homeforthebetter's Profile

You've gotten a lot of great input, especially ideas about bringing in a little more color there. I noticed oyu have a very bright rug. Maybe you could bring that color up some, or a variation of that hue.

I agree that the nook looks out of place largely because it's bright white and the only other white elements are the door & your photo matte above the tv. I thought that reframing the artwork above your sofa in bright white frames (IKEA) possibly even with white mattes to bring that white over to the other side of the room. I think the white frames coupled with some of the ideas posted about your nook dilemma would make the room look much more balanced.

Hope it helps!

~Jacci

This is why we each would do well to take the time to discover our own personal style - apart from trends. I like some trends, not all, but I add them in *small*, cheap doses. Most of our home is very classic & traditional. We know what we like and nothing comes in or goes out just because Elle Decor declares it should.

That said, when you look at mags for inspiration, it's pretty hard to figure out what you *really* love and what is influenced by the design of the moment. I try to zone in on what I've loved for a while - a decade or more. I think it helps lay a foundation.

And I just have to say that making declarations on how fulfilling someone's personal life is based on their decor is absolutely ABSURD. Decor is just that - stuff. It may or may not mean what you think it means about the owner. A well-known designer once said that good sex could never come out of a messy bedroom. Who says? If you have a number of small children and you choose to ignore the laundry & mail piles and focus on your spouse instead, that statement could be the farthest thing from the truth. You can never determine *internals* from *externals* alone. Pish posh.

Tom Cruise, baby. Straight out of Top Gun. I can see the poster page torn from TeenBeat now. I still get a flutter when my husband wears Aviators, but Tom creeps me out these days.

Let me see... who was *embarrassing*? I wrote "I (heart shape) Kirk" on the inside of my closet door in permanent marker - fairly small letters, but still. That was Kirk Cameron, of course. And I remember a brief stint with Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and Mitch Gaylord. Ha.

OK, Danny - I'm totally taking a shot in the dark here. My suggestion comes with about a zillion qualifiers. How much space you have to the left of the small window, how tall your ceilings are, which doors you actually open the most, etc. But, here's a stab at it...

I would run one long continuous curtain rod all the way across the top of the wall - almost to the ceiling (unless you have 9' ceilings, then possibly lower (?) - but, at any rate, higher than the actual top of the doors and window. Then, I'd pick up some medium weight curtains like Ritva from IKEA - $39.99 per pair. I'd hand the rod so it goes past the left little window about a foot too far and also to the right of the french doors about a foot too far. Two of the panels would hang one waaaay to the left and one waaaaay to the right on thre long, continuous bar. Then, I'd hang two more panels, one just to the left of the front door, partially covering the small window so that it's out of the way of the front door enough (you may need a small hook that doesn't stand out too much to keep it out of the way on windy days) and I'd hang the other on the right side of the front door, barely covering part of the left french door (it doesn't open often, right?). You'd have to sort of mess around with the positioning of the four panels until you got a fairly balanced arrangement. It's a strange wall, so you might have to fudge "balance" by pulling some panels to make them a touch more narrow and some to be a touch wider.

That's the best I can do. Hope you get something you can use in these comments! :)

~Jacci

P.S. I'd keep any and all receipts until you actually got everything up and liked it all - if it's a no go, you can always return.

Or - wait! It might be oil-rubbed bronze. Wow.

New Kitchen Technique, Please!!! I have tried multiple times and cannot get a good choux pastry down. I often host baby/wedding showers, and I would LOVE to do one of those awesome cream puff towers for an event like that. But, the stinkin' choux won't make friends with me :)

This was a lovely post, but I'm with the other two commenters - I want to talk about the photos! :) Where, oh where, can I get those awesome Jadite rectangle dishes for my sink?!

If you have children, baby food jars can be cleaned and reused for small portions in the freezer. Sounds like I might be corckpotting some onions soon and adding some more baby food jars to my stash :)