Lilac for the home office and other random bits

 This is one of those catch up posts, loaded with new additions and updates!

With Easter fast approaching, it seems Spring will be here before we know it. 

And when Spring arrives I will be having two photo shoots at the house,

one which will be with Fifi O'Neill for most all of the house, and then a separate one

for the magazine, Where Women Create.  That is a very cool magazine dedicated to 

showing off creative women in their habitats. And so, my home office will be 

under a magnifying glass and I want it to look beautiful, and more "me".  

Walking down my hallway, heading to my home office is this

lilac striped wall that leads into my work space.

 The walls here have been painted "French Canvas" by Ben Moore, which is a very

nice neutral.  I added a sisal rug from Ballard Designs and matchstick blinds

and some drapery panels that have a beige and white scroll pattern.  I wanted 

a little more personality than those neutrals had to offer so I painted a wide stripe around

the top of the room in "Majestic Mauve" by Ben Moore.  Its soft and subtle

and ties in the view to the hallway. Lilac, the soft version of purple, is best used in 

limited amounts, and I have always loved the color since I was a girl.

 This Aura paint is awesome because it has no smell, and after years of using

 Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint, that was something I never wanted to go back to...

the smell of latex paint.  One coat coverage makes it a good  choice, 

although it is premium in price, I think its worth it.  

(And no, this is not a compensated post, this is just my opinion on paint.) 

Before I had my china cabinet behind the desk, and it was a bit cramped when 

it came to the function of the space.  So I decided I would move it over to the side

wall and try a console table and artwork along the wall.  

 I framed a large needlepoint in an antique frame I had and as soon as I hung 

it up I kind of hated it.  UGH. You know its ok to try stuff then try other stuff....

then I got the idea to steal the huge grey mirror I had recently bought for the kitchen wall!

Here is my wonderful grey mirror from HomeGoods.  

Do you ever think of shopping your own house for the perfect thing in another room? 

 I couldn't resist moving it...my hubs thinks I am nuts.  He was the one who had to move it, or I would have myself and he likely wouldn't have noticed.  I do have a very neat farmhouse style mirror coming any day from Antique Farmhouse that might look great in this spot, but I will cross that decorating bridge when I get to it. 

 Anyway, I loved how it looked in my office behind my grey desk!! I hung up the French black and white transferware plates I recently found while antiquing, and then added shutters next to the plates.  The room is getting more changes, but at this point I am feeling encouraged. The pale lilac stripe is just fun and unexpected.  Oh, and I also repainted my orb chandy from Gold to Pearl, using Matthew Mead's Studio Metallic Paint.  I think that made a big difference as well.  Now I have the urge to hunt down a French style table or desk, as this old utility desk is just not working for me. 

Stay tuned on that one....I hope I will get it all together for a final reveal within a month.

 In the meantime, Mr. Maison Decor dragged home an enormous piece of granite, that was about six by three feet in size, and we place it in front of the French Doors leading to the back courtyard.  It is really going to be amazing, when I can get outside and start working again on the courtyard and making it all look beautiful for our outdoor living.  I am super excited about that!  I want to sew and install a Sunbrella canopy awning over the back doors, and I also want to build a small garden folly, which I can store garden tools for easy access next to my vegetable garden.

 In anticipation of Fifi's arrival, I searched online and found some beautiful vintage linen napkins, French of course.  I got a set of eleven, and they are huge, about 28" square!  I have heard them called "lapkins", which I think is very clever.  They are monogramed with a D V it appears, and if you flip them upside down it looks like an A C, which are my initials.  No matter, I have always wanted a set of nice French linen napkins, and now I have them, and they will set a lovely table.

 Almost every room in my house has spring flowers, I have been unabashedly buying them

when I have been shopping at Trader Joes and even Costco.  The former has beautiful pansy bowls and potted pink and blue hydrangeas right now, so get them while you can.

I bought two of these, one for me and one for my mother-in-law.

Aren't they gorgeous?

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Create a Botanical Wall Grouping

 Botanicals are a classic in home decorating and have been for years.  

