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Oh-range

OUR 2nd HOUSE

Americana – out.  Orangerama – in.

That’s the gist.

Weird random fact…I didn’t ever spell the word ‘gist’ before becoming an adult (if that’s what you call me now)…so one time I read it somewhere – I don’t really remember where exactly but it was outloud in a classroom type setting (maybe child growth and development in college?) and I pronounced it wrong.  I actually pronounced it wrong several different times.  several different ways.  all wrong.

and the weirdest part about that is also that I did the same thing in the same classroom with the word ‘aspartame’.  Apparently it’s not “a-sparta-may” or “a-sparta-mee”….hooked on phonics did not work for me.

So now that we have decided that I should never read outloud…let’s move on to what I did with the living room.

That’s the space that I wanted to infuse a little more orange into….and suck the red out of.  Here’s the plan…

And here’s how it turned out… (sorry for the crummy blownout picture)…

The oranges are really orange — and not as red as the pictures show…and I made a little bolster and the new chevron pillow to go with the mix of tans, navys and browns….

Oh and we added a shelf on the back wall and put up a blank canvas.  I’m thinking something pretty neutral…and simple…maybe with some texture.  And I really want a super long console built for that space too…so that I can put some lamps on it and stack pretty books and get some baskets for underneath storage.

Oh and you can also see my little orange footstool I scored for cheap at the thrift store.  It’s got a retro vibe that I like.  I might move it up to Will’s room after fall…

Speaking of fall – I got me a little pumpkin from Target on clearance.  It’s like my new obsession.  Along with Old Navy jewelry…did you know that they sell stuff in the store that they don’t have online?!  And it’s UBER cute.  I have like ten things pictured in my phone….just waiting for Jeremy to pick it up to see his fantasy football stats and ‘accidentally’ see the bling that I have slideshowed for him 🙂  hint hint.

So my new homemade pillows are fun right?  And I wish that I could have worked in the blue medallion print one too…but I think I am gonna put that in the ‘reading room’…it’s so stodgy in there right now that the blue might bring some flavah to the mix.

Anyhoo…the pillows – wanna tutorial?  I wont bother if everyone already know how…

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And now it’s your turn to share….anyone do any last minute before the Thanksgiving holiday projects?  Any pillow sewers?  Any mispronouncers or Old Navy jewelry fanatics?  Do tell…

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  2. You took me back to my 10th grade geography class nightmare: Mojave Desert: “Mo Jave Desert.” Yup, I read aloud in class and said “Mo Jave”…and it wasn’t a mistake. I had no idea! So embarassing.

  3. A tutorial would be awesome! Since we aren’t hosting for Thanksgiving I didn’t really bother with decorations but I am beyond ready to decorate for Christmas! Hubby says I have to wait until Friday, but I already have all my supplies ready to be DIYed!

  4. I hate reading outloud..I mispronounce everything. Please post a tutorial…I would especially like to see how you made the little round pillow…bolster? Katie you are so smart you just taught me a new word haha 🙂

  5. Hi Katie! I’d love a tutorial on the bolster!

    I mispronounced crudite as CRU-DITES… so embarressing. To my defense, we always called it a veggie tray growing up.

    Also, when do you plan on painting your livingroom? Just curious as to where it fits on your list!

    PS- Have you ever read the Karen Katz book, “where is baby’s mommy”? The little toddler in the book looks like a cartoon version of your adorable Will. My daughter kisses the picture every time we read it. 🙂

  6. The worst word to mispronounce in 9th grade Biology is “organisms”. I’m actually not sure if I was the one to do it, or if I was just so embarassed for the poor reader that I was traumatized as well.

    Our pre-Thanksgiving project consisted of NEW WINDOWS!!

  8. It looks great Katie! I love the fabric on that bolster. I’d love a tutorial on pillow cover making. I bought a few different shaped pillows at IKEA over the summer with the intention of making pillow covers for them. They are still plain (but not on display.) Help a girl out!

