When is a cat dish not just a cat dish?

When it's intended to be a 4-section serving tray of course!

I spent a decent amount of time on Sunday wandering around Home Goods looking for inspiration.  I always seem to get ideas there, even if I don't end up with purchases.  I made a lot of mental notes on furniture and decor, and ended up purchasing one item.  Well, I guess technically 2, but it was in 1 box.

*BACKSTORY* When we had just 1 cat, we used rice bowls I had purchased years before at Christmas Tree Shop as Daisy's dishes- one for dry food, one for wet, and one for water (even though she only drinks out of her water glass on the coffee table, but thats a story for another day).  When we expanded our family to include another fuzzy purring being, we started using more rice bowls.  Charlie is a typical guy (I had no idea that cat's fell into the gender steriotypes too!)- he's a messy eater and the bowls ended up in disarray and knocked over with half the food on the floor.  I love my cats, but I don't need my house messy because of them.

*FLASH BACK TO THE PRESENT* Home Goods to the rescue!!  I found a box with 2 ceramic serving trays for $9.99.  With 4 compartments, it is perfect to have dry food in one, water in another and use the remaining 2 for the dinner rush of their daily wet food.  With 2 serving dishes- one can be in use, while the other is in the dishwasher: PER-FECT! (yes, pun intended, sorry).  Looks worlds better than having 4+ disheveled bowls and these Charlie can't knock over!

Hidden History

I've been burying my head so much in house organization that I've neglected you.  Will you forgive me? I am pleased to say the house now looks like a house and not a pile of stuff and is no longer making me twitch!  I'm still trying to organize the basement, but that's slow and steady.

The more I exist in the house, the more I'm growing to appreciate it and its history.  For a 100+ year old house, most people would never guess its age.  It has been updated fully (a bit too much for my taste), but I keep finding vintage gems that make me smile.

I plan to have a house that exudes vintage charm with all the modern amenities.  For the first time since moving, I can see past the disorganization and envision the perfect balance of modern and old world in the decor and art.  Once I finish my organization projects, it will be full steam ahead!

Illuminating!

Before moving, I made a big deal about getting rid of the ceiling fan and installing a beautiful new light... yet I've been silent about it since.  Curious. Let me break the suspense. We installed it. Its dimmable. It works. It needs futzing with and I've been avoiding dealing with it.

It's much easier on the eyes than the ceiling fan, but it still needs some love.  It needs leveling, but I'm procrastinating on that until I figure out what to do with the ceiling...  As you can see from the picture below, the hole from the ceiling fan was larger.  The way I see it, I have 2 options: patch the ceiling hole, or install a medallion.

I'm leaning toward medallion- it will cover the hole, help direct the light a bit better (so the light doesn't emphasize the ceiling defects as it does now), and hopefully help to create a bit more of a feature.  My inclination is to get a medallion that is larger than the 16" light and then (eventually) add some simple decorative moulding to the ceiling.

My only hesitation is that you don't normally see medallions with this kind of light (although that reasoning usually doesn't stop me).

I'd love to hear your feedback!