decorating Archives - Life with Dee

La Maison ~ Home, the French Way

March 1, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 9 Comments

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved to “play house”. No matter where I was, I nested. At home, my room was my sanctuary and I loved making it pretty and comfortable. Next door at my grandparents’ house, I would play by the hour in a corner of her den, setting up a little “house” in which to play with my dolls. On vacations I would even claim a little area as my own in which to play.

As a little girl I longed for the day I would have my own home. When David and I married, we rented a tiny, one bedroom apartment. Despite its diminutive size and our lack of furniture or much of anything else, I still enjoyed making it a home. We’ve since lived in four additional places in our nearly 35 years of marriage and in each one, I’ve done my best to make it attractive, comfortable and homey.

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From what I’ve read about the typical French woman, home is of vital importance. It is her sanctuary, her respite from the world, the place where she can be herself. The French woman may decorate her home in any number of styles and yet there is always something unique and personal about it. Perhaps because the French value their history and are more likely to renovate rather than demolish and rebuild, there is a sense of permanence in the typical French abode. Likewise, the passing down of treasured pieces of furniture and other items is common-place so you aren’t likely to see a French home furnished entirely with brand new furniture and decorated to look like the showroom of a furniture gallery. It’s more personal…a look that is the result of layering new and old items in a one-of-a-kind way.

French homes tend to be smaller than the typical American is used to, with rooms doing double duty. While newer American houses are likely to have two living areas, plus a dining room, the French woman living in an apartment probably only has one living area with a dining table at one end. While we seem to keep building larger homes with more rooms, the French woman wonders why a family is afraid of intimacy. I thought this quote from Entre Nous was interesting:

“Eventually, you Americans will have a separate room for every person, including a special bathroom for each pet, and your rooms will be so large you will be able to avoid authentic human contact at all costs!” (Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier pg. 193)

Hmm…makes you think, doesn’t it? I’m a loner by nature and value my privacy, yet even I am perplexed by many of the homes I see being built these days. I pretty much quit watching those house hunter shows on HGTV because I was rather put off by all the young couples with only one or two tiny children who absolutely HAD to have at least 4000 square feet, four bedrooms, four bathrooms, one or two offices and a separate playroom for the kids. While I do know that too many people crammed into a small space, especially without adequate storage, can be very stressful, I think we often go overboard the other way. There should be a happy medium, don’t you think? While I don’t have any personal interest in the “tiny house” movement, I’m truly pleased to see that some are beginning to consider smaller homes.

Another thing that is usually different about the French woman’s home is that her living room is generally set up in order to encourage conversation rather than being centered around the entertainment center.

Where electronica reigns in many traditional American living rooms, books are king in the French one, and they’re present everywhere: lined up in built-in bookshelves, spilling onto the floor in small piles with well-worn spines and dog-eared pages. (Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier pg. 192)

Now that’s something I truly share with my French sisters. My home is filled with books. The laundry room is the one room in my house without books and if I thought the cats would leave them alone, I’d probably have some in there as well. And while we do have televisions, I haven’t yet caved in on the issue of a large, flat-screen t.v. for the family room. When we bought this house, we bought a nice entertainment center to house the television and other equipment. When the doors are closed, all you see is a pretty piece of furniture and I insist on keeping those doors closed unless the t.v. is in use. It’s located next to our fireplace so the furniture is situated in such a way that we can just as easily watch a crackling fire as the latest sit-com. I know that media rooms are all the rage but I much prefer our library. We have a separate room with built-in bookshelves, nice stereo system, the piano and organ, and NO television. It’s a quiet retreat from busy-ness and too much input.

