Wednesday Workdays

Not all the work is going on outside right now.  Changes are happening inside, too.

As soon as we got settled in our "new" house - 14 years ago - we put up valencies in the living/dining/great room as part of our initial decorating.

 A soft brocade fabric with lots of muted jewel tones.

We chose a muted print of  jewel colors in a "stained glass" print.  We loved the warm, cozy colors and it gave us a lot of possibilities for other fabrics and paint, but I knew from the start that someday I would also get "summer valences" to lighten and brighten for the summer months.

Over the past year, i returned to really, really wanting to get it done. 

In the magazines that pile up every month around here, I found lots of things I liked.  Mostly, tho, I realized that one of the big current trends is definitely for lighter, brighter colors and the use of lots of colors together.  And, that led to our "renovation".

They are really a Chinese type chrysanthemum, but have both a sunny feeling and a bit of sea creature - can't you see an urchin or even a many-tenacled octopus or squid?

We found a wonderful burnt orange and white print that pulls lots of summery color in to the rooms, while it echoes the shape of our sun/moon wall hanging. 

 

With Mitchell was out a couple of evenings, I spread out fabic on the dining table and cut, cut, cut.  And, then sewed, sewed, sewed and voila!

 

And, of course, I needed to pull it down from the tops of the windows into the main body of the room so a pillow or two followed.

 Now we feel positively modern ... and newly decorated!