Exterior Paint

When we purchased our home, it was a mint green color. Hideous! So I hired a designer to pick our exterior paint colors and I love what she selected for us but lately I've been itching to try something different. Currently, we have Benjamin Moore paint: Main Color is Gloucester Sage, lighter color on the "picket fence pattern" is Nantucket Gray, and window/door trim is a creamy white/basic black. Our house was photographed last summer for a book that might be printed about the architect J.S. White (who built and lived in our home).



Lately, though I've been wanting something lighter in color. As we remodeled the kitchen 2 years ago, I discovered the original colors of the home was white and sage trim. Now, I'm not a purist in the sense that I feel I have to get back to the original colors, but it was inspirational to me. And since the paint is already peeling from the paint job two years ago (sad to say but finding good painters is hard!) I've tempted to do something similar to the guest cottage below to give the house a more coastal look.


Image from Willow Decor

What I'm stumped on is how to handle the upside down picket fence design on the 2nd floor. Do I paint it white and paint the little circles/triangles sage? And how can I add shingles to the house without ruining the Carpenter/Gothic style of the home?

2009 Snohomish Garden Tour

The weather has been incredible this last week with perfect blue skies, the sun is shining, warmer temperatures, and most imporantly no rain. Did I mention that? No rain! My crocuses and daffodils are starting to bloom which has made me very happy!! This reminded me of some of the great gardens in my little town of Snohomish. Interestingly enough Snohomish was originally called the "Garden City" and so this garden group puts on a tour every summer to highlight the best. Here are some of my favorites from 2009. Enjoy!

There is a group of small historic homes bordering the Snohomish River and they all work closely together to create a theme around their homes so the garden is cohesive. An artist created some sculptural art for their gardens. I can't remember his name, but his work is beautiful!

A peek-a-boo view of the river.

Tower 20 in Santa Monica

I was looking through an older issue of Coastal Living magazine tonight and came across Tower 20. It's a store in Santa Monica owned by Interior Design Tim Clarke that exudes a coastal modern look. In the process of taking Interior Design classes I'm learning a little about myself and discovering that I LOVE this modern look with a worn weathered coastal style. I love eclectic and I love classic and Tim Clarke's store would be a good representation of all that I love. Tim seems right at ease working with traditional and modern. Enjoy his portfolio below and some inspirational photos. You may view his store HERE

Brady Bunch Home

My friend Heather has had her house on the market for 6 months now, and as can be expected, is very tired of keeping it in a pristine state of cleanliness for so long. Plus, running out of the house with little (or no) advance warning from the real estate agents. She's always described her home as the Brady Bunch home but other than the age, I think the similarities end there. With so many people walking through her home, we all thought it was priced right and would sell quickly but it didn't. The market is to blame in large part, but the attitude of the potential buyers was interesting. The feedback she received was this: too old, popcorn ceiling, and smaller bathrooms. So we're assuming the buyers were looking for a shiny, new home. But look what they were giving up:

Large manicured yard with fully fenced backyard.



Large living room with lots of natural light and gas fireplace.



Large dining room and updated kitchen.



M. Bedroom with hardwood floors and attached bathroom.



There is a lot to like about her home and I find it interesting that buyers are willing to sacrifice the lot size, privacy, established neighborhood (that's not cookie-cutter), and hardwood floors for the sake of having a "new" home. Granted the repair list might not be as long on a newer home but it surprises me that they are willing to sacrifice everything else for new. Maybe I'm getting old because I don't understand. She just recently received an offer last week so the hassles of selling will be soon behind her, but what are your thoughts on the older homes vs. new homes?

Laundry Room Remodel

We live in a 122 year old home that's only 1,300 square feet so we have to be creative with the biggest problem...storage. At some point in time, previous owners added this laundry room which is small (5x12) and it also has to function as a mud room. We purchased the front loading washer/dryer with the storage underneath to keep cleaning supplies and I've used baskets above to store toilet paper and laundry supplies.

Next to the back door is the water heater and we hide that behind custom drapes and also sneak in the ironing board and broom/mop. It's not ideal, but we're working with what we have until we can do a complete remodel on the back of the home.

I was stumped on the paint scheme for a long time, until I found "My Sweet Savannah" on HGTV's Rate My Space. She took a narrow hallway and added visual texture to the space by adding horizontal stripes (See HERE). I took her cue, and did the same with our laundry room.


(I need to add two mores stripes to the left but waiting for husband to move the washer out of the way)
You can see the laundry room from the kitchen (which is all restored solid fir wood) and I like the juxtaposition of horizontal painted stripes in the laundry room and the vertical beaded board of the fir wood.

Rate my Space HERE!