No White Trim!!!

Hi!, Anne here.. I have strong feelings about the painting rules that seem to be pervasive regarding trim color in homes .I have found that white trim and ceilings are a safe plan for most, but truly what it results in is many contrasting outlines. This is fine, even amazing, in very large, high ceiling traditional estates. In our typical urban dwellings with many windows and doors and low ceilings, what this does is make a lot of visual tension for the eye and soul. 

Do you want your home to be a peaceful place? Step one would be to paint the trim to match the wall it is on, just simply change the sheen. It seems nutty maybe, but what you will find is that your attention is brought more to the view out the window or the lovely items you have in your home. Isn't this better than your eyes always looking at walls ?

      I firmly believe that we are subject to a ton of visual stimuli all day, and we replicate that in our home with clutter and paint contrasts etc... take a few steps toward simplifying your paint palette and see how it changes your mood.

Triangles and Plants

Whenever I am installing a garden, I think about triangles. Apparently I'm not alone. It turns out that every garden magazine in the world will tell you to plant in the following way: in groups of three and in a triangular pattern. The Japanese have been on to this for a long time. The basic rules of traditional Japanese garden design include: odd numbers that support the effect of the asymmetry and the triangle shape for balanced composition.

Here are a few more rules of three that will help you in your garden design projects:

Make a  great container garden: You need 3 types of plants-- a thriller, a filler, and a spiller.

Maximize the impact of each plant in the bed: Plant them in threes. The exception is plants that are really skinny, like a gladiolus, in which case it may take as many as twenty-one to make any impact. Why twenty-one? Because with even numbers you end up planting in a linear fashion. It takes that odd numbered plant to turn the line into a drift.

It takes three forms, three textures, and perhaps three colors or shades to create a pleasing contrast: For form: an upright plant, one that mounds, and one that trails over the edges of the bed will do. Three textures: fine, medium, and bold. Three colors/shades: light, medium, dark.

Enjoy.  Rebecca

Every little thing's gonna be alright.

If you are broke and need to tile your bathroom. back-splash etc. Here's an idea I am happy to share. Go to a building salvage, re-use store (The Re-Store in Seattle or Second-Use) and buy all of the tiles that "match" in your opinion. When I say "match", I mean you gotta be a little loose on that definition. For me "match" meant all the whites and creams that went together that I could find in the same size. I chose 4x4, 3x6 and 6x6. These are the most common left over tile sizes. You can reap the benefits of diy'ers & trades people who over-buy their tile!  Luckily, most people pick classic white subway tile or white /cream 4x4's, so it is plentiful! Take them all home for a $1/ sq ft  OR bring in some of your old unused/used building supplies/fixtures in trade for your tile.

To begin, take a deep breath, be flexible, and ready to be okay with varying tile sizes with give or take 1/8" difference. This was the hardest part to get used to. Also don't spend time making a perfect pattern, you may get stuck at the end without enough to finish. I just would grab some from each color pile and go for it. I admit bravery is involved. My hubby looked plenty scared throughout the weekend. I think his fear has subsided, because  he placed a single random pink stowaway tile in the upper right corner on Sunday while I was on a break. I was so proud of my linear, analytical man for taking the leap.

It was a couples breakthrough.

By Sunday night I began calling this room the Bob Marley room, because ........well you get it.

Baking Oompa Loompa Cookies with "T"

Last week Catherine Peng and I assisted our friend, baker extraordinaire Teresa Howard, in making cookies for the concession stand for our school's production of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  T's son, Oscar, played Charlie. Catherine's son, Mason, played Mr. Buckett and Mr. TeeVee. And my son, George, was Mike TeeVee. Perfect casting!!!
Teresa owns her own catering business, Celestial Catering, and has the ability to feed large quanties of people really good food.  Below she shares her Oompa Loompa cookie recipe for 170.

Oompa Loompa Cookies for 170
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Stir together in a large bowl:  13 1/4 cups of flour, 2Tb of baking soda, 1Tb salt
Cream together until light:  3lb butter, 4 1/2 cups of brown sugar, 4 1/2 cups of white sugar, 2Tb vanilla
Add 12 eggs to creamed mixture.  Slowly add flour.  Scoop into 2 oz cookies.  Decorate each cookie with
5-6 colorful M&M's.
Bake for 8 minutes.  Turn the oven off and let the cookies sit for 4 minutes

Guaranteed to please Oompa Loompas and all of their friends.
Well Done Sweet

Mix and Match. A Few Tips.

  

Mixing Prints.  Not always easy and not always Well Done. Here are a few tips that will help you master this skill.  Good Luck and send us some photos of your mix and match projects.

Stick to one or two main colors
Your prints don’t need to all be in the exact same shade, but they should have the same undertones.

Give patterns some space. Vary styles and scale. Mix a large floral with a small geometric print and a medium-sized stripe.

Mix up the types of patterns. Use a floral, a geometric print, and a classic stripe to give your look some variety.

