Straw Cottage: Post Home Tour Home Tour: MBR, continued.

Post Home Tour Home Tour: MBR, continued.

This makeover of my bedroom got me out of my earthtone, neutral doldrums.  Not that I will never use them again, just not everywhere. I love this look from Fine Living.

But right now, I am so loving the blue!   (Update:  the paint color in the shower is Behr River Rock)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I finally have a headboard.  I read in bed and wanted something that would be comfortable and sturdy to lean against.  So, one day I walked into Savers and saw this headboard:

Let's see how it stacked up next to my wants list:

1. Sturdy-solid wood, (weighs a ton)
2. Queen-size-tale of the trusty tape, 60 inches
3. Padded-it's ugly mauve vinyl, but that's easy to fix
4. Tall enough to have some presence-43 inches (really, never go anywhere without a tape measure)
5. Price- $9.99, need I say more?
   

It seemed to meet my criteria, a no-brainer, right?  So what did I do?  Talked myself out of it and walked out of the store!  "It's too heavy, it won't fit in my car, maybe it's not tall enough, blah, blah, blah." 

By the time I got home, I had to have it!  So, I returned the next day.  As I pulled up to the store I started to get that fast breathing, heart pumping moment of trepidation.  What if someone got it?  All you thrifters know that you NEVER walk out of the store expecting something you like to be there when you return.  It's a law of the universe.  But as I got to the back of the store, I spied it, it was still there!  Yes, take that, Universe!  A quick call to the boys who were just getting out of class (older one drives and old SUV with lots of room) and my moving truck was on its way.  So I took my station leaning against the headboard until they arrived, which was about 20 minutes.  You can see a lot of interesting things in Savers in 20 minutes of just standing.

After a little sanding, a couple of coats of Rum Raisin with a little black glaze and new fabric,  this is the headboard.

I recovered the throw pillows I had (confession: the 2 in front aren't even finished at the bottom yet : ) H/T to The Nester) and I'm quite happy with the finished product.  My grown-up bed!

 

Here's my window seat.

And a calm spot.

 

Namaste'

Post Home Tour Home Tour: Master Bedroom

Take my  word for it...it was BORRRR 'ing (in my best JoAnne Worley voice.  What?  Who's Joanne Worley?   Ohhhhh, never mind.) And by boring, I mean that only in a decorative sense.  I cast no aspersions.

Again, I have no before photos but trust me, it was just a thrown together room that never looked terrible but never looked good.  You've probably had, or have, similar rooms.  All it takes is a little inspiration, a little thought, a bit of time and only a little money, and you can have something that makes you feel good every time you walk through the door. 

 

I've had this night stand for several years and love it. I drug it home from some thrift store.  And I do mean drug because it's solid wood, and I mean solid, and very heavy. I painted it a rich, dark brown (it was so long ago, I don't remember the paint name) with a black glaze. With a new brushed silver handle for the drawer it's now a sleek, contemporary piece.

 

My mother-in-law (83 years young) made the stained glass frame. It holds a flower done with Rust-Oleum aluminum spraypaint on a piece of black cardboard.

The Big Ben clock is another thrift store find from several years ago.  If I remember correctly, it was all of  25 cents.

Another thrift store piece I've had for quite a while (If I were a better photog, I would probably camouflage the plugs and cords.)  I bought this because I liked clean lines, it is solid oak and it had room for books, etc. Since I've had it, it's been various colors but is now painted in the same way as the previous stand.

The 2 pieces on the wall are trivets which were a hideous navy blue.  I loved the lacy look of them and they were only .99!  I brought them home, roughed them up with some sand paper as they had quite a glossy finish, and sprayed them with Rust-Oleum Lake Blue.  I then found some cardboard pieces that fit the back of the trivets which got a new look with the RO aluminum paint.  I then called them wall art and hung them on the wall.

See the fake orchids on the left-GONE! Sorry  you had to see that.

  

I do occassionally buy things new!  I found these lamps on the clearance rack at Target. Some crazy price like $7.48 apiece.  I had just recently moved my bedroom lampsto the sofa table in the living room and since my bedroom was becoming a more grown-up room (with a headboard and everything) I thought these classic shapes would do the trick.  However, I knew the color wouldn't, as they would be sitting on tables very much the same color.  

What's a girl to do?

Spraypaint, of course!

and a little black glaze.

The shades were a happy find at Ross.

 

I found this 24in. wooden shelf at Savers for $2.99.  Funny thing, it was about the same blue as the comforter in this room.  So, I painted it brown.  I do know the color of this one: RO Dark Brown.  The photos are of my babies who are now grown.  The angel is sucking its thumb and actually holding a small piece of a "blankee."

This little shelf is just a reminder of how quickly time passes and once those moments are gone, they are gone forever.

More to come...

Ode to a Shower: Canelo

One of my new favorite blogs is hosting a blog party.

This woman would understand my need to pick up rusty junk in the desert, even brake drums and gears!

The shower needed help.

This house was built to be our retirement house. That is to say, we mean to stay until they carry us out feet first.  With that goal in mind, we had to think about things that would make it possible to continue to live here with physical impairments. To that end we built a large shower, large as in, approximately 5x6 with no threshold, so as to easily accommodate a wheelchair and shower chair.

The walls were originally finished with lime plaster, sort of like tadelakt.  My mistake (hey, it was my first time), I used sand that was too large grained making the walls difficult to clean.  So we had it tiled with a neutral large format tile with very small grout lines (easier to clean).  Once the tile was up it became clear that the wall color above the tile needed to be changed.  I wrestled with that for about 3 weeks and tried several different colors.  I finally settled on a nice soft blue which makes the walls seem like sky.  The color also coordinates with my new bedroom colors.

