The Lazy Decorator

The dirty little secrets. Yep, I told you I'm lazy when it comes to some things. I can also be frugal. Sometimes! This post will explain most of it. But let me tell you a story.

In our previous house we had a library with wood folding doors right off the living room. I didn't like them, especially closed, so I disguised them with drapes. When opened, they were tight against the wall, so I took a long length of fabric and tied it off with pretty white rope I bought at the farm store. I didn't hem or sew one single bit of the fabric as I knew we weren't going to live in that house long. (Okay, at first I thought it was our last house but after 7 or 8 years in it, I realized it was just too big for us at 5,000 square feet.) After tying it at the top, I hung it on a cup hook at the top and fanned out the top and poofed out the bottom. I then pinned on some long twisted fringe. Yes, pinned, not sewed. No one, not one single person, who came to our home ever realized they weren't finished off properly. It stayed like that for several years. We lived in that house about 14 years before we finally sold it. Not one person could detect the cheap and easy ways I decorated that home.

Now on to this house. Here I'm hanging the floral curtain.

Here you'll notice the selvage edges. I simply tuck them under.

I didn't even both to stitch them up.

Again, I didn't bother hemming them, just puddled them under.

Closer view.

The other side. I have so many cords running under things. I may someday have an electrician put in more outlets. I'd have at least 3 on every long wall.

The selvage can be stitched down of course, but in not doing that I leave my options open to use this fabric another time in another way if I choose to do so. Also, what you can see here by this little red arrow is that I stuck a map pin in to hold it out. My space at the top is severely limited so I cannot make the rod come out to its full potential. But if I anchor them with a tiny invisible pin along the mid-section down then they appear fuller.

I've leaving the sofa out a bit more because the new sofa will come out about the same. Also, in leaving it out more it gives the curtains more room to billow.

These photos don't even do it justice. It really is gorgeous in that room. Can't wait to see the new sofa in there.

I can also bring the bottom of the pink stripe curtain out a bit to make them appear fuller in the middle. They are now evenly distributed on the window though this photo doesn't show it as well as in person.

I am very pleased with the results.

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A cute family room off a dining room, but what I found I like about this photo is the siding on the inner walls, the reds and that leather sofa barely visible on the lower side.

Sigh....What a cute little cupboard and dishes.

I'm getting ready to order a new ruffled quilt for my bed. This is beautiful but I have no idea where it came from. Mine is coming from a specialty site in California.

I do like blue and this is one vignette I thought was worthy of note.

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Linking with Make It Pretty Monday and WOW.

Being Content

I am a happy girl. I mean that. I am truly happy where I am. I love my town. I love my home. I love my kids, grandkids, great grandkids but especially my eternal companion—Love Bunny. He really is a great man. Oh, we push each other's buttons, but we know each other so well it's uncanny. But he's not the subject of today's post. Contentment is.

Read the message in the picture below. First photo. Read it. Say it. Believe it. Live it. Are you wanting/lusting for something? Is it something that will give you happiness? If not, then stop it. New cottage at the beach? Trip to France or Italy or South America? Luxury car? Boat? Clothes? Are you doing to die if you don't get it? Then be content with what you do have. Be grateful for it. If you're truly grateful, then that is what happiness is. Being happy brings a contentment to one's self.  Confidence. Satisfaction. If you don't have everything you think you want, so what? If you're not happy, it's your fault. You can change this. With your attitude. I think some people might not believe me, but it's absolutely true: I am happy, content and love living where I am. I care absolutely nothing about seeing the rest of the world. I've seen it and it's no better than where I live in Idaho. I'm happy right where I am. This is my world. ;-)

I remember back in the mid eighties when I was in prime condition and going to jazzercise 3-5 times a week. I love the song "New Attitude"! When that song was played during the hour I just jazzed it up even more.

