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February 7, 2014UncategorizedMusings from the Dream HouseMrs. Blandings

I am continually in awe of people’s generosity as I go poking about in shops and homes and minds for the bits of stuff that make up this space and the others that I fill with my words. “Come by.” “Look at this.” “Did you know…” all offered up so easily and it delights me every time. No more so than when someone offers to loan me a book. Books mean something to me and I’m happy to loan mine, though I don’t forget if one is not returned. But this one, offered so off-handedly, then delivered with these slips of what I believe to be an envelope marking favorite pages of the owner’s, has charmed me so completely that I truly want to “forget” to return it. I will return it, of course, but snapped this image instead to remind myself of the people who find passion in design every single day and are so happy to share it with me.

Speculation

February 4, 2014UncategorizedMusings from the Dream HouseMrs. Blandings

Old houses that are new to us offer mysteries. When I was readying to move in I wondered at the number of high hooks on the doors. Closet doors, bedroom doors, the door to the attic, all secured from the outside. I don’t think the previous owner had children, so after my initial alarm I dismissed the idea that she was locking someone in. I unscrewed them carefully, placed them in a box in case I need them though I can’t imagine why I would, and began to fill the holes.

Later, when I wanted to close doors that wouldn’t quite shut, I wondered if she had latched them to keep her cat from pulling them open with his inky paw. Wondered further if his nocturnal roaming, the soft creak of a door, might have been unsettling to someone living alone. And if that were the case, wouldn’t it have been better to fix the door rather than take this sloppy short cut?

I puzzled, too, over the hook in the bathroom cabinet. What in the world had she hung there? Was I missing an opportunity? Did I need something that should be hanging there that I didn’t have?

And then there is her obvious replacement of the original single hook inside my bedroom closet for two newer hooks. I hang my robe there. Did she? Did she make room for someone else in her closet, in her house, in her bed?

I’ve been here over a month and now I realize that these things are not my concern. Knowing them would not help me know the house better. Knowing them would certainly not help me know myself better. Originally intrigued by her life, her hooks, her robe, I realized this speculation and my accompanying judgements only keep me from getting my own house in order, which is the task at hand.

Inspiration

January 28, 2014UncategorizedMusings from the Dream House, ResourcesMrs. Blandings

After the boys left for school yesterday I sat at my desk pinning. My computer is in front of a broad window with a southern exposure and despite the cold I lift the shade to let in the light in the morning.

As I sat still in my pajamas, clicking images and reading inspiring and pithy quotes, there was a ticker tape running through my head that said, “I should be doing something. I should be editing. I should do my homework. I should take Rosie to the vet. I should go get paint.”

But I couldn’t quite let go even to heat up my coffee and I realized that it is a sort of meditation. Further, isn’t it fantastic that I can begin my day surrounded, in a way, with a community of people that I have curated? People who live creatively and shamelessly seek beauty? Isn’t it fantastic that for twenty minutes I can enjoy the insights of people who share my interest in personal and pleasing spaces, who find joy in art, who want to take risks?

I wonder at people who spend their days with numbers and deals and screens filled with figures, though I know we need them, too. But in an instant, yesterday, I was able to see that I was doing something. I was wearing the track that I wanted my mind to follow that day, a day filled with gilt and color and light.

Image, a screenshot of my living room board, which contains a shocking number of rooms with white walls.

Turq-ish Delight

January 28, 2014UncategorizedResourcesMrs. Blandings

I sincerely wish I had the right spot for this and may resort to the coat closet if nothing else makes sense.

You can see Chromatic Stripe (I’ve visited him a few times already) and the other new Farrow & Ball wallpapers here.

Seeing Red

January 27, 2014UncategorizedMrs. B DIYMrs. Blandings

Every room in the house needed to be painted. I started with the boys’ rooms, but eventually had to address the green in the kitchen. It’s a very small room and was a very bright color. I love white kitchens, and have always had white kitchens, but these cabinets are stained and the countertops are grey and the backsplash is slate. All relatively new. They stay. So I thought charcoal was the answer. I hoped it would make everything sort of blend together and allow me to ignore it all. Ignoring kitchens, after all, is one area where I excel.

Really dreamy charcoal grey paint wet can turn into seriously black paint dry. It took a few tries.

But after a fistful of paint chips and a few pots and swatches, I hit on Benjamin Moore Deep Space. Back at the paint store I confidently (and thankfully) requested a gallon. The woman who was helping me chatted about using a color so dark in the kitchen while the computer directed steams and shots of color into the can.

“Do you want to see?” she asked.

“Do I want to see?”

“You’ll probably think I’m crazy, but I love to see the paint before I mix it. I think it’s amazing,” she said smiling broadly.

I did not think she was crazy.

“Yes. I’d love to see.”

As we both peered down into the swirl she said, “I bet you would have never guessed there’d be so much red.”

It is moments like this when I think the universe is giving me just the kind of thing that I need.