time for some small changes in my home

In my last post (I know, it's been awhile), I was explaining how we lived in a ranch-style house and that we basically lived on the main level. That we have a family room in the basement, but we're never down there. I also explained how we're at the age where retirement is looming, and that we need to decide if we're staying or moving. We started looking at other housing options by looking at homes in a nearby over-55 community. For various reasons, we have decided this particular housing development is not the right place for us.

In the meantime, I decided why not take advantage of the basement family room while we still didn't have any problem with the stairs? Besides, our living room is small and the wall by the fireplace is the only space we have for our TV. Not that this is a bad thing, but we don't have a foyer. So when you walk into the front door of our house, you're immediately in the living room. You're staring right at the TV. This was the only current (ish) photo I could find of the living room that shows the TV - from last fall. 

Another negative thing about having the TV in this space: the glare from the windows.

We purchased a big rug from HomeGoods to anchor the living space (the floors are painted cement; long ago we had carpet but had a basement flood...the contractor said at the time that even if we put down laminate, if we ever had a basement flood again, that the water would go under the laminate and ruin it...so he suggested just having the floors painted). Then we moved the TV and media stand downstairs.

Ta-da! A usuable space once again. We're not big TV watchers, but sometimes on the evenings where Brian has the next day off, we've been enjoying our time watching TV downstairs. We're currently watching Season 3 of The Bear.

Tucked in back of the living area is a little alcove where Tim used to have his drum set. It now holds the treadmill and some other exercise equipment. To the right of this alcove is a small hallway with a door that leads into the unfinished part of the basement. Same with that bi-fold white door that you see. 

You can see in this wider angle of the room, that behind the couch are bookcases and a L-shaped bar. That bar area came in handy when our boys were little and we'd have birthday parties in the basement. It was a great area to spread out all the food. Same for when the boys were teens and they'd have their friends over: a great space for kids to hang out and use the bar top for pizzas, pop, and snacks. The bar has cabinets built in behind it, so that's where I store all my large kitchen appliances and big serving pieces and platters.

A view of the bar...not a very attractive area, but at this point in our lives, we don't have any desire to change it. It's "good enough" for our use right now. The wall with the staircase behind it used to have an assortment of metal faux-vintage signs on it, but I recently took them all down. Was tired of looking at it. 

Back upstairs, I moved the console table from Brian's office to the space where the TV and media console were. It's a weird place to put anything, with this wall being right next to the angled fireplace and needing enough room to walk into the kitchen or hallway. I don't think builders think about furniture placement or design challenges. ;-)

 

Thanks for still being here and leaving such nice comments, even though I've been posting sporadically. 
💓

choosing lamps for the bedroom

Hello, friends! It's been way too long. I think this seemingly never-ending winter has gotten to me. I've had no desire to write a blog post. I've noticed on Blogland in general, new postings have been way down since January. Perhaps everyone feels the same way...just kind of blah and waiting for spring. On top of it, the past few weeks I've had really bad back pain. I'm prone to it. I have three herniated disks and if I don't keep active with walking and yoga, my back hurts. This time, it's been my left hip, along with spasms in my buttock. I guess I'm my own pain-in-the-a**. Anyway, my wonderful yoga instructor is also a massage and bodywork therapist, plus she's in school for physiology. I saw her last week for bodywork and she worked on me for two hours! I'm doing better since then and following instructions of self-care. And doing more walking. Walking feels good. Since it's still so darn cold here, when I run errands, I walk the entire store instead of just going straight to what I need. I've also been back on my treadmill - boring, but necessary. My worst time is sleeping when I try to roll over to the other side. My hip doesn't like that. And when I get out of bed in the morning, I get the spasms. It could be some arthritis in my hip. It's so fun getting old. (Insert random photo of blissed-out cat because no one wants to see photos of hips or treadmills.)

On to better stuff. As I've said before, I take forever to get a room put together the way I really like it. We've needed new lamps for our bedroom for years and it was just something I never got around to. I finally got tired of looking at mismatched lamps that were also the wrong size. I wasn't sure exactly what size lamps to buy for our bedside tables, so I turned to my best friend, Google. Several professional interior design sites said to measure your nightstands - mine are 27" tall - and that your lamps should be 2-3" higher than your nightstand. That would mean I would need lamps that were 29 - 30" tall. So I headed to HomeGoods and found 29" lamps that I thought would look good in our bedroom.

Wrong. Too overwhelming. Too much white. I felt like when I walked into our small bedroom, all I noticed were the lamps. Back they went.

Then I tried Target. I like that you can buy the base and shade separately. They also have frequent 15-20% off sales on lighting, so that was a bonus. Lamps are expensive! This time I chose a beige base with a gray shade. Wrong again. I felt the lamps were simply too big and overwhelming; that the base looked like pineapples; and the gray shades clashed with the wall color. Back they go to Target.

Third time's a charm! For starters, I went with a medium-sized lamp instead of a large. I liked the clear base, so I got those again. And when looking at shades, I found these white ones with a silver swirl. They're not as stark as plain white and the silver goes well with the wall color. You're not going to believe where I got these lamps: Meijer grocery store, of all places! Just like withTarget, you can pick your base and shade separately. And luck would have it, they were having a buy one, get the second one 1/2 off sale. 

