Kitschy, Cute and Shabby Chic!

Oh be still my passionate heart! Here is why I love Susan Rios so much. Always romantic and feminine paintings. Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh........

California cottage chic! Don't you just love it? A little footstool as a tray for your cup of tea just adds cutesy to this bedroom. And that little chair? To die for!!! Lush pillows, serene view and vintage fabric draperies. Yuuuummm.......

Same home but the living room of the small cottage. I love that patio view and the lush foliage of California as that view. This kind of reminds me of a friend's redo of her Nevada living room. Look at Katie's blog. She's new but I'm sure she'll post pictures of her desert home redo! I'll "encourage" her to, but she's so thrilled with it all I think she'll readily to it. Be sure and visit this talented sweetie!

The living room above is in Seattle area and it just popped out at me. It is so sunny and light filled and that's very unusual for that area. But the couple achieved sunny, bright rooms with the colors they've chosen and the way the mirror tiles send light back into the room and make it look larger. Just a stunning project and it achieves much more than the effort it took. I had a kitchen in California that I did this to on the stovetop. It looked great, gave light and was sooooo easy to clean - just spritzed it with glass cleaner when the grease popped back there and it was clean. Wonderful thing to have in the kitchen!!

In the north midwest this kitchen is a summer cottage. I just love it for it's kitschy cute decor. The beadboard gives it even a more summer cottage flavor and doesn't take itself too seriously. Very cute.

Same summer cottage but I've shown the bathroom here. This could be done in a shabby cottage also. But this looks like it just needed a coat of paint and some antiques thrown in to give it the flavor it has.

This is more photos of the Oregon cottage from yesterday's post. I love the way she adds little flowers in vases to her window. Such a sweet and easy thing to achieve the dramatic statement.

The Oregon cottage dining area. I don't see anything in that room that is new. Just old accumulated junk! But how darling she made it. Little wooden pickets for her window dressings.........very original!

This struck me because of my recent laundry redo. I purchased a little vintage shelf to put in there to hold our shoes and put laundry soap and softener and such. The middle shelf of mine has some fluffy towels. After looking at this I think I'll add a little curtain to the middle shelf to hide those towels! How cute is this with all her vintage "stuff" to make a darling vignette!

A Vignette Can Be Many Things

Vignettes can be anything we want them to be. The sweet photos above and below are perfect examples of this. The one above is an antique cabinet that has been stuffed to overflow with quaint old boxes, snippets of beautiful old lace, roses fabric, books, antiques, a portfolio of love letters or stationery, spools of antique rick rack and even ivy. I absolutely love this idea. Isn't it just beautiful?

Now what woman hasn't imagined her bedroom looking like this romantic one? I certainly have. Well, there is nothing wrong with "setting" our bedrooms like a stage and having this to feast our eyes upon every single day. It's a "mood" we're looking for here. A teapot, teacup, plate, even a faux pastry and a small silk plant can assure it looks like this every single day. The plethora of soft, cushy pillows add to the ambiance, of course. I plan on getting an old breakfast tray I have and "setting" it up and displaying it in my bedroom just as soon as I can today! A lovely vignette with not much work involved at all, my sweet chicks and bunnies!! Get on it now!

This tiny section of a cottage living room on the Oregon coast looks like it just wraps its arms around you and welcomes you like a nice feather bed. Ahhhhh..... Isn't it adorable? The wicker settee wrapped in a vintage rose fabric or even an old quilt that has been softened with many washings. Put books around your home on the floor. I DO!! Put them under coffee and end tables. I don't have enough book cases so I do it this way too. But you can also put the books on little stools. Hang an old pretty hat somewhere in a room. Put fresh flowers around when your garden is blooming and at other times get the beautiful silk or paper flowers that look so real and are available readily in today's world. Hang things in your window to reflect the light and throw it into your room. Be bold!!

A tiny room can double as a guest room, craft or sewing room or home office and can be beautiful as this one is. It's just a different view of the living room above but can certainly be adapted to something else. Nothing says rooms have to be used as intended. Adapt this to a little used room. Also use different kinds of shelves in a room. It gives a "flair" to a room that says you've collected through the years and not just bought the "suite" off the showroom floor. Mismatched chairs or chairs with pretty fabrics thrown over them show a creativeness. Personally, I love the look!

