Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A Purple Master Bedroom Suite for the Girl in Pink


Guess who got new bedding for Christmas?  ME!  And it has inspired me to write this big long post about the transformation our room has undergone, the history behind the special pieces that reside there, and what plans I have for it's continued metamorphosis.  Is it just me or is the Master bedroom always the last room in the house to get decorated and settled in?  I'm not sure just how long our room sat neglected with odd bits of furniture, outdated mismatched bed linens and bare walls.  It makes sense to focus on the parts of the house that guests actually see first, right?  Well, a couple of years ago I decided that it was time to start focusing on the romantic bedroom I had been dreaming of.  It started with a Christmas gift of a few gallons of pretty purple paint and several hours of manual labor!  You see, at that time I was prego with son #2 and was in no condition to be painting a room...lucky me!  Soooo, my gift from hubby and my dad that year was the painted bedroom!  And it just so happens that my dad and husband make an excellent painting team!  They did a fabulous job and I love love love the result!  Not because I am proud of this picture, but because I know everyone loves a good before and after photo...here is the sad, lifeless master bedroom of years past..

Good bones I suppose...but overall pretty boring, don't you think?
 


The paint itself transformed the room, everything else kind of fell into place.  My new Simply Shabby Chic quilts and shams are the icing on the cake!
 
After a whole lot of searching for just the right bedding, my mom and I came across this set at Target last month!  I immediately knew it was what I wanted!  I wish I could tell you what the name of this bed set is.  If you're familiar with Rachel Ashwell's lines..you know that she usually names them.  This one just says "Rachel Ashwell Simply Shabby Chic for Target" and I can't find it anywhere online, not even at Target.com!  My mom secretly went back to buy it for me for Christmas (yes, I am spoiled blessed!) and was disappointed when she couldn't find any coordinating throw pillows.  She said that she proceeded to look at 3 different Targets only to find that the others didn't even carry the quilts!  We've decided that they are either very new or have quickly sold out? 
This one I purchased from Rachel Ashwell's line at Mervyns years and years ago.  If I remember right it's called Fiona.  I just love it and would have had it on our bed but it's too small...it does however make a wonderful slipcover for the little settee in the sitting area.
I hope to one day have the settee reupholstered (it's a hideous orange brocade, but has a cute shape to it). I paid just $30 for it at an estate sale and I think the Fiona quilt suits it well for now! 

This sweet hand decorated pillow came from the same estate sale as the settee!  I am always on the lookout for violets for my room and I couldn't pass up this cute pillow!


This cozy and charming chair has a sweet story behind it!  I picked it up at a yard sale about 9 years ago, just after my husband and I were married and bought our first home.  I had it recovered in this cream textured fabric and we used it in the living room.  When we moved into our current home, it spent a short time in our bedroom but soon took up residence in what would eventually become the nursery.  I don't know if I actually verbalized the idea or not but when I first purchased the chair and picked out the fabric for it, I envisioned it in a nursery someday!  I sat in it every night to nurse my first son, and then my second.  And now that my youngest is 2 yrs. old, we have converted the nursery into his "big boy room" and the chair has been added to the cozy little sitting nook of our bedroom where we often read books with the boys.  This is one piece of furniture I don't think I'll ever part with.


Here is the little living room of our
first home, a cozy 1930's bungalow.

My sweet baby and his buddy resting in the same chair when it sat in the nursery...circa 2006.
As sad as it was to admit that my baby wasn't a baby anymore as we disassembled the adorable nursery for project big boy room...I love the chair in our bedroom and as soon as we find a new fixture for the big 2 yr. old's room, something else will be making it's way to the master bedroom...
This pretty chandelier!  Can you believe I put a chandelier in my little boy's room before I had one for my own?  Well, when I brought this chandy home I wasn't sure if I was having a boy or a girl...but I felt pretty confident that God would give me a girl...Wrong!  Regardless, I thought a chandelier was a nice addition to a baby's room, even for a boy baby.  But, much to my excitement dismay, hubby says that chandys don't belong in big boy rooms...except for maybe his own ;)  Okay, he didn't say that last part but he pretty much agreed to it!  Ideally the chandelier would go over our bed where the ugly fan is now...but hubby insists on a bedroom fan overhead for the summer months and seeing that he doesn't have much input in the rest of the decor decisions, I am not arguing.  Plus, I like sleeping under a fan as well...  So, the chandelier will be retro-fitted to plug into an outlet and will hang somewhere in the sitting area...over or to the side of my special chair!  And someday I hope to replace the ugly fan with this beauty from Lamps Plus...


