Tuesday, March 02, 2010

GIVEAWAY and What I Hate About My Home!

As bloggers, we tend to write a lot about
our new home fashions and
we bounce ideas around about
how to make our homes look prettier, cozier,
more elegant, more French, etc.

I've decided to take a time out
from that today
and share with you...
 the things that I HATE about my home!

First and foremost....
I hate the stripes on the wall
in the front living room AND dining room.

When we moved in 2 years ago,
the former tenants were using the front living room wall
to display guitars on!
They didn't leave the matching paint, so we've never attempted
to match it up so that we can paint over the stripes!

My second least favorite thing in the house
are these terrible cheap-looking wood rails
that separate the dining room from the front living room
and the kitchen from the den....
If you ask me, it was a cheap way to get out of adding walls!
It is SO hard to decorate around these hideous obstacles!

The third thing I hate about my home is the fact that we have
extremely HIGH ceilings and ledges.
(Okay, sometimes I like the ledges...)
and slanted ceilings
Every time I change my mind
about how I want to decorate the ledge,
my poor husband has to climb up
on the big ol' ladder and spend about
40 minutes listening to me say things like
"now stack that on the left"
"turn that on its side"
"scoot that over in front of the..."
you get the point...

I also hate the fact that I have a
teeny-tiny laundry room.
It's stuck between the hallway
 and the door/steps to the basement.
So you see, the room is the size of a small bathroom
and has a door on each side of it.
There's barely room to move in there
without closing yourself in first.

Other than these things and the fact that
 I want to paint my kitchen and bathroom cabinets white.
(and add a frame around the big ol' bathroom mirror)
I LOVE MY HOME!

I've found ways to work around its "flaws",
but I sure would like to fix them...

Now for the giveaway!
I'm going to have a contest...

I'm hoping to get some clever ideas
on how to easily change some of the things that I hate about my home.

I will choose one idea that I like the best
and the person who shared the winning idea will receive
either
A subscription to the home decor magazine of their choice
OR
A $25 Giftcard to the home decor store of their choice.

Leave a comment with your best idea
 for any of my home's "problem areas" to enter.

I will choose a winner on Sunday afternoon!
(March 14th)

A second chance to win...
blog about my contest and let me know you've done so!
The second place winner will receive
 a magazine subscription to any home decor magazine!

I look forward to getting some creative solutions from ya'll!





14 comments:

  1. I have those ridiculous ledges and niches too. I must say that you (I mean hubby) has decorated them quite nicely. :)

    As for the back of the hutch head over to Goodwill and pick up some old sheetmusic or the scrapbooking store for another color/style palette and modge podge an attractive backing onto the back of the hutch. A pretty back will make you less irritated about the railing. It would take less than an hour to do.

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  2. You have such a gift for display. I love all the old windows. I would have to be in your home to really give you good ideas...that can be arranged:-) Just paint those railings though. Talk with you soon. So excited about getting everyone together!

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  3. thanks for the chat ...I'm running out the door, but will be back SOON .

    we have alot to talk about!

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  4. I love your crazy ceiling! Nice place to display your goodies! I saw your note about stamping candles and you are right, it's tricky - you have to actually roll the stamp over the candles. I count tell you how many I've smeared but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy!

    Oh and I love the name Bailly! If we were to have a girl that and Riley are tops on my list! =) (Following your blog now!!!)

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  5. For the bathroom mirror.....don't put a frame AROUND it....get an antique frame (or one of your antique windows)...and hang in FRONT of it! I hung mine with a neat ribbon attached above the bathroom mirror. Give me your email address and I'll send you a photo!
    ~Ann White
    (from The Barn)
    sparkiewhite@gmail.com

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  6. Yes...the pitcher is from Alice's shop! I love it!!!

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  7. Okay here we go...for the rails...paint them (this is a must) maybe see if you can add fabric to both sides or even better..remove the spindles...then add the fabric. For the high ledges...just tell the hubby that he is in decor training 101! The stripes just need to be painted over...go with a new color...picked out by YOU! I do luv how you have displayed your goodies on the ledge:)

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  8. I have posted about your giveaway on my sidebar. Hope you get lots of neat ideas about your problem areas!

    Blessings,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  9. Okay first Paint over the stripes and the whole room with a new fun color that accents all of your lovely decor.
    The railings I believe were a way to separate the rooms with out closing them off. I think painted white you may like them better but perhaps adding half walls might be best. You would then have a back drop for furniture items such as your buffet without showing the back of it I love the Niche and the angle of it. I think it is great just how you have it!!

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  10. Well, this isn't cheap, but honestly, I have the champagne taste on a beer budget problem...I would take those railings down, paint them & place one of them on one of your ledges (sorry, hubs!) & I would have a half-wall put in their place (again, sorry hubs, if you're handy!). That would also possibly give you a shelf on top to sit things...I have the same issues w/ my laundry room & shelves in my master bath (poor husbands). I'm about to approach mine this weekend about climbing our 10 ft ladder to put some things above our shower. Can't wait to get his re-ax'n to that! :)

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  11. Well, first I would scrape a small paint sample of the color you wanted to keep and have it color matched at a paint store. It would keep you from having to paint the whole room, if that is an issue. Second, I would disguise those railings by connecting various sizes of old shutters, painted your wall color, or white, and simply attach them flat to the rails, or have them sitting there tri-folded. You could also use them as extra "wall" space! It would add separation to your spaces without being totaly walled off. The best part would be that it would not cost a lot to do it. You could buy new shutters or roadside finds!! And it could always be un-done. I have some of those ledges too, I just drag out the old trusty ladder, and take care of business, (by myself I might add!) But, one of those cool sliding ladders in a library would be super!! Hope you like my ideas! Rhonda

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  12. I read all these comments and I thought I would share what I thought would be a cute idea, I'm not sure if you finally changed the things you hated but for the railings you could find some picketed fence. If you have room (not sure what is near that area) then you could make the fence where you have a shelf between it. Ok, I'll explain: a fence then have the shelf near the top of the fence and then another fence. Hope that makes sense. I love the idea of a sliding ladder, make the ladder decor but usable. I hope you got rid of those strips, I'm not a lover of strips either. The best thing would be is to paint them and hopefully you did that since this post! Good luck with making the house hate free!!

    ReplyDelete

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