A small dining room such as this one can be receptive to small vignette displays. A vintage high chair would be glorious if you can find a small one. If you have a curtain that doesn't quite "fit" a window, so what? Put it up anyway. Look at the piece of old lace in each window above. It adds bravado to the room and is still in keeping with the design. Set an old teapot, a basket of napkin rings, a ceramic bunny or cat or a beautiful pot of foliage on the table.

A view such as this one should not be covered up! The sheer lace lets it show through plus they have been hung low on the door, which in itself makes a glorious statement, and then they are drawn back with a flair for drama. The other vignette is on the table. Nothing says that tables have to be kept "clean" all the time. By this I mean "swept of all adornment" but can have place settings that can be swept up for meal time. Nothing too fancy need be on, just something to draw and please the eye.

Vignettes certainly don't have to be in the house; they can be outside also, such as this one. Very simple! Just an old settee, and a few wreaths attached to the wall and voilà you have it! Maybe a pretty thermometer, garden signs, old garden gate, mirror or an old clock out there. It can be anything your imagination comes up with.

Lastly, and I'm almost embarrassed to show you mine after all those beautiful ones above, it can be something as simple as your paint brushes. Since we've moved from a large home to a much smaller one, storage space - actually, just "space" - has been a problem. I'm having to be more creative so here is what I'm doing with some of my things. I just strew them about the house as adornments. This area needs some foliage and it will get it when I get time(!), but I've always been an advocate of "hiding in plain sight." This is an example - my paint brushes and our scripture markers. Placing them in beautiful cups or candleholders and just setting them on an end table (which, btw, is actually an old Marine Corps field desk that opens up to reveal old reel-to-reel tapes and stereo equipment) covered with a scrap of an old damask tablecloth. If you were to look at the back you'd see a cut edge where I used part of it for a pillow!

And The Winner Is....................

I pulled a name out of the hat and that name is "Celeste"! Congratulations, Miss Beazy's mom! Now I can send everything to you at one time, sweetpea.

A Teacup for a Prize!

It's time for a give away! So here are the rules:
You have to leave me a comment on this post.
Then I put your name in a pretty roses teacup.
If your name is picked you WIN!
How much easier can it be than that?
Oooooh, and the prize?! Well, you're looking at it. An Old Country Roses teacup filled with pretty greenery and roses and organza ribbon attached to make it ready to hang over your kitchen sink or some place in your little romantic cottage. That's it. Just be sure and comment on THIS post. Oh, one thing more..... you have to live in the U.S. to win. I do not ship internationally.

What's for Dinner and Why Are You Photographing My Food?!

Okay Okay, men don't understand these things! I wanted to post my recipe for spanish rice. So being very visual I wanted a picture of it so others could see how good it is. We have this frequently because it is so good and so quick. Soooooo, I made it while hubby went to a meeting. He called to say he was on his way home so I dished it up. Then I had to photograph it, of course. DUH!! He just looked at me and asked why are you photographing my dinner? I told him it was for my recipe that I'm posting on my blog. Then he started laughing while saying, "You're posting our dinner on your blog?!" Wrong thing to say with that kind of attitude to a post menopausal woman! I made him wait until I did 10 shots of it and then said "dig in"! Hah, that'll teach him to mess with me. Hey, I don't think they truly understand about blogs, selling on ebay or WOMEN truly.

Anyhoooooo, here is a picture and my really good recipe. Dessert comes next.
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1 cup of rice
2 tblsps of butter
1/2 pound of hamburger
1/2 onion
1/2 tsp of New Mexico chili powder
1/2 tsp of pasilla chili powder
some chopped red bell pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes with just juice - NOT the italian diced tomatoes
1 - 1/2 cups of water
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Brown onion and hamburger in sauce pan with butter. Then put in rice and brown it a bit also. Then throw in the red bell pepper. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and one 15 oz can of diced tomatoes - regular with just the juice, NOT the italian spice tomatoes. Put in the chili powders (this may be adjusted to your own tastes). Stir it all together, let it boil and then simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Yummmmmm.......
One pan to clean, fast and easy!!! What more could you want? Women understand when the "one pan" and "easy" thing.


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Strawberry shortcake was for dessert. I made the shortcake from scratch, added some luscious strawberries with whipped cream and then photographed it. He still doesn't understand why I had to photograph the dessert! Will they never learn?! DUH....you photograph the main course you have to photograph the dessert also!