Gone 'n done it

Okay, so I still really like my fireplace cluster and I went ahead and did it. I think you will find it doesn't take that much emphasis away from the fireplace, and in my opinion the colors of the pictures bring out more of the color of the brick. Sorry if I disappointed you. I do have limited wall space for this sort of thing...

I love the red curtain scarves which I have been working on this week, and when my mom was here, she made kitchen tab-top curtains with red and green and gold stripes, (why don't I have a picture yet?) so I think it is a good theme to continue. The major project I have been working on of late is to address the overly monochromatic nature of our house. Every wall is beige. Seriously. Therefore, second to curtains is paint. I am planning to do a very pale mossy green on both sides of the fireplace, the east wall where the windows are, and the half wall above the stairs. Then I will put creme colored curtains behind the red, and it will look really nice. Here is the living room so far, just pretend there aren't coats and toys and bags everywhere.

As far as painting goes, I started with the kids room because I wanted to get the railing painted and I have a neat idea for a fairy tale scene (from Stampin' Up! of course). Leah is a surprisingly good painter- helper. We hired our friend Tim to build the railing, and it turned out really nicely. Here's the progression from start to now. I'm not quite done yet.

I've also painted the wall to the left, which is above and on either side of the closet. It gives the room a two-toned "dreamy" look which I think will be appropriate for a kids room for many years to come. Its been fun but also exhausting and sooooo messy. I'm looking forward to putting the room back together and thereby being able to put kids to bed on time and in their own beds. On to the next project!