Dining Room Good-bye's

Someone asked me the other day where they could buy a new dining room set. It confused me for a moment, because we were sitting at theirs while we talked, and although it seemed perfectly nice to me, it turns out that this was the first time she had used it in almost a year.

As we thought of what to do, it got me thinking about the way that we live now, and how the dining room is becoming obsolete for many of us. So often, I meet people who just use theirs for special occasions; it is left feeling unloved and outdated, stale and abandoned until the next Thanksgiving.

Rooms shouldn't feel this way, and while we are quick to complain about not having enough space, sometimes all we have to do is bring ourselves up-to-date, and find ways to re-use the space that we have.

1. Why not hand it over to the children while they are little?
The dining room is usually near the kitchen and television area, so you can happily let them play in their own space while you get to keep a watchful eye on them. 
p.s. Keep the chandelier - it adds a touch of glam, lights up the room without worrying about lamps being knocked over, and gives you (or the next owner) the option to return it to it's former life.

2. How gorgeous is this room as a Home Office/Library? 
I admit, that most of us don't have gorgeous brick on our dining room floors, but if you add a rug, bring in your favorite books, pens, pencils and a laptop, you'll soon have a space that everyone will want to spend time in. 
p.s. If you have the energy, paint your china cabinet a fab color before you bring all your bits and pieces in.

3. Why not forget the dining table altogether, and buy a pool table? 
Did you know, that taking a few moments to match the fabric and style of a pool table to your home actually costs no more than using the traditional green felt we see down at the local pub?
p.s. Decorate around it the way that you would any other room, with a nice pendant lamp, some art on the walls, and a few comfy chairs.

4. Paint your china cabinet (and use it for anything other than china. 
Many cabinets are not made of quality wood anyway, and some of them, no matter how hard we try, just can't escape the uglies. It doesn't have to be perfect, and if you're nervous, go for something classic like black or white, or, just paint the inside back panel and see where it takes you.
p.s. After you're done, fill it with endless craft supplies, childhood souvenirs, favorite books, plants, beautiful shoes etc.



5. Turn it into a Music Room.
Storing musical instruments can be difficult at the best of times, but not if you use them as decorations. If you have the space, why not indulge in the luxury of a music room; paint it a gorgeous color, invest in a few organizers to help you hang guitars, LP's, posters etc on the wall, and I bet it will quickly become your favorite hang-out room.
p.s. A few non-musical decorations will add a bit of interest and sophistication.

Sleeping Rooms

I remember reading a meditation once, where it said we should consciously uncurl our hands before we go to sleep, leaving them (and us) open to all sorts of good energy that wants to flow through us while we dream. Unfortunately, I found that it was almost impossible to do this without looking (and feeling) like my fingers were sticking up in some sort of awkward, unnatural puppet show, so I decided to sleep with my palms open, lying smooshed flat against the sheets instead.

In my quest for calm, I also used to pretend that I was a sloth sleeping on a tree branch, but that just made me laugh, and led to too many questions about where my legs should go, and how did sloths sleep all dangly-like anyway. So, now I imagine I am some kind of peaceful, elegant mermaid (okay, so that's a stretch) or, a very confused, yet colorful tree frog, flat against the window of his aquarium. In reality, all this imagining does help me drift off to sleep, but I am sure I end up appearing more like Mr. Bean than a landlocked mermaid.

Recently, I painted my bedroom. Before, it was a dark, brown suede color, but after nearly ten years of sunshine it had softened down to a very unfortunate shade of tan, and was starting to really bother me. If I don't like a room, it is amazing how quickly I am motivated, so I went with my gut, and I quickly found a color that was the inky black of a clear night - one that provoked thoughts of old fashioned poetry and childhood dreams.

By day, the room takes on a hint of gray, like the lead in a sharpened pencil, but at night it is black with a splash of navy, which I love. Because it is small, and has a really large window, it isn't as shocking as you would imagine; with high gloss paint on the ceiling, and an old exposed radiator, it suddenly feels like a cozy, yet sunny and warm attic nook - happily accidental in its design.

Although it was quite minimally furnished to begin with, emptying the room was the perfect excuse for me to live with the black paint for a few days. For almost a week, I lived in a room that just had a bed; at night, I would look at the dark walls, and wonder what I wanted them to be. Such a lot of thought for a tiny room, but it felt important, and shouldn't it be as much as I wanted it to be?

