I've been a busy woman, indeed. Not only have I worked in the yard this month, I've made some changes in the house over the last few weeks as well. Not big changes, but small ones that I think have improved areas overall. I'm going to try and post a before picture of each space and the improved after photo so you can see the difference the work has made. Fair warning: this shall be a picture heavy post!
In our master bedroom:
I worked on this small gallery wall some time ago and with help from you all got it just right. This work has been moved.
Last summer's bed with no headboard. I'd looked for years for a bed we could agree upon.
I finally found a headboard on Overstock that I was on clearance which I could afford out of my pocket money! I was so excited. It did make a difference in the bed, but not quite the impression I wanted overall.
In March or early April, I moved the gallery wall art to the space above the bed, and today I placed the trunk back at the foot of the bed. The bed is not perfect just yet. I haven't a proper bed skirt on it but I plan to buy more of the Ikat print that is on the second set of pillows in the photo above and make one.
A couple of years ago I had the wall below all planned out but couldn't quite manage the climbing required to hang the pictures as I wanted. I wasn't at all pleased with the arrangement...but John hung it in the way he thought it would look best and so it stayed.
I am more agile and so I used the tall step ladder to reach this spot and hang things in a way I found more pleasing. I added the corn platter and corn stick pan to the wall.
I don't have a before of this area above my desk. I am sure there is one lurking on the blog somewhere...What was here was removed to hang in the guest room. I had the plate hanging in the guest room and the little framed watercolor painted card was formerly hanging on a wall beside my bed. The colors are perfect with the colors now being used in the kitchen, and I think the two pieces go nicely together.
I don't have a photo of the bed done with the red/blue quilt as the main bedding, only folded at the foot, so I can't show you how the room had looked. I'd used deep red curtains and lampshades in the room and it was quite pretty but awfully 'warm' for warmer weather appeal.
Remember my old chifforobe? It started life as an ivory piece and I painted it out years upon years ago in black and soft golden yellow. At the time it suited my décor in the kitchen. It was moved to the guest room looking just this way when we had the new floors done some three years ago.
I painted it blue and white...and ya'll I finished it today. I will paint the interior as well and pick out the small details on the front eventually. Just give me time. I was doggone pleased to get the last coat of paint on the exterior this morning! You all think I'm such a mover and shaker but I was reading a blog post from 2017 when I was planning to paint this thing and I didn't start it until early this year!
And finally, this little space above the stove always made me happy...
Back during the winter we visited the same antiques mall where I'd purchased that battered red tray. I found this one and yes, it's the same just a different color and just enough change to look a little fresher with a change of chickens.
None of the changes made cost a thing...I think that's what gives me the most pleasure of all. It was all on hand, a matter only of cleaning and switching from one spot to another. Yet it all adds up to a lot of little refreshed areas.
9 comments:
Everything looks so nice and fresh and country-cozy with the decorating you have done. I love the new colors you've painted your chifferobe. That is a very pretty shade of blue. I am a big fan of chicken collectibles, too. I have most of mine in the kitchen but a few have escaped into the dining room and living room also.
I've been collecting them for years. Once at a thrift store with my friend, there was a whole set of 1950's era ceramic chicken shaped measuring cups. I wanted them so bad but didn't have enough money with me for them. My friend deemed it a "chicken emergency" and loaned me the rest of the money to get them right then and there. They've been in my kitchen for probably about 25 years now. Every time I look at them I think of my sweet friend and my "chicken emergency".
Our grass is getting higher and higher here, the only time the sun comes out is when my husband is at work and can't mow. We are having a very wet spring here near St. Louis.
Everything looks great. I love the chiffa robe
Especially partial to tbe hummingbird Picture. I use a lot of cards in cheap frames. Some of the ones I have gotten over the years make such pretty pictures. If I need a border I use scrap book paper. Of course my favorite are the grandkids. Thanks for the tour. Love your home! There is nothing fancy about mine at all but sometimes I just walk through and think about how blessed I am when so many dont have. I look at quite a few You Tube house tours. Love the ones done on a shoestring budget best.
They always seem so comfortable and homey. Gramma D
Oh I love your home! It is just lovely. The gallery over the bed really sets it off, and I love the color of the chifforobe. Great job!
Bravo! Everything looks great. And I'm even more impressed that you worked with what you had. I honestly think that's why people end up with so much stuff. They get a mindset that "this belongs in the ---room" and they never consider that it might be the perfect piece for another part of the house. My mom had a kitchen that was so lacking in storage, but it had a decent sized eat-in area. She traded a neighbor her larger table and 2 chairs for a dresser. She put the dresser against a wall and used it as a buffet. She stored her linens, pots & pans, & used one drawer for her lesser used utensils. She put a cloth on the top and stored some of her small appliances there to clear off the counters as much as possible. Then, she found a small kitchen table at a thrift store that fit.
This led me to re-think a high boy that my husband inherited from his grandma. Rather than use it in the expected bedroom, it resides on a large wall in our living room. I found a largish open back shelf unit and put it on the wall over it. (it looks like it was originally part of a dining room set of some sort). It was $3 at a church rummage sale! The 2 odd pieces now look like a set and are perfect for that wall, which has a hiiiiigh ceiling. I store linens in there, DVDs, spare remote batteries, & such.
I think you did a great job moving things around. The chiffarobe really looks pretty in blue & white. So fresh! And I love your shelf with the black tray & roosters. The shelf color really draws my eye to the floral on the tray. I liked the *old one* as well. I love farm birds! I love all the chicks!
Susie the paint on the chifforobe is called School Boy Blue and you can buy it as a sample pot at Lowe's. I think it's a Valspar color. It is quite pretty. I have a whole quart of it to use on something or other...
Gramma D that hummingbird picture was snatched up at a sidewalk yard sale for the great sum of $2. I thought it the loveliest thing and so delicate and I've loved it ever since.
Debby, I very much believe in swapping things around from room to room, furniture and accessories both. The cabinet with our tv on it was once used in my dining room as a linen cabinet and then moved into the bathroom to be towel storage and now it's in the living room as tv stand and dvd storage!lol I get MILEAGE out of my furniture!
Kathy and Out my Window, thank you both. I enjoy playing in my home and I love the no money spent sort best.
Before and after photos are such fun! Your home looks lovely and your master bedroom is so cozy and relaxing. The colors are soft and pretty and the wall art at the head of the bed looks perfect!
The blue paint is so light and cheerful. It really perked up that furniture piece, didn’t it?
On the guest bed quilt that you don’t care much for, is the underside fabric perhaps more appealing to you? I’ve done that in the past ... displayed the solid underside instead.
Above your desk, the framed floral print and floral plate are a close match to your floral wallpaper and look so nice together.
And, don’t tell John, but I much prefer your wall arrangement! Our secret! :)
Good morning my kind friend. I am just catching up on your inspiring blog and lovely writing and wanted to tell you how pretty everything looks. It's even more fun to look at your photos and know your thoughts behind them! I am off now to finish browsing as I drink my first cup of coffee. I am drinking it later these days as I have been doing a twelve hour intermittent fasting three or four days per week and it really works! The down side is sometimes, if I've eaten late the night before I will push up my first cup of coffee. It's actually the cream I put in it that will break the fast...but I've discovered that black coffee is hard on my stomach...so I just wait until the twelve hours. Haha. I digress...as always. I am off to read more!
Love,
Tracey
x0x
Tracey I don't do black coffee very often unless I have a rich dessert to pair it with. I prefer my coffee with cream and would just push back and wait for the fast to end, too.
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