Apropos of Nothing v.8

We make up for the fleas with FLIES...ALL summer...FLIES FLIES FLIES..


Summer...I will have to now poke my mind's eye out...

Ginger

Some natural fiber blinds? I don't know.. You need some contrast....

Frankly...if there's no one to see you running around naked or anything I would just leave that view and go with something up top....

Then I might put a birdbath and some feeders out there....

IMHO

Ginger

Nope, nothing but trees beyond the river.

And no offense to anyone who lives in a trailer (I grew up in a double-wide WITH A BASEMENT) ... I'm just used to decking out old houses with generous oak moldings & stuff. These frameless windows have me scratching my head a bit.

Poor, blinded beadmom.

I like the wooden shutter look on a wall that is sheetrock. It warms up the wall and ties into your furniture. It also is neutral so with the window your garden will not crash.

waldo-curled up on top of the squishy pottery barn back cushions, like all good and worthy felines. (mmmm...squishy pottery barn couches....)

I pull the "make your windows look bigger" thing by hanging curtain rods higher a/o wider everywhere I've put up curtains here. I like the wider part a lot-gets the curtains out of the way when they're open. I'm not sure how I feel about the small chunk of wall between the window and the curtain rod that shows when the curtains are open-know exactly what you're concerned about. It's kind of useless space-can't really hang anything artish there-not really sure if you want to call attention to it, not sure I want to bring the feel of the curtains down that low, so I've left it. Basically, it looks a little blank, but not bad. I can live with it while I make up my mind.

How good are you with a mitre saw? Do 45' angles come easily? If so, you could add molding around the edges of the windows. Or, you're talented, what about painting something artistic there? A scroll, fleur de lis, or, I don't know, leaves, something like that-if you can do it without it becoming fussy/kitschy, that is. Go for modern,clean and elegant?

I like the big-slat wood shutters, but I shy away from them because of the winter dark here. I think they get bulky if you're opening them up completely all the time. Maybe on a west or south facing wall they'd be fine here. I expect somewhere bright like CO or MT they'd be outstanding.

oh, disclaimer, no design expert here....most of my house has minimal window coverings-just enough for privacy that we put in when we bought the house. If anyone can suggest a replacement for vertical blinds over a sliding door that the cats won't destroy, I could use some ideas.

Just hang 'em high - half way between top of window and ceiling, and let them come all the way to the floor.

Beautiful room.

I agree - hang them high. You don't need a valance. But I do think you need a liner for the fabric or some heavier fabric to make the drapes more substantial.

Moulding is a nice finished touch - Judi, help us out here. When did "we" start to streamline things and get rid of moulding around windows? Was it the 60's? My house was built in the 70's and there's nothing around my windows. Someday I'll get around to that, too. In the meantime, I just took all my curtains and blinds down.

This message was edited Feb 11, 2010 5:51 PM

The only place I have drapes is in the bedrooms and I have all my windows framed.

My house was built in 1905 so it has lots of moulding around doors, windows, ceilings, etc. Typical old Portland home. My living room drapes are quite sheer and not lined, but the fabric is a very loosely woven heavy linen. I love them - they're very simple but add texture and a substantial feeling.

Mmmmm, I'm roasting brussels sprouts and carrots and it smells good!

Rarejem,
What is the name of that great seed starting book that you brought to Pixy's? I wrote it down, but I cannot find where I put it. (Same old story!!!)

Susy, you're right, by the way! That's Julie and her favorite spot to sleep for unknown reasons. She's a very talented finder of sleeping places -- the other cats keep an eye on her investigations & then copy her. I'm sure it annoys her.

There was another thread I used to frequent where it became a big joke because all my photos had a sleeping cat buried somewhere in the mess, unbeknownst to me.

Crap, I just set my hair on fire.

Lynn, If I remember right, it was The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom. I left it up at Mom's so she could make some notes on some seeds I didn't have, so I will check for sure this weekend and let you know!

Summer, you are being pretty rough on your "doo" this last couple of weeks!

Roflol!!!! Those are the "POINTYest" red drapes I've ever see. They HURT me! It's like they are throwing daggers down at anyone brave enough to stand underneath them. Definitely, they need to go!
And then WHAT Happened to that room? What do you do, summerkid, fly through the room at top speed on a broomstick and just hurl things through the air? I'm clutching my painful chest in agony laughing so hard. Make it stop!!

Do Susybell's suggestion of the painting, and use Soferdig's suggestion of bringing the garden into the room via windows - put those two things together somehow. The painting will calm you.

Then hang the curtains like Portland directed and get it over with. No blinds. You'd probably hurt yourself putting them up.

And stop playing with fire. Didn't your parents or older siblings or neighbors teach you anything? And stay out of the river! My G$D woman! You're a walking Monty Python skit! Sheesh! Maybe it's too much garlic.

Portland, that is the most soothing room I've seen in a long time, and I usually cannot 'do' gray walls. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Still, don't know how I would do with the gray. Depends on how it reflected the light in the winter. In my last house I had a lavender dining room. I lived with large swathes of lavender paint in several hues on the wall for an entire year because I didn't want the shade to be too 'cool' in the winter. Same with my office. (Now that was an interesting experiment... asking people which color made them feel best) .

