Lighten Up

Sorry for another disappearing act.  This summer hasn't turned out as I expected, and I've been pretty under the weather.  Being sick is never fun, but it always seems to be a little worse during the summertime.

We've managed a few un-blog-worthy projects around the house, like replacing a storm door that was literally crumbling to pieces and having gutter guards installed since the trees are now taller than the roof line (read: regularly clogged gutters).  The yard I worked so hard on this spring is now a weedy mess.  The laundry piled higher and higher, and when I was finally feeling well enough to tackle it, the washer broke.  Oh well.

During a good week, I decided I'd had enough of our dark olive green living room.  I had changed it from a ho-hum taupe about five years ago to SW Olive Grove and immediately regretted it.  It was just too dark.

Adding the overmantel helped lighten the room, but I still wanted a brighter, happier look.  I wanted to stick with a shade of green, and I finally settled on Valspar's Desert Grass that I had mixed at Sherwin Williams because I love their Cashmere paint.

It's a much more cheerful room, and the traditional cherry furniture I love seems less heavy now. This shade of green really blends well with the brass hardware, especially in the grandfather clock, my very first Craigslist purchase from about five years ago.  Can you believe I scored this beauty for only $125?  Since it had been stored in a dirty garage, I had it professionally cleaned, and the serviceman said it was worth about $800.  Score!

I've always been and admirer of secretary desks.  My grandmother and my great-grandmother had one, but I thought they were a little old-fashioned until I saw the many hutches and the secretary desk in Mary Carol Garrity's home:

So when I found a secretary that had just been put on the sales floor at ReStore, I pounced on it.  It's filled with beautiful books (that we've actually read, thank-you-very-much!) and favorite pictures documenting some of our family history.

It took five years, but I think I've finally figured out this room.

Powder Room Reveal

I kid you not, as soon as I hit "post" on the ruffled tea towel mini-tutorial, my husband called up the stairs, "I see we now have a guest towel."

Uh-oh.

If you've been following me since the beginning, you may recall that I re-did our powder room a few years ago. It even was featured on Better After, and Lindsey mocked the sunflower border.  Here was the before-before.

Yikes! That was some really awful wallpaper!  It had to go, but I had a pretty small budget for a re-do.

 

I spray-painted the 90s light fixture ORB, switched the light shades to something more contemporary, and spruced up the dated oak mirror. The walls were painted SW Meditation, and it was supposed to be soothing, but with no windows, it was pretty dark in there.  Taking pictures with my trusty old point and shoot camera I was using back then didn't help matters either.

 

The moody blue was an improvement over all that green, but a couple of years later, I was getting restless.  And I kind of missed the green, just not that early 90s green.

 

It's a small space, a five-foot square with nine foot ceilings and no windows.  I felt I could afford to be a little bold with the wall color, so I tried SW Canary this time.

 

 

I scored a new mirror at ReStore, and glued scroll brackets that I stained to match the floating shelf over the toilet.  I think the brackets make the shelf look more substantial without adding too much heaviness.  The lantern is a Nell Hills find from months ago.  It was one of those things that I had to have, but then I didn't know what to do with it once I got it home.

 

 

This is a twenty-five square foot room with two doors since the laundry is just off the room.  Floor space is precious, but I found this darling étagère at Goodwill to tuck in the corner.

 

 

I repainted in August, but I decided to wait until Christmastime for the reveal.  It's just so cheerful in there now.  I love this darling miniature winking Santa mug.  He's so tiny that he gets lost in other rooms, but he fits right in here.

 

 

I think it qualifies as vintage since my grandmother painted it about 50 years ago.  She signed it, but it's not dated.  I should ask her if she remembers making it.

 

 

The ceramic pinch pot on the left isn't quite vintage yet.  I made it about 25 years ago when I was a kid in school.  Another quarter of a century won't make it as darling as little winky Santa!

 

 

 

I'm linking up...

Savvy Southern Style

Handy Man, Crafty Woman

The Shabby Creek Cottage