Marcia's House

Marcia's living room.

My friend Marcia should have been an interior decorator----well actually she is when it comes to her own house.  She has such an eye for color and for interesting artwork (her daughter is an artist and much of the artwork is that of her daughter.) And there's absolutely no clutter--a place for everything and everything in its place.

I was over there the other day when we were planning a morning out and while she finished getting ready I asked her if I could take photos and do a blog on their house.  Here's the result.

The living room is open and full of natural light.  The focal point is a lovely fireplace with a mantle anchoring the antique mirror from her grandmother.  The mantle is adorned with Marcia's ram (She graduated from UNC.) spray painted gold by Marcia and decorated by daughter Vanessa. 

Lovely fireplace. 

Marcia's grandmother's mirror.

Marcia's Ram with decorations by daughter Vanessa.

I love the bold blues and reds in the color scheme of the living room.  Notice how the accent pieces display these colors, from the blues in the glassware to the red cushions and red and blue throw.

A pop of color from the pretty blue glassware.

Accent pillows and throw.

Gold bowl (a Christmas gift from Vanessa) on the coffee table.

This pretty gold bowl (A Christmas gift this year from Vanessa) on the coffee table complements the colors in the area carpet. 

Marcia enjoying her living room.

Perhaps my favorite room though is the dining room.  I especially like the bright blue walls that provide a perfect background for the sofa and for the dining room table.  The sofa is from her grandmother, and she covered it and the dining room chair seats in a lovely multi-colored pattern with a pale yellow background.

This beautiful dining room sofa  is my favorite piece of Marcia's..  Notice too how the drapes blend in with the sofa fabric. 

The painting by Vanessa at the end of the dining table provides a colorful contrast with the walls. 

Finally in the warm and welcoming breakfast nook and kitchen there are lots of yellows. And on the fridge among the requisite family photos is a picture of daughter Vanessa and granddaughter Chloe.

Cabinet in the breakfast nook.

Open storage in the kitchen.  I especially like the little row of yellow bowls.  What a nice accent.

Photo of daughter Vanessa and granddaughter Chloe among the photos on the fridge. 

Doesn't Marcia's house look like something out of House Beautiful? 

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.