Love the pictures of your daughter's cottage. I especially like white slipcovers with floral pillows. She's made it modern and sophisticated. The exterior shot of the 341 Westgate house is gorgeous. Talk about curb appeal, wow that's nice landscaping. I don't recognize the inside of this house at all. White Carrera marble (I hope I'm getting that name right) looks so good with the shabby chic style. The only thing I'm not loving is the orange and brown rug in the living room, seems out of place to me. I love the house but 4 mill? yikes. On Oprah's website they say Rachel recently moved from a 4000 sq ft house to a 1700 sq ft beach house. I take it the Brentwood house up for sale is the 4000 sq ft house? This beach house is pretty too. I see Rachel has retained her petite figure! I think I'm getting all her houses mixed up. What happened to the Malibu house that was in her books and dvds? Real Estalker shows a different Malibu house than the one I'm familiar with. Did she sell the original Malibu house years ago, the one with the pool and rustic dark wood walls she painted white? Allison, are you saying that Rachel has moved into the $20,000 a month rental now? Is that "the beach house" they're referring to? Looks like Rachel is leaving a trail of white houses behind her, lol.

Being your first time here, you may not have expected the replies you got about your daughter's two rooms. Don't be offended. We mean well. I tend to agree, tho. And not to get personal, but how do you and your hubby have any intimate time together if you're sleeping in the LR? I would at the most, give your daughter the larger room so she does have room to play, but would take the advice of others to store the toys in the same room. Maybe it's time to go thru them and donate the ones she no longer plays with? Kids only play with half of the toys they own, anyway. Involve her in choosing which ones to give away and explain that she is helping kids who have no toys. Make it fun and help her learn that being charitable is a good trait. I'm sure if you google, there's an article on how to do that because I've read about it. That being said, I think you did a bang up job on the white furniture. That is my taste exactly. Shabby-chic and cottage-y. I am single and on a disability budget and my home is about your size. So storage is critical. I do all my furniture shopping at thrift stores. I bought a dresser that I use as a buffet, yet I keep my tools, gardening stuff, plastic storage bowls and seasonal linens in the drawers. I also bought a tall handmade shelving unit with cabinets below for storage and an old console with cabinet type doors for extra counter space in my kitcken (up against a wall) and storage for my crockpot, platters, bowls, mixer, etc. That one I painted but have yet to paint the other two. Rule #1 - paint before you get it in the house and start using it or you will never get around to painting it due to the dilema of where to store all the stuff inside while it's being painted...lol. I've also found new curtains, quilts, pillows, shower curtains, and even Ralph Lauren bed sheets at thrift stores. Target donates lots of stuff to Goodwill. Most of my decorative kitchen stuff and household knicknacks came from thrift stores. Lamps are always cheap and can be spray painted. They make textured metalic spray paint if that's your taste. Just do a good tape job first. They always have lamp shades, too, and many of them are new. I've gotten wall mirrors and done paint treatments on them to make them look shabby chic. You can repurpose sheets to make curtains, pillows, and even a shower curtain if you're handy with a sewing machine. I also got my two sofas from the thrift store. One for $40, the other a pull out bed for $50. For the first one (red checkered...UGH!!) I bought a white slipcover from Uglysofas.com. They sell Pottery Barn slipcovers pretty cheap (they call them Brand X since they can't advertise where they came from). I guess they're seconds but there was nothing wrong with mine. The 2nd couch was actually in perfect condition. It came from a hotel remodel so there were several, along with club chairs to match. I liked the fabric, so it didn't need covered (but I still do...I like the white better). Do you have a Restore Store (Habitat for Humanity) near you? They have soooo much stuff for remodeling, including paint. I buy my drawer pulls from there (which are very expensive at big box stores). Yes, it takes some digging around to find the quantity you need but they really update older painted furniture. And my store has started a thrift store section with furniture, mirrors, lamps, etc. As for paint color....I like the sage green but that's just me. I see you have a blue and pink pillow, so you could pull off that. However, paint isn't cheap so if you can live with the sage, live with it for now and work on making a sanctuary for you and hubby and a nice new LR. Ohhh...i forgot to mention. Are you familiar with Pinterest? If not, you MUST check it out. I've gotten so many decorating ideas from there. It's all visual. Pic, pics, and more pics. You just type in 'shabby chic decorating' for example, or 'cottage bedroom'. I search by color since i have a beach cottage color scheme. So I type in 'aqua shabby chic.' Just saying....if you are thinking of blue, they use blue in your search. You have to sign up to use it but it's no different than signing up for this site. And there are no ads, no spam, nothing !! It's addictive tho....trust me. Looking at beautiful picture is so inspiring. And then you can pin a pic to your 'board' so you can save it. It's like a virtual scrapbook. I LOVE IT !! Well, I've rattled on long enough. I do love your taste and wish you the best in your decorating !! Bonnie This post was edited by brit5467 on Sun, Apr 20, 14 at 22:00

Well, you l'il heifer! There, I said it again. Hope I don't get bumped off this forum by some of the newbies who don't know that's NOT a negative term - it's southern for "I'm impressed" or something comparable, but I want you to know I started nipping apart plates w/little roses on them last evening, and just about every hr. through the night, I was trying to figure out how I'm going to lay them on this bowl/pitcher. It was your set that threw me over the line to try a SC.

Thanks everyone for input. The mirror over sofa was hung on existing hook, if I was keeping it I would move it down some but I still feel its not a good size for that space. Theresa, I love the idea of adding a wreath to soften a mirror if I put one above sofa! The picture of my son is actually a digital painting if seen up close. I'm just worried about adding another piece of art to the room right across from it? Allison, the tree in entryway is holding spot for a lamp. I like the tree but it barely gives off any light. Its pretty tho! I have been along for a tray to put everything together but I don't know what to look for, silver? I have enough gold I think lol. Throwing out an idea, what about a mantel on the empty dining wall that is only 5 inches in depth so it doesn't take up walking space but I can add some candles, etc on top shelf?