About time

Anyone who knows us knows that hypothetical decorating & remodeling is a favorite hobby in the Claflin household. Before we were even engaged we would sometimes spend Friday evenings watching HGTV (brand new at the time) at my parents' house since they had cable. One of the reasons our redecorating is mostly hypothetical is that we live in a 1980's tract home. We love the location and square footage, and we're very very thankful to own this house. But the layout is challenging, and we've found that our favorite design aesthetics - California Craftsman and Midcentury Modern being the top two - don't really fit in this house. Plus, it's hard to know how to decorate, pick colors, etc. for the huge, open wall spaces that just keep connecting to other huge, open wall spaces.

It's taken us a long time to figure out what might work to display our collections (of vintage travel posters, TWA memorabilia, space toys and books, Peanuts figures, vintage clothes, cool furniture), work well in a cookie cutter tract house, and still be cost effective. For example: I experience light lust when I see this, but at $700-1500 it's out of my range. Besides, where would I put it? We also have had a hard time meshing our his and hers interests. I pull in mostly green and copper. He pulls in mostly red and silver/stainless/brushed nickel. If we're not careful it looks like clashy Christmas decorating all year round.

Thanks to family friend Eric Shore's generosity, we recently received some great decorating advice. We combined that with all the mulling and shopping and researching and HGTV watching we've done, and decided to go for it!The living area has had a nice make - over, including re-arranging furniture from other parts of the house. Some of the work continues my organizing revolution. Some finishes Emma's bedroom, completing the bedroom set to match her curtains and crib set.

Here's a sneak preview:

Check out more in Carol's Gallery under "We're improving" and "More improving"

ps - if you've already viewed "More improving" I've added more pictures as of today.