Happy Turkey Day!!!!!

Today I am going to share with the class the wonderful accomplishments of the 21st century.

The amazing ability that we have to make

big things smaller!!!!!

The cell phone first started out this size.....

And all it could do was make phone calls!!!!!

Now we have these.....

and they can make phone calls, talk to you, look things up, play games with you, help you get where you want to go, etc. etc. etc.

Computers used to fill whole rooms!!!!!

Then they were made small enough for our desks.....

then they were made into laptops.....

Then they were made into thin laptops.....

Then we got the iPad!!!!!

And then the iPad mini.....

SOOOOOO.......

In honor of the miniaturization of our culture.....

Let me show you my thanksgiving turkey!!!!!

Here's a close up.....

A side by side comparison.....

This is what happens when you get to have Thanksgiving by yourself!!!!!

Peace and quite.

and....

No sports on the TV!!!!!

On that note,

Later, Gater

Vermont Country Master Bedroom Suite

Hiya!!!!!

I'm writing this in Flerida!!!!!

I have been able to get away for two weeks, and my hair is all frizzy.

Let's get back to Connie and Chris's master bedroom in the mountains of Vermont.

The lucky woman has a whole suite for the master space, so when her family descends on her en mass.....she can retreat into her own private hide-a-way.

Traditional Home Magazine 2004

The room is tucked under the roof line facing the front of the house, so there are a couple of large skylights that flood the space with sun.

The master bedroom opens off this room.

I used the same wallpaper and rug as the bedroom to unite the two spaces.

Traditional Home Magazine 2004

Here's a collage of the three rooms of the suite, sose you can see how they relate!!!!!

I continued using checks and plaids for the accent fabrics in the sitting room.

Look at what a difference a toss pillow makes to the look of a chair!!!!

Connie had the coffee table from before she knew me, and I was able to incorporate it into her new room.

On the mantel I placed a small collection of antique mercury glass.

There's a lot of reproduction mercury glass bopping around, but I am not a fan.

It isn't double sided glass like the old stuff.

Mercury glass was the poor man's silver.

It had the shine of silver but was a double wall hand blown glass piece that was then filled with a silver nitrate and grape sugar solution, creating a silver reflective wash on the inside of the double walls. It was called mercury glass because mercury was originally used to create the silver finish of a reflective mirror, but for the table ware, it wasn't used. Once the piece had the solution wash the interior walls,  the bottom was plugged with a cork (American) or a metal seal (English).

According to Wikipedia, (where would we be without it?????), this glass was considered the first art glass, produced strictly for display purposes.

Over the mantel I hung a round antique bulls eye mirror. 

I blew the picture up, so you could see the other end of the room.

(that's me in the shot.......)

Across the room from the fireplace is the desk.

I had the chair covered in a blue window pane plaid.

On the desk I placed a blue lamp I had made from an Abingdon pottery vase.

Finding lamps I liked with a delicate yet country feel, wasn't easy, so I had to have them made.

I lucked out with this coin glass piece, it was already a lamp!!!!

We just needed to have the shade custom made......

You can see how these lamps worked with the one in the master bedroom.

They all have that county cottage feel, are unique and one of a kind.

(unless someone else has one just like them.......)

Well Kampers.....

it's warm and sunny, so I'm going outside and let my hair frizz some more.

On that note,

Later, Gator

Country Cottage White Bathroom

A quick post for today, my sister and her hubby are coming into town to take over while I go down to Flerida for two weeks.

I have a half finished chair upholstery project down there that I didn't get to finish last year, 

SOOOOOO.....

if all goes well, I can share it with you guys in a couple of days.....

or weeks.....

oy.

so, let's get back to Connie's master suite in her Vermont mountain retreat.

(I just made a rhyme!!!!! Are you impressed?????)

When Connie and Chris bought this house, the floorplan was kinda screwy.

Sooooo....

Les Brown, the architect I work with, had a whole bunch of walls moved, and reworked some plumbing, and managed to make two bathrooms out of one large weird master bath.

This way the guest rooms each had their own bathroom, and the master still had an en-suite one.

Traditional Home Magazine 2004

The picture is really grainy because I blew it up from a scanned image from the magazine.

Sorry.

Just live with it.

I'm not perfect.....jeesh.......

Since I used polished nickel fixtures, I wanted a metal mirror that was the same color, so I found these pressed metal silver ones from Mexico.

Silver and nickel are the same color.

I designed the vanity to hold a pair of bowl sinks and had the turned legs applied to the front for a country vibe.

