Goodbye Walter Reed and fun decorating repurposing

Liz and Dave have moved from Washington DC to Eglin Air Force Base in Ft Walton Beach. This happy change has been in the works for about 2 months now. After we all returned from our Cape Cod trip, Liz flew here to my home and we went over to Ft Walton to look at different housing options. She fell in love with the older home on base overlooking the Choctawhatchee Bay with amazing views of Destin. And she knew, unequivocally that Dave would love it too!

When they finally arrived here at my home 2 weeks ago, the U Haul truck was quickly packed up with all their belongings from their apartment in Shreveport, LA. Back in June 09, we moved everything here and put it all in storage for easy access.

I made the trip from here to Eglin driving Dave’s new vehicle, Dave driving the 26 FT U haul and Liz driving her vehicle. It was a busy exhausting week of unpacking, sorting and weeding out things they hadn’t seen in some 18 months. Too many boxes to unpack, lots of temporarily forgotten memories and seeing all their wedding gifts again was at times overwhelming. Then the next day, a moving van arrived with another maybe 30 (seemed like 50) boxes of all their belongings that they acquired while living Walter Reed.

I did manage to do lots of sewing for them. I brought my sewing machine, glue gun, and electric stapler for lots of projects. Here’s a look at some of the rooms, not yet all complete. I’m still sewing here at home for them.

Guest bedroom #1. We decided to use a red, white, and blue nautical theme, reusing everything from their apartment. The navy swag was 2 long panels that I redid to better fit the long window. If you look close on the window sill, you’ll see the nautical candles from their wedding. And their white oars that all the wedding guests signed. This window looks out at the Bay. Liz decided to put bed on the wall so guests can fall asleep to the beautiful lights of Destin at night and wake up to the gorgeous sunrise in the morning. Just amazing!

This is their queen sleigh bed and…

matching armoire that used to live in my bedroom. I miss it but now can find something fun to replace it. This armoire was the only thing that got damaged in the move. One door broke off when my hubby drove it in the virtually empty U Haul from our house, 1 mile to the storage unit. HA HA! We made him fix it when he arrived here at Eglin AFB later in the week. And Dave drove it 206 miles without any issues. Yea Jim!

The Ralph Lauren nautical pillows used to be in their old guest room with twin beds.

Wedding votives made with white nautical rope and navy grosgrain look perfect on this long window sill.

Guest bath….I had this Amy Butler Nigella Wood Fern Olive, it made a perfect valance for this window. It looks great with the Walter Anderson painting and other touches of aqua in the bath that I didn’t get in the picture.

2nd guest bedroom/office. Again we repurposed everything Liz and Dave had from their old apartment. These 2 swags were 3 times 2 long panels in their old master bedroom. I simply sewed them together, and pinched/gathered them.

For now Liz has her 2 twin beds in here (some how, we lost the bed frames for these beds.) She plans to get a trundle bed and store the box springs so the room is not so crowded but still can accommodate guests. This room has a soft beachy theme with the sea shell sconces, the beach and sailing signs, and the new sea shell fabric Liz picked out below.

I used it, as well as some oatmeal linen to make a skirt/cover/hide things under a folding table. The skirt has 2 ties in the front to open it up and have easy access to what’s hidden underneath.

The table is big enough for their large printer, laptop, and some writing or work space. We put a long shelf above with a memo board.

The little sea shell lamp I made

Painted the round mirror a soft aqua over green.

On to the living room, Liz and Dave got some awesome new furniture, my pictures don’t do them justice.

Miller quickly found his snuggle spot on the new leather sofa….great view advantage looking out the front windows at all the neighbors passing by.

The Mississippi picture by Pam Marshall

The ALLIGATOR by Walter Anderson that I painted, hubby had yet to arrive to hang it. Don’t you just love Liz’s blue and white collection sans the box of tissues? And there’s Dave’s prized signed baseball from Uncle George … I think a winning Yankees team with Babe Ruth’s signature! And the Hitchcock rocking chair from hubby’s family.

Making a new slipcover for this chair in oatmeal linen, I had this chair in my home and made this slipcover for it here. POST SCRIPT wow, I just looked at this old post from 09 and I correctly predicted that I would recover this chair in linen for you, Liz and Dave, and that you might/would live at the beach. How's that for a Mother's intuition?

