open the doors and windows....

oh yes...it's spring on cape cod today ...

let's open those doors and windows!!!

pinterest

great windows and doors have always gotten to me

pinterest & mrs french

they are the big beautiful eyes of a house

pinterest

and without words express the feeling of a home

anthologymag.com

take a few minutes to enjoy these

{me}longings

they are fabulous!

 

materialicious.com 

enjoy the day!

sue

 

i heart books

This girl is a  book lover and a vintage book collector (I know such a surprise)!
I love the feel and look of old books with aged tanned pages and..
I  love the thought that many other hands have held that same book.  They may have been inspired by it,  found their brilliant idea in it or just found enjoyment in the stories and illustrations.

When it's time for a gift, one of the gifts that thrills me the most are books.  It's a gift I can hold, enjoy and then pass down to future generations who then add their hand print to it.

So,  naturally I've included a few in the shop that I think make wonderful valentine gifts.  I'm also such a visual,  design obsessed woman,  I've paired them by color. They'll look pretty sweet on the bookshelf too.
Add some chocolate and it's pretty much perfection!

 

Two Antique books c1895, the softest feel, lovely illustrations and Story

  

Pair of Vintage Children Books c 1960's, wonderful mid century illustrations and stories

  

Pair of Mid Century Reference books c 1950-60's, one for parents, one for the gardener  

  

Vintage Design Book c1975 for the Typography and Graphic Design Lover 

With a little thought and a little searching, there's a book out there that would thrill your sweetie...But please don't forget to add the chocolates.

  

Chocolate Espresso Cake Truffles from lollidreams

Happy Heart Day <3

Sue

updated peeks

I thought I'd share a few updated peeks of the sun room remodel. I'm taking the weekend off from projects and getting some grandson love.

it's almost done...

i cheated a little on the painting..already loved the color, the walls were in good shape except for touch ups and the new trim & baseboards.. luckily the former owners left the paint for this room.

heavy cleaning was next

most furniture is moved back in. winter drapes need to be rehung (maybe), I just may leave them off from now

new maple step needs to be coated with a finish

add a few personal touches & then I can scratch this room off the list of ranch remakes to do!!

have a lovely sunday

sue

dutch door dilemma

julia from hooked on houses has done it now..she has my head spinning today! her " hooked on today post" is about dutch doors. i have always wanted a dutch door. no, that's not strong enough...i have craved, yearned, longed, would be better. almost..i was so close..to having one in our last house and then... we moved.

photo from citynoise.org

we're in the planning stage of a bedroom addition and bath reconfiguration
oh ya, you'll be hearing much more of that project. i have been trying so hard to get that dutch door into the bathroom to lead to an outdoor shower.
problem: must open out...where does one put the screen?
i will take any and all suggestions..please!

photo apartmenttherapy.com

hmmn...tomorrow is saturday, (mr."this is the last project") will be home.
maybe, just maybe, i'll find a door that absolutely would work!
after all, i did find this helpful article on making one for him...must i do all the work?

have a wonderful friday, let me know if you come up with a solution for me

sue

Sharing a great idea

Today's post is taken from another blog which I have to share.

From Apartment Therapy a great idea...How To: Make a Pocket Sized Floor Plan

"If we had to name the best thing in our design arsenal it wouldn't be having our Pantone Book memorized, or knowing the name and year of every piece of furniture.So what's the one trick that helps us more than anything else?One of the best tricks we have found when designing our living space is proportion. Most of our truly great furniture finds have come from random places while we were out and about... not from when we have "left the house determined to buy a sofa."

Say you are out at a flea market and you come across an amazing French Provincial Couch that you think would be the best thing since sliced bread in your living room. You drag it home, wrangle it through the door frame, scoot everything out of the way... only to find out that it's really 3 inches taller than it should be, or 4 inches deeper than it needs to be, or one shade greener than it can be to work with your room.

So you're stuck selling it on Craigslist, or in the paper, before you can find another one. And then the whole process starts all over again.Because we've found the best inspiration for our homes is usually found in unsuspecting pl aces, one of the things that has helped us most is to have our house in our back pocket (figuratively of course).
We have taken card stock and adhered color swatches and floor plans to them. A jump ring keeps them all together, so when we want to know how big our entertainment center really is... it's all right there.

By having this on hand, be it in the glove box of your car, your purse, man bag... whatever the case may be, it can save you a ridiculous amount of headache and second guessing.

You will want to include basic information like the size and layout of your rooms, color choices (fabric swatches are perfect for this!) and sizes of existing pieces of furniture.

Other things that might be helpful are window heights (in case you are curtain shopping), height from the floor to the bottom of your window (in case you need something low to fit under it), and the location of your electrical outlets and floor vents (which are things we rarely think about, but end up being a pain later on).

