Lighten Up 2014!

One of my New Years resolutions was to "Lighten Up".  

No, not lighten up my attitude, lighten up around the house.  

And not in the "I am going to let things slide" manner either 

(although some days I would like to).  

What I mean is that I want to lighten up my rooms.  

It feels dark in some rooms and heavy and I want things lighter and softer.  

I am starting this resolution in the formal living room.  

 What really made me think about this long and hard 

was after I took down the Christmas decor.  

I usually would have redecorated right away, 

but the room sat there naked until this week.  

Each time I walked by the room (a million times a day) I just shook my head.  

I wanted to paint, I wanted to rearrange the furniture, 

I wanted to recover the chairs but I did nothing.  

Has this ever happened to you?  

On the plane down to Atlanta last week I was reading an article 

in the inflight magazine about some one who started 

a social movement and nonprofit organization called "Because I said I would".  

Have you heard of it?  

It is basically writing down promises large or small on promise cards 

and mailing them to anywhere in the world at no cost.  

Why did this move me?  

I mostly always follow through on the things that I say that I will do.  

I like that about myself.  

But there are a a lot of things that I WANT to do that I don't say out loud.  

I think them and then I let them go to the back of my mind.  

Weeks and months go by and I don't do these things.  

No one but me would really care if they got done or not 

and they are certainly not things that would change the world 

but I would like to get them done.  

I realized that when I write things down that I need to do 

(my post it notes that my family teases me about) 

I usually do them.  

So on Saturday I walked by the living room, 

turned right around and marched into the kitchen 

and started writing on the kitchen chalkboard door.  

Paint the Living Room, 

Recover the Chairs, 

Switch out the Rugs, 

Make Pillows, etc...  

There it was for everyone to see!  

Miss Beaux asked why are you doing that?  

My answer 

~ Because I said I would ~ 

Here is the room post Christmas... 

I really want to paint the room a creamy color 

and leave the ceiling the same soft blue.  

 I have this bench that I bought for a client.  

This is not the bench that I ordered.  

When I called the company they said that they would send another bench right away 

and to hold onto this one until they sent me a return FedEx order.  

The guy was really honest with me and said that after 45 days 

if they hadn't sent the order then the bench was mine.  

I asked Mr. Beaux (he knows about shipping stuff) how they could do that?  

Wouldn't they be losing money?  

He said that it would cost more to ship it back 

than it would to just take a loss on the bench.  

Wellllllllll, their loss was my gain!  

It has been in the bedroom for a while and if you look real close 

you can see the dog hair from the pups jumping up on it to get to the bed!  

I wanted to try it out as a coffee table in front of the sofa.  

I saw this living room on the Ballard website 

and I loved the soft colors and of course the bench.

Please don't judge yet 

because remember it is a work in progress!  

I like the bench in front of the sofa.  

You can see that I took the rug out.  

Until I decide what I want to do I just want to see the negative space.  

I placed some books on top of the bench with a birds nest.  

I gathered some white things together and placed them on a silver platter.  

Remember my rule for vignettes?  

Shine, natural, texture, and groups of three.  

Shiny silver platter, natural birds nest, texture in the white pieces and a grouping of three. 

And a pop of an unexpected color.  

Pretty pink roses all in full bloom.

While I was digging around I found this blue tray that I bought at an Estate Sale.  

I am not sure that I am happy with this arrangement 

but until I can really focus on it it will have to do.  

I still have the mantle and the bookshelves to work on too.

Here are some fabrics that I have been gathering for this room.  

A silk piece that was $5.00 at an Estate Sale, 

the blue gray quatrefoil is a tablecloth on clearance at Pottery Barn 

and the others I found for $25.00 at an Estate Sale.  

It was a beautiful home in a great neighborhood and she was selling all of her leftover fabric from her kitchen/hearth room project.  

It was a LOT of leftover fabric.  

Lucky me!  

I am so glad that this project is getting started!  

All "Because I said I would!" 

Until Next time,

Beaux R'eves

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