The holiday floral show, Not a Creature Was Stirring, is taking place at the Mitchell Park Domes through early January 2017. The domes always do a fabulous job putting together their seasonal shows. The 16-17 holiday floral show is no exception. For the theme, Not a Creature Was Stirring, they placed lots of little animals among the Christmas trees and other holiday decorations. Really cute.
The 16-17 Holiday Floral Show runs through early January 2017. The Mitchell Park Domes are always free on Monday mornings from 9:00 a.m.-noon except major holidays for Milwaukee County residents. Consult the website for more details about current hours and admission.
Check out past Mitchell Park Domes special exhibits!
For more local happenings, visit the Milwaukee section of my blog.
Today I’m continuing my tour of my home with a peek at the master bedroom. Past peeks have included detailed overviews of the guest bedroom and entryway and mini tours of the kitchen wall art and powder room. As I’ve mentioned before, home decor doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s taken me years to feel comfortable sharing more than an occasional peak. We’ve come a long way with our “forever” home, and I’m having fun sharing it now.
The first step in the master bedroom was to paint the wall behind the bed. It was one of the few projects that I was able to do before we moved into the house. The previous owners had a light purple and gray striped wall and light purple curtains, which made the whole room look purple. It wasn’t our style at all so the paint color had to get changed and the curtains had to go.
As always, getting the new paint color on the walls (French Coast by True Value) and switching out the curtains made a huge difference. The rest of the walls are gray, which we like and have left as is for now. The previous owners left behind the blue and green rug in a different room, which brought together the blue, green, gray, and white color scheme in the room. I would never have picked out this rug myself, but the size is perfect for the space, and again, it worked beautifully for the color theme.
The bedding I picked out originally (an update for our nearly 10-year-old wedding present bedding) is now in the guest room. When we upgraded to a king bed, we also got king bedding. Aside from a few pillows and pillow cases, all of the queen bedding went with the queen bed, which is now the guest bed. I spend weeks picking out that bedding and was a little sad we only used it as our own for a few months. But the king bedding is actually a better fit for the new bed and the room as a whole. And we still get to enjoy the queen bedding in the guest room. So it worked out all right.
Needless to say, the king bed was a big upgrade. Neither of us had ever owned a bed like this before. Honestly, it’s been a bit of an adjustment for me because it’s so big. For several weeks, I felt like I had to climb into the bed. It just took some time to get used to it.
When we bought the bed, the model in the store was styled with really cute curtains. I assumed they came with the bed. They didn’t. So I assumed it would be really easy to order something similar online. It wasn’t. Most four-poster canopy bedding is weird, at best. You can either purchase mosquito netting (some listings are even labeled as mosquito netting, really?) or something fit for Buckingham Palace. Also, a lot of people leave their four-poster beds without a canopy, which makes no sense to me whatsoever. Of course, now the item I ordered is nowhere to be found, so I can’t even link it. I will if I ever find it again. I am very happy with what I did end up ordering, and it’s worked perfectly.
We bought the bench when we bought the king bed. We bought everything else while we were in our previous residence or even earlier. We have made a few small adjustments to the arrangement in this house, but the TV, TV cabinet, my dresser (the matching dresser which Jake used to use is now in the guest room), the nightstands, the massage table, and the wall art are all items we already owned. I did pick up the hampers because plastic laundry baskets on the floor weren’t cutting it anymore. Sometimes the little upgrades make the biggest difference.
The majority of the wall art and other decor items (i.e. the items on my dresser) are wedding photos, photos from my brother’s wedding, wedding gifts or other gifts, or pieces I’ve had since I was little. I also decided to display the black and white photos of the cats in here. They were in the finished basement in our previous residence.
Even with the huge four-poster bed, the massage table is still the single biggest talking point in our bedroom. We bought it as a Christmas present to ourselves, I think in 2012, because we give massages for each other all the time, you can pick up a portable massage table for a great price on Amazon, and we had plenty of space in our bedroom for said table. It’s been awesome. Every married couple should have their own massage table. Pick up a table for yourself ASAP.
