Amy J. Bennett

This weekend I spent a lot of time shopping.  Finally with a plan in place I was hoping to go out, rack up on some great finds just as Sally said and make rather large checkmarks next to my to-do list.  No such luck.  I didn’t buy a thing.

And then today I priced out a few things like the mirrored doors and mirrors for the bathrooms and I’ve determined that mirror must have a little gold in it because the quotes I got were ridiculously high.

It’s not that we don’t have the money, it’s just is it ever wise to spend that much money on a purely aesthetic upgrade?  Maybe I’m too cheap but I just can’t do it.  Not to mention the fact that I may not have a job this time next year.  If anything, I need to be saving even more.

I know there are a few quick hits we’ll do right now.

• I’ve had the kitchen counter-top on the list for years now and now that I have a color pinned down and it’s a relatively cheap project, I’m going for it.
• The bathrooms really do need new tile to replace the stained linoleum.   Scott tiled our washer/dryer room for about $50 and it looks fantastic.
• I’d like to say I’m going to paint the bathroom since that’s cheap too but do I still want it all red without the mirrors?
• I want to do the lighting and I would when one of them is $100 a piece but when you add 6 or 7 of those up, it’s a little overwhelming.

I don’t know, I guess it all sounded grand on Friday and now, well, it still sounds grand.  More like a few grand.

Wow, so this morning was very productive..and FUN!  I basically had two professionals go through my entire house and tell me what I needed to change.  Sally is really her name and you can read more about her here.  She’s the Director of Creative Services at Hunter Douglas.  And my mom owns a Hunter Douglas gallery and has been making draperies for most of my life.

Sally took the lead while my mom gave input where necessary when she knew my tastes differed from what Sally proposed or just as a confirmation of a good idea. I ended up carrying a notebook around and had a full page of ideas by the end of the 2 hours.

I will try to share with you what she told me to do.  And I apologize mostly to Sally but also to you readers for the pictures you are getting ready to see.  Basically I had to go old school and paint the changes on pictures of the house I took today.  Truth be told, it was fun but it looks like Emma could have done it.  Scratch that…Lexi.

The biggest changes will be in the kitchen and master bath and just a few tweaks in the sunroom, hallway, kids’ room and hall bath.

Before kitchen:

OK, this is what’s happening:

• Replace the countertops with this Burnished Glaze formica.  Mainly for budget purposes we’re not doing granite.  We don’t plan to be here more than 5 years and it may out-do this neighborhood if we sink too much money into it.
• Change the sink to a beige porcelain.
• Put a biege/gold glass tile back-splash.  I love glass tile and think this will be cool.  She wants to do the back-splash in a lighter color since the floor, cabinets and counter top will now all be dark.
• I was going to put up recessed lighting but she suggested putting a Tiffany chandelier up to replace the current black and brass ceiling fan (puke) and then two pendant lights above the sink.  This would serve double-duty as a window covering since we have a blind already and don’t really have a privacy issue.
• Take down all the stuff from above the cabinets and replace it with rope lighting.
• Put down a 4×6 colorful rug in the center of the open area.
• Put a lamp on my yellow cabinet.  Nickel base with a neutral shade.

Before living room:

• Already out of this picture is a lamp she had us move from beside the glider to the recliner.  Our lighting was very unbalanced in the room.
• Add the lighting beside the TV.  She even sat and looked online to help us pick these out.  These are better because the light is shining out and not just up and down like some wall lighting.
• Since the main four pieces of furniture we have in the living room don’t really go together, she suggested replacing the two chairs (sort of left-overs) with two brightly colored/fun/modern chairs that matched on either side of the TV.

My office.  Just a few things to top it off.

• Put valences above the windows (I know it’s hard to see) with the same fabric that is on the doors.
• Replace the center recessed lighting with a fun chandelier.

