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...

Back Home

I’m home after a wonderful 5 days in Washington DC, Walter Reed.  Friday was David’s birthday and we celebrated. He had an intensive Physical Therapy session Friday morning, so a mutual agreement was reached not to try to go off Walter Reed grounds. Liz and I went to the local WHOLE FOODS MARKET downtown Silver Spring, MD and scooped up an awesome spread of David’s favorite foods plus this yummy Birthday cake. We spread the feast out on the covered patio of the Mologne House courtyard. Friends of  Liz and David joined us, and when David rolled over from the hospital, he was thrilled with the birthday surprise. It was perfect!

 

The entire weekend was great and many steps of progress were made. I hope Liz updates her blog with some of the wonderful things that happened this weekend and these last few days…!

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO...

This Southern Girl's Nest who redesigned my blog. She is a super busy Mom of three, wife, blogger and blog designer. Her business is Southern Girl Blog Designs, and she is great to work with. So if you are in the market for a face lift....check her out.

I apologize for the incomplete post from yesterday called "My House". That was so SOUTERHN GIRL had something to link the "My House" button in my Nav bar. When I get back from Walter Reed, I'll add all the other pictures. Just ran out of time.

See ya'll soon!

Been trying to post this for 4 days

For well over a week, my high speed cable cable that promises such perfect service at a costly price, goes in and out all day. Mostly out. My neighbors with same company have same problems. I'm pulling my hair out, can't even pay online bills. It's too frustrating to attempt to download pictures to Blogger. Or to read anyone's blog and comment. I hope the cable company gets their issues worked out.

The good news is that not having Internet forced me to do some much needed yard work.

My other good news is I'm flying to Walter Reed shortly. David's birthday is this Friday and looks like they have some great outings planned.

Family Heirlooms

We have some treasured family heirlooms so I’m joining Julia’s Hooked on Fridays and Marie’s Heirloom Party.

Grandparents’ beautiful mahogany highboy. They lived in Longmeadow, MA. What a beautiful small town Longmeadow is.

The lowboy that matches highboy. Both these pieces had to be refinished after Katrina.

All the silver came from different family members.

More silver, we also have a complete set of flatware and tons of silver serving pieces. Always need polishing!

The E.N. Welch clock made in Connecticut dated 1854.

The fob from the gold watch that was given to great-great Grandfather by the Dutchess County Society of New York. I think it is a medical award, as he was a physician. The watch is in a safety deposit box.

The document that shows Great-Grandfather took possession of “different pieces of Spanish coins from the Spanish S.S. Piscaya". It’s dated 1898, before the rules about taking sunken treasures were implemented. Coins are in safety box also.

The AMAZING Family Bible. Thank God this was up high in a cabinet so it did not flood.

The illustrations are beautiful and a wealth of information.

The births start in the year in the year 1734, someone has kept amazing records through all these years. Since I’ve inherited this, it’s up to me to update it.

The marriage certificate of countless grandparents ago, Jean George Wahl and Elisabethe Burg. They were married by Louis Philippe, Roi des Francais in the year 1832. This is only a copy of the original. Maybe we’ll get the original certificate someday.

There are many other little things, scattered about, but I fear I might be boring! Yawn.

Check out both parties today.

A little RUFFLE love

Isn’t this beautiful? It’s not mine but I wish it was!

This was my inspiration from SEW THAT’S IT. Check her out, she does beautiful slipcovers. She has a ruffler attachment, I do not, sniff! sniff! I could buy one, but I would have to buy a whole new machine, it could become costly. I’m still thinking about it, I would get a machine that monograms also.

I LOVE the RUFFLES in place of welting. It really gives the slipcover a unique look.

Today I’m working on this chair. It belongs to daughter and SIL. I promised her I’d make a slipcover for it. And I get to use it temporarily. Miller remembers this chair.

I’m using unbleached muslin from Wal Mart, $2.00 a yard.

The muslin is soft and lightweight, so making the ruffles by hand is easy. This would not work well with a heavier weight material. Miller loves the softness. I go through lint rollers like crazy but they work, picking up Miller hair everywhere. Later if daughter likes this look, I can use this muslin slipcover as a pattern to make a new one for her. Some day, she and husband will be back living in a house again. Hopefully near the beach. Some lovely linen, perhaps?

I think I need to rip some seams out and cut down the cushion band a little. Too much extra material there!

The travels and metamorphosis of a Trumeau mirror

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is hosting a thrifty party.

Today I decided to take a break from sewing slipcovers and look at some other projects. It seems every room in my home is undergoing some degree of metamorphosis. So I joined the Metamorphosis Monday Party a Susan's Between Naps on the Porch.

I actually found the disc of pictures that I managed to snap before we evacuated for Katrina. It is amazing to look back at these. Here is a picture, circa August 2005 of 2 of my favorite pieces. This is a Trumeau mirror over the Drexel Heritage chest that held all my undies. The chest flooded and swelled, the drawers could not be opened. Consequently I lost all my underwear and my favorite chest. The mirror was fine. I have no clue what happened to the swags and jabots. They were lovely, the front was a silk.... tiny peach and white check, lined with a soft grey damask the matched the grey on the walls. We likely threw them out in the trash pile. Yes, I have ALWAYS sewn for my home. I actually made my first all white sofa slipcover 26 years ago.

When daughter moved to Shreveport in 2007, I gave her the mirror. As many of you know, she and husband are now living at Walter Reed indefinitely. I packed up all their belongs in Shreveport, moved them back here to store. I decided to repurpose my old mirror to a guest bedroom that I’m in the process of metamorphasizing. Is this a word?

A little worn for all it’s travels and trauma….

But still lovely with lots of relief details…

the beginning of whitewashing…

I have a great project planned to make a table to go underneath it…hope to get working on it soon

Be sure to check out Susan’s party.