FEVER!!

I’ve got the fever!! Not that kind of fever but Spring Fever. Do you? I find my mind spinning from one project to the next. I wish I had some of Santa’s elves to get them all done. Seriously for some reason, (it just might be blogging, you think?), I want to do more and more things around the house. Not big projects, but little things that I have put on the back burner forever. I find I am going from the inside of my house to the outside back to the inside and then to my wardrobe and make-up,Yikes!!

I really need to quit looking at the DIY blogs. It is actually making me think I can spray paint and, trust me, I can not. I know that sounds lame, but I am a  horrible painter. I am the girl with the vision not the "doer."  When I say, “ I know what WE can do!” my hubby retorts with, “ Where is the YOU in WE?” Sound familiar? He does have a point!

So far I have worked on and finished my front porch. I have now gone into the living room and tried my hand at refinishing and recovering an antique rocker and spray painting two very ornate gold frames in a high gloss white. If they turn out I promise to do a post. I have gone from the front yard to the back yard to plant flowers. Now, I am thinking about cushions for the back yard, Yikes!! It makes me tired just thinking about it.

So I was just wondering whether or not you have , “The Fever?”  Sorry! I know you are humming the song aren’t you? " FEVER, in the morning Fever in the noon day light, Fever!, I’ve got the fever,hmmm, hmmm through the night." I know now you will be humming all day!!
What are the symptoms that you have from getting ,”Spring Fever?”

“ Enjoy the Process” Of: The craziness of Spring Fever!!

Kathysue

Seasonal Looks For My Mantle

I have talked about my family room and my mantle before. For those who missed its description I will tell you a little bit about it. When we had our home built 30yrs ago, my hubby wanted our fireplace to have brick along the entire end of the room. Being the loving wife and thinking how cute that he had a preference, I acquiesced. After the house was built and I looked at the possibilities of how to decorate an all brick mantle that was 17 ft. long and only had 3ft 9in. of wall space above it, I thought maybe I had made a mistake.
After lot’s of thinking and planning we had a contractor build a beautiful mantle to wrap over the brick mantle and also put legs on each side of the fireplace. I looked for years and years to find an over mantle piece that I liked and could afford. I wanted an antique. Finally after looking for years I found one in Jackson California at an antique store. It was mahogany so it had to be painted. We added molding at the bottom to make it looks as if it was integral to the massive mantle. Then this girl was verrrrry happy. We also added sconces on each side of the over mantle that are reproductions of the same era, the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.

Now I get to decorate a mantle that I love, but it is still difficult at times because of the spanse of space. I am a big is better, less is more kind of girl, but there is a really fine line between enough and not enough on this mantle. I like to change out my house for the seasons, so I am going to show you some pictures of the mantle dressed for Spring, Summer and Winter months. Let me introduce to you my mantle………….

Winter Mantle

  

Sorry for the glare in the pictures. This room gets a lot of natural light. You will notice I put darker colors on the mantle for winter. I bring in more black in the pictures and I add black and red to the books. Instead of white urns that I have for the Spring I replace them with green urns. This look is not as airy as my Spring or Summer looks. Now lets take a look at my Spring Mantle…….

In the Spring I bring in more white, raspberry and blue to the mix. I love the large green vase, It was made in Italy and it has wonderful color and a sculptural affect. Sometimes I have tall branches with blooms placed in this vase.

Now on to the Summer Mantle. You have already seen some of the pictures in my cobalt blue post………..

Summer Mantle

Left Side of Mantle

Right Side 

In the Summer you will notice that I add more of the blue and white and lime for coolness. I take out the pinks of Spring.  So now you have it! My mantle in all the seasons except for Christmas and then I go all out. This is when I become a, "more is more girl."  I will save those pictures for Christmas time.  In all the pictures of the mirror, you probably noticed the reflection of green shutters and the top of my large birdcage. I thought I would show that to you also. So on that note I leave you with this……..

The old wooden shutters were found at a salvage yard in Berkeley Calif. I painted them a depression era green from Pratt and Lambert paints called Northern green. This is what made me decide to paint my kitchen green with the help of my DIL who made the suggestion. She was so right! I love my kitchen cupboards.  The lamps are vintage 1930’s era Warren Kessler Milk glass. I used linen drum shades from Tarjay. I hope you have enjoyed viewing my mantle.

“Enjoy the Process” Of:

Changing an area in your home for the seasons.

Kathysue

Color Spots

Color spots are areas where an accent color is used in a room. They should be placed strategically around the room. Your eye should flow around a room not jolt from one object to another. I use to tell my clients when accessorizing a room,we all need to think where we will have color spots and what we will use. I know that pillows, lamps and art work are always a good remedy for that, however, there are other less expensive ways to give an area a Color Spot! Magazines or books are one of the ways I use to tell my clients to add a color spot on, lets say an ottoman or coffee table.

Notice the same blue that is in the sofa is on the book that has been placed on the coffee table.

The color that is in the art piece and its frame are repeated in the coffee table book.

The colors in the coffee table books are repeated from the artwork and the pillows on the sofa.

Are you beginning to see how having a detail like a repeated color in a book on your coffee table can make an impact in a room? It is all in the details.

Another easy and economical way to have a color spot is with flowers…..

 

These beautiful pink peonies are a repeat of the color in the pink floral pillows. If you look carefully it looks as if there is a small pink dish in the opened door of the hutch, another color spot!

I am showing this picture because the color spot of the bright yellow flowers gives this room some pop! Look at the small white table in the window, notice one more small touch of the bright yellow.

Here we have purple being used as an accent. The color spot here is on the coffee table not in the flowers but in the actual vase the flowers are contained in.

In this picture you have to look closely at the color spots. The color spot is in the form of pink. Do you see it? Look at the edge of the chartreuse pillow, Pink! The red pillow has a softer pink flower in the print. One small pink bud in a black votive holder is on the coffee table. The more obvious color spot is in the ottoman and the vase on the end table. Did you notice the spines of the books on the end table, more pink? This is what I call cross pollinating a color in a room. I referred to that in a previous post. It is as if a pink bee went from spot to spot in the room and left a little color spot of pink.

Let’s look at some other ways to bring in color spots in a room………..

In this room on the coffee table we not only have repeated colors from the room in the glass decanters, but it is also in the two books on the coffee table.

The beautiful coral on the fireplace wall has a repeat of its color on the chair in the form of a coral throw. Throws are also a great way to bring in a color spot in the room.

This is pretty clever. One tangerine pillow in the room and its repeated color spot is in the billiard balls in the bowl on the coffee table. This is a stretch, but I am also picking up the blue stripe and red stripe in the art piece is repeated in the striped billiard balls.

 

One bright orange pillow deserves its very own color spot in the one orange on the table next to the black and white dish that repeats the look of the art piece. Notice the subject matter of the portrait and her dress has hints of orange, very interesting.

There are so many ways to bring in color spots into a room to make sense of the color story. I use to tell my clients to get baskets and fill them with balls made out of different colors of yarn. I have been known to save certain magazines for the colors in the cover. I know it sounds a bit overboard,but it is all about the  details. Color spots are a way of making the eye travel around the room with color. What are some of the ways you add color spots to your rooms?

 “Enjoy the Process” Of: Adding color spots in your decor!

Kathysue