Home Decorating on Display

Over the past few years, I have come to the conclusion that I really enjoy interior design on the level of home decorating. It is an interest that kind of snuck up on me. :-) I do not consider myself an "artsy" type of person, but I do appreciate beauty and order, especially in a home environment. I have learned that I love painting walls, working with color schemes, re-arranging furniture, and finding those special little touches that make a room take on the personality of its occupant. In the past, magazines on the subject held little interest for me, but now, whenever I come across a used version of a magazine that contains interior design ides, I scoop it up, cut out the pages of interest, and store them in a folder for future dreaming.

The past several years have brought about several home decorating projects. First, about two years ago, I transformed my red-white-and-blue bedroom into a delightful country gardens atmosphere with color-washed walls in sage green hues and lovely paintings done by one of my Chinese girls. Then, a year ago, Katelin and I decided to become roommates again, so she moved in to my sunny green room and we converted her former habitation into an office/craft room. Katelin chose the color periwinkle for the walls and I added black and white photographs to the walls for a classy look.

Now that Katelin has left our little house to make her own home as a married woman, further re-arrangements became necessary. Upon my arrival home from Peru, the dinner table topic turned to bedrooms. Mom and Dad assumed I would want to put my bedroom back the way it was before Katelin joined me. I agreed. Then, since we were inheriting another twin bed from my aunt, we discussed putting two twin beds in the "purple room" (as our office/craft room had come to be called) for guests. Suddenly, it dawned on me that perhaps it would be simpler to leave the twin beds as they were in "my" room - they already matched and all - and for me to move into the purple room. Mom and Dad thought it was a wonderful idea!

A little re-arranging of furniture was involved, but miraculously, we were able to make everything fit once we gave away a few of Katelin's former pieces. Here are some snapshots of what the bedrooms look like now.

Ready for guests!

The bookshelves pictured here are mine. They have been brimming over lately, so I was more than delighted to inherit Katelin's shelves in the other room and divide my library between two cases!

Here is my new humble abode. I must admit, I have become quite attached. The periwinkle walls lend such a cool, airy effect and the smaller size feels cozy.

Notice the bookshelves again? I love having so much extra space for all my "literary" friends! :-)

I learned when I visited Eric and Leslie Ludy's beautiful home in Colorado how nice it is to decorate the walls with photography of loved ones in place of artwork that doesn't hold as much meaning.

This frame is still waiting for a picture. I want to put one of Katelin's bridal portraits (in black and white) in here, but I haven't ordered the photo yet.

I also love using Scripture verses to decorate walls. These are two framed calligraphy pieces that were gifts from several years ago, and just happened to match the black and white theme.

Last summer, I decided the hot months would be a good time to tackle a bathroom makeover project in the nice, cool air conditioning. For more years than I could count, our girls' bathroom sported wallpaper covered in pink roses on the lower half of the walls, and all the decorations were pink or mint green. It was time for the roses to go. (Unfortunately, I don't have "before" pictures...somehow, they got deleted.)

Dad helped me scrape the wallpaper, texture the walls, and add a new paint color. We also painted the cabinets, trim, and door frames, replacing the ugly,drab gray that was there with a fresh coat of white. Using birthday money to fund the project, I decided on a daisy motif against a cheerful, yellow backdrop. Daisies hold a personal meaning for me, and I thought yellow would be a bright, happy color to wake up to every morning. Lime green evolved into an accent color, along with white. Later, after my mission trip to Haiti, I decided to again capitalize on meaningful photographs as my wall decor. Hanging pictures of some of the precious Haitian orphans I had met would be good reminders to pray for them.

Here is the final product of our efforts toward Project Bathroom.