The knobs are white porcelain, which pick up the feel of the sinks and the light fixtures.

I used a four by four white glazed tile as the back splash and butted it into the V-groove paneling of the walls.

For the bath accessories, Connie and I chose white hobnail milk glass for the soap dish, toothbrush glasses and vases.

This color of glass is called moonstone.

It's not an opaque milkglass.

These hobnail glasses were manufactured by Fenton Art Glass Company.

If you'd like to read more about Fenton Glass, go to Wikipedia by clicking here.

They originally were in Ohio, but moved to West Virginia in 1906.

Below are some images I snagged off of eBay.

You can pick these up for just a little bit of moolah.

I think they are really pretty.

I mixed them in with a sterling silver vase.

People always ask me how I get my look.

I think one of the things I do is mix inexpensive pretty items in with higher end things.

This keeps rooms from looking too stuffy.

And it also doesn't hurt the wallet so much!!!!!

On that note.

That's it for today.

I gots to run to the airport and pick up my bossy older lovely sister.

Latah, Gatah

A Country Home Bedroom

Ho Kay Kampers.....

Since I am in the middle of making a pair of twin bed duvet covers for Kris's guest room, 

(Not going too smoothly, but all will be well in the end.......?????)

and I haven't done anything else on Miriam and Ross's living room.....

(I've been too busy sewing these @#$ duvet covers.....)

Today I will take you guys back up to Connie's home in the Vermont mountains.

We've looked at lots of rooms on the first floor, still have a couple more, but I feel like taking you upstairs to the master bedroom suite.

Chris and Connie have a sitting room attached to their bedroom as well as an en suite bathroom.

                  Let's start with the master bedroom. 

Ignore the little weird thing at the top, at the right, this was scanned from a magazine.                 

Traditional Home Magazine 2004

I found a beautiful blue and white toile from Quadrille Fabrics and Wallpapers.

When I first started working with Connie, she was a little shy of putting color and pattern on the walls.

Once she got hers toes wet, however.....

there was no holding the woman back!!!!!

For the window treatment I just had my workroom, Drape It, make the draperies out of a wonderful cotton sheer trimmed with a small blue gimp.

I had the top of the valences smocked for a pretty country look.

You can accomplish this look by using a gathering tape.

I got this image off google.

They come in different widths.

Simply sew it to the top of the valence, pull the strings, 

ET VOILA!!!!!

You gots yourself a gathered heading!!!!!!

I like to use sheers for draperies, they give such a dreamy floatey look.

Edging them with a colored tape takes them to a whole other level.

We wanted to do a white headboard as contrast against the toile pattern on the walls.

To make it more practical, in case it got dirty, I designed it to have a slipcover that was buttoned on.

I had my workroom sew contrast button holes for a crisper look.

I've never sewn one, I have to teach myself how to.

So much to learn.....

So little brain......

For a punch of blue on the white bedding, I had a toss pillow done in a blue check with a wide tape trim.

Checks and plaids always work with toile, as long as the colors match.

We lucked out when we found the quilt!!!!!

Next to the bed is a wonderful antique table we found in a local antique store.

It just needed a little wax, and it cleaned up really beautifully.

I had the milk glass oil lamp made into an electrified version, adding a custom shade.

We wanted the accessories to keep the country feel.

Since this was a picture from a Traditional Home Magazine photo shoot.....

those are real roses!!!!!

(You know how I like my fake flowers.....)

That's Connie's pet rubber mouse.

It keeps moving around the house.

To the right of the bed is a chair and ottoman.

When they're pushed together, they almost look like a chaise, but there is a little more versatility with a chair and ottoman.

I love the look of a high gathered skirt, so I had the skirt hang just 2" down from the deck.

I had the bottom contrast edged with another blue tape to mimic the blue of the upholstery pieces' contrast welt.

Over the bed I hung this beautiful painting that had the feel of a tole tray.

Even the frame was painted to give that feeling.

It continues the Americana vibe that Connie and I were striving towards.

As you probably guessed, I love toile, that's why I did my own bedroom in it.

I mean,,,,,,,.......

what's not to love???????

As long as you match the shade of the toile, you can mix lots of different patterns in the room.

It just all smooshes together in a pretty blur!!!!!

On that note,

Latah, Gatah

Styling a Bookcase

or, what to put on these @#$ shelves.....

I've been helping my niece Miriam and her hubby Ross with arranging stuff on their bookshelves in their living room.

Miriam wanted to be able to store more than books on the shelves, but the stuff she needs access to is not always attractive.

Soooooo.....

