front door and decisions, decisions

Oh, hello.

I recently ordered this decal for my front door from an etsy shop called Lighthouse Decals. Something fun; a bit of whimsy. Something we all need these days. 

I've been spending a lot of time online looking for certain needed things for our home: patio cushions and pillows, a rug and chair for Brian's office, a welcome mat for the front porch, an odd-sized frame for a print, a bench or banquette for the kitchen table. It's not pleasant ~ at least not for me. There's too many choices and I end up falling down that internet rabbit hole. Other times, I've bookmarked things I've liked but I'm not completely sure on, or I want to show Brian first. And when I go back to them, they're out-of-stock.

One thing I will not order online is a sofa. Or couch. (Whatever you want to call it.) Too risky. I have to see it in person and sit on it and even lie down on it. When you're spending that much money and it's something non-returnable, no way. We'd looked in person for a sofa at several furniture stores in the past year. We never found anything we were 100% sure about, so we didn't buy. But now that I'm stuck in the house and I stare at our old sofa more than I used to, it's really bothering me.  Side note: excuse the small plate of berries and almonds; I was eating breakfast and thinking about a blog post and got up to take a photo. No staging, just real life.

This sofa is 14 years old. It is worn out. The cushions sink all the way down when you sit on them. There is no support. I can't sit on this sofa for more than 10 minutes without my back killing me. Not to mention, it's permanently discolored despite being professionally cleaned. 

And, my cats used to use the arms of the couch as a scratching post. I have a post by this arm of the sofa now and that's really helped. But the damage is done. We obviously can't go to stores now and sofa shop, so here's what I'm wavering on...

We have an IKEA sofa in the basement family room. It's about eight years old, but hardly used. As empty nesters, Brian and I never use this space in the basement. We have a ranch-style house so everything we need is on the first floor ~ kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathrooms.

Going down the stairs into the basement, you can see how we have the sofa facing the TV. Which we never watch. Unless we're under a tornado warning and are camped out in the basement, or I'm on the treadmill. Both not frequent events. 😉

One reason we chose this IKEA sofa for the basement was because it came in pieces in a box. There was no way a regular sofa would fit around a corner and through a doorway going down into our basement. So we were able to assemble the sofa from the box right there in the basement.

Can you see where I'm going with this? I was thinking...

We could disassemble this sofa and bring upstairs to put in the living room to temporarily replace the ugly, old tan sofa. After all, even though this sofa is a cheap one, it certainly looks a lot better than what we have in the living room right now. 

But here's the cons: 

• I'd have to have Brian and our next door neighbor move the living room sofa to....where? Out by the curb and hope that someone picks it up with a day or two? What if they don't? We'd have to put the sofa in the garage and leave my car out on the driveway. For a long time.

• The disassembling and reassembling of the IKEA sofa is going to be a real pain-in-the-tush.

• That leaves us without a sofa in the basement and it's going to look weird down there without one. (I know, I know...we don't use this space. It's just an aesthetics thing to me.) And then once we are finally able to furniture shop again and do find a sofa for the living room, the IKEA sofa would once again have to be disassembled, carried back down to the family room, and reassembled.
  
  
  Whaddya think? Would you go for it? Or just leave things be until you could finally go sofa shopping in person again?

for today

For Today

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window ~
I see hazy morning light and snow on the ground. So does Monkey.
After getting 5" of snow yesterday, it's frigidly cold here again. It was -3F when I woke up this morning. We're due for more snow this afternoon into tonight.

I am thinking ~
About the day ahead of me. I have homemade chicken stock going in the Crockpot; I need to do my yoga practice, clean cat boxes, do laundry, and work on an ongoing project in the basement. This afternoon, I need to start dinner, which will be a vegetarian jambalya. 

I am thankful ~
That I don't need to run any errands today.

One of my favorite things ~
Fresh flowers in the house, even in winter. Especially in winter!

I am creating ~

{whether you are a knitter, mixed-media artist, enjoy scrap-booking, etc., share}
A cozy corner in the spare room. This is a naked IKEA chair. The slipcover was dirty and dusty from this chair being stored in the basement, so I washed it yesterday and now it's hanging to dry. The slipcover is the original that came with the chair - it's black - so next time I go to IKEA, I'm picking up a white slipcover.

I am wearing ~
Yoga pants, a long-sleeved cotton shirt with a tank top underneath, thick socks.

I am reading (read) /watching (watched) / listening to ~

{share favorite titles, give a book review or pass along a current movie, podcast, music video, or television series you are enjoying}
Just started The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg last night. 

