A Beautiful Saint

It's not everyone who has a saint watching over their home but several years ago I had the good fortune to find this sadly beautiful saint in an antique store in Sellwood. I have to tell you I took a double take when I saw her standing there in Spencer's Antiques looking quite out of place. I don't think I have every seen a Santos this old or wonderful in a local antique store. I immediately knew I had to have her. I was told that these Santos were in Churches where worshipers would look up at their exquisitely sad faces as they lit candles and said fervent prayers. Artist Sharon Bronzan told me she thinks my saint is Delores, Our Lady of Sorrows. Her hair is long gone and all that is left of her skirt is the waistband, but none of those things deter from her ethereal beauty.

If you have never seen Sharon Bronzan's art check it out at augengallery.com. You will be able to see how she has been inspired by these wonderful Santos. In addition, if you google Sharon Bronzan you can watch her at work in a video from Art Beat that aired August 3, 2006.

In these busy days full of places to go, people to see and technology that keeps you connected at all times no matter where you are, I like to reflect on this simple form of connection from times past.

Take care.

Sue

let's try twitter........

Please pardon our dust as we try to connect the blog to twitter....no small feat, it seems.

YIPPEE!!!!

I am sooo happy! I just got Miss Sue signed up for Networked Blogs so this blog links directly to Facebook! One less thing to do...

0 Calorie Cupcakes!

Flower Angel

Cupcake Angel

Hi there readers--

yes, believe it or not, it is me blogging 2 days in one week! Well, I am feeling particularly inspired and wanted to show you some of the new things here at said.

You know how we like to bring our friends cake on their birthday, but then it turns out they have given up sugar and they have the will power of Joan of Arc and we end up eating cake for two, even though we said we were going to save the extra cake for for our husband, but end up eating it in the car? You know who you are.

Well here is the perfect solution. These adorable cupcakes complete with a candle and the willpower angel are the best no calorie gift you can give. It turns out you can have your cake and not eat it! Who wouldn't love to get or give these little sweets.

Also by the same artist from Corvallis, Oregon, are these for lack of a better word, Flower Frogs, but these are actually Flower Angels! You can put tiny little flowers and leaves in them and nestle them on the nightstand by your bed--or in the bathroom or guest bedroom. They are sure to bring a smile to any ones face! These would make great gifts too. It is not too early to start thinking about the holidays. Yikes!

Have a great week, and stop in and see me sometime!

Cheers,

Sue

Worth the Wait!

Hello again readers--

Can it really be September and my last post was in July??? I must be having fun, because time is flying by! Our family room is nearing the home stretch and we are very happy with the results. Our sofa was finally delivered and we now have a place to sit and watch tv or lie down and read. The sofa is extra long making it comfy for two people even if one of those people might be lying down. Guess which people that might be? Anyway, let me tell you the details. The sofa is from Hickory Chair, and I have to tell you it is so comfortable. It has 4 back cushions, 2 seat cushions and is just the right firmness. The rug is from Designers Guild in, of course, my favorite color of chartruese green and features a great geometric design that I felt was a nice foil to the vintage pieces that we have. The coffee table is from the 70's--a large burled piece of wood with an organic shaped piece of glass on top. I love this table! The chairs are from a consignment store, leather with oversized tacks adding a smooth texture. I wanted to show you the new flat screen tv and media center, but the photo was poor so I will post it next time.

On the far side of the room, I have a desk from Hickory White--different company from the sofa company with art books to peruse or to sit with a laptop and have a view of the back yard as we work. Above the desk, family photos. Finally, the adorable drawing with the saying "be a dear to our forst friends" was a contest winner painted by my son Marv when he was in the 3rd grade! He is still an artist today.

We still have a few things to do. I am having roman shades made for the window and drapes for the door--but it feels great to be this far. Let me know what you think! I would love to hear from you.

Color!

Here are all my tans and beige!

Here is my final answer!

You know how we designers always say "it's only paint!?" Well I am here to tell you that when it is your paint, it feels like a really big decision. I have been in the process of selecting paint colors for my entire downstairs. (remember my flood?!) That consists of family room, bathroom, hallway, laundry room and sewing room. I had paint chips every which way and even though it is only paint, I like many of you felt overwhelmed at first. Just like many of you I had various shades of tans, creams and beige and then I thought--What am I doing? I don't like these, I like bolder colors. So I started over again, allowing myself to look at non-traditional colors for family rooms starting with blue grays and moving into--gasp--purple-y colors!

Those of you who know me, know that I used to say that I hate purple--what I didn't realize is that there are only some shades of purple I don't care for. The name of my new family room wall paint is Lavender Blue! The lesson here is to always keep an open mind when it comes to design. Most of us will say "I don't like this or that" and we won't allow ourselves to consider something we think we don't like. Through my years in design, I have learned to look at the room as a whole, and not as individual parts. If the room works as a whole, then it is a success. Above are the tan paint swatches as well as the blues/lavendars. If you are in the process of picking paint--be brave! Be sure to buy the little containers now available at many paint stores so you can test your choices and then go for it! Happy painting.

Sue

Garage Sale Day

Hello dear readers,

Well I am getting ahead of my flood story, but I while it was fresh I wanted to share with you my musings on stuff. I have been collecting "stuff" for years, thinking how delighted my children would be to have this fabulous stuff some day when I am gone. Well now that my children are 37, 35 and 35 respectively--it came as a bit of a shock to find out they don't value the same "stuff" that I do (or did)! Time has a way of changing the face of what we see as cool--if you lived through the seventies, you know what I am talking about. Oak anything was about as cool as you could get, especially oak commodes, oak Hoosier cupboards, round oak tables, you get the picture. Today--not so much. What is cool today is Mid Century Modern, Hollywood Regency, pottery from the 70's and so on. Well I decided it was time to purge my children's inheritance and have the garage sale that now they won't have to have!!! It was fun, we sold tons of stuff and now I feel liberated. I have found that sometimes we are held hostage by our stuff. In the future, I will be more careful about what I buy keeping in mind to just buy what I like and not worry about what will be "in" in the future. Here are a couple of pictures of my stuff, we had a beautiful sunny two days and we had a lot of fun--what more can you ask. Let me know your relationship with stuff. I would love to hear about it. Take care of yourselves and I will be back to my remodel next week! Cheers

New Walls!!

