Monday, April 5, 2010

House Help

So, as some of you may know J and I bought and moved into a new house last September. It has been a bit of a slog getting all the rooms done to my satisfaction, but at this point I'm pretty happy with everything (of course, the decorating will never be "done" I will always be adding/subtracting--after all, isn't that the fun of your own house?) But there are a couple of areas that seem to need something that I can't put my finger on, and I was hope you might help!



This is our front room, the "piano room" It's not really used for much besides us walking through the front door and dropping our stuff there and me everyonce in a while practicing the piano. We got this chaise from my aunt and it's super comfortable and has great upholstery, but I feel like somethings missing. Is it as simple as a rug? Is it the table beside it? The proportion between the chaise and lamp? I can't quite put my finger on it, but don't really want to run out and buy stuff until I do. I'm hoping it just needs a rug. What do you all think?
And here is our bedroom. I am very pleased with it because we just painted/finished it last month and so I am still happy about that. Here is the secret, our whole master suite (if you will) is in the basement of the house. Except for the tile floor, does it look like a basement? I hope not. Anyway, the question is this: What kind of art over the bed? My immediate thought was two vertical pieces over each of the side tables. J's thought was a to go horizontal. I'm iffy about that because the wall space over the headboard is small. Any thoughts?

Also, the floor throughout the bedroom is tile, which I don't love. (chilly!) I originally wanted either a huge area rug (super expensive) or carpet ( i know, I will be burned at the stake for saying that) to make it cozy and plush. But now that we have divided the room into bed/sitting room and threw down some rugs we have, I don' t know that it's that bad. Maybe just something for under the bed? What do you think, are you offended by the tile?

5 comments:

Jen O said...

Love the pix!
front room: I have those 2 little windows as well, but they flank a fire place, so I vote for a large piece to go between them--armoire, buffet, or floor to ceiling shelving.

bedroom: your headboard is enough design for that wall, why not hang art or on the side walls--those are what could use some visuals.

floor: hum, had to deal with floor tiles once-but those where black & white in a checkerboard layout, and everyone seemed to love that look, soooo.....
(seriously, I have masked and spray painted white tiles black, and it can be done!)

You have done a sweet job on your house in a short time, it looks really great.

betsy and emily said...

Thanks Jen!
I am totally behind your floor to ceiling shelving idea, as is J who has it on his list to build. Since he has never built anything in his life however, I'm guessing it won't happen soon..

Thanks for the great ideas!
And I'm super impressed that you DIY'd your own black/white checkerboard floor!

Unknown said...

hmmm, maybe you should add a cat to the bedroom to warm it up a little...oh wait! there's marla! perfect! i say...carpet remnant in bedroom...bigger rug in sitting area...i like the idea of pictures on the side walls...and upstairs RUG!

Unknown said...

I think rugs would do wonders. And plants, maybe?

Jen O said...

The floor I painted was in my own little vintage and sew craft boutique that has since become a casuality of the economy. When I rented the space, an existing checkerboard floor was badly damaged, and because the original tiles were no longer available, I had to buy white only, then mask and spray them to match the others! (you can see a bit of that floor in the photo here: http://pintuckstyle.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-begining.html ).
p.s. I discovered your fun shop back then and have been a reader of the blog ever since, I love your posts!