"So many houses, so big with so little soul."

It's dark and rainy outside. My laundry beckons me. We have an orthodontist appointment this afternoon. I'm out of coffee. This day could be a total letdown if it weren't for the fact that I at least have chai. Lots and lots of chai:)

My father-in-law let me borrow his book by Sarah Susanka, The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live (visit The Not So Big House website to learn more about her series of Not So Big books...) From the site, "The inspiration for The Not So Big House came from a growing awareness that new houses were getting bigger and bigger but with little redeeming design merit. The problem is that comfort has almost nothing to do with how big a space is. It is attained, rather, by tailoring our houses to fit the way we really live, and to the scale and proportions of our human form."

The first sentence in the first chapter of the book sums up my feelings when we happen to be driving through a neighborhood of newer, giant houses (some call them McMansions). "So many houses, so big with so little soul." And then later..."A Not So Big House exchanges space for soul, so that the quality of the space is more important that the sheer square footage." I can't tell you how much I agree with this concept. I think that's one reason why cottage living appeals to me...it's the coziness and character of the house, not the size of each room, that truly makes it a comfortable place to live.

Another thing that was mentioned about overscaled homes that are so popular today is that they are built to impress visitors, not to make them feel welcome. Again, that is so true! Impressive doensn't always equal comfortable and welcoming.

If you're looking to build a home or you're remodeling with warmth and comfort in mind, I'd highly suggest checking into this series of books. Very interesting and thought provoking reading, to be sure! When I get a moment, I'm going to add these books to my book links to the right.

I've been under the weather for the last two or three days and I blame it on the rain:) Ordinarily, though, I love me a good soaking rain. It makes for cozy days spent reading or snuggling or napping or all of the above. Rainy days also make me appreciate that, no matter how undone our home is right now, we do have a warm dry place to call our own. These kinds of days also make me think about those who are dealing with so much now because of Katrina and now all the rain. My thoughts are with Nola and her family at After the Storm.

Hubs was incredibly slammed at work last week and I didn't have the heart to suggest that we should work on the living room ceiling this weekend as planned. He worked all day on Thursday, got home at about 6pm, left again for work at 10:30 pm and proceeded to work until about 3 or 4 Friday afternoon. Yep, he pulled an all nighter and it took him all weekend to recoup. Fortunately, that isn't part of his normal work routine...he just needed to help oversee a project that has to be worked on in the wee hours of the morning.

We are, however, planning to prime the LR walls and paint the ceiling this weekend, barring any unforeseen occurrences. I am so anxious to get the room put back together. I kid you not, our entertainment cabinet has been pulled out to the middle of the living room floor for months. It's very heavy and since we've been working so much on drywalling and sanding the walls (and now painting), we decided to just keep it in one spot rather than move it back and forth into it's proper dwelling place. As you can imagine, this makes for very tight quarters in there.

Speaking of living room, here is the color that I'm going to try first on the walls. If you remember, I had selected three shades of a warm yellowish color. I was trying to stick with historical colors. After much thought (again), I've decided to try this shade called Clarified Butter. It's similar to the others...and I actually had a quart of it onhand to try on a piece of drywall. I painted an armoire this shade last spring and it turned out nice. The photo below is a little more orange than reality, though.