Floral Cottage Bedroom

Even though I am down in Flerida for the winter, I still have a room to show you guys from my Massachusetts home.

I really don't know why I put together a guest room.

I don't like having guests.

They expect to spend the night.

Which means that they'll be there in the morning.

The only one

 who should be in my house in the AM is ME!!!

I don't want to sleep in their stinkin' house,

and I don't want them sleeping in my stinkin' house!!!

If you're reading this blog, 

looking for gracious tips on living....

go somewhere else.....

However!!!!!

I do like decorating bedrooms.

So I decorated a guest room

 that only has had two guests in my 8 years living in my condo.

I would like to note at this juncture.....

that's two too many!!!!!

I'm going to rename my blog.....

Betsy's Tips on Gracious Hosting!!!!

Come look at my guest room and leave!!!!!

That's going to be on my next needle point pillow!!!!!

Sooooo.....

without further ado.....

Here's my guest room.

Isn't it purty?????

I took this shot at night....

 it's all glowey and cozy.

The bed, rug, bed skirt, draperies, lamps and chairs were from my bedroom in my old home in Watertown.

Here's a shot of my previous bedroom.....

House Beautiful

Boston Globe Newspaper

Since I created a whole new look for my master bedroom in my condo,

I was able to use all my beloved furniture and fabrics in my guest room.

I didn't have space for a guest room in Watertown.

I never missed having one.

I am now beating a dead horse.

Anyway.....

back to my condo guest room.....

I had to add a dormer to the upstairs "room", 

that was actually nothing more than a large storage space.

The dormer doubled the floor area, and gave me the perfect place to tuck my iron bed.

The builder had to install collar ties in the ceiling to keep the walls from falling down.....

(they're the wooden beams, that actually hold the walls together....)

I left them rough, and just had them painted white.

Then I drove the wallpaper guy crazy, by making him wallpaper around them!!!!!

I chose a small floral paper for an all over cottagey pattern.

This is a picture I took at night, so it's not as yellowy as this picture,

 just a creamy background with pink flowers.

OK, I got off my @$$ and found a daylight shot.....

Now don't go asking me whose wallpaper this is.

I DON'T REMEMBER!!!!!

SO DON'T ASK AND MAKE ME FEEL.....

LIKE I'M LOOSING MY MIND!!!!

True to form,

I am going to make this a short post,

so I can milk this story for all it's worth.

Today I helped my friend Connie shop for her husband's bed.

She hates the way it looks and wants to redress it.

So,

tomorrow, I am heading out to her house to make the bed up into a pretty hedonistic place to lay his handsome head.

I will be taking before, during and after shots, to show you guys how the professionals make their beds look so wonderful.

Now.....

I better make it look good, or you all will know that I'm just blowing smoke out my.......

(now, Betsy, be a lady......hah!!!!!)

Have you all noticed how my blog is devolving???????

The more I write,

the smaller my filter...............

My fingers just move.......

and these rude words and thoughts just magically appear on the screen!!!!!

So,

On Tuesday, I will show Connie's man's room.....

then on Thursday I will return to my guest room.....

unless something else steals my attention.....

LOOK!!!!!

A BUTTERFLY!!!!!

Later, Gator

Partying at:

Cozy Little House

  

It's Overflowing

Betsy's Science Experiment!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago.....

 when I wrote about polishing my silver.....

a few of you wise guys left comments about how easy it was.....

 to dip the tarnished treasures in a home brewed magical elixir!!!!!

Sooooooo.....

While all my Christian friends were busy ignoring me doing their Christmassy stuff on the 25th.....

I decided.....

WHO NEEDS EM ANYWAY????

I CAN HAVE FUN BY MYSELF!!!!!

(grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble.....)

Soooooo.......

I had planned ahead and bought some pyrex bowels the day before.

I googled the recipe for tarnish removal, 

and chose the one that sounded the bestest!!!!

And I documented the whole shebang for your enjoyment!!!!!

Exhibit One......

my new bowls!!!!

I also bought some Wright's Silver Cream for back up.....

