Olioboard: Mint and coral

One of the ways I pass my time these days is playing around on the Olioboard site, creating mood boards...both for planning rooms in our home or just for fun.

Olioboard currently has a mint green and coral design challenge going on, and here are my submissions. If you'd like to cast a vote for one (or both) of them, you can find them under the Latest Entries tab, or just click on the images below.

New house: First things first

When we found our house, there were a number of details we were willing to overlook. The owners had bought the house to flip, and they had chosen very "mainstream" materials for the re-do, as they had a legitimate reason to do. They obviously didn't want to limit their potential buyers to hardcore mid-century lovers, so they took the more traditional route in preparing the 1964 beauty for sale.

Granite countertops. Check. Ornate light fixtures and fans. Check. Tan walls with white trim. Check. They were particularly proud of the ceiling fan in the living room, which they called their "wow factor." We were only wowed by the fact that it has the smallest fan blades on the planet and puts out no air, despite its dual design.

For those of you who aren't from Texas, believe me when I say ceiling fans are necessary, but it's possible for them to be less obtrusive. The curly metal and baby blades will be replaced with this simple fan:

Roto ceiling fan by Minka Aire
lumens.com

Also being replaced are the ubiquitous builders' grade "booby lights," both the flush mount and its slightly fancier semi-flush sister.

They will be replaced by these fixtures.

Golden Lighting Multi-Family flush mount fixture
allmodern.com

Philips Discus semi-flush fixture
allmodern.com

This is the fixture over the kitchen island.

It will be replaced by two (or maybe three) of these:

Bromi Design Camden pendant
thelightshop.com

Last, but by no means least, is the dining room fixture, which we're hoping someone buys the minute we put it on Craigslist. I'm sure it will be lovely in someone else's home...but not in ours.

   

It will be replaced with this Sputnik style chandelier.

Style Selections 18-light  brushed nickel chandelier
lowes.com

The interior walls and beams will be painted a gloriously creamy coat of Benjamin Moore White Dove, which we finally selected after agonizing over more white paint chips than we ever knew existed and multiple swaths of actual paint blotching those perfectly blah tan walls.

It's one of the most popular of the Benjamin Moore whites, described as a soft white with just a hint of yellow, which I hope will look just right with our creamy white brick walls of the sun room and the atrium. As soon as the walls and beams are white, the new light fixtures will go up.

After that, we'll start looking for something to replace the granite countertops...but that's another post.