{If you are visiting from the Nester, thank you for stopping by my new interiors blog. This week I will be posting about our boys’ room renovation projects. And {yay!} I am so excited that this Friday, I will be revealing my first Design Board. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me in my Online Interiors dream!}

Each January, my hubby and I sit down and we plan a years worth of family goals. Some of the headings of our goal areas are: Parenting, Marriage, Individual, Money, Spiritual, Family. But the ones relevant to the house-fun here at Fieldstone Hill Design are our goal areas of “Home Improvements: Interior” and “Home Improvements: Exterior.”

Home Improvements {interior}

· Create savings plan for kitchen redo
· Add insulation in ceiling of basement
· Finish Painting Front Hall, Upstairs Hallway, and 3rd floor stairwell.
· Boys’ Room {Spring}

· School Room {Summer}

  Possibly hire electrician {install side lighting, improve some interior lighting nightmares}

Home Improvements {exterior}
· Replace roof of Main house
· Plant more trees along road
· Install Patio
· Fence repairs

I am sure you will hear all about our crazy projects as they move along. Fieldstone Hill, you shall be lookin’ good!

To see the inside pics of Fieldstone Hill {the presentable ones anyway!}, click here.

I would love to know! What are your Home Improvement Goals for the New Year??

{darlene}

Happy 2011 Everyone!

Thank you so much to all of you for helping me in my dream! Fieldstone Hill, the blog and the online design business, is a dream of mine that has come true… and you ALL are a huge part of helping it to grow.

My first post debuted in October of last year, and since then I have been loving the opportunity to share my incessant thoughts about decorating and beautiful design; the big and the small.

I am dreaming up a few changes for Fieldstone Hill for the New Year:

1. I am working on some new design boards that I am eager to share! I am looking forward to doing many more of these in the new year, for clients as well as for posts.
2. For a limited time, I am keeping my online interior design rates at the reduced rate. Hoping to have a hopping 2011! Do you have a project that you are dreaming of getting started?
3. Still be looking for my favorite ‘ditto’ posts. I just love writing these and sharing them with you. And as always, I love knowing what you think about them.
4. Speaking of hearing from you, I also plan on making Fieldstone Hill a little more personal, and a little less business. It is so much fun to get to know each other!
5. I am adding Sponsors to Fieldstone Hill. If you are interested in promoting your blog or site, click here for more information, and contact me at fieldstonehill@gmail.com
6. Also, thought I would throw in a new header for fun. What do you think?

So… what changes do you have planned for the New Year?
{darlene}

I love. love. love. this kitchen.
Don’t you just want to sit down here with a choice warm drink, and linger?

{design: Tommy Smythe}

ditto :: {what I would steal from this space}:

1. Carrera Marble subway tiles on the backsplash. With random swirls of gray contrasting with the rigid lines of a subway tile. I think I am in love.
2. Dark herringbone slate on the floors with contrasting cream grout. Details to love. Plus, the floors remind me of a smart pair of wool pants.
3. In this kitchen, closed cabinetry is not an evil stepmother. The gorgeous glass-front cabinets offer plenty of openness and display space, but there is great balance {not to mention practicality} in having plenty of places to stash and fully hide your non-pretty stuff. {or am I the only one with non-pretty stuff?}.
4. The upper-cabinets above the cabinets. Looks very high-end. But it can be done with stock-cabinetry and a handy/handsome carpenter.
5. ok. That gorgeous farm table it to die for. And, of course, it doubles as an island. If you put another shelved table beneath it {must be lovely}, and filled it with thickly-woven baskets… remove the chairs… you could have an island most of the time, and switch to a table when needed by bringing the chairs back into the equation.
6. Actually, that particular light fixture is not my fave. Not bad; just not my fave. However! The fact that it is very large, contrasting and interesting in color, and also warm-light-giving is just right. 
7. Splashes of commercial/industrial mixed in. The stainless countertops that morph into the industrial sink. The crisp and functional vent hood. The fantastic range. The hard-working faucet fixture. The nickel cabinet knobs and exterior-door knobs. The spoon canister. Even the toaster shines with function.
8. Black on the bottom: grounded. White on the top: open and endless. Love the cabinet color combo.
9. I love that the doors and windows are painted in a glossy black. It looks particularly fabulous on the glass doors, with the contrast of light streaming through. And it seems to be echoed in the painted-black chairs. And the cute pots near on the windowsill.
10. Artichokes. in a large wooden bowl. Never had that many artichokes in my house at one time… but maybe I should.

I love my home.
But it is still just a “thing.”

Here at Fieldstone Hill, I write about “stuff” and “beautiful things,” but they are all still just things.

Please, go and visit Edie’s blog, and keep her family in your prayers. An address is included in the post as a location to send cards.

Thank you.
{darlene}