Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Welcome to a Corner of my Home

(Just a reminder, folks. This blog is involved in a serious competition called A September to Remember. There are very few rules - and the ones there are, keep transmogrifying. There may or may not be a winner. There may or may not be a prize. But I am determined to win and Win Big.)

As you may recall, my topic for September is "30 Corners of My Home." Since my (so far) main competition is Lea (no offense to Meg, Lori, Laura, Jilma (?), and any closet competitors... but Lea did get a MAJOR HEAD START on all of us), I'm going with a numbered theme, Just Like Her - but I also figured I'd copy her chronological format. She's doing 40 Women to Remember, starting with her birth mom. My house "begins" with the foy-a (long a, please). That's what you call it when you can fit three sets of bunk beds inside it. Which is exactly what we were tempted to do when we first saw the house. We are not Foy-A People. After all, we moved here from the country. But I've adapted well to the Foy-A Life.

Ever adaptable, that's me :)

What I hope to do with these "corners", is to try to include some of the "whys" and decorating theories behind the decisions I've made. I am a decorator wannabe. I did start to study interior design, but I found out very quickly that I would be an excellent decorator.....as long as my clients wanted their houses to look Exactly Like Mine. If their style was different, say...Modern...or Oriental...Or Minimalist (heaven forbid!), I could be of no service At All.

My house is my canvas, so to speak.

It's also a reflection of who I am and what I do with the materials God entrusts me with. It also needs to function in a way that makes it possible for my husband and children to prosper in their studies, their rest, their recreation, their sustenance, and their own creativity.

It's also a testimony to the world of what a Christian home looks like. Non-believers are looking for any excuse to justify their "uncomfortableness" with us. More about this later.

If you were entering through my front door (which hardly anyone does, because our driveway is on the side of the house, facing our back door - which has a white swing beside it...beckoning people to enter through the very dirty and cluttered mud room - A decorating snafu if there ever was one!)-

But if you did accidentally come to the front door, upon opening it, you would be facing this little reminder.....





...Nothing says Welcome like a subtle warning that your soul may be in danger.


To the left of the front door is this armoire - where you could leave your coat and valuables. We do have a coat closet, but it houses the vacuum cleaner, light bulbs, tools, batteries and other things you wouldn't trust with your coat. Of course, there are only about 14-15 days a year when we actually need a coat in Florida.
Maybe I should call it a flip flop closet, and fill it with beach towels and sun screen.

The armoire is not an antique, and I don't particularly care for the way it looks on the outside, but it is lined with cedar. I bought it used on the Internet from another homeschooler. I placed the arrangement on top to detract from the fact that it looks a little cheap. It draws the eye up. If you're not good at displaying items, just start putting things together and leave them there for a few days. When you walk by it, you'll notice where your eye naturally goes - and you'll get a sense about it. Little whimsical groupings make me happy. If it looks cluttered or thrown together - take it down...and try something else.






I painted the chair red, as well as the piano bench, to bring out the red in the totally weird and I-never-would-have-bought-this-myself wallpaper. Again, it's supposed to trick the eye into overlooking the monkeys and the very stereotypical, non-PC foreign guys in the background.

The lady we bought our house from was a museum curator - and she had just paid a ridiculously high sum to have this one-of-a-kind wallpaper hung in the Foy-A. When we were looking at the house, I listed the immediate things that would have to be "remedied", and the wallpaper was on the list. But it's growing on us. It speaks to what the house once was. A cultured domain. And it speaks to what it is now. A jungle :)




Although we resisted the urge to turn the foyer into a child's room - we are much too practical, and have lived in houses so 'space-challenged' - we couldn't leave the room with no purpose at all. So we put the piano against one wall. Our piano teacher comes to our home, pulls up the red chair - and starts teaching....for everyone in the house to hear, since there are no doors on the foyer. But it's a good excuse to make the children be quiet, and on most days I love hearing the music waft through the house.




I'm a basket person (not the same as a basket case). I use baskets for anything and everything. We were forever losing music when we stored it on a shelf, or in the piano bench - but for some reason the kids can easily find their music when it's stored vertically.



Here's a quote to end our tour. Tomorrow I will give you a chance to help me figure out what to do with my kitchen curtains. I have three different versions up now, and it's time to settle on something.


A house means a family house, a place specially meant for putting children and men in so as to restrict their waywardness and distract them from the longing for adventure and escape they’ve had since time began.
- Marguerite Duras

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your "totally weird and I-never-would-have-bought-this-myself wallpaper" and I'm glad it earned a coveted low number in the 30-corners-of-my-house/september-to-remember-blog-contest.

Mrs. Pittman said...

Well, Eva, if it brought you out of lurkingdom and inspired you to comment, then I maybe I'll just keep the weird wallpaper.