I’ve recently had a surge of my old interests in interior design and homemaking. I’m starting to spend more time puttering about, re-arranging decorative items and planning a few changes. David works long hours in a stressful business so I feel that the least I can do is make our home a peaceful sanctuary for him. I’m getting in touch with my “inner French girl” and seriously considering ways to make our home life more serene and pleasurable. I’m sure you’ll be reading more about this from me in the coming months and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Getting Cozy for Fall

October 12, 2013 By Deanna Piercy 4 Comments

My POW (Project Of the Week) was to decorate for fall. I started yesterday and pretty much finished up today. I still have some things left in my fall decorating box which I may add in the coming days and I do want to get some more pumpkins and some gourds. But for the most part it’s done. Come with me as I take you on a little tour.

First up – the coffee table:

And here’s a close-up view (yes, I need some more candles!):

I put some Autumn potpourri in the little brass container but since I’ve had it a very long time it didn’t have much scent. I sprinkled several drops of clove essential oil over it to refresh the scent. And speaking of scent, before I started working today I cut up a couple of dried up oranges, put them in a pot of water, and added cinnamon and cloves. I then let it simmer all afternoon giving the house a nice, Autumn scent. The flowers in the vase (which is actually a pretty cobalt blue which doesn’t show up in this photo) are from our yard. I also had some blooming goldenrod in there yesterday but we now know what plant David is allergic to. Oops.

I added a cream colored throw to the back of the sofa. And aren’t my giraffe pillows adorable? I am ridiculously happy with them. Oh, and I have decided what color drapes I’m going to use in this room. I got some excellent advice from a guy in a bar the other night. Ha! I’ll tell you more about that later, after I order the drapes.

The most time-consuming thing I did today was to thoroughly dust the edges of the stairs. As you can see in this next photo, I display books and my lighthouse collection on the risers. Most of the time I just take a feather duster to them but a few times a year I remove everything and dust very carefully. That’s what I did today. I then wrapped the bannister in a fall garland.

As you may notice, we never have finished the skirtboard on the staircase. This is because we haven’t been able to decide what color to paint it. I think we have a plan, though. Maybe. And that huge, blank white wall? Still thinking about that. We’ve only lived here going on 16 years. Wouldn’t want to rush things. Oh, and do you see that ship wheel in the lower left corner of the picture? We won that in an auction in New Orleans and it’s going to be mounted on the fireplace. Someday.

David bought this antique oak table in this next photo for my 16th birthday. Here it is dressed for fall. You can’t see it very well in this photo but there are three stacks of books along the edge which backs up to the sofa. These are the books I bought at the library book sale (minus the cookbooks which are in the kitchen). It may sound a little silly but whenever I bring home new books I like to keep them out for awhile rather than putting them on bookshelves. It’s my way of welcoming them into our home. Okay, that does sound a little crazy unless you also think of books as friends.

In the background of the photo you can see a glimpse of the fireplace. I forgot to take a picture specifically of it, but it’s decorated with fall foliage and a cornucopia.

This is next photo shows one of my favorite areas to decorate seasonally. I covered the buffet with an antique lace tablecloth which had belonged to my grandmother. My Harry Potter book collection is on display (almost all are First Editions), plus one of my giraffes, as well as some skulls and a little pirate chest. The steamboat which is resting across the books was given to us by Kadi, our son’s girlfriend. She found it at a yard sale. It needs some small repairs and I want to set up a special display for it – perhaps on a display shelf along with one of the pictures I have taken of the steamboat in New Orleans. Be sure to note the TWO blooms on my peace plant. I’ve never had two at the same time before.

Here is our entry table. I put a fall tablecloth on it, as well as a vase of fall flowers. I need to buy some more candy for the little pumpkin-shaped crystal candy dish and I’ll probably also do a little display of mini pumpkins and gourds.

And finally, I put some Halloween clings on the front storm door. It’s really hard to get a picture of them because of the reflection but in addition the pumpkins you can see, there is also a little banner on top which says “Happy Halloween” and a few little bats scattered about.

And of course, Shiloh photo-bombed the picture. Isn’t he cute? He needs a Halloween bandana.