Then one day, my hubby told me something. Oh, I forget exactly what it was but he said I needed to change my attitude. I truly didn't know what he meant or even how I was to do that. It took me many years to realize it. I've changed my attitude about a lot of things. Ooooh, yeah, I still have attitude about some things but not what's terribly important to my happiness. Be good to yourself. Be gentle with yourself. Be happy with what you DO have and you'll be content. Now, that is not to say you can't have something new. After all, I'm getting a new sofa. :-) But truly be grateful for everything in your life. You'll be amazed at how much happier you are. Personal experience.
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My motto always. Well, one of them.

Wouldn't this be fun as a birthday gift to a friend who appreciates things like this and the whimsey of such a gift? I'm going to do a couple of these to brighten up some women's day who I know need a bit of this soon.

Another small cottage in Carmel.

What fun colors for the beach.

A few cottages in the English countryside. The Brits do cottages well! ;-)

Darling towels with ruffles.

What a picnic at the beach!

This would look cute in my backyard. I can just hear Love Bunny right now: "You want WHAT?!"

I would rather camp in this than the pop-up trailer. Seriously!

I love this fabric. I wish I had some of it for pillows.

Luscious wisteria drooping down for a beautiful archway to a serene path.

My kind of bedroom. Pink and roses.

Here we go with my favorite color combo: pink and yellow.

Grab a chair, a bucket and a bunch of hydrangeas and stick them in your kitchen! I'm going to do that today. Our hydrangeas are still glorious.

This little idea intrigued me so much that I brought out 4 bottles I have and put some cuffs I made over them. I placed them in my living room and now they don't have to be hidden away in my cupboards.

 And here they are. I don't like photographing glass and these were done early in the morning before the sun even came up so I had to photograph them with the flash on in the house. Ugh. But you get the idea. Kind of French-looking. Romantic French. :-) And I do wear these cuffs to church. I've noticed they're becoming very popular. Haute couture actually.

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My Experience at Costco

Okay, this is a long story and I'm not about to make it short! I need to vent!! You've been warned, chicks.

But first. ;-) I've been workin' th' roses a bit—it seems I've lost my touch a bit so struggling to get back. Also, I've been having an issue with my newer sewing machine. The tension was off. When that tension is off, my tension is aggravated! So after a fruitless call to where I purchased it and didn't get much help, I called my friend, S.G., who rushed over and solved my problem—I didn't properly load the bobbin. Aaarrghhh. I can be so clueless sometimes, but the frustration of trying to do 3 projects at once was getting me down...big time. Plus the craft room is in such a shambles, it's a wonder I can even walk around in there. I know, I know. I should stop and clean it up a bit, but when I'm on a roll, nothing interferes, even dinner.

Anyway, S.G. asked if she could do a folded rose since all my practice roses were sitting there and I, of course, said, "Be my guest, but if your rose looks good, you'll have to make 5 of them." ;-) She just started rolling a length of wired ribbon, kept "picking" at it and came up with a great idea. I worked it some more when she ran off to get her youngest child from school. I'm starting to get th' groove back. But here's what we both worked on to settle my nerves from the sewing machine caper.

Last night. Same ribbons, different light. Hers is on the left and mine is on the right in all photos. I need to pluck and tuck at it a bit more. I really want to get it right as they'll be glued on to the chandelier shades.

This morning.

The final result of the one on the right. These aren't hard to do so I'll probably be taking several apart in the next few days and redoing them. I don't want to waste the ribbon. And please bear in mind that this ribbon does not photograph well. ;-) Well, it might if a pro did it but I'm not a pro and didn't take the time to set up a light box. I'll get right on that! Yep, right on it. ;-)

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A couple of weeks ago, I went shopping by myself in Boise. I had several stops to make and hubs didn't particularly want to go. That was fine with me. I didn't realize at the time I was almost on empty. Now, I'm a chick who never lets my gas gauge go—at the most—below 3/4 of gas. Why? Well, many years ago, a comment was made by someone and it stuck with me. What if in the middle of the night you had an emergency and had to drive a bit of a distance and were almost on empty. Getting gas may not register immediately on your mind. Made sense to me so after that I keep my tank at least between half and three quarters full but being below half is unusual for me. Hubs goes on fumes a great deal of the time! He and I differ on a LOT of things, trust me.

