In Girona, Spain, almost on the border of France, rests this old rustic barn that has been refurbished, preserving the original character of the home.

I've been tagged by lovely Sherri of The Claw to play a little game, and hooray! lucky for everyone reading this, I love games. I'm supposed to list 10 things that make me happy, and the hardest part was whittling down a universe of goodness into an earth sized post. Let's get this party started,

Living in a house that used to be a church may sound like an odd thing to do but the more we think about it the more it's starting to sound increasingly

I have to say, I am really pleased with how this room has evolved. Although we moved into this home just over a year ago, designing this room was challenging. Because our home is essentially a great-room style floor plan, this room, just off the entryway could serve as either a formal dining room or formal living room. I took my time and sought input from my family on how we would ultimately use this room. I was the lone vote for a dining room, everyone else wanted a living room, for various reasons but mostly because we had two living spaces on the first floor of our Minnesota cottage {just one with a tv} and my family enjoyed having a room to sit and read, talk on the phone, playing a game in etc...that didn't have a television in it. How can a momma argue with that? Basically the room was decorated around the granny-sofa. The damask Waverly fabric had originally been purchased for curtains about three homes ago. When we were leaving Minnesota, I had a talented slipcover maker in Minnesota make a slipcover for the quality Restoration Hardware sofa I had but was not really digging the fabric anymore. The two chairs were a Craiglist purchase - $40 for both! The chairs had great 'bones' but very tired fabric. I had them reupholstered in a beautiful cream chenille fabric. I could have simply done a cream linen but I love the warmth, comfort and texture that the chenille brings to the room. The room originally had carpet which I loathed but couldn't justify spending the $$ on new hardwood. My dad put down the whitewashed Ikea laminate for me for just about $500. The 9x12 'Heathered Chenille Jute Rug' from Pottery Barn covers a good chunk of the room and almost looks like wall-to-wall sisal. I have said of myself, "I have never met an accessory I didn't like" and this room speaks to that! In addition to my love of collecting, this room has everything I love: decorating books, vintage tortoise bamboo furniture, beach collection {driftwood, coral, shells, starfish}, vintage walking sticks, vintage suitcases, vintage books, vintage glasses, old silver, Asian blue & white pieces and vintage prints {see below}. I guess that's what you might consider the "country" parts of the room {yea, 'cause I used the word 'vintage' about 58 times in that last sentence!}. I began to stray a bit in this room at one point.....reading blogs can do that sometimes. I began to think I needed to go more toward a 'designed' room direction, even modern {gasp!}.....I began to question if using vintage things was growing tired and perhaps over-used. I'm glad I stayed true to myself and I believe I was able to successfully mix in some more contemporary elements, like the 'Bengal' Schumacher fabric covered pillows on the chairs - just enough for me. The vintage tool caddy pictured above is filled with driftwood collected both in Oregon and Hawaii.....I look forward to adding to this collection over the summer! "hello pretty bowl!" "hello pretty chair!" I hesitated to show you this vintage shelf...... "hello, my name is Jill and I am addicted to collecting....EVERYTHING". This old stool found recently at Monticello in Portland sits next to a chair and is a good place to set a book or glass of wine! I loved the old leather top. And finally......the rock n' roll element in the room - the framed collection of vintage egg prints. I am going to do a separate post on these later this week. I had the egg prints originally framed in a traditional style with dark frames about 9 years ago. When I realized this wall needed something BIG with a BIG impact, I decided to re-mat and frame the prints in a more contemporary fashion - large mats and white Ikea frames. And I will leave you with these thoughts - this room may not meet the approval of many designers but this room is 'me' and my family; it has things in it that we value, have collected and speak to the way we live, to me that is the essence of a well designed living space. Sources for this room: Paint "Duxbury Gray"BM Curtains: Ikea Rug: Pottery Barn Coffee Table: World Market Frames: Ikea And finally, I did not 'design' this room alone......I sent out an SOS to the fabulously talented Holly Mathis who flattered me with compliments and guided my choices, and offered loads of options and advice - most notably, the paint color choice and the ticking fabric on the french chair. It has been a treat to chat via email with Holly. I have the article that Better Homes and Gardens {about 2002?} published of her home still in my "Ideas" binder {I'm old like that - this was BEFORE Pinterest, peeps!}.

Home libraries of the past have a reputation of being dark, dank, dusty places where leather and low lighting abounds. This isn’t the case today. Home

.............................................................................. El propietario de esta vivienda, de origen escandinavo, recorrio el Mundo hasta que se afinco en esta zona de Europa.

Architecture Art Designs knows that our visitors just love rustic interior design ideas. Because of that , we continue telling you about different barn

Dream patio.

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Estas camas me hubieran ahorrado muchas peleas con mi hermana.