Inspiration Files: Blue Ceilings

You might remember that our new master bedroom has a blue ceiling. I can't tell you how much we love it! It gives our otherwise neutral, color-safe room some real personality, and it's just so pretty to look at!

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I don't have any other ceilings in my home that are slated to get a coat or two of blue paint, but I thought we might look at some other spaces with blue ceilings.

Of course there is the typical blue-ceiling porch. I've heard it's called 'haint' blue to keep the haints (haunts) away. I've also heard it keeps wasps from setting up house on your porch because they think it's the wild blue yonder. Who knows what of that is true, but it sure is pretty!

 
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Blue ceilings have moved inside--they're not just for porches anymore! Living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and more are being brightened up with the addition of a blue ceiling.

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Is it just me, or are most of those ceilings planked? I didn't notice that when I was pinning them, but what a great way to draw attention to a beautiful planked ceiling? Below are a few more images where a blue ceiling makes the architecture of the room stand out--whether coiffured or wainscoted or simple walls with crown molding. 

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Source: mycoffeely.com via Sharon on Pinterest

Source: houseandhome.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Don't worry--if the architecture in your home isn't something to call attention to, you can always fake a beautiful trim with duct tape like I did!

So, who's coming to the store with me to get some blue paint for a ceiling in your home?

Barns of Benton County: White Cow Barn

I took my baby to the doctor last week and drove by this property on the way home. I didn't have my camera with me, so I popped out my cell phone. It's not a smart phone, either, so I didn't expect the picture to be very clear. It's not, but I love the effect!

The only editing I did was to add my watermark. Isn't it fun?

What you can't see are the black-and-white cows that were grazing in this picturesque pasture covered in bright yellow dandelions. It was a beautiful spring day with warm sunshine and gentle breezes.

Remind me of these beautiful days the next time a spring storm blows through!


 

Hall Makeover Reveal

Like a typical ranch-style home, our living room and kitchen are on one side of the house and the bedrooms are on the other. This hard-working hallway has doors to the bathroom and three bedrooms as well as two closets.  

Our hall is 36 inches wide which doesn't leave room for even a narrow bookshelf or display table. I recently painted all of the trim white and painted the walls a neutral gray.

I don't have a great 'before' picture, but if you take a look at the image below you can get an idea of the amount of oakey orangeness we had going on in the hall. I'm not one to always advocate painting all woodwork--I think it can be beautiful when done right. Ours was not. 

Wow--where are my sunglasses?! We lived with that for three years before my husband refinished the floors and I started painting everything else! Honestly, I'd forgotten how dirty and gross the before was and I'm even more thankful for our new, clean hallway! Whew! 

Here's the hall floor after it was refinished. I think it's one coat of walnut stain and a couple coats of poly. I like how you can still see the grain of the wood but there's no more orange! 


You can also see the terrible shape that the rest of the trim was in. Our home was abused before we rescued it! I just don't understand how a door frame to a bedroom can be THAT banged up after one previous owner (even though the house is 50 years old)!

Here's a short anatomy lesson of our hallway as you enter it from the kitchen. Walk to the end (the bathroom) and turn around and you'll see this:

I used off-the-shelf white trim paint from Walmart and worked in fits and starts. That's a lot of trim, folks! I mixed the gray myself using a slate gray-black I got in the oops section with the white trim paint, and used the slate color for the doors. "The Plan" includes eventually replacing the hall doors, but with needing new hinges and door knobs for these four doors plus the door to the basement, that adds up right away, so I chose just to paint them for now. 

One of my favorite elements of the hall makeover is these fun striped closet doors! They took way too much time and effort, but it gives the hall some fun character. 

Isn't that fun?! I'm so glad I took the time and effort to add the slate stripes to the white doors. If you want to see what is behind these two sets of doors, you can see my linen closet here and my craft closet here.

Another area I'm working on in our hall is a gallery wall. I'm collecting and re-framing milestone pictures of my three boys and will hang them as I get them done. When I was new to blogging I made this 'family rules' sign using stickers and spray paint on an old bulletin board. I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out--lots of underspray on the letters--but my husband really likes it, so I hung it in the hall. I do like what it says: it's the Ten Commandments in my modern language translation. I think that's a great set of family rules!
 

I made a display board for the plethora of art pages my sons generate. It's hung at their level so they can change out the display when they want. I'll do another post later with more images of it and my Pinterest inspiration. :)

Let's see another before-and-after of our hall, shall we? 

Before:

After:

Much better!

WW: What I'm Working On

Inspiration Files: National Parks Roadtrip

Perhaps it's because my oldest turns 5 next month...

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Perhaps it's because we just got back from a little weekend trip...

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Perhaps it's because it's something I loved doing when I was a kid...

Whatever the reason, I've always wanted to take a US National Parks roadtrip tour. 

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In my dreams only could we get to all of the parks in a year's time. I'm thinking more of several month-long excursions over the years. I mean, the US is pretty huge!

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We could do the West Coast ones one year, Southwest desserty type another year, then the ones in and near the Rockies, another excursion for the Southern parks... Alaska would get it's own trip. 

Of course the kids would study the National Parks in advance. Talk about a comprehensive study unit! Animals, plants, geology, geography, weather, history, science, math, maps, the states--Wow! Web Rangers has some fun online activities about National Parks.

Depending on their ages and interests, the boys can sleep under the stars, in a tent, in a tree, whatever. Me? 

Source: vintagetrailercrazy.com via Ellie on Pinterest

How about a renovated Airstream? (There will be no pink flamingos around mine!) 

Or this one: 

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It's worth your time to follow that link above and get the tour of that trailer. Incredible!

Well, at least I have a few years to plan. Have you ever done something like that? How many National Parks have you been to? What's your favorite one? Have you ever renovated a trailer? 

Barns of Benton County: Views of the Countryside

If you were to drive around Benton County, Iowa, on a random gravel road, this is what you would see. 

 
One road looks like another.  No oceans or lakes or mountains to mark the horizons.

Everywhere you go, there are small farms, big farms, old barns and new ones.

I often wonder if you took all of the small towns and homesteads of Benton County--excluding cropland--and crammed them all into city limits, what city would it approximate?

I'm glad we're spread out, usually. Sometimes I feel lonely and isolated, but I also enjoy sunrises, sunsets and quiet drives on gravel roads, watching the fields in the first blush of spring.

  
Have you taken a slow drive on a gravel road lately?