  11. Love the pillows! I really like how you turned the stripe into a chevron…i may have to steal that idea! I too just recently made some pillows for our new hand-me-down furniture. And i still have some more to do 🙂 And yes…we’ve had last minute projects trying to get done before we host thanksgiving and we’re making a dining table (well for the last year!) that we had to have it done so we have enough room for our guests…we’re sooo sooo close!

  13. A tutorial would be nice!

    I scored the same pumpkin on clearance! Whenever I go to target, which is to get my soy egg nog, I always go past the clearance. No fail, always!

  14. I’m closing in on 30 and I’ve just learned to pronounce “banal” correctly (thanks Bones!) and tapestry gets me every time!

  15. I am CRACKING up because I STILL do that with aspartame. I say as-sparta-mee. And I kind of consider myself a spelling and grammar nerd, but for some reason, to me, that is just how is supposed to be said!

  18. Just wanted to say how much I love you (that’s not weird. totally normal. I frequently tell strangers I love them…) and YES we would love a tutorial!! Ps. I just got an adorable necklace from ON yesterday and all sweaters were 75% off!! Sweater for $2, yes please!!

  19. Oh god. I pronounced Aspartame the exact same way you did. My husband looked at me like I was weird! Well, now I know I am not alone 🙂

    Old navy Jewellery has had a makeover or something. They have amazing stuff in the store. Oh and they had a 75% off adult sweater event in store yesterday. AMAZING sale. Picked up a bunch!

  20. I love the subtle orange touches.

    I had to laugh at your Hooked on Phonics issues. I just had this discussion with some friends a while back and we all discovered we had words that we had read, but hadn’t actually said aloud. This came up for me in a job interview, where I wanted to say I could fill a niche, but in the midst of saying it, I realized I wasn’t sure how to pronounce niche. nitch, neesh — Yikes! I’m still not sure what I said in the interview.

  21. Totally say things wrong. With you on aspartame and right now the hard one is quinoa. Its pronounced all fancy but I say it like its spelled. Photo. Graphy. Another one I always say wrong. As well as Knead the dough. I say Knead like rhymes with bread. My most infamous mispronunciation is Crocheting. Can you guess how I say it? Crotch. Et. Ing. Aaaah!! Yes, I will never live that one down.

  22. Great job, Katie! Will you be doing a video walk-through any time of your house? I’d love to see your progress that way! Has there been one since you first closed on the house? You don’t give yourself credit for what you’ve done…and that is a pretty giganitc house. Please do a video house tour!

  23. When I was in high school, I was reading scripture during youth group and I said…are you ready?… “Let everything that has BREAST praise the Lord.” You just don’t recover from that.

  26. I get incredibly nervous when I have to read out loud. I can feel my cheeks turning red and I suddenly feel the need to rip my clothes off b/c they are strangling me. Actually, I have really bad stage fright. I think they go hand in hand. I think they’re married.

    Anyway, I bought the same pumpkin…or 3! I’m a fan of overkill. I posted about them awhile ago here:

    http://accordingtoboyle.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/this-just-in-halloween-haul/

    They have since popped up in posts, too.

    http://accordingtoboyle.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/this-just-in-rock-on/
    http://accordingtoboyle.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/autumn-mantle/

    Have a great day!
    Emily

  28. I LOOOOOVVVEE this room- the area rug is my fav (navy blue is the new neutral-tan!). While I was writing a post last night, I just realized that mantel (as in the fireplace covering, not the layer of the earth) was not spelled “mantle”, but rather “mantel”. Well, if you don’t learn something new every day 😉

  30. I love anything mixed in with navy……its looks so fresh and so clean (clean)…..I love it!! My husband and I just bought our first house and I find its a real struggle to make it feel like its ours (especially when you dont have much furniture to boot and everything looks so empty!!)!! Recently I made a sign for the hubs to put up in his “mancave”…….I was going to link it to your pinterest challenge but I ran outta time……. Link: http://perfectlyforeternity.blogspot.com/2011/11/heres-your-sign.html

    Have a great Thanksgiving!!

