And that's what I've been doing...

It's been such a whirlwind these past few weeks. My children finished school, we headed to the beach house and opened the long closed windows and let the sea air in.

Just as we started to relax, we headed to Lake Santeelah for a week for a family visit. Dave's sister and her husband own a spectacular waterfront home there. We had coffee every morning overlooking this outstanding view. Add in the boating, waterfront dock and jet ski - well we almost didn't' leave!!

As usual Dave and I scoured the real estate listings. We fell upon this wonderful retreat, just down the road from my sister in law's. Oh how I wish we could live near them!

Look at the beautiful kitchen - I love all the wood and the rustic lake feeling this kitchen has.

And what a porch -I love the fireplace and willow chairs! You can't really see the view from here but believe me - it is amazing. To see more of this wonderful property click here.

Then back to Boston to water the trees (can't wait to post my new landscaping!), then to my 25 year college reunion (Yeah WSC!), finally back to the beach! In all the craziness I have had so much fun, but not much time to blog!

In the midst of all the traveling I had a welcome visit from Kristin Mullen of Covetable Designs. You may remember last year when I introduced you to Kristin. I did a post on her and her blog - click here. She emailed me as WD reader, and I learned that she is a wonderful person and an incredibly talented interior designer. It was the beginning of our year long email friendship! Kristin's son was headed to summer Lacrosse Camp in Massachusetts so we hatched a plan to get together on her visit!

It was a crazy day for her, and we had only a few minutes to meet before she needed to catch her train to NY, but we squeezed in a quick coffee. You can read all about it on Kristin's blog here. In case you missed my post last year, I wanted to show you some additional photos of Kristin's kitchen - isn't it fabulous! Kristin designed it and William Ohs created the beautiful cabinetry.

Her kitchen is going to be featured in Beautiful Kitchens Magazine. No surprise to me!! And the rest of her house is amazing as well, so make sure you stop by Covetable Designs and see her absolutely gorgeous house here.

We finally got settled back at the beach and spent yesterday afternoon at the Rockport Garden Club's Coastal Garden Tour. What spectacular gardens! I was so inspired. To see more photos click here.

We also got a lobster license this year, so we spent the afternoon pulling up our traps!

It's so exciting to see what's in them. Here is our first catch - a small crab which we threw back! (but it felt like we won the lottery!)

In the end we caught three lobsters! We had so much fun! Camp starts tomorrow so I will be able to get back into the swing of things. Check back Tuesday for one of my favorite secret shopping stops - its on the way to Brimfield, so perhaps you can stop there on your way. Enjoy the weekend!!

(photos: Covetable Designs, Mountain View Realty, Life at the Loom, Willow Decor)

Living Room Decorating Ideas

Living Room Decorating Ideas

One of the more important rooms in the home, I believe, is the living room. This is the area where your guests will spend most of their time when visiting you at your home. So it is important to spend some time, effort and money to spruce up your living room! But do not worry, it is possible to give your living room a sparkling make-over and not have to spend a fortune doing so. A makeover does not have to consist of completely ripping down your room and starting over, a lot of great renovations can be cheap and quick, such as purchasing new lighting for a room, or adding new handles and knobs to old furniture and simply polishing old wood. Sometimes all a living room room needs is a beautiful rug, a few throw pillows, or a coat of paint to give it a refreshed look.

Here are some brilliant living room decorating tips for you to get inspired.

Painting the Living Room

Changing the color of the living room is one simple way to change its look. However, painting can be time-consuming, if you plan on doing it yourself. You will have to add a primer coat, and several coats of the new paint color. But the effort would be well worth it. Color changes can have a dramatic difference to the overall look of your living room. Color will change the mood, disguise flaws and create illusions. Depending on the color you choose, dark to light color ratios, will give the illusion of a bigger or smaller room. Lighter colors reflect light and will make the room appear larger than it actually is.

Vibrant Green Pain Color for the Living Room

Neutral Paint Color for Living Room


De-cluttering the Living Room

It is easy for clutter to build up in the living room - house keys, magazines, newspapers, bills - have a way of accumulating on the coffee table. Children's toys as well have a way of finding themselves strewn all over the living room. The main issue is that we tend to spend a lot of time near our television sets, and whatever was occupying our attention before it was caught by the television, gets left right there. But you do not have to ban all such items from the living room. You can easily create a place for these items. For instance, buy an inexpensive magazine rack to store your magazines and newspapers after you are done with them. This can be placed by your favorite reading chair. Once the rack starts getting crowded, either bring the magazines and newspaper to your recycling collection site, or store them out of sight in the garage or storeroom. A wicker basket with a lid is also a great way to hide away knick-knacks or the children's toys. Making use of attractive storage choices for smaller items such as house keys and bills is also a great way to create a clean look in your living room.