Next step.....

Line the bowl with tin foil, 

you need the aluminum for one of the elements in the magic trick....

Next step....

Add 1 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of backing soda to the dealio.....

Then pour in boiling water....

AND THE WHOLE THING STARTS TO SISS AND STEAM!!!!

Then place your tarnished silver or silver plate item in the bath.

I started with my

REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY 

TARNISHED

SOUP SPOONS!!!!!

I dropped them in the bowl, and 

instantaneously

the tarnish disappeared.

I mean.....

One second it was there.....

and the next second it was 

gone!!!!!

Here's the before of the little container I use in my bathroom for my q-tips.

Here's the after, it took 2 seconds, tops for the change....

Here's a shot of a little round tray I had to do in stages, 

as it wouldn't all fit into the bowl.

You can really see the difference this way.....

I had to use silver polish for the middle, as the water couldn't reach.....

Look at this baby all polished and pretty!!!!!

I have another little tray that was so bad it looked like tortoise shell....

I needed to use just a little polish to get all the spots off.

Took almost no work at all.

My kind of project!!!!!

Now it's so shiny, 

it was hard to photograph because of the refection!!!!!

My hand held mirror is shiny tooooooo.......

This is what it looked like before.....

I used just regular silver polish on it, because I wasn't sure what would happen to the mirror if it was submerged in water.

This is what the water looked like after.....

This is what the tin foil looked like.....

How cool is this #$% anyway?????

I LOVE THIS KIND OF STUFF!!!!!

I now have no excuse to let my silver get this bad 

EVER AGAIN!!!!!

I hope this was helpful to all the other clueless home keepers out there.

Sooooo.....

That's what I did for Christmas.

I now feel all sparkley and festive because this stinkin' holiday is over, and my friends will start playing with me again, 

as soon as their rotten kids go back to school!!!!!

So,

on that lovely note,

Later, Gator

Kitchen Table For Kris

Kris and I wanted a somewhat primitive looking farm housey type table for her eat in kitchen.

Sooooooo.....

we skulked around some auctions, looking to make a cheap well priced score.....

The trick to getting a good deal at auctions is to figure out who else wants what you want, 

and then kill them.

This way no one will bid against you!!!!!!!

Just some professional advice for you amateurs out there!!!!!

Sooooo.....

we found a settle table.

For those of you who don't know what that is.....

(aren't you glad you read my blog, so you can be learning all this important type stuff?????)

a settle table is one that doesn't know what it is!!!!!

It thinks it's a table when it's really a chair.....

No.....

It's really a table......

No, wait-------

The top can flip up to form the back of the chair and the base of the table becomes its seat.

Since I didn't think to take pictures of it in both positions, I went onto google  and found some images.....

of a table with its top flipped up to make it into a seat!!!!!

source

Soooooo......

This becomes a really good way to tell when dinner is over......

The table disappears!!!!!

Over in the stove area.....

Kris copied me and hung a tray over her cooker.....

It's a black and gold tole one....

Can you tell that I'm just going over the few details I missed in my previous posts?????

No flow to this story line.....

Now we come to the really 

bizarre and strange

part of today's blog........

As you may know.....

my two oldest and bestest friends are June and Kris.

annnnddddd.......

they both have the same china pattern!!!!!!!

They each got it before they knew each other!!!!!

Next I'm going to find out that zombies really are real.......

I MEAN.....

I THINK THIS IS REALLY BIZARRO!!!!

Can you tell that I've been reading a lot of super natural trash lately????

I love a good creepy story. 

the weirder the better.

sorta like my blog.......

On this erudite note.....

Later, Gator  

The Answer for the Solution to the ipad Blogger Problem!!!!!

A few days ago my blog went to hell in a hand basket when I viewed it on my ipad.

The banner at the top of the page was blurry.

My pictures were tiny.

MY SIDE BARS HAD DISAPPEARED!!!!!

Then I noticed that this was happening to lots of other blogs too.

BUT IT WAS ONLY HAPPENING TO BLOGSPOT BLOGS!!!!

