Friday, February 20, 2009

Hello Wood Floors! A little photo tour...

It's finally done! The carpet is out and the wood floors are in. We just need to finish staining the wood transition pieces that go between the dining room and the living and it will be complete. I spent all of yesterday afternoon putting the new decorative touches on the living room... and cleaning off the dining room table that had an absolutely hideous amount of stuff on it.

Katy made herself right at home right away. 'Moving in' to a new room gave me the opportunity to decide what to keep, what to move, and in some cases — what to get rid of. I had a lot of fun combing through our collection of handmade art to redeploy it in new spots. I find that if things don't move, they fade into the background where they are eventually unseen. We have a large collection of raku pottery that is now displayed on the shelving unit behind Katy. I decided to keep the funky blue and white fish noren from Japan that hangs in the doorway to the baby room.

Next to the entertainment armoire I deployed some iron lantern candle holders on top of our speakers. I left the wall ones where they were at. My little bamboo plant sits behind one speaker and I moved my gardenia plant to the floor next to it. Hopefully it will get enough light there. Now that it's in a more public place it is bound to get more watering. I've also got a big umbrella 'tree' in the opposite corner that is also on the floor. Time will tell how ill-fated this move was to the plants, but I really like where they're at now and we haven't had any disasters or even any close calls yet.

The table in between the newfs' favorite "Big Comfy Chair" and our couch now has a chimp candle holder and a glorious wooden box that Mr. Field Notes mom gave us for our anniversary one year. It used to be way up on top of the entertainment armoire where it just gathered dust. I love having out in the open where I can better appreciate it. It's definitely among my favorite pieces of art. The stargazer lilies are from Mr. Field Notes for Valentine's Day. They are my favorite cut flower. The smell is intoxicating. Like jasmine and gardenia. Mr. Field Notes thinks they smell like urine but he gets them for me anyway. What a hero =D

The 'baby room' still has a ways to go. I'm not going to mess with it until sometime in April. We had planned to take the shelves off the wall and move them to the dining room but then Mr. Field Notes told me that as a kid, he would have thought a room with this many shelves and books was way cool. That it would have been perfect. And I got to thinking about it too and agreed that I would also have liked to have that much shelf space for books and to display my stuff.

Many of the books are still going to move to the dining room because I am not about to just hand over all of my primatology, psychology and evolution books to Baby Field Notes. Maybe BFN won't even like primates. Maybe monkeys will be boring because that's what mom does. Who knows. But the kid should and will have her own books, or his own books. So the shelves are staying.

But, the hideous orange curtains are going once I figure out what new colors to make the room. NO pastels! That's for sure. I like this baby bedding set at Overstock.com but it's not very 'babyish' in the sense of bunnies, teddy bears, bouncing frogs and whatnot. It's rather mature. I like it though, but then again, I've been mature since I was born. Just ask my parents.

12 comments:

Psycgirl said...

OOooo that's so nice! I love your before and after pics!

Paula Nelson said...

Oh, beautiful!!!

Is Katy a Newfie? She's purdy :~)

I love the "mature" baby set! Great colors. ...and anyhow, aren't bold colors (and the black & white combination) great for developing baby's eyes? I'm not a pastel fan, either.

Field Notes said...

Yes, Miss Katy is a Newfoundland :~)

And, yes, you are right bold patterns in black and white *are* the best for developing eyes.

Alasdair said...

Good thing you didn't see the "during" photos. Lots of them were of me looking serious and the floor looking not done. But it's very nice now!

Field Notes said...

I can still include some 'during' photos! I've got a great one of you being helped by two furball helpers!

TERI REES WANG said...

What a relief, huh?...Don't you feel better now?!

P.S. Love the traditional navy Noren!
...I would continue with that visual. It compliments your Raku and book collections as well as making a great backdrop for all your natural wood brown furnishings.
P.S.S. You could paint a soft Navy-gray band from floor to chair rail height (3ft) to link all the public rooms. It is also a good dog and toddler proof camouflage. Aura from Benjamin Moore has low V.O.C. levels and is a primer and paint in one = easy on.

Anonymous said...

Hey cuz. First off congratz on your pregnancy. Second I agree the book shelves will be perfect. She/He will be so lucky. You probably know already, but the babies eyes develop for B&W before color so I love the color scheme. Interesting how my photography training covered that. I am so happy for you!!
PS Japan looks incredible.
Eirick

Anonymous said...

Very nice! I can see the remarkable improvement! I'm sure the Newfies will love the un-carpeted floor in the hot summer.

It feels great to personalize your dwelling especially so much work! I felt proud after re-tiling the kitchen and bathrooms. Congrats!

yellowfish said...

wow, looks great! those floors are awesome! and, I love the idea of "deploying" art, too :)

Anonymous said...

Its a very beautiful floor, i like it. I hope you will post more and thank you for sharing.

Ianny said...

Why not complement that noren with a couple of Japanese art prints? There is a certain tranquility they exude - good for unwinding after a loooong day.

Field Notes said...

Oh I am certainly a fan of Japanese woodblock prints. I've got one, Hiroshige's Plum Estate No. 30 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo! I also picked up some sweet furoshiki from the RAAK cloth stores in Kyoto. I'm having three of them framed as a series.