Lesson 8. Rome was not built in a day: Updates!

So, everyone is constantly telling me that I should start a blog. (Only 2 of my friends actually know about my journaling escapades.) But I've long believed that blogs are for people that don't actually do anything and that if I spent my time blogging I would never get anything accomplished. And that, my friends, is why you have not heard from me for a few weeks. Needless to say I have lots of projects to share. In law school they teach you that when you're going to tell someone a lot of stuff at once you should first set out a "roadmap" of sorts. So here goes. (Putting that degree to work, am I not?)

When last I checked in, I was about to complete my drapery project. Needless to say, I got them done and was immediately dissatisfied (like I am about almost everything). The color palate was all wrong. What was I thinking - red and teal? red and gold? So I struggled for a while and decided to repaint both the living room and dining room different colors. See the painting painting post for results. Then I hung the curtains and was relatively happy.









On to the next project - 
accessories!

The little iron chandelier in the dining room just had to go, so I found something a bit more exciting and an actually still in the process of crystalizing it. This will make for a good post. Also picked up a few objets d'art to spruce up the new color scheme.

In the living room I found a wonderful little settee which just happens to be the exact same color I painted the room. Strange, yes. But it seems to work. Made a few accent pillows in red silk (I still like the idea of teal and red, just not on a grand scale) and picked up a little red table. I'm thinking now that I may want to recover our white sofa at some point, but the lazy side of me thinks I will wait.

Picture of the sloping ceiling connecting to the
flat ceiling at the back of the house.

Crown moulding conundrum solved!

So I had also been struggling about what to do with the central foyer in terms of crown moulding. The funny angled ceiling in the back of the room and the cut-out stairwell were making it challenging to find a way to run crown moulding around the room continuously. Finally I just gave in and opted for a construction based solution. I essentially made a little rim around the stairwell and put in a false ceiling where the sloping room connected to the foyer. That gave me a continuous surface on which to install the moulding, among other benefits. Right now I am actually waiting on the plaster to dry on the new ceiling section.

 

Photo of the beginning stages of me building the rim around the stairwell.

I also had a nice little dinner party last night to celebrate the near completion of the home makeover. It was my very first attempt at floral arranging. Post to follow.