some decorating and a new broom

I love love my new walls (well the ones I finished painting so far). I was afraid it looked too much like the old color at first but once it dried and I got it on an entire wall I really loved it. It's just a little greener and more vibrant than the Butternut and makes all the my dark brown furniture pop. Happy happy! Oh if only the paint didn't give me a headache. But it's worth it.

Have you been to Pier 1 lately? They have some really wonderful Halloween stuff out right now. I had to get this glittery witchy broom to add to my collection. I love the crooked handle. Here it is against the new paint which doesn't look as vibrant here but you can see the greener tone. Very Owensy I think!

I also couldn't resist this witchy boot ornament and a few other cute things that decided to follow me home...

...like this adorable couple that's actually about to take a trip to their new home.

All this painting and moving stuff around put me in the mood to bring out my favorite design and decorating books again. I love so many different styles that I finally gave up on picking one particular one.

My biggest inspiration usually comes from these 3 design styles. I love the eclectic mix here in my home state of California, from Bohemian San Francisco to the Spanish flavor of Southern California. Old world and modern Paris...I love both. And New Orleans as you might know is an obsession of mine. The mix of  colonial Spanish and tattered French decadence in the Vieux Carre speaks to my inner gypsy. So I'm revisiting my old books and magazines again, looking for a little inspiration to spruce up my little place.

Hope you're having a beautiful weekend!

atc swap reminder and new paint color

Just a quick reminder for my Artful Bag Challenge atc swappers. If you haven't  already mailed your card out to your partner you should be getting ready to mail in the next few days. We will be posting on our blogs on the 25th.

I finally decided on a color for my walls and actually bought paint today. After months of dreaming about something completely different from what's on there now, I went with one that's not too different after all.

I've had this color on my walls for about 9 years. It's called Butternut by Martha Stewart and maybe you can tell from that shade and from my dark wood furniture that my inspiration came from, where else? The Owen's living room in Practical Magic.

Image from Victoria Magazine October 1998

My living room still has the same espresso and sage color scheme as the PM house, down to the brown sofa, leather arm chair and honey colored drapes. And no matter how much I change things around I always end up going back to these favorite colors, especially when Autumn comes around and I start decorating for Halloween.

I watched the movie again the other day (probably the 387th time) and realized how much I still love everything about that house. So I ended up with another Martha Stewart color called Malted which is a little bit deeper and greener than the Butternut. I thought about going almost white, like a pale blue gray but I think I just love warm golden shades too much.

I also learned something new when I went to Home Depot to buy my paint. Now I always knew you can have any color mixed from any brand of paint. If you like a shade from a particular line you can have it mixed in any of  the brands of paint available. I love Martha's colors but I went with Glidden paint which is a little cheaper. What I didn't know is that Martha's line of paint IS Glidden, relabeled with her brand. The nice man mixing my paint told me this when I asked what the difference was between the two. So I was able to save a little and still got not just Martha's color but basically the same paint.

We'll see how it all turns out tomorrow.

Hope you're having a great week so far!