Beach House Guest Room

Arggghhhhh!!!!!!!

My blog is acting up!!!!!

The titles aren't showing on the side bar and on the main post.....

For two days the text didn't show up on ipads.....

this is driving me nuts!!!!!

Tomorrow I am getting help from Sarah who runs tech support for bloggers.

Her ad is in my sidebar.

just a little plug.

She doesn't even pay me for the ad,

 but I want to spread the wealth and let other folks know,

 that if your blog or computer starts acting like your enemy, 

laughing in your face while you scream at the keyboard....

She's the one to call for help!!!!!

Now.....

let's get back to decorating.....

We've gone over all of my buddy, Connie's, living area 

in her beach bungalow.

Sooooo.....

Let's move on to her guestroom.

It's off the hall area by the stairs, creating a nice separate space for Connie's company.

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But wait!!!!!

I just got my new order of underwear from Fruit of the Loom delivered!!!!!

I am such a ding a ling, that after I washed them,

I arranged them by color,

like a rainbow!!!!!

SOOOOOO.....

because I am such a wack a doodle, 

I took pictures to share with you guys!!!!!!!

I really need to find some other stuff to fill up my time.....

Knowing that I have an audience is doing strange things to my brain.....

But.....

let me show you all the cool different colors of white that they come in!!!!!

Just like Benjamin Moore paints!!!!

There's: Betsy White, Morning White, Night-time White, Bathroom White, Laundry White, Blogger's White, I'm sitting too long at my computer White, This joke is getting old White.

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

Take a breath..... 

OK!!!!

Back to decorating!!!!!

In Connie's guest room, I inherited the yellow shell themed fabric from 

The Previous Designer (TPD), along with the bed, nightstands, wicker chair  and chest of drawers.

I wasn't crazy about this fabric, but Connie likes it, and she has been pushing me to give her credit on my blog.

So this fabric was her choice with TPD.

Being the brilliant designer that I am.....

I was able to make it work!!!!!

So there! Connie!!!!

I found a cheerful yellow wallpaper with blue dots, that pulled in the pillow fabric nicely.

And then I was able to find a nice soft yellow and white fabric for the draperies.

The bed that Connie chose with TPD I love!!!!

See, Connie????

I gave you credit!!!!!

But.....

The night stands were a disaster, so they had to be reselected.

The ones that TPD had specified were 

way

too short for the bed, at just 24" high.

I like a night stand to be at least as high as the mattress.

Sooooo,

these little white tables came from Maine Cottage Furniture.

Connie and I fell in love with the fun fish prints, and I hung them all over the guest suite.

Connie chose this pretty scalloped coverlet,

I had

absolutely nothing to do with it!!!!!

SHE DA BOMB!!!!

(Connie, let me know when you've gotten enough credit....)

I think this room is really inviting now, 

although guest rooms are problematic, because then you sometimes get guests.....

Here'r some more shots,

I took time to edit them,

so now you have to look at them.

Across from the foot of the bed is the chest of drawers.

TPD had ordered this in a waxed pine finish that looked really cheap to me.

Soooooo.....

I handled it like I do every thing that has a finish I don't like.....

I had it painted white.

Connie and I found those fun life guard chair lamps at a local gift shop.

I think they are the perfect note for this whimsical room, and just happened to have lamp shades in a blue that matches the room!

Behind the door leading to the living room, is the circuit breaker box which had an ugly grey door on it....as they are wont to do.

Charlie, the contractor, took the door home and painted it to match the wallpaper!!!!!

Here's a closer shot....

What a hoot!

Off the bedroom is the en suite bath with an antique dresser converted to a vanity.

TPD did this, so I have to give her credit.

(oy)

I covered the walls in the same wallpaper.

I like it when the bath and bedroom have the same wall treatment, 

it creates the feeling of a suite.

There is a window in the bathtub/shower, which can be problematic.

The window gets wet, and people can see in.

Sooooo....

I had Sunbrella  fabric window curtains made that can be pulled close when someone is taking a shower, thus protecting the window and hiding peeping eyes.

Sooooo.....

That's it for Connie's guest room.

No, you can't go there for a visit.

She doesn't know who the hell you are!!!!!

