Room With A View!!

For those of you who have known me for awhile you all know how much I love the Ocean. I especially love the beach in Carmel, California. What's not to like?! I actually think I could live anywhere where there was an ocean view. I know I am not alone in this love of ocean views, so I thought it would be fun to look at some lovely rooms with a view................

What is not to love in this room? Be still my heart. I also love the little pop of turqouise on the chair to bring in the ocean colors. Good styling here!

White and lovely with a pop of turqouse.

Take me away. I think the console at the foot of the bed is a pop-up TV. Notice the panel on the top. I don't think I would need a TV to watch with that lovely beach view.

This room has it all. I love the black table and chairs with the washed cotton slipcovers. All the green glass bottles casually displayed are a nice touch. What about the chandelier? Love,love this room.

This is so amazing. Look at how rustic this table is. They added formal white roses to a very casual setting-genius.! The shell encrusted chandelier is a work of art. Can you imagine having breakfast sitting here?

The colors used here are so fresh and crisp. I think I might like to change the wooden chair fabric to something that did not match the parson chairs. Love this but a little smatchy for me. Since I am living in these rooms virtually I can afford to be picky.

I am almost speechless!

Look at the interesting little table they used as an island. Lots of interesting pieces in this small kitchen. I like the use of baskets and the  touch of lemons for a pop of color. Love the little banner of shells and starfish hanging in the window.

Here we have a more formal setting with a water view outside the window. I really love all the pieces in this room. The only element I am not sure about is the art above the bed. I don't think the room needs it with all the woodwork and the busy fabric of the headboard. Fun use of color mixing turqousie with red.

Absolutely lovely and peaceful. Perfection!!

With each picture I get more and more relaxed. That is what the ocean does to me. As soon as I see it, I take a deep sigh. Does the ocean do that to you also?

I really need a trip to the ocean.

What a fun use of color here. It almost looks as if the ocean came in on the floorboards. This looks like a really fun place to visit.

Simply Wonderful!!

What a great table . Love this look.

Oh, so comfy.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting the ocean with me today.

"Enjoy the Process" Of: Looking at the view

Kathysue

I Want Different Colors Please!

Have you ever considered the possibility of painting the front of your house a different color than the back?

I know to most this will sound a bit odd. I know when I told my painter that is exactly what I wanted to do,he said,"Come with me." Then he had me tell his crew my request.They actually seemed fine with it, but he thought I was kidding. Now I bet you are wondering why in the world I would do such a thing. I have a small suburan ranch style home in California. I have always loved yellow houses, so painting my home yellow was a given. The sun comes up facing my porch, so it is always warm and comfortable in the mornings when the air is still cool. My backyard is another story. The sun sets in my back yard and around 3:00 in the afternoon it is very,very hot in the summer. Because we get over 100 degrees in the summer I wanted to cool it down a bit with the use of cool colors. This is why I decided to paint the back a different color. The only place you can even see the back of my house is when you are in the backyard. You can not see the yellow sides from the back, only when you are in the front yard. This is how I got away with a two -toned house. The back is painted a soft sage green . I have one window that I had Hubby put shutters  and a window box on. I painted those a cobalt blue. All my pots are either a green or a cobalt. I choose plantings in various greens and pinks and whites. I am lucky to have a very shaded area to the side of my patio where I can grow shade plants and ferns. I have also put a small water feature there. I have never heard of anyone doing this and in looking for some images other than my own home I was unable to find any showing a two-toned house. So I guess that does make me a bit weird, but I like it and it works for our enviroment. Here is a peek at the back side of the house.......

Now that you have seen my backyard, are you ready to see the front of the house. Don't forget it is a different color, remember it is yellow............

Sorry for the glare, The sun comes up facing my house, you can see it in the front door.

You can see it is a soft, butter-yellow. I had the color custom mixed by my tinter and it only has one pigment in it, Yellow-oxide, which is a gold/yellow. I like my yellows more on the butter side of yellow, especially for outside. Most people seem to choose far to bright or on the green side of yellow and it becomes too neon.

 I love yellow and have had it on two of my houses, so I am kind of married to it.

With all this information do you think you would ever consider painting your house two-toned? As long as one side can not be seen from the other you can do it. It is funny when people realize the front and back are different, but to be honest most people don't even notice. I hope you have enjoyed this little tour of my front and back yard differences.

"Enjoy the Process" Of: Doing something outside the box.

Kathysue

SALE ALERT #2

FRESHEN UP YOUR BEDROOM WITH SPRING GREEN!!

I just found these fresh Spring green items for your bedroom. What a fun guest room this would make for guest that will be visiting in the Spring/Summer months.

Isn't this a fun color combination, gray and lime green!  You can find it here for a really great price.

" Enjoy the Process" Of: Getting a Fresh new look for your bedroom.