Miller, blending in, one of his exhausted moments after lots of barking, exploring, and too much company. See Jude’s beautiful hand thrown bowl sitting on the Lilly Pulitzer book on the coffee table? Dear friends of Dave and Liz’s from Walter Reed that helped them through many difficult days.

Ahhhh….my view while sewing….looking out at the Bay and beach towards Destin. Wonder how I got anything done? Yes, Liz and Dave’s home is about 50 feet from the water. Also, you can see their huge screened in porch where they will spend most of their time. It is awesome.

A view of their kitchen

looking into living area from their kitchen, lots of blue and white

Still a work in progress since I was sewing and had all my stuff in the way.

Now the master bedroom….Liz and Dave got a new king size bed so they started all over here. We decided to continue the use of the oatmeal linen, since it is so neutral, easy to get more yardage, goes with everything, and can be re-purposed later on. I had 5 yards of Amy Butler Nigella Primrose olive material that Liz liked so we decided to use that as the accent material that would bring a little spark to the room. While I was still there I sewed a king sized dust ruffle from the oatmeal linen. We plan to make headboard with nail trim using the same linen. Now, back at home, I working on pillow shams, curtains, round table cover, etc.

Here’s the oatmeal linen, the Amy Butler and the oatmeal ticking strip that Liz found that looks AMAZING with everything.

The oatmeal linen and ticking stripe are so neutral that they can be reused anywhere if Liz and Dave tire if the Amy Butler Primrose.

Here’s the oatmeal linen table skirt and Amy Butler table topper I made since I’ve been back home. It drags on the floor since Liz’s new table is taller. I ordered this awesome table from Tables ready to cover …great storage with those two shelves.

I’ve got lots of projects going on here, I need to sew some slips for me! Going back to Liz and Dave’s for Thanksgiving, hope I get all their projects done plus mine!

Catching up

We had a fabulous long weekend in DC/Walter Reed with Dave and Liz! This was our first trip (5/6 and counting...) that Dave was out of the hospital. Our trip before this, was for his birthday, and he was still in hospital, discharged a day or so after we left.

Jim and Dave really enjoyed the EOD golf tournament at Cannon Ridge Golf Club in Fredericksburg VA. That was a huge day for David....left Walter Reed at 6:45 am, rode in golf cart, with all the bumps, turns, and abrupt stops/starts for 5 or so hours. They were back to Walter Reed around 6:30 pm.

I have only been sewing for Dave....he needs shorts modified because of that huge HALO FIX on his leg. I did buy a commercial sewing machine, I've needed one for years, sewing for Dave gave me the perfect excuse to buy one. Now I'm sewing a velcroed cover for his leg and foot for the cold weather coming when he has to wheel from the Mologne House to PT.

I'm catching up with the yard, all the manicure work that needs to be done. Hopefully my creative juices will come back soon.

Daughter’s/Guest bedroom makeover….

Linking up with Susan at Metamorphosis Monday... A real metamorphosis of a bedroom!!!

....... Finally! And is is still not quite complete!

Here’s daughter’s room back in 2007…. This was my red and yellow phase!

Still have these beautiful, fully lined silk panels….4 of them. Anyone interested?

Back last summer, after daughter’s wedding, I decided I could no longer live with the entire house even though it was fresh from Katrina. Part of this decision was to fix all the mistakes. From the 2 different painters, their crews, and their terrible lack of care. These 2 groups of painters were a typical Katrina rip-off. Promise you the world, then take on more jobs then they could finish. Go off into the sunset as they still promised to fix things, then never see them again! Ahh, lessons learned, lots of money lost. So some of the rooms I decided to fix myself and paint a lighter shade at the same time. Lovely “Interactive Cream” is my color. It took (takes) me a while, with all our trips and living & enjoying life… but I’m getting there. Where I want to be!

Here’s the current makeover in mostly white with some dark wood accents. Still considering painting this Queen 4 poster white, .... but still considering… should I paint it white or leave it stained? It has quite a beautiful chevron pattern see here. I would love to hear your comments...paint or leave it stained? I'm liking the way it looks right now, dark with the few other dark wood elements in the room.

This old/maybe antique armoire I bought when daughter was a baby. It is Mahogany and survived Katrina. You can see the bottom drawer has flood issues. It has great storage and has been stained, painted, repainted and LOVED. I cherish this piece! Daughter wants it when she and hubby get their first home!