When I viewed it on my laptop, everything was hunky dory.

Soooooo.....

I did what I always do when I have a blog problem.....

I called Amy Chalmers.

She always knows what's going on in blog land.

SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHY THIS WAS HAPPEING!!!!!

Wellllll.....

This ain't good. 

no no no no no.....

WHAT TO DO?????

WHAT TO DO?????

WHAT TO DO?????

Sooooo.....

I went onto a google chat room, and I got the answer.

I feel so smart and techie and with it.

First.

If you want to see a blog the old way, and it's showing up all tiny words and pictures.

Scroll to the bottom of the ipad page and you'll see where you can click on 

"view web version"

Click on that and the page will reload the way it shows on a real computer.

(Another way to fix this is to go to the web address where you type in the blog name and change the m=1 at the end of the address to m=0, then hit return.)

(you just have to change the 1 to 0)

(that's how easy it is!!!!!)

(So for all the bloggers who don't read this post,

 and don't know how to fix this problem,

 you can still easily see it the way you want!!!!!)

Second.

If you want to fix your own blog and only have people see it in the original web version 

(with side bars and big pictures, etc.)

go to this website.... and it walks you through the really simple steps to fixing this upsetting problem.

Or follow my directions here.....

It's simply a matter of clicking on one button in your template setting to change it back.

Go to your dashboard and click on template.

You'll see two images:

Live on Blog.....and.....Mobile

Under the Mobile image you'll see a little gear

click on that and you'll be given an option of how you want to show your blog on a mobile device (ipad, iphone, etc.)

I clicked on 

No, show desktop template on mobile device

Then I clicked save.....

and that fixed it!!!!!!!!!

It's really easy.

Blogger must have switched everyone to the mobile setting as the default,

 you just gotts to change it back.

Good luck.

Hope this helps.

Later Gater

Kitchen Window Treatments

Before I get to today's topic.....

 I would like to do a survey!!!!!!!

How many of you guys have had the dreaded stomach flu from which I am recovering???????

How many know some one who had it?????

Where do you live???????

This virus is

ALL OVER THE COUNTRY !!!!!

WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!

STAY HOME!!!!!

DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR!!!!!

This is not how I wanted to start my winter down here in Flerida.

The worst part is that after not eating for two days.....

I became ravenous, 

and have now eaten my refrigerator.

Now I have to go buy a new one.

I am probably the only one in the country that has gained weight from this

@#$ bug.....

I am very special!!!!!!

Hoe Kay,

 back to decorating,

 just remember to leave your comments at the end!!!!!

Let us return to my buddy Kris's kitchen....

I wanted to dress the windows with a treatment to warm up the space.

there was a lot of glass in the new addition, 

letting in a lot of light,

 but I always want to slap some fabric around for a cozier feel, 

especially in New England.

So I designed a valance with a boxed pleat sewn to a flat header.

Here's how the space looked without anything on the windows.

Here's a shot the other way.....

So, I had my good buddies at Drape It sew these treatments and install them for Kris.

Here they are getting ready to install them. That's Joe walking through, 

that's all he's good for. 

He made his son, Scott and installer, Steve, do the actual work.

The valance over the window seat was made in one big section, and it took two guys to put it up.

Here's a prettier shot, 'cuz their faces are covered.....

Here's Petey, the dog, helping out.

He had to be involved.....

He was such a good helper, He thought he was ironing the curtains.....

Here's Kris's husband, Keith, helping too.....

It just looks like he's making breakfast.

 That's really not a spoon, but a screw driver in his hand.

Actually, on closer inspection, he's  really making Petey's breakfast.

Petey was hungry from helping.....

We were all very pleased after the valances went up!!!!

So much cozier.

I tried to do a side by side collage in PicMonkey, 

I can't quite get that program to work the way I want,

so here's the best I could do.....

Sooooooo......

After all this effort, Petey and I were pooped!!!!!

That's if for now, I am still not back to my vibrant and sparkling self.

Poor Betsy.

Later, Gater