Hey, maybe you should go do Summerkid's room for her. Maybe it would calm her down. I think she is having a manic moment.

Sue, you don't have to mitre corners to do molding. You can just do T shaped molding. That's kind of a craftsman style that is very popular, and also extremely easy to do.

Pixy, I am, like, convulsing in laughter.

Yeah, I'll bet it does look pretty bad from the outside: "Curtains, BAD!!! Gaaa. Hair, short, on fire."

Seriously, sometimes I just sit calmly on the slouchy couches reading "Martha Stewart Living," stroking a sleeping cat & watching hoops on the telly.

And then other days the curtains stab holes in my brain.

rofl, Pix, you must be feeling better. Honestly, I'd thought they looked kind of like fangs, giant mouths, especially the end one with three points. Very aggressive drapes, in any case.
T-style molding-is that the kind with the corner medallions?

Oo, yay, I found Julie the cat. That's great about the other ones copying her. I've got one that migrates. Five days he's glued to one spot, then he moves elsewhere for 5 days, etc, eventually returning to the first spot, and so on. How's the new kitty doing?

I thought about a shade of darkish smoky lavender ( a bit to the red) for my bedroom but the light in that room destroys anything too grayed-it needs clearer colors or they just look dreary and muddy, so it's green and blue. I'm toying with redoing the master bath in that sort of color instead.

Pix my living room and dining room were both a different shade of gray but last November I changed it because it was too cool for the winter. This gray is very warm, even on drab days. On rainy days it feels very cozy. Color is funny, and looks different in each room, in different seasons, at different times of day, etc. I like very saturated color instead of pastels. My bedroom is a deep eggplant purple (darkish smoky) and it works well all the time. I can find the exact info of it if you're interested.

I agree about Summer's red points - they look hostile and it's good that they are gone!

Julie, that book sounds great. I may have to order it.......

Somehow due to puter glitch I missed all of the curtain posts. Summer, you are definitely right...the red fangs had to go. I don't think I would have had as much a problem with them if they hadn't had the ruler straight white edge... I am just not a "straight line" kind of gal! Would not do well at all in one of the ultra modern condos!

Judy, your room is lovely. I love different colors that set different "moods" throughout the house. I can see that that would be an awesome room to "snuggle down into".

I am fairly certain that the book I listed is the one that Lynn was talking about, but will have Mom double check to make sure. If it is the one, it is a fabulous seed reference. It gives info on hundreds of plants, from when and how to sow the seeds, how to grow for best results, and how to harvest seeds. It is THE best book I have ever purchased regarding seed starting.

Okay - I clearly need to have the book, too.

Judi - What's the name of the gray shade you used? I might do that in my office. I have a nice gold in my bedroom. It's the most wonderful color - rich without being stuffy, bright on sunny days and warm in the depths of winter. It's so saturated that it doesn't clash with anything - forest greens and real reds go with it. Purples go with it. Browns. I'm very happy with the color.

OKay.. I have never heard the words "Very aggressive drapes" used together and/or hostile to describe drapes .
Scary...very scary. Like those VooDoo plants (but I secretly want one).

"Crap, I just set my hair on fire."
I hate it when that happens. Worse than opening your lunchbox and finding a pot pie.

Ginger

How did you set your hair on fire?
Portland, beautiful home, very classy, yet comfortable.
Rarejem, thanks for the info. I will go look online for it. That is a "must have" book.
Ginger, depends on the pot. Seriously though, I love Marie Callender pot pies. (I probabaly misspelled her name.)
Pixy, are you feeling better now?

Why, Lynn, with some fire, silly!

Judi, that room is right up my alley. Have I posted a pic of my old sunroom? I worked & worked & WORKED to get this just right. If the color had been just a hair off plumb, it would've been cliche Tuscan.

Yes, I am silly today, but WHERE did the fire come from - a bonfire, camp stove, fireplace, lighter, two sticks rubbed together? I was just curious.

Yeah - clearly there's a story there. You can't just post, "I set my hair on fire," without making your audience just a little bit curious. Wasn't that the point? So c'mon, finish up with the story.

I gotta run -- headed to that blankety-blank acupuncturer for which no one has given me any MORAL SUPPORT.

Dreading it. So want to chicken out.

Moral support? Acupuncture is a GOOD thing. Do some of your yoga ahead of time and see if it doesn't help you get relaxed.

Katie59 the gray is a custom shade that I had made, so there is no formula for it. We just kept mixing until it was right. However, a week after I painted the living room I walked into a Restoration Hardware store to get some drawer pulls and the walls were painted a very similar gray. They have some nice grays so I would look there. Gray works best with white wood trim.

I went out to day to do some errands and saw many rainbows. Sun and rain sprinkles at the same time. Pretty!

"Ginger, depends on the pot."


I took that in a whole different direction.....and in that case might reconsider my dislike of pot pie.(If they are anything like brownies).

Someday I'll tell you the brownie story and how we should have been kicked out of the Episcopal Church.

