What An Awesome Day!

Today was a fantastic day.  One of my closest and very dearest friends was finally able to come over and see my house.  I have been here since late October and with the holidays and everything, time just got away from us. She loved the house and thought it is perfect for me.  She is a retired interior decorator and just had so many great ideas.  I was getting more and more excited as she was talking.  We had a little lunch together and then she was just letting the ideas pour forth.  She  loved the color of my kitchen and had some ideas for making it very bold and dramatic.  She also gave me some good advice.  She said that what she always advised her clients was to have one big project a quarter. That way you stay on track and have some time to save up a little money  between projects.  I think it would be a great way for me to keep from getting overwhelmed.

My friend is also a fellow Schnauzer mom, except that she has a standard size.  Therefore, she understands the tone of voice you have to use with a schnauzer.  The breed are smack talkers, and feel the need to sound the alarm when people enter the house.  Once they get going, it is hard for them to let it go.  My friend told Liesl that she wasn't buying the tough girl act, so Liesl dropped her tail and went off to go find her treat ball.  

I am so excited now about all of the great ideas my friend gave me.  Some are really easy, such as where to hang certain pictures to give the biggest presentation bang for the buck.  Some will take a little more time and money.  She is amazing because she could just look at a wall and envision what belongs there, then she would approach the same wall from different doorways and such to see how the eye picks up certain things.  Already with the paint the kitchen does not look the same.  When I get the blacksplash done it will look amazing.  

I had my first little snafu today.  I went to hang the new light fixture in my kitchen.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  The shade is mother of pearl mosaic and is so stunning.  However, I am going from a flush mount to a semi flush mount.  I got the old fixture down only to find that the whole in the ceiling is too big around.  I just figured that I would put in some sheet rock and spackle it in.  I was telling my BFF tonight on the phone and she reminded me that they made decorative medallions for the ceiling that I can mount the fixture to.  Even better.  It will really be dramatic with a pretty medallion.  Plus they are not very expensive.  Her hubby offered to come and put everything up for me, but I am hard headed and want to try doing it myself first.  

This is so exciting.  I am having too much fun.