Chair Rail Height and Vertical Stripes

A few years ago I had a friend approach me with a design question regarding stripes and chair rails. She was getting ready to redo a bedroom with stripes on the bottom, solid on top and a chair rail in between. "Should I do half and half?" The answer typically is no.

When designing we always want to follow the thirds rule or fifths rule. This means that the bottom stripes should either be 1/3 of the room's height, 2/3, or 2/5 at least to look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The next concept to consider is the actual function of the chair rail. It isn't just for decoration. Chair rails were added to a wall to prevent pieces of furniture such as a chair from hitting the wall and scuffing it up. Therefore, if you Google "chair rail height" you will immediately find several articles that a standard chair rail is placed between 32"-38". Above is an example of an 8 ft room. I have drawn the chair rail height at 36" which is the most common measurement. It is just about the height to meet the 2/5 rule. It is not only functional but pleasing to the eye.

Another thing to consider before painting stripes on the wall is how much of that bottom 2/5 will be seen? Stripes take a lot of work and time. If your are painting a nursery and most of the walls are lined with furniture it might not be worth your extra time to put up stripes that will mostly be hidden.
The next question is where do you put a chair rail when the wall is sloped. Once again there isn't always a definitive answer. Still, generally it is practiced to use the height at the shortest end of the room when applying the thirds or fifths rule (so long as the difference in height isn't enormous). Above a room that starts at 8 ft. and rises to 12 ft. is shown. The stripes and chair rail are shown at 4 ft. which would be 1/3 if using the highest point in the room, 12 ft. It's not horrendous but still looks just a little bit off.
Here we have the same room only the chair rail and stripes are at the 36" mark or 2/5 if using the lowest point in the room. The difference is only a foot but visually they look completely different.

Sometimes, considering where stripes and chair rails should end is a matter of opinion. My suggestion would be to draw out a couple of options so that you can visually get an idea of what your room will look like. If you don't have a computer program like Photoshop you can easily grab some graph paper, sketch out your room, and draw in a couple of details.

Monday's Moment (October 10th, 2011)

Photo Source: TheCulinaryGeek

This week's "Monday's Moment" is thanks to my love of all things pumpkin. Fall is by far my favorite time of year. Pumpkin pie was a staple in our house growing up. In fact most of us request this delicate dessert for our birthdays instead of cake, regardless of what month it is. We HEART pumpkin pie. This brings me to our Monday's Moment.

To begin I will tell you that I have certain siblings who are a little pickier than others when it comes to foods they like or dislike, or so they think. This of course sets them up to have a prank or two pulled on them. One brother in particular wears the badge of "Pickiest Eater." Today, I wish to share two of those stories.

One night as we sat around the dinner table this particular brother was complaining and whining about having to eat his broccoli. My mother, being the mean mom she was, told him that he couldn't leave the table until he ate all the broccoli on his plate. This sent him into a wailing fit as his broccoli got colder. After many minutes passed he grabbed his first tree all the while crying, "I hate broccoli."

*Cue mean older siblings*

While one of us distracted my distressed younger sibling, one of us would sneak another piece of broccoli onto his plate. My brother would grab his next piece of broccoli, assuring us that he hated broccoli. We repeated the whole process several times. Distract. Reload. Eat. By the time our game was figured out a whole plate of hated broccoli had been eaten.

Story #2. As you may have guessed this younger brother of mine is yet again the star. Years after the broccoli incident he complained to my mom about how much he HATED yams while sitting around eating Thanksgiving dinner. You'd think he'd learn not to complain. A second brother also voiced his dislike of yams. Dislike noted. A year later my mom and dad got busy making all the yummy foods for Thanksgiving only this year they made a pumpkin pie AND a yam pie, placed side by side. The yam pie was prepared exactly like the pumpkin and looked rather similar.

Throughout the house you could hear the cheers as the "pumpkin pie" was brought out to be served. Then... silence as every morsel was being savored. "So are you sure you don't like yams?" Confusion sets in on my brothers faces and then complete shock and disgust as the secret is revealed. To this day they will both tell you that they could tell something was off even though they never said a word as the scarfed down their slice.

Moral of the story... don't let on your dislike for foods, at least in my family. Do you have a picky family member? Have you ever tricked them into eating a food they supposedly "don't like?"

*Don't forget to click on these two links to help me win a contest as well as find great deals on name brand items like Pampers, Johnson and Johnson, Huggies and more. *

Link 1

Link 2

Pinterest Recipes (Stuffed Bell Peppers)

My name is Sarah and I have a Pinterest addiction... and I'm totally ok with it! My goal is to be constantly working on having a healthier family. Too bad I don't love to cook. I know that healthier meals don't come out of a box so I am always on the lookout for easy, quick, fresh recipes to try.

One night as I perused the Pinterest boards I found this recipe for stuffed green peppers by Kalyn's Kitchen. I immediately pinned it and was excited to go grocery shopping. I too found green bell peppers were on sale that week for .50. It was a no brainer meal.

Another bonus was that I had a lot of fresh produce ready for picking from my container garden. The rice mixture contained the following:

From Garden

Fresh Basil

Green Onion

Green Beans

Zuchinni

Other Ingredients

Sweet Onion

Tomato

Turkey Sausage Link (which I already had)

Brown Rice

Green Peppers

Olive Oil (just a little bit)

Cheese

 *I've made this recipe a few more times and one ingredient I have added and is to die for is Crasins.  They add just enough sweetness to the party for your mouth."