POW – October 7, 2013

October 8, 2013 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

Here it is 10:30 p.m. and I’m just now posting. I meant to have a picture to share but, well, it’s a long story which I may tell later.

I’m going to give that “Project Of the Week” thing another go. This week my POW is to decorate for fall/Halloween. If you don’t see pictures of my decorated house by Friday, feel free to point out that fact.

Do you decorate for fall and/or Halloween? If so, do you have your decorations up yet? If you have pictures I’d love to see them.

New furniture!

September 27, 2013 By Deanna Piercy 2 Comments

I am so excited about our new family room furniture. We moved into this house nearly 16 years ago and bought a matching sofa and love seat, chair and ottoman, coffee table, end table and entertainment center for this room. It was our first house with two living areas and we put our former living room furniture in the library (it’s still there). It was the first time we had bought much in the way of new furniture. We’ve been fortunate to have inherited a number of pieces from each of our families. I love antiques and things with a history.

The wood pieces we bought for this room are still in excellent condition, other than a little additional “distressing” on the coffee table. But we purposely chose something that people would feel comfortable putting their feet up on. I want my house to be attractive but more importantly, I want guests to feel at home here. And apparently they do. I cannot tell you how many of the kids’ friends have napped on our old sofa and love seat. They have served us well but finally crossed that line from comfortably shabby to just shabby. And the frames had broken down as well. One was propped up with a stack of wooden blocks and the other just sagged.

When we were in the city to celebrate my birthday a few weeks ago, David and I decided it was time to buy new furniture. We knew we wanted red leather and after looking at LOTS of sofas and careful consideration, we decided on these:

Aren’t they gorgeous? Real leather, made in America, and with hardwood frames which won’t break like our old ones. The cushions have down in them so they are really comfortable. And the seats are not so deep that I need help getting back up from them. Has anyone else noticed that so many sofas these days seem to be built for people at least 6’5″?

They were delivered Wednesday evening. There is also an ottoman but it arrived from the factory damaged so they’ve ordered us another. Now I’m in the process of updating the rest of the room. The existing drapes (also purchased when we bought the house) are a deep burgundy velvet which don’t go with these sofas. Plus they are terribly faded. We ordered plantation style wood blinds for the window but I’m still trying to decide on curtains/drapes. I’m going to add some black accents in the form of new lampshades and perhaps some iron accessories. The painting between the window and sliding glass door is going elsewhere and I’ve ordered an antique-looking map of New Orleans framed in black to go in its place.

We have an antique ship’s wheel which used to hang in a New Orleans restaurant which we are going to hang over the fireplace. Just as soon as David figures out the best way to hang it. It’s HEAVY! I’d also like to get decorative rugs to put under the coffee table and the antique table behind the sofa. Speaking of that table, David bought it for me at an antique store in California for my 16th birthday. Isn’t that sweet?

Before the sofas arrived I was trying to decide on accent colors for the room. And then I took a closer look at this:

I'm using this piece of original art as color inspiration for our family room. Deep red, black, tan and blue.

A friend who fronts a local metal band, Our Mother’s Martyr, did this for a fundraiser a few months ago. David had the highest bid. It’s a little hard to get a good sense of the colors from this picture but in addition to the prominent dark red (like our sofas) there is black, a bit of tan and a smoky blue. That’s when it occurred to me that blue would be a nice accent color and would brighten up the room a bit. I had some blue accent pillows in the library and our bedroom which I’ve temporarily moved into the family room until I find just the ones I want. The blue placemats on the table and coffee table were hand knit by my grandmother many, many years ago. Several of our paintings in the room have touches of blue as well so I think it will all come together nicely. Someday we’d like to replace the green berber carpet with wood flooring but despite being nearly 16 years old it’s still in good shape so that will have to wait.

