Spring Living/Family Room 2017

Easter is fast approaching and I haven't shared the my Spring living/family room with you yet.   There's plenty of color and flowers to share.   Just by being born we are given so much color from the sky, grass and flowers.  I love to immerse myself in the colors nature provides.






The is very close to my home, as you can see we have greened up for Spring.  I love this spot, it always looks different.






Things were tweaked again in here.  This sofa was brought further into the room.  I scooted the reading chair into the corner behind it.  It sits further back than it appears in the photo.  It's a good spot for reading and Layla loves to watch the squirrels and birds here now.  On the chest, I brought the painting back in here of the red roof house with a garden of many flowers.  The two paintings are very different in style but I like the colors and it brings a little more happiness into the room.




New red and white pillow covers for each sofa from Etsy.




















And I am have been working on a little something in my dining room.....




Stay tuned!





Jan


The Scoop #270

Azaleas Indoors

We had chilly weather last night but we will be in the 70s today.  Spring is bursting out everywhere here.  I brought some azaleas indoors for a few pretty photos of them in the living room.  We had a lot of rain yesterday and there were a lot of azalea flowers on the ground and falling off the branches.  I decided to play with them and think it upped the pretty look!

I threw a white blanket on the sofa to catch the loose azalea flowers.





I had shot the photos with one set of pillows and decided to try another set.  These two pillows are actually more of a burgundy.  I think the last time I used them was in the Fall.   Do you have a favorite?




It's funny because I thought I didn't like these pillows in here and they were banished to upstairs but now they work.  Maybe it's the light this time of year affecting how the pillows appear.
 



Early in the morning with the sun hitting the back of the flowers and the aqua pillows that live on the sofa a lot.




We had our first tulip come up.












Meanwhile the curtain craziness is continuing....I have lost count on how many I have tried in the dining room.



Jan

Fabrics First!

Hi!  I am glad you came by today.  There's a beautiful home waiting for you to admire.  This home belongs to owners, architect Alex Kaali-Nagy and interior designer Karen Kaali-Nagy.  Alex hails from Europe and it's influence is apparent. He believes that rooms should not be intimidating and all rooms should have the same decorating feel.

In New England Home, "Karen feels the home's sense of peacefulness comes from the symmetry used throughout the home."  “I always work backward,” she laughs, “fabrics first, then wall color, furnishings and carpet."  I decorate exactly the same way!  We think alike!








The circular entry hall with it's spiral staircase.




The entrance hall with hand-painted wallpaper.




The dining room.




My heart stopped when I saw this room.  The large portrait with the floral drapes and the red sofa took me over the edge!  You can see the fabric that is used in the dining room on the chairs has the same hue of red in the living room making the spaces flow to one another.




Then I was surprised when I came across this view of the room.  The red sofa is the only red used in the room.  I am surprised it wasn't continued in the room in some way,  a few pillows with red would certainly help make it appear more balanced.  It almost looks like two separate rooms.




Later, I came across this photo with the furniture now placed in a definitely different room.




This is such a handsome room that is also cozy.



Karen does the cooking in the family.  She has two dishwasher and two refrigerators.   “We used Calacatta marble for the countertops, but topped the island with butternut. It’s a good balance,” Karen explains. "A butler’s pantry in  Brunschwig et Fils paper links kitchen and dining room for ease of entertaining."








They have two sons and this is one of their bedrooms.




The master bedroom is described as “Enveloping,” by Karen.



For more information go here. to European Union/New England Home.  You can see more of this home at the owner's site, The Kaali-Nagy Company here.





Jan

Couple of Changes

Hey!  How are ya’ll?  I made a couple of changes in the living room.  I like to leave the light blue pillow covers  with the roses on them on the sofa year round.  It breaks up the red on the sofas.  There are dried hydrangeas on the sofa table behind the sofa.

I left these roses to dry in the brass pitcher sitting on the coffee table and they have a fallish look to them.  The green throw I bought a decade ago!  Dried lavender rose petals scattered on top of the throw.

I tried a different look with the fall flowers on the sofa table here.  The container and the colors of the arrangement definitely say fall.  I like it next to the painting with gold frame.

Yes, they are faux!  I think they work really well for fall.

I couldn’t help but notice how the colors are so similar!    Red leaves ~ Red sofa.    Aqua blue sky ~ Pillows.    Green Leaves ~ Green painted walls.

Jan

Bringing In More Blue

Hey ! I hope you are doing good.   It’s July and steamy!  This is the time of year I really get to craving blue.  Blue looks cool to the eye, makes you think about oceans, pools and water.  We are surrounded by trees here around the house, virtually everywhere you look outside are trees.  We even  have woods beside us.

So with the heat and all the green, I needed more blue around me.  See the little blue pillow went in the center of the sofa.  There is also a blue pitcher on the trunk.

I didn’t paint the living room blue but I have before.  Many times I tried to find the right color of blue!   I finally realized that wasn’t what I needed to do.  The white quilts on the sofas really helps cool things down.  The arms show on each side of the sofas but that’s okay with me, I gotta have a little red!

I flipped the runner over to it’s floral side with the blue gray background.  More blue!

 

And that all ties in with the rugs.  Going outside…..

 

 

We finished painting the porches.  I love the blue toile this time of year.  I have to warn you that you probably will be seeing a lot of blue until fall arrives.

 

 

Sweet tea and hydrangeas with zinnias.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan