It’s easy to get caught up in the magic of movies when you visit LA. On our recent visit we definitely got into the spirit of things. But I couldn’t help but feel something was missing.

Paramount Studies

There are several studios that offer tours so it can be hard to choose just one. We settled on Paramount because of its history and because we had actually seen many of the movies filmed there. Our tour guide drove us around on an oversized golf cart and we saw the exteriors of many great things – Lucille Ball’s office, the street where the marble rye episode of Seinfeld was filmed, the famous Paramount water tower, and the parking lot they flooded to film The Ten Commandments. We also were taken on-set at Dr. Phil, School of Rock, and Grace and Frankie. It was fascinating to see actual TV sets. Our tour guide told us lots and lots of stories about famous actors and directors. It was a satisfying experience and one that definitely allowed us to feel we were in the movie and TV capital of the world. The tour ended on a slightly limp note, at room that contained some items from sets as well as costumes, however we didn’t recognize a single one.

Walk of Fame

You can’t go to LA without experiencing the Walk of Fame, so we made our way to the Chinese Theater, which is an actual functioning movie theater so you don’t actually go inside it. We wandered around the sidewalks, exclaiming at the stars we recognized. In front of the theater we put our feet in the footprints made by stars. We ducked the crazy people dressed in costumes or shouting Biblical verses at us on the streets. It was exciting to stand in the spot where the Oscars red carpet takes place.

And Then What?

We had such fun on our two movie star stops, but then there was no place else to go that had anything to do with the movie industry! For a city that is the center of all things film, I really expected there to be more things to do. After we took our side trip to Palm Springs, I realized what was missing. In Palm Springs we visited the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway – the house where he and Priscilla lived for the first year of their marriage. It’s preserved in time with all the original furnishings. After visiting this amazing site and hearing all the stories our tour guide shared, I realized that THIS is what is missing in LA. Sure, you can take one of those tours that purportedly drive you past the gates of the stars’ homes, but why aren’t there homes to actually visit? I would have loved to have gone inside Marilyn Monroe’s, Lucille Ball’s, or Rudy Valentino’s homes. I would have even settled for Charlie Sheen’s. Or at the very least why are there not museums dedicated to specific stars themselves? Seeing all the memorabilia and belongings displayed at the Elvis home made me long for some other very real experiences.

It’s easy to get caught up in the magic of movies when you visit LA. On our recent visit we definitely got into the spirit of things. But I couldn’t help but feel something was missing.   Paramount Studies There are several studios that offer tours so it can be hard to choose just one. … Read more →

I’ve always kept my recipes in binders. I have different binders for different categories (entrees, breads, cakes and pies, cookies and other desserts, and then other). Each binder is divided into subcategories (for example, the other binder has apps, soups, veggies, potato, pasta, condiments, beverages and more). Once I started my blog, many of the recipes I created ended up being posted there, as well as recipes I’d tried and blogged about. I find it really convenient to just come to my blog and search for the recipe I want. However, the bulk of all of my recipes are in the binders. And sometimes it takes me forever to find something since the recipes themselves are not alphabetized or sorted in any way. Often I just kind of know where the recipe I am looking for is placed within the section, but sometimes I page through endlessly trying to find something.

So I’ve concluded I need to convert to a more modern system. But what? Here’s what I’m contemplating:

• I could scan in every last page I have and then save them by name and create folders for the different categories. It would take me months to scan in the recipes in those giant binders though.
• I could start to save recipes digitally now so that at least moving forward things will be easy to access, and just leave the print recipes in the binders. That makes it hard to know where to look when I want a specific recipe though.

A big sticking point for me is that when I want to find a recipe I am usually in the kitchen. My computer is upstairs. Yes, I could save it all to Google Drive, but I find that things can be hard to see on my phone, particularly if I’m looking at a scan. I could use Evernote which would allow me to create tags which could be useful, but it’s the same problem with trying to see it on my phone. So I’m not entirely satisfied with the digital option, at least not as it stands today.

How do you organize your recipes?

