Forever Orange

Goodbye front door.

Goodbye handle so low it came to my mid-thigh.

Goodbye 1/2-inch heat-sucking gap.

Weighing in at nearly 100 lbs. our old solid-wood front door was a formidable entree to the house. And since it stuck heavily in the lower corner, it was kind of like a nightclub bouncer—able to keep any weak-armed riff-raff out, even if they are my own children.

I was feeling guilty about replacing the door ("They don't make doors as good as these old 'uns") until I realized several inches had been shorn off the bottom at one time, so it probably wasn't original to my old house, and it probably never fit the door frame properly.

I was also wistful about losing its jaunty, colorful greeting and easy neighborhood marker ("We live in the house with the orange front door"), especially after the Pantone Institute named Tangerine Tango its Color of the Year for 2012.

But WOW, the ease of opening, and the stream of natural light that floods through the windows and brightens the entire southwest corner of my home have made it a worthwhile change. The new door isn't jaunty...maybe handsome? To bring back a bit of fun, I think I'll hang some artwork featuring "Tangerine Tango" on the wall behind the glass—and I have an idea for how to do it on the cheap.

Quick and Easy Bath Update

Here's a great way to spread your decorating dollar: Buy just a quart of paint ($10.88 at Home Depot) and use it to garnish your small-space walls with a wide, graphic stripe. I perked up our plain white bathroom with this technique, and the splash of color really made a difference even though it only covers about a third of the wall.

A quart of paint will coat about 100 feet of wall space. That's a 10x10-foot room, if you're an even and consistent painter and have smooth, easy-to-coat walls. I am not the first, and this house contains none of the second. So I knew 1 quart wouldn't go too far. And I'm lazy. By creating a stripe around the mid-section of the room, I wouldn't have to get the ladder to reach the ceiling, mask off the light fixture, or learn new yoga poses contorting around the toilet plumbing.

With a pencil and level, I marked three lines around the room. I drew the top line about a third of the way down from the ceiling, placed carefully to cover some wall damage I wanted to hide. I placed the bottom line about a third of the way up from the floor. And the line in the middle just randomly fell about 8 inches down from the top line. Here I placed a band of the 1-inch painter's tape. I followed the level pencil line and worked slowly to get the tape as straight as possible. Then I went over the tape with the edge of my credit card to adhere the tape tightly to the wall. (I've had trouble in the past with messy lines when I've pulled away painter's tape, and I wanted these lines to be as crisp as possible.) When I pulled away this line of tape, it created the white stripe.
The whole process took me an afternoon because I am an excruciatingly slow and inefficient painter. It would take someone with more practice much less time, I am sure. I did buy a new bath mat to match the wall color ($6.99) so the total outlay for the project was less than $20.

Mantel Redo

Taa Daa! This is the result of several months of thinking, noodling, and nudging. As my recent posts point out, fussing over one space in your home always carries over to other areas. Thankfully, I am pleased with this arrangement of the mantel—as well as the new kitchen wall.

If you aren't overwhelmed with awe over my originality or sophistication, I'm not hurt. This is hardly a "new" idea to put a mirror over the mantel and prop art in front of it. But for me, in this house, it is novel.

A few weeks ago, I learned a mom in my daughter's preschool used to work in an art gallery and consulted with clients about what art to purchase and where to hang it. I think the cartoon lightbulb appeared over my head immediately. At once, I asked her to come to my house for a consult. She graciously agreed, and days later I had her one-on-one attention and loads of advice. She looked at all the rooms in our house to get a sense of my style. I pleaded my frustration with our living room (it's dark and dominated by heavy but beautiful woodwork), which carried over onto the mantel. The previous print of a neutral Impressionist scene was just too blah. She suggested the mirror to bounce what light we do get around the space. And let me tell you, it has made a HUGE difference. It reflects daylight and immediately brightened the room. The glass candlesticks are also sparkly baubles in front.

The day after my friend visited, she arrived at the school pick-up line with some inspirational photos for me. One set were from an article about David Jimenez's home in Kansas City. It is gorgeous, and shows the effect of propped—rather than hung—art. You can create a pleasing arrangement, then change it whenever the urge arises. I chose this Degas print for its verticality and appropriate scale with the large mirror.

The whole makeover cost very little. I spent $40 on the mirror at Gordman's. It's not real wood, obviously, but it's a pretty good fake, and the resin frame weighs less than wood or metal (an important consideration for me since I was hanging it by myself). I already had the print and the candlesticks. And my friend declined any payment for her spot-on advice. (I did give her a copy of Matthew's AUTUMN magazine as a token of my thanks.)

I've never been shy about asking for help or even surreptitiously copying from the greats like David Jimenez. After all, they really know what they're doing, so whom better to emulate?

Kitchen Wall Redo

Since I last posted, I've been busy, busy, busy. As you well know, one tickle of an idea often leads to a spillover of projects, with one thing leading to another and another and another. Such was the case with the kitchen wall.

I was dissatisfied with the art hanging up there and was trying to figure out what next to do (see previous post "Blank Wall or Blank Canvas?"). My first attempt involved the utilitarian look I so admire and use. But it didn't give me the modern edge I was craving. Replacing one vintage poster print with a different vintage paint-by-numbers wasn't really updating the look.


Eventually, I decided to add some color to the black-and-white kitchen, and painted a wide swathe of turquoise blue paint using the dribbles left in a quart-size can I used on our bathroom walls (future post about this project to come!). I didn't think I would have enough paint to coat the skinny wall from door molding to corner, so I masked off a stripe down the middle. I'm really happy about this decision, because (1) I squeaked by with paint, and (2) a wide stripe has a more contemporary look than just a blue accent wall.


Finally, I ordered a vinyl wall pattern from dalidecals.com to provide a bit of pattern. I ordered this abstract tree shape in white so it would be a subtle look that wouldn't compete with the already busy mix of dry goods, spices, and utensils. The decal was a splurge at $49, but the stainless wall shelf ($35) and spice rack ($20) were steals on Amazon.com, and the canisters cost $8 apiece at Wal-Mart, so I felt like I could spend a bit more on the "art." It took about an hour and a half to adhere the darn thing, but it wasn't difficult.

While I was working all this out, I also rearranged the dining room and tackled the array of art on the mantel. More to come on that as well. As I say, I've been busy. We are hosting a group of friends for a holiday dinner, and there's nothing like company coming to spur you into action. Let me know if you have any pre-Holiday decorating projects underway.