I'm Just Dreaming My Day Away

Question, have you ever built your own home?

Confession.  I have and I love it.  

A lot of the times you hear people say they will never do it again and sometimes you hear people say they will never try it.

  

Me, I say let's do it again!  Why?  Cause I'm crazy that way and I am always trying to get it right.  And I love design and I love homes and carpentry and sheetrock and wood and tile and hardware and furniture and color and the trill of the chase.  That's why.  I love it.

  

The thing I dislike the most about building is, the mistakes I make.  The missed opportunities along the way.  The fear I listened to, not stepping out there and following that little voice that says, "this one" and the one that hurts the most, finding the perfect solution after the fact.  After you have made a decision and pulled the trigger.  I have showed them the money and they have taken it and now I have to live with it.   Yep, that one hurts cause now the voice inside my head won't shut up and why should it, it's right. 

 

So, now I am in recovery phase. And for me that phase looks a lot like remodeling phase.  shhh, please let's just don't say  it out loud, um k.

It took us three years to build this house.  And after that I just didn't want to make anymore decisions.  I even let these words rumbling around in my head find air and pass my lips, "I don't care, do what you want to do".  hahahahaha!  That lasted all of 2.5 seconds when I look right into my builders eyes and said, "so what are you gonna do?"  Then I quickly regained control and made the decision and how high to hang it.  Seriously.  Lighting is the bain of my building existence.

I digress,  this started out to be a "help my dinning room has fallen and I don't know where to start putting it back together again" post.  But that's a lie.  I do know, I just don't which idea to go with.  I have been in this home almost two years now and I spent the first year not making any decisions and now, I am ready finishing some of the things I left undone.  And that, my dear friends, is where you come in.

    

 

I have spent the last two weeks on the Internet browsing, my nose is always in magazines and I bought Betty Lou Phillips' latest book, "The French Room" this weekend.  I love her books.  I have used several ideas out of her books.  But there was one book that stood out for me.

I bought it twice because I let one of my carpenters have it to keep the project we were building front and center in his mind.  This book rocked my world.  I even called her one evening out of desperation thinking that I would leave a message and possibly one of her assistants would call me back and maybe just maybe, they would work with me.  But she answered the phone!  Think what a shock it was for her to find me on the other end of the line.  I went into shell shock and started talking real fast, cause that's what I do when I'm nervous and don't have the luxury of fading into the background.  But I must say she listened patiently and politely gave me some advice.  She really was very kind and gracious.  I don't think I used any of her advice however, cause I was kind of  crazy back then and didn't know where we were headed with this project.  

This dining room, featured in her book "French Room", is rocking my world right now.

  

This picture didn't rotate but it is a close up of the paint treatment on the wall.  How can I make something like that happen in my room?  It's so pretty in chocolate and blue.

See they took the paint treatment from the fabric on the chairs. 

Ooh, how I love thee. 

 

Okay so now for the real world.  I am working with red.  Granted the painted ceiling could go away, though the thought of painting a ceiling gives me a pain in the neck, literally.  It could go but!  And that is a big but!  the curtains can not.  Go away that is, they are here to stay.  

A reminder of what the room looks like now.

and the "luscious" drapes.

So..............I've been thinking, what if...........I mean do I really like that table?  I definitely don't like the chairs.  They have been a problem for ever.  I would love to see some with taller backs and some leather and fabric combinations..............so what if I got rid of the table and what if I went with a round table and added some of those fantastic chairs that I'm dreaming of? 

 Oooooh, that's looking good,

 and what about this rug?

And this chair?  Can he come over to play?

and then there are these.

Surely they could find a home, somewhere.........the bath or bedroom, perhaps.

See my illness?

Oh yea, these chairs are from Horchow, dreaming big. 

Have a great day everyone and stay warm and safe if this winter storm is headed your way.  It's heading right for us, so I am off the stock up on some groceries.