This beautiful architectural piece is from my Mother’s home. It belongs to a gorgeous antique chest/buffet that is still at her home. I smuggled it home on an airplane some 20+ years ago. I’ll have to do a post about my amazing Mother and her home built during the Revolutionary War home ca. 1700’s …chock full of beautiful antiques, treasures, primitives, and cherished New England artifacts. The history and stories are unbelievable! It was romantic, scary, and amazing to grow up in this home on many acres of land. Many, many tales to tell....

Now, forgive the fact that this beautiful hand carved element is sitting on top of one Miller’s goody boxes. That is his monogram…. mFc for Miller FLOWERS Catfish! Waiting for husband to securely hang the element, but ya’ll know that my husband is slow to do home projects!

Beautiful, YES?

Thank you, Mom.....bits and peices of you/your home light up my days!

On to the bed…. the only thing I bought for this room was the Pine Cone Hill Swiss Dot Voile pillow shams…in white from Layla Grace. Had the Ralph Lauren linen flax shams in gold behind.

The sheets are Sferra Italia collection. I bought 3 sets of these glorious 500 count 100% Egyptian cotton sheet sets back in February of 2008 when Sferra closed this line out and sent tons of them to Tuesday Mornings around the country. What a deal. I even meet a Sferra representative that gave a demo on how to care for sheets like like these…..it involves NOT DRYING them and never using fabric softeners as that breaks done the fibers. So these wonderful sheets are white with a hint of yellow and gold banding.

They are so soft and luxurious!

Bought the little Louisa Pine Cone Hill pillow from Layla Grace.

and the beautiful Louisa Pine Cone Hill duvet cover…. Layla Grace.

I made the voile bed skirt, as the Pine Cone Hill Swiss Dot Voile bed skirt was not full enough or long enough. This bed with the extra poufy mattresses, is so high ….. 38 inches floor to the top of feather bed with a drop of 22-23 inches for the bed skirt. in fact, I have to jump to get on it!. I put the Pine Cone Hill Swiss dot Voile bed skirt in son’s room, his bed is a full size so the queen bed skirt looks better and fuller on a full size bed… another makeover in progress!

Love the pin tucks on the duvet cover.

My post on making my voile bed skirt… last April.

Remember I made this sweet ruffled slipcover last April…?

I still love her. This beautiful Cherry desk with lovely legs is from husband’s family, It is old and survived Katrina. Anything with “LEGS” survives a flood as legs don’t swell like chests of drawers with UNDIES!

Oohh, hide those lamp cords!

Bunny oil painting with dark frame ….I love the dark with the white!

Still no curtains. I think I’ll take your advice and leave well enough alone. Need to take down rods and repair holes….

A Dutch oil painting….eBay ….from a online Dutch antiques company. I fell in love with it! Again, the lovely dark frame speaks to me! As does the tranquil landscape.

See this table? I made the top! The legs are the legs of a Butler’s tray table. The Butler’s tray was too low and not long enough. I needed a top to reach to the bed and span the whole space of the wall. So I bought a cheap shelf at Lowes and an 8 foot piece of that white flexible, plastic molding. Had to bend the molding to get it home in my cramped car.

Got out my little miter box and saw, cut the molding and glued it on with Gorilla Glue! I’m impressed with my Miter Saw Skills!

It just sits on top of the Butler’s Table Legs, which I can always re purpose over again.

Perfect for this space and what I wanted.

Reminder to me, hide those lamp cords!

You remember the Window Box Planter Table?

What a wonderful idea and perfect solution for this room from Blue Creek Home!

Still have the vegetable dyed Chobi rug on the floor. Too expensive to not use. Unless one of my children want it?!?!

This bedroom has 2 full length windows and 3 doors. One door is to the private bath…

one door is to a walk-in-closet and last door leads in and out if room. So wall space is limited!

But it is perfect now for guests…. dreamy, soft, comforting, and so relaxing….

So, come and stay with us! Rest your tired self on the pillow topped mattress, nestle into the poufy down feather bed, and snuggle under the down feather comforter/duvet covered Louisa Pine Cone Hill loveliness and Sferra softness' !

I promise I’ll get hubby to hang the architectural element so I can take Miller’s goody box off the armoire!

P.S. please give me some feed back/comments...