Here are a few things I brought with us to the apartment as I wanted to ensure the right paint color for our rooms.

The background is a pillow sham from our bedroom. Then my handy dandy Sherwin Williams chart. There is a swatch of the same yellow leather that’s in the living room and two green swatches of fabric that match the celadon pottery we purchased while living in Korea. That pottery is displayed in our kitchen but I don’t have any really good pictures of it as it is pretty much displayed over the cabinets. The family room is not that difficult as we purchased the identical leather furniture for our apartment and basically our accessories are blue and white.

Fifi asked about the program I was using to do my project and it’s called Better Homes & Garden – Home Designer Suite 8.0. It’s a very user friendly program and I can’t say enough good stuff about it.

I’ve been working in the kitchen a bit more. We want the kitchen “open” to the family room but not “open – open” if you know what I mean. We would like a bar area and pillars of sorts flanking both sides of the bar. The picture below gives a similar idea of what I’m talking about. I’m still thinking of some cabinets over the bar area but have not decided 100% on what to do on that just yet. I just don’t want to box myself in too much in there so we’ll see.

Not sure if you noticed but the pottery was changed to match similar to what I have and I also tweaked the color of the green walls in there. Still playing in my “Doll House”. I’m already looking forward to working in the yard. This program allows you to make gorgeous flower beds, plant huge trees and then gives the most amazing 3D effects outdoors as well.

Today Kari And Kijsa are hosting a designing for your life… what you live, where you live, how you live party. I’m currently living in a two bedroom place with my beloved hubby while we are in the process of building our new home. I live here and play in my doll house as seen below.

Bobby calls the little 3D program I’m working on “Debbie’s Little Doll House”. I’m such a visual person as I want to get an idea of how things are going to look. I started with a blank screen in this 3D program and added the entire floor plan with the correct dimensions. I’ve also taken the dimensions of our furniture and plugged them into each piece of furniture (in this 3D model) so that I can get an overall idea of how things will fit. I was able to select the type of furniture, flooring, fabric, color and size to everything you see.

Yesterday I shared several color choices. As a matter of fact there are close to 2000 Sherwin Williams colors not to mention the thousands of other paint colors from other companies on this program. My mind feels like it’s going to pop with all the choices out there. I’m truly lovin’ this my friends as my hubby is letting me pick out all the paint! YEA!!!

Today I’m sharing different angles of the family room and kitchen. And here is what I’ve come up with so far.

Family Room in TX

My Doll House Family Room – I’ve had so much fun in here pretending. That thing above the fire place is Bobby’s tv as that’s where he wants it.

Another Angle – and notice how much brighter this picture is when I changed the way the light filters in from the outside. I didn’t change the paint color of the room, just the light source. I’m thinking this Honey Gold color is going to be the dominant color of our home.

I moved the camera up and changed the angle for a little bird’s eye view.

Kitchen in TX

Debbie’s Doll House Kitchen

View to the left

View to the right – Kitchen Breakfast Bar Area – This was the first light switch I added on the far wall next to the door. I need to connect the switch to the light (in the program) to turn the light on… But I’m still experiencing some technical difficulties. I think I shall call the “Doll House” electrician.

Breakfast Bar In TX – and the little desk/cabinet area

Doll House Breakfast Bar – That’s supposed to be the desk area as I realize it doesn’t look like a desk, but it will. Work with me here – we’re just pretending in the Doll House… K?

View Out to the Family Room

That’s a wrap for today. If there’s a color you would like to see on any of these walls, just ask and I’ll post them.

We’ve been busy beavers with the new and improved update on our house plans. We had another meeting with our builder Saturday and things seem to be taking shape.

I have been so engrossed in this floor plan program adding details and similar furnishings to the rooms like we had in our home back in TX. This program also allows you to change the lighting in the room as well as the outdoors. I still need to figure out how to turn the lights on in the chandelier overhead. As soon as I get that figured out, I’ll give you a peak of that too.

Today I’m demonstrating what I can do with color in the dining room.

This Olive green is winning my heart at the moment.

Singin’ The Blues – I’m quite fond of the Slate Blue Grey. I’m thinking this will look nice in our office.

Checking out the Autumn Spice

Dripping with Honey

Dishing Out Some Watermelon

Steeped in Berries

Dandelion Yellow

I’m not one who can easily visualize things. So when it comes to paint color I’ve always been nervous to take the plunge and just “do it”.

I found the perfect color while I was browsing through Rhoda’s bedroom from Southern Hospitality.

My heart nearly skipped a beat when I saw how these colors compliment so well. Yum!

Very similar colors represented here in our room but I can imagine that color on the walls.

What a lovely blue and white lamp on her night stand. Doesn’t the color on her wall look so delicious right up against her pretties?

