Roxanne the artist!: July 2011

Living on a farm the past three months influenced my design sense. Everything is simple and bare. Minimal, yet functional. Colors are bleached by the sun, worn by the wind and dulled by the elements.

I'm drawn to the greys of this old galvanized metal out building and the water cistern (below). There is something warm and relaxing about the weathered patina.

As I begin to assemble and arrange our 1970 home, it's apparent that I'm still under the influence of the farm. Colors, fabrics, accessories and furnishings are coming together in a style that I'm describing as Modern Country/Modern Farm. Liking the thought of pillow ticking, burlap and feed sacks.

The picture above and below were taken on the first time we saw the house...

...the room has a lot of light and white. The walls were mocha. Nice but a little too pink for me.

Three weeks later, immediately after closing this was the first room I painted. I chose Anonymous, a Sherwin Williams color which I had dog-eared in a mental file months ago when my daughter Kim used it in her office. It was love at first site and I was determined to use it somewhere. This room, with it's 2 windows, skylights and two walls of white built-ins made it a safe choice for this deep greenish grey. It's a great color. In fact I like the entire strip. The color I painted in the Living/Dining Room, Amazing Grey, is on there too! Both colors are interesting
and tend to change with lighting and surrounding colors.

For example, Anonymous looked grey until we brought in the brown Antique Leather sectional
which instantly made the color more green. Colors! Such a mystery.

With each addition, this room began to take on a pleasing personality. Please notice Abbey! She gave us a terrible scare when she went missing for about 36 hours. Praise God who heard our prayers and cries and found her for us.....isn't He the best?!!

A few days after we moved in and things were beginning to take shape, Susan stopped by with a beautiful bouquet of Zinnias! She is so thoughtful and helpful! Susan, along with Claudia, Kendra, Linda, Susie, and Malissa have warmly embraced us over the past months. Providing housing, general information, friendship, advice, laughter, encouragement and so much more!

I loved the zinnias and basil! They were perfect. Just picked and garden fresh.

Melons bought at the farmers market look great in a large antique dough bowl.

Behind the sectional there was an unused area. However, the nicest thing happened when I laid a hooked rug runner down on the bare wood floors.

The insignificant area gained purpose and became a colorful runway to access the built-ins.
A nice place to display items of interest.

I can hardly wait to display some of the beautiful photos that our daughter-in-love Jenny, took
at the farm on Mothers Day! (Jenny, is an up and coming photographer that continues to 'wow!' us....if you need a photographer, consider her).

Coach was delighted to see his G. Harvey prints hanging on the wall. It's been almost 10 years since we used them. I topped the one below with one of my paintings, titled Psalm One.

I found the iron lamp with rawhide shade at a neighborhood resale shop for $25. Old marbles and dominoes have found a place to hang out.

Coach, excited to find a great ottoman bought this one at the Pottery Barn Outlet in San Marcos. He has excellent taste. It's perfect!

At the other end of the room is another bank of built-ins. This is how they looked before we bought the house. Two separate units, but we had an idea of connect them and reconfiguring the shelves so the could accommodate the flat screen T.V.

Here it is below. Tony Bickel, who showed up after closing and made our ideas a reality... and did it quickly.

These shelves will house and display photos, trophies, awards and many special mementos. Hopefully this will help this end of the room to feel a little bit like the 'man cave' Coach wants.

Our daughter Kim, wrote this for her Dad. He was touched by her words and sat it on a shelf alone.

Old pictures of us sit on these shelves.

Framed articles about unforgettable games is one of his favorites!

Gold Football Trophy's, and game balls are among the memento's and serve to remind us of past victories.....

...and encourage us for future ones.

These shelves will be a work in progress...an on going project. Coach works so hard to make a difference and I'm so glad this room will provide us the opportunity to display important events and accompishments. We've got a lot of space to fill and high hopes for the future.

GO WILDCATS!