Tamgypsy, You have a beautiful home and have done a wonderful job decorating. I love so much in your home that I can't even list it all. I particularly love your office desk hutch and armoire. I think I'm partial to the white color.
I don't feel I'm qualified to give you any advice so will let others give theirs. I think sometimes when we stand back and look at our own homes we are much more critical than others are.

I agree with Sandi, yur home is lovely. It is warm and inviting, and I am not a decorator! Our homes are works in progress, and I am sure you will eventually get yours the way YOU want it. Do any of our homes look like the magazines?? Not if they are lived in and comfortable. I would be yelling all the time, don't touch that, don't sit there, etc. if it had to be "perfect" Enjoy your home and have fun making it your work of art!

Wow , it is very nicely done and very restful looking , I really love it. Please tell me about your dining room wall and the wall behind the computer armoire. Kareen

You do have a lovely, comfortable home....but, at the same time I feel it's too safe. Everything cordinates in the beiges, it just too matchy-matchy. I can evision an accent wall in red, pumpkin, same earthy colors, just a little warmer. Any/and red,green, pumpkin pillows on the sofas, a colorful throw.
I also notice you have a lot of small objects scattered around, instead of big vases, bowls etc. In you dining room you need to be bolder in wall accessories to stand-up to the wallpaper. Looking at the photo - the sconeces get lost. To many little things getting lost.
For the scones I would increase them up by attaching them to larger wooden plaquestyle backs maybe painted red. I would also do something with the plates in the china cabinet - hangs the together, on easels, etc. The arrangement with the buffet lamps, put the next to each other, with one sitting on the smaller hat box in the corner. Put comething bigger opposite. You have good bones, now you just have to bolden it up.

Thank you all for your compliments...sandi the office furniture I got a couple years ago at either office Max or Office Depot...they are from there Christopher Lowe collection...
Kareen...those walls in my diningroom and Office are doen with a product called paper illusions...you can get it at lowes or even online at some places...it is wallpaper that you rip into approx. 18" pieces and overlay making sure the original wall does not peek through anywhere...it is very easy to do...and fun...those walls are also very forgiving...it hides imperfections in your walls ...
chijim thank you for your comments...I had to smile because two years ago my old place was even 'safer' then this home is...LOL Everything used to be oak and offwhite and light beige...going to the SW latte wallpaint was a big leap for me...LOL
Maybe it seems even more matchy because the livingroom and diningroom are kind of open to each other and I tried to have a flow...my kitchen is a green color...my hall downstairs and upstairs is SW restrained gold....I will take you suggestions on the accessories and see what I can come up with...I like your buffet suggestion and will give that a try...I see your point with having too many small things...maybe I am scared to buy large items...other then furniture that is...lol...please keep the comments coming on accessorizing dresser, buffet, mantel, armoire tops etc.

This could be an inspiration site because they have a lot of black furniture featured. Also, what pops with it. If not familiar with them - enjoy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ballard Designs

oh ...I love Ballards...very nice items...I actually splurged on my upholstered kitchen banquette corner seating and got that from Ballards when I moved in this house two years ago...I need to look at that website again to get some ideas...you are right chijim..it is more of a inspiration site...because ordering a whole lot from there is a bit out of my price range...thanks for reminding me of that place...:)

Tam, Your home is wonderful--I'm never going to post pics of mine after seeing yours! Love your paint colors, I am so afraid to do colors on my walls! You have some wonderful storage pieces too--good places for all those pretty dishes you have or soon will have. LOL Saw the bunny too--he is the best looking one I've seen this year--and I couldn't find one around here at any of the stores I tried. Thanks for the tour--you sure don't need any help or advice from me--your home is beautiful already IMHO. ;o) Luvs

Tam, I KNOW I posted right after I saw you post your thread, but just came back and it didn't post grrrrrrr!

Anyway, you have a wonderful home and should be very proud of it! If the rooms are a bigger size use bigger objects as smaller things seem dwarfed by a large room, and as much 'stuff' as makes you feel comfortable!

It looks like a home where guests can be very comfortable, and that's the important part. People try to copy a room, and then end up not even being comfortable themselves!

I am coveting your office cabinet! ;o)

patty_cakes

chijim, I realize what you are saying about small objects in a room, I think that has been my problem all along. I need to use larger accent pieces too. Thanks for that tip!

Tam, your home is beautiful but I have no suggestions about decor, as you can see I'm still learning too!

Tam, your home is gorgeous!!!!!!!! I love the wall treatment in the diningroom. And will fight Luvs for that incredible rabbit statue!! I've never seen one like that.
Your large furniture is the type I love so much. I want an armoire badly but am space challenged now (ya think...with 10 china cabinets? LOL) I am nuts about heavy looking furniture, dark wood, and antique style. Your home is so inviting as well as beautiful.

Karen

Tam, I am interested in the Paper Illusions you used, did you do it yourself, how hard is it to do & how did you start?

Did you start in the middle of the wall, put the pieces on an angle or what? I read about this product in the past & was wondering where it said each piece should overlap the last one, does that mean an entire edge or do you angle it?

We have a problem wall that needs to be redone, the wallpaper got messed up when we remodeled our kitchen, it's adjacent to the diningroom wall that is wallpapered.

We completely gutted our kitchen & it messed up where that wall & the kitchen wall butt up & we hate wallpapering, this sounds much easier! No measuring!!! Yeah.

Thanks.

