My Dad made my Mom a Plant Stand for her hanging plants. He took the old iron wagon wheel and put it on top of an iron pole. He set the wagon wheel on top of the iron pipe and then took a smaller iron pole with an elbow on the end of the pipe and put it straight down through the middle of the wagon wheel and down through the iron pipe. Mom could hang her plants all around it. They are both gone now, but I have it in my yard to hang my plants on. It is my most treasured piece in my garden.

We also have a plain vanilla ranch built in 1950. It was never MCM nor any style. It was just churned out as a tract home. The basic layout of bedrooms and living space was ok, but we opened the wall between the kitchen and living room, extended and moved the kitchen so the old kitchen is half of the new one and partly as our new main level laundry room. The rest of the kitchen is part of the extension and is adjacent to the new den we added on. Due to budget constraints, we only cathedraled the new extensions' ceilings and the master bedroom ceiling was vaulted as we extended there too. Where we did not raise the ceilings we added in skylights and a 5ft eyebrow window in the front of the house, boxed in like a skylight (and we have a skylight over the den up high). The greater amount of natural light is fabulous and it feels so much more spacious with the openings for the skylights and eyebrow window. We had hated the all low ceilings when we moved in. Our previous house had vaulted and cathedral ceilings over the living spaces and it was hard to adjust to low and flat. I truly think that being able to raise the ceilings and/or use skylights is one of the best features about a ranch. Since the house was built with little style and updated with no style either (unless cheap and ugly are styles, lol), we felt free to create our own vibe. We went for retro modern with a 40s feel. What a modern person would have done prior to MCM is how I'd describe it. It has some deco feel to it but the lines are simple and not ornate. Crown moldings would not have worked, so we have done simpler ones. We chose modest looking but well designed materials. No one would ever think it is fancy or frilly. We wanted clean lines but not sharp edges. It is supposed to feel homey and unassuming. Like a well worn pair of jeans that fit well. We want guests to feel at home. If you come up with your own style mission statement you can check your choices against it. At one point, we fell in love with white marble and wanted that for our counters. Then one day, we figured out it went against all our other choices and was too elegant. We ended up with Corian in their Rain Cloud pattern, which mimics the feel of a white marble, but is not trying to fake anyone out. It has a softness to the look but with all straight lines and an eased edge profile, it looks neat. We ended up with Carrera marble in our master bathroom for the counter and in the faux rug part of our floor. That space is meant to be more grown up and fancy since it is our private space and not designed for the kids. The veins that make it great there would have been too busy for the kitchen. If we had gone for another look, I'd have loved to use the marble as I usually drool when I see it used anywhere. If I ever do a kitchen again, I would want qs oak with white marble or some other medium toned stained wood. The door style would be different as well. We are happy with our vision and how the look has turned out (the gc screwed us on condition, but that will be fixed, someday). It is not plain vanilla any more! Our house looks like no other in our area and I dare say, it is now one of a kind. Hopefully, you find your groove and your end result reflects your style and vision, and makes you smile too ;)

A playroom? Perfect. How old are the children? I'd leave them up there and use them to accent the space for your little buckaroos. You wouldn't have to go overboard on a cowboy/cowgirl theme, just a few pieces would get the point across. It's easy to find vintage western stuff. there's some swell retro fabric on ebay or etsy for making a few pillows (or use different colored bandannas), and be sure to add a rocking horse if the children are under 7. *Not* one of those "crafty" wooden horses with rope mane and a flat seat that's about as much fun to play with as a board; a "real" Wonder horse on springs. Tacky? Perhaps, but no less so that all the gaudy colored, rounded edge, featureless plastic junk that you so often see piled up all over people's homes and yards. I also love Lindac's idea of a Gypsy Wagon, or hey, even Circus Wagon wheels. JMHO, but I think replacing them with some kind of generic pendant lighting would have all the appeal of a mausoleum, but then, growing up, my girls were known to frequently sneak a real, live pony into the house, so we probably take "play" a little more seriously than most folks... ;^)

I think I have the same "pink". A lot of the true pinks like the flamingos in the wallpaper Pal posted--which I DID try--don't quite go. And the one Tartan linked is just too much of a not-quite-good thing, although I didn't check it out in person. Howsabout tropical (I know, they don't really have pink flowers....but hey)?