Friday, August 28, 2009

~ Happy Friday . Continued, French Drawer Pulls

Yes, just another little sneak peek.

The painting is almost all done. A little bit more of the "antiquing" on the lines crevices of the sides, and then it should be ready for getting me more organized. There are piles of supplies on the floor and I can't quite back up enough to get a long shot yet anyway.


But the pulls turned out great. I'll write up a simple little how-to, tutorial with some pictures and post it early next week.

Next project after this one is painting Sweet Daughter's French Provincial night stands in a grayed blue! This is not her first choice, but I think she will really like. So she gave the OK for me to do them. If she doesn't like it, I'll paint them black. But I'm sure she will be happy with them when they are done. And her bedding and curtains are in that blue, with brown. Won't the blue be pretty!

See Y'all Soon!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

~ Still Painting . A Little Turquoise Love

There were a few questions sent to me asking exactly what the drawer pulls were going to be used for, and what the heck I've been painting for so long. It is one of those projects that is so simply but is taking a lot of time and layers.

I'm in love with small amounts of turquoise. It might be a shorter love affair if I did a lot with it, but right now we are still in love. And another question was what color am I painting this piece since the pulls have turquoise in them. Here is a little sneak peek. {Yes, after years of loving doing the big reveal, I kind of like short posts with sneak peeks after all. :) } White, slightly aged.

There are three drawers just below the middle door opening where the pulls will go.


For a few years I've been thinking about painting something like this, white with the back in a beautiful turquoise. And I'm loving it.

See Y'all Soon!

*Edit: It is no longer turquoise inside.
Always changing my mind. :)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

~ Vintage French Drawer Pulls Patina

As I'm getting closer to having the new storage piece ready for organizing some of the art supplies, I rounded up the hardware so I could decide what to do with it. And then I saw the one painted in the picture below, and realized of course that's what I wanted.That wonderful patina of age when the metal turns to bit of turquoise. Now how to make the plain Jane look as pretty. But I think I can figure out the secret and do it. After all, I painted that one, too!



I hope I am not the only one who loves to experiment and then is quite sure I'll remember exactly how I did something only to totally forget a short time later.

T
his should be pretty easy though, since there appears to only be couple of steps. I'll let you know how it goes.

See Y'all Soon!

Monday, August 24, 2009

~ Dining Room, Raise the Ceiling Trick

(Repeat post from 2007. Dining Room)

This is a great trick and the results are beautiful
when you have a room that could use a little lift!
I'm going to take some new pictures
of the dining room. But this one is good for now!


Here is close up picture of the ceiling.
At the top of the wall is embossed paper,
trimmed on the top and bottom with small molding.

Measuring and cutting the angles for the molding on the ceiling was a bear! Makes you love trim carpenters. We had lots of bad cuts trying to figure the angles, but kept at it until if fit.

The first part of the ceiling next to the wall is painted the same white as the molding so that it lifts the eye up without stopping at the usual area of wall meeting ceiling.

Never worry if you don't get the perfect color the very first time in any room! I had to test the green color a few times until the color "lifted" the ceiling. Too dark and it looked closer, too light and it didn't have the depth it needed. The same green is used in the faux transom over the doorway, and repeats on the ceiling in the next room.

The columns were moved into the corners after I removed them from the other side of the dining room. Now they look like older salvaged pieces, even though they are only about 20 years old. I liked the way they looked here and just left them.

I spent the entire day at Sweet Daughter's house while the gutters were being installed. At least got to see Project Runway which she recorded for me since I don't get Lifetime. I also watched Sara Richardson who is such a talented designer. Otherwise, daytime TV could drive someone batty!

Paint projects soon to show!
See Y'all Soon!

Friday, August 21, 2009

~ The Yellow Gold Stripe Dining Room

The room I fell in love with. By Paula Prass

You can see the before and after, and the process here on Paula's site.


On Twitter, I saw a tweet by a designer and followed it to her blog. And I found this picture of one of my most favorite rooms ever. She was discussing how the same picture was being used in a book without giving her any credit. Now that just isn't right. Of course when I used her as my jumping off point several years ago for a dining room makeover, I did show her room picture on the decorating site I belonged to, but I did not mention her by name. Sorry. This is the beautiful work of Paula Prass.

