Latest Issue of RUE

Change of Thought

source: RUE Magazine

Have you seen the November/December issue of RUE Magazine? 

If you haven't, read this and then go there now.

It is page after page of beautiful rooms that have me rethinking my whole design aesthetic.

Like the room above.

It's so 70's into 80's.

Something I never thought I'd like but look how great this room looks and believe me the whole house is this grand.

source: RUE Magazine

All the things in this house if I saw them at a thrift store...I'd think...that is too much.

That looks so 70's or so 80's.

But look at it all combined here and it just looks fantastic.

source: RUE Magazine

Same house...even those chandeliers look good.

How is that possible?

source: RUE Magazine

This is from a different home.

This is more my style but look how dramatic that sink is with the black walls.

I would never think to put black walls with that sink.

I love the sink...and would have done light walls with it.

But wow is all I can say with the dark walls.

Really love it.

source: RUE Magazine

Of course I'd sleep like a princess in this room.

It's so feminine but when your break down the actual elements in the room, 

they have very masculine lines.

And that is what makes it a great room...it's pink...but not too girlie.

I'm loving it.

source: RUE Magazine

Oh my! Who ever thought brass could look this good.

Normally, I hate any wall hanging thingy like this of brass...but look at it here.

This office is scrumptious.

That metal office chair reupholstered in gold velvet....brilliant.

I would never have thought I would like that.

I actually have a fabulous chrome chair that has been sitting here waiting for me to do something with it.

This is definitely an idea.

source: RUE Magazine

Then there is this office too...

Rustic with black and white and gold gild.

Plus white plastic! 

A-ma-zing.

source: RUE Magazine

How about something sleek, subtle and gray.

I am loving that simple painting on the wall.

source: RUE Magazine

I am not a fan of taxidermy or antlers in a room.

But I think these are very fun.

Twig Antlers

And no animals were hurt in the decorating of this dining room.

source: RUE Magazine

Well, of course I love this.

I would never have thought THAT shade of pink would work so well on the walls of a living room.

Oh...but it does.

source: RUE Magazine

Now this room I would expect to love.

silver and periwinkle and velvet

Some of my favorite things.

See that silver pheasant?

I have that!

I love him and he appears here and there in my house from time to time.

A friend gave him to me.

Don't I feel special to have something that is in this gorgeous room.

source: RUE Magazine

Again an unexpected room I loved.

Of course I adore the vintage inspired trees but that round rock wall and the furniture?

I never would have thought I'd like that but when you see the whole article on this,

you'll see how great it looks.

One of my friend's parents lived in a house like this back in the mid 80's.

They would have a big Christmas party around a big white flocked tree and there were brass accents everywhere.

At the time, I thought it so gauche.

(my parents were all about antique and tasteful)

But I guess it was actually pretty hip.

Anyway, the point of this post is...RUE Magazine is so awesome it is making me rethink what I like.

And that is what great editorial does...right?...Make you question what you thought you knew?

RUE magazine is the bomb.

Go check it out if you haven't.

(Now I'm wanting to get out all my tinsel trees.....)

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Breakfast Nook

Into the Nook

Here's my Breakfast Nook.

See where I pulled the wallpaper off?

What a mess.

I pulled as far as it easily wanted to come off. 

I hope I can just pull to the corner and stop there without having to remove all in the entire room. 

So that I can just fix and paint one wall.

I've had this table for ages and ages. 

I bought it right after college at an estate sale for $12.

It has been through everything with me.

I did not bang it up like that...it was already banged up.

In my last post I said that I removed all the pastel bowls from my kitchen

and brought them in here.

The whole room was transformed when I hung these simple cafe curtains I made.

I should have made them three years ago.

That's how long I've had the fabric. 

It's actually a table cloth I bought at Ross. 

I bought three of these table cloths so I could still make something else with it.

Perhaps I'll cover the seats of my dining room chairs.

Harvey and Violet. 

Harvey is afraid that Violet wants some of the food he has scattered about.

She does not.

Harvey...really studying the food he's about to eat.

Wow...that wall is a mess...something to tackle after Christmas.

I've had this terrarium for quite some time and never have grown anything in it. 

I wanted to do a whole miniature garden but need a tray to put dirt in and just have not 

found the right thing.