  31. Love the new pillows……..
    But would love to know which Old Navy Jewerly you are admiring.
    Can you please, please, please share with us.

    Thanks,
    -Kathy

  34. I had a similar problem with the word awry. Growing up I was a voracious reader and developed much of my vocabulary that way. As a result, there were many words I read, but never heard spoken. Naturally, I assumed that “awry” was pronounced phonetically (aw-ree). At the same time, I was not exactly sure how the spoken word that sounded like, uh-rye, was spelled. My best guess was “arrigh.” I didn’t realize these two one and the same until college. It took me that long to stop spelling surprise without the “r,” as well, and that was only because it kept getting flagged by spell check.

  35. Im going to second or third the want on a pillow tutorial! The chevron pillow is soooo my jam! – Riki

  36. Our weekend consisted of a little painting some bathroom trim, painting our dining room chandelier (not back up yet) and plenty of romping in leaves with the kiddos! Love a warm fall weekend 🙂

    I’d love a tutorial on the bolster! It looks great – blue & orange is one of my favorite color combos!

  37. Oh-range! Sounds like you’ve been to a Gator game. 🙂

    Now you’re mixing it with the blue? I love it! Do they allow that color scheme in GA? 🙂

    Football aside, I love the room and especially the rug…..oh and the doors with the top lights. Awesome!

  38. yes please bolster tutorial! I usually have my mom help me with these things, but she’s been busy getting ready for my brother’s visit. Maybe I’ll surprise her 🙂 I have the fabric and I’m ready to go. Making two, one each for my girls’ beds. Love the orange mixed in with the blue.

  39. I love the new room and the pillows! I’m totally taking inspiration from your color scheme, though I’m still not sure I’m brave enough for orange. A tutorial would be super helpful – I love that chevron pillow!

  40. I love the Orange/Blue combo and the chevron pillow! By the way- I just saw in “Other posts you may like” an image of your sisters wedding. Did you ever share more photos of the tent and the reception space? I’d love to see them (and I’m probably not the only one!) 🙂

  41. omg – we have THE SAME giant canvas sitting on a to-be-adorned wall in our house! I don’t know how to paint or what to do with it! Internet challenge time?

  42. It wasn’t until High School until I realized the correct pronunciation AND spelling of the Taj Mahal. I always thought it was a famous hall – the Tajma Hall!

    Loving the living room and how it can easily change throughout the year – can’t wait to see what you do for Christmas!

  44. Hi Katie, the living room looks great! I noticed you said you wanted a console built. I just wanted to let you know my husband has his own custom furniture business. He makes everything out of solid wood and can do just about any style. Just wanted to through it out there. Our website is http://www.korchcustom.com

    Thanks!
    Sarah

  45. AHH! loving all the changes!! I also got the same pumpkins (in large and small) on clearance @ target! love the texture and chevron pattern on them!! Keep up all the great work! Your home is amazing!!

  46. Tutorial please!
    P.S. I also have a problem saying some words. Like corpse i said “cor- purpose.” My husband refers to my speech inabilities as “christine speak”.

  49. You crack me up as always. Can’t wait to see what you do with the shelf with the canvases. I just went to old navy yesterday 75% off all sweaters from 12-5pm, I about died. I bought 11 sweaters for $94 and they are super cute. Old navy has stepped up their game! Ps I loved all your picture frames and art going up your stairs, very cute!

  50. I love the color you photoshopped the walls. We have a very open living room with two-story walls, as well. We used Sherwin-Williams Tony Taupe. It looks kind of dark on the color card, but with so much natural light, it shows up very similar to what you used in your mock room! It’s a true khaki in our house. Great job with the changes!

