The How-To One (A Mondrian Inspired wall)

I have a very small downstairs powder room in my home and I have decorated it in a Zen grey schema - which I have always liked.  However, there is one long wall (in this very skinny room) that screamed for something to be done with it.

I had a sad piece of blue painters tape on the wall for about 8 months.  It was probably longer than 8 months, but it's embarrassing enough for a decorator to admit to putting some off, let alone MORE than 8 months.

Anyway, yesterday I decided enough was enough.  So I created this:

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A Mondrian inspired wall.

I just happened to have about 10 different shades of grey in test sizes, leftover from my Living Room makeover, and I always have brushes and rollers on hand, so I had all the materials I needed.  You really can do this too...it's just a few simple steps.

1)  Decide how many colors you want to use - I started with 4 shades of grey & the green accent, but added the brownish gray as the wall developed.

2)  Map out a basic design.  I taped out the larger squares on the wall and then penciled in the crossovers and overlapping squares.

3)  Decide which colors will go where and determine where the accent color will be (that was the green for me).

4)  Paint the first squares you taped, remove the tape quickly after painting to ensure you don't get bleeding.

5)  Once the first squares dry, tape and paint the overlapping squares.  Be sure to step back often (well, in this room it was hard) and ensure you like what you have done.

6)  Get a small brush for any needed touch ups, get them completed and you are done!

Now you can show off your work too!

Would you love to have something like this but would rather not do it yourself?  We at Devonshire Design Ltd would love to help you out.  Just give us a buzz. 

The One about Mother's Day

Instead of my usual diatribe about the torture of Mother's Day for me this year I am trying to embrace the day.  Why?  Because this year my baby turned 21 and I am now the Mother of a full grown adult.

Well in numbers at least!

I wish everyone a wonderful Mother's Day and remember, gifts should be from the children, not the hubby!  Cos' you are not his Mom!

On Mothers and Mother’s Day 

Collection copyright 1999-2012 © Jone Johnson Lewis

• "A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother — and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment." -- Anna Jarvis, promoter of the establishment of Mother's Day

• "To nourish children and raise them against odds is any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons." -- Marilyn French

• "Women's rights in essence is really a movement for freedom, a movement for equality, for the dignity of all women, for those who work outside the home and those who dedicate themselves with more altruism than any profession I know to being wives and mothers, cooks and chauffeurs, and child psychologists and loving human beings." -- Jill Ruckelshaus

• "Motherhood is neither a duty nor a privilege, but simply the way that humanity can satisfy the desire for physical immortality and triumph over the fear of death." -- Rebecca West

• "My mother could make anybody feel guilty -- she used to get letters of apology from people she didn't even know." -- Joan Rivers

• "The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant -- and let the air out of the tires." -- Dorothy Parker

• "A wise parent humors the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and advisor when his absolute rule shall cease." -- Elizabeth Gaskell

• "No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement." -- Florida Scott-Maxwell

• "A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." -- Tenneva Jordan

• "Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground." -- Zora Neale Hurston

• "At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent." --Golda Meir

The Debating One

There is a small new development going up in my neighborhood.  Sadly, it took over the acreage where the swim club was, but well, the club was not managed as best it could - so selling was the best option and the saddest.

Anyway, this is an 8 house development with the homes going for over $280,000 and they seem to be built solidly.  However, I have only seen one of these sold so far and there begins my internal debate.

Should I reach out to the builders and offer my staging services?

They have held several open houses and still, I have only seen one sold.  So I know that the staging would help - so why am I so hesitant?

So, I need to get past my hesitations and just reach out.  Yes, that's what I'll do....

Thanks for listening, this helped.

I'll let you know what happens.

The One where I Ask for Feedback

As I sit here and write another blog post, I wonder just how some blogs go viral, some never take off and how others, like mine, just seem to move along at a slow and steady pace.

What makes a good blog?  or a better question, what makes a blog "viral" like?  Who needs to see your blog to move it forward?

I know that I don't know these answers, nor do I know that I care.  I write my blog because I enjoy doing it.
Sometime I enjoy it a lot.  Sometimes, not so much.

And I think that shows --- particularly with the "not so much" times.

What makes me love a blog?  What makes me want to share it with others?  I know I love wittiness, a feeling that you are having a discussion with the writer, or that you are learning something without feeling taught.

And that's what I try to do, I try to write the blog that I would love.  I hope that you enjoy it too.

Let me know, I love feedback (and it has been way too quiet here lately on the feedback front...lol).  I promise that I will address everything I read - good or bad.

Thanks!