Fake Foul

Okay, confession time.  Antlers remind me of fingernails.  There. Now you know.  And wish you didn't.

The older I get, the more creeped out I am by any kind of taxidermy.  Too many childhood visits to the butcher where your brothers dared you to stand under the huge (long-haired!) bull's head (who-can-stand-there-longest-style)?  Possibly.  Does that mean I'm vegetarian?  Heck no.  There is still a place in my life for meat.  And I still go to that butcher - Best sausage around!  (Though writing that sentence made me a little sick just now.)

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While I can appreciate "animal" in home design,  I have a lot of questions that I really don't want the answers to:  Swiffer or vaccuum?  Which attachment?  At some point those hairs/feathers, start shedding, and they go where?

 

I have a friend who thinks donkeys are funny (I think they're just a@#$%. :)  But, I get it now, because lately I really do find that ducks, and geese, kind of adorable.
That goose is hilarious.  If it's not shedding stuff, that is.

Lately, I've been setting aside a lot of time to daydream about the following spaces.  Which has me really pumped to hunt down the perfect the non-shedding, dust-collecting version of one of theses fine, funny, foul.   

D&S

D*S

      

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Are you Team Taxidermy or Team Decoy?  Team Donkey or Team Goose?
Love to You!

Ohio Farmhouse

Country Living featured this great Ohio Farmhouse.  She's an antiques dealer, he's a veterinarian and their home reflects them so beautifully.  There's much more on the CL site, but here are a few of my favorite images.

This is my favorite room:  The Chesterfield, wall color, the art and the shorter bookcases - the blue lamp and the two tables - so good!  Don't you love it when design seems so attainable:  the rug is from Home Decorators and they made the pine shelves (the shorter height has got me thinking and planning).

I'd love to be a child going "to the farm" and staying here!  The color and pattern reminds me of Martha Stewart. (Is that a steel ceiling?)

Do you have raised garden beds?  Each spring I get excited about having a garden as bountiful as this one (and with that view!).

  

Ahh, and a little cottage for the adults.  

Such a clever use for a tiny building - the plantings and path draw you right in!

See more (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, & chickens!) here.

BHG in '76

I wanted to share the rest of the Better Homes and Gardens article with you, from, that's right 1976 (October!)  The magazine is oversized by today's standards and sold for 75 cents an issue - my grandmother subscribed and passed them on to my mom. Somehow my childhood is tucked here - in the crafts, recipes, decor, even.  

Check out what's still feels current...

Bold Patterns, classic pieces:  The pattern on the sofa feels really current - as does the Parson's table. I know some of you (really cool) people own these chairs!   The coffee table  and lamps could go almost anywhere today and look new.

Ceiling Height Bookcases:  We either have or want ceiling height built-in's - just classic.  The reds, blues with the graphic rug are my favorites here.  The upholstered pieces, even the painted trim is still "happening".  I shared my favorite part of this room earlier in the week - I also love the upholstered dining chairs (even the fabric)!

"Pops" of Color:

(Again, with the upholstered legs!)   

In the article below, "a busy teacher" lives here; take a look below at what she keeps on her shelves.

  

Metal penny banks (Uncle Sam, the Pitcher -that'd be baseball pitcher!)  Do you see the guy next to Uncle Sam? My brothers had a bank like that growing up - the guy is holding a gun that you load with a penny, which is flung into the tree stump.  We had lots of fun flinging pennies around!   

Remember Encyclopedias?   How about projectors and slides (on the table)?  

(Huh - those would be my initials on the shelf!)

Here, though, is where I imagine myself:  beautiful wicker chairs and a table (handmade, in my imagination, by my handyman).  Rolls of fabric awaiting my next inspired project, sewing notions organized in textural baskets, "just enough" white dishes and the green outside space.   Can't you see yourself spending a crafternoon here?   Then having a a Mexican Buffet?  (Quite possibly my favorite meal!)

Come back tomorrow for my favorite pic from the Oct '76 BHG - something's underfoot!

Upholstered Legs

Isn't it true when we're looking for something, we find it?
I'd been hunting for another Living Room chair a couple weeks back and found this on Craigslist.

Local Craigslist 

Good? Bad?  Definitely memorable!

I loved the curve of the chairs and the straight backs, and those upholstered legs!  I'd been wanting an ottoman too and this one I kept recreating in my head  (a new print; maybe two prints?; a little more bating on top; add some detailing around the curve?)  Hmmm...

Then Nicole (*adore her work*) posted this.

And then (cue the music, cue the drumroll)...my mom handed me an October 1976 (!) Better Homes & Gardens magazine she had recently cleaned out of the garage.

BHG Oct 1976

Either I've been reading too much of The Secret or my future includes a fabric-covered ottoman, *with nailhead trim*!

BHG Oct 1976

What a great project this would make!
(Have you tried this project already - or purchased something similar lately?)

"Stuff" to Love

Here are some things I am loving this week:

This gorgeous can full of toxic chemicals; which my sweet husband graciously turned over to me...

...I used every drop to transform our buffet hardware.  

I'm sure he has his regrets in the form of a chemically-induced headache for the 2 weeks it took to get these polished (because finishing things is relative for me).  

Like a "good wife", I went to replace his "Brasso stash" and discovered Brasso now (30 years later) comes in a plastic can.  What will they think of next?!

Miss Moss featured Mr. Wheeler.  I love his red shelf and check out the bear...

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...and this faux bois wall(paper?) ...can't get it out of my head, (still)!