Finally someone is manufacturing chandelier fans!  Have you seen these?  Pretty cool, huh?  I am just waiting for this one to go on sale.  Never pay full price for a fixture at Lamps Plus, unless you're in hurry...they all go on sale eventually. 



The cornice above our bed was a $3 Goodwill find, painted and shabbied then  paired with a vintage lace tablecloth, a cute scarf I just received for Christmas and all of the luscious pink satin ribbon that was included in the packaging for my new quilts and shams!


Another item on our "wish list" for this room is a king sized bed.  In fact, the quilts are kings in anticipation of the new mattress we've been saving up for!  So, when the time comes, this metal headboard/foot board will go and I think we'll do something like a tufted fabric headboard...don't you think?  Something like the one that Melanie at Southern Life has in her lovely guest room!  And someday, when the cutest little antique dry sink or petite vintage cabinet makes it's way into my hands for a killer deal, it will receive a fresh coat of cream paint and replace the tired little bedside table.





The vanity beneath the floral fabric was part of my mom's bedroom set when she was a little girl, and has been in my bedroom ever since I was little!  I have big plans for a full, layered, ruffled skirt when I come across the perfect fabric for it!  The little stool has always accompanied it and was actually created by my Grandma!  I believe it was originally a floor lamp base that she cut, painted and added a swiveling chair seat to.  How cool is my Grandma???  The cupboard top was an estate sale find that I restyled and re purposed and the yard long violets print was an EBay purchase...I was told that it is over 100 yrs old and in the original frame.  I wish I had a better picture of it to share.
I've been collecting old violets cards with the idea of a pretty garland to drape across my dresser mirror.  This is what I have so far.  I am still playing around with it...


I am so glad that I opted for vintage dressers when I shopped for bedroom furniture for our first home.  I am sure that nothing I could have picked up at a furniture store 9 years ago would be as timeless today.  And with a fresh coat of cream paint (hopefully this summer!) these sweeties will look even lovelier!




This wicker bed tray is fun...in more ways than one!  I like the "idea" of using it for breakfast in bed (maybe someday!)  It's perfect for when I want to sit in bed and use my netbook.  The boys think it's a great tunnel for their cars when racing on the bed.  And someone else thinks it's a pretty nice little fort to crawl into for a snooze fest...


This is Boots, a Christmas kitty.  Santa discovered him wandering the North Pole, remembered my son's request for a real kitten for Christmas and promptly stuck him in his bag and delivered him to our home on Christmas Eve.  This is not the first time I've found him sleeping away in this very spot.


Okay!  I think I'll stop here...I am sure I could go on and on and on about the ideas I have to further transform our romantic master bedroom suite but I think this post is quite long enough!  If you're still reading, bless you!  If not, that's okay too...thank you for your visit!  Please stay tuned as I work on more projects in this room and others around my home!  It is always a work in progress...and the dreaming and scheming is half the fun, am I right?

I will be linking this post up with Faded Charm's White Wednesday, Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday, Southern Hospitalities' Top Projects Party this weeks blog party at Savvy Southern Style, The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday , Elements Interiors and Common Ground's Vintage Inspiration Friday!  Please visit these blogs for lots of pretty posts with plenty of decorating inspiration!

Best Wishes and Happy Decorating!  - Amanda


Sunday, December 26, 2010

New Christmas Eve Traditions

   I hope everyone had a blessed, cozy, warm Christmas spent with those that they love most dearly!  I sure did!  We hosted Christmas eve dinner here at our house, which was fun and easy.  My husband's family has a long-standing tradition of serving clam chowder for Christmas Eve but because one family member recently discovered a shellfish allergy, we decided to try salmon chowder this year instead.  It was delish!  I managed to snap one good photo of our table all set for dinner that night.  I wish I would have taken more but I was too busy playing hostess to have a full-on photo shoot of the table before everyone sat down to eat.  It was a fairly simple setting but I used a pretty toile topper that I'd made, my Mikasa Italian Countryside dishes, accented with one Grandma's Johnson Brother's Rose Chintz and the other Grandma's Fostoria Kimberly wine glasses.  The boys and I made place cards for the grandparents and Aunty attending that evening featuring their hand prints touched up to look like darling little reindeer (an idea I borrowed from a clever blogger...but I can't remember who it was!  Let me know if you know so that I can give them credit and share a link!)