Anyway, I asked him to go get me some gas. He called me from Costco and said the car wouldn't start. What?! I didn't have any problems at all that day and made several stops and not once did it act up. But he said he couldn't get it started and in our car it won't budge from park if it's not started. Two men, a customer and an employee, tried to help him as I made my way over in his truck, which I rarely ever drive and couldn't find the lever to adjust it forward and since he's 6'2" and I'm 5'4", I was driving with the tips of my toes on the gas pedal. It's about an 8-10 minute drive over to Costco. When I arrived I was happy to see he wasn't holding up any lines. We tried jumping it with the cables in his truck but to no avail. Nothing. The little light on the battery itself was glowing green. A good sign. Well, there was no way I was leaving my car for 2 days in the store parking lot because hubs had to teach a class the next day so it would have been 2 days before we could get back to get it.

So we drove to a friend's house and asked if her hubby could at least help us tow it to our house. He's a mechanic and we thought he'd possibly have something that could tow a car. She got him on the phone and he told her it was the battery. They had a similar occurrence that she'd forgotten about. Something about if it's below a certain percentage it won't start. So back to Costco after a stop at the house to get some tools. (Hubs is prepared for anything with all the tools he has! Sigh...) Anyway, I ran in to Costco, bought a battery as he's taking the old one out in the parking lot. I put it in a cart and pushed it out the door without stopping as I was in no mood to stop in 100° heat and wouldn't ya know the Costco "police" ran out and stopped me wanting to see my sales receipt! I hate having to get in a line for them to check my receipt! Plus the look on my face didn't exactly endear me to anyone that day. I have pity for whose who have to do that job. Bless their hearts.

But he put it in and the car started right up. I got in my car and he got in his truck. I turned on the a/c and it blew hot air all the way home. When we arrived in our garage, I told him the a/c doesn't work now. Okay, here's where I show my anger when he does this: he starts to get in the car to check if I'm accurate. He does this just about all the time. I calmly with an acid look in my eyes tell him to give me some credit in knowing if hot air is blowing out of the a/c. There, I haven't killed him yet. Breathe, Connie, breathe. He looks under the hood as I scream sweetly say it could just be something jiggled loose. Th' man has the patience of Job. So, he then gets in the car, thinking enough time has passed and I won't totally freak out now. He gets out and says, "The a/c wasn't turned on." He turned it on. I almost apologized but then remember HE probably turned it off when he was trying to start the car. I never turn it off in the summer. Never. So I didn't think about checking to see if it was on. So this was his fault, right? If you don't agree, don't you dare tell me or I'll put a hex on you!
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Such a light-filled bedroom. Lovely.

This has to be one of those houses on Nantucket. It looks like a seaside home with its weathered shingles and roses growing up the roof, which, by the way, is a terrible idea. That roof will rot in no time being by the sea and the roses climbing up it.

Just colorful eye candy for you.

Darling mudroom. I think those hooks on the high shelf are a fantastic idea. I might try that in our laundry. Hub has so many coats and hats I can't find room for my everyday coats in winter.

What a lovely kitchen with that beautiful rose rug and those white floors and windows overlooking a lake.

Aaaaah, my kind of room.

Cute paint job on those stairs. I almost thought it was carpet, but I don't think so now.

Beautiful fabrics.

Just thought these two windows were cute overlooking their waterway. Venice, perhaps?

And I thought my living room was bad. At least it's not a narrow hallway.

How sweet someone made this clock.

Copper pots and hyacinths. Beautiful kitchen.

Fabric rose pillow.

An elegant and eye-catching way to put your dainty exquisite laces.

Very unusual but elegant living room. Love the colors but I'd need more light.

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