Hello February ...

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     My tree has been decorated for the month with hearts, and a token yodeling pickle.  I actually ran out of branches before I ran out of ornaments this month.

     I rearranged the living room a bit, and like it much better now that I don't feel I'm watching TV under the watchful eyes of neighbors.  I do still have to chastise Charlie tho for spying on the neighbors from the front window where he watches all their comings and goings from his perch on the back of the loveseat.  Even with the curtains closed, his nosey little face finds a way to peek through.

     Since I long for a warm, hygge-ish feeling in my home, I'm bringing in more aspects of nature.  The husband of a church friend blessed me with two cherry wood logs for side tables to my sofa.  I'm super excited because I have loved that look in many home decorating magazines.  Over the next month or so as the bark loosens, I will pull it off, then sand the wood and oil it to keep it beautiful.

     They are a precursor to a color change in the living room.  Browns as the main color, with pops of turquoise for accents on the walls and other items in the room.  The yellow rug that shows every bit of dirty snow paw and boot prints will be replaced with brown ones.  Existing brown curtains will be swapped for some that are thicker and sound-reducing so that the conversations of everyone walking past will not throw Charlie into an "intruder alert" barking frenzy.  I've picked out a paint card with varying shades of brown and eventually hope to get the room repainted, one wall at a time since I will be doing it myself.   There was a tutorial on Pinterest on how to create a faux crown molding with just paint, and that is what I want to do.  True crown molding is expensive, and a chore (been there, hired the contractor, paid the bill in my Florida townhouse ages ago).  

     It did provide a good joke on my carpenter contractor Dad when I asked him about doing it.  Dad:  "Do you know how to cope?"  Me (deadpanned):  "Not without drugs and alcohol."  Dad:  [says nothing, just walks away shaking his head]  (Coping is the carpentry term for cutting wood at an angle to fit in a corner ~ which I knew)

     I have been working on a small project for one of the walls centered around an acrostic poem I wrote from a dream once.   If I can find my black Sharpie, I want to write the poem along the edge, but I may opt for a different, less harsh, color. I'm just waiting now to finish it with some actual beach sand from Florida near where I spent many years.

SEA

Silently the waves push through

Eternity, churning up memories

And dreams long forgotten.

     The dining/craft room walls will be a very soft shade of gray, with the faux crown molding in darker shades.  Blue-gray rug, and new fabric on the chair seats.  I currently have a gray & white curtain in the room with birds in trees that I love, so don't plan to change it.

     Spring is coming, despite what that silly groundhog thinks, and I'm anxious for new life this year ...

                                                                    Hugs,  Ci