I’ve always kept my recipes in binders. I have different binders for different categories (entrees, breads, cakes and pies, cookies and other desserts, and then other). Each binder is divided into subcategories (for example, the other binder has apps, soups, veggies, potato, pasta, condiments, beverages and more). Once I started my blog, many of the … Read more →

Lobby

I didn’t expect Palm Springs to be so low key. Everything about this town in the desert is understated and unassuming. The buildings are all low. Even the homes celebrities live in look small from the road. The main strip of the town has small t-shirt shops and nothing that screams wealth or excess. The town hunkers down, surrounded by mountains, quiet in the hot desert air, trying not to be noticed.

The Triada Palm Springs is no exception. It took us a couple of passes to even find it on North Indian Canyon Drive, one block over from North Palm Canyon, the main strip. It doesn’t look like a hotel as you drive past. There’s just one small sign in front of a low building that has no windows. There isn’t even a driveway, but just an area to pull over on the side of the road so the valet can take your car. And that valet? He’s not outside in the hot desert air so you’ll have to go inside to make your first human contact.

The lobby is unassuming and Spanish in style, but calming with its tile floors and architectural couches. If you’re looking for the mid-century modern vibe that Palm Springs is known for, you won’t find it in the lobby.

The hotel is located near the main strip, but it’s several blocks away from the main area of shops and restaurants so it is a walk. The resort next door has a good restaurant (The Purple Palm) and if you want to walk somewhere easily.

The grounds of the resort itself are small and cozy feeling. Everything is arranged around the two pools, all fit within about a half of a block. The Spanish vibe continues as you find rooms arranged in three or four buildings with orange tile roofs and whitewashed walls. The resort felt quiet to us when we visited in the off season in June. The rooms are all carefully tucked under overhangs to shield them from the hot desert sun.

Our first floor room was comfortable with two double beds and an expansive bathroom with walk-in shower. Some mid-century touches make it into the rooms, in the artwork and lamps. We weren’t destined to stay long in this room though since the air conditioning broke down the first night, leading to a very sweaty and uncomfortable night as we tossed and turned, wondering why the room felt stifling. In the morning, once we realized what had happened, a call to management first resulted in an effort to repair it (no luck) and then an offer to either move us to the room next door or upgrade us to a suite. That was a no-brainer and we rolled our bags to the suite.

Our first room

The suite was lovely with a full kitchen with granite counters and stainless appliances, including a full refrigerator with an ice maker and water dispenser (no more walks over to the fitness room to get ice for us). Another lovely bathroom, coupled with our double beds and a gorgeous patio that wrapped around the room, complete with outdoor table and chairs and bench seating (although it was simply too hot for us to sit outside in the heat wave) made this a very comfortable upgrade. We found that both rooms were a bit challenged when it came to lighting, with lighting in the wall behind the beds or only on the nightstand, but none elsewhere in the rooms, making them a bit dark. The management also gave us a comp for $10 in free drinks for our trouble.  This time the air conditioning worked, but the toilet was plugged when we went to use it so we had to call for help with that immediately.

While we’re listing the negatives, we had a small problem with room security. We left our room one morning before it had been cleaned, carefully closing the door behind us. We returned in the late afternoon to find the door partially open. The room had been cleaned and the door had not been shut behind the staff when they left (or so we assumed). Not only were we concerned about our belongings, but the room was not the comfortable 72 degrees we had set the temperature at and was close to 90. A call to the front desk evoked concern and relief that nothing was missing. We received apologies and nothing else.

If you’re looking for views, you won’t get many here. The rooms are low and surrounded by trees. Ask for a room that does not face the pool if you want a quiet room.

We enjoyed the two pools. The pool by the bar is smaller and was warmer when we were there. The other pool is larger and a bit cooler. The lounge chairs by the pools were comfortable. If you’re really hot (and we visited during a 122 degree heat wave) you may want to sit by the small pool under the misters that blow off the bar. We had some frozen drinks and found the female bartender aggressive but competent.

Our package included breakfast and one of the reasons we chose the Triada was because they did offer breakfast. It was a bit disappointing since they don’t actually have a restaurant. They serve bar food during the day and breakfast in the morning. We were given a choice of the type of eggs, bacon or sausage, and type of toast. There was no fruit. The breakfast was acceptable but not exciting in any way. It did its job though, and fueled us up for the day.

