My "Recovery" Nest

I mentioned in my post yesterday that tomorrow, I'm having all four of my wisdom teeth removed (eek!). For the last couple of months, our bedroom has served as a dumping ground of sorts for many of our upcoming yard sale items and each time I have to go in there, I've just dreaded it. I've even frequently slept on the couch to avoid being in there, hehe. The room just wasn't very restful!

But knowing that I would need a place away from everything and everybody after my surgery, I kicked it into high gear this week and tried to create a quaint and peaceful space with a few things I already had on hand. As you can see, our bedroom is teeny-tiny and I'm really looking forward to really changing it in the future. I'm dying to paint the old pine furniture! There are no windows in our bedroom (we'll add them during the remodel), only a door leading to our deck. So to create the illusion of light and windows, I added mirrors and curtains on both sides of the bed and it's amazing how it makes the room seem bigger and less boxy - and more cozy! You can't tell from the photo, but our ceiling is really, really high and peaked, and there is a wooden beam in the center. It makes the room seem bigger than it is, as well.

So this is my "Little House on the Prairie" inspired room - my updated cottage take on it anyway:) The "bedskirt" is just a chenille blanket and the red mattelaise bed cover was a Goodwill find and fits the bed perfectly. On the left, you can see the side of our little armoire that hides the television. I took photos of the details of the room, but I couldn't find my tripod and the lighting is weird as you can tell, so the detailed photos were blurry. You can click these photos to enlarge them, though:) So there you have it - my little recovery nest!

Well, I'm off to enjoy some solid food while I can. Oddly enough, soup sounds good right now!

A Good Night's Rest...Finally!

I have horrible hip, neck and back problems stemming from a wooden roller coaster injury a decade ago. We've had our current mattress for about 9 years and though it has slept well over the years, it is time to retire it. I've slept on the couch for the last *three* months trying to get a good nights rest, but the couch isn't much better. So we decided to get a new mattress set. It arrived today and I am thrilled! It didn't take me long to get the bed made and I so badly just wanted to take a nap, lol! I had other things to do, unfortunately, but I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight:)


Our bedroom is tiny and isn't really decorated yet. Who knows when I'll get around to that. But I did decide today to bring the artwork from the dining room to the bedroom just to add a splash of color and cheerfulness. We're working on the dining room and kitchen now anyway so it needs a new place to reside for a while:)

Be It Ever So Humble, There's No Place Like Home

Often times it's so easy for me to fret over everything that needs to be done to this little house. I could probably fill up a notebook. Older houses are a lot of work, and ours isn't even old old...just about 30. I am such a homebody and for some reason, no matter how down I get about the work to do here, when I'm gone, I can't wait to get back home. Today I won't go into all the things that drive me nuts about it or the myriads of things, inside and out, that need work. (I believe in the past I've referred to our place as a slightly glorifed shack, lol...not far from the truth...if you only knew!) Instead, I thought I'd share some of the simple things that make me glad I have this roof over my head:)

This is our morning view from our living room window...about 6:30 am. Many homes on our street have paved drives. We have gravel and I wouldn't have it any other way. It reminds of the country road I grew up on which for many years was gravel.


This photo is for my mom in California...we were just talking the other day about how it's turning colder and she asked me if our gas fireplace gave off heat or if it was just decorative. I'm so happy to say that it makes our little living room and kitchen just as toasty as can be! The bedrooms don't get as warm as the main living areas, but they don't really need to be, either. They are comfortable enough for sleeping, and I've always heard that you should sleep in a cooler room anyway. We all use goosedown comforters, so we snuggle down in them and stay nice and warm:) We also have central heat that we set at about 69 or 70 at night, so it won't get colder than that. Anyway, I'm thankful for our fireplace. This photo was taken around 6:30 this morning as well and I intentionally didn't use a flash...this is exactly how our fireplace looks in early morning light.


