Janet of All Trades

Tomorrow is Halloween and I will be painting an accent wall Orange! How appropriate! I will post before and after photos next week. But in the meantime, I found this in Kitchen in This Old House,November 2009. I love bright colors but not sure about the color combination of the yellow and green,I fear that it is a bit much even for me. The Kitchen has great bones but I think the paint takes away from the charm. I just hope my orange wall is not so much of a shocker. Happy Halloween!

This week has been all about my love affair with basements and laundry rooms. My basement has been remodeled twice in the last two years due to a faulty sump pump that flooded it a few months after it was completed. So we had to remodel again, this time we had to change a few things but it came out better than before. Photos is the before we even started the first remodel and it lead to a dark paneled basement. We painted and then added framed photos and mementos from places that we had travelled. There are still spots for more items but just don't wanted it to look to cluttered. The color looks really red but it is little darker and is called Rodeo Red (Ralph Lauren). It doesn't look much like the entrance to a dungeon any longer.

I still can't get this basement from Martha Stewart Living November 2009, out of my head. Now the Laundry room has becoming my obsession. I would love to have mine look like this although it is neatly tucked away behind a door to hide the mess that growing right now. It has become the dumping ground for all things that don't have a place in our home any longer and is getting increasingly small. I don't spend a lot of time in there..run in and run out, but maybe if it looked like this I would. Not sure if it would make the laundry get done any quicker but it would be nice to have a little order. Organization calms the soul and gets the laundry done now it feels like a spa. Okay now I really want a Laundry Spa.

I love a nice basement. It's a great place to hide and get away from the world. It doesn't have to be a dungeon but can start out looking like one. I have one that started out looking similar to this recent remodel featured in Maratha Stewart Living,November 2009. Dark panelling in a basement I will never understand. But look at the transformation into a light living space. It looks like a totally different space. And the wall behind the wicker sofa becomes a Movie screen. The home owner uses a projector to display images and movies on the wall. I also love the exposed beams in the ceiling as it gives it more height and looks more like a barn than a basement.  I will have wait on this idea that will have to wait for me since we have remodel our basement twice in the last two years,but maybe in the next house will have a dungeon that needs help!

A few years ago my basement flooded and I had to throw out most of my Halloween decorations. It has been a slow process to replace them since I had been collecting items for years. Just a few things every year can accumulate after awhile. The newest purchase are these simple skeletons for my front windows. They will adorn both side of the front door and will be illuminated from behind. Outside I will have tombstone and pumpkin luminaries. No carved pumpkins since I just can't bear to cut their lovely skins. Should be a nice display and will post photos next week!

I think it is going to be Pumpkin Cream. Here is what they look like on the wall. The Pumpkin Cream is much more saturate with red and a richer color. The Bronze Tone now looks to peach and I definitely do not want that. Now on the the other walls. The color on the walls now is Ralph Lauren Sahara and it is a flat paint that shows every single finger print and is impossible to clean. I would like a color similar but possibly lighter. Here are a few colors in the gold/orange family that might work. or I am looking a at a light version of what is currently in the room. But still not sure this will look good or not. I don't want the no wall to be to light and non-color that it disappears or makes the room look off balanced. Okay need to make the decision before the weekend is over, so wish me luck!

I think I may have found the color for our living room. It might be influenced by the season since it is a pumpkin color and the last time I painted out living room was around Halloween as well. I discover the color by accident. I had a coupon for 2 free sample jars of paint from Benjamin Moore. I just wanted to make sure I really wanted orange so I got two that I thought would be close. Although I had already had both of the paint chips at home and didn't like either. Top center is the Pumpkin Cream and bottom right is Bronze Tone. One has more red and the other has more yellow. I really didn't like either of them since they aren't Sunned Tanned Pumpkin..but when I put them on the wall.....  they seem to look the same. Pumpkin Cream on left and Bronze tone on right. They are still wet and the shine is throwing of the color as well as the Pumpkin Cream will need a base coat or multiple coats for good coverage. This is only for two accent walls and not the entire room sinc...

I think I have a creative block looming in my brain. I have been a bit busier than normal and my brain doesn't have time to wonder off by itself and dissect a project. I am sure it is just normal not to have your brain working all the time, right? I guess I will just wait it out and let mine take a rest. I am sure it will be back soon,,hear that brain come back soon!

I have blogged before about the color green and how it is everywhere in my home. Recently I saw an add for green nail polish and thought it was pretty odd. I considered buying it and possibly wearing it for Halloween. It is a very dark pine green and almost black. Well I bought it but have yet to use it until I saw this in W Magazine, that Green is the new Dark Red (or Vamp as they like to call it). Not sure I am ready to wear it all the time but will give it a try since it is new the Red!

