Twi-crack post

I confess. I am addicted to Twi-crack and I highly recommend that you try some. My story started about a year ago. I was talking with a 13- year-old about school when her eyes suddenly glazed over and she said, as if in a trance, “Have you read Twilight?” I looked at her, puzzled by the random change of subject, and said that I had not read Twilight. She said, again trance-like, “You HAVE to read it. You HAVE to read Twilight.” I didn’t think much more about it until a few weeks ago. I finally finished Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, both excellent books. Upon finishing World Without End, I decided that I should read something silly and light and easy. I thought about the 13-year-old and decided that whatever she was reading would be perfect. That’s when I tried Twi-crack. I began reading on Wednesday. By the following Tuesday I had read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, AND the partially leaked internet book – Midnight Sun (Edward’s version of Twilight). PLUS, I am sad to say, that I watched the Twilight movie four times. The Twilight series is crack literature. That is why I am PSYCHED for November 20th because the New Dawn movie will be released. I’ll have to get there early so I can find a good seat amongst the hoards of teens that are also PSYCHED about November 20th. Twi-crack is sooooooo gooooood.

Do I even have to say it? Go team Edward.

Inspiring Living Rooms

This post is all about living rooms.

This photo is from HGTV.com . I like the color on the walls. I also like the large scale items on the coffee table. Everything is too new, though. I would like to see some antiques mixed in somewhere.

Blogger is driving me crazy - not working right. Text not in right spot. Ughhhhhh.....

Anyway, I like the dark, patched cowhide rug in this room. The horseshoe coffee table is cool mixed with the fancy elements in the room. The furniture looks really uncomfortable, though.

I love the windows in this room and the gleaming hardwood floors. There is another cowhide rug in this room. The couch looks usable and comfy.

I love the column in the corner and the black accents in this room. There is just enough black to anchor the room. It is a little sparse, IMO.

I like dark walls. The tall winged chair is beautiful. The simple shades work in this room because the book cases are probably busy. Photo via Nate Berkus.

This room was featured on La Dolce Vita not long ago. I love the dark gray couch and the black lampshade. There is another lucite table in this room. They look great with pattern beneath them.





Green is my favorite color. I love it combined with rich purple. What beautiful windows this room has. Photo via Material Girls.

This image was found on local designer, Rod Mickley's website. I love the color combination in this room. The blue glass on the mantel are like little exclamation points. Of course, I like the touch of zebra as well.

More blue accents. The pouf is fabulous next to the orange chair. Love the sofa. The vintage portrait is perfect and check out the pair of unexpected antler mirrors. Photo via Elle Decor.







The next six photos are from Cote de Texas. The heavy darks and lights in the first photo feel good to me. I loooove this room. The only thing I don't like is the little lonely light fixture. The dark mouldings are beautiful.

The combination of light blue and orange-y red is so pretty here. I will be painting my dining room this color soon. Can't wait! Love the black painted door, too.

Gosh, this is a pretty room. The light fixture is perfect. There is something that really bothers me, though. In so many magazines and design blogs, I see libraries with staged books. I really read. I have hundreds of books that I am not willing to part with. I would like to see a library with "real" books. Some people cover theirs in paper to get that uniform look. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's a little weird, IMO.

Another shot of the same room...I like the little table and chairs in the corner. A great place to play cards or look at photos, etc.

More red and blue with black and white. Bella!

Switching gears to a more subdued space. The chairs are perfect, love the ceiling and the fireplace wall. I'm not a huge fan of the propped up art thing, though.

Adjoining space in the same home. The leather settees are perfect here. Both images are from Elle Decor.

Another gray sofa. I like the grouping of art on the blue walls. Photo via La Dolce Vita.

More blue walls. Look, there are real books on the shelves! How unique! Photo via Southern Accents.

Pretty room...I like the pop of avocado on the chair. I like the papered book shelves. It looks like a mixture of old and a few new books in the bookcases. Photos via Country Living.

The mirrored wall works in this space. The floor is gorgeous. This space looks like a lounge in an Italian boutique hotel. The lamps are so pretty and perfect and unusual. Another gray sofa...

There are real books in this lofty room, cowhide, too.

Another view of the same space. I like how they created a screen behind the sofa with the potted ferns.

That is enough for today. More later.

Before and After - Spare Room

We have a weird spare room off of our master bedroom that has served several different purposes in the past. It began as an office, but it was too secluded from the rest of the house. Then it became a nursery for my daughter. Later, it was a spare bedroom, but it doesn't have a closet or a bathroom so it didn't really work well as a bedroom. Lately, it has been a messy catch-all space for random furniture and accessories. Hmmmmm...what to do....

Before

The armoire served us well 15 years ago when televisions were big and bulky and had to be hidden away.

Before

The guitars had to stay and be easily accessible. I really did not want to get rid of anything.

Before
At one time I thought about making the room into a large closet, but the sunlight from the windows would ruin my clothes. Plus, there is a door that leads to the lanai from this room.

After

Voila! I hung one of the guitars on the wall using an instrument hanger from the local music store. I stacked books from an over flowing bookcase in another part of the house on the floor. I LOVE this idea. It is easy, it costs nothing, and it can be done in any room.

I tried to group the books by subject. These are mostly travel books mixed with a few decorating books.

I hung the brown, Pottery Barn, drapery panels on both ends of the window wall. This made the windows less dominating, plus it hides ugly hurricane shutter levers. This guitar is played the most, so I left it on its stand.

Instead of hiding these boxes away, I stacked them neatly as part of the decorating scheme. Under the table, I stacked some old magazines that I cannot part with just yet. I am thinking of painting this little table another color. I haven't decided yet.

We bought this birds-eye maple, antique desk years ago for a song.

This antique tray originally had a painted glass insert that was sooooo pretty. My mom gave it to me for Christmas, but it arrived broken! So I removed the broken glass and had a piece of plexi-glass cut to fit inside. I also had a piece of black picture matting cut to fit the bottom. Now it serves as a display tray for photos and postcards.

I moved the ottoman against the wall. The lid lifts for storage. This is a great place for coats and sweaters that are rarely used.

I hung ledges on this wall to unify all of the random pictures and objects.

Now for my favorite part!

I converted the old tv armoire to use as purse storage! This freed up valuable closet space for me and made the purses more accessible. I hung cork boards on the doors for photos, notes, etc.

I stacked flat purses in the large plastic drawer and small evening bags in the lower portion of the armoire.

I arranged my small Enid Collins bag collection so that it can be enjoyed anytime instead of hidden inside my closet. I used to have a large collection of the Collins bags, but sold them on eBay. I kept the ones that were in the family and a few that were just special to me.

Small cup hooks were used to hang the vintage Lucite purses. Now I can enjoy my purse collection every day.


This was such a fun project. The only things I bought were the drapery panels, drapery rods, the guitar wall hanger, and the picture ledges. Everything else was re-used, re-arranged, or re-purposed. More organized, more enjoyable, and much more useful!