SHEs Organized

Twins...

As I see it, you are really working with a usuable space of 19'' x 12'. Though your side wall says 16' you loose 2.5' with the fire place, plus the kitchen bar jets out into that room by about 1'. Best that I can estimate, then you need a walking path so you can go from your kitchen area through your GR to the front hall area. Thats another foot or so. That means you'r loosing up to 4.5 feet when planning your area.

The fire place really breaks your GB into 2 small areas or on large one. My first suggestion would be to hang the TV over the fireplace. that will make one focual point in your room, not two like it is now. The benefit would be that you can view the TV from the kitchen and the GR. If you place your new smaller couch facing the fireplace that will give you more room behind it so you have a walking path. I can't remember the furniture that you have, but then you might be able to put you 2 chairs in the corner where your tv is now, and an additonal chair or small couch perpendicular to your couch facing the fireplace.

An other option would be to place the 2 chairs perpendicular to the couch facing the fireplace forming an L shape with a table in between the chairs. Electical plugs become a problem because your furniture is sort of sitting in the so called middle of the room. Where do you run your lamp cords etc? My furniture sits way in the middle of the room so we had an electrical output installed before we put our foundation in. However, you can run the cords under your carpet. You can either do it yourself or have someone do it for you. Its done all the time. An other option is to place an area rug over the cords that you put on top of the carpet and run it from your lamp to the outlet.

Here's how I figured out how I wanted to put my funiture before I did it. It saved me from breaking my back. I took measurements of all my furniture. Width and length...making sure I wrote everything down. That was the most important step for me Then I took sheets, folded them to those dimensions and laid them on the carpet where I wanted those particular piece of furniture to be. AfterI was all done, I was able to "walk the room" to see how the placement felt. Sometimes I liked my ideas and sometimes I didn't, but at least I didn't break my back doing it...BTW, I never have help, I just do it myself.

Also, I have taken tape, like packing tape, and outlined the furniture on the carpet instead of using sheets. I'm a very visual person, but sometime what i draw out and like on paper doesn't look really good when its done for real. A really long and narrow room, which is what you're working with is the most difficult to decorate...most professionals will tell you that. I had several nightmare rooms that I never liked. I've moved 14 times in my adult life. My nightmare rooms could have looked better knowing what I now know. And I had to really fussy on getting this house right.

Now I need to figure out what to do with my walls. They are very high...14' and what I have done in the past doesn't work with these rooms. A bucket of paint and some courage is really all that is needed. Fear of being perfect is what is keeping me from doing it. But I'm working on it.

I like doing decorating with natural things. I have a bark basket with handles on it. Potpourri is in the bottom of it and I have large pine cones from my late MIL on top.

Also, I love to have a covered jar with sea shells in the main bathroom, a glass footed dish of shells in the master bathroom, and to top it off, I have a large sea shell on the tile. I love to use natural things, too, because they're beautiful and remind me of how fortunate we are to find things like this, sometimes for free.

I put some bunnies around the house, for Easter, from my bunny collection yesterday!

There is a paper napkin company, who sells their napkins in pretty decorative boxes. I re-use the boxes for various things around the house. I like how they store things and keep things pretty and tidy-looking.

Hope this belongs here! I just put the first coat of paint on the inside of my grandmother's china cabinet. Have been thinking that it looked like a black hole and that a lighter paint inside would show off the crystal and glassware better. Just realized this week that I have had the cabinet for 25 years since her death and that it is time I consider it mine and not just hers. She would love this idea anyway! One more coat should finish it up...

Good idea, Ellyphant.

I put a tablecloth called "Montego Bay," which reminds me of Jimmy Buffet songs, for some reason.... On the dining room table with a green napkin holder, green place mats and a gold and white, Autumn colors Thanksgiving Angel.

Then, I took the lighthouses, the lighthouses rugs, and blue towels and put them in the powder room, which was a temporary switch for summer boys' guests because now, the main guest bathroom has white rugs, a mint rug, white towels trimmed in mint. I put a sea shell on the counter, green candle in a glass jar with lid and guest soaps, which still have the plastic wrapper on them for protection. DD gave the shells guest soaps to us when we moved here in 2004. Into the newer house we just built.

Now that this has been done, fresh sheets are on the bed, I'll wait to do other things, as far as decorating goes, some other day, so I don't overdo it.

I had 2 wall-hanging Autumn items from The Dollar Tree. I didn't have any room to hang them in the great room, entry hall or anywhere, so I decorated my office with them to make it warm and festive-looking.

I put a wonderful shelf-sitter bear from Walmart on the back of my desk, who wears an adorable patched corduroy pants, vest, and neck-tie with hat outfit in Autumn colors.

When I got a photo in an email of dgd's and saw how she's dressed in red with some olive and orange, too, her printed up photo fits right in, too.

I enjoyed decorating for Fall. The sunflowers are in a huge vase in the great room high atop a bookcase and a scarecrow ceramic man holding a bowl is in the bathroom.

It's fun to decorate other rooms other than the main part of the home, too. Why leave them out?