Tweaking My Master

Hey sweet friends how are you?

 

A while back I did some tweaking in my Master Bedroom.

I finally got around to taking some pictures so you can see

what I have done.

About a month ago I painted the large Window you see

above the bed and that's was one of the many things I did.

For me, the size has always

been a challenge due to cathedral peaked ceilings

and how the room is laid out. 

Another big change was using white sheers and

newly purchased ruffly curtain panels

on this very large window. I cannot get over how

much lighter and brighter this room feels now.

So in an effort to create a more cozy feel, that I seem to

crave in my rooms, I have created vignettes all around

to help soften the spaces.

...WARNING PICTURE BELOW IS REAL...

This picture below, shows you how we live

in this room...ugly big TV is a must due to how

far away this space is from our bed.  I love my soft bed

and can hardly wait each night to jump in and watch TV.

 

The tread...well it needs to be moved to the basement,

I know it should not be here,

unfortunately it is sooooo heavy and will take

a crew of big strong men to move it. 

In the meantime,

 we do actually use it, a lot,

especially during the L O N G cold Michigan winters.

Okay back to the pretties.  I took pictures of my corners

vignettes that are full of sweet pinks and blues.

Do you see the shutters on my dresser?

I used them to hide those ugly cords hanging

from the monster TV, lol.

This is MY absolute favorite picture of Hubs and me.

Think it was taken at least 13-14 years ago.

Can you tell I like small trinkets?

I am sooooo sentimental, most of them have been given

to me...it is hard for me to let them go.

On the wall  in the picture below,

you can see my wedding dress on the left

and a sweet pink Gunne Sax on the right!

 

Now I am Happy with how this room seems to

give me a cozier feel inspite of its size.

 

Be Blessed!

 

Linked to:

Pink Saturday

Gorgeous Ralph Lauren Tablecloth Turned Kitchen Curtains

Hey Everyone,

I thought I would share with you a project that I have been trying to work on for months.  I FINALLY finished it up today.

Let me set the stage...so to speak, for you as to why it has taken so long.

Last December, hubs and I made a major decision ($$$) and replaced all the windows in our home.  Most of the windows were a easy install...until it came to my kitchen window.  UGH.  Anyway, in the process, we changed the configuration of how this window looked.  Originally I could crank open the side windows but it had a screen inside, and quite large framing obstructions.  They were not easy to open and I had a hard time reaching them.  We went with a similar size window but it had a better viewing area.  But in the process they had to tear out all the trims and cut out more than they originally thought they would to install it.

So...my trims were new and needed painted...I did that a couple of weeks ago, wow did that

end up being a bigger project than I had anticpated...lets just say I didn't stop at the kitchen trims.

Then a few weeks back I ran into Home Goods with a friend and found a table cloth by Ralph Lauren that had ALL of my colors that I use in my kitchen/family room area, it was purchased it for $20.  And being that I LOVE roses...with this table cloth it was a no brainer for me.  I also had purchased 4 yards of a home decor fabric with small gold/red check from Hob/Lob last year for about $10. I decided that I would do a 4" trim on the bottom with this fabric...and LOVE how it looks with the Ralph Lauren fabric!

(just ignore the rooster fabric, I'll explain later)

This was a 60x106, my window measured 48x68,

I basically trimed about 12 inches off and used the rest.

I measured my window, remeasured my fabrics and was going to cut everything out

last Wednesday, when I awoke to a horrid Migraine that lasted for 3 days!  Being somewhat smart, I decided it would put this off for a few days, because I KNEW I needed a clear head. 

BOY am I glad I did!

Even with a clear head and numbers all square you can still pick the fabric up the wrong way

and pin things to be ready to sew...and then realize it isn't the right way.

THANK goodness, I did not start sewing and put both pieces out on the floor to make

sure the pattern and size were both on the same page.

Dodged a ripping out session for sure.

Below the panels were all pinned now and ready to sew.

Here is what my window looked like before...

