Checks and Ginghams: Favorite Things #3

I love checks and ginghams in strong clear colors with white backgrounds.  I really like those checks and ginghams on upholstered furniture.  My family room sofa is slipcovered in red gingham:

This is the same sofa in my last house:

Enjoy these other checks and ginghams:

As you can see, I love the strong, clear colors and especially red and blue. 

I hope you're having a great day!

Cindy



A Few of My Favorite Things

The blog 320 Sycamore is having a link party today where we share at least 5 of our favorite things. 

Since she says ‘things’, I’m not going to mention people but if I did, I certainly would put my husband and my four kids on the top of the list only just behind God.

Anyway, here goes:

#1 – My dog Scout who I also call Guy, Doofus (because so often he is) and Big Dog.

#2 – Roses

I have to have them growing in my yard.  It’s essential.  I prefer shrub roses to hybrid tea roses because I like for my roses to look pretty growing in the yard, not just in a vase.

Betty Prior - my all time favorite rose
photo - Antique Rose Emporium

New Dawn - probably my favorite climber
photo - Antique Rose Emporium

#3 – Plates

I love to collect and display them.  I have 7 or 8 sets of china.  What can I say; I’m addicted.  I especially love to hang my plates on the wall.

Country Living

#4 – Goebel Angels

Goebel is the same company that makes Hummel.  I have a few Hummels but I love any Goebel stuff.  The angels have such cute little faces.  So guileless. 

I have a wonderful collection of Goebel angels that I’ve been collecting for well over 20 years.  Since the collection fits perfectly in this cabinet, I don’t have a reason to get any more.

#5 – Primary Colors in my home

I love muted colors and natural colors, but I always come back to primary colors with some green thrown in.  This has been going on since I began keeping house in 1983 so I don’t think it’s going away.  This is my latest fabric choice of which I just ordered 12 yards to make roman shades for the 5 windows in the breakfast room in my new house:

Covington - Wilmington Multi

So there are five of my favorite things.  What are some of yours?

Linking to:

320*Sycamore’s My Favorite Things

Checkered Floors - Favorite Thing #2

I just love checkered floors in the kitchen.

I really, really want a checkered floor in my kitchen.

My preference would be on point.

But I would take squared up checks.

Did I mention that I really love checkered floors?

My husband and I are looking to buy a new house as in we get to pick the decorator items. We’re on a real tight budget but I’m going to see if we can get two colors of tile in the kitchen. If it’s not too expensive, I want to have it laid on point. But again, I’ll take it squared up if that’s the only way we I can get it.

If I can’t get the tile checkered, I found out that ceramic tile can be painted. I don’t know if that would work well in the kitchen with the moisture and traffic, not to mention the dogs in and out.

Below is my inspiration picture. I want to use brown and cream tiles for the checkers. I want to have it put in the entry way also just like this picture.

What do you think about checkered floors? What colors would you use?

 

Some of my favorite things – Top Ten List

I’d like to share with you a list of my very favorite decorating items. I have a top ten list that already has eleven items on it. So instead of giving you the list up front, I’ll just add items as I go. Maybe I’ll make it a dozen

. . . or a baker’s dozen.

We’ll see.

Anyway, my very favorite, favorite decorating item is bead board!

(this is from a magazine but I don't remember which one)

My Dad installed my first bead board in my house in Colorado Springs. It was on the bottom half of the walls in my entryway and painted white. The picture is below but the detail on the beadboard doesn't show up well.  I painted the top half of the wall a beautiful, soft yellow.

(Bad photo taken with an early digital camera)

My husband installed the bead board in my last house in Lewisville Texas as a birthday present to me. It was also white and was about 6 feet tall so only about 2 feet of wall was exposed above it. It was in my breakfast room and included a shelf on top for my vintage roosters and chicks and my red plates. That was one birthday present I had to leave with the house.

My husband even used bead board for the back splash in our kitchen. Ladies, if you like bead board, you’ll find that it’s probably one of the least expensive materials you can use for a back splash. I can’t believe that I didn’t take any close up pictures of my kitchen showing it! 
 
We’re in a rental now and don’t know when we’ll be able to buy another house so I decided I need portable bead board. I have a four-section room divider that my Dad made when I was very small.
 

 
I remember that he did a weave of natural material and slid it down in each section; it vas very nice and added lots of texture to the room. There is still some of the natural fiber in the frame all these many years later.  My Dad is an Engineer but always wished he could be an artist and is very artistically talented.

 

Anyway, I have the room divider frame now and have been storing it for years. It will take some work, but I hope to cut sections of bead board and slide it into the frame, paint it and then I’ll have portable bead board that I can take wherever we live!


Here are some pictures showing how bead board can be very beautifully used:

Love the blue wall over the white bead board and I love the roosters

Beautiful green on the bead board and how about that galvanized counter top?

Did I mention that I also like tongue and groove and board and batten walls?:

Vertical

Horizontal

Once again, the blue wall.  Love it!

So pretty painted crisp white!

So how do you use bead board in your house?