Cabin Master Bedroom on a Lake

GETTING BACK TO MY CABIN.....

When we last left our heroine.....

she (me)

 was regaling us with tales of renovation, expansion, and spending loads of money!!!!!

Now, through the magic of blog land....

I AM GOING TO CHANGE FROM THE THIRD PERSON TO THE FIRST PERSON!!!!!

(don't try this at home)

OK, enough being silly, 

it's just been one of those days,

I've been back down in my basement inhaling paint fumes.

This is a picture of my new master bedroom.....

Once you come down the new set of stairs ....

(glorified ladder)

and walked through the new study....

you entered the bedroom.

Both the study and the bedroom 

had large casement windows and French doors 

that opened onto the new lower deck.....

So the whole back side of the house,

 facing the lake, 

was a wall of glass

 affording a pretty nice view, if I do say so myself.....

I found an old hooked rug for the bedroom and had it 

cleaned and repaired.

If you are willing to spend the money, 

you can revive the life of a failing hooked rug by taking it to the right place.

In the Boston area there is a wonderful rug hospital called

 Bon Ton Rug Cleaning.

I had a little (tiny) cottage on Cape Cod

 that I sold just before I added the second floor to my cabin.

I used some of the furniture from that house in my new space,

 reinventing and changing as needed.

This had been my bed in that little place and I tweaked it for this cabin.

The four posts had been connected by a canopy framework, 

but I decided 

 I liked the idea of a tall four poster better.

Problem was,

 what to do with the tops of the posts??????

I KNOW!!!!!

LET'S STICK BEARS ON THEM!!!!

So that's what I did.....

I designed wooden black stained finials,

 and then rubber cemented some of my bear collection

 to their flat tops. 

I then found sticks and small rocks around the property 

(they had to be just right)

to give the little bears something to hold!!!!!

It's hard to see.....

but the bears at the head of the bed are on their backs holding rocks with their four paws......

As I showed you, I used green star wallpaper in the study....

and you can see that here, I used a blue color way of the same stuff......

For the window treatments, 

I used a really long fringe for a valance effect.....

The curtain finials were stained glass 

(plastic) 

star Christmas tree light covers

 that I jammed on the ends of the small dowels I used for drapery rods.

They were always falling off, 

and I am so professional that I never bothered to properly attach them. 

I figured all that bending over was good exercise.....

The chair came from my neighbor 

who lived across the street from me in Watertown.

She saw it on the side of the road on trash day and dragged it home.

After sitting for a year in her garage,

 her husband gave her an ultimatum.....

So it ended up in my garage...,

for a year...

but then I had it redone!!!!!

This was before 

I knew how to reupholster,

 and that I could paint furniture, 

so I had to pay to have it done,

 and the free chair suddenly became 

one

VERY

expensive

CHAIR!!!!!

The fabric is one of my all time favorites from Cowtan & Tout....

Here's just a quick tip for you guys

in the throws of renovation

who are faced with trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.....,

I had a big honkin' I-beam running down the middle of this room.

So I had it clad to look like a wood beam.....

Just extend the two pieces of wood on the sides down 1/4" 

and it will look like a classy beam.....

I piled tons of pillows on the bed,

'cuz that's what one does!!!!!

and set a needlepoint bench at the foot,

'cuz that's what one does!!!!!

I love the way the needlepoint works with the hooked rug......

It almost looks like I know what I'm doing.

I think it's wonderful the number of folks that have written me telling me that they remember this story.

(that was back in 1993 you guys.....jesh!!!!)

Some of you even remember that it was published twice 

in Traditional Home,

 once for the top floor, and once for the bottom.....

This lower level won me a design award from Trad Ho, and it was really fun going to Manhattan to receive it.

I felt like I had won an academy award.

I was picked up at the airport in a limo.

So there I was...

riding in the back of a stretch limo...

feeling carsick!!!!!

I had to ask the driver to pull over and let me sit up front with him.

OY!!!!!

Latah Gatah

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