Striving for Furniture Placement Symmetry

Thanks to an interior designer consultation that I bid on and won at a charity auction, I feel like my living room is now going in the right direction.

Even though I had never met the designer before she came to my house, I just loved her.  She's young, beautiful, super nice, and very talented. For this blog post I'm going to call her the
 Darling Designer..."D.D" for short.

So when D.D. got to my bedroom in her walk-through of my house,  she immediately said that I needed  to move where the bed was. 
She presented a couple of concepts that I am still trying to re-program my old brain to accept.

One was to consider the entire wall when you
 are deciding where the center is. 

D.D. centers furniture on the whole wall  (see pink line).

I  had been subtracting out the space that a window took from the wall and centered furniture  on what was left (see yellow line).
 I am trying D.D.'s technique and have moved the bed.
 It gives a lot more room on the side of the bed where the skirted table is now.

Another concept that is foreign to me is that it is OK to put furniture in front of a full length window facing the street.

D.D.'s first choice for furniture placement would be to move 

the bed to the center  of the wall with the two windows and

 place a chest with a lamp on either side of the bed.

 This wall is faces the street.
  I couldn't bring myself to put furniture in front of these windows,
 mostly because I don't think it would look good to passer-bys.
Also, wouldn't that block a lot of light? What do you think?

Until I can decide what kind of bedside furniture to get, I have a very make-shift table.  Actually, it is only two wooden plant stands with a board across them that has been covered with a temporary cloth.



D.D. thinks that twin chests with lamps would look alright

 on this wall (if I can't bring myself to put the bed on the street wall).
Something (like art) would be needed to on this wall above the chest
 and lamp to visually balance the window on the other side.
What would you put?

If I continue to be paralyzed by indecision, what do you think of a nicer table skirt made  out of this material for the time being?

 I think I could live with a chest being in front of a window on the  driveway side of the house.  Only the next-door neighbor would see the back of the chest in the window.

Until I can bring myself to put furniture in front of the window, 

this side of the bed has a tiny table that I was hoping almost "disappears" visually.

  It holds Tom's indispensable CPAP and an alarm clock.

He says that is all he really needs on a bedside table anyway.

Across from the bed is another wall trying to achieve symmetry.

Now I have centered the dresser on what D.D. would consider the middle.

D.D. considers the whole wall including the door (pink line).

I had it centered within the space without the door (yellow line).

One wall we both agree where the center is is the

 wall with the armoire.

After I took this picture, I realized the armoire is NOT actually centered

...I need to move it over a little.

I'm getting used to this new way of arranging the furniture.

Since the room is basically a square, I think D.D. is probably right about where to consider the center of a wall.

One of these days I'm going to put a chandelier up in what is the smack dab middle of the ceiling.  The center of the bed and dresser will line up with the chandelier if they stay where they are now. 

Here are some things "I'm gonna" do ...

(well, they are on the project list):

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer me!

His 'n Hers Crepe Myrtles

When we moved into our current home six years ago, it had an established yard.  We really liked the mature crepe myrtle trees it had in the back yard.

While I love crepe myrtles IN THE YARD, I don't like big ones right up next to the house getting taller than the roof line.

"His" are along the fence line.

My husband and I, along with many other folks, have the controversy every spring when I want to trim back the crepe myrtles that were planted 20 years ago right up next to the house.

The white ones are "hers"; the watermelon pink are "his".

  The controversy has acquired the name "Crepe Murder"
and is widely written about and discussed in February and March when you see the mounds of cut crepe myrtle branches piling up 
at the curb waiting for the city to come pick them up.

"Hers" are trimmed back to a height that allows for growing , hopefully, not too much taller than the roof line.

The folks against trimming back the trees say that the trees end up all knobby-looking.  Well, that's true but I think it looks interesting and I am NOT going to rip out perfectly fine trees to plant a smaller versions as they suggest.

I think the white color of crepe myrtle is "Natchez".

At our house, we have decided that the crepe myrtles up next to the house can be "hers" and the ones out in the yard can be "his".

There is a spot in the yard where "his" and "hers" come together to form an arch.

I can trim back "hers" but "his" have to be left alone to get as big as they want to.

"Hers" come back just beautifully every year even if they do look "whacked" right after trimming.

"His" have great blooms too without being trimmed.

"His" might be "Carolina Beauty".

Both varieties have beautiful peeling bark trunks.

We are both on our second marriage...we've learned you just have to pick your battles and let some things go.

We have planted a few more crepe myrtles since we have lived here (mostly to replace hydrangeas that needed more attention than I was willing to give them).  We have planted the small versions.  This one is called "Baton Rouge". 

Their flowers are pretty but not the big, blouse-y blooms that the larger crepe myrtles have.

Myrtles, Milk Glass, and Martha

Martha Stewart's "Living" magazine is the only one I subscribe to that I never tear the pages out and I never throw it away.  To me, it has timeless and great ideas. 

 One idea that I saw that was "do-able" for me was this arrangement. 

Martha ( I know it's not really Martha herself coming up with these ideas and executing them but we'll just pretend) used lilacs in her arrangement.

 It is too hot down in the deep South to grow lilacs but we do have an abundance of crepe myrtles which have a similar shaped flower.

Here is my attempt to copy Martha's lilac arrangement.

Martha's holder looks like it is made with a milk glass vase and bowl.

I think she has a huge collection of milk glass but I have none.

Actually, I don't really know what "milk glass" is.

If it is glass and it is white, I assume it is milk glass but I thought I would look it up to educate myself a little on that subject.

Here's what I found out:

Milk Glass was first made in Venice in the 16th century.  The Venetians made the glass opaque or translucent in several different colors including white.  The white color is achieved through the addition of tin oxide or bone ash.  The name "milk glass" is a relatively recent name for the glass which is blown or pressed into a wide variety of shapes.