Room #2

We found the resort to have a sleepy vibe that fit the extreme heat and the character of the town. The resort was convenient to everything in town. We enjoyed the pools very much and it it had been cooler, we would have spent more time there. The staff were generally friendly and helpful. Our room was comfortable (once we resolved the many issues) and we felt at home here.

The suite’s kitchen

The suite’s patio

I didn’t expect Palm Springs to be so low key. Everything about this town in the desert is understated and unassuming. The buildings are all low. Even the homes celebrities live in look small from the road. The main strip of the town has small t-shirt shops and nothing that screams wealth or excess. The … Read more →

One of the blogs I follow is Living Large in Our Little House by Kerri Fivecoat Campbell. Kerri and her husband their six dogs (yes, you read that right) live in a tiny house in the woods by a lake in Arkansas. She also has a separate writing studio/guesthouse. When I was a little girl, I loved dollhouses. I never had an actual dollhouse, but I had plenty of Barbies and loved collecting tiny things to put in my Barbie townhouse. The tiny house movement appeals to that old fascination of mine somehow. Over the years, Kerri has shared lots of tiny houses on her blog, all of which make me appreciate the aesthetic of paring down and living in a small space. Some of these homes are simply ingenious.

Kerri now has a book out with the same name and it’s terrific. Living Large in Our Little House not only tells the story of how Kerri and her husband joined the tiny house movement (it was largely unplanned) and how she manages in such a small space, but she also shares lots of photos and stories from others in small homes. Once you’ve satisfied your voyeuristic urges, you’ll also find that the book is packed with helpful information that people from all walks of life can tap into. She has tips on how to stock a small kitchen, how to deal with family heirlooms and “stuff,” even how to work from home and maintain friendships while living in a small house.

I was particularly interested in seeing the CAD drawing of the plans for her house. It really helped me understand the space. Kerri is a small house veteran and she knows what works and what doesn’t. The book is packed with tips based on her experience (in fact, she would have made her house a bit bigger if she’d known then what she knows now).

If you’re considering downsizing (or are going to be helping a parent downsize), want to live in a small house, or are just entranced with the concept as I am, this is a book you should pick up.

One of the blogs I follow is Living Large in Our Little House by Kerri Fivecoat Campbell. Kerri and her husband their six dogs (yes, you read that right) live in a tiny house in the woods by a lake in Arkansas. She also has a separate writing studio/guesthouse. When I was a little girl, … Read more →

I got an air fryer for Christmas. I’d heard about these oil-less deep fryers but couldn’t believe they worked. I’ve used mine several times now and am sold on it.

Before I got my air fryer I had a fry daddy kind of machine I used on those rare occasions when I deep fried things – once or twice a year when I made fried chicken mostly. The air fryer is about the same size as my fry daddy machine and it takes just as long to cook things in it, but there’s no greasy smell.

My first attempt was frozen French fries. The secret to cooking anything in the air fryer is to spray it well with cooking spray before you cook it. French fries take a while and you need to shake or stir them a few times to get all of them crisp. The result was better than baking them in the oven. They were crispy and soft inside and didn’t burn as many of them do when you bake them in the oven. I was impressed.

Next I made fried chicken. Fried chicken is a special ritual at our house and is an echo of the time we ate at the Lady and Sons in Savannah (say what you will about Paula Deen, but that woman makes amazing fried chicken and when it was served with lemonade and hoecakes it was heaven). I followed my usual recipe for fried chicken which requires marinating it in buttermilk and herbs in advance then double coating it in a flour mixture. Cooking four bone in chicken breasts took 2 hours and 15 minutes (since you can only fit one and a half in the fryer at a time). I was impressed with the results. The chicken was tender inside. The coating and skin was very crispy and crunchy. It wasn’t greasy at all like fried chicken is. The texture was almost the same as fried chicken but when you bit into it you didn’t that oily taste.

I will probably still fry chicken once a year as a special treat, but I think the air fryer is a great way to make crunchy, crispy food when you’re not looking to gain 15 pounds in a sitting.