So that’s what’s been happening around here the past couple of days. I’ve also been spending a lot of time on Pinterest getting inspiration for this room. If you’re interested, take a look at what I’ve been pinning:

Pinterest: Family Room

Tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment. Oh, and if you find an online source for reasonably priced black lampshades I definitely want to know where. I’m having a heck of a time finding some which aren’t $100 a piece. Yikes.

Oh, and here’s a picture of our old sofa:

Our old sofa (there was a matching love seat, too)

There was also a matching love seat and David’s chair and ottoman which are a light tan. We moved the chair and ottoman into the library. It’s a little shabby but such a comfortable place to curl up with a book so we’ll keep it for now. Or knowing us, for another 15 years. Ha!

The Value of a Homemaker

September 17, 2013 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

Hosted by Living, Learning, and Loving Life, Cabin Goddess, and Tea with Dee.

For one day, we want to drown out negativity and celebrate the beauty and pride of women. These days it seems that some people want us to be ashamed of being women. They want us to believe that we’re less: less intelligent, less important, less human. There is so much negativity out there. For one day, we want to flood the internet with positive messages about women.

I’m excited about participating in “Celebrating Womanhood” for the second year. These days there is so much negativity about, well, everything so it’s wonderful to have this opportunity share a positive message about women.

Last year I wrote about “Une femme d’un certain age”, or being an older woman (I prefer the French phrase, though.) and all the joys that brings. Yes, really! I considered several topics for this year’s blog event and ultimately settled upon “The Value of a Homemaker”. Might as well write about what I know, right?

Let’s go ahead get something out of the way right off the bat. While my current status is that of a full-time homemaker, I’ve also worked out of the home, both part-time and full-time. Even while working I still considered “making a home” an important part of my daily life as I’m sure many women do, no matter which box they tick on a census form. I have nothing but respect for women who toil 8 hours a day at a paid job and then come home to cook dinner, wash a load of laundry, tidy up, etc. If they also have children the work load increases tremendously. I know. I’ve done it. So let’s put away any hint of the so-called “mommy wars”. All work has value, whether paid for or not. All women have value, no matter their work status.

So let’s talk about homemaking. One thing I learned while doing a bit of research for this post is that “homemaking” is largely an American term for managing a home. I think this is one thing we Americans got right. “Homemaking” seems to encompass so much more than “housekeeping”, the more common term elsewhere. While housework or cleaning might be the first thing many think of when they hear the term “homemaker”, there’s so much more to it. I know many women who may not be the best housekeepers yet they put other skills to use in the home and are most definitely “homemakers”. Making a home is so much more than dusting and mopping and scrubbing toilets.

Think about the homes you’ve been in where you felt most relaxed, welcomed and loved. They might not have been the most spotlessly clean. The food may not have been of gourmet quality. The decor may not have looked like a spread in Better Homes and Gardens. And yet there’s an element of home within. That’s what a dedicated homemaker can accomplish and it’s no small feat.

It’s knowing how to manage one’s time to ensure that the basics are covered. If you spend your entire day scrubbing the baseboards but run out of time to prepare a meal, home isn’t going to be a very comfortable place that evening. If you decorate every room of the house for the current holiday season but everyone is out of clean underwear, an important element of homemaking is missing. Balance is the key and finding it requires a lot of trial and error. It’s a skill which I believe deserves honor. In a society which often determines a person’s value by how much money they earn, homemaking rarely gets more than occasional lip service.

Home. The very word speaks warmth, comfort and peace. Home is more than where we keep our stuff. Home is where we keep our hearts. It’s where we break bread with family and friends. It’s where we rest and love and pursue our hobbies. Home is where we retreat when the world has been too much with us. A homemaker’s loftiest goal should be to make the home a sanctuary for those who live there. And in my opinion, the value of a homemaker who achieves this is inestimable.