The only TV show I watch is This is Us. Did you see last night's episode after the Super Bowl?!

Music...I've been listening to "coffee table jazz" on Spotify, playing it through the Bose speaker in the living room. The music is very relaxing.

I am hoping ~
that the groundhog was wrong and that there won't be six more weeks of winter.

I am learning ~
that chopping vegetables can be very cathartic.

In my kitchen ~

{share your kitchen adventures, weekly menu, as well as recipes}
Chicken carcass and vegetable scraps for broth...

Paleo blueberry muffins (made with almond flour and pure maple syrup)...

Chopping vegetables for homemade soup yesterday...

Getting ready to make the veggie jambalya...

The jambalaya recipe is from this cookbook...

Post Script ~

{add a favorite link that you would like to pass along. It can be someone else's website, etsy shop, instagram feed, facebook link OR it can be your own}

I love this house! It's a cottage in Little Rock, Arkansas designed by Kathryn J. LeMaster. The colors, design and collections are so charming.

Shared Quote ~
{share a favorite quote}
"I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude." ~ Henry David Thoreau

A moment from my day ~

{share a picture with us of your daily-ness}
Monkey on top of the clean laundry I'm supposed to be folding.

If you're interested in participating in doing a post for The Simple Woman's Daybook, see the guidelines here. 

for the love of plants

There's not many January days in the Midwest where the sun is shining and temperatures are in the 40's. But when it happens, you take advantage of it. Because, heat wave. At least, that's what it feels like when you're used to frigid temps. In this case, we headed up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin this past Saturday ~ one of our go-to places to explore and hang out.

(St. Hegwig - Three Holy Women Parish, Milwaukee)

We always stop at the Public Market to browse the different vendors and sometimes get a bite to eat for lunch. 

One of my favorite stores in Milwaukee is Mod Gen ~ they have all kind of unique products and kitschy gift items, plus they have a fabulous selection of plants. And when I saw they were having a 20% off plant sale, well, let's just say I wanted to buy out the store.

So, what came home with me? I restrained myself and only bought two plants:

A Money Tree (which needs to be repotted)...

and a little red air plant.

Another houseplant I picked up recently (at IKEA) was this Gold Dust Croton. If you have an IKEA near you, they have a decent selection of plants and great prices.

Most of my plants are in our spare room because of all the wonderful light this room gets, but it's getting a little crowded in here.

I'm going to be working on some rearranging and also thinking vertically ~ meaning, hanging a plant or two in front of the windows. Hmm, maybe I can find a cool, retro planter like this one!

(Brewed Cafe, Milwaukee)

How about you, do you have a green thumb? Do you have houseplants or perhaps succulents (which I love, but can't keep alive) in your home?

vintage findings

Yesterday it was damp but temps were 52 degrees - which is basically a heatwave for us in January. I opened my living room and kitchen windows to air out the house. The air smelled like the promise of spring. The cats kept sticking their noses in the open windows, too, sniffing all that crisp, fresh air.

Today, we woke up to this.

Ah, Illinois weather...you keep us on our toes.

This weekend, me and my mom popped into one of our favorite antique shops. Not only did we find some pretty treasures, but everything was 20% off. This vintage tablecloth is in perfect condition and fits my kitchen table just right. Monkey gives his approval.

Don't mind the tags sticking out of the back of the chair cushions. Those are new ones from IKEA and I wanted to make sure we really liked them and wanted to keep them before removing the tags. We do indeed like them - they are very comfortable and I think they look good - so the tags are now cut off. Just a heads up to anyone looking for kitchen chair cushions: you can't beat the price at IKEA. These were only $5 each. Our previous foam filled cushions were from Bed, Bath and Beyond and were $15 each. The foam in the cushions flattened rather quickly and became hard and uncomfortable. 

Close-up of the tablecloth. Looks spring-like, doesn't it? Only 55 more days, but who's counting? ;-)

I hesitated about this Limoges dish. I've always been attracted to Limoges. I love the patterns, the delicacy, the gold rims. Limoges was my maternal grandma's favorite, too. I'd never seen a piece like this before.

One edge curves seductively up. So unique. So, why did I hesitate about buying this? After all, the price was only $8. Because I didn't know where I was going to put it. I've been more aware of what I'm bringing into the house, especially since I've been working on decluttering and donating. I had the owner of the shop put this aside for me to think about as I looked around. In the end, Limoges won. And now sits on top of a table in our spare room, showing off its delicate charm and beauty.