I can't blow or press glass and I don't have tin oxide or bone ash

so I went the cheap route and found a plastic vase and a glass bowl at the Dollar Tree that I thought would be compatable in size for this project.

I just love these little plastic vases in the floral section at Dollar Tree. 

They look so much like cut crystal.

Here's a look also at the glass bowl before it is painted.

To try to replicate the milk glass look, the bowl and vase got spray painted.

I used white appliance spray paint from Wal-Mart.  It was about $4/can...I thought it would probably hold up better to the water the vase and bowl would encounter.  Wal-Mart also has a white gloss spray paint for $1/can that would work also if you are on a tighter budget for this project.

After being spray painted

Martha's instructions said to use floral clay to secure the vase in the bowl. 

The floral clay came from Michael's in the floral section.  It is about $1.50 per pack.  To use floral clay you pinch off a small amount, make a roll and stick it under the edge of the vase before adding foam or water to the bowl.  I personally thought that the foam held the vase in place enough that you would not really need the floral clay.

You will need the floral foam made for fresh flowers. The floral foam comes in different shapes but the most common is this "brick" shape.

You can find floral foam at any major craft store. This usually comes in a pack of 3 or 4. Each brick comes out to about $1 each if you use a store coupon. "Oasis" is a specific brand name of this type foam but lots of people call all fresh floral foam by that name...kinda like "Kleenex" or "Band-Aid" or "Vaseline" are used.  Be sure you do not get the foam that says it is for silk or dried flowers

  One "brick" will be enough for 3 of these arrangements.   Cut the foam into 10 chunks.  Use 3 per arrangement and split the last one into 3 pieces to go into the vases.

The foam cuts very easily even with a regular dinner knife.

Soak the foam according to the package directions.

This is the foam just seconds after being dropped in the water.  Be sure your water container is deep enough to completely cover the foam after it sinks down into the water.  I like to leave it in the water at least 5 minutes to make sure it gets soaked to its center.

After the foam is soaked all the way through, put 3 of the larger chunks into each bowl.
Cut some of the flowers' stems to about 2".

Push the short stems into the foam in the bowl.
If needed, angle the flowers to get good coverage and to have them look nice around the edge of the bowl.

You may need to add small pieces of flowers around the larger flowers in the bowl to completely cover up the foam so that it does not show.  The foam in the vase helps to hold the longer stems upright. 

Leave longer stems on some of the flowers to put in the vase part of the arrangement.  It will help to have water in the vase and the bowl so the foam can continue to soak up water as needed.

Since this arrangement is not very big, I made three of them for more impact with the few crepe myrtle flowers still blooming in the yard.

Just for fun, I wanted to see if this vase/bowl set up would work with other types of flowers.  I had a few daisies I tried it with.

I thought it looked cute.  You would need to use greenery to cover up the foam in the bowl.

So, I'm doing the best I can with what I got but
here's Martha's original magazine photo:

And here is my copy cat version:

Martha has her wine and lilacs, I have my mint julep and crepe myrtles. 

I am linking this post up to
"Debbie Doos Blabbing and Blogging" Magazine Copy Cat Challenge
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/2011/09/magazine-copy-cat-challengelets-get-it.html

To Paint or Not to Paint

Do you ever struggle with that question

on furniture that you have had for a while?

I bought this chest about 15 years ago when I was more
 in an "English Country" mode of decorating my home.

The area would probably look better with a rug but it is almost like a

dining room/entry foyer and rug placement is awkward.

Now that we have downsized and I am leaning toward a lighter

 look, I just don't know that I love this chest like I used to.

It is useful for storage.  I keep my gift wrapping supplies in the drawers.

It is in the dining room along with other dark wood furniture.

 It feels like there is just too much dark wood

 furniture in that small space.

This buffet is also in that area.  I like the buffet placement so I don't want to move it.

It has some nice patina. I really don't know much about 

the piece or if it is even worth what I paid for it. 

The question is, is it too nice to paint?

Should I move it to another room and let it 
stay the color that it is?

This is my bedroom.  A decorator had me shift the placement of the furniture to 

achieve more balance.  I put the dark portrait on the far side of the bed to try

 to visually balance the window on the other side of the bed.

If I put the bookcase/chest I am considering painting where the table and portrait are

 now, it would come up about 8 inches taller than where the top of the portrait is now.

Should I take the books out of it and make it

 more dining room-ish with china instead?

I did put it in the want ads a couple of years ago but did not get one single call on it.
My kids don't want it.

In some spots I have non-interesting books that end up behind the wood frames

 so the "good" book spines show.

Most of the books I have in it are older ones that

I have found at Goodwill, yard sales, and thrift stores.

I kept this note with the chest but even the dealer I

bought it from didn't know it's age.

My favorite feature of the piece

is the wavy glass in the doors.

The glazing is old and cracking.

My least favorite feature is this do da on the side.

Does this cut out make it look Victorian-ish?

It has cute little casters on each leg.

How do those little casters hold up all that weight?

One of the knobs is missing but that could be replaced.

As I was getting ready to take this photo, I saw something behind the back caster that

needed to be moved for the shot.  It was one of the missing knobs! 

The brass around the key hole is not original.

So, I don't know what to do with this piece.

Should I paint it and leave it in the dining room, move it to the bedroom and not paint it, or sell it for whatever I can get for it

and tell myself I've gotten my 25 cents a day worth out of it and 

let someone else enjoy it now?

The bookcase/chest is where my plastic spoon wreath "lives".  

If you want to make a spoon wreath, 

here is a tutorial on how to do one.

Update on this post...I DID paint this piece eventually.

If you want to see how I painted it with Annie Sloan

Chalk Paint on it click here.