As the days wore on, my perspective grew, and the quiet beauty of the empty room made me acutely aware of how much I had, and did I really want to fill up my room with what was there before.
I decided to put back only what I truly loved - it had to feel incredibly comfortable, minimal in design, slightly grown-up, and I had to be able to keep it tidy (which meant that everything had to have a purpose or a place - no random bits of miscellany, and not a convenient spot for who-knows-what on its way to who-knows-where).

It's been a few months now,
and despite my random inclination towards Mr. Bean, sloths and mermaids, it has quite possibly become the dog's most favorite room in the house ...






p.s. the main photograph is a composite of the zen tree frog and the princess and the pea, and the paint I used was Graphic Charcoal by Behr. 

Valentine Colors for your Home

It's Valentine's Day, and the supermarket was filled with men
 - most of them trying to decide between the red roses,
which he thought she said yesterday were cliche,
or the heart-shaped box of chocolates with Snoopy on the front.
I loved seeing them stand so seriously by the flower display,
rushing over to grab a card,
then streaming across the parking lot with romantic intentions during their lunch hour.  

Pink and Red balloons were all over the place,
and everyone seem a little bit happier today.
Maybe we should have Valentine's Day more often?

Color (and a box of chocolates) cheers everyone up,
so here are some fun (sugar free) ways
 to sweeten up your own home.

Sources:
Main Photograph by Richard Avedon via Pinterest
Coat in Entranceway  Vintage Clock  Keep Calm Rug  Flowers Paint Red Cart Sofa Pink Lamp
Bird Plate Bathtub Front Door Egg Cup Sweater Pillow Laundry Room Bedroom

Thank you!

Remember when I wrote about my obsession with Smeg appliances the other week? Well, I was drinking a cup of tea with a friend yesterday, and my daughter went to get the mail.

On the doorstep was a package. Despite my (still recovering) addiction to Ebay, I knew I wasn't expecting anything, so we all crowded around this box, wondering what it was.

Inside, was another box, then another, holding a brand new Smeg tea kettle. With no note saying who had sent it.
To say I didn't know what to do is an understatement.
I nearly passed out with shock at my own surprise birthday party a few years ago, and while this wasn't quite on that level, I don't like attention, and I am easily overwhelmed by the generosity and love of the people that surround me.

Refusing to open it, I didn't know whether to cry or smile, so we just kept drinking our tea, glancing over at the box every now and again, waiting for me to say or do something.

Eventually, about an hour later, my gratitude (and my friend and daughter) talked me down from the ledge, and I opened the box. Inside was the most beautiful, cream colored tea kettle I have ever seen.... We all oohed and aahed like children on Christmas morning, while we tried to guess where it had come from.

Several hours later, we decided that it truly was a thing of beauty, a gift to be accepted ....... and it made the most delicious cup of tea in the entire world...

Thank you!

Closet Confessions

With the Winter, comes my slight addiction to Ebay shopping. It arrives in the form of clothes, and I can easily justify buying several tops, or a cute dress, if I am paying no more than the price of a cup of coffee and a muffin for each. Never mind that I don't usually buy a cup of coffee and a muffin, but if I wanted to, I would imagine that it would cost no more than paying for an inexpensive dress on Ebay - which means that I am actually saving money, and is completely justified for some reason that I am not quite sure of.

But, if I bought a cup of coffee and a muffin, they wouldn't need space in my closet, and, considering I only have 53 hangers in my closet, when my Ebay purchase takes me to number 54, I have a problem.

You see, we can't organize and declutter if we don't have a place to put everything. So, no matter how much I stare at number 54, a new coat hanger doesn't materialize, and I still have nowhere to put that delicious, pre-loved, silky top. I can't buy just one coat hanger at the shops, and even if I could, there is absolutely no more room in my closet.

This is the sort of thing that gets us into a pickle. Before we know it, we have too many clothes, too much mail, or too many widgets, and nowhere to put them. It's not that we don't have the space, it's just that our space is already full.

So, what do we do?
Me? Because I don't want to spend my life staring at number 54 sitting on my chair (and I am not buying any more coat hangers) I decided to go through my closet and donate at least one thing (I ended up donating seven, so that was good, which also means (if my math is right) I can buy six more things on Ebay.....).
You? Find homes for what you already have, don't use your floor as a storage unit, count your coat hangers, and try buying a cup of coffee and a muffin instead of a new widget.