Seeing that expanse of blue got my creative juices going.  Those walls were calling out for a tree and birds, so I used a gray-brown Oops that I've had around forever to paint tree and bird silhouettes.  That made it seem even more like sky.  It's very soothing place now and my favorite room in the house.

But this is still my favorite shower, ever.

Cob-Stone Shower Canelo Project

Partyin' With My Peeps!

I don't usually do this, but they seem like nice people.  You know, got to a party where you don't really know anyone and you wonder if you will have anything in common, to talk about.  Well, this party is full of people a lot like me.  Paint-stained fingernails,  maybe some paint in the hair, always carrying a tape measure, comfy shoes, an outfit that's seen better days and a big bag to carry lunch, water, wallet and TREASURES. They're Flea Marketeers and they're having a party over at Flea Market Style, join us!

I linked to my great lamp find that I like more and more each day!

A milestone of sustainability? Hmmmm

It's a quirky little community full of interesting people and characters.  I think I fit in the character category.  I can look out my window and see hummingbirds and butterflies and if the windows are open, listen to birds sing and coyotes howl.  I know many of my neighbors and have people I could call on for assistance, or to borrow a tool or a cup of flour (organic whole wheat, of course : ) )

I've never regretted moving here.

Civano

Slideshow

Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?

Parsley, Kale, Bananas and Pears...

My sister-in-law, (pictured above) a  woman of many talents, sent me a huge bunch of kale so this morning I got to have garden fresh kale in my smoothie, along with parsley, bananas and pears. Oh , and a few purple grapes.  It was deee-lish!  This kale had tender stems which meant I didn't have to remove them, making the whole process much easier.

And I did paint a lawn chair...or two.  These chairs have been in the family for about 20 years and while not exactly heirlooms, they are still serviceable chairs.  I bought them as Christmas gifts for Mom and Dad to use here in their Tucson home, knowing that Mom could never sit for long in a chair that didn't rock.  I have inherited that proclivity and when my parents could no longer come here for the winters and we sold their place, I laid claim to the chairs.  They were showing their age so I thought some paint was in order.  When is some paint not in order?

Here's a before and after.  As I looked at all that blue, it came to me that I needed to add something.  How about a big mod flower?  I used some cheap adhesive-backed shelf paper to cut out a stencil.

If you're following along at home, remember that your stencil is the negative space of the flower.  It only took me one oopsy to figure that out. I applied the stencil to the chair and sprayed away.  I then cut a round stencil for the center and free-handed the accents.

Groovy, huh?

I must say that I like Rust-O-Leum paint much better than the other brands out there.  I bought another type for the green chair and it just didn't cover like Rust-O-Leum.

 I have many more projects in the works.  Home tour is T- minus 3 days!

Seeking Comfort...Food

I was on call last night and while it was a good night as call nights go, I still didn't get to sleep until 2am.  My eyes flew open at 6am and so here I sit.  Attempting to muster up the energy to do something, anything. The home tour is 8 days away and I have so much to do.  I am painting lamps (for which I have no shades), finishing headboard, creating a window surround, painting switchplates, painting the shower...I'm sure there's more.

I do love my comfort food on post-call days.  I had soft-boiled eggs with toast for breakfast and this Potato Soup just now. ( I know it says Cauliflower Soup but work with me people, exchage one white veg for another.)  As I was making the soup last night #2 son said:  "It's perfect weather for potato soup!"  70 degrees and it's perfect weather for soup.  Desert rat!  Anyway, is it ever good and just the right butter:comfort ratio.

Remember this post?  Here's the border that I did to create the illusion of a flat wall.  If you don't know the story, I had intended to plaster these walls so had the dry wall hung differently and not taped.  I then changed my mind and went with clay paint.  Bad wall prep allowed the drywall joints to telegraph through and it was devastating.  Well, not really but it looked awful and I walk this hallway, oh, maybe 50 times a day!

My solution: clay paint stenciled and then a little gold added to add some interest and glitz. I then distressed it a bit to make it look like it had been in place for years and covered with paint...or lava.  You know, that Pompeii look.  The good news is, you can't tell it was a screw-up.

I've got to quit because I feel that there are probably egregious grammatical errors in this post due to my sleep-deprived brain.  I leave you with this beautiful Tucson sunset.

I think I'll go paint a lawn chair.

My Hero!

Erin at Hands On gets the brush and bulky prize!

If you don't have brush and bulky where you live, more's the pity.  It's the time when the city comes around and hauls off those things that otherwise would not be picked up.  We get B&B pickup twice a year here as it rotates through sectors of the city.  The curbs can be goldmines!

I'm sure he's not thinking goldmine

Why Do I Do These Things?

Last weekend I repainted the living room and hall.  Not such a big job you say-unless you're MAKING the paint!  ARRGHHHHH!  But I love how it turned out.

This week I'm putting a border on those walls to cover up a mistake made while building.  Has to do with the photo above.

More photos to come, I promise.

Why am I doing all this?  Our house is going to be on a home tour in a couple of weeks.  The last time we did a home tour, we had only been in the house a short time and it was OK to say, "We're going to fix that" or "I plan to blah blah blah".  Well, now I have no excuses...and I will be happy the end of October when all these little jobs are done.

In other news:

The curtains arrived from Target in perfect condition but Target then refunded money for the purchase. I think the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing .  I emailed them and we are getting that worked out.  Great customer service.