Live Breathe Decor

I’ve decided to make a few changes around my house. This is partly because I’m always thinking of the next thing I can change and because I get bored so quickly, but mainly because of the state of the real estate market: it’s a good time to buy but not a great time to sell! And so I’ve realised I should probably make some changes that make me happier to stay in my current house for longer, rather than continuing to drive my husband nuts with house-hunting (for now at least)..

These are the things that I plan to work on: the exterior is a biggie. I’ve let it slide while I concentrated on the inside, and because I didn’t want to waste money if we were going to build a garage where the garden is etc. But I’ve decided it’s worth spending a little to get that happy feeling every time you drive up the driveway. So this morning we (me plus two little ones) went shopping for tiles for the currently painted-concrete front porch. I also plan to finish painting the fences, work on the garden, re-concrete the driveway and repaint the exterior. Phew! Lots of jobs for me, but I’ll also have to hire some professionals for the hard stuff.

I’ve been driving around looking at houses for colour ideas and I really like the idea of a grey or taupe or even green-grey with crisp white for the windows and trim of our californian bungalow. At the moment our windows are darker than the main part of the house and although this is more traditional for our style of house, I want it to look a bit fresher and I like (love) the idea of windows and French doors that are white on the outside and black on the inside - weird I know.

I’m also making some changes inside, not to improve function, but just to keep myself interested! In our bedroom I’m going to do what I’ve always wanted to and paint the walls a dark blue-grey. It will go well with the neutrals, crisp white of the plantation shutters and linens, charcoals of a lot of our cushions.

I toyed with the idea of doing the main wall in wallpaper to match the pillows (above), but I think I’ll actually love some plain, dark walls.

The dining room is a room I have never been happy with. I’ve never liked the window pelmets we inherited and I have never been able to settle on a table or chairs that I’ll love forever. Once upon a time (when I must have been going through a slightly scandi, no-colour phase) it looked like this:

Then I got sick of that, sold everything except the painting (a 30th birthday present from my parents, I’ll never sell that one!), and turned it into a more colourful library room, which I didn’t photograph but which you can glimpse here:

I had never intended to hold onto my Ikea expedit bookcase for so long, and the time finally came when I had to make a change. I still desperately need book storage, but wanted to have a surface low enough to hold some lamps, plus I wanted something a little industrial and a little masculine, a little like this only lower:

And after a little searching I am replacing the white expedit with this:

I’m pairing the shelf with a new rustic dining table I found on ebay (sorry no pic of this yet!) with a new zebra skin rug:

and I’m thinking some lamps, though this decision will depend on whether I paint the walls and what sort of chairs I decide on..at the moment I’m tossing up between finding new chairs or using the sofa I bought the other day on one side and some faux bamboo chairs I already have on the other side. I do like to mix it up! But I like both of these:

Then there’s the wall colour and curtains to consider…! But I do find a few changes around the house keep life interesting, don’t you think? I’ll be sure to keep you updated on progress!

xx