Farewell, Christmas…

January 8, 2013 By Deanna Piercy 4 Comments

Just a little tour of our house decorated for Christmas:

It’s funny what you see when you photograph or video tape your house. It probably looks a little cluttered to some of you. Part of that will be gone when I put away the decorations but the truth is that, despite the fact I like things tidy, I’m in no way a minimalist. If you could see my parents’ house you’d probably understand. If they were to hang an “OPEN” sign on the front door and set up a counter with cash register, you’d start looking for price tags. It looks like a cross between an antique store and malt shop. They have a lot of really cool stuff and while it’s a bit much for me to live with personally (I hate to dust!) I do feel comfortable there.

While I can appreciate those perfect houses with just a few careful chosen objets d’art and lots of open space, I’m personally more comfortable with a little cozy clutter. My favorite design style is an English country look complete with wellies by the door and a dog snoozing in front of the fire. Or how about the cottage in the movie, “The Holiday”? Take a look at this photo tour of Rosehill Cottage and tell me it’s not delightful and charming.

Still, I always do some decluttering after I put away Christmas, or at least when spring arrives. It might be a little later this year since we apparently have some frigid weather heading our way later this month and for some reason I feel warmer with a bit of cosy clutter.

What about you? Are you a minimalist, clutter bug, or somewhere in between?

Traumatic Tuesday…

October 5, 2010 By Deanna Piercy 5 Comments

Okay, so that post title is a little overly dramatic but I currently have eight men on my roof scraping off old shingles. Perhaps that doesn’t sound like a big deal but for a “Highly Sensitive Person” the noise and vibration can be rather overwhelming. I just might need to spend some time at the library but for now I’m coping by listening to The Beach Boys with David’s noise-canceling headphones.

So, how about an update on my “30 Day Challenge”? I’d love to tell you that I’ve done something from my list every day but my mama taught me to always tell the truth. I hope to do a few things from my list today since I can’t do my usual Tuesday household tasks (David has already walked mud into the house so there’s no point in vacuuming right now). I did get one extra thing done yesterday, though.

Every Sunday our church has fresh flowers in the chancel. Oftentimes, people will sign up to purchase them in honor or memory of someone and they will put a notice in the bulletin. Sometimes no one signs up for them though so we have a little arrangement with another couple in church. On Sundays with an even date they buy the flowers and we do so on the odd Sundays. I must admit I’m always rather pleased when no one has signed up for the flowers on “our” Sundays. Shh…don’t tell David. 😉 Anyway, this past Sunday was the 3rd so I have a lovely bouquet to enjoy this week. Here’s a photo:

It’s hard to get the perspective from this photo but the bouquet is huge. And while a stylized arrangement like this is perfect for the church, it’s a little too formal for home. I like to rearrange the flowers and put them in my own vases. I usually divide it up into two or three smaller arrangements. I’ve been wanting to do a different decorative arrangement in my kitchen window and the color of these flowers is perfect in there. Here’s what the window looked like before:

Yeah, it had gotten rather cluttered and needed bit of editing. By the way, that’s a pineapple cutting I’m trying to root in that spaghetti sauce jar. I had a few Perrier bottles I’d saved and I thought they would work as vases:

Here’s a broader view.

Oh, and that thing hanging down on the upper right? Smoke detector. Funny how you don’t see those things until you take a photo. Don’t worry, we have a whole house security and smoke detection system so that one is superfluous. Guess I’d better see about removing it.

And here’s the smaller arrangement of flowers in my own vase:

And now for a little lagniappe, here’s a photo of a small project I did a couple of weeks ago:

I’ve been wanting a little canopy-type arrangement on the wall behind our bed and it occurred to me that I could use some of the leftover tulle from Lisa’s wedding to fashion something like what I envisioned. I already had the flowers, too. Eventually I’d like to get some nice, sheer fabric which drapes better than tulle and come up with a better way to anchor it at the top but for now I think this is pretty. And it was free. Again with noticing things in pictures, I see that there are cords showing under David’s bedside table. I had them wrapped up in an elastic band and tucked up behind the table but obviously they have fallen down. Must take care of that!