I tried my hand at chromatic book arrangement over the weekend. I had moved this barrister bookcase from our living room to our office/spare bedroom and thought I should try arranging the books by color. It was fun and not to hard, although the last shelf on the bottom I was left with all black books, But I think I made it work. First I sorted the books by color and then by size, then I just started lining them up. Some books I took the covers off to reveal a better color and others I left alone. I might have to start selecting books by color and not be genre,that is if I can find room for them!

Tomorrow is my Ten Year Wedding Anniversary. We have a special day planned and therefore will not be blogging. I love this candid photo of us just sitting and relaxing on our wonderful day. Our wedding was performed while cruising along Niagara River on very warm and sunny day. No October 16th has ever been as warm and my heart and my hands will be warm forever.

Ten year ago I married my best friend. I can truly say this now since we have been together for thirteen years and I grow to love him more each day. Without sounding trivial or sappy love express itself in many different forms and I have come to learn that in the last ten years or so.  I look back ten years and think what we have been thru together and how we got thru it. It was fun,sad,scary,wonderful and stressful but it was totally worth it to have a devoted partner all the way. He sent me flowers on our wedding day and will always remember what he wrote.."Hope it is sunny and warm today, the way you make me feel"

Recently I had read on "Blue Hydrangea's" Blog about the craft room featured in Country Living a few years ago. I too had kept that article since I wanted to make one for myself.  A couple of years ago I decided it was time. These are the before photos and what a mess it was! And this is the after... A little bit of paint and new rug and you have a new Creative Studio!

Three years ago this week,we had a freak fall snow storm. The snow was so heavy on the fall leaves that it caused numerous branches to fall. We were with out power for three days and did not sleep that much since we were emptying our sump pump by hand every 15 minutes. It was a eye opening experience on how a neighborhood and friends can come together to help each other. We were all in it together. So on this anniversary of the storm, I will remember the help and not the lost sleep.

I love Halloween and especially pumpkins. I don't like to butcher them and take their guts out since I think they are really beautiful just they way they are. Instead of carving them I have found that there are many other options. One option is these ceramic pumpkins that are really unique and don't look like they are from a pottery class gone bad. The other are these sparkly glitter pumpkins that I think would look great in Halloween candle light. Now that I look more closely, I wonder if I can make them..Oh please someone shut my brain off. It's not possible to make everything or is it?

I found some great fabric yesterday and decided just to buy it. Didn't want to regret it later and it was super inexpensive. One fabric is almost the color that I am looking for for my living wall (or morning room as my husband calls it), but not exactly right yet. The other maybe made into a pillow for the new bedroom, I haven't decided. I will just have to get all my fabrics out and see how they work together and sit down and sew for awhile. I have numerous project in my head as well, but need to start one to finish! But at least I have found some fabric for inspiration.

I have a few pillows to make for my bedroom and I am a little overwhelmed. There are so many fabrics to chose from and I can't decide. Should I go with the simple geometric or a huge splash of many colors. I can't decide and have been looking at everything. I think I might have to limit myself to a few color ideas and start from scratch. Or I could get them all and have many different options. That might make the decision alittle easier! Here are some inspirations and some possible selections or maybe not

I hate to see old particle board furniture by the curb for garbage pick up. It is such a waste of materials,energy and money. I always have wondered if there was a way to reuse it or reconfigure it and low and behold I found this article in DIY Magazine. From a lowly TV cabinet to a slick Laundry Center. A little paint and  few additions and it is quite a transformation and really quite clean and modern looking. It could also be used in a child's room for clothes,toys or books. I will file this idea away for now since I don't have the space for it, but maybe you have a ugly TV cabinet you can re-use!

I recently returned form vacation in North Carolina, where I discovered some super nice people. It was in Carolina Beach to be exact where we have been renting a house for a couple of years each fall. Each year the sleepy beach town seems to change just a little with new restaurants and businesses. This year two new places (one old, just changed a little) have become our favorites since we enjoyed the food and the nice people who own  and run them. One is the Tree House Bistro, which is part coffee shop and part wine bar, doesn't get any better. They  have excellent flat breads and a cheese trays both I can't stop dreaming about. The second is The Surf House Cafe.  Fresh and organic food that is so tasty that your body will thank you for eating and crave to go back. It's unique little place that combines a surf shop and cafe as wells as has surf movies one night a week. There were also numerous other nice people in this beach town that helped make our tr...

I am back... not that I really want to be but I am. I have been back for a few days but in post vacation coma trying just to catch up and get thru the day. It was lovely,sunny and warm with a little bit of rain. It was a great trip that both my husband and I truly needed to recharge for the rest of the year. It's cold here today and I really just want to put on my flips flops and swimsuit and sit on the beach and watch the waves roll in. Enjoy.Happy Friday!