Updates from Casa de Potter

Spring has arrived in the Smoky Mountains!

Thanks for all of the thoughtful comments on my recent contemplative posts. The internet is such an interesting thing. It opens up new worlds of possibility and sometimes it opens up whole new cans of messy worms, either way it's fascinating stuff.

Casa de Potter is coming along!

We are slowly settling into our new home. My husband painstakingly painted the walls an array of colors I selected after much trial and error using patch tests. The amount of light in the main room is astounding and it completely changes every color you put on the walls. So that meant fine tuning until I got the colors in my head translated into the paint colors. I wanted "Granny Smith Apple" green and finally got that using Behr Parakeet. I only have shots of the Living/Dining areas. The kitchen color is tough to see, it's a not quite green, not quite yellow Behr color called Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We finally broke out our extensive collection of bar related curiosities, a lot of mid-century modern beauties and even a piece or two from the Art Deco period. It was so much fun opening boxes that had been packed away for seven years and rediscovering treasures. They are living along with the pick up sticks collection and the Mellow Mushroom canisters on top of the kitchen cabinets. My studio has the bones now and the next thing on my agenda is to fill it up with the vast amount of crafty supplies currently taking up a good half of our garage.

I originally envisioned a 'cabin chic' concept, but it's turning into more of a folksy affair. I have a lot of old pieces mixed with new ones for what I like to call retrofabulous or eclectifunk. It works for us. Plus there is a lot of bold color to play off of the extensive amount of knotty pine in the floors, ceilings and trim. I usually frame color with white trim, so this presented another challenge. Every color had to work with knotty pine. I love a good challenge!

We're really happy with it all. Once we finish getting stuff up on the walls and unpacked, I'll show you the rest. The entrance is a pretty Behr Mellow Yellow and the stairway to the loft is a Martha Stewart color called Maine Lobster, really perfect saturated red. Ultimately it looks like a bowl of apples downstairs! I fell back on my old standby periwinkle for our bed and bath and am accenting that with black and pops of bright yellow. The studio is a paler lavender color called Fresh Hyacinth and the decor will be black and white vintage Parisienne haute couture. I'm excited about finally having a pretty studio.

As we progress, I'll share more pics.

Charles Barkley

Cricket Bug

Oh and...we have two new family members. Please meet Charlie a.k.a. Charles Barkley and Cricket Bug ("that ain't nothin' but a little ol' cricket bug!") We adopted them from our local no kill Humane society shelter. They're adorable and so sweet. Casa de Potter is feeling more and more like home.

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves!

Cheers,
Madge