AND... now

I actually sprayed the original tension rod I had with a textured dark brown spray paint. 

The curtains are hung through a pocket but I am thinking I may

actually get clips so that I can move them back and forth more

easily, like cafe curtains.  What would you do?

This was a simple straight line sewing project...just make sure to do your measuring twice so you only have to cut once!

I AM so loving the fresh new look!

Okay...now back to that rooster fabric...remember?

It was a cheap find at WalMart and needed to be replaced so I knew

I had enough of the check fabric and I wanted to tie the two fabrics together.

Off went my Rooster round table cloth, which I used as my template to make

a Check Table cloth for my eat in kitchen round table.

It wasn't an exact round fit, but it worked and now it will tie in so well with

my new curtains that I have up.  I still need to trim up the ends...and am planning on going back and getting another table cloth so I can make covers for the back of the chairs around the table.

Not a bad spruce up for under $50, huh?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Be Blessed

 I am Linking up over and the Scoop!



TEA Themed Dining Rooms

Hello Friends!

It has been a while since I have shared with ya'll!

Over the past few months I have tweaked several rooms

in my home and I thought you might enjoy seeing some

of the changes?

My dining room has not changed drastically in the 15 years

since we painted the walls between the gorgeous trims a

Royal Blue.  I love this color soooo much that I have yet

to tire of it.  Thankfully, this room is some what

hidden from the main rooms we live in...I am pretty sure that

is why this girl, who LOVES color, hasn't changed it.

As you will see, I have maintained a *Tea* theme

throughout this room. 

Also, I have incorporated and large quanitity of Blue/White

themed items as well.  This is a good sized room and since it

does not get used a lot, I have taken advantage of all the wall

space that I could...lol

For many, Brass is out, but I decided a few years back to work

with what I had.  I actually like golds so adding pearls, beaded

vines, and single tea cups, I created a unique look for my

chandy!

My hutch sits back in a neat builder built in area and

houses my Johnson Brothers Rose Chintz china as well as

misc other items that are tea and rose themed!

My mom started me on Rose Chintz by giving me several

miss/matched pieces, and over the years I have been able

to aquire at set of at least 8 place settings.

As I look now at my picture, I am thinking of either painting the

inside or papering it...would do YOU think?

As I go around the room, you will see how I have

displayed uniquely, my Tea Pot and Tea Cup collections.

I honestly DO use them and that is why I

love to have them around.  They provide such beautiful

*eye* candy, for this girl who needs it!

One of my favoritest EVER finds is this tea cup

holder.  Snagged for $3 at a yard sale.  I have

added more tea cups now and it shows them off so sweetly.

It also houses a collection of creamers too.

I recently brought added our sofa table to this room and now it

feels just like home in its new place.  It acts more

like a side board and houses more collections, of course!

This beautiful shelf was actually up in my studio and

when I was tweaking it, I decided to move the shelf down into

this room.  I am loving it in its new place.

Lastly, this darling *plant* holder got roped into use

as another way for me to display my tea pots.

I have tried to think outside the box and yet present

a homey sweet place for my family to eat special meals

togther.

I hope this inspires you to use what you have,

show them off and create fun and unqiue ways to

display the things you love!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lorena



Rooms We Live In

Hi Everyone!

Over this past weekend my hubby and I finally put

away the last of Christmas.  Now before you go

rolling your eyes on me and stating

why so late, I must share I have a hubby who LUVS

Christmas.  He loves the lighted tree and homey

Christmas decor.  So our family

tradition has been to keep it up till the end of January.

I was MORE than ready to get on with the cleaning,

vacuuming, dusting rearranging and tweaking of

our Family and Kitchen/Dining areas.

Most of you y'all know that I create in pinks,

creamy whites, aquas, lavenders etc....

but

I LOVE color and I guess the many rooms in

my home reflect this.  I choose to keep these two

most lived in areas in softer creams, reds, golds

with touches of blues.  Red has become a much

needed *pick-me-up* color.  I tend to get down and

slightly depressed during the longer, colder weather.

