Bedroom Progress Report

I've been doing a lot of work on my bedroom (I have two bedrooms) here at the little cottage, and I thought I'd post an update.

When I first saw the house, this is what the bedroom looked like:

Beautifully refinished floors and good sunlight

Two cedar lined closets

I wasn't thrilled with the paint color, but my landlords are really great people and I was assured I could paint it any color I wished.

This is how the bedroom looked for the first two years I lived here.  The linens were from my former color scheme:

At first, I thought I wanted to use the same color scheme.  But the more blogs I read and the more I thought about things, I decided I really wanted a change.  I wanted something Parisian and elegant.  After many months of plotzing about wall color, I took a sample of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in “Paris Grey” and had the nice folks at Home Depot dupe it in Behr’s Premium Plus Ultra.

Even though the Premium Plus Ultra has a built in primer, my OCD/paranoid self was concerned about going from a darker color to a lighter one.  I wanted to the Paris Grey to be true, and not adulterated by the existing wall color.  So, I Killz’d the room first.  

Here are the results so far:

That's the same bed; I primed it and then painted it

Paris Grey so it would kind of "float" in the room.  There are

floral motifs on the headboard; these I silver leafed along

with the ball finials on the head and footboard (I can see

the ones on the footboard are missing...lol)

The brocade stencil was purchased at amazon.com.  I mixed

Paris Grey and Valspar's "String of Pearls" 50/50 for the

stencils.  The mirror is the same from the "before" photos; I 

silver leafed it and painted the linen band that runs around 

the inside of the frame with Valspar's "Pale Violet"

The mirror is a $5.00 flea market find.  The rim is made of

metal roses; they were originally brassy gold.  I silver leafed

every other one, then painted the remaining ones in the Pale Violet

The angels are white china; they are from my childhood.

I have an ugly fuse box on the bedroom wall to the left of the bed.  

I picked up this frame, and the one below, at a flea market this summer for

$10.00 each.  I painted them with String of Pearls, Pale Violet, and some silver leaf

detail (this one needs to be finished).  I'm going to have mirror cut for each of them

I like this solution to the fugly fuse box, as it will give some added light to the room.

And because (as usual) my photos stink, it's

hard to tell I painted "Bonne Nuit"..

...and "Beaux Reves" around the mirror frames

There's even a wreath for Christmas

The only remaining things to do are drapes (plain white linen panels on clip rings) and a slipcover for the chair.  I'm going to use these:

So...that's a (not very) brief update on my bedroom

I am linking to:

Mod Mix Monday @ Mod Vintage Life 

Make It Pretty Monday @ The Dedicated House

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Tweak It Tuesday @ Cozy Little House 

Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style

Transformation Thursdays The Shabby Creek Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Inspiration Friday @ At The Picket Fence

Keep Your Elf On A Shelf...

...I have a Dog By A Log  : )

It's a cold, damp day here in Bugtussle, so a fire is just the thing:

(the match holder was the victim of an unfortunate encounter

between a German shepherd and a Murphy's Oil Soap'd floor)

How To Keep Those Pots...Hot!?

I have my mother's Birmingham Silver tea and coffee service.  It has a teapot, a coffee pot, a sugar bowl and a cream pitcher, along with a large tray.

I am unsure of the actual pattern name; I've seen it called "pumpkin" or "lily of the valley" from the little floral decorations.  You can see the detail better in this stolen borrowed photo:

My predicament is how to keep the contents of the teapot and the coffee pot...well, hot.  I have seen the "samovar" versions, but it appears the pots have to be configured specially for that set up (knobs on the pots to fit into the samovar brackets).

I thought this item would work, but I am concerned that the legs of the pots will interfere with them balancing on the warmer base:

Does anyone have any ideas?  Do they make (did they make?) a spirit lamp setup or a tea candle thing that would work with that style of pot?

Any and all answers are appreciated it; I wanted to serve tea and hot chocolate at my January open house and no matter how beautiful the service, cold ain't gonna cut it.

Thanks!

first snow of 2012

We had the our first snow of the year yesterday; it was just enough to make everything look pretty.  I think Cody, The World's Least Scary German Shepherd is having none of it.

Christmas 2012

I've been pretty busy lately; painting my living room and other personal stuff.  I decorated for Christmas over the past Thanksgiving weekend and here are the results.

I have so many people to thank for letting me steal their ideas inspiring me:  Amy Chalmers at Maison Decor for her wall paint color suggestion, Life Is a Party for the inspiration for the coffee table greenery arrangement, Rosemary at Villa Barnes for the beautiful sewing drawer in which I made the arrangement, many sites for the roses made from book pages (they really are easy and are so effective), One Girl In Pink for inspiring my "Joyeux Noel" sign, Shelley at Sow and Dipity for the Mason jar luminaries (these are simple and incredibly beautiful), Marian at Miss Mustard Seed for the glittery pine cone reminder, and my mom, for choosing such beautiful furniture and crystal and silver...it made the perfect backdrop.  There are so many others ... I am always so amazed at the talent out there in blogland...I hope to come close to that some day.