You know....Shep likes this wallpaper, too. Yet another thing you two have in common...
I'm just sayin'....

Kahlua Keeping Koala said...

Wondering if I can get in on the contest with a caveat that I recap Fay aftermath as the first five days of September - I can re date them to coincide with the pictures we took in sequence...

Lori said...

I have to say that I like the wallpaper too.

Mrs. Pittman said...

Bring it on, Koala (some day, remind me to ask you what the heck your screen name means!)

The good thing about no rules is...no rules. Backdating is completely permissable. In the end we will have some kind of a vote through Kelley's site, I think. So perhaps your fans will not mind if you start late (you'll get the Pity Vote for your flood situation, at least :)

Kelley said...

I love being reminded that creating an atmosphere in our home (whether by decorating or being hospitable, etc) we can minister to our families as well as to others!

10 points - for the challenge to create a peaceful atmosphere in our homes...

5 points - for the red chair - I love red!

5 points for being a fellow-basket-person.


In response to your comment on my blog (thanks for that!) - several of my nutrition books (which happen to promote raw-food eating) say that eating raw before cooked food is beneficial because...

1. raw food is easily digested and our body assimilates the nutrients/enzymes quickly.

2. Cooked food (unfortunately) sits dormant while our body tries to digest food which has had the water content completely cooked out (so a lot of the food rots before it is digested...nice thought huh?)

Therefore, by eating raw foods 20 minutes before cooked foods your body can digest it and assimilate the nutrients vs. getting stuck behind (or with) the dormant/decaying cooked food.

That's what they say, anyway:-)

I'm so happy to have somebody to help keep me motivated with my newest diet change...

Mrs. Pittman said...

Kelley-
Can you give me an idea of some of the raw foods you eat 20 minutes before a meal (preferably things available in this country :)?

Anonymous said...

"the primary purpose of a home is to reflect and to distribute the love of Christ. anything that usurps that is idolatrous." ravi zacharias

this quote is on my fridge so you have to come into the kitchen to start to be hit on the head with a gospel warning....

your home (the old one or this much closer to me new one) has always been a place where i feel comfortable, listened to, and loved. it was a peaceful place for me to come the other night. i came to see brite and you and to just rest my soul in pittman haven for a while....

10 points for always opening the door to me....

Kahlua Keeping Koala said...

About the name... In Keeping with the PPP alliteration in her screen name, I chose K to alliterate in keeping with the fact that my real name begins with K and a dear friend of MM called me Kaluha and Koala for the first few years I was part of MMs life....

Shhh: I think Kaluha should be spelled Kahlua, but don't tell anyone...

Kahlua Keeping Koala said...

name test.

Kahlua Keeping Koala said...

Note, my Blog name is now spelled correctly. It didn't change all my previous blog comments, but it did change the ones from this point forward....

Meg in Tally said...

When I saw the first picture with the wallpaper, I was curious. I was extremely relieved when I read the "totally weird and I-never-would-have-bought-this-myself wallpaper" comment. Because I was starting to wonder of my Princess friend had totally lost her mind!!! Surely, I wouldn't be a friend to someone with such...ummm... shall we say...garish taste?

I concur...those grandkids are cute!

Anonymous said...

the wallpaper is growing on me too.... i think i might paint the birdhouse too, not sure since i am not actually standing in the foyaaaaaaaaaa

it seemed to blend in with the paper, i like the basket thing... they help my life stay organized too.

glad the visit with the family was so wonderful.... when is thomas due to arrive?

Laura said...

Ditto on the birdhouse.

Ditto Meg's comment on the wallpaper.

I'm so glad Kahlua finally fixed her name!

I completely agree that Grandmama needs her own blog. She told me today that her comments were starting to look bloggish!

Unknown said...

You're really encouraging me to look at my house through new eyes and decorate a little! Where did you get that basket for the piano books, that's exactly what I need for ours, instead of piling them on top of the piano!

Free Art Printables said...

I love the toile curtain the best. What a great idea with the black paint. Very french country. :) Jen R

Mamajil said...

I love the red chair!! :)
by the way it would seem
I am totally going for least amount of posts....seeing as how posting every other day seems to be almost all I can do... Having all these kids seems to take all my time...who would have thought?!! lol

Davene said...

I am having so much fun this Sunday afternoon as I treat myself to the gift of time to catch up on your blog! :)

You know I'm always amused when I read your writings; but I have to tell you that I literally burst out laughing when I read this line -- "...Nothing says Welcome like a subtle warning that your soul may be in danger." Oh my goodness, is that funny or what?

I also appreciated the quote Lea shared by Ravi Zacharias. I'm going to write that down immediately.