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Amy Butler's home (love, love!) was featured on Sabbespot and Parlour; these two little sofas and their covers, are among favorite details.

Apartment Therapy

After reading about Sonia Delaunay's exhibit on Mrs. Blandings, I am ordering every book I can about her work.  [And am torturing everyone in the house with my latest (although Brasso-less) project...]

via Cooper Hewitt Shop

Design Sponge featured O Brother Where Art Thou in their "Living In" segment. OBWAT is possibly my favorite movie ever (one of a few I've seen more than once); I own the soundtrack and the movie marks the first time I REALLY fell for George Clooney...the overalls, the scruff, the shenanigans = *sigh*  :)

Design Sponge

(Get your very own cane toad!)  

I'm off to strap on my big girl overalls and finish something - Have a lovely weekend!

"School Room"

This isn't (I don't think) a classroom - but wouldn't it be a beautiful one?

Greifenstein Boyce Associates via Houzz

A Painted Buffet

If I ever paint my Valentine Buffet, I'd want it to look as gorgeous as this one.

The Ann Marie Sideboard by Christa at Stories of a House

So pretty!

      

Visit Christa at Stories of a House here! 

Range Hoods

Here are some inspiration photos for that elusive range hood.

Kitchen Dreams and Realities

I've been perusing through Merillat's website:  

"Modern - Free Spirit" by Merillat

Over at Merillat.com, they say:  "The Dream Kitchen for the Real World"..."Stop dreaming, Start living".  (LOVE it!)


Merillat's website has this great tool to satisfy kitchen function/design; right/left sides of the brain; handy husband/waffling wife...

"Modern - Modern Attitude" by Merillat

With Merillat's Step-by-Step Kitchen Planner tool, you answer questions about your preferences (good for waffling wife) and enter kitchen dimensions (satisfies handy husband) and the program creates a rendering of what your dream actually, (just may), look like! 

"Traditional - Timeless Elegance" by Merillat

There are MANY MANY more cabinet choices.  I narrowed my cabinet choices very early on and could go back to change them......but I've spent so much time here already that I need to get back to my paying job!

"Eclectic - Relaxed Living" by Merillat

Which, by the way, Merillat is not paying me to endorse their products/website.etc.   
Though I have no formal affiliation with them, I wouldn't mind one, 
as this is just plain genius-fun!

"Country - Rustic Retreat" by Merillat

So many choices! 

"Modern - Urban Edge" by Merillat

Now, back to reality!  

(Where, maybe, someday, I could pull off something like this?!)

"Modern - Modern Attitude" by Merillat

Check out the Step-By-Step Kitchen Planner at Merillat.com!  

Living Room Lust

I love this room!
Everything but the antlers - though what would I put there instead?
And they do create "tension" - right?

When something is put together so well, it makes you fall for something you may not usually have/buy/decorate with!  I may be falling for antlers.  (Let's keep this under our hats antlers for now.

Let's look around:
The (cozy) fire, fireplace surround and the transom window with the doors add to the I'm-in-the-warmth-even-if-it's-freezing-outside-feeling.  (Putting myself in the picture, the door is closed, with snow piles outside.)

Check out the ceiling! The gray from the ceiling repeated in the chair, ottoman and pillows is spot on and not forced. (Janell just sanded down and waxed a dining table that has beautiful lived-well gray finish.)


via splendid willow

What did you see first? Was it the ottoman?  Me too!

The gray fabric, the legs, the tufts - so beautiful!

(Have you done DIY tufting?  It looks difficult to get it right.) 

This is how we spend cold, snowy days in the frozen tundra - thinking about antlers tufting and gray wood finishes!
(Okay, I do.  How about you?)

Enjoy today!

I love legs.

Someday...a "leggy" table...

Cottage Living  from LGN

These are the two styles I vacillate between:  "cottagey" and a bit more modern.

via D*S from LGN

Loving the warm woods, red chairs and a chalkboard (?) - a chalkboard would look great there, too!

Little Big Girl Room

6 Reasons why I love this room:

It's a girl's room, but not entirely pink.

That blue side table.

That red trunk.

That crazy, great chair!

Those fabrics!

My 6 year old likes it (and she admitted it AFTER I said I liked it!).

Meg Dursken via Layla, the Lettered Cottage

Centsational Girl

Have you been to Centsational Girl's blog?  She's going to be on the Nate Berkus Show on February 3rd!

Look what she added to this room...so great!

Centsational Girl

I SO want to do this to my (teeny) entry - there are only 4 of us in the house, but you'd never know that looking at all the coats piled out there!

Check out the Centsational DIY directions here & Enjoy Today!

Bench Love

I love you bench.

Katie Leede & Co.

Chair-spiration

Here are the photos - and real life rooms (!) that inspired me to 

paint my "ladies".

I can't go on this site without falling in love with something 

and this dining set was no exception...LOURVELY!

Jessica Thomas via House of Turquoise

I heart Miss Mustard Seed.  She's really great at this.

Miss Mustard Seed

LOVED the dark gray seats with the white (and that shape!) and promptly ran out and found some kid-friendly vinyl :).  Thank you Vanessa!

Vanessa De Vargas via Houzz

And this one has "the final vision" in mind:  bench seating, light paint color, warm wood tones with white.

Su Casa Designs via Houzz

I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog, for various reasons...and since I have exactly 0 followers, I think I will!  Leader to no one is VERY empowering!

Enjoy Today!