feeling super inspired, and I’m rather anxiously looking forward to outdoor painting weather.  Afterall, there are only a measly 41 more days till the first day of spring.

But who’s counting…  :)

The porch at my little 1940s house was tricky.  Because the stairs leading up to the porch were to the side of the doorway, and a rail ran continuously across the front of the porch, it was hard to decorate around my front door (since anything I added to the porch ended up sadly obscured by the railing.)

Here, with no door-obscuring rails and with stairs boldly leading straight to the front door, we have smooth front porch decorating sailing.  See?

No obstructions.  Just a lovely view of my soon-to-be-adorned front door.  :)

Admittedly, this front porch decorating thing is a little intimidating to me.  Perhaps it’s the public-ness of my porch (if it looks silly, our new neighbours will all assume that I don’t know my boughs from my baubles and my ribbons from my wreaths.)  Or maybe it’s because I’ve never truly decorated a front porch before for the holidays, so we’re totally venturing into unchartered Christmas waters.  Regardless, desperately hoping for a perfectly pretty porch display, I chatted a bit with my Pinterest folk to gather a few decorating ideas.  Here are my faves…

I love this simple “wreath + sparkly little trees in urns” option from the lovely folk over at The McLife:

And, speaking of pretty urns, I’d love to try creating something like this this year (although I’m a tad evergreenishly-challenged):

(Original source, sadly, is unknown, but the image appears on THIS website compiling a bunch of Christmas decorating ideas.)

And then there are stars!  I love stars!  (Actually, I’m a bit obsessed with stars, which you might remember from THIS post.)  How pretty is this…

Sadly (again) there’s no source for this image.  So dear gorgeous plummy door starry people: please let me know who you are!  I adore your front entrance!

And then lastly, there’s this one (which is part of an Etsy-listing, in fact, for JustTheFrosting‘s shop):

…the perfect, elegant, simple front entrance (with a super smiley little snowman to boot.)  This is my goal.  :)

So all I need now is some evergreeny-sort of stuff.  And a couple of black urns.  And some pretty red bows.  And a big ol’ green wreath.  And maybe a quirky little snowman too.  Sounds easy enough!  I’ll keep you posted.

But, in the meantime, Christmas?  Bring it on.  My soon-to-be-appropriately-adorned front porch will be eagerly waiting.  :)

It’s a little (er, a lot) much.

There’s a pretty good chance that at least one of the fireplaces will eventually be moving out of our old mauve house.  Hell, we may even get rid of two.  Because, really, who needs SEVERAL (non-functioning) fireplaces in a (well-heated via furnace) home?  Not us, says I!

The big problem with having so many fireplaces?  Having to decorate so many fireplaces.  Mantel primping is an artform.  An artform that one can either excel at, or go mad attempting to perfect.  There’s the necessary accumulation of decorative items needed to adorn the mantels – decorating four mantels will indeed require a lot of stuff.  Then there’s the seasonal-decorating dilemma (fantastically fall-er-izing four faux fireplaces could be a rather time consuming project.)  And, most importantly, there’s the fireplace overkill factor.  One faux fireplace in a rather small little three-bedroom home?  Awesome!  Two fireplaces?  Wow – lucky me!  But four fireplaces?  Four?  Really?  That’s a little much methinks.

Yep.  One or two must go.

However, all four fireplaces will likely stay firmly in place until we’ve lived in the house for a little bit, at least.  Which means I’ve gone on a Pinterest expedition to find inspiration for fireplace dressing (since the acquisition of four fireplaces obviously requires a whole lot of inspiration.)  My favourites?

This chalkboard-adorned mantel idea from Mom4Real is pretty fantastic, and could easily be switched up for the seasons.

I’m thinking it could be a lot of fun for the guestroom fireplace.  If the guestroom fireplace makes the final faux fireplace cut, that is.  :)

And how fun is this mantel from Wit and Whistle…

The Danger Zombies sign?  That’s a whole lot of awesomeness.

And globes, maps and galoshes?  I love globes and maps and galoshes!