So it has sat empty or nearly empty for quite some time.

When I changed things around in here the other day...it occurred to me to put some of my 

odds and end McCoy flower pots in it.

This little willow table is in the opposite corner.

A dog bed stuffed underneath...not pretty...but they like to sleep under there when I am out of the house.

See all that missing paint?

Harvey chewed it off when he was a puppy.

Another thing to fix.

Just had to include...because he is the fattest, cutest dog ever.

This room looks like Spring and Summer for sure.

Doesn't look like Fall at all.

I'll try to make it look Christmasy over the next month.

This breakfast nook is filled with what used to thrill me when I was younger and lived in apartments.

I had these pastel flower pots and bowls everywhere and a serious collection of majolica.

I still have the majolica...it's just tucked away at the time being. 

The floor in here needs to be redone and I'm thinking that whatever flooring I do in the kitchen...needs to flow into this room as well. 

It needs to be super easy to clean as the dogs go in and out constantly to go to the backyard.

There are always leaves needing to be swept up it seems.

Harvey...still eating.

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Styling a Kitchen

At Long Last...My Kitchen

Finally, photos of MY kitchen. 

I meant to post this days ago...but then we had a couple of cloudy days

and I can't take good photos on cloudy days.

So while I waited for the clouds to disappear,

I analyzed the styling of the kitchen.

As I said before...there is lots I'd like to do to this kitchen

but I can't afford to do a thing at the moment.

Still, I was able to give it a little facelift by restyling.
I'm aware that it is nothing spectacular but you said you wanted see.

See...this kitchen has major issues.

But I've tried to make the most of it.

First, I hate that checkered board floor.

I've always thought I liked a black and white check floor.

But it doesn't work here because -

1. It should have been set on the diagonal which would have opened the room up. 

Set this way...it just emphasizes that the room is long and narrow.

You'll see in the photos coming up.

2. The black and white floor is too much with the black and white backsplash. 

They should have done one or the other...not both.

3. Black counter top, black and white floor, black and white backsplash, black appliances equals

TOO MUCH BLACK!!!!
I hate the black appliances...but I'm just going to have to live with them for awhile.

I hate the black countertop too...but not as much as I thought I did. In person it looks like soapstone.
If a person has to have formica...it's about the best you could have.

I'd love to change it but I think If I changed the backsplash and floor...I would think it looked just fine.
Hey...the "Something's Gotta Give" kitchen has black countertops and we all know how great it looks.
I read these weren't even really soapstone.
They were just painted plywood.

(Something's Gotta Give Kitchen)

See! If my kitchen had a wood floor and stainless appliances? It would be chic.

Good news is...this floor is in such bad shape...that I'll be forced to do something about it soon.

It's permanently stained and cracking.

In a future post...I'll do a mock up of what the kitchen will look like 

once I change the floor and add a few things I have in mind.

But this post is about styling what you have and trying to make it more pleasing.

So this is what the kitchen looked like the day I bought the house.

I knew the red had to go immediately. And it was the first thing I changed in the house.

That floor hurts my eyes mixed with the red walls...it looks like a fast food restaurant.

Breakfast nook was red too.

So this post is all about how the kitchen looks now but when I went to take photos to show...

I just couldn't post because I was so unhappy with it and I thought I'd try to restyle it for no money,

because I have no money.

This is how it looked before I restyled.

In kitchens I had before this one...I always had a mix of vintage bowls in pastel colors.

But they never worked in this kitchen.

There is too much black for them to work.

I decided to bring every piece of silver or mercury glass that wasn't being used in here.

I made a toile skirt out of fabric I already had to go under the sink to break up the cabinets a little.

That brown blob is Violet...she decided to get a drink of water in the middle of this shot.

The black tiles are splotchy from me trying to clean them with bleach.

Above the frig.

The only thing I bought in this photo were the decorative balls in the mercury glass bowl.

I got quite a few at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. Everything else...I shopped the house.

When I bought my refrigerator I really wanted a vintage look. If budget had allowed, 

I would have bought a Big Chill or a Northstar vintage inspired refrigerator.

But they cost thousands whereas this frig was around $600.

It is a new Frigidaire. I removed its current logo. 

I had found the antique Frigidaire emblem on Ebay and attached it to my frig with sticky velcro. 

