Pretty House on the Prairie...

You know those people who just have great taste? But not just the "Oh, it's expensive" kind of taste...in my opinion anyone with money should be able to have a nice house. I mean the people who really know how to put things together, how to place things just so, how to create a collection without it looking like a big, well, collection. People who decorate on a shoestring but who's homes look like a million bucks?

My sisters are all those kind of people. My two oldest sisters are into the shabby/vintage/cottage style of decorating and there is something about their homes that is so comforting. When I walk into either house I feel like its arms are reaching out and pulling me in for a warm hug. My third sister's house is completely Zen and when I walk into her home my shoulders relax and my breathing slows down. I love the terra cotta walls and the beautiful candles she lights.

My own house feels like it's in transition. First, I was completely into Asian inspired decorating and my own house had sort of a Zen quality to it. But then I found Shabby Chic and traded in my red pillows and water fountains for pretty doilies and neutral palletes. Now I'm...I don't know! I can't really classify what my decorating style is. Wabi Sabi, I guess.

When I was at Celeste's house this weekend, I thought about some of my favorite things there. I took some photos while dinner was being prepared...

Big, Huge, Tiny Dollhouse...

Aren't dollhouses supposed to be sort of sweet and small, something you can put tiny little miniature furnishings in?

This is my dollhouse:
















If you can't tell from the picture, it's quite...large. I would guess it measures nearly 3' across by 2.5' tall, though I don't think I've ever really measured it.

I have a love/hate relationship with this house. I bought it nearly 4 years ago and at the time two of my older sisters were into dollhouses. I'd always wanted one when I was little. My parents actually bought me my "dream" dollhouse, it was pink and had white gingerbread trim...unfortunately, that' s what it looked like on the outside of the box and it was so complicated and there were so many pieces and parts and complicated directions that we never actually got it set up. I think we put up two or three walls...

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to have another house to decorate. This one could be so much more manageable! Everything in doll-land would be orderly and neat, no crumbs on the counter, no laundry, no dirty dishes. BUT as you can see, 4 years after purchasing, I haven't done a lot of, (ahem) improvements around the place. I did paint nearly all the outside. It's butter yellow (actually the same paint left over from the living room!) with black trim. That is my favorite color combination for the exterior of my dream house. The inside is just so wide open, there are hardly any walls so it makes the creation of rooms pretty hard. This actually is quite a lot like my real-life house. There are hardly any walls on the bottom floor so when you walk into the front door there is the living room and you can see all the way to the other end of the house to the landry room! It makes decorating a bit of a trick because everything has to "flow" much better than if there were seperate walls to keep things more, well, seperate!

Anyway, I have no idea what scale this dollhouse is (other than "very large") so I never dare to buy very much furniture for it. I actually don't like most of the furniture in there now, but it came with the house so I've kept it. I really hate the fabric/style of the canopy bed. Icky.

Here is a little hutch that I also don't really like, but I LOVE all my miniature food! Check out the tiny jar of canned peaches! The lettuce I made from polymer clay and the cans are a mishmash of canned veggies and dog food. They often fall off the cabinet and roll all throughout the house.

Somewhere I have a tiny little mouse and I have a miniature sewing set with tiny bobbins of thread, dress patterns and a pin cushion complete with pins.

I am working on painting some furniture this weekend. If you are into dollhouses at all, (or even if you aren't) you may get a kick out of this site: http://hauntednminiature.blogspot.com/
It's a HAUNTED dollhouse, all ready for halloween~Fun!

The Thing About Being Sick...

I don't feel good. Yesterday morning I had some very, let's say, yucky symptoms and have been down for the count since. I didn't go to work yesterday. I debated whether or not I should suck it up and try to make it in, but in the end my tummy won and I stayed home. It was very strange being home in the middle of the week. Strange and wonderful. I only wish that the weather hadn't been so nice and sunny and warm. I don't like being sick. I especially don't like to be sick when the weather is so freaking nice. It's hard to curl up and really concentrate on my sickness with the soft, warm breeze playing with the curtains..hard to really focus on the "ugh" factor when the sun is shining so brightly and it seems like everyone in the whole neighborhood (doesn't anyone work around here?) is outside doing home improvement projects or taking slow afternoon strolls around town.

Luckily for me, Fat Boy (as seen to the left) seemed to sense how icky I was feeling. He followed me around from kitchen to living room to bedroom and slept next to me, all curled up near my side while I napped. This is rare for him. Spazzi, his sister is constantly after us to pet her, play with her, curl up on us, etc., but Fat Boy is not really too interested in what we are doing, unless we are eating fish. Then he loves us.

I know I was only alone for the day, but it felt really, really good to have him just, CARE about me. I remember when I was younger and lived alone out of state, completely away from my family or anyone that I knew really, I came down with this flu and I just thought how sad it was, how completely and utterly sad that there wasn't anyone who would check my fever or go and get me cough medicine. I lay in my bed with a fever and thought about the safety of trying to drive to the store for medicine. I felt utterly, completely alone.