Never out of style, they add a bit of garden ambience to the home.

For a while I have been wanting to create a wall grouping of botanicals.

You can purchase vintage or new botanicals online at Etsy.com or Ebay, 

or maybe you have a large garden book that you can color copy the pages

or even tear them out and use them for a coordinated grouping.

 My botanicals were issued in the early 70s from the Smithsonian Institute

 and are part of the Wildflowers of America collection.  My sister picked them

 up at a thrift shop for .50 cents for the entire collection of about 20 prints. 

 The prints were 9" x 12", and so I went on the hunt to find some frames, 

in hopes that I could avoid having to get them custom framed.

These Studio Decor frames are in a grey wash and are made from Ash.

They also came in natural and white, and I found them at Michaels Craft Store.

They were on sale and ended up costing $5.95 each, so I bought 9 of them

to give me the options of having a 3 over 3 frame layout on the wall, or do 4 over 4,

and because I really was unsure where I was going to hang them.

The size of the frame was hard to find, and it still wasn't perfect because

 I guess 9x12 is an odd size.  Most frames were 10x12 or 12x14.  

But this frame came with a matte, so I decided I would play around with it 

when I got home.  I could float the entire image over the matte, 

or hide part of it under the matte, and that is what looked best, although

 the text had to be hidden.  And that part of a botanical is wonderful, I know,

 but it looked much more professional using the matte.

Its super easy to do....just pry up the little metal clips and take out the back board 

and the matte, and then using the Glue Dots (also from Michaels)

on the backside of the print, I placed it on the board and 

checked to see how it looked with the matte on top of it and that it was centered.

It was a simple and fast process, and in no time at all I had 9 framed botanicals!

So many places these could have been hung, but in the end I decided to

 hang them on the narrow wall that leads from my kitchen to the front door. 

 We don't have wide hallways, so this grouping adds a pretty note

 without taking up tons of space.  

 I suppose I could add another row underneath, and I just might go back

 and grab some more of the frames before they are all gone.

 The view looking back into my kitchen...

 And this cute view looking towards the front door.

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Easter Egg Centerpiece

 Hi Everyone!  Lets talk about Easter and Spring and the decorations

 that go along with that special time of year.  It can be so easy to decorate for Easter, 

but sometimes maybe we just keep doing the same old thing.  

So how about a few ideas?

 We started with some eggs....

and then you can boil them or blow them out so they are hollow

 and and paint or dye them in your favorite colors.

 Then sprinkle them around any flower arrangements, like this yule log type 

container that I had at Christmas time.  I kept the container and then for spring 

I filled it with crumpled newspaper and covered the top with moss and then fit 

small juice glasses with hyacinths into the container.  Sprinkle with a few painted eggs 

and its simply charming! Matthew Mead made these eggs by blowing them out and 

spraying them in the colors that I just adore. 

 But you could do them all in shades of pink or purple.

Think of the possibilities to personalize this for your own home.

We will be sharing our video soon on our DECORATE channel on

just how we made this Spring Woodland Log centerpiece.

 How about an easy Topiary Bunny Centerpiece using a store bought wreath? 

 Its simple and festive and charming.  These ideas are some of what you

 will find on Matthew Mead and my DECORATE channel on YouTube.

So head over and watch our 3 minute video on how we made this enchanting centerpiece!

And see the bloopers at the very end when we screwed up our lines or the camera was rolling

and our camera gal Julia didn't mention it....haha!

CLICK HERE for DECORATE with Matthew and Amy

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French daybed debuts in the dining room

 Spring is coming, and I can't wait to get back outside.  Last year we

created a French style courtyard in the back of the house. Part of our 

plan was to access it by adding French doors in the dining room
 that will lead directly to the small narrow gravel courtyard.  We got the doors 

completed, leaving me to dream about how we will enjoy the courtyard as

soon as spring arrives.  When I spotted an antique French daybed at SOWA, our local

Boston vintage market, I decided it would be the perfect accent for the courtyard.

