Time to rearrange

A couple of weeks ago I woke up one morning and decided I couldn’t possibly live with a piano in my entry way for one more minute. Though it had been there for at least four years, having it there for one more day was suddenly impossible to endure.

During Tess’s nap time I moved everything around in my living room. I first tried the piano on this wall.

hall

Under the chalkboard and photos. I lived with it there for one week. The problem was the loveseat had to go in front of the French doors and the table behind it went in front of the fireplace. Both bugged me in this awkward new place.

I woke up from a nap one evening about a week later, very grouchy, and could not live with the living room that way one more minute. Apparently irritability drives me to rearrange.

piano

The loveseat went back to its happy place over by the chalkboard and the piano went here, beside the French doors. I didn’t try it here earlier because if you walk in front of the piano

<——————–this way, you’ll exit down a short hallway to the carport. I thought the piano would block the entry just as annoyingly as it did in the front entry.

It did not.

In fact, I kind of liked it there.

tv

I liked the way that it didn’t interfere with the rest of the furniture placement. We could still have our ratty old recliner positioned in the perfect place for watching television.

living room

I still had room for one of my favorite chairs right next to it.

And, best of all, my entry way was free to welcome people without having to shove the bench under the piano before you opened the door.

entry

Sometimes you just have to push some things around to find out what works.

Hanging a few pictures

 

A while ago Edie from Life on Grace (You don’t read her? Well you should, you’re missing out.) did this wall of frames in her living room. I loved it. So I started collecting frames so I could copy Edie. She always has good ideas.

I wanted my arrangement to be full of things that I loved, things that made me happy when I looked at them.

I loved the idea, also, of having words on the wall. So, I carried these ideas around in my head for a few weeks, gathering frames and photos that I wanted to use.

I had an old chalkboard that had become too slick to write on with chalk. So I painted words from Philippians 4 right on it in my own messy handwriting.

A few of my favorite candid shots went into the frames.

I included a favorite piece of art work from my daughter.

 

Then, I found these bird prints on Etsy and I knew I had to have them too.

It all began to come together. It might not be someone else’s idea of good decorating, but I love it and it makes me happy when I walk in and look at this gathering of faces and things that I love.

DIY Day @ ASPTL

DIY Blue Sideboard

Earlier this summer I had a yard sale and almost moved this piece out to the carport to add to the sale. I even asked my readers if it should stay or go.


Most of you said it should stay and I’m so glad I listened. This color makes me so happy.

I was already planning on painting it blue. I had some paint left over from another project. But then I read Edie’s post about the French painting technique. Not only did I love her color, I really wanted to try it her way using latex paint.

You see, my grandfather, a painter, always insisted we had to use oil-based paint when painting furniture.

(The middle picture is the same color, just taken in outdoor light.)

I decided to break tradition and try something new.

I followed Edie’s instructions but I did not begin wiping the paint off soon enough. I thought I could paint the whole sideboard and then wipe it down. That did not work. By the time I finished it was dry!

Only the drawers turned out like I wanted them too. The rest of the piece had to be sanded and roughed up a bit to reveal the wood stain beneath.

But now that I know what to do I can’t wait to try it again. I may paint the whole house distressed deep turquoise.

Color is Deep Turquoise from the Laura Ashley Collection at Lowes.

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