I got an air fryer for Christmas. I’d heard about these oil-less deep fryers but couldn’t believe they worked. I’ve used mine several times now and am sold on it. Before I got my air fryer I had a fry daddy kind of machine I used on those rare occasions when I deep fried things – … Read more →

Frommers just published a guide to the best duty free shopping at airports. I am not a duty free shopper since I am generally not looking for booze or expensive jewelry or handbags, however, I’ve been known to browse at the airport, duty free or not. And if I have a layover, I will most definitely pop into the shops in my terminal. In general, airport shopping is nothing more than a diversion while you’re waiting to board, but on occasion I’ve stumbled onto some nice finds.

In Hawaii my daughter and I both found super cute navy blue hoodies with “Hawaii” spelled out in madras plaid. This was a treat after not being able to find anything on the island we wanted.

In Rome I found a nice selection of photographic coffee table books and bought one there. This is an item I buy on just about every trip and we had not seen many of them throughout Italy, so it was a good find.

The St. Lucia airport had a very nice shop that sold locally made items, but I don’t think I actually bought much, mostly because I’d been to the stores selling those items already. If I hadn’t, this would have been quite a find for me.

Airport shopping can be good for magnets, which I also buy on every trip. If you can’t find one on your travels, you can pretty much rest assured that you can find something at the airport. Airports can also be good for locally packaged food souvenir type items. In Florida, you can buy little gumballs in the shape or oranges or gum or candy that is called “alligator poop.” If you’re desperate to bring home candy from the area you visited, you can likely find some at the airport. In Hawaii, you can buy whole pineapples at the airport to bring home if you desperately need one straight from Hawaii.

Other than those items though, I don’t find airport shopping to be a good deal or very interesting. At best, it is a diversion for me and a reason to walk around. Have you ever bought anything great at an airport?

Frommers just published a guide to the best duty free shopping at airports. I am not a duty free shopper since I am generally not looking for booze or expensive jewelry or handbags, however, I’ve been known to browse at the airport, duty free or not. And if I have a layover, I will most … Read more →

For many years I have struggled with a deep dark secret. The stuff in my fruit and veggie drawers in my fridge rot. No matter how hard I work to use it all up, stay on top of it and clean it out, I invariably end up with something rotten in one of those drawers. Strawberries are one of the worse. A container of strawberries seems to last maybe 4 days if I’m lucky. After that they get mushy spots and then mold starts to grow. I desperately need to have a variety of fresh fruit around to encourage healthy eating so I’m not going to stop buying strawberries.

I decided to try the OXO Good Grips Greensaver. This plastic container has a removable basket in it and a carbon filter that absorbs the ethylene gas that causes produce to rot so quickly. I was amazed to find I can keep strawberries twice as long in this container – at least a week. Because of that, I highly recommend it, with a few caveats.

First of all, I bought the small size and it doesn’t hold an entire container of berries. About 5-6 won’t fit in it. The lid is also deceptive since it is a thick lid and takes up space inside the container, so I always misjudge how much it will hold. The other downside is you have to replace the carbon filter every 90 days. OXO lets you sign up on their site for reminders about that if you wish.

Once my filter runs out, I am contemplating buying either a bigger size or switching to a different product that can just be placed in the drawer itself and will reduce the gas inside the entire drawer, such as these BluApple filters. But I’m completely sold on the carbon filter concept.

For many years I have struggled with a deep dark secret. The stuff in my fruit and veggie drawers in my fridge rot. No matter how hard I work to use it all up, stay on top of it and clean it out, I invariably end up with something rotten in one of those drawers. … Read more →

Mississippi Roast is the latest internet sensation recipe making the rounds.  The recipe cooks a chuck roast in a slow cooker with a packet of ranch dressing mix, a packet of gravy mix, butter and pepperoncinis. It’s touted as being easy and fabulous. I was dying to try it but I don’t have a slow cooker and am not a fan of dried mixes. The New York Times then published a recipe making it from scratch, but still in the slow cooker.  I decided to give it a try by cooking it in my Dutch oven at a low temp. This method was quite successful, but I wasn’t pleased with how it turned out. First off, I don’t like pepperoncini, so I left that out. The meat turned out incredibly tender but it was also just too greasy for me. So with a few tweaks, I present my Scratch Mississippi Roast in a Dutch Oven which is a modification of the NYT version of the recipe and is, I think, not too greasy and more flavorful than the original.  This recipe comes out incredibly tender and it melts in your mouth. The herbs and spices give it real body and it totally awakens the chuck roast which can be kind of dull in many incarnations.