Be sure to go by and see how Paula transformed this lack luster room into a charming cottage dining room!

I feel so in love with this room, it is the one only time I really did just flat out borrow so many ideas from another decorator. When I saw her dining room, it was so familiar to me and my tastes that I wanted to move right into it. So I did the next best thing and recreated lots of her ideas.


What I thought would be the easiest part was finding a pretty stripe fabric, but that proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be. The colors were all wrong or the weight of the fabric wasn't right. I finally found the perfect one, and from there I was off and running.


The walls were painted in a two tone yellow/gold stripe with a metallic glaze over the top of the darker stripe. It was warm and really inviting in a room with no windows. The ceiling was changed by adding molding to make a mock step-up effect, and then was painted the same colors that were on the walls.

The chairs were reupholstered in the stripe fabric and then I made a bee design on the back of the end chairs. Yes, that idea came from Paula as well.



I had to deal with the problem of having no windows since Paula had such a wonderful idea for her window, and the white was a very needed design element for a break from all the color in the room.

This room did however have French doors leading to the morning room. So I made simple panels of white on white damask with a black top valance.

The dining room stayed like this for a little while and I totally loved it. Since redoing it, the panels and pillows have found their way to Sweet Daughter's house which is the most fun way to rationalize changing my decorating. I saved everything when I made changes just in case she might wish to use anything when she was making her nest.


Today the dining room has very deep gold walls, but not the same, and everything else has changed except I kept the furniture and the original watercolor painting by Sweet Husband. Then I found the fabric that the chairs are upholstered in today, and a new love affair began. Yes, the fickled heart of a decorator falling for a fresh new line. That lime green and brown is still here, and I don't think it is changing any time soon. Although I'm toying with moving the dining room to the little used living room area, and making the dining room just a little sitting area.

See Y'all Soon!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

~ Paver Walkway, Curves Welcome!

Yes, I've got curves! Not on me personally, but instead on the front walkway. And that's just fine with me. The other curves seem to shift & droop over years, but these won't move around so much.

New Paver Walkway, Amaretto Pavers, August 2009


This is after a whole lot of landscaping and the 1st Pavers installed.

From the MLS in 1986. Exactly the same
as when built in 1959-60!
Sweet little house had never received much love.
It's not quite as small as it looks, the garage is on the side.


The original walk was simple cement and went to the end of the property line and not all the way to the street. Years ago we didn't have the choices in pavers that are available today, so when I put down the new one, I went with gray cement pavers that looked like cement. It's a faint memory now, but I do remember this being a ton of work which I did a lot of the work myself. I was pleased because it was a huge improvement.

Like a lot of things in the world of remodeling of house and home, you have so much more to choose from today. The new ones are still cement, but colored all the way through, and they are not thin pavers, but thick like a brick. Good for very long term needs, and these will stay here as long as we are.

The new one is also a foot wider, so that it is much easier for two people to walk on it.


The old walk torn out, and the hose laid
to get the right shape.

You can kind of see in this one
where the walkway ended.
We had to dig out all the plants and
dig for the new path
which moved over the right

Now, w/ Curves!
New plants, from bottom, Asian Jasmine,
Yellow Lantana, Liriope, Mini Holly,
Bromeliads, African Iris, Australian Flax

It's rather silly now how much time I spent deciding if the walk would be straight and then flare out at the end, or if it would be curved. People gave their opinions and it was a split decision. The one that kept me rethinking it all was Sweet Daughter because she didn't see the curved idea working. But she is always quick to say if she changes her mind, and she did after it was all done.

The curved walk design is what I had started with in my sketches, and it turned out to be perfect, for me. It was a lot more work for the installer. But he too loved it when it was all done. In order to get it just right, I laid 2 garden hoses, and came back to it over a couple of days, and "walked" it to see how if felt and looked.

Thanks to those who asked to see the end results. It's always so much fun sharing a new project with those who love the same things!

See Y'all Soon!

Monday, August 17, 2009

~ Black Chandelier & Friends


Halloween Art Print Raven Chandelier Donna ~ The Decorated House

I love chandeliers and a black one is so interesting. However, if you fancy one for your decorating, be prepared that it is the perfect home for a couple of Ravens wanting to belt out a tune or two.