  51. I would love a tutorial, but because I’m lazy and not very crafty, I’d love for you to just send me some pillows instead. Jaykay! Please please post a tutorial. Thanks!

  52. When I was a kid, I thought the Christmas carol went: “Sleep in heavenly pee!” rather than “Sleep in heavenly peace”….. I could never quite figure out why we would sing about pee in church. And it’s often that I try to say a word I’ve only ever read and butcher it.

  53. Yes, I also mispronounce ‘aspartame’. But my problem is that if a word is long, I just skim to the end and make up my own combination of letters for the ending. So for a long time I called it aspartamine. I don’t know where the ‘i’ and ‘n’ came from… And emeritus (like a professer) I pronounced emitrius.

    After reading the comment about crudites, I just googled how to pronounce it – definitely not what I expected 😉 Dang French words… and I took Spanish and German.

  56. Oh, and my grandma would say Hors d’oeuvres as ‘horse divers’. Again, I blame the French silent letters that people don’t know the rules for 🙂

  57. I would love a simple step by step tutorial for pillows!! I am in need of new ones and all the ones I want cost too much.

  58. I hate it when I say things wrong in public! Of course I can’t think of anything in particular, but know you are not alone!! I LOVE navy, but I LOVE navy and orange in the fall!! The infuse looks great!!

  60. Tutorial, pretty please! What is infinitely more embarrassing when it comes to mispronouncing a word is when you correct someone else who has actually pronounced it correctly. For instance, “Claret”, as in wine. I always thought it was pronounced “clare-ay”. I still shudder when I think of it.

  61. Hi there! I recently found your lovely blog throuh YHL and my daily routine has become to check their blog and yours right after. My only problem is that your site takes a really long to time (like a reeeeaaally long time) to load and it actually often crashes my Firefox completely. I don’t know if this happens to a lot of your readers or if you are aware of this.

    Love your blog all the way from Finland! 😀

  63. Hey, your pillows look GREAT! I love that bolster. It’s funny that you mentioned writing about and making these because that’s what I am posting about this week at my sewing site, http://www.chictweaksalterations.com . I created two new pillows to do some sprucing up for the holidays and I am getting ready to add some bolsters soon.
    Great minds, right? great minds…
    As always, Katie, thanks for sharing your funny stories too. I always hating having to read aloud in class for the same reasons. ugh, I never pronounced words correctly either!

  64. Uh….I just did the same thing a few months ago! I was telling my husband about something that had gone wrong and said it was “all ‘aw-ree'”…he looked at me like I had two heads. “You mean ‘a-righ’,” he said…. Yes, honey, that’s exactly what I meant 🙂 I have to attribute that mistake to seeing the word in books also but never saying it out loud.

  65. I remember the time I pronounced “facade” incorrectly…. didn’t know the “c” was a soft. By the way, your living room looks wonderful!

  66. Love that cute pumpkin!

    When I was a kid I called my mom at work to ask her where we had the “omit oil” because I needed it for the cake I was making and I pronounced it “ah-mit” instead of “o-mit” **duh** (in case you’re wondering, there is no such thing… I looked everywhere for it 😛 hehehe)

  68. I’ve had pieces of fabric hung up as “curtains” for months. With nine relatives invading our house this Thursday, it’s totally lit a fire under me. As of last night, I’ve got two more panels to go…

  69. Love the subtle transformation. I can readily admit that I don’t do orange (for football reasons), but the space looks gorgeous and I am still lusting after your rug. And yes, I am praying about that.

  71. Katie – where did you get that great (huge) rug? Rugs always break the bank for me and this one is so big I can’t imagine but I know you always find great deals!

  72. Looking good… orange is better than red!

    I spelled “visit” as “vist” until the 8th grade. So… yeah. Why did nobody tell me the truth?!

    Another YES on the tutorial! 🙂 More orange-y goodness would be great for your living room too!

