MOONLITE MONDAY: Raina of If the Lamp Shade Fits reveals her living room...once more

Raina of If the Lamp Shade Fits. A lady after my own heart. She reveals her fabulous living room again....but before we see it. Let's chat with her a little.

CMV: Let’s begin with the proverbial question. Why did you start blogging?

Raina: I was living in New Zealand and an at-home Mom to an infant.  To say I was lonely is an  understatement.  I've worked as a residential interior designer for over 15 years and felt I had a thing or two to say on the topic.

CMV:  Five words that describe your blog as it is today.

Raina: Gorgeous photos and funny snark.

CMV: What is a typical day like for you?

Raina: I'm an at-home Mom to a beautiful high-spirited three-year-old daughter.  When I'm not chasing her around or working on renovating our house, I'm scouring the internet for lovely interior design photos.  Or really awful interior design photos.  Both are potential blogging gold mines.

CMV: Tell us, 7 things that you love. 

Raina: 1. My husband and daughter.

2. Renovating our dream house. 

3. The banana cream pie at Restaurant Home

4. An incredible markdown or awesome thrift find.  After owning two stores for ten years, I abhor paying retail.

5. Global crafts. Anything from Morocco, India, Uzbekistan, or most of the Middle East  makes my bits tingle.

6. My blog.  I truly enjoy sharing the little treasures I find with the blogworld.  And I adore the clever responses my readers leave.  They are a brilliant bunch, my Dumplings.

7. The friends I've made blogging.  I have been fortunate enough to visit some really amazing women in Texas and Georgia.  I'm not sure where my next Blogger Buddy World Tour stop will be, but I can't wait!

CMV: Any recent finds or purchases that you are most proud of? 

Raina: Currently, I'm working on our back patio.  I've scored some great deals at Pier 1 and Target on stuff that doesn't look like it comes from Pier 1 and Target.

CMV: What’s in your purse you think you can’t live without?

Raina: Lipstick.  I have full but very pale lips.  My face looks anemic without a swipe of lipstick (Maybelline's "Blushing Brunette")

CMV:  Anything else you'd like to tell readers?

Raina: I've so enjoyed writing this Moonlite Monday post!  I could talk about interior design 24-7 and never run out of topics to discuss.

Ok now here we go with the Speed Round

Modern Vintage or Mintage Mintage, most definitely

Heels of Flats Flats, see the previous reference to the toddler

Skirts of Pants Pants

City of Country City-I get antsy in the natural world

Oatmeal or Oatmeal OH Hunnee-GRITS!

Grover or Big Bird Big Bird. He’s such a sweetheart

Now for the other good part....The Reveal...in Raina's words

I recently moved to Denver and was lucky enough to find the house of my dreams.  Well, I knew it could become the house of my dreams.  Built in the early 1970s, it had not been updated since the last brick was laid.  It pushed all of my boho contempo buttons, but I could see the old girl was going to need some TLC to shine again. The one room of the house that was a total empty slate was what used to be the dining room.  It is to your right as you enter.

I liked how the floor-to-ceiling mirror expanded the space, and the carved Indian rosewood shutters were AMAZING.  I immediately began plotting the takeover of this room as the "Mama Lounge" - a space for me and only me where I could relax and read.

We brought little with us in our overseas move, so I could furnish this room with anything I wished.  WIthin budgetary reason, of course.  The first piece I found was this Milo Baughman side chair with its original upholstery. 

 

This is a photo of the chair as I found it in a local vintage store.

It was delivered and looked a might lonely in that room all by itself.

A few months later I happened upon a coffee table in a nearby consignment shop.  Because of its monster size (4' x 5'), it had been marked down twice.  I immediately imagined piles and piles of design books filling it up.  Sold!

(The little silver geometric garden stool was a $39 TJ Maxx find.)

I ordered two end tables, an accent chair, two table lamps, and a floor lamp in quick succession, all based on a sofa I had selected from a national contemporary furniture chain.  On a whim as I was headed to order the sofa, I popped into the same consignment store where I had found the coffee table.  Sitting there was a micro-velvet down-filled little sweetheart which was nearly $200 less than what I was about to order. (The little aluminum table is from West Elm and the framed scarf was a placeholder.)

The furniture I ordered came in first, as well as a hefty Amazon order of design books

And then the lamps came.

Now it was time to make a decision about the walls.  The nougat-colored sueded wallpaper wasn't in good condition and was too bland anyway.  I peeled away a test strip on an adjacent wall and discovered there would be too much damage to repair if it was all removed.  That cut out any painting and left me with choosing another wallpaper to go over the existing one.(You can see the bottom of a vintage brass Moroccan pendant which hangs in the middle of the entry and the kitchen next door to the living room.)

I had originally planned to paint the walls an icy lavender, so I searched for a wallpaper in a similar color.  I was delighted to find an Osborne & Little paper that had a dusky purple along with a gorgeous French gray.  I knew the pattern had to be out-sized to play off the intricate detail work of the shutters.  Anything with a small print would have looked fussy. With the wallpaper hung, the room was nearly complete.  Two prints by artist friends of mine came back from the framers.  I pulled some accents I had in storage and set about adding the final touches.

Raina, darling.  Thanks so much...there is really nothing else to say. She has said it all with this fabulous room!  I want all of you visiting here today,  go on over and visit with her at If the Lamp Shade Fits, she has a fabulous giveaway, you're sure to love.  

The Series, continues next week ...............