 The only thing that's driving me nuts is the stickers on the base. Why do stores have to do this? I started picking at the sticker with my thumb nail and it barely chips away. I mean, these are stuck on good. I turned to Google once again and I see there's ways of getting stickers off acrylic, so I'll have to try some of the ideas and see what works.

 

Where have you had luck finding lamps?

all in due time

Hello there! Happy New Year!  My first post of 2019...I'm behind. I'm having problems getting the photos from my phone to automatically upload to my laptop (through OneDrive) again. Some upload and others don't. So aggravating.

There's been a few small decorating changes at Comfy House. You might remember this fall canvas art that I hung in my bedroom last September. While the colors went well in this room, once winter came I didn't feel it was appropriate anymore. Too fall-ish looking. So what to put above the headboard instead? I like those sunburst mirrors, but I didn't want anything too heavy on this wall. I get paranoid at the thought of something that heavy possibly falling on us while we're sleeping. 

While shopping at HomeGoods recently for rugs (which we didn't buy), I saw this artwork and thought it might work above our bed. I'm trying to keep the bedroom serene-looking. These prints aren't too heavy either - and are hanging on double hooks. So I'm not worried about them falling on our heads while we're sleeping. Ignore the price stickers still on the glass. I wasn't sure at the time if we'd be keeping them. And thank goodness for Brian who knows how to measure and hang things evenly. I can eyeball where I want to hang things and I'm usually spot on, but when it comes to hanging two things together like this and getting it just right, I'm hopeless.

I think this artwork will look great year-round. Now to find matching lamps for our side tables. Why are lamps so freaking expensive?!

Since Tim moved out a couple of months ago, we haven't done much with his room. We want to make this room into a guest room, but yet with space for Brian to have his own desk and some space for his personal stuff. We found this gorgeous art deco desk on Facebook Marketplace. Brian was smitten when he saw it. The lady we bought it from was so nice. When we were at her house checking out the desk in person, we mentioned that we had to go to Home Depot to rent a truck to haul the desk home. She said that was ridiculous and that she had a big truck and would be happy to help us load it up and deliver it to our house. So here it is in all its glory in what-was-Tim's-room. That framed photo is a vintage map of the Chicago Rapid Transit Line. Brian grew up in Chicago and is a huge fan of anything Chicago, especially if its vintage (like him). We just need to find a frame for it so we can hang it on the wall. And we also need to find a desk chair. Brian wants that would be fitting with this desk. So I'm keeping my eyes open on FB Marketplace and OfferUp and of course we'll look in vintage shops when we make our treks. Eventually the right one will come along.

In regard to making Tim's room a guest room, we're really limited on space. This is a tiny room - around 10x12. We're looking for some kind of twin bed...maybe a daybed or even a futon if it's comfortable. And since Tim took the curtains that were in this room, we need those, too.

The one thing I wouldn't let Tim take were the black and white framed photos on his wall. He actually only wanted two of them, but I told him that'd ruin the entire display. All of these photos are his except for the one of the bottom right - that's mine.

Lastly, this room will need a rug. That's why we were looking at HomeGoods. Even though we didn't find what we were looking for, at least we found the framed photos for our bedroom.

It'll eventually all come together.

Now to work on the computer and photo problems...

the yin and yang of fall

 We've had just a few sunny days in-between a ton of gloomy, rainy ones. On one of those rare, sunny days we took a hike in the nearby State Park.

The one thing we forgot is that the mosquitoes have been extra bad this year. We have a contract service that sprays for mosquitoes around our property every three weeks, so it was easy to forget that they'd be in abundance in the park. We had to walk with our shirts up around our necks to avoid the blood suckers. Other people passing us had their hoodies up over their heads, though with the sun beating down, it was hot. We were a sweaty mess by the time we got back to our car.

 This might've been a better idea to keep the skeeters off our heads.

I'm not big into mums, but I do buy one big bunch every fall for my front porch. I think they look pretty in this galvanized tub. I just plopped the entire pot down in there; I didn't replant them in the tub.

This big summer pot of annuals is still somehow going strong on my porch, too. Must be the combination of morning sun and all the rain we've had.

Otherwise, this is what the patio side of the house looks like right now: a tad dismal. We haven't been able to keep the patio furniture cushions out because of all the rain. Will we ever get to use the patio again before it's too cold? 🙁 It's been buried in wet leaves, too. This was after I used the leaf blower to clear off the patio and the furniture.

As I do every fall, I've been taking photos of the neighbor's glorious maple tree. A few days ago when we had a little bit of sun, the colors of the sky and tree were absolute perfection.

The gray, gloomy mornings call for candlelight on the mantel...

And little touches of fall around the house...I added some fall cheer to the small china cabinet in my kitchen by putting scrapbook paper on the back of the middle shelf.

I needed a new pillow for the living room couch. A trip to HomeGoods yielded this beauty. A saleslady who saw me looking at this pillow said it was her favorite - and the last one left. I love the colors and textures.

And it's reversible!

Homemade soups are back in my cooking repertoire again. A simple vegetable soup with a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan cheese hits the spot on cool days.

It's rainy here (surprise, surprise), so we went to the movies today to see A Star is Born. It was phenomenal. I can't say enough good things about this movie. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga blew me away. We were going to go to a fall fest tomorrow, but with all the rain, I'm sure it'll be cancelled. We need to do things like look for new eye glasses for Brian and check out washing machines and dishwashers (yes, we need both at once - ugh) at Home Depot.

Have a great weekend!