Wiggle Room

I started purging in 2016 and I thought I was done in 2019, but most of the purging came from the attic and I still have too much stuff.

I need "wiggle room" in my cupboards so in February, I got serious and asked myself if I was really going to use each item.

I started the process with our dining room plate racks.

Everything came off the racks and I either put items back on the rack, into a cupboard or in a donation pile.

Once the racks were decorated, I moved onto my grandma's step back cupboard in our entry.

I emptied everything out of the cupboard - remember that arrow because it led to yesterday's project.

I posted a pic of the cupboard on Instagram on February 20, when I began writing this "Wiggle Room" post, but life got in the way of finishing up the cupboard.

When I first painted the inside of the cupboard blue, I only had the top part of the cupboard and when I painted it, I didn't even notice that I had left the ceiling unpainted.

I literally didn't see the problem until this feature came out in Cottages and Bungalows magazine in 2017 - yes, it's taken me that long to fix the problem.

Health and the lockdown (couldn't get the paint) kept me from finishing the project, but yesterday things came out of the cupboard once again.

After I finished painting the ceiling, I decided that to make the cupboard more functional and give myself a little wiggle room in the hall cupboard I would add runners and tablecloths to that top shelf.

If you are wondering what those red sticks are on the second shelf,

they are the sweetest vintage utensils sent to me from Rita of Panoply.

I put everything back and planned to wait on the bottom cupboard until today, but there were wind warnings so I stayed inside and tackled the rest of the job.

When I painted the top part of the cupboard, the bottom half lived with my daughter in San Francisco and she painted it yellow- notice the remnants on the open cupboard door.

It's been organized since February, but finally the interior is painted white and that is checked off my To Do list.

Now that I am finishing the post, I must show one change I made in the plate racks.

I had Steve hang cup hooks -

 removing the cups from the cupboard gave me a little more wiggle room.

I didn't want the before photos of the dining room and entry to look exactly like they did to start with so I made my first visit to Trader Joe's in 11 weeks.

It was wonderful to pick out flowers in a nearly empty store

and to come home and create arrangements for both the living room and the entry.

What I mean by wiggle room is that I have space in the cupboards and on the plate racks for that perfect piece of ironstone I can't pass up

I just need thrift shops, vintage shops and pop up markets to fully open.

I've Got the Blues

I have slowly been working on my 2018 goals

and although changing the color palette throughout the house wasn't one of my goals,

it seems to be the happening with each change.

Making a new cover for the window seat cushion was high on the list.

The dining room plate racks are filled with blue and white dishes

so I chose a blue and white plaid fabric.

A year ago my sister-in-law gave me the white fabric which was perfect because it has just a little bit of texture.

I struggled to find another fabric for 2 more pillows and then one day I walked into Marshalls to find the perfect pillows to finish off the bench.

The next change was difficult for me to make -

I loved the dining room chairs in red, but they clashed with many of Steve' paintings

and the blue chairs compliment his art.

The room looks "put together" now.

I've definitely got the blues -  blue and white dishes,

 blue and white pillows

 blue and white cushion ...

 and even a blue and white house.

Having the blues means being depressed, but I don't know how anyone could be sad around this happy combo.

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2018 Goals

January is nearly over so I decided I had better write my "2018 Projects" post before February arrives - I like writing my goals on the blog because it holds me accountable.

Last year I wanted to have plate racks built for the dining room and despite it taking 7 months, it happened.

 The racks make so much difference in the dining room

 and I have fun styling them in different colors throughout the year.

Another goal was to make new covers for the chaises in the garden - this fabric wore thin from the sun.

Just like the old covers, the new covers were made from an old duvet and cost me nothing.

They are so easy to make that I ended up making a second set in plain white to use for the patriotic holidays.

About 8 years ago we had the front porch covered in stone and for several years repeating the stone on the back porch has been on my list of goals.

As you can see, it hasn't happened - maybe this is the year.

So what's up for 2018?

A new window seat cushion cover to replace the red and blue striped one I made in 2013.

I made this cover out of an old quilt, but I only had enough fabric to velcro it on and it was always slipping.

The fabrics in this stack of pillows shared on Instagram by pure_michigan_gal is my inspiration and I just need to make the time for the hunt.

I love the old door in our guest room and have fun changing it with the seasons or holidays,

but when I saw this picture on Instagram from Dreamy Whites Lifestyle, I decided I wanted to paint the other side a color so I can switch them around.

I'm torn between Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Louis Blue or Provence - I think Provence will win out because I actually have a sampler can of it on hand.

Also on my list is fixing this "fail".

I absolutely loved this little table in green and yellow, but didn't like the colors in our bedroom and so I painted it.

I actually painted over the white right away, but it doesn't have the pizazz that the two tone table had.

These are the colors of the bed pillows now so I think I'll leave the legs blue and use teal or aqua for the drawer, table top and shelf.

How about you, is there a list waiting to be checked off?

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