You may have noticed the pillow on the hearth. That is one of our two dog beds. Usually we have two flanking the fireplace (one for each dog). Actually, they aren't real dog beds but are large chenille pillow shams stuffed with large pillows. I was really frustrated over the fact that the store bought beds were (1) so expensive (2) didn't match our decor or style and (3) couldn't be thrown in the wash when dirty. I had this pair of creamy white chenille shams in storage and decided to put them to good use. They've been wonderful! The dogs love them and so do I. When they are soiled, I simply remove the shams and toss them in the wash. You can put a pillow protector on the pillow as well and wash that when it gets dirty. When the pillow itself wears out or gets too flat, just by another inexpensive pillow:) I often move them around the room, depending on where the dogs want to nap. This morning, Penelope my beagle wanted to nap close to me when I was on the couch. So I brought her little chenille bed over and plopped it on the floor. Minutes later, she was in Doggy Dreamland...


Speaking of chenille, a few months ago I bought a chenille quilt that I just adore. It has puffy dots all over it and little bobbles on the edges. I bought it to use as a tablecloth for a very special party in which I served soup. I thought that it would add a lot of texture and "grandma-like" warmth to the table and it was just beautiful! After the party, I washed it and now it graces our bed. Because our dog Penelope is sometimes naughty and naps on the furniture when she knows she's not suppose to, I keep a sheet on top of the quilt most of the time. I found this particular sheet at Goodwill several months ago and loved it for it's color, pattern, and feel (it's SO soft!) I thought it was just too pretty to put *under* the quilt, lol...



In the background there you see my goosedown pillow with a red polka-dot pillow case. It might as well be my teddy bear, it's so cozy and comforting:)



Another thing that brings me great pleasure is having a "home-y" smelling home. I LOVE the smell of cinnamon so a couple of weeks ago, I bought two cinnamon brooms. It's wonderful walking into a warm house that smells like someone is baking snickerdoodles:) I put one in our ( incompleted, wall-less but cottage style) bathroom and boy does it smell yummy. Now after every shower, I crave a cinnabun:)


Finally, I'm happy that we have a secluded view from our dining room table. On the other side of those trees is our neighbor's house, but you'd never know it looking out our window. When we lived in an apartment a few years ago, we had neighborhood children coming up to our dining room window to watch us eat, so this is a refreshing change to say the least. This window wasn't here when we bought the house but hubs and a friend knocked out the wall and added it about a year and a half ago. The difference is amazing and now we have a weeping willow to look at instead of a dark wall.


Well, those are a few positive things to say about this neverending project house. Every house has something nice about it, I believe, and if you can't find it, then look for the potential, for there is always that:)

Have a great Saturday!

Reaching Back Into the Photo Archives: More Cottage Bedroom Photos

I really need to start making a list of all the things that need to be done around here before our overnight guests, my mother and stepfather, arrive around the second week of July. I've warned my mom about the state of this place we call home yet she isn't scared off. She knows all about home renovation and lived through it for many months while I lived at home. At any rate, I still want the place to be as presentable as we can get it before they arrive. Someday soon, when I'm feeling brave, I'll have to go through the house and take photos of all the scary, ugly parts. Renovation is not pretty and I'm sure not proud of the state of "undone-ness" and chaos this house is currently in. *sigh*

While I'm composing lists and working on last minute projects, I wanted to share with you the very first project we tackled when we bought this house three years ago. It was our oldest daughter's bedroom. When we finished painting the room and her bedroom furniture, I took a few photos that I don't think I've ever shared here in our renovation journal. The photos show that the room wasn't yet decorated but they also show what can be achieved with a little bit of paint. I wish the room would have stayed this simple and pristine with just a few added accessories (we added lamps, a bed canopy, and few little accessories), but I'm finding that a pre-teen girl loves to personalize her space with her own "decorations", such as posters, art, and her own crafts and such. Her "style" is a bit busy and cluttered for my taste, lol, but - it is her space and at this point, we just want her to keep it clean:)

The inspiration behind the wall and furniture colors was this quilt. I loved the periwinkle blue and greens and pinks in it.



By the way, the grey berber carpet you see in the photos is the same kind of carpet we just pulled out of our little girls' room. When we redo this bedroom again, we'll be pulling the carpet out, too, and replacing it with hardwood. Our daughter says that she doesn't want us to remove the carpet until we can put down the wood floors, so no painting the subfloor of this room, it looks like!