Before Bedroom:

• My main concern was that plain wall to the side.  She suggested another large piece of art.  It looks small in the pic, but that is a King size bed.  My mom suggested I move the neutral tree picture to the side wall and then get another picture that is neutral and maybe a hint of red in it for above the bed.
• Get Scott to actually build the platform bed.  But that we knew.

Now for the master bathroom (excuse our bright orange towels!):

For the first time maybe ever, someone scared me with a wall color. I really wish I had on film my reaction to her suggestion to paint the bathroom…..RED.  Red is a very tricky wall color.  It can go orange.  It can look messy around the trim.  It can be loud.  It makes a statement.  BUT.  What I asked for in that bathroom was something bold.  I wanted it to be spa-like.  I wanted it fancy.

• Paint the walls red.
• In the niche above the sink, do counter-to-ceiling mirrors.
• Put in a sconce on each side wall at eye level.
• Put new lighting above the sink higher than the other two.
• Put a iron/clear glass chandelier above the toilet area.  (that was my idea, yay amy)
• Tile the floor in a neutral porcelain tile (mainly for resale)
• She suggested to keep our current counter and base.

OK, if this makes any sense:

So those were helpful RIGHT?? LOL

A few other random things:

• In the kids’ room, we should buy the shadow boxes from Pottery Barn and put the kids’ artwork.
• In the hall, I have 3 large collage frames.  She suggested using molding to build a very large frame around them and use wall lettering to put “Bennett” above them.  She said it wouldn’t look like “3 dots on a wall”.
• In the main bathroom, again she suggested counter to ceiling mirror.  She also suggested a neutral tile flooring again.  Although for the kids, she suggested doing the floor AND ALL THE WALLS with tile.  Or at least up to a chair molding height.  It’s an easy clean.
• She also rearranged things on my foyer table.  She says when doing tablescapes, to remember items should be grouped in 3’s.

So that’s it.  There are a few quick fixes here but mainly, Scott now has a very long to-do list and Mom and I have A LOT of shopping to do.

I am quite excited about tomorrow morning.  A few months ago my mom and her business hosted a benefit.  She had a designer from Hunter Douglas speak about 10 Designing Rules (something or other).  As part of the night, you could make a special donation to the cause and you’d also earn 2 hours of Sally’s time when she came back to town.  Guess who signed right up for THAT? Moi!  And I’m super-excited.

In her little pitch she said she’ll come in, go through the house and give advice.  She’ll pick paint colors, fabrics, rearrange furniture, whatever is needed (or at least that’s how I HEARD it). Our house isn’t that big so I don’t see that we’ll be rearranging furniture and I’m pretty happy with my wall colors but a few things I’d really like help with are as follows:

• Kitchen fabric color and curtain style.
• Kitchen counter color
• Living room rug…do I need one?  If so, how big, where and what color?
• General accessorizing.  I have all these cool little vases, statues and candle holders but I never put them in the right place.    Also, in her talk she suggested having lamps in your kitchen and bathroom but what kind do I need?  Color? Height? Style?  These are the things I’m clueless about.
• Whatever problem areas she sees and would like to comment on.  Do you ever go into someone’s house and think that just doesn’t work?  Usually it’s rude to say something but now I’ve paid to have her come in and say these things.  Lord help.

So yeah, I’m hoping to have some great design tips and pictures to share tomorrow.

What problem areas do you have in your house that you would have Sally help with?

So most of July 4th was spent cleaning surprisingly.  The kids spent the night at IL’s Friday and we had no plans until Saturday evening so we used the time to straighten up and clean out.

Sometime that afternoon the pool Sirens finally called loud enough and I settled in with my book just as the girls came home.  We stayed in the pool for the afternoon.  Mom, Dad and Heather joined us.  Mom had brought crab legs so we had those as well as hamburgers.  We finished out the night together watching Confessions of a Shopaholic.

The girls and I went to see some fireworks courtesy of our local minor league baseball team.  Both girls barely made it through the fireworks they were so late but it was a nice evening to be out.