It was so exciting to see new sheetrock go up! Gone was the old 70's paneling and up went the new drywall. My husband hired Chris, who was laid off from his drywall job a while back and they went to work installing the new walls as well as the ceiling in the family room. I really wanted a smooth finish in the family room, so they did smooth on the walls and ceiling there, but did a light texture in the remaining rooms. The texture cuts down the time and expense as the smooth walls are significantly more labor intensive, but they look fantastic. I am really getting excited at the prospect of a whole new space.

Stay tuned and see you next time!

Drying Out!!!

Well as you can see dear readers, everything was emptied out of our basement, which consisted of a full bath, a laundry room, a family room and a sort of odd but large bedroom. Everything (and I mean everything, who knew I had so much stuff?!) was loaded into a "pod" that is currently sitting outside of our driveway waiting for the construction to be done and at which time it will be unloaded into our "new" spaces! I can't wait. Now, we are in the process of making what seems to be a million decisions as we re-create our living space and bring it into the 21st Century. Gone will be the burnt orange carpet, again original to the house when we bought it in 1985. Gone, odd little closet door with a 8" step up into it??! Gone, aluminum windows which actually allowed bugs through the casings--weird, but true, and gone, asbestos linoleum tiles still in the laundry and odd bedroom where our daughter once slept. Let the decision making begin--stay tuned.

Yikes! Showing you these pictures feels like going out with no
makeup! Is that not the saddest little window treatment you have ever
seen? It was original to the house when we bought it in 1985!!!

Serv-Pro drying the place out!

New Kitchen!

said Interior Design: One Thing Leads to Another...

said Interior Design: One Thing Leads to Another...

One Thing Leads to Another...

My longtime friends Dan and Donna Bush took the plunge to do a major remodel of their home which was featured in the May 6 edition of the Home and Garden Section of the Oregonian! They did what many people would consider folly, hired a friend to work with. As it turned out for me, they were the dream clients that every designer hopes to work with--it was really a collaborative effort and I think the results speak to that. You can see the "before" pictures of their kitchen on my website as well as photos of the master suite.

Cutest pink flamingo ever! Wouldn't this be adorable peeking through garden flowers? Love it!

Fate Intervenes

Sometimes, fate works in curious ways. Our family room/sewing room/workout room was in desperate need of a remodel. (You know, the shoemakers kids going without shoes syndrome.) However, it wasn't in the budget for another year or two but the aforesaid fate and a broken water main intervened and now we are knee deep in a full remodel. Our fantastic insurance company Safeco and the cleaning service Serv-Pro have made it possible for us to remodel immediately! I will be posting the progress in the next few weeks. It took quite awhile just to dry out the space and then to empty it of every single thing!! Can you imagine?? I have learned I really don't need half of the things that I had been saving! Now my wonderful husband Phil has been working seven days a week to create the "new" space and he is doing a fantastic job. Anyway, this is a before picture--and I will be posting the progress as time goes on. Thanks for reading!

February 20, broken water main floods our family room!

Look who showed up at my house

Vintage Dresser

Check out this fantastic blush color vintage dresser!

Dear god!!! Look what I found today!!!!

Yippee!!! Mobile texting to my blog. Maybe now I will actually post something occasionally!!!! Look out world. Here I come!!!!

Happy New Year!!

Doesn't it seem like just yesterday that we were worrying about Y2K and the turn of the new Millennium? Well, that was a full decade ago, just proving the adage time flies! I thought I would talk about some of the design projections are for this new decade--

Vintage and Antique--You have probably noticed this trend in the Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn catalogs among others. Pottery Barn even has a replica of an old workbench! You certainly could buy these reproductions, but I say why? Scour your local thrift shops, antique malls and estate sales and you will probably turn up the real thing for the same price or much less, and you will have a lot of fun in the process.

Warmer Minimalism--Minimalism warmed up with natural materials. Again this is a trend that has been on the rise for the last year or so--lots of natural materials from wood to hemp to birds nests. You will also be seeing lots of birds and animals in fabrics, on pillows and in accessories. Of course, this trend does not hurt my feelings as I love birds and images of birds. It is also the perfect time for taxidermy if you happen to love it which I do. Just make sure what you buy is truly old or from a reputable dealer.

Rococo and Neo-Baroque--This look is about layering ornate details in a contemporary way. If you are a reader of Elle Decor, you will often see this look in their pages. This is a look that I love, a great way to mix old and new, shiny with faded, old world with a look to the future.

Another look that I love, is the Mid Century Modern look as seen on the AMC drama Mad Men! Don't you just love that brooding but handsome Don Draper!! The sets on that show are full of inspiration for me. I recently found a pair of these chairs at an antique mall and had them reupholstered in this fantastic Jim Thompson fabric. Mid Century Modern with an updated look. I love how this fabric has pastel colors but such a vibrant design--it really works in a lot of spaces. These chairs both rock and swivel. Hey wait a minute, that sounds like Elvis!! (I think I am aging myself). Ok--enough for now. Give some thought about how you want to live in this next exciting decade. Here are the before and after photos of the chairs.

Til next time, happy decorating.

Sue