I pretend it's vintage.

I took the doors off these cabinets which also helped make the room not look quite so long.

I hate to be picky but I don't like the doors on these cabinets either. 

See the bottom where the molding is just plain square? I like that but I don't like the top arch. 

I know its a little thing...but it bothers me every time I look at them.

I added the iron work on top, hoping to make it look a little hutch like 

and again trying to break up that long vast expanse of cabinets.

Ideally, I would add crown molding to the top of these cabinets and do something special to the top of this one to make it look more hutch like...but for the cost of a little iron work and white spray paint...

I got the feeling. And it's kept me happy for the time being.

White metal iron work is the theme in this kitchen...if you haven't noticed.

I'm thinking about putting mirror in the back of these shelves. 

That black and white backsplash is just too busy - I dream of white subway tile.

I am working on a quick and cheap fix for this problem to show when completed, 

hopefully soon

Lots of white metal ironwork in this kitchen. I love the stuff, if you couldn't tell.

All of these pieces were bought at different times and in different finishes.

As I'd find a piece...I'd paint it white...shabby chic it and put it up.

The ceiling had a hideous florescent light when I moved in.

I found this one on Ebay.

I love the shape of it. 

It would look so great lowered and over a kitchen island.

Maybe someday the kitchen will get widened and I'll have room for an island.

Most of the houses from this period have an arch over the sink.

My house doesn't and neither does the house to the east of me.

The house to the west of me - has the arch.

So I added some more white iron work in place of architecture.

The light fixture came from Ebay. 

There wasn't electrical in the ceiling there 

so I just hung it from a hook and let the chain and electrical wire run down the wall.

It actually goes under the window sill and then plugs in the wall. 

I like simple curtains.

These couldn't be any more simple. 

Two antique linens clipped to a wire attached to the window with eye hooks.

I like the way they droop.

Then there is the stove top.

This is where I began with my restyle.

It looked like this when I started the other day.

This area above the stove is really strange.

I believe it is original to the house. 

I've seen it in one other home in the neighborhood.

The inside of it has a nice curve but you don't see that...

all you see is a big box over the stove.

I'd love to rip this out and put in a range hood with a vintage stove below it.

The restyling of this kitchen began with that sliver tray. 

Once I added that...I knew I just need lots of sliver in this kitchen and as I type this...

I know I still need more. 

A stainless range top and hood would make me like this more.

So I brought all the mercury glass in and immediately knew I needed a big statement over the hood 

to fill that dark box up there.

I went to Hobby Lobby hoping to find a cool piece of metal work.

Hey...if you find a good thing...might as well over do it.

But there was nothing that was the right size and shape.

And I know I saw one this past summer that I passed up thinking I just didn't need.

Only thing I bought at Hobby Lobby that night were the decorative balls I put in the mercury glass bowls. 

I stopped in at Ross, hoping I might find something there and there I found this HUGE clock. 

It had a silver distressed frame making it perfect to go with my new kitchen theme.

And it was $20! 

Thank you, China.

Yes, China may take over the world someday but until it does, we get cheap decor like this.

As much as I thought this clock would look good in the space. 

I hesitated to buy it.

I'm not a big fan of clocks or watches. 

I don't like to be confined by time.

Truly...it causes me anxiety.

Because I'm always running late and seeing clocks just makes me feel bad about myself.

The clocks I do have in the house...I keep all set at different times...

so that I don't know actually exactly what time it is. 

Like this one is set 20 or so minutes ahead.

It helps me hurry out the door when getting ready to go somewhere.

If I think it's a little later than it really is...it hurries me along.

I'm still late for everything though.

I love these canisters. 

My Mom bought them for me and the whole set of dishes the night my sister got married.

She got married in the afternoon and afterwards...Mom was like...

"Let's go buy those dishes". 

They came from JC Penney. We had to hit several stores to find them all. 

I'd cried a lot that day...so it makes me happy to look at these and know that my Mom decided 

to cheer me up by buying me the complete set of all of this. I think it cheered her up too.

I think that's the only time we ever bought all of one thing at one time. 

We usually do the collected over time thing.

Black wall oven. 

Really hate it...big bunch of black...ick.

A glimpse into the breakfast nook. I'll show it tomorrow in full.

Harvey is eating...but Harvey is always eating.

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