  73. My worst one was Arkansas, I said Ar-Kansas. Later someone asked if that was really how I thought it was pronounced. Embarrassing!

  74. #1- yes please on the tutorial…esp the stripes to chevron

    #2- i always got the parts in science that had the words “temperature” or “thermometer” spread out over two lines so, on separate occasions i said…temper

    -ature

    and thermo-

    meter.

    uhhh…whoops. you are not alone. 🙂 happy thanksgiving! can’t wait for the tutorial! 🙂

  75. My husband always makes fun of one of my friends that unknowingly says a-spart-a-mee. And I always have to think twice before saying it. Per usual, love your humor, KB!

  77. new reader from Young House Love! I have come to love your blog as much as YHL!

    Would looove to see a pillow tutorial!

  78. During a lesson on the prefix octa- I volunteered that an octapus has 8 testicles… and I truly had no idea why everyone was doubled over in laughter. Oh to be 10, akward, and innocent again…

  80. Please post the tutorial! Also, no worries…I mispronounce everything. I blame it on being from the Ozarks. It’s just not my fault 🙂

  81. I totally just bought that pumpkin at Target–for $2.99! I luuuuv it–and my hubbie thinks the texture is super cool, which is always a plus. : ) Love your blog!

  85. Not yet – I am waiting to get the pros pictures 🙂 I guess I could share the ten that I took while I was running around crazy!
    xo – kb

  90. Now THIS is a great post! Being a reader from Germany and going through all the comments I think I just learned about 15 new English words! Ha! So it’s not “aw-ree”, hu? 😉

  91. Love you new pillows! I just finished making four new pillows for our lounge room, two I made out of a cute canvas enviro bag. I love them so much. Still plan to make a few more, such an easy addition.

  92. I think the room looks great! I am a recent reader of your blog and generally never leave comments but your ‘gist’ story made me laugh, literally out loud. I don’t myself have a word mispronunciation incident, but my mom did…and it is just too funny not to share. We were playing a game (possibly trivial pursuit? who knows) and she read aloud the card and was saying ‘skiff -ee’ She kept saying it and then looked up and around and said, I have no idea was skiff-ee is…anyone want to tell me? Turns out, what she was reading was actually ‘sci-fi’, as in the shortening of science fiction. Yeesh. It is funny how words we don’t see a lot or write often become difficult to remember how to spell or say. I sent a text yesterday and spelled pheasant–the bird– “fessen”. Keep up the funny posts 🙂

  93. Your living room looks great! You should try painting a photo onto the canvas (saw it on pinterest of course! Have you seen it?). I’m sure you have a beautiful pic somewhere (like the Jefferson monument you liked, or would that have been better in the americana room?!). I’m sure you already did something awesome though! Lovin that chevron pillow – yum!

  94. I would love a pillow tutorial! And I LOVE the orange and blue color scheme. We have orange and blue going on in our living room as well. I can’t think of a specific time when I’ve mispronounced something, but I really hate reading aloud because I tend to just move forward without taking time to think and mispronounce all kinds of words I definitely know how to pronounce!

  95. I love words that no one knows how to pronounce….Before becoming a SAHM last May, I was a high school English teacher, and I cannot tell you the number of times the other ninth grade teacher and I would meet in the hall and figure out how to pronounce something before saying it in front of students…or I would walk past her room while she was going over our vocab list aloud and realize she was not saying the word the way I did.

    And an idea for your canvas (not that you need any…you always seem to have creativity oozing out of your pores)…a few weeks ago I had a really solid piece of cardboard that came from something I ordered, and I decided to use it as a canvas…I just made different sized lines all across it with puffy paint (and then hot glue when I ran out of puffy paint) until the whole thing was totally textured. Then when it was dry, I painted over it…and it’s a fun textural piece for very little time, and not a huge amount of effort.

  97. Omg, I got that Target pumpkin on clearance, too! We are quite the bargain hunters, Miss Katie! Also, love the quatrefoil bolster — great job!