But for now the daybed is sitting in my dining room, and I figured I could just
 work around it if I made it look like it really belongs in this room.  So, here it is!
At the end of this post you can visit my design blogger friends who have 
all joined my in an ode to Spring, and see what they have done to usher in the season.

But make sure you check out my table, as I have been working on that too.

 A pretty table setting for Easter was one of the purposes of a recent photo shoot. 

 The table has my purple transferware dishes holding center court.  

Silver baby cups hold purple Easter grass and a few luxury chocolates for

 our grown up boys.  It is a new tradition for our Easter table, 

and it's a sweet nod to Easter when it once was all about the basket.
Vintage lilac colored damask napkins are folded inside of amethyst colored footed cups,
then set on top of the Clarice Cliff purple transferware plates.

White tulips reinforce the coming season so that this pretty dining room

 is all set for spring... even with the new unexpected addition. 

 Its a dreamy combination I think, a day bed in a dining room!

 For this dining room shoot, I moved in the piano bench and I think it might just be staying. 

 The slipcovered linen bench looks really pretty tucked under the table, 

which makes space for the daybed.

 The photo shoot I was talking about earlier, was actually a video shoot with 
Matthew Mead for our Decorating Channel on Youtube.  
We shot a video tour of my living room and I explain why I love it so....
from the newly painted blue walls, to the painted piano,
 to the antique Italian hand painted floral tea table,
 to my opaline chandelier and the romantic mantle I created using appliques....
well I LOVE it all!!
If you want to check it out you will see it all too. 
Seeing a room on video is very different than looking at photos.
 It comes to LIFE!

Visit my Living Room tour on our DECORATE channel by clicking HERE.
One more thing...!

Today I'm joining in with some very talented design bloggers 

to bring you some ideas to jump start your spring style! 

Please visit them all for lots of beauty and inspiration.

 French Country Cottage

 Housepitality Designs

Maison Decor

Savvy Southern Style

Shabbyfufu

 Stone Gable

Read more »

Video shoot and a living room tour

Look at my dog Colby!! 

He is growing and is so fun to have around...

look at him posing on the sofa.  Last night something funny happened.  For four months he has been sleeping on our bed.  For the last two nights he kept jumping off the bed during the night, acting restless and hubs and I weren't getting any sleep.  So last night hubs brought up Colby's dog bed and plopped it on our bedroom floor.  Colby climbed in and slept the entire night without making a peep (well he does snore).  So here we were shocked!! We thought dogs LOVE sleeping on people beds and feel privileged to do so...but our boy wants his own big boy bed apparently.

That was a mind blower, but we all slept fantastically!!! 

Anyway, let me tell you the latest:

 This week I prepared for a series of videos that Matthew Mead and I planned to 

shoot at my house.  We try to shoot at least six videos on all kinds of topics, like

decorating, floral arrangements and book reviews.  This time we added a new 

category which I think we will be doing regularly, which is just talking about stuff.

Random stuff, but the discussion will revolve around design and decorating.  For example

we talked about our connections with Martha.  Yeah, that Martha.  Martha Stewart.

You won't want to miss that video convo!  When it is all edited I will load it onto

our DECORATE channel and you can watch it with a click of the finger.

 We also decided to add some mini house touring, 

and we filmed my living room and dining room.Its fun to see it live 

and in video format,  rather than a carefully stage photo.  

This way you really get a feel for the room and see how the house is laid out.  

Matthew is filming me talking about my living room.  And how did we get this pic?  

 It was taken by Julia Sullivan, formerly my go to gal at my shop Maison Decor, 

she is now doing most of our videography for our segments. 

 Matthew and Julia posed in front of this darling woodland centerpiece

 we created, and that was also one of the segments we filmed for our channel.

 So I hope you will get a chance to visit our DECORATE channel, 

and if you want to come inside and "walk" around with us, click on the link! 

 I will be busy blabbing away about the various things in the room, 

like my hand painted table that many of my readers love, 

and might have thought I sold since it is no longer front and center as my coffee table.