De-cluttered Living Room

Create Storage to Achieve A
De-cluttered Look for Living Room

Living Room Furniture Placement

Changing the placement of your living room furniture can also change the overall feel of the living room. First, decide whether you want a formal, semi-formal or casual style arrangement in your living room. For the formal loom, symmetry is the most important element when laying out furniture in a formal room. Matched pairs and straight, vertical lines suggest a clean, conversational and orderly living space. For the semi-formal look, this would be very similar to the formal style yet more casual. Positioning a one sofa perpendicular to the fireplace and arranging a pair of chairs opposite, works especially well if chairs are placed between the living and dining room entrance. For the casual look, comfort is the main priority in the casual style room. Furniture and accessories should be cozy and inviting. It's visually appealing as well as easy to maintain. Furniture should be placed in a more informal arrangement. Horizontal lines are preferred as they give the eye a place to rest, creating a more relaxed atmosphere.

Formal Living Room Interior Decoration

Semi-formal Living Room Interior Decoration

Casual Living Room Interior Decoration

Slipcovers and Throw Pillows for Existing Living Room Couch and Sofa

If buying new living room furniture, such as a new couch or sofa, is not in your budget, then a great way to spruce up the living room is to get slipcovers! Modern slip covers look so good, especially if they’re designed for your furniture - it is almost as if you had gotten new furniture. Decide on a color theme for your living room. You can either choose a neutral color for your slipcovers, and add bright accents such as throw cushions or pillows on the couch. Or you can use striped or printed slipcovers with neutral accents. The key is to have some contrast.

Fun Printed Slipcover for Living Room Furniture
Living Room Rugs

Add vibrancy to the entire living room with a rug.





Living Room Accents

Living room accents should reflect your character, personality and lifestyle. Adding artwork is affordable and can be found, online and in the home furnishing isles at most discount department stores. Pull different colors from the room and incorporate them into cushions and throw pillows. Plants are a nice accessory providing they are in proper scale with the furniture and not just randomly placed in a corner. It's not very difficult to give your living area a fabulous new look. A little time, a little planning and less money than you think, is all you need.

Living Room Pillows from
Cushion Couture

Red, White & Blue Decorating

c.everad

While I am on a family vacation I wanted to re-post a popular summer post from the Willow Decor Archives! Enjoy and see you in a few days!

In the summer, who doesn't love decorating with red, white and blue?

Coastal Living

This is a wonderful room and the addition of the 50's diner style stools add a great punch of color. Notice the vintage signs and bouys which contrast the shiny floor, table and stools creating interest.

Coastal Living

What a fabulous painted floor - this room is primarily blue and white but the few red accents really give it life. The red chair, side tables, pillows on couch, and floor accents help direct your eye around the room.

c.everad

Perhaps a bit unpatriotic for 4th of July, but I love how this antique textile becomes art and makes this room.

red door by the beach

Stripes rule this room, with flag, quilt and antique barber pole(?). Painted furniture and antique signs add a rustic warmth and charm. This could be a very busy room, but the white walls add a perfect backdrop and it is charming.

Coastal Living

A fun beach themed room complete with red coral pillows and shell mirror. The striped couch is fun with an interesting trim, but the chair is a bit too loud for me. I also would not have used the striped rug by the stairs.

Home Sweet Home

Okay, so not many people have big red barn, but if you did wouldn't this be fun?!

Country Living

A simple tablescape uses a striped tablecloth or extra material over a white tablecloth for a great accent. Blue splatterware becomes a great vase for sunflowers and checked napkins, white enamel dishes and small flags finish off a great holiday table. Is that Sangria in the pitcher?

Check out other Tablescapes at Between Naps on the Porch

Coastal Living

Here is a lovely porch adorned in red, white and blue. Bright red wicker with striped cushions, blue door, window box and pale blue ceiling are all accented by white trim. A perfect spot to sip lemonade.

Hope these rooms have inspired you! Have a wonderful 4th of July!!!

Gorgeous Grisaille!