Somehow I was able to find curtains that matched the wallcolor exactly. (That floor really needs a rug, huh?!)


A five dollar yard sale headboard that we painted white...



This is a little Broyhill desk that we painted "Hibiscus" pink and white.



The same colors were used for the dresser. It looked like this before we painted it:



And then after...


I suspect that by the time we redo this room, she's going to want something a little more grown up. She loves turquoise and purple and is no longer a fan of pink, so I see a whole new color scheme for this room in the future. I recently came across a really pretty cotton duvet set from Designers Guild that she liked and I have to say, it changed my thoughts on using purple and turquoise together:)

Ok..well, enough daydreaming about future projects. There's too much to do here as it is! If you don't hear from me often in the next couple of weeks, just know that I'm busy clearing a path through this house and trying to get a few projects wrapped up!

Photos of Cottage Childrens' / Guest Bedroom Makeover

I put the the girls room back together today, all except the dresser. It's heavy and hubs will have to help me with that later. I so wish I had the time this week to redo it before we moved it back in! I bought it off Craigslist...it's old(ish) and solid wood. There is a matching nightstand, too, but the previous owners really did a number on it's finish( Gold paint!!!) Btw, the photo of the dresser isn't one I took..it was the sellers pic...I'm just embarrassed for them over that...er...interesting wall behind it, lol! Not my wall, folks! Not my wall! But I digress...

I took tons of photos of the girls' improved bedroom and what will also be our guestroom. As I believe cottage decorating should be, decorative elements will be added over time as I collect things. I just don't have that much now as most of our resources are going into the remodel as opposed to the decor. But, boy, I can't wait until I can truly decorate this house!

As for this bedroom, I know that I need shelves or art or something on the walls and curtains will also be added. I'm still trying to decide between long, flowy crisp white linen or a white drape shade type treatment. And wouldn't it be neat to have some Wonderful Graffiti above the bed? I also need to repaint their closet door and bedroom door.

In time, those doors will be replaced with solid pine doors, but the current ones need all the help they can get right now. Additional future remodeling plans for this room include: resurfacing the walls (with a pitted texture effect) hardwood flooring, pine plank ceiling (painted white), crown moulding, new window sill and trim, and new baseboards and door trim.

Now on to the photos! Like I said, I took a lot and hope I don't bore you silly with them. I tried to take photos of every angle so you can get a feel for the layout of the room. I won't post them all here, but you can see photos of everything we've done to the room in our photo gallery. I want to mention that the "rugs" in the photos aren't rugs at all. I wanted to get an idea of what size and type of rugs to put in there and I'd love to find something sweet in the style and size of these scalloped matelisse king size shams. I'm still throwing around the idea of making a floorcloth though I think with all the colors and patterns going on in the room now, it would have to be really simple. Also, my ivy that's on the bedside table won't stay in the room. A five and six year old would have it toppled in no time! I just needed something to fill in the table space for the photos. The room is so bare... The tiger lilies on the chair replaced the ivy after my little photo shoot:)

If you're new here, just click the photos to enlarge:)

First, the before photo. I wish that I had remembered to take a picture of the room before we ripped out the carpet. It was greyish berber.



I picked this quilt set up at the flea market last year. I had already bought the girls this set at Linens-N-Things and planned on keeping it packaged up and in my closet until we could do a real makeover on their room. The LNT set was a bit pricey and very delicate in some ways (had ribbons and beads on it)...so I decided that I would rather err on the side of durability and buy the quilt set you see in the photos. So far, it has held up well under several washings.









I know...I've gone over the top with all these pillows and shams, but what can I say? I just love all the colors and patterns and fluff! Who wouldn't be happy in a room filled with flowers and checks and polka dots? I bought the green checked sham a while back at a yard sale (I'm sure there is another one around here somewhere) and the old red polka dotted pillowcase at Goodwill. I wanted that pillowcase the first time I saw it but decided not to buy it in attempt to save a few pennies...but the next time I visited the store and it was still there, it was mine!



A flea market chair, Goodwill vase, Pier 1 woven bag and blankets...Tiger lilies from my yard:)



The slipcover and basket are from Goodwill. How I do love baskets!



