make my home simple, soothing, functional, and peaceful

Shabby chic furniture doesn’t have to mean frills, curves and clutter. I like it best when it’s fairly plain and understated. Cottage style stuff can be lovely in the right setting but all that pink and those cabbage roses can be a bit hard for male partners to live with!
So my current favourites are the simpler, Shaker inspired pieces. They’ll work better in my London terraced home as well. I do love Shabby Chic furniture that’s more beach house style but as I don’t live by the sea anymore I think it might look a bit too contrived.
I’m searching for things with simple lines, already painted and possibly slightly distressed.
I just don’t have a space to prepare and paint stuff here, so that’s not an option.
The hope is that I can indulge my desire for some stylish Shabby Chic furniture whilst not filling the house up with too much clutter.

The first and most obvious thing to think about is re-covering the two painted Lloyd Loom basket chairs that are here already. They are painted light green and do not need any further distressing :-) They’d work well in the bedroom, perhaps in the bay window with a nice Lloyd loom table between them. They need new seat cushions so I’m on the lookout for fabric. If I take into account the curtains are a pretty French Country print then I should be be able to find something suitable.

Mostly what I need are small pieces of Shabby Chic furniture not major items. These will work better with the existing vintage furniture which is a mix of Victorian and early 20thC. None of it is what might be called antique and some of it is a bit heavy, in dark woods. Still some Shabby Chic accessories and fabrics should lighten things up a bit.

Leaving aside for a moment that strange masculine blind spot that is the cushion. How can anyone dislike cushions??? Sigh…

Back to the quest for Shabby Chic furniture. I’m going to use Shabby Chic Furniture to document my search for ideas and inspiration.

I am looking forward to getting rid of some clutter.

Spent an hour vacuuming and dusting – boring yet strangely satisfying..

A photo of our clean, tidy sideboard, with roses and music to make me smile:-)
I like this image – it shows that music, including live music, (Andy’s saz in the background) and growing things are important to us. Oh, and that we like quirky china nonsenses!LOL

• a layer of dust is building up on my hard-won clear surfaces so that’s first. ^done
• I want to track down some suitable containers for my make-up etc on the dressing table, a nice basket perhaps?
• A container or perhaps a letter rack to go by the front door
• It would be nice to find a plant that can cope with low light levels for the top of that book case.
• Put in the new filters and then vac the upstairs.
• The coffee table in the living room is next on my hit list – clear it, polish (it’s lovely wood!),^done
• Try it in the corner with the little TV on it. ^later
  Are these SMART tasks? I hope so. But first my bath is ready :-)

I’m staying in tomorrow to wait for the plumber so it’s an ideal chance to tackle another blackspot. Something in the dining room I think as I work in here a lot. Vac and dust perhaps? Quite getting into this now :-)
Still I’m never likely to get into all that flylady stuff. Been there, done that, we used to have a book called Superwoman back in the day and it was all about priorities. Asking yourself how much time you were prepared to give this stuff and then just doing the things that really enhance your enjoyment of your life. It’s different things for different people.
As she used to say “Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom!” and as far as I’m concerned it is also too short to always have a shiny sink! I don’t know about anyone else but a shiny sink is never, ever going to put a smile on my face!
On the other hand a shiny sideboard that smells of beeswax polish is quite another matter :-)

The top of the sideboard is a dumping ground, my laptop isn’t seeing the wireless network since the last software update, time to close the upstairs mac down and go sort out the sideboard? Yep :-)

I bought a file cabinet yesterday that I found on craigslist (not goodwill)
I started filling it, sorting through the drifts of paper that have piled up.
I also got some file folders for a tickler file (43 folders)

cleaned the fridge. de-cluttered and gave everything a good scrub.

yesterday, I worked in the living room. Last week, our floor lamp developed an unfortunate bend to the left, so we got a new one from Goodwill- still in the box from Target. Well, you know that when you bring one new thing into a room, nothing else looks right- so, I removed a table. much nicer. Then, my daughter found a lamp at GW that totally matches the floor lamp, for $4.00! I will have to take a picure. Got it home, and discovered the chain that you pull to turn it on and off is gone, but no worry- we just plugged it in to the outlet that is attached to the wall switch. easy-peasy.
Took two large trash bags and two duffel bags full of stuff to Goodwill. We definitely donated more than we acquired.