(down east dilettante)
Grisaille painting and wall papers have always been a love of mine. Grisaille (pronounced "griz eye") is the french word for shades of grey. This monochromatic technique was done both because artists could travel and do the work with out supplies, and the Grisaille painting could be a sample and/or under painting over which pigments could be applied.
Linda Coulter, a wonderful painter explains in her website: This concept was developed many centuries ago when pigments were very scarce. The Old Masters had only a handful of pigments to accomplish their beautiful results so they had to push each individual pigment to its fullest capacity to be able to achieve the luminosity in their art work that made them famous. In those days when pigments were extremely expensive, and it was also a way to save money. A sister to Grisaille is the less known Brunaille - which is in shades of brown. Below are some of my favorite examples.

The first is Martha Stewart's entry hall in her Turkey Hill House. This large mural stopped me in my tracks the first time I saw it . Lovely!

(Degage)

Here a common suburban two story entry turns extraordinary with this hand painted design.(down east dilettante)

This historic house turned museum is in Portsmouth, NH. The Moffat-Ladd house mural is likely Dufour wall paper from early 1900's, which depicts the Bay of Naples. To learn more about this wonderful house click here.

(architect design)

Here antique wall paper panels found at the Louvre are stunning. Read more about them on Architect Design here.

(Cote de Texas via Edie van Breems)

One of my favorite images is from Cote de Texas via Edie van Breems of Libby Holsten's home click here. The curves of Mora clock wonderfully compliment the mural behind it.

(decorative imaging)

I love the room above, though not traditionally Grisaille or Brunaille, the addition of the shades of green and the side panel painting make for a gorgeous wall.

I adore this 18 century hand blocked Grisaille wall paper from Wendy Lewis at the Textile Trunk. You may not be aware of this, but Wendy also has a gorgeous selection of rare antique wallpapers.

This particular piece took my breath away! It is just stunning in shades of cream and gray. I envision it framed in my Living room or Dining room like a rare work of art, or perhaps I could cover a screen with it. Oh the possibilities!

(photos above Textile Trunk)

Though Wendy does not always list every gorgeous paper she has (her wallpapers move fast and are in great demand by her interior designer buyers) send her an email and she will let you know what treasures she has recently found. Click here to contact Wendy.

If you do decide to buy this let me know how you use it. But if its sold by the time you read this, you may end up seeing it in one of my clients homes or even in my own house because I just can't stop thinking about it!!

One of My Secret Shopping Spots!

Now that the crazy end of the year school schedule is over and my children are in camp, I have a few moments to get back to blogging and share with you one of my secret spots for finding interesting things for my home. One of my favorite types of places to shop are consignment stores, especially in more affluent areas. Homes are large, filled to the brim with designer selected treasures and when these same families want to remodel, redecorate or down size, these wonderful items end up at consignment stores. Fabulous high quality furniture, antiques and accessories at a fraction of the original cost.

So image my delight when Boston Consignment opened their new shop, strategically located only a few minutes drive from some of the most affluent zip codes in Massachusetts.
(mark thomson)
Owner Sheila Ryan Roy and her husband Real, have been in the consignment business for many years in Connecticut, but wanted to be closer to their grandchildren. Lucky for us those grandchildren live in Massachusetts. Sheila has an incredible eye and their store is stocked to the brim with some wonderful treasures. Let's have a look at some of their recent acquisitions.

A wonderful vintage Louis Vuitton suitcase with a perfect worn patina; a great accent in any room.

How about this fabulous art deco print by Jay Spectre - The frame is stunning.

A wonderful Bavarian amoire - hand painted - If only I had a space in my beach house - The blues would look beautiful against the white walls and ocean views.
You could put this linen tufted armchair in almost any room of your house!
I adore gorgeous andirons and this pair almost came home with me. Sheila mentioned that many designers and antique dealers frequent her shop. I am not surprised! I sent a photo of this mirror to one of my clients - I thought it would look perfect in her home.

I sent this photo to a different client - She had been searching for a Venetian mirror for her living room- and here it was at a fraction of the cost.

These hand painted beds were fabulous. I wish I had room for them. There are so many great finds (and buys!) at Boston Consignment, it makes me want to redecorate my house all over again! If you are nearby do stop in and tell Sheila and Real that you heard about them from Gina at Willow Decor.

.

If you want to browse their items on line click here. And for directions and hours click here. If you do score an amazing find please send me an email - I would love to see what you bought! Happy shopping!!

'

(unless otherwise noted, photo credit: Tabitha Sherrell of Sherrell Photography)