Hi Everyone!
It has been I think 3 weeks since I’ve lost anything on my weight loss journey and today I finally broke it with another pound lost! I am so happy because I was beginning to get a little frustrated!
Anyway…I’m going to have to do another block in honor of breaking that plateau so let me think of something in the coming days and let’s see what I come up with!
In other news we have been wanting to makeover our downstairs for YEARS! I took lots of BEFORE shots but I have to say I’m a tad embarrassed to show them to you. I’m sitting here looking at my living room and dining room and …oh…I don’t know…it’s just bad. Look…see what I mean?
I know, it’s tragically out of control. One of the reasons I haven’t posted in a while is because I’ve been concentrating my full attention to finally putting a plan in motion to makeover these rooms.
Normal human beings wouldn’t necessarily put you through seeing my mess but…well..I’ve always been a little odd and after reading Meghan Carter’s interior design workbook The Meghan Method I’ve taken her advice and took photos of these rooms just as they are now…this is it.
I have samples of fabrics, floors, kitchen cabinets, tile, design books, vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaners, may camera bag and furniture just mishmashed together trying to figure out a floorplan. What is going to stay and what is going to go! Oh the decisions!!!
I have such a hard time trying to figure out how to decorate. My wants always surpass my budget and I never really know where to begin or what inspiration I should choose! Why is this so hard for me? It shouldn’t be right? So my first step was to pull together some inspiration photos and fabrics.
I love Miss Mustard Seeds slipcovered sofa and the blue and white curtains. I even found the same fabric when I was at Hancock Fabrics a few weeks ago. I bought a sample of the coordinating blue and the meadow green fabric to get an idea of those colors too. That is where I started but Meghan suggests we start by finding a muse…something that isn’t necessarily a room to imitate but something else to give us inspiration. I have been stuck. I can’t even find a muse to get me going!
So, since I was in a muse funk I decided to just star pulling up the carpet to see what was underneath… A muse will come to me eventually I thought.
The floor under that 25 year old carpet is a parquet floor just like our floor upstairs. Unfortunately it is missing some of the floor in spots and what pieces are left are very brittle, some of them just crumble at the edges. We knew we’d most likely have to replace this floor, even beneath the carpet we could feel the spots that pop up or are missing, but have been procrastinating for A LONG TIME!
The animals were pretty excited, although Jamba got a little upset, he wasn’t sure what was happening! Poor guy, he gets upset at the littlest of things when his routine gets interrupted.
So there you are…we did it. We started our downstairs makeover and it is not going to stop until it is finished. How long will it take? I have no idea but we hope to put in a new floor before Mom and Dad come in May…
Stay tuned, it is going to be very exciting! And lots of home sewing projects are in the works!
Happy Sewing!
~Cathy
Sewing.for.Life! 
Your buffet looks so much like one that we had growing up that came from my grandmother. My sister had it for awhile but I think it bit the dust a few years ago. Freaked me out seeing it in your picture, in a good way.
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I am taling about the dark chest of drawers- you may not call it a buffet 🙂
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That buffet was purchased here locally in our neighborhood, about a mile away from an elderly woman who was moving into a retirement home. It was her Estate Sale and I bought it on the last day of the sale. I had been looking for a piece to go against that wall for a very long time…and that would fit in my budget! When I came afterwards to the sale I met the woman (the estate sale was conducted by a company and I don’t think they have the owners present when they do these things) and she was fairly emotional about her things being sold off. I told her her buffet was going to be loved for a very long time more and was only going to be around the corner…I think she was comforted in knowing that! I want to refinish it or paint it but I’ve been nixed on that subject from my woodworker husband! I believe the label says it was made in Detroit but I’ll look for the tag and label…that might be an interesting post! Thanks for the comment.
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The best advice I ever got came from Lynette Jennings who used to be the Martha Stewart of the Home and Garden Channel years ago… she said just pick something… a painting, a pillow, a set of china, some fabric, whatever you may have or see that you love and use it for your color scheme (palette). Only decorate using these colors or shades and hues from this color palette. Everything will go together and look wonderful. With your art background I’m sure you already know this because it looks like you are working on a very nice “palette”.
For my colors I chose our living room sofa. I don’t particularly like the exact colors alone, but it certainly has made a huge difference in how I like the final effect.
The best part about this advice is that when you are shopping for something you don’t even seriously consider buying something that just doesn’t fit in.
PS… I really like that blue fabric swatch! What have you done with your two beautiful recliners? Just wondering. I don’t recognize your living room.
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That is such great advice. That reminds me that I think I still have that video you gave me! I must locate it, although I’m not sure if the VCR is hooked up to anything anymore! LOL! I think that is where I started here and then because I kept getting stuck I looked for a book to help me and found Meghan’s book… I’ll post on that. It is very interesting. Thanks Mom!
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The buffet that was on our family was most likely bought near chicago, it was my grandmother’s. Since you know who had yours for a long time it wouldn’t be the exact same one but wouldn’t that have been weird? I am not sure what my sister did with it, donated it to good will or what, (she lives in Plainfield, IL- not sure where you live) but it must have been the same manufacturer. Glad to see this one put to good use.
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