Ebony and Blackie love to sing for their dinner. They aren't supposed to be able to sing? Well it's a magical house where all birds can sing, and they do so beautifully, at least to them.

This fanciful perch on the chandelier is their favorite stage to present their performances. They can even make it sway a bit to the beat.

And Halloween is their most favorite time to sing out loud. However on Halloween it sometimes sounds like someone rocking over a cat's tail. Just for Halloween of course. Makes the kiddies wonder what the heck they that noise is when they come for Trick or Treat!


See Y'all Soon!

Friday, August 14, 2009

~ Summer Heat & Halloween? But It Will Soon Time For Trick or Treat

Oh, you are kidding you just said. I know. I'm one of those people who gets grumpy when the bring the holiday stuff out too early. But what I found with doing things on line, you have to start earlier than you would have figured even if you had retail store experience to go on. So I'm getting the sweetest little Trick or Treaters out for the shop, and I hope to have a couple of new ones soon.


Annabella & Her Pet

Next week I'll have some painted furniture to show you, and the new paver walkway with landscaping. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

See Y'all Soon!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

~ What a Week ..... Rain, Chain Reaction & Gardening

Next time we have vacation days, maybe we'll leave town. While in the midst of redoing the flower beds next the new walkway, I made a run to Home Depot. On the way back I got rear-ended while sitting patiently at a stop light. Of course I'm thankful that I wasn't hurt, and there was amazingly no damage to Sweet Husband's truck. More importantly, since it was a 6 car chain reaction and there were 5 children in the cars, none of them were hurt. The last car which hit was most likely talking on his cell phone according to those who saw him, and either ran the light behind us or just didn't stop for the cars at the light in front, which was me and the other 4 cars behind me.

The lesson maybe to just not go to Home Depot and only shop at Lowe's. But I did go there first and they didn't have the plants that I needed. I knew Home Depot did because we were there buying them the day before. Five years ago Sweet Daughter's car was hit on the same road, and yes she was going to Home Depot. For me. She says we should just stay away from that store. I say, I'll take a different road from now on.
I was very thankful that I was not in my car that I've only had a few months. The truck had a few marks, the suv behind me had about the same. But the small car that ran into him was smashed on both ends. Of course the next cars all had damage as well.

We were out in the hot sun for about 2 hours by a 6 lane road, while the police woman wrote a report for everyone. So remember to pack sunscreen when you drive just in case.

When we stay home during a vacation the one thing that helps make the week seem a little longer is to take off somewhere at the beginning. So off to Renninger's in Mt. Dora we went.

The first picture is of the "rolling hills" (Florida-style) during the Extravaganza at Renninger's, with tents, vendors and people as far as you can see. That treeline hides the permanent buildings that house antique dealers all year long.



While I was standing up at the top of that hill, I mentioned that I didn't remember a lake down by the trees. It really didn't even come to mind that the water wasn't usually there. When we got down to the other side, this is what we found. And this really makes it look like a small amount of water. It had already receded about a foot lower by the time we saw it.



Most of the vendors had already closed up and either taken their goods and had to toss them out. The one booth shows the damage at the bottom of the furniture from standing water. It might seem like such a fun thing to run a little business like this, but you certainly never know when something like this could happen.


The next Extravaganza will be in Nov. The water will be all gone and it should be dry enough to set up all those tents and booths again. Strange how things can happen that totally alter people's lives and there is so little left behind to ever know about it.

The gardening however went extremely well. I'll be back ... soon.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

~ Is That Squeaky Ball?

We have been busy with one of our "working vacations" this week, even though I promised myself not to do them. However Sweet Hubby wanted to get the new walkway planted and how could I refuse the help. I can't do the digging by myself. Today was totally crazy and kept me from getting to the gardening. But I thought this would bring a smile to just about anyone.




This is a game that Cody and I play. He of course invented it. Although he has a blue ball that squeaks, and he does love seeing how loud it will do so, there is something special about the dryer balls. Every time I go in to get the laundry, he follows and searches for the balls. Even if he can't see them at first, he knows they are in there. Just waiting for him. I let him find them, he takes one at a time, and I get to go find him, and  the balls. His training is going very well. Day by day, he is getting us to do exactly what he wants like chasing after him to get the dryer balls back.

See Y'all Soon!