Isn't this a cool vintage tin? It was made in Massilly, France. I'm using it to hold pens, a dry highlighter and sticky page markers. It sits on top of my current reading pile and notebook on the coffee table in the living room. Pretty and handy all at the same time.

In a little nook in the back of the shop, sat this rag rug on top of the worn carpet. I didn't realize it was for sale until I saw a tag. The rug was dirty from customer foot traffic, but my mom said I could easily throw this rug into the washing machine. I loved the colors and had a feeling it'd look good in my kitchen. Sure enough, it washed fine and I hung it to dry. I think it looks great by my side kitchen door and it adds cheery color and texture to the room.

Have you found any vintage treasures lately?

what happens when you go to target for jeans

Last weekend while at my cousin's house, she mentioned that she went shopping for jeans and found that Mom Jeans were coming back into style. All us women had the same reaction: Hellll no! Though we then lamented the perils of lower-cut jeans, which lead to muffin top. Another cousin said forget the muffin top; he had an entire Bundt cake! 

(My kind of muffin top) source

On Sunday when I was looking through the Chicago Tribune, I noticed the Target flyer was advertising that they were having a "buy one, get another one 50% off" jeans sale. The models on the front of the flyer were wearing different colored jeans - not Mom Jeans! -  and it looked like they had some nice colors for fall. I need a couple of pairs of new jeans, so I headed to Target.

This is what ended up in my cart.

Notice you don't see any jeans. More on that in a minute.

Ooh, hello pretty fall placemats and wooden bread bowl and pillar candle holder. And Target is no dummy with that cute little dollar section the minute you walk in the door. That's where I found the pumpkin string lights ($3) and the recipe box ($5).

 

When I got home from shopping and unloaded my wares onto the kitchen table, Clementine immediately claimed the bread bowl and Monkey, the Trader Joe's flyer.

 Loafers.

I ended up using the placemats as a runner. My kitchen table is small, so store-bought standard sized runners are way too long. The bread bowl makes a nice centerpiece and I'm currently using it to hold cloth napkins and the hurricane lamp with a flameless candle. I might change it up later with a grouping of mini pumpkins and apples. Lots of possibilities with this bread bowl.

The recipe box on top of the fridge...

and the pumpkin lights strung across the fireplace mantle.

Notice anything else new on the mantle?

We love our new mirror! It's the IKEA Stockholm mirror.

I had been looking for a big mirror for the mantle and when I saw this photo on Instagram, it was my inspiration.

Back to the jeans at Target:

I could not find any colored jeans for women; only typical blue jeans. And the only styles they had were skinny jeans - which, to me, are only attractive on super skinny women...and I'm not one of them - or boot cut. Where these colored, "normal-fitting" jeans were that I saw in the ad was beyond me. I even asked a salesgirl in the women's section and she said all she knew of was the colored cotton chino-type pants.

Maybe I'll have better luck at Kohls. 

At least I'm not tempted by their housewares section. ;-)

what to do about those blank walls

Ever since we had some work done in our kitchen and it was repainted, I've been hesitant to hang anything on the walls. I didn't want to hang what we had there before, and I also didn't want to hang "just anything" for the sake of filling up blank wall space. I had shopped at a few places and brought wall art home with me, only to find it didn't look as good as I had hoped. I didn't find anything I was looking for online either.

One day, I was in the basement doing laundry, and was looking around at some of my home decor stash. I brought up this white frame and yellow tray, affixed it to the kitchen wall with Command strips, and stood back...

 I liked it!

Here's what the kitchen wall looks like in its entirety. You can see I still need something on the other side of the china cabinet. But here's the thing: I think I want to get rid of the china cabinet, the cart and stool and instead put a cube storage unit on that wall. I could then fill the cubes with cookbooks, large serving dishes, and small kitchen appliances that I have stored in the basement. But I don't think Brian's too keen on the idea of getting rid of the china cabinet. It has sentimental value. It was the first good piece of furniture that we bought in our early married days. We bought it at a beautiful vintage furniture store that is now out of business. There's nowhere else in the house to put it.

Here's what I had in mind: the IKEA Kallax cubes - turned on its side, of course. We could even put legs on the bottom of it to raise it up a bit. 

When I was in the basement rummaging around, I also brought up these two canvas pieces and again, used Command strips to hang them on an empty section of the living room wall. Command strips are a lifesaver in my house because I change things around all the time! Not to mention, no nail holes to deal with.

Where do you find unique ideas or art for blank walls?