Don't worry if they are hand drawn, they are only reminders of what's back at home, although if you want to wow the sales associates, feel free to Photoshop until your heart's content.

You can also laminate your layouts so they are spill resistant, although a note of caution, the color scanners at the hardware stores, are unable to mix paint accurately if they have a coating on them. If you would like that extra layer of protection, consider putting your paint chip on the ring lose so it's able to be used when needs be.

All of these things are nice to have on hand, so when you find "the perfect piece" you will know before you get it home if it will really work in your space."

I do have one thought to add to this. Being such a visual person, I think I would also include a photo of the room.

Thank you AT for this helpful idea that I can share with my readers.

Have a great Thursday everyone

Sue

COLOR ME YELLOW.. or not

Bright Bold Yellow
has been in many of the design blogs in the past few days. It seems to be coming the next favorite decorating theme color. See more photos here

It does seem that it is making an impact. It is the type of color people either love or hate.
Which is it for you? Let me know and I'll post the results.

I have to say, used sparingly it does make you feel sunny and bright. It will bring most
definitely bring a smile to your face.
Me? Well.. I'm loving these lights.

If your one who does, you might also like to take a look at the mid century chair on sale on my web site.
It is done in a more subtle yellow. I just love everything about this chair. More info here

However
you feel about this color,
I wish you a bright sunny Saturday
Sue

The Art of Display

Dear readers have not had much of a chance to be out and about the past few days. Trying to finish up some projects before heading out to Portland Oregon next week. Expecting to have some great posts from there as there are also some wonderful shops in Portland.
Instead I thought I would share a post from another blog which I follow and you may have missed. This blog is written by Benita at Chez Larsson, found here .
I found it handy since I'm still settling into a new home and hope to start decorating soon.
Enjoy the post and happy arranging...Sue
ps..you might find some new items to display here at my new listings

The Art of Display

Having received some questions on how to display items on shelves I will give you some tricks of my trade. These are some very basic tricks that I teach the staff in the shops I work for.

Of course there are more advanced display techniques and there are more advanced variations on the ones I'm teaching you but I won't get into that today. Also, it's not necessarily so that all beautifully styled shelves that you see in photos and in magazines have been styled using these techniques, some people just have an eye for it :) But once you know of these tricks you will probably start noticing that they are being used. Check out the chain store window displays next time you're out and about. You'll probably see a few examples.

Trick #1 TRIANGLES

Items which are grouped in a triangular shape draw the eye to the group as a whole instead of each individual item. The triangular shape is pleasing to the eye and without realising it your eye "reads" the display, starting at the top point, going to the bottom right and on to the bottom left and then back to the top.

Trick #2 GROUPING

For a triangle to be effective you need to group your items properly. Pick out the tallest item you want to display or add one if you were not planning on having one. This tall item will be the top point of your triangle. Add your mid sized items in front of your tall one. Place the outer ones to the side but still overlapping the tall one. Then place the smallest ones in front and to the side of them.

Grouping means exactly what it says, the items are or are almost touching each other (at least looking at them from the front) and yes, you may not see the every inch of the one at the back, but you will have a pretty grouping of items.

Trick #3 EMPTY SPACE

Don't be afraid of empty space when displaying. You may not have empty space in your bookcase but you should strive for some where you're not storing, but displaying.

Empty space basically means that you leave a bit of space around your group of items until there is another group. It helps the eye focus on your groups.

Trick #4 REPETITION

Repeating similar items is also a great attention grabber. If you have a collection of similar items you can simply line them up 3, 5 or 7 at a time. Uneven numbers are more pleasing to the eye as the eye tends to group things in two's which will "break apart" your display. Again think about the grouping trick, although this is not a triangle you still need to keep your repeated items close together, if not touching or overlapping. Also remember the empty space. Leave a little bit of space in between groups.

When displaying I often use the triangle technique for a larger group and incorporate some small repeated items at the in bottom left or right of my triangle.

Trick #5

Keep it simple. Don't try to display all your nick-knacks at once. Store some and bring them out to switch your displays around.

Good luck!

Thank you Benita..hope to try some of the tips soon.

Off to find

One good thing that has come from the lack of having a

brick and mortar storefront is more time to explore and hunt

fabulous finds for my
web site www.solsticehome.com
and my etsy shop www.solsticehome.etsy.com.
It is also giving me the opportunity to visit some of the shops
and talented people here on Cape Cod.
Known for nurturing the independent spirit, Cape Cod is home to many gifted and skilled artists in all forms of media. The end of the summer season seems a perfect time to hit the roadways, byways and seashores. You might just find a treasure or two along the way.

ps; If there is a direction you want me to head in, let me know...
I’ll try to make that left turn.