4 CHAIRS

   

I don’t know about you, but that is exactly what I want for my living room.

Can’t you just see yourself and a few friends or family members sitting here with a cup of coffee and good conversation?

I could move right in this room.

PEACEFUL, TRANQUIL, INVITING.

Do you like this look?

To see more of this arrangement take a trip over to my Pinterest board:

LIVING ROOMS

 

 

Change Is In The Air For Design

 

While perusing the web, or looking at design magazines I have been noticing a trend in décor lately. I am seeing a brighter, happier, collected over time look.

The look has a Traditional bend, but with a fresh twist of using unmatched pieces, and patterns, with brighter, happier colors.

The patterns in the room don’t coordinate, but for some reason they work together.

The shell of the rooms are usually in the color family of whites.

What is it that makes these rooms work?

I believe it is the love of each piece by the homeowner. There is a quality in each piece that creates a room that is pleasing to the eye when a homeowner chooses pieces that they love.

One of the things I love about rooms decorated in this manner is that they really make me look into every little detail trying to figure out why it works.

Personally I don’t think this is an easy look to get right. It could go terribly awry with just the wrong element placed in the wrong area of the room.

These rooms tend to look effortless, but there has to be a very discerning eye to pull this look off. 

There is no particular theme going on. There is a bend towards Traditional with a mix of more contemporary, and the addition of found objects.

These rooms never look contrived, or obvious in their elements. You won’t find pillows matching the window treatments, or the chair fabric. It truly is a mixed bag of goodness!

COLOR seems to be the common thread in most of these interiors.

It is so much easier to coordinate fabrics in the same color family than it is to do a mixed bag of colors and patterns in a room  as pictured in the images in this post.

Personally I am liking this look very much. It makes me smile, and I find it very interesting. 

In fact I had to make a Pinterest board  called, "INTERESTING!" because these rooms did not fit into any particular design style, or theme.  

Many call this look eclectic, but I call it good design.

What do you all think about this mixed bag of goodness in a room?

(All above images can be found HERE!)

 

 

 

Choosing A New Kitchen Counter top

 

I have not fallen off the face of blogland world, but I have been busy lately with a couple of things.

First, like most of you I have been taking down Christmas, but this year’s take down is a bit different for me.

I am bound, and determined to purge, and get more organized with my decorations.

On the fringe of this activity is to get the garage cleaned out, and organized. A big job that has needed to be done for longer than I like to admit.

This is going to be a long process but a worthwhile one so wish me luck, I need it!!

I get to get a new kitchen sink and counter top in my kitchen!!

This is something I have waited for a very long time.

I am a very patient person when it comes to waiting for what I want. 

I would rather wait than just get something during the interim. I have found that temporary becomes permanent in my life. LOL

This is what my kitchen counter looks like now……

This tile is 34 years old and has held up beautifully. I have been known to not use a cutting board for cutting a lemon for my tea, or an apple, or an orange on the tile. 

It is a working kitchen, one where we hang out. It has a nice sized breakfast bar area where we eat some meals, the kiddos do crafts, and I set up a buffet here when we have company. 

My little kitchen is a true workhorse.

I now have a chance to make some changes to the counter, sink and faucet. 

In my mind it was always going to be between two products:

Carrara Marble or Tile

I have Carrara marble on my entry hall floor..

I also have it in my guest bathroom…..

 I am very aware of the maintenance, and the beauty of this stone.

It meets all of my criteria except for one….

FUNCTIONAL/PRACTICAL

I would have to be more careful with how I use my counters.

 

I am not afraid of it showing some wear and tear, but I am leery of having to think about my counters every time I go to cut a lemon or an apple. 

I don’t want my guest to feel like they have to be super careful in my kitchen either.

So, I began the hunt for an alternative for a solid surface other than the tile.

I have read so much information my head is spinning. The three top contenders seem to be a quartz products.

I have all three of these products on site……

This image is on the right side of my kitchen sink.

I compared each quartz product to the Carrara marble.

The Lagoon has the least amount of veining and has a bit more depth to it. I can see into the color, it is not flat looking to my eye.

Probably the closest as far as the veining but much darker background, more on the beige side.

The cambria is the lightest background and is a beautiful product, but it has more of a man made look to my eye.

None of the above are perfect as far as the color of the background so that made me do a bit more investigating. 

I have only looked on line up to this point, but now it is time to do a bit of field work. This is going to take a bit longer than I thought!

I am not in a hurry. I have waited for several years for this opportunity, and I don’t take it lightly that we can do this now. 

I feel very fortunate to be able to even be doing it at all. This will be the last counter top I get in this home so I am going to take my time.

I am going to look at a larger slab of this material. I am also going to see if I can find some quartzite that looks white enough for me.

Quartzite is not to be confused with Quartz. Quartzite is made by Mother nature and is extremely hard…..

Quartzie is the rock form of the mineral quartz. It is a hard stone, registering 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale. Other attributes that make it a good stone for crafting projects are its density, strength, weather resistance and low porosity.

I have read that there are some Quartzite products in the white family. Now it is time for me to get on the phone and find some local stone yards that might have a slab.

I have also read about Vermont Danby Marble and it is suppose to be a very hard marble and it can be repaired by the homeowner if it gets stained or etched. More on that later.

I feel like I am back working for a client again, but this time the client is ME (she is my hardest client to work for, ever!)

Wish me luck!! I have a lot of leg work and phone work ahead of me.

If any of you have experience with any of the above products please leave a comment!