Scratch Mississippi Roast in a Dutch Oven

 

Print

Ingredients

• 1 chuck roast (1.5-2 lbs)
• ¼ cup flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil
• 2 tbsp mayo
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dried dill
• ½ tsp paprika
• 2 tsp dried chives
• 1 tsp buttermilk
• 1 tsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
• ¼ cup beef broth

Instructions

1. Heat the Dutch oven on the stove and preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Add a tablespoon or enough olive oil to coat the pan.
3. Dredge the roast in flour and then brown both sides of it.
4. Remove from the pan.
5. Add all the other ingredients to the pan and stir until everything is mixed and combined then add the roast.
6. Cover and bake for 5 hours.
7. Remove from the oven and use a fork to shred the meat.

3.5.3208

Mississippi Roast is the latest internet sensation recipe making the rounds.  The recipe cooks a chuck roast in a slow cooker with a packet of ranch dressing mix, a packet of gravy mix, butter and pepperoncinis. It’s touted as being easy and fabulous. I was dying to try it but I don’t have a slow … Read more →

Half the world read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo before I got around to it. I might have been late to the party, but I still have a lot of thoughts about this concept.

I found the book to be kind of puffy – lots of filler and not a lot of meat, but it sounds like her follow up title will offer more specifics which I suspect a lot of people will appreciate. It’s one thing to tell people to organize things, but another to actually show them how to do it.

Some of the book feels a bit woo-woo, but I found that there were some concepts inside the woo-woo I could get on board with. Kondo talks a lot about getting in touch with your belongings. She wants you to thank them for what they’ve done for you, offer them appreciation and respect, and think about what they might need (space, a new home, etc.). It sounds a little silly since that pair of pants you’re putting away is not an animate object, but I do appreciate the idea of treating objects with respect. This is a very Japanese approach and something we encountered a lot on our trip to Japan. While I don’t think my belongings have feelings, it’s true that if you treat the things you own with care and thought that they perform better (are easier to find and don’t get broken or damaged). You also will like them more. I find that if you fill your home with items that have been thoughtfully and carefully culled and arranged that your home begins to feel neater and more controlled.

One of the basic tenets of the book is that to sort things you’ve got to sort everything in one class, so she says to get ALL of your clothes out and sort through them all, discarding some and keeping some. It’s actually very true because you can’t see what you have unless you assess it all together. I did this with my clothes and did a huge purge.

I was struck by her advice to only keep things that bring you joy. This isn’t completely practical because the pooper scooper we use in the dog yard does not bring me joy, but it is a useful tool we need. However, this is a way of thinking I’d actually been applying for a while without realizing it. Slowly over the years I’ve been weeding out things in my house so that I only keep the items that have meaning to me. I’ve gradually replaced all the wall art with paintings we’ve bought on our travels. Nearly all of my “stuff” is now either family heirlooms, items that have a special memory associated with them, trip souvenirs, or items for a specific holiday. While some of the framed art I decorated with when we first bought our home were nice enough, the items didn’t resonate with me in the same way items I’ve bought while traveling do and so I’ve slowly gotten rid of them. I’ve done the same thing with clothes. I was hanging on to items that “could” be useful but in truth I didn’t really like. Wearing them didn’t make me feel happy, so I stopped keeping them.

The impetus to get things organized so you can see them and find them is a good one.  I  have found it to be true that once you really organize something you don’t ever have to go back and redo it. The only exception to that I can find is our pantry. It’s just not big enough for all the things I need so every time I get it nice and neat it falls apart into a disaster within about a month. Kondo would say that means there are things in there I need to get rid of but despite my purges, I’m unable to get it down to a small enough size so that the space works. I found it hard to get a lot of things organized in my home until my oldest moved out and I suddenly had a lot more closet space. You also need to have time to organize. I feel as though I was never really able to get organized until my kids were no longer little. When they were small and we were both trying to be good parents and work full time, there were not enough hours in the day to do more than the glaringly obvious things that needed to be done around here. Once they got older and I had more time, organizing became easier for me.

