Thursday, April 9, 2009

The BIG 100

Today marks the big 100- no, not my age- we all know that is 14517. Nope, this is my 100th post! So, in celebration I am having an open house. Well, a cyber open house anyway. I have mentioned that I LOVE to decorate (if only I could find a way to make money off of it...sigh). And my love of all things "decor related" lead me to learn about Feng Shui. It never ceases to amaze me that in the 21st century so many Americans have at least heard of this ancient Chinese form of creating balance in your living spaces. (in my poll only 1 person voted for "winner of season 3 Top Chef" (lol) and No one picked "huh ?"!)

No, you will not find ANY Buddhas, wind flutes, or multi -colored ribbons hanging on my walls.

In my world, Feng Shui is not superstitious or religious. It is simply a starting point for choosing from among the 100s of colors and themes that we are all faced with when we go to redecorate.

Western science Agrees that colors have frequency/ wavelengths, and sounds have frequencies/ vibrations (thus energy), and even that these energies affect our human psyche. (that's pretty much the basis of Feng Shui).

So to see it in action here are some before and afters:



Entrance before


Entrance after








Kitchen before



Kitchen after



Before (you can see a little into the dining room)



Dining room after







Master bath before






master bath after


Kids' bath before (complete with kids-lol- Alaina and Genevieve 9 years ago!!)


Kids' bathroom after




Boys' bedroom before







boys' room after






Then these do not have before pictures (sorry)


Laundry room (not great- but what laundry room is- the brick wall is actually wallpaper)



Master bedroom - after

I DO wish I could find a before for this bedroom, it was painted a green-gold color




Living room after




Basement playroom







Main level 1/2 bath
When we bought the house this SMALL bathroom was wallpapered with blood red striped wallpaper.
(think "Red Room" -as in Amityville Horror)
I was 8 months pregnant at the time, so instead of stripping the wallpaper, I simply primed it, and then sponge painted over it. The window is a piece of wallpaper. The vines and butterflies are Tatouage wall art (rub-on stencils).



Basement bath (wallpaper mural- that was clearance - I bought 2 sets to do the whole bathroom then tiled up to the wallpaper ( the tile and grout are the same color as the floor only smaller squares)-I don't know if you can see it in this picture but the ceiling is the same blue as the top of the mural.)


Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour. But what kind of hostess would I be if I did not at least put out a table of snacks.....





5 comments:

Leslie said...

Congrats, on the 100th post, I have 77 posts, so I have a ways to go.
Wow, What a beautiful place you have and the before and after picures are wonderful.
Hugs~~~~Leslie

Unknown said...

Nice updates. The kitchen is a huge improvment!
When you comin' to my house? I def. don't have your touch.

Gina said...

I LOVED the tour. American houses are SO much bigger than British houses -all those bathrooms!
Bit not only are we both born in March, both have spoilt greyhounds we also both have yellow living rooms. Spooky!
BTW I'm into Feng Shui - clear the clutter and all that. It gets a bit difficult as Mr Robbo hates to throw anything away.
Gina x

Zan said...

Thanks for the tour - you've done wonders with your house. Reminds me of the de-cluttering (read closet clean out) that's due around here. It's a never ending battle.

Alex said...

Thanks for the nice comments y'all....
Gina- yes, I realize that 3 1/2 baths probably seem like a lot to most people, but we do have SEVEN people in our family (and that is an awful lot too :-).
Zan- you can tell that I am much better at applying the color concepts than the "de-clutter" concepts of Feng Shui ;-)