If an interior or exterior space already has a lot going on in the way of color and pattern, keep furniture simple.

Add accent colors with accessories

Now, go practice.

      

Passion is the new black.

Lately I have been thinking about fear. Yup it's true, read on to watch me draw a crazy blog-world parallel between a front door color and fear. You know I love color and I still have a crazy fear of screwing up my front door. Guess how whimpy I am? My door is a cream color. I have been dreaming of having the balls to make it fabulous. I also have been dreaming of having the balls to do lots of other crazy things too. I am starting to get the idea that I have heard cliched over the years, you know the one "Life is not a spectator sport" It seems, in my world, there is not a lot of straying from the cozy safe spot in the middle. Well, passion is the new black. Go take what's yours this week.

Here is a link to a list of some great door color choices from House Beautiful, one of my favorite home design magazines(http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/colors/front-door-color) or better yet, ask me and I will give you a front door color, no charge. If you are far away, email your front door picture. Time for a  revolution, one door at a time.

Grass Lesson 101

     My sister and I love using ornamental grasses in our garden designs. Ornamental grasses are versatile, beautiful, low maintenance plants. They can be used as specimens, foundation plantings, ground covers, screens, or as container plants. In addition, they make great companions to flowering plants and woody shrubs.
     Ornamental grasses are available in a wide array of colors, shapes, textures, and sizes. The flowers and subsequent seed heads are equally diverse, ranging from "ho-hum" to truly spectacular. Each species has its own form, color, and movement pattern. In the fall, spring, and summer many ornamental grasses change their hues from shades of green to shades of red and beige providing a dramatic winter garden accent. The flower spikes (inflorescence) are excellent for drying with colors ranging from maroon to yellow to white. Ornamental grasses also add a dimension of motion and sound to a landscape. This is perhaps their most delightful feature.  As the grasses dry in the winter months, their movement pattern changes and they emit a lovely and soothing whisper.

Orange you glad it's fall?

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics.Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction,success, encouragement,and stimulation. To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance. Orange has very high visibility, so you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design. Orange is very effective for promoting food products and toys.

Dark orange can mean deceit and distrust.

Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure,
domination, aggression, and thirst for action.

Gold evokes the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is
illumination, wisdom, and wealth. Gold often symbolizes high quality.

(www.color-wheel-pro.com)

October Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

 

A little fall gardening is in order.  Here is a short "to do" list:
1. Plant trees and shrubs.  This is really the best time.  It's cool, it's raining, the roots will take root.
Don't forget to stake your trees.
2. Plant shrubs and cool season annuals and perennials.
3. You may compost your garden now, but if you did it in the spring it is not necessary.
Enjoy the cool days and the beautiful autumn light.
Rebecca and Anne

Debbie's Delights

So, I have known Debbie since 1994 and the funniest thing about her

is that she is an AMAZING cook ....who is totally in the closet.

She told me once that if anyone ever found out, then they would always expect her to cook...

She is so wise...

If you ever get the gift of enjoying one of her creations... you are a lucky soul.

Here is her applesauce from last week and here is the recipe she used:

www.alpharubicon.com/prepinfo/mastryderapplesauce.htm

Well Done Applesauce, Deb.

Red Cover,Red Clover let Hydrangea come over.

Well Done choice of seed pods, weeds and flowers.

Prescription; walk out door, pick 5 random growing things of varying textures and similar colors

(no discrimination, don't only pick those high-falutant diva flowers, look for the runt volunteer weeds too) put em in a mason jar, repeat daily for anti-depressant effect.

For double the dosage and for maximum effect, give them to someone on their doorstep secretly.

Homemade Headboard

So, my brilliant friend Amanda can make anything....

She needed a headboard in her cute Sand Point Way condo and Voila!; she took some plywood, her jigsaw and some gold leaf paint and made her own.

What's so well done about this headboard is the reference to classical shape with modern, simple & inexpensive materials.

This type of vision and execution is the exact reason Rebecca and I do this blog!

Well Done, Amanda!.

Roach's Fancy Wrapping Paper

"This was a wedding present for my friend yesterday and I

took one of their pics I had and photocopied on white paper

to make it look like a reel of film all the way around. I try to

do this for all wedding presents that I give."

Rochelle Smit

Well Done Wrapping Paper

Just put things together that match.

I know this sounds very unexciting, like organizing your sock drawer. However, if you feel that your home is too "eclectic", lacks style or is boring try this: Take things of the same material, color or height and put them together in a grouping. Make sure this grouping is under or near a light source.

I tried this by my entry with white vases from Value Village.. unbelievably more people comment about this display than many of my other highfalutin design choices :)

( the white vases cost about 1 dollar each)

And of course don't do it with ALL of your stuff ....

Well done decorating doesn't need to cost you big bucks ,dude. We all think the solution is

"at the store" to make our home beautiful or is unattainable to us ..... Is it?