Yesterday, I was thinking (in my morbid, overly obsessive worrisome way) what if I just died? I mean, I don't think I'm THAT sick, but who knows? Especially after hearing all the warnings about spinach and e coli...I mean SPINACH? Who knew that something that is supposed to be so healthy and wonderfully full of vitamins and nutrients could make anyone so sick? It really got me worried. I mean, I worry CONSTANTLY, but this was a new and bigger worry to worry about. Who really knows? Not likely, but still.

So, anyway one great thing that came out of my being sick was that for the whole day yesterday I felt free. I didn't have one pressing thing, not one expectation on me. I can't clean the house, I'm sick. No doing laundry. No trying to create anything. No accomplishing anything at all. I laid in bed after my mid-morning nap and stared out my window at the tree outside that is just beginning to turn. I spent some time focusing on how blue the sky was and how soft the clouds looked up there, suspended over us like white scarves strewn about. It was kinda nice. But I'm glad I'm getting better (I hope).

1 Down, 483 to Go...

Do you ever imagine that you live in TV land? I'll be the first to admit that I go through periods when I'm obsessed with HGTV shows, specifically the craft and home decorating/renovating shows. And somehow, deep in the recesses of my brain, things start to change. I start to imagine myself completing projects in the 2.5 minutes they are completed on HGTV. I start to imagine myself floating around my house with my own sparkly magic fairy wand and presto! A little wall here seperating the laundry room from the kitchen as I've always wanted! Beautiful draping curtains there! A new silky bedspread (never mind that our cats would shred it on it's first day in our house), new hardwood floors in the living room to replace the ratty and poorly installed beige carpet there!

I have to be honest here...I practice "alternate thinking" in more areas of my life than I would like to admit. But one area that is particuarly noticeable is the area of old furniture and other possibilities (or "junk" as my husband says) that I bring home intending to wave my magic wand over. Old chairs are one of my downfalls, mostly wooden ones as I don't have any idea how to re-upholster anything, though I have been known to drag home one or two of the uphostered kind also. Small tables, old picture frames, desks, bookshelves, chairs, chairs and more chairs. I have loaded up my side of the basement and some of our old barn with these little treasures. It's gotten so bad that people will ask me now if I want something before they bring it to the dump! That has to be a bad sign. (sigh)

Anyway, when a friend recently moved out of state, she offered me all sorts of goodies that she didn't want to take with her. One item was this cute little student desk above. I loved it! I've always wanted a little desk to use for bill paying, letter writing, etc. We have a big, huge desk in the living room which the computer is on, but it takes up so much space there is little room left for any type of writing without rearranging everthing on top.

I started the sanding/repainting process about 2 weeks ago. Now for most people, two weeks to finish a project like this isn't maybe so bad. But, of course you can imagine, in my TV land mind-set I was hopping around with my magic wand, wondering what in the world was taking so long. I mean, on Decorating Cents or Freestyle this desk re-do would have taken mere minutes, not hours! Oh, the disappointment of living in the real world.

Regardless, I'm quite pleased with my new little desk and think that new paint and knobs really make it stand out. I chose Toasted Almond for the paint and used a satin finish rather than flat which I prefer on furniture.

So, there you have it. 1 desk down, 483 more projects to complete~now where did I put that wand?

Can It Have Been So Long?

I can't believe it's been since August 28th that I've written! I'm so sorry kids...is anyone still out there? I knew it had been awhile, but I have been in this sort of creative funk. I know, I know. You are saying to yourself "Well, it's just a blog for pitys sake! It's not like she's painting Mona Lisa-esq works of art!" And you would be right. But I'm afraid my funk has reached new levels of, well, funkiness. I haven't spent an ounce of time, not one teeny, tiny minute in my art room. In fact, I think I should stop calling it an art room. Maybe "dropping off point for things that don't belong anywhere else spot" would be more appropriate. My new creative space is in this open area at the top of the stairs and I have to pass through it to get to my bedroom each and every night. But, I usually walk through with the lights off. I mean, I don't really want to see all the unfinished projects. Nothing is inspiring me in there these days, not even my fun little box of found elements, not the pretty bottles of paint, not even the stacks of fabrics with all their different textures and colors.

Ah well, such is the life of the creative person as my oldest sister tells me.

At least, as you can see above, I have not let my dinner table fall into complete disarray. I picked up this book about romantic living by Barbara Taylor Bradford a few weeks ago and it made something inside stir a little. I remember what that feels like! I thought to myself several times when reading chapters on treating oneself to fresh flowers, delicious chocolate and bubble baths. I can remember a time when I was very, very good to myself and my darling husband and would prepare treats like this candlelit dinner, fun surprises and decadent treats just on a whim. Just because it was fun and brought me happiness. That is a kind of creativity I think I can manage right now.