The French Grey Palette

I have been obsessing about French Grey for a couple of months.  It's a warm grey tone found in seashells that goes with gold, bronze, and brushed nickel.  It also complements mother-of-pearl  found on the inside of some shells.  It's neutral--but has personality.   I put together new palette of colors and inspiration that I am thinking about.

I am finding that I am not as big a fan of contrast as I once thought I was.  This palette is very calming and natural.  I see natural woven fibers like seagrass and rattan, champagne and pearl glazes, and dark wood flooring.  I love the pearlized inside of the seashell against the french grey.  Restoration Hardware has a color called "Graphite" in their Slate Paint Collection that I think would work very well. 

On another note, for my Winter Projects I am going to finish the projects I have started-

1. 
   
   Add hardware and poly to the entry chest in my foyer.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Add poly to side table in living room.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Sand, prime, paint/glaze, and poly to cedar chest in family room.
   
   
   
4. Finish repairing dining set, repaint entire set, and recover seats.

With my 18 month old running around, that's probably enough.  Check back for pics of progress.

Read More

Refurbish

I just realized my husband, Greg, has two weeks off work as of Monday.  This conjures up in my mind thoughts of "all free!" days to work on my projects.  I mentioned this to him.  Of course he's probably thinking of just "all free!" days no projects, just rest.  He deserves it.  We'll see how much gets accomplished.  I will show and tell you about a few of my projects.  The biggest one is this dining table set that I found on craigslist. 

This is a picture of it in it's current location in my kitchen.  I got it for $60 on craigslist.  It's painted black, and has the cane back chairs that I love.  I need to repair the chairs, recover the seats and repaint the entire set.  I purchased the materials to recane the seat backs. 

This is a picture of one of the damaged chairs. 

This is a close-up of the damage. 

I went online for instructions for recaning a chair and was able to remove the old cane and spline.  If you need a book about recaning a chair or supplies, see below.

 

So this is a picture with the cane and spline removed. 

I have since started the recaning, it has proved to be a little difficult.  When I get the new caning in I will let you see, but for now this is where I am.   I must say though, I love the shape of these chairs.  They have a beautiful silhouette.  I can't wait until they are refinished!  I'll tell you more about my home decor plans in a later post.  I have to upload some pictures.  I hope to have them for you soon. 

Read More

It's Me!!!

I have just discovered blogs. Well, I just fell in love with two. So, I decided, maybe I will blog.  Plus, my friend Ryn told me I should months ago back when I was a new nursing mom thinking no stores had anywhere to nurse a baby.  (That's a whole 'nother story.)  Anywho, the two blogs I just discovered are all about home improvement and decorating and I feel so inspired to keep working at (ahem, change) my projects. So, we'll see what happens. By the way the two I just discoved are The Lettered Cottage at http://www.theletteredcottage.com/ and Our Suburban Cottage at http://oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com/.  I have to tell you why I called this blog The French Cottage.  In addition to being inspired by the two blogs listed above, I have been torn for the past year between French Country and Cottage style interiors.  Six months of the year I'm French Country--six months of the year I am Cottage style.  I hope to end up with something in between.  In the meantime, check out the blogs listed above.

Read More