White, Black, Gray & Paint

dining room ~ in the fun lane

One day, coming up soon (as in before it gets too hot), I would love, LOVE to paint my wood furniture. We have an armoir, tv stand, kitchen table with 4 chairs, large desk with hutch and two dressers.We would let the boys stay at grandma's for the weekend (okay, maybe 2 weekends) and just do a paint marathon for 2 days straight! I love the suggestions on Shabby Chic Furniture on preparing the wood, to use water and sugar soap to clean the furniture as regular cleaner can keep the paint from sticking. Holly of In the Fun Lane has some of the best painting advice out there.

black table  via Veranda

 dresser painted black over a red glaze ~ bhg kids rooms

I am considering going black with the kitchen tables and chairs. There is a large burn hole from a small fire on the table that will need to be filled and layers of wax from small details. Reading this advice forum on redoing kitchen tables make me balk, so we'll see...

 white hutch ~ in the fun lane

white night stand end table ~in the fun lane

But what about the rest? I have a find love of all white distressed wood ever since I grew to love antique malls and seeing the vintage pie safes in all of the layers of peeling paint, some with even 4 or 5 different colors peeking out from underneath!

my house of giggles gray hutch makeover

gray painted captains bench ~ life in the fun lane

Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic

But, the more I see grey, the more I grow to love it. It's not to light, not to dark, it has an urban county chic appeal and can pair most any color I choose to decorate with.

Maybe, I will do a mix of white, grey and black. What do you think? Do you mix and match your furniture? Do you prefer light or dark? I like how she keeps some of the natural colors with the painted pieces.

white dresser with caster feet and natural wood chair ~ in the fun lane

white dining room with natural chair ~ in the fun lane

As a note, I love natural wood and stain, especially mid century modern pieces,  but trust me, none of our furniture is lookin so hot for that right now, though I do think that maybe a few chairs would look neat! I do need to get two more for the ends of our table anyways...

Little Outdoor Rooms

outdoor retreat ~ house to home uk

Springtime is the ultimate outdoor time around here. It's not too hot, (in which Texas summers I practically hibernate), nor is it too cold.

treehouse ~ home sweet style

Seeing how a simple shed, garage, canopy tent, or even a tree house can be turned into a sweet little escape, gives me a glimmer of hope when we finally are able to move to a place with a backyard or patio of our own.

outdoor canapy draped boudior ~ hilary robertson

garage turned retreat ~ paul whicheloe photography

mediviel inspired outdoor canopy dining ~ mimicode

gorgeous pink india inspired outdoor patio with birdcage ~ domino

outdoor magical mad hatter wagon ~ a fanciful twist

 outdoor kid's playroom tips from ideal home uk:

*Decide on a theme for the play room: we've chosen 'cowboys' - a fake cowhide rug as a wall hanging is perfect for adding touches of the wild west.

*Keep the look rustic. You don't need to paint the walls. Just varnish the floor, adding a rug to prevent splinters.

*Choose a child-size table and chairs for craft activities. Pick ones that are light enough so they can easily be lifted out on the lawn.

*Set up a craft corner. Cover a table in a wipe-clean oilcloth and a wall organizer for brushes and paints.

*Include storage for toys. Provide tubs, boxes and shelving to store toys.

*Push furniture to the sides of the room to leave a play area in the middle.

*It's a good idea to damp-proof your summerhouse – to do this, build it on a concrete base, laying a damp-proof membrane between the summerhouse and the concrete.

The Calm After the Storm

aqua blue and white balloon room - yvette inufio

Yesterday was an extremely stressful and trying day (though some yummy Indian food helped take the edge off), and the weekend was as well, since every single one of us got a nasty little 24 hour bug. But I decided to change my mindset and takes some deep breaths, think things through, made a gameplan and decided to remain calm.

We managed to pack up the Christmas decorations (though I never did take pictures of the upgrades I did to the mantle and tree and the garland I made for the window, oh well!)

I am enjoying having space back. It's amazing how wonderful Christmas is, and every year I get so excited decorating and I always think as I am pulling each ornament out of the box, how it is going to be so big in here once they are put back away.  I am never wrong 

white and blue interior - betsy burnham design

Right now, I am enjoying being clutter free. Nester has a great post today about having "accessories on parade". I try and live by that (as I imagine my husband who calls me a "hoarder" rolling his eyes at that statement), but it is easy to lose control!

my great grandmother's lamb modeling my necklace... so lovely

But, since I can't find my box of my little knick knacks (of which I believe my husband hid them from me in our move, though he strongly disagrees), staying clutter free is fairly easy right now. I would really like to find my little brass owls and my grandmother's lamb. Everywhere I look is white with little aqua accents, and black pillows and I love the simplicity... but still...

WHERE IS MY BOX!?

*** update... hubs found my box :) thanks, darling!

Making a Man out of Pink

Steven G- pink room

{click photos to zoom, some have amazing details}

I recently asked if a pink room would go over well with your man. The answer was mostly a negatory. But, I thought, surely, this can work if done well? So, I did some sleuthing around for pink bachelor pads, and as I suspected, most of the accents are done in greys and earthy, leathery browns, and lots of animals. Some are quite over the top, but others could work with a few minor changes. Convinced? I asked my husband what he thought, and he gave the appropriate learned response, "I'm sorry, your right, those pants make you look great." (in other words, h* no!)

(note, not all of these rooms are bachelor pads, many of them are though!)

hermes male model's pink home

During the 1920's through 40's when color was first introduced into baby's dresses, baby boys wore pink and baby girls wore blue. Before the 20's babies wore white. This article here has some amazing scientific research why the color preference changed to what it is today, and why women are drawn to colors such as pinks and reds more than men (it has something to do with berries, no lie).

mark rigg

Caradonio photo- French owner's pink bachelor pad

Vogue Living- Thomas O'Brien- bachelor pad

flickr

Future Perfect owner David Alhadeff's pink bachelor pad

David Alhadeff's pink bachelor pad

apartment therapy

herve vab derstraeten's pink bachelor pad

apartment therapy

the white house (red room)

windsor courtney smith

steve gambrel

apartment therapy

apartment therapy

drake design

nina campbell

house to home

location works

domino

domino (yes, the walls are a soft pink)

kitchenisms

apartment therapy

apartment therapy

apartment therapy

kitchenisms

Vladimir Kagan

Truly though, if pink is alright in all of these scenarios, then you can tell your man that pink is just fine for him!


*brad pitt in pink suit, male model in pink polo, pink bottlenose dolphin


*pink john deere tractor, pink hummer limo, pink cat car


*pink storm trooper, pink storm trooper at G20 protest, pink darth vadar


*saddam hussein's pink room, solider in pink boxers in afghanistan gunfight, pink tank

*last but not least pink foosball table

Pink... the new boy power. Could you imagine purple? Which would be harder, do you think?