Betsy Answers a Couple of Questions.......

Even though.....

I am no longer doing a Q&A.....

Folks still ask me questions!!!!!

Every now and then,

 the questions are broad enough 

that the answers could help more than just the writer, 

who is asking for free advice.

SOOOOOO.....

Today, I will answer two that I think the class could benefit from.

(from which the class could benefit?????)

(is it snooty to not end in a preposition?????) 

(grammar rules keep changing.....)

anywho.....

If you don't find anything useful in these answers.....

I DON'T CARE!!!!!

(well, that's not entirely true....)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First Question!!!!!

Hi Betsy,

From your blog I see that you are a dog lover.  So, hope you can help

me with my doggie / decorating dilemma.

I have a collection of Staffordshire dogs.  My favorite has been an

only for very long so I finally went hunting for his mate.  After

months of searching far and wide, wouldn't you know it, a woman who

lives about 40 miles away from me has what I needed!  Now I want to

display them on the wall on either side of a very ornate French

mirror.  My problem is what size and what type of wall bracket should

I use?

The dogs are 10" tall, 7.5" wide and project from the wall about 5 ".

I have attached a photo of my one dog (his friend is still in the

mail).  I have also attached a photo of the wall where I want to

display them.  ("Hang" sounds too cruel.)  There is lots of wall space

to cover.  The walls are 10 feet high and 17 feet long.  The mirror is

48" high.

I found the following brackets:

Bellacor: Palm Leaf  11" wide x 12' high x 6" ext

Bellacor: Acanthus Bronze  15.5" wide x 10 3/4 high x 5.75" ext

Bellacor: Capital Shelf  16" wide x 13" high x 7" ext

IBG Stores: Leaf Scroll Bracket 11.5" wide x 9" tall x 5.5" ext

I have even thought of buying the large bracket from Suzanne Kasler on

Ballard Designs and adding a larger shelf.

Any advice on proper proportion of statue to bracket?  Any other suggestions?

Thanks,  Charlotte Des Fleurs

Welllll.....

a good example is what I did for my friend Kris.

Below is her living room

First I hung the brackets over the prints.

Then we added more pictures to the wall, and I lowered them to under the prints....

Sooooo

there are many ways that your brackets could be hung.

In my den in Massachusetts, I hung them with a print leaning on them with the dogs in front....

So, there are lots of options.

As to the size of the bracket.

They should just be a little wider that what ever you are placing on them, unless it is a picture, and then you can have the picture wider than the bracket.

It's all about scale.

The bigger the item, the more room you should have around it, otherwise it will look top heavy.

In your case, since the dogs are 7.5" wide, I would want the brackets to be around 9" or wider. But not too wide.

Jeesh.

I really love the brackets from Ballard Designs, 

But the style of the palm leaves may be more in keeping with your room.

If the finish is crappy,

just paint them!!!!!

Hope that was helpful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next question!!!!!

Hi Betsy,

I found your blog yesterday and have spent the last 24 hours lost in all your posts. I love it!  I remember seeing your Sunapee cottage years ago in a magazine and am so happy to have found your blog and see a bit of what you have been up to decorating wise.
I have a question which I have been struggling with since we bought our house 5 years ago and I would love your opinion.  We have a large pretty master bedroom with 7 windows. The windows all have half shutters that are really pretty and also functional as they provide just enough privacy.  My issue is that the room just is not cozy and I am wondering if it needs window treatments or the issue is something else. I am afraid of the cost of window treatments as we all know custom treatments no matter what are a lot.  I am sending along photos of what I have done so far in the room and would appreciate your thoughts on the window issue and how to make the room cozier.  The room is long, maybe 18 feet and has a small attached room and the the closet and master bath. Any thoughts you have would be great!
Thank you.
Jennifer

Then she added some more furniture, which helped.

OK.....

First I have a question for all you guys out there who buy big houses, and then don't want to spend the money decorating them.....

HUNH?????

If you have a house with a lot of windows.....

YOU HAVE TO SPEND SOME MOOLAH!!!!!

This is a lovely room.

But you're right....

draperies will make it much cozier.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money,

why not get simple sheers and sew them together for a fuller look.

One panel looks too skimpy, but two together are nice.

If you can't sew, just hang them together on a rod, and that would probably work too.

This is what I did for my friend Lissette, 

(however, I sewed them together.)

We got the sheers form Pottery Barn.

Then we got the poles and rings from Lowes.

Then I sewed the pinch pleats at the top and sewed the rings on.

If you do some of the work, you can save buckets of money.

To see the whole project....look here.

I think you would be amazed at what adding draperies would do to this room.

I can't feel at home in a place until all the windows have some fabric on them.

I still need to do a valance in my sewing/project room.

But my needs come after my niece Miriam's, and I'm sewing her draperies for her at present.

Was this helpful?????

I hope so.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, campers...

That's it for today,

I pulled my back this morning just pulling up a crummy little weed.

I just turned the wrong way.

So, I can't sit any longer at this blasted computer.

Sooooo

on that note,

Latah, Gatah