  100. Love the pillows! This isn’t a mispronunciation story, but has corrupted my vocabulary. Years ago, a friend said she had a hormone imbalancement. Imbalance doesn’t sound right to this day.

  101. Ok, so how on earth do you keep your white sofa looking so white with a toddler around? We have a cream sofa, a two year old and a 4month old and our cream sofa has several grey sticky spots on it. Being a Brit in America, I am always pronouncing words differently to everyone else…bahnahnah anyone?
    Love the blog

  104. I wound up here via Ana White and I’m so happy I did! This week I have; put in a rush order for linen panels for the living room, stained the coffee table a deep mahogany stain and distressed the crap out of it, removed LAYERS of mop and glo from my hard wood floors (thank you honey for ruining them during your bachelor years), stole a bed skrit from my grandma because it reminded me of one i saw at nineandsixteen.blogspot.com and about another million things I found on Pinterest. Ahh, the joys of hosting Turkey Day.

  105. Is the side chair in the “after” photo new? I know you photoshopped a larger one in the mood board. It looks to be different from the slipper chair that was in the room originally. This room is so bright and happy!

  106. This is totally unrelated, but how did you hide the wires from your flat scren TV that you mounted? We mounted a TV in our living room but the wires all hang down and go right into the power strip on the floor and it looks pretty ugly. Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated!! 🙂

  107. love the subtle orange infusion. and yes i will be doing projects until the in-laws knock on the door on Thanksgiving Day. and a whole lot of cooking too. starting with buns tomorrow. oh I can’t wait the house is going to smell so good. are you cooking?

  108. I had a friend once ask where “Yo-sem-ite” was…

    Which, phonetically makes sense, I guess. After I stopped laughing at her I told her how to pronounce it. Such a good friend, that’s me.

  109. Katie!

    I love your blog, and found it through Sherry. I just found this blog and it keeps reminding me of YOU! 🙂

    http://www.lifeingraceblog.com/

    I feel like you will love it. You know, in all your spare time when you aren’t talking about boobs/babies/and your boyfriend…
    Holla!
    Meg

  110. Anytime I mispronouce something, I just blame it on the fact I was homeshooled. I say…”well that must have been the way my mother pronouced it!”

  112. I LOVE your style, love getting some great inspiration from you!! My poor husband is the one who is awful at reading out load and I have to admit I make fun of him for some of the words he messes up, but he knows its all out of love 🙂 I did a living room change before my thanksgiving dinner…just a table runner and candles in vases but it made a big different, just like the orange does for you…i love the punch of color!

  113. Meg – how did you know that I am obsessed with Edie’s blog?! It’s amazing…and so is she…and so is her story.
    Just amazing.
    xo – kb

  114. I’m partaking in a group effort of cooking 🙂 I’m in charge of mashed potatoes, a veggie, sweet potato casserole 🙂 Wish me luck!
    xo – kb

  120. I mispronounced “adolescent” once during church youth group and my older brother teased me about it right in front of everybody 🙁

    stupid mean boy!!

    ok so this occurred about 10 years ago – but still! stupid mean boy.

  121. Please share the tutorial!!! Did you make the chevron one? I am sorry if you covered this above, I have not read all the comments due to a toddler racing around the house on a mission! I was looking on etsy for the same chevron one you made. If you have a “how to ” on that one…I would be so grateful!!!!!!! Happy Holidays!

  122. Yup – I am getting that one ready right now so it should be ready soon! And yes, I made the chevron one – it’s actually easy 🙂
    xo – kb

  123. I once had a very heated argument with my husband about how to pronounce “integral”.

    Don’t even get me started on “epitome”. ‘Taint “EPP-eh-tome”, I can tell ya that.

    Lastly, orange always rocks hard. Unless you’re from NYC. Then “AH-ranj” always rocks hard.

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