I don't know that I had a "theme" ... I guess it would be silver and white (original, huh?)  I tried to have elements (the book flowers, the natural pieces, the lumiaries) flow from area to area for some attempt at cohesion.

My tree is pink.  I wanted a pink tree, dammit.  Most of the ornaments are vintage Shiny Brites that I either had or collected over the past year via eBay auctions.

Some notes:

95% of the things I already owned.  The other 4% came from the Dollar Store (for reals), and the remaining 1% was from Michaels or Home Depot.  All the silver and crystal and things belonged to my mother. The "tree skirt" is a $14.99 silver lame tablecloth from TJMaxx.

I also lucked out on the greenery; because of the big storm here a few weeks ago, a neighbor lost an enormous evergreen.  He was kind enough to let me have as many cuttings as I wanted.  This saved me beaucoup bucks.

Things I learned:

• White and grey spray paint can turn a hideously cheap looking wreath into something pretty nice.  
• That spray "snow" is straight from the inner rings of Hell.  I did much better with Ivory Satin and Winter Gray spray paint and some spray glitter
• Decorating will always take longer than you thought it would.  Always.
• There's a certain bittersweet feeling about doing all of this when you know you'll be alone at Christmas.

Standard Disclaimer:  my photos always stink.

Living Room

Coffee Table

End Tables

Bar Area

Piano

Dining Room

Tea Table

I am linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Newbie w/a Twist Party @ Debbiedoo's 

Mod Mix Monday @ Mod Vintage Life 

Make It Pretty Monday @ The Dedicated House

Table Top Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Tweak It Tuesday @ Cozy Little House 

Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Countdown To Christmas @ Dixie n Dottie

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Inspiration Friday @ At The Picket Fence
A Homespun Christmas/Vignettes and Mantels Party @  Savvy Southern Style
Fall Into Fall @ DIY by Design
Show Off Your Christmas Tree @ DIY Showoff

My Favorite Room

I love my little house.  My favorite room is the sun room.

When I finally found a job after being laid off for 11 of the scariest months of my life in 2009, my first project was downsizing.  I was living in a huge 3500 SF house on 7 acres with a private lake, and was desperate to move.  Sounds crazy, I know - but that house had a lot of sadness and painful memories attached to it.

I learned of a little place in the Slate Belt that was for rent.  It had everything I wanted - most especially lots of closets!  It also had a fireplace, which is something this Florida girl had always wanted.  Of course, it took me 2.5 years to be brave enough to actually light a fire in it, but I used it almost every weekend last winter.

But what sold me on it was the sun room.  It's old-fashioned, with jalousie windows.  There's a terracotta tile floor and it has views of my little front porch and a lake just down the lane.

The porch railings are covered in morning glories now, and they are so charming and fresh to look at in the early mornings.

I love to have breakfast out here on the weekends.  Sometimes, if my weekday mornings aren't too frantic, I'll at least have tea out here.  While I love autumn, it signals the end of lounging barefoot in my robe out there - reading or doing a crossword puzzle.

I'll still use it into the early winter - I can bundle up in a throw and have cocoa while Cody snoozes on his rug.

It's my favorite room.

Vintage Kitchen Table

In my "former life", I owned a small business.  It shared a parking lot/driveway with a Stewart's (regional hamburger/root beer joint).  The place had changed hands, and the new owners were overhauling the kitchen.  They had pulled this out into the parking lot for disposal.  I saw the top and fell for it, so I asked if I could have it...and I could.  Cheap is great - free is better!

I am thinking it dates at least to the 1950s, possibly earlier.  The top is metal, and the frame and legs are wood.  This is the original decal in the center of the table:

The top is an oyster-ish white, and the sides of the top are a neat ombre green.  All the chippiness is natural, which I love.

The bad part is it was covered in God knows how many years of grease and grime.  I've tried everything to remove all of the crud and have never been able to get it all.  Right now, it's wrapped in shop rags saturated with Krud Kutter.  I've read a lot of good things about this stuff on the blogs, and am hoping this will cut through everything so I can repaint the legs and frame a creamy white.

It's also missing a drawer - I hope to replace that at some point.

It's a nifty little table and a perfect fit for my mudroom.

UPDATE!

Krud Kutter worked!  I can now re-paint the frame and legs!

Linking up at:

Mod Mix Monday #67 @ Mod Vintage Life