Our lamp is very close to the colors in her lamp and I can only imagine that yummy color complementing this space.

Ah those blue and whites doeth abound in her space while I continue to swoon over that lovely golden paint color.

Here’s more of the same blue, white and brown in my space but I’m beginning to visualize our walls in the family room this very same color.

Isn’t her bed just lovely? She has all the colors blended together to make the perfect happily ever after for me!

And she even provided the paint color on her tour. It’s Sherwin Williams Blonde. We were meant to be together.

Thank you Rhoda!

Julia over at Hooked On Houses is hosting a house tour for our Fantasy Open House around the Blogosphere.

Welcome to our home we just sold back in TX

Snow In Texas – Didn’t happen that often

Hubby let me pick out that paint for the front door!

Foyer

Foyer

Living Room – To the left of the foyer

Hall – To the right of the foyer leading into the family room

Family Room View 1 .

Family Room View 2

Kitchen – Divided by the bar into the family room

Dining Room

Dining Room – View from the stairs

Bedroom View 1

Bedroom – View 2

Bathroom

A sunset taken from our home up on a little hill.

Note: I’ll be adding an inspiration post tomorrow taken from one of the tours today! She’s given me permission to use her photos and I’ll be adding a few more of my own so you get a better idea. I’m so excited as I now have a paint color for our family room! We’re still working on the floor plan so it’s gonna be a while yet for our new home to be built. So come back tomorrow for another visit to see my inspiration!

Cindy over at My Romantic Home is hosting an Our Favorite Things Party ALL WEEKEND! You are all welcome to join in too! For the directions, visit her link at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

My favorite thing would be the white porcelain lady as seen on the fireplace mantel. She was purchased while we were in China about 7 years ago. The artist who created her was quite talented and we also learned he passed away. I was provided with the original papers for her and I’m thrilled to have her in my safe keeping.

Sorry about the Christmas theme but this is the best shot I have of her. She’s tucked away in storage at the moment as we have recently moved from TX to NY.

You may click on the picture to enlarge if you wish.

P.S. – My darlin’ had a special crate built (out of wood) just for her to make the move and he watched over and protected her and kept a close eye on her while she was being packed. I sure hope she’s alright.

We finally received all 6 of the design books Bobby ordered (2 for the basement, 2 for the master bath and 2 for the Kitchen). I’m currently having a blast with the kitchen layout. I ran a few of my major ideas past Bobby and he’s just dandy with what I like. (yay!) He keeps saying “honey, you’re in charge of the kitchen”. Man I’m crawlin’ all over this and getting more ideas than I can shake a stick at.

I’ve been working on some of the features we want for our master bath layout but there’s a lot more work to be done in there. The architect is currently whirling around on the plans so I’m sure between all of us, we’ll come up with something.

We continue to make decisions and some at the moment seem pretty big. Some of our plans are still up in the air and we realize we don’t have to make all the decisions at once, but some of these decisions have to be made before the foundation is poured.

Bobby’s the man in charge of the basement and needs to figure out the layout he wants down there as all pluming decisions need to be made up front.

That said I plan to take a time-out on “house plans” next week and settle into some drawing. I’m a one thing at a time kinda juggler as I can’t fully concentrate on drawing while home plans are on the brain. There were a few days I tried getting my pencils out but my heart wasn’t in it. So I’m hoping to try again next week now that I have what needs to be accomplished for our next appointment with the builder. And I hope my heart is in it soon as I need that passion and undivided attention to be able to put my whole self into whatever it is that I’m doing.

Candles have a way of setting a warm atmosphere and I can’t help but burn them year round. I’m missing some of my favorite candle holders that are locked away in storage so in order to cope, I’ve continued to add to my candle holder collection.

This little holder was purchased last week at Yankee Candle along with a couple yummy smelling candles to go with it.

This little trio set was purchased on sale at my ever favorite Wal-Mart Store for just a few bucks. I keep these burning on the coffee table and try to have them lit before my dearest walks in the door at the end of his day.

I’m enjoying our peaceful evening with the soft glow of candles and wish the evening didn’t have to fade so quickly. We’ll just have to have another round of the same tomorrow night.

I’m still here but working enthusiastically on the floor plan this week. We’re happy with what the architect has done but there were changes we wanted made. So this week I’m been busy plugging the plans into my program which allows me to see it in 3-D.

I was so caught up into the plan on Monday that I sat in the same seat with only one cup of coffee ‘til Bobby got home from work. I literally wondered where the day went and that night I couldn’t sleep so I was up ‘til 3:30 a.m. giving more thought to the plan.