On that charming note....

Latah, Gatah

A Cottage Hallway

Let's get back to looking at my friend Connie's beach house.....

I want to go over what I did in the entry hall and stairs.

Then we'll be done with the main living area of this house, 

and move on to the bedrooms.

I know, I know....

how exciting is this #$% anyway?????

I've shown you this picture before, 

but

I want to set up in your tiny minds where the other shots were taken.....

Across from the table is this gallery wall.

I can't seem to get away from gallery walls,

they follow me around.....

This is how it started out....

this was before we crumbled and added wallpaper to cozy up the house.

There just didn't seem to be 

enough stuff on the walls!!!!!

Connie had gotten this mirror from The Previous Designer she had been working with.

So I was stuck working with happy to fit this into my design!!!!

I started by adding these two shell prints on both sides of the mirror, 

but it just didn't feel like enough.

Sooooooo.....

We went to the Boston Design Center, and found these fun collages in an art gallery there.

They worked in wonderfully with the shell theme I had goin' on!!!!

I trolled ebay for the shell plates.

They aren't old, but do the job!

(But they are second hand!!!!! We do like used stuff!!!!!)

Going up the stairs, I had a custom runner made to match the coral color of the living area.

I really like the beachy feel of the striped cotton rug, and the way it works with the downstairs....

For the walls going up the stairs, 

of course I wanted to do another collection.....

but I wanted something in the same naturalistic vein as the rest of the house, 

but still a new theme,

if you knows what I means......

Soooooo.....

I chose what any sane designer would choose!!!!!

FROGS!!!!!

This is the way the wall looked before the wallpaper.

It's always amazing to me,

what a difference wallpaper makes!!!!!

Sooooo.....

let me show you some closeups of the frogs....

Aren't they great?????

Then, in the upstairs hallway, I needed some more,

but we had run out of frog prints,

so we just did one in the middle, and the traveler palm prints on either side.

Wellllll.....

believe it or not, 

now I've run out of things to say.....

while everybody is silent in amazement, 

I'll sign off.....

Latah, Gatah

Tweaking Kris's Gallery Wall

Before I continue with my friend Connie's Florida home.....

I need to jump back over to my buddy Kris's living room.

This is the way my mind works.....

over here 

and over there

and back around againnnnn.......

OY OY OY...

You may remember Kris's home from last month.....

Here's a reminder shot.....

Wellllll.....

We hadn't finished the wall over the sofa.

It had a couple of square inches of bare sheet-rock showing!!!!!

We hate a void!!!!

IT MUST BE FILLED!!!!!

This was the wall over the sofa before Thursday.....

(I thought it was done, but Kris claims that I told her to buy more dog paintings......)

These were the paintings waiting to still be hung.....

Kris emailed me at the beginning of last week, 

and asked if I could help her hang these on Thursday.

Since she is my ride to and from the airport.....

I figured I better put a good face on it, 

and sweetly tell her.....

"Of course.....I would LOVE

 to hang some more @#$ on your walls!!!"

Here we are starting our project.....

(Welllll.....actually, that's Kris.....)

We had to do a lot of mountain climbing sofa hopping....

do get this accomplished.

Lots of pictures to hang....

OY!

So, we starting rebuilding the arrangement....

But first we had to pull the sofa away from the wall, so we could get a step stool in there, since our geriatric frames couldn't balance on the back of the sofa.

When we pulled the sofa away from the wall.....

Kris found the leaves to her dining table!!!!!

(They had been put in a safe place, that no one remembered.....)

Moral of this story....

go around your house and look behind and under stuff....

you could find gold!!!!!

We (I) wanted to leave the picture of the three terriers in the center over the couch.

but the rest of the paintings had to be reworked.

We were able to hide a lot of the nail holes, but not all of them.....

But there's so much @#@$ stuff on the wall that you really don't notice them!!!!!

 I first hung the Boston Terrier.

Then Kris rehung the trio back on its existing hook.

Then I didn't bother to take any more pictures 

BECAUSE

this was absolutely 

exhausting!!!!!

We had to rehang the brackets that hold the pair of Staffordshire dogs.

Raising the pair of water colors over them.