This big rustic trunk has taken its place...

and you know with me, I am always decorating and that means painting,

 rearranging and adding little touches. 

 Next time I blog, I will be showing off some spring touches
 in the dining room, and a new addition!

Visit our DECORATE channel and see my mini house tour by CLICKING HERE

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Photo Shoots and Farmhouse Mirrors

 Love love love these Woodlawn blue walls...I am so happy with the color.

With every day I grow to like it more and more, which is a good thing.

With paint it can be a bit nerve wracking to pick a color and then discover

it really isn't what you had in mind after all.  So with that, I started thinking of 

perhaps painting the dining room walls.  But I really love the simplicity

of how the room feels, so I am not sure I am ready to pull the paint trigger just yet.

 I was considering painting the doors, and maybe that is all I would need for awhile.  

One thing that I will be changing is the mirror in the room.  I found an amazing mirror

at AntiqueFarmhouse.com and it is going to make a huge difference in here.  

 This is the mirror I fell in love with, and it is four feet long and three feet wide.  

A statement piece for sure!  I think it will convey more of the french farmhouse

look in the dining room that I am going for....

When Antique Farmhouse asked if I wanted to work with them, how could I resist?

They have loads of rustic, cottage, farmhouse style accessories,

 from large to small items that can finish off your space,

which is exactly what I am hoping this beautiful mirror will do for my dining room.

 The reason why I am extra motivated right now to get all of my rooms 

looking extra pretty is because Fifi O'Neill is coming to shoot my home this spring!

Here she is looking through the camera lens at a shoot last year at My Desert Cottage.

Fifi and interiors photographer,  Mark Lohman will be doing their thing at my house!!

So all of the projects I planned to do this year at a leisurely pace, will now have to get done

just a bit more quickly!  

 Fifi is the author of books, like this one that is one of my faves, and 

she is also the editor of several magazines, so I am not sure where my house 

will be featured quite yet.  All I do know, is I want it to look the way I imagine it can look, 

which in my mind is pretty amazing (hahah) I just have to finish my projects....

 Like this one, with the help of Mr. Maison Decor, I scored on this antique French daybed 

with the makers mark still welded to the frame.  I have to make a mattress and

 cushions and pillows and all that stuff.  I imagine it sitting outside in the French courtyard 

I created last year, which is almost finished, but not quite.

 So while its still winter time, my mind is firmly planted in spring, 

where photo shoots will be taking place, and things will be painted and new mirrors 

will be hung, creating my vision of that french style home I aspire to create.

(source unknown)

So for now, this dream is still a dream...

but I am getting one step closer, one step at a time.

Visit AntiqueFarmhouse.com HERE

Note: This is a partially sponsored post by Antique Farmhouse.com.  All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

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Behind the Blog Feature on Maison Decor

 An online site for Home Decor Enthusiasts, Deco & Bloom has something for everyone.

Like reading an online magazine, you can find articles on great designers, room interiors, focus articles on paint colors or kitchens or baths....and then there is a section where they feature the names behind the brands we love, and the blogs we read.  They asked me if they could feature Maison Decor, "Behind the Blog" as part of their very interesting series where they interview the bloggers with well crafted questions. The answer was yes, I would be honored to be featured on your very cool website.   The questions they sent me to answer proved to be very interesting for me, and I think you will learn more than just a little bit on how this blog started, my design philosophy, 

and what makes my world go around. 

Even my husband and kids found things they didn't know in this interview. Really.

 Love their logo too.  

So, I hope you enjoy this feature on my blog, and how it came to be, and what my plans

are for it and myself in the future.  I was delighted to see that all three of my dogs made

the cut from their graphic designers studio!  I loved seeing Dillon and Tobey last Easter

chilling on the couch.  And of course, little Colby made the headlines, 

which tells me that I am not the only one who thinks dogs make a home (and a blog) a better place.

Click HERE to read my feature, and then poke around the other articles, as you

might just want to bookmark this awesome website for future reading.

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