Yesterday was pretty much a carbon copy of Monday however I did break for lunch, albeit a 3:00 p.m. lunch. And then I was up until 2:00 a.m. still poring over the plan. It would only be fair to say I did go back to bed after I got Bobby off to work both days.

Today I concentrated on adding windows, window treatments, appliances, cabinetry, furniture, color to the walls and pretty much detail ~ detail ~ detail… I do realize I don’t need these details right now, but I just can’t help myself. This program is just way cool!

We’re looking so forward to this 3 day holiday weekend and plan to continue working together on the plan to be able to submit our changes by Monday. We have about a 40 day window to work with the architect to have the plan just the way we want it and then they will begin work on our home. I look forward to the day we drive out there to see our home begin to take shape.

We finally have our floor plan picked out and what a joy it is to have that chore behind us. There are some minor tweaks we’ve asked the architect to work on and then we will meet again in a couple weeks to see what he’s come up with.

Bobby and I completed our day with a nice drive around the area where our new home will be and then had lunch at a nice little restaurant in the area. We made it home early enough to catch a nice long afternoon nap and the shut eye was just what we needed.

It looks like our gorgeous spring weather has turned to an abrupt Hot Sizzling Summer around these parts. Yesterday was the first day we had to turn on the AC and it looks like we’ll be running the AC for the duration of the summer. Is it autumn yet? Alright people, I’ll let it rest as I know for many of you summertime is your favorite season. Enjoy Summer Everyone, It’s officially here!

The mover called yesterday saying that all our stuff had safely arrived and they were unloading our stuff in storage. We did have a few boxes we wanted here at the apartment like the unopened food stuff in the pantry and some of Bobby’s tools and a few more clothes…

All of the miscellaneous boxes that we wanted arrived here at the apartment this morning and all the other stuff is safely secured in storage.

Marvin, that’s his name and these are the only pictures I have of him.

He’s the gentleman who owns this rig and we were quite taken with this kind man.

I was talking with him briefly about his rig telling him what a beautiful truck he had and then he asked me to just guess what he paid in gas last month in his truck. I didn’t have a clue and then he said $6,000. $6,000 a month in gas? Man that blows my mind!

He’s the same gentleman I saw this morning here on the other end. His wife used to travel with him and she was the one who would take inventory of all the boxes. Now he’s taken over her job as she developed cancer last year and she is drawing near to the end of her beautiful life. His voice sparkles when he speaks of her and it’s obvious how much he misses having her right by his side. He gets to board a plane today to go be with her in Oklahoma this evening. He was telling me what a sweet woman she is and how she’s taken her illness with ease and how she never complains. My heart just aches for him and his wife and I told him that I have not been able to stop thinking about him since we met in TX. I also let him know that they would continue to be in my thoughts and prayers. If you think of Marvin, please say a prayer for that special couple.

Ah, we’ve been home a full 3 days and not much has transpired in that time. Bobby was quite sick and exhausted as was I (not the sick part) so my dearest was pretty much in and out of bed the last three days. Well I did manage to go to the grocery 3 different times in the last 3 days. I did some food shopping one of those times and the other 2 times was to pick up sore throat stuff for my Dearest. Other than that, I had my fair share of my feet being propped up right here next to Bobby.

He’s feeling a lot better and went to work this morning. I’m pulling myself together and finally getting to the unpacking of the suitcases.

I’ll be making plans to meet with our builder sometime this week and we’re hoping to be in our new home around December or January. But we have to get scurrying if this is going to happen as we need a floor plan first! Bobby has ordered 4 different home plan books from Amazon and they should arrive this week. We’ve already looked at the many plans our builder has but we have an idea of how we want the space laid out and nothing she has works.

I have found some plans that we like online but there are still details we’re not 100% happy with, so we’ll pursue floor plans ‘til we get it right.

I’m having so much fun dreaming about paint colors for our home as I get to pick the stuff out and they will paint my colors for me. I packed a pillow sham with the colors of our master bedroom and already know the two colors I want painted in our room. I want three walls to be painted in the lighter shade and the headboard wall to be painted in the darker shade (same color family as the lighter shade). I’ve wanted an accent wall in our master bedroom for ages and can’t wait to get it! In the master sitting room and in the master bath, I plan to paint all those walls in the darker shade to add contrast. And the master bedroom, the sitting room and bathroom’s ceilings will all be painted in the lighter shade. The shade of paint for the room is in the brown family but even the darkest shade is not a dark dark brown. Ok, you’re confused already but I can see it all in my mind. Is this exciting or what? Well, for me it is as I’ve never had color on my walls for as long as I’ve lived. Well, if you call white and off white color, I guess I’ve had color but now I really get to color our world and I’m pretty stoked!!!

But as Bobby would say, “first things first”, we need to concentrate on a plan so I better clear my thoughts of color and think about the plan.