Then I added a painting behind the lamp on the right, 

one that Kris didn't like so much, so it doesn't matter that it's hidden,

but it got rid of some of the

dreaded bare wall!!!!

We added some plates, moved some stuff, added some dogs, removed some dogs,

took some rests.....

took some more rests.....

and congratulated ourselves on a job well done!!!!

Gallery walls are hard to do.

Gallery walls are hard to do.

Gallery walls are hard to do!!!!!!!

Here are some before and afters.....

I realize this isn't everyone's cup of tea....

But this is Kris's house,

and she

LOVES it!!!!!

So, that makes me happy.

See you on Tuesday...

Latah, Gatah

Beach Cottage Dining Room

In the dining area of Connie and Chris's ocean side home is a farm type table

 that The Previous Designer (TPD) sold to my buddies.

It was one of the first things I had to fix, when I took over this decorating job.

Connie had given me pictures and specs of all the items TPD had procured for them, and I was carefully going over each piece, to make sure it would work, both aesthetically and practically.

I noticed that this table had stretchers connecting the legs at each end.

It looked something like this.....

source

Soooooooo.....

I called Connie, and asked her....

"Hey, Connie!!!!!"

"Do you actually want to be able to sit at the ends of your dining table?????"

Where upon she answered, 

in her always on top of the situation voice.....

"What do you mean?????"

Now......

I don't want to misrepresent myself.

I will admit.....

I TAKE GREAT PLEASURE....

in showing up another designer.

Especially.....

one that was hired in my stead!!!!!!!

So I tried not to crow when I pointed out that her new table 

wouldn't work!!!!!

And then.....

I had it fixed....

because that's how GREAT 

I am.....

I had the stretchers cut off and the finish patched.

So.....

now Connie and Chris can reside at the head and foot of the table.....

when they have dinner parties.....

for which Connie does the cooking.....

and Chris stands around and talks.....

and wonders why Connie thinks it's so much work to have company.....

The host and hostess chairs are from Minton-Spidell.

This is the way it was shown in their catalog...

And....

I thought....

with a little tweaking....

it could just be da bomb for a beach side home!!!!!

So,

since they are willing to do custom finishes,

I chose the white I wanted the chairs painted.

Most furniture companies want to do some type of distressed and waxed painted finish, 

but I held to my guns, and had them done in just a simple white.

They were upholstered in Sunbrella fabric for ease of maintenance.

Unfortunately, 

this color has been discontinues.

I had a white contrast welt applied to the seat cushion, 

which adds a crisp outline to the chair, and unites the white of the frame to the upholstery.

The side chairs are from Baker through their Milling Road collection.

EMPIRE SIDE CHAIR

THE MILLING ROAD COLLECTION

I was able to use one of their existing finishes, since they don't do custom.....

and covered them in some more of the coral Sunbrella fabric that 

you can't get no more!!!!!

It seems, whenever I use something, the manufacturers 

IMMEDIATELY

stop producing it.

I am the anti-trensetter!!!!

As I showed you before,

I also had the hutch painted a plain white,

uniting the look with the chairs.

Over the table TPD had had a candle chandelier hung.

This isn't electrified, but just for candles.....

Connie has been out shopping without me.....

(nasty, nasty, nasty woman.....)

and found these wonderful birds for the dining table top....

I hate that she doesn't need me for everything.....

They're pretty cooooolllllll.....

TPD had a little trouble with space planning, and scale.....

She thought there would be room for this console table at the end of the dining table up against the French doors.

If you don't want to use the chair.....

 or be able to walk by the table.....

or be able to look out to the ocean.....

or be able to 

use the room at all.....

then this would have worked.

BUT.....

since Connie and Chris are unreasonable,

and want to actually live in this room,

I moved the table to the entry way.

And flanked it with these two wicker chairs, 

which TPC had planned to use by the game table.

I felt that they didn't have the heft needed there, so moved them to here, and replaced them with the  Milling Road Regency Arm Chair.

I think they make more of a statement at the end of the room.....

With the console table in the entry,

it can hold practical things....

like this ships model!!!!!

There are no end of important uses for this thingy!!!!!

And on that note....

Latah, Gatah