Romantic French Style Winner

Before I announce the winner

 I want to sincerely thank each one of you who entered.

And a special thank you for the ones who went the extra mile

by blogging about it and placing my button on your sidebar.

I appreciate you all so much.

There aren't enough hours in the day

 to thank each one of you individually,

for participating in and making a success of

Vintage Inspiration Friday.

So I hope you know how grateful I am for your friendship and support!

My two go-to books for Romantic Style

and a pendant necklace from me...

Goes to Laurie from Heaven's Walk!

(Love Laurie and her wonderful style)

And you know, Fall is my favorite time of the year,

so be watching for some Fall themed

Vintage Inspiration Fridays

where we'll be linking up mantles, porches, tablescapes

and more fun than you can shake a big fat pumpkin at!

group hugs,

Design Challenge #7 Amanda's Creative Escape

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a good weekend!

It's that time of the week again,

and today we meet Amanda.

Many of us know her as the "Girl in Pink"

Amanda has a lovely living room with a beautiful vintage flair,

but she has an idea to transform that little used space into a place to create.

She's looking for a few ideas how to take what she has now

and make it into a functional yet beautiful creative space

that more fits her needs and family lifestyle.

But before we start I have a favor to ask.

Let's try something new by not reading other people's comments first.

Just leave a comment on what you think might work for Amanda's space.

It''s easy to read everyone else's comments, and then not comment,

because we feel we don't have anything to add.

But each of us has something to share and a unique take on the space.

It doesn't have to be long and involved just share your thoughts.

Remember we're not all decorators and designers,

just say what comes to your head.

Here's Amanda, "In her own words":

Here we a have a little "formal living room." But I think I'd like to start the makeover by calling it something else entirely, because we really have very little use for a formal living room! The title that best describes the transformation I am hoping for would be "The Creative Escape." We rarely do any formal entertaining since the little ones entered our lives.

This is the first room that guests see when they enter our home. I would like it to better reflect the cozy, cottage, relaxed style of the rest of our home without having to completely start over with the furniture and accessories. At the moment I feel like it's a little too stuffy and the only time we really use and enjoy it is in December when our Christmas tree is set up in the corner!

I would love to have a beautiful crafting/creating room like Debra's and many of my other favorite bloggers who share their lovely spaces with us. I frequently use our dining table and buffet to prepare and "stage" my treasures for the antique shop and could see this spilling into the living room as well if I had more useful furniture pieces here. On the other hand, I would like to be able to easily store my clutter should we decide to have a dinner party. I also don't want people to feel like they've walked into my craft room when they first enter the house. Maybe I'm asking too much of this little space? What do you think?

Here are some specific things I've been considering that I could really use some help with!

1. I definitely want to slipcover the wingbacks, and I know they should be skirted as this room is far too leggy! But what color should I go for? I can't afford to reupholster the settee at this time...so the slipcovers will need to compliment the current upholstery.


2. We've decided to add a desk or armoire of some sort to house a computer and monitor. The question is what and where? This would definitely make this room more functional for us, but I don't want to see the computer when it's not in use...so I'm leaning towards an armoire, I think. Any other suggestions?

 3. I am constantly rearranging the furniture in here and can never seem to find an arrangement that works! I've taken photos of a few of the arrangements that I've tried. Which one looks best? What additional furniture pieces or accessories would make it look better? A floor lamp, area rug, throw pillows? What else?


4. The entertainment unit turned craft storage houses my sewing machine, fabric and an array of crafting supplies and tools. The secretary holds all of my vintage ephemera and stationary supplies. I could definitely use more storage pieces. What kinds of creative storage do you picture added to this space?

What else? I am anxious to hear your ideas! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts! And thank you Debra for this wonderful opportunity! I love the Design Challenge Feature and have really enjoyed reading about the other's you've posted! I can't believe my little project was chosen!


Best Wishes and Blessings,
Amanda

Thanks so much Amanda, and you're welcome!

Now let's help her with some great ideas to get her creative space into a reality!

 And please leave a comment for Amanda,

 the more ideas the better!

 thanks everyone, we're excited!



...I finally did it!!

Can I tell ya just how long I've wanted to do this...?

(here she is after only 5 hours paint time)

To paint this monstrosity of the 80's...

this octopus that inhabited my now pretty frenchy living room...

OK, I have to admit,

it started to look better when all the shades were removed.

Taking this puppy down was just NOT gonna happen.

it is about 5 foot wide and 5 foot tall,

and weighs a ton.

I think it has 23 or 24 candelabras attached.

So my husband found a ladder for me

and held his breath and prayed.

First thing was to clean over 9 years of dust and cobwebs off of it.

Above is the first coat of  "Creamy White" by Behr.

Yessiree girls and boys,

I brush painted this thing...no other choice.

And below is the second coat of a mix of creamy white, black, and almond

to get this yummy gray taupe, medium dark coat.

Dry brushed a sloppy coat.

Next a coat of Creamy White and the Almond (custom color)

dry brushed on top of all that.

Hard to see, but it has great "dimension" and subtleties.

I love this reflection!

Now, this room is about where I envisioned it several months ago.

I'm getting there!

I was so excited to post this I still have paint all over me

and I haven't cleaned up my mess.

more photos this week...!

Moral of this story?

Where there's a will there's a way!

linking up with

And Joy at Thriftin' on a Thursday

Now to see if I can get all this paint off.

xoxo,