I have slowly been changing my home to follow your advice as money and time allows. I recently followed your advice in this post (http://www.christinefife.com/design-with-christine/2008/3/21/trust-me-it-will-look-great.html) and painted my interior doors Benjamin Moore Dragon's Breath (left the wimpy moldings white). I've attached a new after photo of the doors from the same little corner of my living room you addressed in "The Offputting Offset" a few years ago so you could see the impact your advice has made. The moldings are new since the before picture, sadly wimpy was all I could afford--but better than the nonexistent moldings I started with!
The Christine-ifying the windows is on my summer project list--lining the curtains & adding a bamboo blind layer. Next year I plan to repaint the walls lighter & replace the recliner with a nice desk/chair/lamp.
Thank you for saving my home from my lack of design sense!
Blessings,
Rachel

Thanks for writing in Rachel!  And thank you for setting those pictures staight! 

Thanks!

Miranda

Hi Miranda,

My first thought is to replace it with a piece of art rather than another mirror.  The mirror is simply reflecting a ceiling fan, not exactly an awesome focal point.  Your scale is good, so I would look for something a similar size.

One example would be the piece below- 70 x 48 in size, Raindrops by Uttermost.

Or- if abstract is not your style, you could do something like this:  Serenity from Uttermost.  I used this in a commercial job once- a salon.  It was even more impressive in person.   I would then lose all of the little accessories on the mantle, and just add one plant or set of vases, on one side.  

The scale of your smaller decor can't support the larger scale of the piece above it, creating a disconnect.  It is currently working as two separate units, the small items sitting on the mantle, and the large mirror above it.  It should operate as one unit, overlapped and tied together.

Thanks,
Christine

Check out the new baseboards.  That is really what took so long, but without good trim, the room would never have looked really good.  You need to start with a great foundation.  Ideally, I would have had hardwood floors put in too...   I realized I don't have a great shot of the area rug, but one of my sons said it was his favorite part.  It's a great little rugby striped hooked wool rug. 

I replaced their standard size pillows with king size, which really is perfect for a twin size bed.  Standard is good for two pillows on a full size bed, that's about it.  Almost every other scenario is better off with king size pillows.  I got the navy cases from Garnet Hill.  The sheets are from Pottery Barn Kids.  They are old, from their previous bedroom. I'll get new ones in there when I come across ones I like better than these.  The hooked dog pillow is from PBK also, the penguin pillow is my favorite- it was from uncommongoods.com.  The mural is from York.  I am a York dealer, so anyone interested can purchase it through me. 

The girls were super happy with their room.  They have even kept it clean for a little over 24 hours.  Shocking.  The boys have too.  I hope it lasts.  A lot of their surplus junk disappeared in the process, which will hopefully help them to maintain the clean look. 

The sheets were from Garnet Hill.  I found the chevron blankets at Home Goods.  The white pin tuck duvets and shams were from West Elm.  I got the fur pillows from Target, and the small pillows with the sayings from Francesca's. 

The light fixture was from IKEA, and the furry butterfly chair is from Pottery Barn Teen.  The drapes were Pottery Barn. 

The room needed crown moulding and a larger window sill, preferably framed out windows, but that would have sent Steve and I into marriage counseling, so I didn't push it. 

Did I mention that Steve (my husband) made the beds?  They weren't new, for this project, he had made them before.  He used these terrific heavy duty accuride glides, and the storage is amazing, allowing me to not be cramming dressers into these not-huge bedrooms.  The headboards I added, they are from Padma's Plantation. 

still a mess....

