Flittered Around AGAIN This Morning!

Reworked a little flea market lamp I bought years ago and has assumed many, many different styles! LOL I think I'm improving. Hahahaha......I can now see the stringy hot glue on the roses. Sheeeesh, I'm such a slob with glue guns!!

Fan Pleating Curtains

I received a couple of emails about how to do the curtains so here it is in the photos below. I simply removed them from the package, hand pleated them and tied a ribbon tightly around the pleated part. Then I hung the ribbon on a picture hanger. A nail would do just fine also as I've done it that way in several homes. It is easy and takes only a couple of minutes to do. BTW, these were shower curtains so only 72" long but it won't show since there are things in front of them. A really cheap way to do something quickly and cheaply. These were NOT cheap but I wanted this fabric so I paid a bit dearly for it. You could do this anywhere you don't have room for a rod or have a space such as I have - difficult to decide how to "frame" the window without obscuring the view. Clicking on the photos will give you a much larger view of them also.

Hi, My Name is Connie and I'm a "Clip" Collector

"What", you may say, is a "clip collector"??? Well, I'm about to tell ya, chicks. :-)

For more years than I want to count, I've clipped photos out of magazines to keep and dream over through the years. All different magazines. All different styles. All different colors. All different locations and/or countries. It didn't matter. If there was one thing in the article I deemed worth of keeping......clip, clip, clip. I have a whole file cabinet with photos of rooms, settings, advice on color, beautiful writings that touched my heart, etc.

So recently I thought I'd share some of those with all of you here. It's been on my mind because of the redo (Why wasn't it on my mind when we moved here 3 years ago?!) and scouring the paint stores for a color I liked. I always knew it would be pink but I just wanted a good pink paint that would outlast me. I want this to be the last time I paint this room.

Pink isn't traditionally a color most people would think about when painting a "public" room in a house. Some would paint a girl's bedroom maybe, but that's about as adventurous as they may get. Most women say, "Oh, my husband wouldn't live in a pink house", or "My husband wouldn't like it" or "I don't think I could sell it if I painted it pink" or something to that effect. Balderdash, men love my home. It says "serene" to them. It's a soothing color. And while I do recognize that some people - men AND women - don't care for pink, if it is your color of choice then go for it!! Dang to all those others!! LOL I say to them, "Tough! I'm gonna have my home the way I want it!" Love Bunny actually loves our home and he isn't as OCD about color as I am. I LOVE pink! I feel good around pink! I shall have PINK!! I think his favorite color is actually green.

Okay, so all this blather about pink and what comes up first in the pictures but a yellow kitchen. Nuuuuuuu, I'm not color blind; I just love this color of yellow in this kitchen. I wasn't particularly "into" yellow many years ago but I have to admit that if your cabinets are pine, yellow is the most gorgeous color against them you have ever in your life seen. I admit this knowing I had to eat crow about it over 30 years ago. Yellow is absolutely stunning on light or dark pine kitchen cabinets. The below photo rests my case on this one! Gorgeous.........

Just a simply stunningly gorgous room.

Have you ever considered "rings" as a napkin holder. I have. I have a collection of napkin rings somewhere up in the garage attic.

Stripes, especially pink ones, have always had an appeal for me. I absolutely love pink stripes.

Just tell me honestly that your hubby wouldn't adore this room. Pink and black and white and MANLY! Ooooooolala........

Another gorgeous room with lots of pink highlights. A quiet place to sit and just comtemplate.

What is NOT to love about this room??!!

Pink Saturday 10/4/08 - Curtains, Window Seat Cover

I spent the morning a few days ago determining what this room needed. I'm a big advocate of fabric on windows. I know some of you aren't because you love openness but I LOVE texture on my windows. So I ran out and bought these. (I know!! I could have made them but I'm soooooo into instant gratification!! LOL) So I fan pleated them together just with my hands and tied a ribbon around them and hung them on a picture hanger to the side of the window. I don't want to obscure the pretty white woodwork. I'm also a tad "different" when it comes to decorating. I do my own "style", but it works for me and my family. All in all about 5 minutes from start to finish.......after buying them, of course.

Okay........on to the next thing on the list of getting this room "up and running"!! The border of ivy has come down and the painting of the room pink will begin maybe next week. Then a frieze of roses will go around the top of the room. I've put a pink toile cover on the window seat cushion and some pillows that I made and never sold. But they look beautiful there. I'm thinking of a small table in front of the window. Can't you just imagine sitting here and watching the first snow fall of the winter while sipping a cup of hot chocolate, my favorite winter time drink?!? Sigh..........

Then I must get busy and make a cover for the printer stand (just out of view and on the left of window), which is actually a microwave stand doing double duty! Never throw anything away; it can be used in some other way almost every time. LOL I'm jazzed and on a roll now, chicks!! Still needs a few more details though.

Pretty Doors and Peace and Calm

For First Friday, I recommend you go to my selling blog, La Maison Rose, and look at a few new things I've put on there recently. And to learn more about First Fridays, go to Rhea's blog at sweetnshabbyroses.
~*~

Now for some tranquility in lieu of the past week and all the worldly problems confronting you. Peace, my sweet friends.......

These doors look European or South American to me. They came from a calendar of this year. I only buy beautiful calendars to hang on my fridge so Love Bunny can keep me informed of his activities. One month at a time is placed on the fridge with beautiful magnets to hold them. I walk the walk when I talk the talk, chicks.

Hubs and I have been to Mexico and England and Ireland and simply loved visiting those countries, but we'll never go again. (I ain't flying, chicks!! Never ever again.) But the beauty of the flowers and the doors is astounding. The doors and windows in Ireland impressed me the most. So today I thought I'd just share with you these vintage looking entrances with the roses and foliage around them. Aren't they gorgeous? I also love the cobblestones pathways or streets you see in some of them.

Imagine climbing these stone steps worn with a smoothness and age from years of the pattering of feet running up and down them after a day of shopping or coming home from work. Beautiful in their simplicity. Window boxes abundant with flowers vining down the wall and shutters to keep the hot sun at bay during the day.

This one reminds me of a "secret" little street off the beaten path. Shrubs and flowers in pots and cascading down the balcony and over the window boxes again. Tile roofs to add to the mystique and ambiance. Notice also the vivid sun-drenched colors of the walls. Magnifiquè! Vintage lanterns lining the street and dripping with the patina of centuries gone past.

A secret entrance perhaps? Hmmmmm. More lush foliage to secret the owners from passersby. Hubs and I have rented a condo in Puerto Vallarta that reminds us of this patio. It was gorgeous.

Look at those magnificent doors! Very regal. And the stone step worn away from centuries of use. Can you imagine living here? The scent of geraniums wafting through the window spilling their spicy scent up to you. What a treat that would be.....:-)

This one reminds me of where Jesus the Christ might have lived. I can't explain why but it is just reminiscent of the cave where the stone was rolled away and He was set free for eternity. Even the light on the wall reminds me of His light to the world. Stone steps luxuriant in so many flowers one can barely find purchase for the feet. I weep.

May you have His peace and comfort in the days to come. Times will be hard but with Him you will at least have comfort.

Dieu soit avec vous. Au revoir jusqu'à la fois prochaine, mes amis doux.