With all of the meal preparations, gift buying and gift giving, card writing, party planning, Santa visits and everything else to do with the Christmas season, it is easy to lose focus of the true meaning of Christmas.  Our good friends gave us a copy of "The Nativity Story" dvd for Christmas a year or two ago.  I am embarrassed to say that when we pulled it out of the cupboard to watch it this year, it was still in it's wrapper!  I must say, I am so glad that my hubby opened it up and put it in the dvd player last week.  It was such a wonderful portrayal of the first Christmas and reminder of what we are celebrating.  We really enjoyed it and it's now on our list of must-see movies for watching each year at Christmastime!  In fact, I think we'll add it to our agenda for Christmas Eve dinner next year...along with the new found favorite Salmon Chowder!  I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this dvd for your own family if you don't have it already!



That's it for now!  I am hoping to share some pretty things with you later in the week!  I am dreading taking down all of the Christmas decor...aren't you?  The house always looks so stark to me after the tree and all of it's glittery glory goes away.  Maybe if I get busy and make some pretty new throw pillows or get creative with new decor ideas for the mantles, I will get motivated to put away the Christmas stuff.  Surely my fav. bloggers will have some inspiration for me this week!  I'll start seeking that inspiration by heading off to the Show of Your Cottage Party at House in The Roses!  I am also joining in on the fun at Tablescape Thursday at BNOTP.

Best wishes to you all and many blessings!
Amanda

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Christmas Tea Tablescape

The Women's Ministry at our church is having their first ever Christmas Tea and I am so excited to be hosting a table!  Of course the part I enjoy most (aside from the quality time with my sweet gal pals!) is pulling out all of my pretty teacups and dishes and borrowing pieces of decor from around the house to put together an elegant and inviting table!  In the interest of being organized and having a purposeful plan, I spent some time this morning doing a "mock up" of my "Shabby Christmas Cottage Tea Table."  I also figured that this would be the only way I would get good photos of my table setting to share for Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch!  And I am sure I'll be too busy gabbing with friends Sunday evening to take pictures and probably won't even remember to bring my camera!  (hold on...writing myself a note to remember my camera!)  With all of the hustle and bustle of the week before Christmas, I hope you'll take time for a cup of tea with a good friend!  I think we could all use exactly that kind of a relaxed moment right about now!  Don't forget to serve that tea in a bone china cup...it doesn't taste quite as good any other way!

































I just couldn't help but share one more tablescape with you.  As I was setting up my tea table in the dining room, my little guy set up his own tea party in the adjacent living room!  He happily poured cheerios into cups for his special kitty, bobcat and tortoise for at least an hour!  I don't know how I ever could have set up and photographed my tablescape this morning had he not been so content entertaining his friends!



 Thank you for your sweet visit today!  I love reading your comments!  Please visit Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday!  I am also linking up with my Friday favs...Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage and Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home!  Of course I'll also join in on Pink Saturday at How Sweet The Sound!Please check them out when you have a free moment...you won't be disappointed!  Promise!

Merry Christmas, Best Wishes and Many Blessings to you all!
Amanda

Monday, December 13, 2010

An Update on my Display

 I spent some time at the shop yesterday rearranging and "fluffing."  I was thinking that it had been a while since I'd last posted about my little room at Camas Antiques, so I thought I would give a quick update. 
It is always such an honor when something from my space is chosen for store's front window display!  See my big Doll House on the right!  Moving it out of my space prompted the rearranging and fluffing...but it was in need of some attention anyways! 



Sorry about the glare on the window...I didn't have my good camera with me and this was the best I could do.



This is the view from the entryway of my space.  I've been adding vintage lace here and there as I find it.  Many of the amazingly talented dealers at the shop are papering their walls with different mediums that fit their personal style...such as burlap, old book pages or sheet music.  I just love the look and the idea of covering up the blue pegboard.  I decided that lace fit my style well and I happened to have a lot of scraps by way of stained and tattered vintage tablecloths.  I just love finding a use for something that might have otherwise been trashed!  I'm not finished covering the walls quite yet...still on the lookout for more vintage lace!












 
 
Okay, so now that things are refreshed at the store, I can get back to stressing thinking about my Christmas to-do list!  Lot's of fun things...just so many of them to do and so little time!  I am sure you can all relate!  I am getting better at prioritzing my time.  Some of the projects I had hoped to complete this year have already been postponed until next year.  And I am okay with that!  I've decided it's better to reserve some time to enjoy Christmas and reflect on it's true meaning instead of running around trying to do everything and please everyone, all the while exhausting myself and forgetting to focus on celebrating the birth of our Savior (talk about exhausting...that was one long, run-on sentence!)  I hope you will all take time to slow down and truly enjoy yourselves during what so often ends up being a hectic and stressful season.

Thank you for visiting today!  I am linking up with Faded Charm for White Wednesday.  Please follow the link for lots of lovely photos and posts!  Merry Christmas!
Best Wishes and Many Blessings,
Amanda