Rock On

I love my wood floors. We have wood floors in every room except the master bath. They are beautiful and add such warmth and a look to our home that no other flooring could match. They are also a source of anxiety. About scratching and gouging and other wood floor disasters. Everything, and I do mean everything (even the willow laundry baskets) that comes in contact with the floor has felt pads on it's bottom.

Which brings me to my question. How do people that have wood floors have rocking chairs and not end up with scratched floors? If I could figure that out I would so buy this rocking chair. It's on sale at Modern Dose. I would buy it in orange.

My Treasure:His Trash

The Mr. just doesn't get my design sense sometimes. Years ago I fell in love with Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic style and thrifted, painted, and chipped my romantic pink and green heart out. All over the house. I saw the potential of shabby chic everywhere. I got the concept of shabby chic. The Mr.? He got the shabby part but never the chic part. "Why in the world are you dragging that home?" "Ugh, it's soooo old and used" "My grandmother had one of those and threw it in the trash when it looked like that".

Fast forward and all the shabby chic has been gifted or re-thrifted. Clean modern mid-century lines now. One of my favorite pieces is a wonderful Noguchi lamp. It is graceful and delicate and sits all alone on our black Calvin dresser. When it arrived at our house, the Mr. agreed it was "neat" but really thought it would be so much better if you "could take that red sticker and name off the bottom". Ummmm, that's the artist's signature.

Lighting Up My Life

I love lamps and interior lighting. When we remodeled our home last fall, we were able to replace all of our lighting and lamps. We went for a simple, clean line and found a lot of what we liked in the George Kovacs line. Very minimalist, very functional and very reasonably priced (for lighting). Here are a few photos from around the house.

George Kovacs in the Dining Room. The stainless steel bar slides up and down allowing for different heights of the line of lights.

George Kovacs in the Master Bathroom. He's everywhere.

George Kovacs at our bedside...great reading lights, too. This style light is sometimes called a "marriage-saver".

From Ikea--love the pattern it throws on the wall of the family room

This paper shade lamp on the master bedroom dresser is an Isamu Noguchi tower. I love the delicate little feet and the soft glow from the pleated rice paper shade.

Pantry Perfection At Last!

A big thank you to Lydia at The Perfect Pantry for featuring my pantry----its one of my most favorite areas of our home. If you are visiting my blog from Lydia's site, thank you for coming over and please take a look around...leave a comment or two---I love to read what you have to say.



Here's a photo I took the other day---as I was walking down the hallway into our living room, the sun was coming through the plantation shutters and left these sun streaks on the wall---I think they look like brush strokes of an abstract painting...Free art appearing on our walls every morning! What a deal!

The View from the Cheap Seat

When it came time to furnish our remodeled family room, I wanted clean lines with a mid-century contemporary look. I wanted this Harry Bertoia chair for the corner. I love the simplicity of the diamond mesh and the texture of the metal gridwork. It was a little (OK a lot) out of my price range. $856 here.












I found this instead. Similar butterfly type design and the wicker adds texture appropriate for a family room. I found it in the back sale corner of our local Pier 1. Sorry, but I can't seem to find it available on line anywhere to even tell you what the name of it is. The cost? $49.


Six months ago when I bought this chair, after coveting the Bertoia, I felt I compromised. Today, I LOVE this chair. It is comfortable and is perfect for the corner it graces. There's a great view from the cheap seat.

Hall Monitor

When we remodeled last fall I looked for large pieces of artwork that were contemporary, had some texture and were inexpensive. I found a great site that specializes in Finnish imports, including Marimekko fabrics. I ordered a 2 yard piece of fabric and 4 large stretcher bars that snap together to make a frame. I then stapled the fabric around the frame nice and taught and hung on the wall of the gallery style hallway that connects the living area to the guest bedrooms, bath and study. Instant art at an affordable price.

That's No Lady---That's My Sofa!

I love my two small scale sofas in our front room. They are from Room & Board and I ordered them off their website after receiving just a small fabric swatch in the mail. I could not have been happier with my selections. These 2 pieces are armless and have very deep and wide seats. They remind me of big-hipped ladies. Graceful and feminine yet with a substantial presence.

The Big Picture

I love our Clyde Butcher photographs. Clyde is often referred to as the Ansel Adams of the Everglades and his studio and galleries are both within a 2 hour driving distance from our house. This big photo of the Loxahatchee hangs in our living room. The top photo is taken up close (a photo of a photo) and looks like you could step right in to the glade. The bottom photo shows the framed piece on our wall. It is about 5 feet wide and 3.5 feet tall. Our whole house remodel last Fall was pretty much centered around this piece. We are fortunate to have 3 more Clyde Butcher photos that hang in our dining room in a gallery type setting. They are beautiful.

Clyde is an interesting character and holds an annual "muck about" in the Everglades behind his Ochopee gallery each Labor Day weekend. Looks like a group of us will be going this year. But not the Mr....no mucking for him.

Pantry Raid

I love my pantry. When we remodeled the kitchen of our 70's ranch house a few years ago, we opened up what was then the laundry room off the kitchen and created an "annex" to the small kitchen. When we remodeled the entire house this past Fall, we added the wood floor and new paint and some finished cabinetry to the pantry to make it even more inviting. Our galley kitchen is small and I prefer a very uncluttered look- so the pantry is a perfect addition. I keep my "I like to play barista at home" kit on the one counter. There are lots of cubbies and over head storage for large pots and pans and a floor to ceiling dry goods cabinet. The washer and dryer serve as extra counter storage during holiday feasts.

I love looking at other people's pantries, too. I am inspired by organization. Lydia's blog, The Perfect Pantry takes a peek into real people's pantries. I am so thrilled that she will be featuring my pantry on her blog sometime in June! I will let you know when that happens.

For a look at a presidential pantry, check out the White House Museum site here.

Insert [Art] Here

When we remodeled the house last Fall we turned our master bedroom into a spa-like oasis. I love our bedroom. It reminds me of a Manhattan loft. The only thing possibly missing is a fantastic piece of art over the bed. I say possibly because I am not sure if the room even needs one more thing in it. But if it did, it would be over the bed and it would be something fantastic and original. Like this:

This is a watercolor by the late Lester Pancoast from Miami. He was a landscape architect and artist that did a lot of studies of palm trees. I love his use of color and the abstract way he captured the light filtering through the fronds.

I am still not sure of the need for artwork though. With the color of the room, Tornado Watch by Valspar, it may not be a good idea to go hanging palm trees over the bed.