Stephen is currently hanging a ceiling fan while the rest of the world is eating Christmas cookies and watching Christmas movies.  Not sure I recommend this...but having a deadline is good in that at least it gets things done.  Well- mostly done.  I ordered a pre-made Roman shade for the boys' room.  It was terrible, I'm sending it back, and I'll order something nice, which of course, will not be here on time.   The boys' will just wake up with the sun for a little while.  I also haven't found bedding for the boys' bedrooms.  Little boys are smelly.  (Plus our dog sleeps in here) I wash their bedding a LOT.  I want something that  washes well, has the perfect colors, not too sophisticated, not too juvenile...my list of demands was too long.  However, January is the month for bedding, not December.  With all of the "white sales" will also come new inventory, and I'm sure I'll find something soon.  I really liked this duvet cover from Garnet Hill, but with the frequency that I'm washing, I really didn't want a duvet, especially one that might need ironing.  It seems like a hassle.  I loved this one, from Serena and Lilly, but was hoping to find something less expensive. 

If anyone sees something like the quilt above, for less $, let me know.  That one was close to $200 each.  It really is perfect though...

My girls' room is close to done- much closer than the boys'. 

A friend of moved into a house once, where the previous owner had, in her son's room, vinyl decals that looked like gang vandalism.  Some of the decals were made to look like bullet holes.  What parent would do that?  I am going for the opposite.  I want their bedroom decor to make them better people.  I want it to inspire them, make them feel safe and happy, good about themselves. 

Can you read it?  Love one another, don't forget to be aawesome, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Others say:  some days you have to create your own sunshine, happy girls are the prettiest, be realistic: plan for a miracle, you're kind of a big deal. 

Hopefully it will "work" and my kids will become perfect, well adjusted happy members of society, who love God and are kind to others.   I wonder how the boy with the graffiti bullet wallpaper is doing...  ?

XOXO

I'd better stop blogging and get busy!

I switched up the girls' bedroom wall a bit. It still needs a little help, but I need to go shopping to get another item or two for it.

A couple other views:

And one by the door...

Christmas is coming SOOO fast.  Steve has been hard at work on the trim.  I admit, I feel like it's taking FOREVER!!!  I can't move the furniture in until he's done, but I set the headboards against the wall so I could get started on some wall decor. 

The headboards are from Padma's Plantation, the large frames above them are from Pottery Barn, and the little initials are from Hobby Lobby.  I already had the swing arm lights; they were in their last room.  However, I replaced the very juvenile looking polk-a-dot Land of Nod shade with these from Pottery Barn.  I'm really happy with the shades.  They are so much larger than the last ones, and the drum shape is terrific. 

Susan, Nancy and I started hanging a collection of wall decor in the girls' room.  (so glad to have help from my friends!! )   I don't like the collage.  I'm going to fix it tomorrow.  Want to know what I did wrong?  Sometimes you can learn as much or more from that kind of information.  I was trying to use that large frame that I already had, and turned it into the clothes pin thing.  However, it was too large, it didn't mix into the collage, and then ends up dividing the collage in two, which is a bad thing.  the second thing I did wrong?  I put up everything different, nothing matching, but then I added the three cork circles.  They are actually trivets from IKEA.  You need everything to NOT match, or you need a series of repetitions.  However, this half and half is bad. 

Now someone is wondering, how, a "know it all" like myself messed up...  Well, like a lot of people, I was trying to save some money.  All of the wall decor was starting to add up.  I was trying to re-purpose the large frame, and the IKEA circles were seriously cheap.  Moral of the story: saving money can sometimes encourage people to do things they know they shouldn't.  Has that ever happened to any of you?   Spend the money and do it right.   My husband would hate this story.  Good thing he doesn't read my blog. 

My favorite wallpaper hanger, Judy Savage, hung my mural in the boys' room today.  She's amazing.  And fast.  I love the mural.  Maybe my boys will learn their geography...

Then I moved the contents of their closets.  If any local friends want some little boy toys, let me know, I have some purging to do.  How many race tracks do two boys need?  The girls' closets contents are in the boys' closet, and vice versa. A crazy un-fun job, still- nothing exciting enough for a blog post. HGTV leaves out the hassle of moving the stuff.  It is just as intrusive as actually moving to a different home.  They leave it out no doubt because it is super boring hard work.

