Still Got the Blues

I really struggle in the picture taking realm. I wish I could get the camera to see what my eyes are seeing. But most times I take a picture I think that it looks nothing like what I see IRL.
Then there are the times that when I take a picture and I say "Whoa, this is tragic." It happened with daughter #2's room and while I didn't change things right away, I DID change things.
It also happened with my upstairs fireplace.
My living room used to a golden yellow. It was a beautiful color, but with my red couch it felt a little like ketchup and mustard to me.

So one night this summer I repainted the room (which connects to the kitchen) and rearranged it.

But that is a post for another day.
The built-ins around the fireplace were very similar in color to the new walls. I couldn't have that. I was still using the paint chip from my dining room so I just picked the darkest shade on there. Paladian Blue.
Then I restyled it, emphasizing whites, reds and only things I love.

This is the left side of the fireplace.

Now we'll zoom in on some of the "stuff."

Here is a sand dollar that Little Man found in Florida and brought me back.

Hanging behind that is a poem I wrote in first grade about my favorite stuffed animal Rosebud. I won first place for it in a city wide contest!

I love that you can see the eraser marks where I was trying to get my final draft just perfect.

Of course my familty has a prime spot. Beside them are some number orbs that I made out of ping pong balls. All the orbs have numbers that are important to our family like birthdays, anniversaries and code numbers that mean something only to us.


I found a pair of these kruel work pictures at an antique store and fell in love with them. The lamp, well sometimes a lamp is just a lamp. No story there.


Along with a piece of transferware, this shelf holds two special pictures. The bigger one is my mom as a child with her mother (my grandmother, obviously). The small picture is of my dad taken in Korea while he was serving during the Korean War.



This white pot and wire basket aren't sentimental, but I really like them. Like I always tell my BFF if you love something go for it; you will probably always love it. If you are getting it just to fill a space it will not last in your heart very long.

(But she'll send me text pictures of things and say "do I love this?" to which I will have to tell her if I would love it or not. She kills me-but in a sweet way!)


Finally rounding out this side is a ceramic copy of my elementary school, Atkins-Porter. It is especially important to me now since the school was torn down many years ago. I can remember many class pictures being taken on those steps as well as trips down those steps to get on buses for field trips.


This is the right side of the built ins. The stuff over here isn't as sentimental, but it is still stuff that I really like, not just space filler.

I have some of my china and a metal sign that hubby got for me. It says "A man's house is his castle, until the queen arrives." He calls me the queen. The bottom shelf holds a basket of dog toys. It's pretty cute to watch the dogs reach up to get something out of their basket. They haven't learned to put things back though.

The old leather books are commentaries of hubby's and I have the matching kruel work picture over here as well.

I love this arrangement so much better than the old one. I think it is the simplicity of focusing on white with touches of red and the fact that it is stuff that I really want to see all the time.

I think next week I'll show you all my classroom. I have several things in there to show off. I just wish I had taken before pictures. Just for a hint, it started as the school science lab. Let your imagination run wild!