Chit Chat with Cathy

Hey!  How are ya’ll today?  I have a special post today to share with you.  We will be visiting with Cathy.  Cathy is a well known designer/ decorator in my area.  She works on homes and businesses with design and decorating.  She has been involved in decorating many weddings and just get out of her way at Christmas!

Cathy is a fireball full of energy.  Gregarious with a personality that warms everyone she meets, she has met adversity head on and triumphed battling breast cancer.  She brings laughter wherever she goes.

Cathy is involved in multiple projects at a time.  She is involved in design in many ways and stays on top of what’s happening in the design world.

Down to earth and willing to get dirty she has transformed her home into a showplace that is cozy and comfortable.   Committed to her Christianity, she has a” Share It All” motto.

First we will get to see her ‘back porch’ which you can tell is a lot more than that!  These are Cathy’s words.

Very simple outside living! Stain concrete. Bought table for $125.00 and painted it. LARGE MIRROR. Little table given to me. Chandelier found in trash. Plants and you got it….  you can do this I know it!

Just treat your outside like you would the inside. It is that easy, use mirrors,, tables, lamps, chandlers, whatever you love….. SIMPLE!

When you learn to go massive your world will change! Never Fear!

The first thing I do after a long day of work is get barefooted…..My screened in porch!

I searched for a sofa for two years…yes you read it correct!  I found it last week.  I have never been one to just buy ~ got to “LOVE”!  Love my sofa!

This was my first flower bed I did years ago. This is so who I am with outside living… Not perfect but a New Orleans feel my favorite…. Now I am starting on closing in my front with this same look… Remember do not go from one area to another just keep adding to what you last planted let it carry you….

Every tree, bush, whatever, that stuff was taken out. I wanted a front area that could be used like a porch but different. Had the cement put down and took it to the top with Pergola.  I wanted it as close to a New Orleans feel as I could get…. When shopping for a home be careful not to turn your nose up at a little home that needs a little love! THINK!  Love, Cathy

Jan

Nest of Roses

Hey!  How are ya’ll?  It seems it really started with a cardinal’s nest.  My mister had found it this past Fall.  We have a table on the back porch and it sat there.  It sat there for weeks and weeks and weeks.  I would stop and look and try to think of how I might use it.  But I never could.  The mister started to throw it away this past weekend but something made him wait.

I have found I can put together prettier images when I have little to work with.  Necessity is the mother of invention they say.  So I had two pretty roses left from my birthday and Valentine’s Day.  I wanted to create beauty.

I gathered some of my dried hydrangeas from last Summer.   I used them on my Christmas tree this year as well.  I gathered some of them and red berries that were left from the bushes in the yard.

The cardinal’s bird nest holds the pretty red roses surrounded by the red berries and faded dried hydrangeas.  The nest is sitting in a bowl I ran across while in Alabama this past summer.

Nature’s glory with so many doing their part.  The cardinals left their offspring’s home.  The hydrangeas were so bold and blue this past summer only to fade to soft colors of green.  The bushes with red berries in the yard that I never notice except in the Winter when they are just as showy as the male cardinals that fly in our yard.  All so simple separately but together they create beauty.

I brought it in to try and get more photos because it was so cold.

After inside, I placed in on a mirror that sat on the old tattered lace tablecloth.

It gave the room a softer feel because of it.

Nature can do that.

Jan

Shades of Green

Hey!  How are ya’ll?  I love the color green.  Do you?  I am excited to share several rooms of green with you!   Green works with every color.  Of course it does, just look out the window.  Do you ever get tired of trees and grass?  Don’t they just slow you down and relax you?!  Green is known as a serene color.   It is the truest neutral color, at least in my opinion.  I never get tired of it like I do other colors.

Green can be cool and refreshing.  Susan Ryder Artist

It compliments other colors like no other color can.  Charlotte Moss

See all the beautiful colors from the garden.  Flower room ~ Charlotte Moss

Hamish Bowles ~ Vogue editor

Green can be a warm color when it’s cold outside.  Kitty Bartholomew

Better Homes and Garden

Designer Ce Ce Thompson of Bunny Williams Inc.

Richard Halberg Design ~ Veranda

Phoebe Howard

Beautiful Kitchens Magazine Photo by Gustav Schiege

This Old House photo by John Ellis

RIB Gary McBournie

Vignette Design Blog

Vignette Design blog ~ Dining Room

La Von Kersting

House Beautiful ~ Allison Paladino Designer

Country Living  Kevin Reiner

New Traditional Living Room via Baers




Jan

Roses Are Real

Hey!  How are ya’ll?   I love flowers.  I especially love roses.   Their beauty can always be counted on.  These babies have held on really well!

But I absolutely am in love with fabric that showcases their beauty.  It just doesn’t get better than that!

I have been ‘playing’ again.  Rose covered fabric with dishes that wear roses.  This sits on my book of roses.

There are different opinions on faux or real flowers.  I don’t care, they can both be beautiful.

What’s your favorite flower?

Which way do you lean?  Faux or real?  Can you always tell the difference?

I must tell you that real roses were used in this post.    The faux roses were mixed in with them!  Gotcha!!  Have a good weekend!




Jan

New Trends 2015

House Beautiful magazine recently asked designer Scot Meacham Wood, formerly of Ralph Lauren and now owner of his eponymous design firm a question about his design trend predictions for 2015.  To sum up his answers, they included;

 1. Color.  More saturated hue than early 2010s.  Deeper, darker colors and more combinations of hues.

2. Details. Pared down, minimal rooms moving out. Look for contrasting drapery linings and trimming for sofas and arm chairs.

 

3. Brass.  Keep a eye out for brass lighting, drapery hardware and kitchen/bath hardware.  Should be subdued. More Dowton Abbeyish!

 

4. Wallpaper.  Wallpaper is coming back strong.

 

After reading this, I wanted to start jumping up and down!  Literally I did let out a whoop!  Why?  Because these colors speak to my heart.  I am very optimistic that there will be a shift in home décor this year.  Or at least it will gradually start changing.  It sounds like we will be back to richer warmer interiors.

 

Could Dowton Abbey have been a big influence?

 

 

 

 

But I might be a little prejudice as I love red!

 

 

 

 

One Kings Lane has a list of paint colors that are the hot colors.  Coastal Blue dining rooms is at the top of the list.  "It should be paired with  Dark accents—stained-wood chairs, black picture frames, touches of iron and jewel-toned upholstery."

 

 

 

One King's Lane loves Chappell Green from Farrow & Ball (don’t let the name fool you—it’s plenty blue!).

 

 

 

  Personally why not bring in the gold frames?  Vintage gold would go with the chandelier.  You can see the color of it reflected in the mirror.  I don't like the black with the wall color.  The green is very similar to the blue green that was popular in the nineties.  I still love the color in the right room with the right light.  It pairs well with the deep jewel tones.

 

 

 

And wow it's close to my  green walls!

 

 

 

And it certainly works with my wallpaper.  The other colors listed (in order) are: 2.  black living rooms.  3. gray master bedrooms  4.  white bathrooms      5.  smokey green kitchens  6.  chalkboard painted kids bedrooms. ( I don't have first hand knowledge on this but I have read kids with asthma should not have this in their room)   7.  canary yellow front doors   8.  Marsala everything!  Though they prefer in small rooms.

 

 

 

It sounds like there will be a gradual warming in decorating.  I am excited to see if these predictions do come about.  I received no compensation for this post.

 

 

 

Jan