Red helps keep me *Up* and brighten my spirits.

I went around and took pictures from the 4 corners so you

can get a better idea of the room(s) I am working with.

Our family room is quite long, more of a good

rectangle.  Very little wall space to work with.

In December, we had ALL the windows in the entire home

replaced.  HUGE undertaking before the holidays...ugh!

Anyway, I am slowly getting rid of older mini blinds

and redoing some of the window treatments.

As you can see, I am having issues with getting a true

color values because of light coming

in from the large set of 4 windows in this room.

That is even with the blinds on for room darkening.

I am hoping to get rid of these blinds. 

The actually cover up beautiful trimming that

is around all the windows in our home.

Also, you can see the deep red curtain I put up,

I am trying to get a better idea of how these will look.

We got new hardware, and the deep red curtains are

room darkening, so I am pretty sure I will be taking

the blinds out and then just opening/closing the curtains.

Furniture placement in the room is always tricky.

Since we made the large TV beast our focal point

I always try to make sure all seats have a decent view.

My hubs, is one of those guys who says...

if it ain't broke you don't fix it.  The *beast*

will probably be here till it croaks.  Could be soon,

since the sound is already gone, or another few years

lol!

Once it dies, we will probably get a TV for over

the fireplace.  Then that will create a whole

other set of problems,

I also am showing you that at least in my home,

rooms seem to always be in

a state of flux.  I know most peeps don't show rooms

like I have, but I wanted to be honest and show you

that we still have to live in rooms that are in progress.

I did splurge these past few days and found some GREAT finds

and Hobby Lobby.  Those Vases/Urns were $7

on clearance!!!

Do you see the gold frame on the right?

A great Pinterest idea of using a frame

around those ugly thermostats!

Okay, so moving on through the room into my

Combined eating/kitchen area.

The french doors were installed in 2011 and

I am SOOOO happy we paid the extra money for them.

They add so much character to my builder

grade ugly kitchen that I am working with.

We are planning soon to replace the counters with

granite.  I am trying to convince hubs that I either need

to darken or light the cabinets as oak is just

no longer the look.  A total gut, is not in

our future budget, so I am trying to be creative.

I would SO love input after you see what I am

working with.

I have decent kitchen space, but believe it or not, horrible

storage space.  I have a pantry, it is not  a walking or deep

so I have had to improvise a lot.

We actually are thinking of extending out the island

and making it larger so we could use it to

eat on if we wish.  We may also do away with the

eating area and add lower cabinets under to

cutout.  You would be able to still put a smaller

bistro table here, but we think we'd like to

open the space up a bit more.

One of the biggest changes in windows, we made was to

the kitchen window over the sink area.  Because of my

horrid light, you cannot see that the wood is new and

not painted yet.  I did take the blinds out of here and

will be doing some type of roman shade here.

Below picture is our large desk area. 

I love this area and use it all the time, it's my

command center and houses extra glassware.

As you can notice, we have door walls everywhere in this

room.  The doorwall by the desk goes to the powder room,

butlers pantry and into the formal dining area.

I have a friend who thinks I need to take down the cut out

wall completely.  I am not so sure.

We have lived in our home almost 20 years.  Like most

people, when you live in a home, it is not always set up

to how you live. 

I am so thankful to have my home.  I feel blessed beyond

measure.  Yet, the creative, artistic gal in me wants

to improve upon and change things up.  It doesn't

happen fast with an engineering hubby, who is very

money conscience and prefers not to be handy,

if ya know what I mean. 

I must admit you gals who have handy hubs

are what I envy most.

Yet my sweet hubbys ways got us through some

very lean times in recent years.  For that I a truly thankful.

We are back on track now and he is

on board and realizes we have do some improvements.

You can be sure I have my list and

he knows about it too...lol

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I look forward to hearing what you may think

of our home Living areas.