Statement wall paint color: French Coast by True Value
Window curtains: Target (green)
King four-poster bed: Steinhafels (similar)
Bench: Steinhafels (honestly, I’m not sure if we have this exact bench, but if not, it’s very similar)
Four-poster curtains: Currently unavailable. I’ll provide a link if I can find something similar again.
Nightstands: Steinhafels (similar)
Rug: Came with the house. No similar link available.
Bedding: Crate and Barrel – duvet cover and pillow shams. We have these sheets but in blue, which isn’t available anymore. We have a duvet insert from Amazon.
TV cabinet: Target (We bought it before 2010. I don’t have a similar link for you, sorry.)
Laundry hampers: Amazon
Massage table: Amazon
The black and white cat photo display features this frame. Most of the other frames in the master bedroom were gifts or pieces I purchased years ago. If you have any questions about any of the items in this room, don’t hesitate to ask.
[Disclaimer: A few of the product links are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!]
Last weekend, my husband and I took the tour at Wingspread with some friends. We drive by the gates all the time, but you can’t see the main house from the road so we’ve been curious about it for a couple years now. The tour schedule is not consistent. But the tours are free and well worth the time so it’s worth checking periodically if you’re interested.
Wingspread is a 14,000-square-foot Frank Lloyd Right-designed home built for SC Johnson (formerly S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., also known as Johnson Wax). The home features four wings extending out from the center of the building, which is where it gets the name Wingspread. (See an overhead shot here.) Several Johnson generations lived at Wingspread. Wright completed the building in 1939, and the family lived there through the 50s. In 1961, the Johnson family dedicated the property to be used as a conference center. Currently, the 5th Johnson generation manages Wingspread. The building received National Historic Landmark distinction in 1989.
If you know anything about Frank Lloyd Wright, I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you to learn there are some great Wright stories about his involvement with Wingspread. The tour includes a video with interviews with a couple Johnson family members, both of whom share Wright stories.
The entire Great Hall is decorated for Christmas right now, which is so beautiful.
One of the most notable features of Wingspread is the glass-enclosed “crow’s nest” lookout. Of course, as a visitor, you can’t go up in the nest. But it’s still neat to see the winding spiral staircase right in the middle of the Great Hall. Other notable building features include the five fireplaces, teepee-inspired clerestory ceiling, and cantilevered “Romeo and Juliet” balcony.
If you know anything about building a fire (as in, you’ve ever seen a fire burning in a fireplace or fire pit, even if you have no experience building one yourself), you’ll know instantly that this fireplace has inherent issues. Yes, it might look neat if logs could burn and stay straight in this vertical position. But they don’t. So the fireplace and logs simply decorative.
Like all Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, the architect had a vision for the entire home, which included the furniture. He designed many of the original furniture pieces, which are still in Wingspread today.
Wingspread sits on 36 acres and features nature trails, forests, prairie, streams, flower gardens, and a private art collection. In addition to the main Wingspread home, the conference center includes The House, where H.F. Johnson lived during his later years, and The Guest House, which offers high-end overnight accommodations and casual gathering spaces for conference attendees. It was freezing the day we toured Wingspread and was getting dark by the time we’d finished the inside tour. So we didn’t walk much of the grounds. But you’re welcome to do so when you’re there for the tour.
Again, Wingspread tours are free and open to the public. The entire interior tour takes about an hour. For more information about Wingspread, visit The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. To reserve a Wingspread or other SC Johnson tour, visit SC Johnson.
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I also visited the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Annunciation Greek Orthodox church earlier this year!
Are you still scrambling to finish up your Christmas shopping? It may be too late for most online shopping options this year. But with a few craft or cooking supplies and a couple tutorials, you’ll be able to cross off the last few names on your list.