I think the only thing I would change next time is to not put the extra green peppers (from cutting off the tops and bottom) into the actual mixture, it was just a little too much. I'd also like to try this recipe with yellow and orange bell peppers as I prefer them to green peppers. Too bad they are rarely on sale.

Overall this recipe was a great success, tasted so good, and was filled with all sorts of nutrients.

Do you have an easy healthy recipe you'd like to share? I'd love to add to my Pinterest collection.

Digital Christmas Cards Collection 1 (Shades of Red)

Runner Sled Christmas Card

Christmas Houndstooth Pattern Card

Red Christmas Card

Gingerbread Man Pattern Card

Snowflake Cutouts Christmas Card

Large Snowflake Christmas Card

Well, what do you think of my first digital Christmas cards collection for 2011? All six cards from my Shades of Red collection will be available on my website along with last years digital Christmas cards.

They will be available in .psd format for those with Photoshop to download.

and

They will be available in .jpg format for those who wish for me to put their family photos into one of the templates and send them the flattened .jpg file, ready to print at the location of your choice.

All six of these templates are available in 4 x 6, 5 x 7, and 6 x 7 1/2 sizes.

Which one is your favorite? Do you have your family photo ready yet? We are getting ours taken this weekend.

Be looking out for another collection or two in the coming weeks along with a couple of give-a-ways!

Download of the Month (Vintage Halloween Countdown)

Alright it's time to present you with this month's FREE download of the month. This countdown will only be up for the month of October so make sure and get yours now.

Each download is an 8.5 x 11 jpg file intended to be printed and then trimmed to fit in an 8 x 10 frame. Then, keep track of the days until Halloween simply by using a dry erase marker on top of the glass. Easy right?

You can find this Vintage Halloween Countdown Dowload here on my website.

Be sure to check back next month for a Thanksgiving Countdown.

*Please note my watermark on the pumpkin will NOT be on your download*

Monday's Moment (October 3rd, 2011)

Today's Monday's Moment is not one of my fondest memories but one I will never forget. We are coming up on our one year mark since our house was hit by a tornado. I've never been so excited for winter to come, which is saying something since fall is my favorite season.

The last year I've had more fear and anxieties whenever a thunderstorm, hail, or wind storm passes through but I'm reminded of all the little miracles that happened on that October morning.

I could write a whole book on that morning so I will just highlight some of those blessings and things I've learned.

A small prompting to get up out of bed to check the weather online: I am not a morning person but that morning I had the thought as I lay in the wee hours, "I wonder what the signs of a tornado are?" We do NOT live in tornado country so this was not a normal thought pattern. I found the warning just in time to run up and tell my husband, decide where the safest place was, and get to safety. Had I not checked the weather to find the warning my husband, who was getting up super early to study for his CPA exam, would have either been badly hurt or worse. His office had shards of glass stuck in the wall and had the most debris from outside.

The tornado that bounced: We were hit with an F1 tornado and while that is the smallest they come it still causes a lot of damage. It started by raging through an RV park, crossed the freeway, and headed towards our small community. Later we found that the tornado had touched down around the RV park but had bounced over our neighborhood only to touch down just behind the last house. We would have had a lot more damage had it not bounced!

The train that changed the second tornado's path: Yes you read that right, about an hour later a second tornado touched down just south of us and was once again heading towards the neighborhood. It was bigger than the first and probably would have destroyed even more houses. However, it hit a cargo train which changed its course just enough to skip past the populated part of our community. The second miracle was that a passenger train had just gone through minutes before.

The safety of friends and neighbors: Each one has a miraculous story to tell from kids sleeping in different bedrooms than normal to walls collapsing in a child's room everywhere except for the little cavity where the child slept. There were minor injuries and no one died.

The men who came to board up windows: A storm doesn't just necessarily stop after a tornado. For the rest of the morning it continued to rain and hail... into our homes that were without windows, separated walls, and parts of roofs missing. As soon as the freeway was opened up again there were several men who had stopped at Home Depot and boarded up our windows in the freezing cold rain to save what was left of our properties.

The generosity of family members: My in-laws, brother-in-law and sister-in-law came and helped us pack up our belongings and put them into storage. My other sister-in-law and her family let us live with them for two months while our house was fixed.

I could go on and on. I know we were watched over that morning. I've walked away from this experience grateful for all the little miracles that occurred and have a greater appreciation for life.

What are some of your life-changing memories? If you'd like to join in my Monday's Moment please leave a link! I'd love to read some of your most memorable moments.

Digital Christmas Cards 2011 (Sneak Peek)

Remember this color palette for my digital Christmas cards? Well I'm almost ready to show the collection that goes with it. There will be six total in this collection and I'm just hammering out some of the finer details. Be sure to check back next week as I reveal the other five digital Christmas cards.

As always these and many other digital Christmas card collections will be available to download in .psd format directly from my website. For those who don't have Photoshop you can still order a flattened .jpg file from me. Simply follow the directions on my website, email me the photos you wish to be used, and then once the template is completed you can print at the location of your choice.

I'm hoping to release a new collection each week during the month of October. What color schemes or styles would you like to see.