One thing I am struggling with is that I have some family heirlooms that I just don’t care for. They aren’t displayed, but they are stored in boxes in our basement. It is hard to give them away. It’s one thing to give them to another family member, but harder to just donate them. I agree with Kondo though that keeping these items stashed away in a box is not a good use of them, yet I’m still struggling with the step of just giving them away. I’m rationalizing it by saying my kids will be getting married and starting their own families in the coming years and maybe they or their spouses would like some of it then.

My favorite organizing tip in the book is about storing clothes in drawers like you would file folders. Fold things and place them upright in the drawer like a folder. This way you can open the drawer and see every single item right in front of you. I did this with my jeans and yoga pants and it’s a system that is working well for me. I love being able to pull the drawer out and know exactly what I have to choose from.

If you’ve read the book, what did you think of it?

Half the world read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo before I got around to it. I might have been late to the party, but I still have a lot of thoughts about this concept. I found the book to be kind of puffy – lots of filler and not a lot of … Read more →

Before the redo, but after we switched the living room and family room.

I have been like  an expectant mother and it has taken almost exactly nine months, but at long last our family room remodel is complete! I’ve definitely got the decorating bug and even recently took an online interior decorating course. The family room journey started in January. We had used a large room connected to the dining room as a family room since we moved in. It was perfect when we had toys and videos and electronic gaming and lots of friends coming over. Now that the kids are older, it makes more sense to have that larger room be a living room for entertaining. The smaller room that we had used as a living room seemed perfect for a family room where my husband and I could watch TV together. It has a fireplace but didn’t have much else going for it other than hardwood floors. The shelves and mantel in place were old and not very functional and resulted in ridiculous amounts of dusting since the shelves were open. The fireplace was brick which I had painted years ago. We decided to switch the rooms.

My desire to switch rooms conveniently coincided with the Super Bowl which was my husband’s excuse to buy a giant curved TV we planned to mount above the fireplace eventually. We switched the furniture in the rooms and plopped the TV on the mantel. Then we struggled through finding contractors, getting estimates, choosing materials and living through what was supposed to be a one week renovation that took four weeks to complete. Then there was the eight week wait for furniture that turned into 11 weeks since one fabric was backordered.

Now, 9 months later I have given birth to a family room. As you can see from the photos, it looks nothing like it used to, which is a very good thing!

The Fireplace Wall

Since we are lucky enough to have a wood burning fireplace, we wanted to highlight it. Our fireplace had no doors, only a portable screen. I wanted doors, marble, a mantel and built-in cabinets with glass doors to keep some of my collections dust-free. I also wanted lighting in the cabinets.

The fireplace doors were a fairly simple thing to find and the installation was without drama. Marble for the fireplace surround was impossible to find. There is almost nothing in my color scheme and what there is was horribly expensive. We instead went with mesh sheets of pebbles on the fireplace surround and tile on the floor. They are in the green color and blue family.

The TV is mounted on the wall and all the wiring is inside the walls, so no cords show (something I wanted very badly!). All of the components are in one of the cabinets and my techy husband found a tiny little receiver that hangs below one of the cabinet doors so the remote will still operate the DVR box.

The Cabinets

Our contractor sent us to a kitchen design store to pick out cabinets. The designer there did a CAD drawing of the wall and came up with a price for having the cabinets built. The price for this was also ridiculous. Our solution was to just buy the doors there. Our contractor built the cabinets and shelves himself and saved us a bundle. We bought the doors unpainted because although everyone claims a paint store can color match anything, I found in our kitchen that it was not true. I have never been able to get a true color match to the cabinet doors in our kitchen and I was not about to go through that again. The contractor painted everything himself and it turned out beautifully.

Our contractor and I constructed the mantel using pieces of moulding. He just kept picking out pieces and holding them up and adding them when I approved.

I wanted lighting in the cabinets but I didn’t want glass shelves. I don’t care for the way that lights in the top of a cabinet cast shadows when they shine down. So we installed strips of LED lights on the front inside of the cabinets, to shine to the back. They are on a dimmer switch.