Did I mention we are changing the trim?  Any regular reader of my blog knows I like large trim, and hate wimpy trim.  We had re-done the trim throughout the house years ago, including my office, master bedroom, etc., but hadn't gotten to the kids' bedrooms.  Steve has been removing and replacing 3.5 inch baseboard with 9" base in the bedrooms.  Of course you can't do that without replacing door trim, etc.  On Saturday, while I was at Tae Kwon Do belt testing with the boys, he painted and installed the trim in the boys' bedroom.  Sadly, he used the paint that was supposed to be the trim paint in the girls' bedroom.  Of course I told him that, but he was a bit confused over the "old girls' bedroom" or "new girls' bedroom, used to be the boys' bedroom".  We'll have to re-paint that- and soon, Christmas is coming!  So- still lot much to see here.  Steve did get a coat of paint in the New girls' bedroom before he went to bed Saturday night, so now the furniture is in my entryway, and the room is still waiting for cutting and perhaps a second coat.  I love the color though- super pretty.  It is light French gray SW0055.  Here are some pictures using the same color:

 Did I mention I had beds in my entry? 

For Christmas this year My husband and I are re-doing our kids' bedrooms.  They are both ready for a new look.  My girls have outgrown their pastels and my boy's room never got the love that an interior designer mother should have given it. 

Today we broke the news to the kids that the boys and girls were switchning rooms.  I have some good reasons, but I knew that the boys would be upset.  They are moving from the large room to the smaller room.  Don't you hate it when one bedroom is clearly superior to another?  What is a parent to do? Pick their favorite child? One bedroom is larger and has a better window and a better closet.  Aren't architects parents? 

Needless to say, they WERE upset.  My little guy, Lincoln was totally crying.  I tried to explain to him that I was going to make his room awesome.  I asked him, "Do you know what your mother does professionally?"  Lincoln angrily responded, "She's a BAD interior designer!"  Ignoring the insult, trying to explain that I was uniquely capable of great things, I asked, "Do you know what interior designers do?"  To which Lincoln said, through his tears, "Ruin children's lives!"

I'd better make this good, or we are seriously going to have the worst Christmas ever.  I moved the kids to the bonus room for the rest of the month.  Their bedrooms are off limits, until Christmas day.  I'm quite certain that none of them read my blog, so I will keep you all updated here.  ;-)  Today we painted over a super cute mural that my mom did when we moved in.  I always wanted to add wainscotting below it, and we never did, which in turn always made me crazy at the "unfinishedness" of it all- but here is the "before" pics of my girls, "will be boys" bedroom. 

The mural was really hard to cover- but thank you Steve!  He did it.  We didn't worry so much about the one wall, I have other plans for it, and it didn't need to be perfect.  I'm trying not to be sad at the loss of the mural... 

Today's "after" pic.  It was hard to photograph, because the beds are in the center of the small room.  We have a long way to go!

I used a bright white, Snowbound, from Sherwin Williams on the wall.  More to come... 

Thanks for your blog!

We are finally doing the roof and am terribly unnerved at choosing a product you want to keep forever.  I am thinking about using Tamko Heritage rustic black.

Your ideas would be greatly appreciated.  (Bench and shutters are on the outs also ;p ) thanks

- Elaine

Hi Elaine,

Black is such a nice safe selection.  A truly timeless color.  Keep a black front door, and you can change your house color ten times and it will still go. Select it with confidence, you made a good choice.

I don't know what your floorplan looks like inside, so this might be impossible, but- I would suggest a stronger entrance.  Your front door is practically hidden in a corner.  Check out below what your house would look like with a double door. 

I would also create a little front porch feel.  Changing the pitch of your roof and actually having a covered porch would be quite expensive, but you could simply add a raised deck area.  I would extend it all along the area from where the house comes out by the fireplace, to the end of the house.  Then add a couple of chairs and a table, and you have created a little living space, to watch the neighbors walk their dogs while you sip some tea.

 Also- see how on the left you have window, window, window, window, big solid space of siding?  I would plant a bush in front of that big solid space of siding, about the size of a lilac bush.

Thanks for writing in!

XOXO
Christine