I ordered some baskets for them to hold these less appealing items,

 and protect aesthetically sensitive eyes from the clutter.

I mentioned this in my last post, and since then I received the baskets from Pottery Barn.

True to how things tend to go when decorating anything, the baskets were larger than listed on the internet.

Soooooo.....

they didn't fit on the side shelves.

oy oy oy oy oy.....

I first ordered 4, and then thought that if 4 are good,,,,,,,,,,

6 would be gooder!!!!!

So, I ordered 2 more.

plus the basket liners.

I ordered the smallest size of these under bed baskets....

Sooooo.....

by yesterday I had received the first batch of 4, and I carried them up to Miriam and Ross's abode to install them on their shelves.

What a bummer.

I hate when things don't fit.

WELL.....

We were able to use the 4 on the middle shelves, and I will return the other two.

Meanwhile, the liners are much darker than the pictures show on Pottery Barn's website.....

So I'm returning all 6 of them.

Sooooo.....

this is what the bookshelf looked like before I started on it....

And then I added my touch.

This is just part way done, but I wanted you guys to know what I've been up to.......

The baskets looked great on the middle shelves,

 so we started arranging the blue Bristol glass that I had given to the kids, mixing the collection in with their books.

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

the kind I collect is from the Victorian era and is an opaque glass most commonly in one of 4 colors.

Blue, pink, sand or white.

It is usually in a vase form and is decorated in an enamel paint, mostly of floral or bird designs.

So, I gave the kids Kris's and my collection because I felt the blue looked pretty in their living room.

Then we ran out of books!!!!!

So I said....

"Don't you have more books?????"

And Miriam said.....

"Yes, we have them in boxes in the basement."

So I said.....

"Well bring them up here and lets put those suckers on these here shelves!!!!!"

Miriam claims that when I recount our conversations to you guys, that I make up a lot of stuff.....

I insist that it is just creative verbaladging!!!!!

Don't bother to look that word up in the dictionary.

The dictionary doesn't know what it's talking about.

ANYWAY.....

Miriam and Ross brought up boxes of books from the basement, and we started arranging them.

But it was getting into rush hour, and I had to travel back down route 95 to get home.

Sooooo.....

I told them to take out all the books and put them on the shelves, and I would help them rearrange them when I came back.

Miriam claims that I was acting like Jeff Lewis, bossing her around.

She's wrong!!!!!

I was acting like Betsy Speert!!!!!

On that note,

Latah, Gatah

Sometimes Enough Stuff is Not Enough

Adding More @#$ To A Wall!!!

My bidness partner and buddy, Kris and I have tried.....

we really have.....

but we be weak!

We can't help ourselves!

We always want more!!!!!

Remember her front hall?????

We started with it this way.....

Kris had 12 framed herbieres that she had purchased at an antique show.

I used what she had and hung them in an 

absolutely stunning arrangement!!!

Well.....

a couple of weeks ago she called me to tell me that she had been to another antique show with a friend of hers and the same dealer had 6 more!!!!!

She had bought two of them, and did I think that she should go back and scoop up even more?????

Well.....

I could have been interested in the possibility of what to do with the new pictures.....

But all I could think of was.....

You went without me?????

Well.....

after I calmed down,

after I reminded myself that I am her best friend, even if she doesn't realize it, 

after I finished planning what to do in revenge.....

I agreed to look at the pictures I had her take of her husband, the magnificent Keith, holding the pictures in different arrangements, so I could figure out how many more she needed.

I told her to take a picture holding one alongside the settee.

I told her to then take a picture holding two alongside the settee.

SO THIS IS WHAT THE DINGBAT EMAILED ME!!!!!

(That's right!!!! I called you a dingbat Kris!!!!! See if you go anywhere without me again!!!!!)

(Of course, in her defense, I never want to go anywhere..........) 

First she showed just one more.

Then she showed two more....

So...........

I emailed her a sweet note that said.....

"Are you out of your mind????? I need you to take a picture of the whole area, I can't tell nothin' form this here picture!!!!!"

So...........

she sent me these....

First she showed me one more.....

Then she showed me two more.....

She was also wondering if she should hang another one on the adjacent wall. 

Well, I thought that all we needed was two more, one on each side.

Sooooo.....

that's what she hung, and I think it looks just right!!!!!

Here's a side by side.

I love what just a couple more do to the overall look of the space.

More on each side would have been....

(dare I say it?????)

too much!!!!!

And I definitely didn't want another one on the end wall.

Sooooo.....

now it be goodist!!!!

Which is way better than gooder!!!!!

On that note,

Lateh, Gatah