Kathysue

SALE ALERT

LOVELIES FOR YOUR YARD:

Happy Sunday to you all!! It has been a beautiful weekend in California and we have spent time out in the back yard planting and putting a clear coat on our Great Wall (fence) I saw these two tables that I think would look great outside and wanted to make sure you all had a chance to see them.............

I love the green mosaic top, this would look so great out in the sun!! You can get it here for $99. I thought that was a great price for a metal coffe table with a mosaic top. This would be a good way to add a pop of color on the patio.

What a darling bistro table.  It has the same mosaic top but in blue. This would look really nice around a pool area. It is also $99

Love this umbrella with the embroidered decorative edge. This would make anyone feel special to be shaded by this beauty.

If you are still in the garden after it gets dark, just turn these little lanterns on for some wonderful ambient light. You can get these for only $14.99 at Cost Plus!!

"Enjoy the Process" Of: Finding some lovelies to beautify your yard.

Kathysue

Long Pillows

I have already admitted my Pillow Addiction(here) so I might as well indulge myself a little bit and write another post about pillows. I find pillows to be one of the quickest ways to change a room. The price point goes from low to high so everyone can afford a pillow once in a while. I particulary love the drama of a long pillow. Have you ever considered the effect a long pillow would have on your bed or sofa. Take a look at these pillows and see what you think?.........

Erin McLaughlin - Style At Home February 2010

I might have placed this long pillow behind the smaller square pillows or even eliminated the small pillows and just place it in the center between the two end pillows. So much more of a Wow! factor than just the smaller pillows, don't you think?

I can not even imagine this bed without this long pillow, can you?

Picture from Cote De Texas

I love this bed with this long pillow made out of a Suzani fabric by Kathryn Ireland.

How fun is this room? I am not an orange girl as you know but this long orange pillow makes the sofa in my eyes.

Picture from Vignette Designs. Picture taken by Delores Arabian

Be sure and visit her blog she does really interesting post and her home is lovely. The next two pictures are from her home and she offered to let me use these pictures.  You see she is not only talented but also a very generous blogging friend.

Design Inc.

What a wonderful statement this long pillow makes in this room. Try to visualize this bed without the long pillow, not nearly as wonderful is it?

HGTV

Simple but effective.

This sofa has two longer pillows, just imagine if it were one longer pillow, Wow!

Great looking long pillow from Dwell Studios.

Last but not least is Joni's bed from blog Cote de Texas. This is my favorite of all the images. I love checks and  this pillow is extra long and that gives it the drama. What a lovely room, Joni!

Now that you have seen all the images do you think you can find a place in your own home to use a long pillow. For those of you that sew, think of using two table runners as the fabric for a long pillow, that would look great!

 I just came up with a great idea for the playroom re-do. I need to talk to my seamstress to see if it can be done. I will get back to you  on that later.

 

"Enjoy the Process" Of: Finding places in your home for a long pillow!

Kathysue

Hints of Easter

Here comes Peter Cotton Tail hopping down the bunny trail, Hippity-Hoppity Easter is on it's way!

My  Inspiration Pictures! 

You know that Easter is just around the corner. It is one week from this Sunday. I have a very busy week ahead of me, so I have been trying to do a few things ahead of time. I have been shopping for Easter Basket goodies. I also am trying to do a trial run on some of the elements for my Easter table. Here is a picture just to give you a little hint on what I am thinking about using........

As you can see I have been dyeing eggs a bright yellow to go with some of my plates I plan on using. You will also notice the cute egg holder from Anthropologie that I bought last month.
Here are a few things that I have learned in the process of dyeing egg shells.

1. Do not tell uninterested party how you plan on dyeing egg shells. He might just say something encouraging like, "Seems like an awful lot of trouble to me."
2. Wear latex gloves if you have them
3. Get a manicure AFTER you dye eggs if you did not wear latex gloves
4. Cleanser is the only thing to get the dye off of your finger tips that now look like nicotine stained fingers after you have dyed 2 doz. eggs; therefore needing a manicure desperately.
5. Make sure all egg residue is cleaned out before dipping in boiling colored water. Did you know that egg residue will cook? I do now! There is nothing like chunky yellow pieces of egg floating around to leave spots on your yellow eggs.
6. Do not walk away from dyeing eggs to check emails or you will have a two-toned egg and then you will have to figure out how much time the other side needs to sit to get to the same value of color as the other side.
7. Have a recipe on hand for egg quiche or a nice fritata because now you have a bowl full of opened eggs.
8. If your bowl of opened eggs looks full do NOT under any circumstances add "Just One More."
9. Last but not least, make sure you are alone, trust me on this. You will not want help or well-meaning advice from an on-looker or even the older children who are convinced they are professional egg dyers from years of experience.

I just thought you might want a heads-up in case you were going to crack your eggs, empty them out and then dye them.

Quick Question: Does anyone know if I need to keep these, now empty yellow eggshells in the refridgerator?

"Enjoy the Process" of: Getting ready for Easter!

Kathysue