I wanted glass doors with no wood strip down the center to provide an unobstructed view and to end the endless dusting that is necessary when you have shelves with lots of stuff on them. We ended up with doors that are on a spring and meet in the center (you push them and they pop open). Getting this right took several tries (and weeks of waiting), but eventually everything fit and worked. No more dust!

I chose a teal color for the wall behind the fireplace while the other walls are a very pale blue. The fireplace wall color doesn’t show up accurately in these photos – it is softer and lighter than it appears here.

I bought a metal bin, the kind often used for storing beer or soda in ice at a casual party, to hold wood for the fireplace. I bought brushed nickel fireplace tools (and happily said goodbye to the brass ones with duck heads on the handles that came with the house).

Furnishings

In this photo you can see the shelves before I rearranged the photos (keep reading for the after photos)

I stayed with the green/blue palette for the room. I really wanted a couch with a chaise because the room is very small and a coffee table or chaise would just be in the way. The challenge with this is the wall it needed to go on is very short, since it is the opening into the room. After a lot of hunting we did finally find one that fit perfectly, but it took 10 weeks on order. I also ordered a teal recliner and a tropical floral print chair. All of the furniture was purchased during the store’s annual tent sale so it was all discounted. We reused a blue swivel chair and my great grandmother’s rocking chair. Every single table save one was bought at Home Goods (the other is from a sale at Pier 1). I went once a week for weeks hunting for the right pieces.  The sofa table was particularly hard to find since it needed to be as tall as the couch and this was a challenge, but Home Goods came through. The carpet is also from Home Goods and I went with white because the room gets little natural light and I really needed something to help lighten the space.

The lamps are Home Goods finds as well, except for the teal floor lamp behind the couch which I purchased at Pier 1 years ago and never really had a place for it. Drapes are also from Home Goods.

Wall Art

Shelves after I moved the photos

The room’s theme is travel. The large map was my grandfather’s and includes the lines he drew to mark the trips he and my grandmother took – to every continent but Antarctica. The map used to be in a frame he handmade, but to preserve it, I wanted it under glass, so we had it framed. It was the perfect color for the room and was the right size for the one big wall. I was sad to lose the frame he had made, bt my husband reused the original wire to hang it with, which is a nice touch. The other paintings are from our trips.

The Shelves

Shelves after I moved the photos

The shelves showcase three of my collections: baskets, pottery, and sheep, all of which have been purchased on our trips. I used several different height clear lucite stands to achieve different heights within the display area. I also mounted photographs onto the back of the shelves (using removable 3M mounting strips) to fill the empty space. Before I hit upon that solution, I had them just sitting on the shelves and everything was the same height with this big white space above it. You can see the before and after of this in the shelf photos. I am so pleased with how well I can see everything now. Previously, they were in very dark shelves in another room and I could never really see what I had.

History

I’ve already mentioned the meaning of the big map on the wall, my great grandmother’s rocker, and that everything on the shelves are travel finds, but there are a few other little things in the room that have a history. The basket holding the fisherman knit throw (which is from Ireland) was my grandmother’s and has special meaning to me. The round wooden containers stacked behind the couch were my great grandfather’s (he was a farmer) and used to take produce to the market to sell. They have his initials on them. The plant behind the couch is in a crock that was my grandmother’s. There is a very good article about using heirloom furniture in your decor plan here.

The Bookcase

I wrote about the little child’s bookcase I bought to hold our travel coffee table books here. It’s the perfect item in the little hallway that goes by the family room next to a closet.

I’m still looking for at least one teal colored pillow to put on the couch. And I’m trying to formulate a plan for how to make my Christmas decorations work in this room. I’m thrilled with the end result though. We are enjoying being able to sit comfortably and watch TV together at night and on the weekends. When the kids are around, there is plenty of room for them to join us. I have found the chaise part of the couch to be the perfect little reading nook for me during the day. It is right next to the window and feels like a window seat. The white carpet, which I was terrified of, has turned out to be a good choice for golden retrievers (of which we have two) – no fur shows at all. The remodel was a success in our books and we are so thrilled with the results!

I have been like  an expectant mother and it has taken almost exactly nine months, but at long last our family room remodel is complete! I’ve definitely got the decorating bug and even recently took an online interior decorating course. The family room journey started in January. We had used a large room connected to … Read more →