Valentine's Decorations

Hard to believe that we are less than 10 days away from February.

With that in mind, the kitchen is decked out in pink and red to celebrate all things love.

I found this playful wreath at the dollar store and the heart shaped plate is from Tar-jay.

Starting February 1st, my little Cupids will find a love note in his/her mailbox each morning.

Our beloved deer Silver Bells is sporting a dapper heart bow tie.

And even the mudroom entry off the garage is outfitted in pink and red. 

How about you guys…are you feelin the love yet? Seriously though, it is so bitter cold here you are lucky to be feeling anything. How you all keeping warm? 

Stars & Stripes Forever

To mark today's Inauguration I thought I would share the bi-partisan, election night dinner we had back in November. YiaYia, Belle & I spent a delightful Sunday afternoon on a girl's shopping trip right before the election. We found Republican elephant pasta & these Democrat donkey sugar cookies clearanced during our excursion.

I made mac 'n cheese out of the pasta. Which by the way came packaged with a label that read: "No Taxes Were Added in the Making of this Pasta"--HaHa. I didn't snap a close-up picture of it as it was my pre-blogging days.

The kids stayed up late to watch results and color in their electoral maps. Scary to think that at the next election Bear will be 4, Peanut 7, and Belle 10!!! Don't mind me, I'm just wiping away the tears. On that note, I'm off to enjoy the day with my 4 favorite people who are all off of work/school.

Pearlescent Progress

The basement projects are slow to take off. An emergency trip to the hospital for Theo N (accompanied by the diagnosis of appendicitis) earlier in the week put all sewing on hold. Thankfully, the surgery went well and he is now home resting comfortably. 

So today the sewing marathon resumes. I mentioned in an earlier post that I haven't touched a sewing machine since middle school. YiaYia has been indulgent of my willingness to help and resulting lag time. I owe you one Mom!

Fear not, in case you were worried that the basement has turned into a little sweatshop. Here's a sneak peak of one of my projects for the room. I am lucky enough to be working with these beauties.

Oyster shells are design nirvana. The perfect combination of lustrous cream, hints of blue, deep grey-brown center wrapped up in a beige shell. In fact, they encapsulate my whole house color palette. 

Source

And now I am lusting after one of these beauties. I had them on my Christmas list, but no luck…so hint, hint Hubby. Valentine's Day is around the corner.

Alison Evans Oyster Dish

Anyone else adore a neutral color palette with a little bling thrown in? Seriously, what's not to love? And pearls…I wear either black or white daily. Just the kind of girl I am.

Everything's Coming Up Orchids

Hubby presented me with this beautiful orchid last week and the bottom left bud just bloomed!
I'm giddy over this as I have tried numerous times to keep orchids. And unlike all the others before her, this little beauty appears to be thriving and blooming. How I do adore spying this dreamy splash of fuchsia as I come down the stairs each morning. Fingers crossed that the 11 additional buds follow suit and bloom.

Mudroom: Take Two

Awhile back I posted about my nemesis: the mudroom and the futile attempts I've made to organize the room. (Catch up on all the drama here) After our initial rework of the space, Hubby & I agreed that a thorough test run was is in order before we moved onto painting and decorating. 

So after roughly 6 weeks of living with the new layout. This is what the mudroom looks like:

A plethora of Belle's stylish kicks strewn about the floor…they never quite make it into the cubby. Which by the way, "cubby" has now become a dirty word in our house. Peanut has declared, "I don't like that word mommy" since I ask him on countless occasions to return his shoes to their storage destination.

The sink is often a holding tank for miscellaneous items awaiting some tlc or the trash. Their final resting place all depends on what time of day I get around to addressing them.

And the idea to repurpose the bookshelf as a bench seat didn't quite turn out as we envisioned. 

So I returned the aforementioned bench seat to its original bookshelf position. It appears to function better for the space, but time will tell if it serves us well or not. As of right now, I'm leaning towards removing it all together. I'm pretty sure that there is going to be a Take 3 and quite possibly Take 4 before we nail this mudroom layout. 

If anyone has suggestions for a long, narrow mudroom/laundry that must house all the necessities for a family of 5 please share. (Awkward sentence huh? I've reworked it so many times, but I just can't get it down…so forgive me.)

Peanut's Treasures

Peanut had show and tell today. And to dazzle his fellow classmates he choose to bring in:

Yep, his most prized possessions include a snow globe, Berenstain Bear book (from my childhood library) & a solar dancing flower. I wouldn't call them priceless, but the little man holding the bag sure is!

Why I Care About Decorating

The incredibly gifted and accomplished decorator, Albert Hadley very eloquently and precisely stated what I feel is the true focus of home decorating:

I strongly believe being surrounded by things that are beautiful to you creates a nourishing environment.  A place where you are able to embrace the past, be engaged in the present & energized by the possibilities of the future.   

When creating this blog I wanted a name reflective of this mission….my mission. To me a monogram is our individuality beautifully displayed, while mud is visual noise that detracts from the meaningful items around us. That is my home right now, meaningful and beautiful in some areas and a cluttered mess in others. 

Decorating a space for me is an evolutionary process. It takes lots of practice to get it right, but when I nail it you can sense it….there is a feeling created that no catalog or magazine can emulate. It is a long road, but one day I hope to have both a life and home beautifully decorated. And this wonderful journal to commemorate the journey.

What are your thoughts and approach to decorating? I would love to hear them and I look forward to sharing my journey with you.

FYI- I have permanently placed this post in the link above titled: My Decorating Mission :)