I may put the girls' dresser on this wall, but then again, I may put it back where I had it (parallel to the bed on the wall across from the window) to give them a bit more room to play. In case you are wondering, we do have a playroom where all of their toys are kept - in big but portable baskets!



I picked this dust ruffle up while I was at Wal-Mart today. It does the job but I think it might be a little too bright compared to the white in the quilt. Maybe even a red dust ruffle would work???


Honestly, I threw this mirror into the room to fill in a little space for the photos. I didn't bother to hang it because I don't think it will stay in there. The girls' dresser mirror will provide just enough reflective goodness in this small room, I think. It screams cottage, though! I got it at Goodwill.



You may remember this sweet little scalloped edged table when I posted about it back in March. I got it at a yard sale for $1. It was in terrible shape but hubs got to work on it and now it's as solid as a rock! He replaced the top and bottom panels and secured the entire table. In the photos, it's only primed because I can't figure out what color to paint it! Still, not too shabby (or I should say, just shabby enough!) for one dollar!



And finally, a clear shot of that bare window! Actually, it does have a woven blind on it, but it doesn't look that great in there. Thoughts about window treatments would be appreciated!



I hope you enjoyed these. You can see that the room is pretty simple but the girls really seem to be enjoying it so far. I'll try to remember to take a couple of shots once we get the dresser back in place.

I'm going to take a break now and will actually be out of town for a couple of days, so until I "see" you next week, you all take care!

Bouquet of Cut Flowers (Decoupage for Cottage Style Floor)

I hinted in a comment on my last entry that I've come up with another way to add a floral design to the bedroom floor we're working on. While painted flowers would be lovely, I decided that it would be just as charming to decoupage them onto the floor. So I made laser photo copies of the flowers on the girls' quilt sham and cut them all out with precision scissors...all 54 of them! I love the detail in the flowers - you can even see the stitches! After I glue them into place and they're dry, I'll coat the flowers with several layers of clear polyeurothane for durabilty. I'll be working on that today because the diamond pattern on the floor is finished:)





Another shot of the quilt sham and 'bouquet of cut flowers'...

I'm off to arrange flowers now! Have a happy Monday, everyone!

Progress on Cottage Bedroom Temporary "Redo"

As I mentioned in one of my recent entries, we had to rip out Lindsay and Zoe's bedroom carpet the other day due to Lindsay's growing allergy problems. We have a lot of renovation work to do in the bedrooms later before we'll put down hardwood floors, so for a temporary floor solution, we're just painting the subfloors with gloss white porch paint. They look great so far with two coats, but I'm going to add a third coat to cover all the seams. Today I picked up some paint the same color we painted their walls a few days ago, "Homestead Resort Parlor Sage" (which is what our kitchen will be painted), and this weekend, I hope to be able to get around to painting a big green diamond checkerboard pattern on the floor. I wanted to pull a different color out of their quilt (see sham above) but the girls really wanted green checks.

Here is what the room looks like since we painted the walls and floor:






I think it would be neat to do a canvas floorcloth for a rug, too. Maybe I can incorporate some of the quilt colors into it...

I picked up the white metal spray paint for the girls headboard. Hopefully when I'm finished, it will look like an old iron headboard. Right now it's a yellow brass:( The dresser needs a redo, but that's a larger project that's going to have to wait until the kitchen cabinets are done. The dresser is now an off-white color. It's a great old-fashioned piece with lots of charm. I bought it off Craigslist.com several months ago. I plucked this photo from the sellers listing, so it's not very large and it's full of all their clutter. Hopefully, though, you can still make out the style.

In other news, I think my mom may be coming in for a visit from California. I got a mysterious email from her recently that said "Hope you're up for company...the house renovation isn't going to keep me away this time!". I've had nightmares about this. Lol, not about my mom, but about her coming and seeing my house in such a state of chaos and disarray! The last time she saw our house was three years ago when we first moved in. It was cleaner and better organized then during the moving in process than it is now! Oh well...for my mom's safety, I just pray that she doesn't open a closet door, lol! We're clearing a path for you now!