I am feeling creatively drained. It is as though the last bit of originality
has been emptied out of my mind. I admire the world full of bloggers who
can come up with interesting tablescapes and 5,000 ways to use
a pallet on a regular basis.
Or the women who redecorate their homes every six months to keep
up with the current trends coming out of High Point. I grew up with a
Mom like that and I vowed that I would never be her. I loved my Mom
dearly, but she could drive Daddy and me nuts. The furniture in our
house was rearranged so often we never knew what to expect. There
was a constant stream of decorators coming through our door. The
worst one was the one who suggested my Mom get rid of everything
in the living room, except the piano (I was taking lessons) and start
over with all white furniture and all the fabrics were in shades of
mauve.
When the room was complete, Mom called us in to see everything
and to ask our opinion. Daddy and I just nodded and said
Looks nice. That was code for ~ we hate it, but don't want to
say anything negative about it because Mom won't speak to us
for days ;-)
After two short weeks, Daddy came home from work and found
Mom crying in the living room. He asked her what was bothering
her and she replied
I hate it! I really hate it!! I can't live with it a moment longer!!
That weekend, we all hopped into Daddy's car and drove downtown so that
Mom could get new furniture. Daddy had the patience of a saint.
Fortunately, they found a designer who encouraged Mom to go the more
traditional route because a classic never really goes out of style and
small changes can be made to stay current. I thought that Daddy was
going to get down on his knees and praise the Lord for this person!
Now you might want to take a break from reading this and go get
yourself a cup of tea, coffee, a glass of wine (he he) or whatever
because this may be long winded :-)
Are you back and ready to read some more? Okay, we left off with my
Mom being satisfied (for a while) with a more traditional look. Of course,
this was reinforced by Daddy's insistence that Mom not drastically redecorate
for a while (hopefully never). She agreed, because let's face it, she just
spent lots of money on new furniture once again, so she could not complain
too much.
Now don't get me wrong, I have gone through various design styles in
my lifetime. I have been through ultra Scandinavian modern, BoHo
which evolved a bit into Arabian Nights while living in Bahrain for
three years. Upon returning from unrest in the Middle East, I was
longing for a cozy and secure decorating style so that led me to
embrace Early American which evolved into a Early American/
Cottage look, finally embracing with Ralph Lauren meets Downton
Abbey and the English Country Home look. This is also accented
with a bit of French Country in the guest room, full on Cottage
Style in my studio and old 1940's movie look in the master. I
will give you some images to show you what I am talking about
here ….
English Country House ~ umbrellas, walking sticks, fox hunt accents,
antique gate leg table, old carpet, etc.
Now in the formal living room, this is where the style becomes
Ralph Lauren meets Downton Abbey.
And that theme continues into the dining room too.
The family room is a lot like the English Country homes I have visited.
Books everywhere, newspapers too. Most of the furniture is
slipcovered to keep it dog friendly. Pictures of horses, and dogs and
lots of golf references. It's a put your feet up and hang out in front of
the telly kind of room. It's paneled walls are warm and cozy and
completely out of style, but we are not changing them because we live
here and we love it!
There are some Mrs Patmore elements in the kitchen :-) I love her!
The French Country room.
My studio is full on Cottage Style, and ….
I purposely styled the master bedroom to look like an old movie
set from the 1940's because I love watching movies from that
era in here.
Since I don't intend to drastically change any of these rooms in
any way, other than perhaps moving a couple of items around,
I am limited in what I can show you since not much tweaking or
metamorphosis will be happening. The only things that are on my
decorating schedule are, the completion of the guest room bath,
the installation of my farmhouse sink in the kitchen and some more
changes in the potting shed. Oh, and the miniature dollhouse nursery
is coming along and I will be featuring that too.
This all revolves back to my blog. I have to make changes because
I have hit the wall, and just can't keep allowing the themes of
blog parties to dictate it's direction. I know I have discussed this
issue before, but now it really is time to make a change. There are
so many wonderful blogs today whose authors are showing off
all their decorating and creative talents, and I just can't keep up
with them. Rather than bring you what I consider to be an
inferior product, I am taking a different path for this blog and I
am excited to see where it leads. Bentley and I will be bringing
you more stories, more fun and more adventure. I hope y'all
will join us and that you will enjoy the new content.
Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
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