A Bright Day

Winter blues have come to the Pacific Northwest.  And nothing quite beats winter like color. Color is so much a part of our every day lives, we don't even pay attention to it most of the time. Color is how we see. The more contrast the better we "see" something.  And during the winter months, the outside world provides us with little more than shades of grey and green.  Some of us can't live with color, we get too much stimulation from the people, cars, signs, houses and television around us that when we return home, neutrals are our comfy retreat.  But, some people enjoy the color that can be found inside the house. And now is the best time of the year to appreciate it!

Designer Angela Adams lives in Portland, Maine and this is her house featured in Coastal Living Magazine. Angela makes me feel like I want to paint.  She makes me want to live in a coastal town.  Angela inspires me to live with color.

 Angela Adams makes me want to add more turquoise to my house. She makes the ocean and the forest floor look like things I want to roll around on. She makes them soft, plush and abstract. She makes me want to stare at the ocean until I see what she sees.

 This room inspired me to put a vintage needlepoint owl on top of a floor pillow.  Our cats now call it home.  

 Angela's bedroom all dressed in hot pink, magenta. It's simple and wonderfully colorful.

 Blue and green make for a comforting dining room. And finally, a guest room dressed in shades of turquoise, green and yellow, grounded in chocolate. Does it get any closer to nature than that?

And what about you, do you like living with color?

New Year, New Goals

 A new year has arrived and with it, new goals. New ideas and ways to improve myself. New things I might want to accomplish or give a try.

As I browse the isles at the local Fred Meyer I can't help but notice the obvious goals for us all...workout time!! Only this year, not for me. I am five and half months pregnant and for the first time, don't really care if I loose any weight. Wow! What a liberating feeling. I am relishing in not having to worry about how un-flat my stomach is.  I look forward instead to having a baby.  A wee one to hold, feed and change it's diapers. Snuggle time!

And yet, with all of the new stuff that comes with motherhood, I can't help but make personal goals for my mental health.  Goals I want to share with all of you for the year ahead.  Number 1 priority is being a fantabulous mother! After that I wish to conquer the world!! Ok, I'm kidding. Not really.

What would goals be if not lofty.  And so with motherhood and all of it's future challenges, I wish to embark on a journey through the blogging world.  Where I might discover that writing is all at once fun, challenging and a life-long learning process.  I hope to share my vintage interior design ideas with you.  Future posts include stories about those that live the vintage modern life, nursery design, my own vintage wedding, creative ideas for your collections and color schemes for your interior. To inspire your creativity (we all have some!) and get you talking about living a vintage modern life.  

Next, to expand on my knowledge and ability with a camera.  I have dreams of purchasing a digital SLR camera so I can share what I see with you too.  Because words sometimes just don't do the trick.  And because honestly, I love pictures.  If I ever wrote a book, it would most certainly contain 90% photographs!  

This year, with the hopeful arrival of a baby, I am filled with a little fear of the unknown, lots of excitement for what could be and joy deep down in my soul for the opportunity to even get to do something like this.  Now that I've told you and the universe what my goals are for the new year, off I go!

Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Nicole

"You have to make mistakes to find out who you really aren't. You take the action and the insight follows:     You don't think your way into becoming yourself." Anne Lamott