Ginger

Judi, I'd love to know the color you used for your bedroom. It sounds perfect. I liked your grey also. I don't think I'm quite courageous enough yet when it comes to paint color. Did you study color theory as part of your arch. program?

Summer, I guess we didn't realize you needed moral support. Going to an acupuncturist just seems sort of like something that you would do. I'm horribly unsure of the idea (needles!) but I didn't realize you were.

Ginger, that sounds like a good story....you'll have to get to one of the PNW get togethers one of these times..... :)

Susybell - the bedroom color is a Benjamin Moore paint, Aura formula, named " Nuit AF 635" - I highly recommend the Aura formulas. It is a little more expensive but well worth the extra $. I did not study color theory and architects are notoriously bad at color. That's why we always wear black. When we were bored at work we would go over to the interior design area to see what they were wearing. I became really interested in color when I was working on Johns Hopkins hospital and one of the neurosurgeons began researching how color affected the alertness of his patients. Fascinating.

Susy be brave with color! You can always repaint! :))

summer, I hope you enjoy your accupuncture. MY DH had it a few years ago. It helped and didn't hurt.

Hey, I thought I offered moral support for the acupuncture! I'm sure I did! Okay, now that I read the post again, I see that we got off on a tangent about your presumptuous swimsuit and the fact that I found a Thai acupuncturist. My mistake. I assumed that the fact that I would be visiting one would be moral enough support for you. Stop being a ninny. It doesn't even hurt. It's like going to a spa. You will be relaxed and in the 'zone'. Anyone who can live with 'drapes of fang' shouldn't be afraid of a little acupuncture. You will come out a new woman.

Ginger: somehow, I had this vision of a potpie in a lunchbox that just cracked me up! Why is that so funny? I don't know.

Yes!! I am feeling better!! Praise God!! I had a breathing treatment today, which I refer to as 'the peace pipe' treatment, and started on a new antibiotic. I think the new antibiotic is helping already. Thank God for modern medicine. Now I just have to not press my luck.

So, Portland, when I painted my office, I ended up creating my own shade of lavender. It was interesting. I painted each wall with several different shades of lavender in large blocks. I took a poll of every client who came in. After several months, almost an entire year really, since the light changes radically, I realized that it was almost unanimous that the color I mixed was the one people preferred with the exception of two people. Each of those people preferred this other color that was a cooler tone that was almost cold (to me). I would never have painted the wall that color and couldn't wait to get it off the wall. No one else had chosen that color, and most people had actively said they disliked it and/or it made them feel bad. Both of the people who had chosen that color were seriously depressed, and one of them was in sexual offender treatment.

Susy, you won't know if Portland's color is perfect until you try it on your wall. I always have a quart mixed up first because of this. It's worth the investment to mix a quart whenever possible.

Susybell, take a look at the molding around the window and doorway here. Very simple to do.

Pix, that's fascinating about your wall color experience with your clients!

And, yes, I'm a big believer in test quarts and living with test patches for a while-like (cough) years. I've got a collection of them in the garage. :)

Your modern-style molding is really attractive. Everywhere I've lived that's had molding has had the traditional styles with the mitered corners.

It does so hurt. I especially didn't like the one she jabbed into my thorax & it was tough to lie there for an hour like an insect pinned to the wall in a museum.
But I'm willing to give it a shot -- I very much like the doctor, who sent me home with many, many mysterious little pill packets & a confusing schedule of when to take them.

And of course now I'm ensconced at Lisa's house, where I always feel very safe, for the weekend. She's been sick -- I curled up on one couch & she eventually stretched out & fell asleep with her head on my feet while Larry & I watched the Olympic ceremonies. He always gets his own couch because he operates the laptop to answer all our questions -- "Who's that actor? When did the Soviet Union fall apart? Is Hong Kong its own country now? Is that a Tlingit symbol or Salish?"

Tomorrow we are going to try bookmaking with some friends.

Melissa good to hear that you are getting better!
Summer you are a woose. Acupuncture with my dogs they just sit there and smile. Then walk out and give me a look of pleasure. Keep up the treatments.
Hey you guys some great pictures coming tomorrow. I wanted to get some sun so last night I booked a flight to Maui and am now in my sisters condo in Lahina waiting for the sun to come up. Kaanapali beach is outside my window. I can't wait to get my mask and snorkle on and hit the reef in the morning. I am eating breakfast in "Cheezeburger in Paradise" in the am. My first time in Hawaii. Now I have seen all of the states in the US. Wish me luck surfing day after tomorrow. Off to the north shore. I got to fly out of LAX and had the sunset for over 4 hours. Nice warm and clear skies.

Sofer!! You lucky ol' bear - enjoy it for all of us. I've just come in from a long walk and I am chilled to the bone - brrrrrrrrrrrr, it is literally freezing here, but sunny. Off to the greenhouse.

Pix I love that photo. I could curl up in one of those chairs, and the garden is so inviting. Beautiful!

Sofer enjoy the sun - you lucky dog.

Summer, I'm beginning to think you are high maintenance.......