Wow...you ladies have been busy last night...it'll take me a while to catch up and respond and if I miss anyone...please forgive me...
First thank you for all of your kind comments...and for all your opinions...I greatly appreaciate your feedback.

luvs...please don't say you'll never post a pic of your home...I love to look at everyones pictures...I am very fortunate to have the home I have...it took me a long time to get here...but I also have have lived in some less then 'grand places' (living out of my car with a 11 months old for a month should qualify for that...LOL) and the furniture I now have are actually the first new furniture I have ever bought... I used to have garagesale items and hand me downs for a very long time...and there is absolutly nothing wrong with that...actually I think it makes a person even more creative working with what they have...anyone can go out and buy a great piece of furniture....it takes special people to make existing pieces work and look fabulous...

patty...yes you are right..I need to pay attention to the scale...I really never noticed how some things are out of scale until I uploaded the pictures...I know I have some existing things to work with and some items like the sconces I am not sure what to put in place of them ...as I make adjustments I'll share pictures with all of you..:)

purplemoon...thank you for the compliments...oversized furniture are my downfall...lol...moving contractors and furniture store delivery people hate me...more then ones I have heard in the last couple of years..."Did you buy the heaviest item in the store?"...in addition I have a pretty good eye when it comes to looking at a piece of furniture knowing if I can get it up the stairs to the room it needs to go and it will fit...I have often argued with delivery people and I turned out to be right...they hate that even more...LOL

yachter...I found paper illusions easy..I hate hanging regular wallpaper and I am really not good at it...this you rip approx. 18" pieces to start...later you go with pieces the size you need to fill barespots...just make sure the don't butt up but overlap in some areas...on some pieces you'll leave one straight edge on to do along ceilings or trim...you have to be paying attention how you rip the pieces...you don't want the ripped edge be just white exposed paper but more of an irregular edge ...this is hard to explain...
I would start along edges usually...only keep the clean edge on the paper when it goes along a straight line...all other edges of the wallpaper piece need to be irregular...which means your pieces in the middle of the wall all will have ripped edges and need to be overlaped...try to be as irregular as possible...you do not want uniform with this product it'll look odd...turn pieces on angles ...upside down...etc....you don't have to overlap the whole edge of each piece...just fill in any barespots with small pieces after you did your big pieces...
I am really not good at explaining this...I hope I did not confuse you more...:(

Well, folks, I have to admit I talked with Tam last night for about 2 hrs (till my cell phone went dead!!!) To share with you all in brief, I told her basically the same thing you all had said, her home is beautiful!!! Yes, there were some "scale issues" and accessorizing stuff that I wanted to talk to her about, but to have typed it all would have taken pages and pages.
But one tip that I gave her might help other people, because this is what I often do.

I will print out a couple pictures of my room in the house that I am working on. It gives a much more "objective" look to the eye.

I will lay down one of the pictures, that will be my "Master Working picture".

The second picture, I will cut out pieces of what was already on the wall, in Tams case we discussed her wall that has the large clock on it. We discussed moving one of her "Words" to under the clock and inbetween the 2 buffet lamps, and moving the small round mirrors to other areas, such as under the clock to as another idea.
So by cutting out each of these things and laying them down on the Master Work Print, she can design her wall without putting a bunch of holes in the wall until she is ready. I also suggested to take up the empty space on either side of the clock 2 very nice silk or real potted trees or palms, greenery always gives "life" to a room.

Or, I will even print out the Master picture and take a pencil and draw in objects where I want them (plates, plants, accessories etc) it help me to see what I need to buy or change.
Anyway, I hope that technique helps some people.

Oh, yes we talked about her Hummel collection and how to best display them.

So between the two of us we did some brainstorming. Hopefully she will be able to utizize some of them and we will see some more pics of her lovely home.

I wish we could all have been on a conference call together, it is so much easier for me to talk, instead of write things....

Judith, that is a GREAT tip. And it's sure true you sometimes see things better in a photo that when you are looking at it! Thank you so much for sharing this.

How many hats do you wear by the way?
Queen, reference librarian, design consultant, and give me more time and I'm sure I'll think of half a dozen more.

Karen who stays in awe of your talent

Tam, thank you so much for all the hints about the wallpaper. I did go out to Lowes today & bought it, now the problem I see is, you said to not have any straight edges in the middle of the wall, in other words (all jagged edges) which I understand, but do you have a lot of waste ripping off the straight edges, or once you start tearing do you have a lot with ragged edges. I guess once I get started doing it, I'll see how to do it. HOPEFULLY!

Thanks so much, Yachter

yachter...yes there is some waste...I would rip as close to the straight edge as possible to minimize waste...you'll still have more then usual but...hold on to those tiny pieces...you can use more of those when you're filling in little spots on your wall that the large pieces didn't cover...I also would just rip 6 or seven pieces at a time....because you won't need just large pieces but alo some smaller ones...also overlapping to the minimum possible will safe you from too much waste as well...you need to overlapp but just 1/4 inch will do fine...:)

Judith ...thank you again for walking me through the process...I got soooo much good advice and ideas that I'll be busy for a while implementing all of them..LOL...I also wish all the ladies here could have joined us...it was like we were walking through my home room by room...:)

Thanks Tam, I was hoping to start it tomorrow, but DH didn't get to the painting til late today, so he may not be ready to start it til next weekend. He's running out of time as he needs to get all these things done or his boat does not go in the water, he's been warned! LOL

purplemoon (karen), thank you for the complement. Keep in mind I am still learning just like everyone else. I am glad you find the tip useful, I do it all the time to help me visualize things (plus it helps not to have a thousand different holes in the walls) LOL

Tam, I just looked at your V-Day updated table, wonderful job! The new bowls are perfect. (I posted there too)