A Not-So-Extreme Makeover

Whenever I have friends visiting us in the Marble Mountain cottage, I often ask for suggestions on what they would change about the house.  One friend years ago suggested replacement windows throughout the house, and after a number of years we've done that.

Recently our friend Mary, from Raleigh, was visiting and when I asked her for suggestions she had several.  But these were changes that were easy to make.  Unlike the TV hit show, Extreme Makeover, I didn't take "before" pictures so you may not be able to appreciate the improvement her changes have made.  Mary just moved things around, particularly she changed where some of the pictures were hung.  

Pictures were moved into this corner brightening it.

Family photos were rearranged with matching frames and placed at the bottom of the stairway.

The sofa in the living room I had covered with a throw that more or less matched the futon in the room but was constantly becoming rumpled when we sat upon it, and it was hard to keep in place.  Mary convinced me to jettison it and leave the sofa bare.  I was reluctant, because it is a 1960's yellow and brown plaid (rather unsightly in  my opinion) to which we had added foam cushions that were gold,but which gave us a higher seat and made it much easier to get out.

The 1960's plaid sofa with brown pillows.

Mary took a brown throw pillow I had in the guest bedroom and instructed me to get some light gold pillows to brighten the sofa.  Luckily I found two pillow covers at the Dollar Store in Port Hawkesbury which were yellow/gold on the back and a rather light and airy print on the front.  They work perfectly, and now I even like the way this outdated sofa looks.

I got this bright pillow cover at the Dollar Store.  It goes well here.

The corner in the living room where the wood box is was rather dark.  I bought a new lamp that brightens that corner.

New lamp in corner on woodbox.

Mary exchanged a lamp in the sunroom with a floor lamp in the living room, and I agree that's a better fit.

Mary moved this table lamp into the living room to replace the floor lamp which was moved to the sunroom.

In the sunroom, we moved the sofa from against the wall and placed it perpendicular to the wall so that one has a view out over the pond and lake when sitting on the sofa.  And the sofa more or less demarcates the entry way from the living and dining area.

Shelves behind the sofa provide a room divider and the back is perfect for a colorful poster.

A further separation of the entry and the sunroom was made possible when Dan built a set of shelves 4 feet by 6 feet to place at the back of the sofa.  The finished back of the divider is perfect for hanging a poster, and the shelves facing the back door provide extra storage where it is needed.  

Extra storage in the entry way.

The library table was moved against the wall, under my "Goose in Diaper"and the little art deco lamp that Christene gave me last year when she moved into an apartment is perfect on on the table.

Library table under my folk art goose.  Art deco lamp from Christene.

In the kitchen, I painted a blue checkered design on the white kitchen stools.  This complements the other blues in the kitchen.

I like the not-so-extreme makeover that Mary helped with.  Now I'll just have to get her back another year to work on the upstairs.