MY Old Country House

HELLO DOWN THERE!!!

WELCOME TO MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE!

I have been up on a ladder today, 

I AM painting my dining room. I am covered with paint and 

the kids are trying to find a square inch of space to do their homework, 

on the dining room table...

I stopped for a moment to check my email
 and WOW-WEE!!! KAZOWEE!!
I have many many many emails 
from many wonderful people saying hello and 
inquiring about my Paintings!
OMG!!


See, a few months ago...
 I did a painting of my favorite little doggie
"Burger" 
for my friend Sherry over at
Young House Love
and today Sherry posted the REVEAL of her Mantel makeover
which includes my painting!

young house love

THANK YOU JOHN AND SHERRY!!!

The painting looks amazing...seriously, better than I could have ever

 imagined in its new home!!!
The colors are perfect!

SpectacufaBulous!!!

....but then, in all my excitement,  I realized THAT all of these wonderful NEW people are coming to my 
blog, 
which has been on a bit of a Spring Break
 And I FEEL like I forgot to change the sheets and company just arrived!!!
YIKES!!

....SO what I am going to do is this...
make yourselves at home, can I get you anything?
I will  

RE POST one of my (and your)  
favorite posts for all of you NEW followers...

...you will follow me won't you?...

and PLEASE PLEASE come back tomorrow...

I promise to make the beds...

and you can see the beautiful NEW Dining Room REVEAL...

PS...the new color is amazing!

AND by the way I AM SO SO SO HAPPY BURGER IS BETTER!!!
The kids were beside themselves, 
he is quite the popular "you tube" fella with my crew! 

OH! and New Friends...
pardon my manners...

If you would like information about having a Custom Portrait 
of your own Sweet Pet done, 

....email me @ lsdevito@gmail com

.....go here for pricing sizes etc

.....go HERE my etsy site

******************************************

Here is my living room...8 years ago

The good news?....

This is where we started...there was no way to go

BUT 

UP!

However...

Before we continue to tour my home and explore my color palate, 

I would like to take a moment

and talk a bit about 

BALANCE.

I have people tell me all the time...

"You have such an eye for this!"

"You really know how to put things together."

and while, I like a good compliment as much as the next gal...

I really do believe that MOST successful Decorating and Design

 is about Achieving Balance.

Putting too much of any ONE thing, be it color or pattern or texture...

...on your walls and your floors and your furniture is like

having a dinner with only entrees.

 It is too TOO much. There is NO Balance.

You need to balance out the big things....
like colors and sizes and textures and patterns

with small things 
like solids and soothing neutrals and small pieces and patterns. 

Before I Re-did my Living room,
 I had a BIG Balance problem.

the walls spoke TOO TOO Loud and they Competed 

with the Noisy furniture and the chatty pattern on the sofas.

 I fell victim to a common problem. 
I had ALL Entrees. 

 I craved quiet.
Fall 2008

 I craved something "Dreamy and Light"..... 

I told a friend that I was wanting to do something crazy like paint my Dining room Pink and she said "OMG I just saw this home of a friend of mine in Domino Magazine!!! and she has a pink Dining room". The home belonged to her friend Katie Ukrops and actually is only one hour South of where I live. 

Coincidentally, a blog I followed (really the first one I EVER followed)at the time, called "House Crashers", but now called Young House Love) shortly thereafter featured this house. 
Done deal. I found my colors!

My Inspiration

There is that Chandelier again!

This look is timeless.

Now- My Living Rooms #1 and #2 

and my Colors

Living Room #1 is Painted Benjamin Moore's "Spring in Aspen". This color is a  to the Hall color, Feather Down. soothing and neutral but far from bland. It does not
compete with any of the Art or colors, but in fact enhances everything in the room.
The Lagoon Blue Table (I spray painted) was another $10.00 Yard sale score.
It had "Bombay and Company"label on the underside, and when I looked it up, I found it listed for $499.00! Ha!
The inside of the Pink Cabinet Springtime Boom by Benjamin Moore. 

  The pair of framed fish paintings are by my daughter a few years ago when she was in the 5th grade. I got the mats cut at Michael's and bought frames cheap at a going out of Business Ben Franklin store. Rug - Pottery Barn. Orange and Pink lamp - Slip Lamps. Coffee Table- Ballard Designs. 

My Living Room #2 Walls are Benjamin Moore's Pink Cloud

The trim color in both rooms is just plain old "White". I am going to change it eventually to
BM Mountain Peak White which is the white I used and LOVE in my kitchen.
The fabric on the Chevron Sofa was less than $7.50/yrd!
 The Pink Zig Zag Pouf is Missoni for Target!

The Chandelier was purchased on ebay.
It was from a pre-Katrina mansion in new Orleans...appraised for $2500 I got it for $114.!!!
Missoni for Target platter. Miscellaneous pillows from Target and Pottery Barn
and Mom!

Some where...a long long time ago,
 I read that every room (or maybe it was every outfit?)
oh well...that it should have ONE item of black.
This end table, which was a coffee table, I got at
a yard sale fo $5.00 and spray painted satin black.
One week later, I found a  nearly identical table, also with a glass insert and it lives on the other end of the sofa! They were the answer to my photo clutter problem!

Living Room #2 Item of Black.
NEW Missoni for Target Bowl with antlers found in the front yard
and a piece of driftwood from our Spring Break beach trip.
I love THAT kind of souvenier.

...So there you have the Living Room(s) colors.  Being 130 years young, My Old Country House does not benefit from an open floor plan, but we do enjoy 12 foot ceilings and the giant pocket doors keep everything open and airy!

Thank you for visiting! And come back tomorrow to see the DINING ROOM REVEAL.