This map-a-licious mantel is courtesy of the lovely folk over at Gather and Build.

However this one, from Style at Home, is my absolute fave.  Not necessarily because I like the fireplace (although I do!)  But because I’m obsessed with everything about this living room.  Love love love!

But, I’m guessing (just call it a hunch) that at least one of my four (FOUR!) fireplaces will end up looking a little like this…

Yup.  Like our old faux fireplace.  Because I loved it.  And because I miss it.  LOTS.

So there you have it.  My Pinterest-derived fireplace mantel inspiration.  Because I need lots of inspiration.  Because I’ll be the proud owner of a lot of faux fireplaces very very shortly.  In a mere four days, in fact.

Can’t wait.  :)

Random fact: I was absolutely fascinated by Three’s Company when I was little, but didn’t at all understand it.

Random fact #2: John Ritter rocked. As did Don Knotts. And I fully support Team Chrissy (a Cindy and/or Terri fan I am not.)

Random fact #3: this blog post isn’t really about Three’s Company (although Three’s Company is truly deserving of its own blog post, if you ask me.) Nope. This blog post is about a door that I don’t yet own.

Yup. That’s right. I’ve been humming and hawing (and thinking and winking) (and obsessing and, um, obsessing) for the past month or so over what colour to paint our (not yet ours) front door at the new house.  We won’t officially own this house until the end of September, which means I’ll likely miss front-door-painting season (aka late spring/summer/early fall) entirely this year.  Which sort of makes me sad, but (happily!) also gives me lots of time to obsess over consider all of my options.

Just as a reminder, here is our (soon to be ours!) next happy little home (in all its mauve-hued glory)…

Yep.  That little pink-y-purple-ly house will officially belong to Sweetie and me in a mere 18 more days.  The porch desperately needs staining and painting.  The front yard needs some serious de-bushing (technical term.)  And I guarantee that there will be a whole lot less clutter in the yard (ie: NONE) once we take possession.  So excited!  Can’t wait!

But, come next spring, I’ll also be (rather enthusiastically) tackling the front door situation.  There’s the obvious (and, admittedly, rather elegant-looking) option: black.  Check out this lovely-looking front door from Melissa at 320 Sycamore…

And just look at this one (with its matching black shutters!) from For the Love of a House…

So simple and so pretty, eh?  Black is definitely a very solid option.

However (yep – this is where my indecisiveness kicks in with a big ol’ kerbang) this picture (from Jen at IHeart Organizing) (hi Jen!) makes me wonder if a contrasting bright-ish colour would help detract from the unfortunate mundane mauve-ness of our siding…

Perhaps our house looks exceedingly mauve because the door and shutters are currently painted a deep-pinky red.  Maybe a little happy tealy-blue (one of my most favourite colours, and the colour of our front door at our last little house) (oh how I miss our little 1940s home!) would help hide the mauve?

Or we could simply embrace (and – gasp! – perhaps accentuate) our mauve-ish-ness.  I found this image of a mauve house with lavender shutters and such on an online forum, and (shockingly!) I sorta like it.

It’s a bit country-cute.  Which I’m ok with.  Will Sweetie be ok with it?  I’m not sure.  (Sweetie’s edit: No I am not.) But in the meantime lavender is indeed in the running as a possible door/shutter hue for my big outdoor-painting-extravaganza next spring.  If you can’t beat (the purple colour family) ‘em, join (the purple colour family) ‘em, right?

Maybe.

But my most favourite colour scheme of the bunch (I think) is this one from Vivaciously Vintage…

Love love love the taupe-y trim with the plummy door!  Could this all work on our little mauve-coloured house?  I’m not entirely sure.  But I’d really really like to try!

With only nine-ish more months until front-door painting weather returns in the spring, it’s going to be a rather stressful front-door-decision-making winter, methinks.  So please excuse me while I resume my humming and hawing.  (And my thinking and my winking…)  (And all of that sort of decision enabling kinda stuff.)  There are some very important front door decisions to be made.  :)