New year, new bedding

 I don't know why, but when January (okay February!) rolls around I always feel like switching things up.  Probably because everything Christmas gets put away and I'm left with a blank slate.  I've been considering updating our master bedroom for the last little bit.  I debated repainting in a darker blue shade, but I just couldn't decide.  Typically paint should be the last thing you update because it needs to coordinate with your bedding and art, etc.  Well I've updated the art, but not the bedding.  We have a lovely west elm comforter in slate blue for winter and an ivory pottery barn quilt for summer.  My dog Riley sleeps on our bed all day, and she sheds. A lot!  So, I keep the pretty comforter covered with an assortment of old sheets.  Not very appealing.  My collection of old sheets just keeps getting older and shabbier, thanks to the many washings and Riley-abuse.  I've been on the hunt for a more attractive flat sheet to use instead of white, like a printed sheet of some kind.  Unfortunately it's hard to buy just a flat sheet, much less with a large print.  I finally hit on an idea!  Why not take apart a reversible duvet cover into two flat pieces and use those?  After a search on Amazon, I came across this blue floral duvet cover (they also sell matching sheets) which reverses to the same print on the opposite side.  Perfect!

Amazon shipped it to me in one day (Thanks Amazon!) and after washing it, I set to work taking it apart.  I just cut the seams off the edges and removed the zipper at the bottom.  I bought a king size so I would be sure to have enough fabric after taking it apart.  Then I simply hemmed all the edges on the sewing machine and pressed it out.  It came with matching shams which I resized (they were king) and put on the bed to match. Then I added some throw pillows that had been languishing in the closet. I am loving the new look. And now when the top sheet gets dirty or too fuzzy, I can throw it in the washer and put the second sheet on the bed.  :)  Georgia has never seen my bed made up with fancy pillows, since I kind of gave up on all that years ago. She thought this was great and immediately jumped into the pile of pillows. :)  Riley also thinks it's swell.  And of course, now that I have acquired new "bedding" I can turn my attention to paint colors! :)

Happy February!

Art for the Master

I’m a country girl at heart, even though I live near the “big city” now (not really!) and I’ve always wanted a painting of a barn to hang in my house.  I love barns.  Especially old, rustic, falling-down ones.  So, when my mother saw a raffle for a barn print by Ward Nichols at a local church bazaar, she decided to buy a bunch of tickets in hopes that we would win.  And lo and behold, the ticket she entered under my name was the winner!  Hooray!  I never win anything!  I think she was kind of expecting me to give her the print, since she bought the ticket.  I told her we could share custody… that is until I saw it hanging over my bed.  The end.  My barn print!  :)  Thanks Mama!

It’s called “First Snowfall” by Ward Nichols and it is framed with a beautiful tan linen mat.  The tones in the print are just perfect in my bedroom, so serene and lovely.  :)

The linen mat also ties in nicely with the embroidery on the drapes and the tan linen lampshade.

The former bedroom art went to live over the mantel in my botanical inspired mantelscape.  I think this art is a much better complement to the blues and browns in the bedroom.  I also moved the family tree that was on the side wall to the hallway and put something else there that didn’t compete for attention with my new barn print.  I think it looks perfect!  :)

A Shower from the Future

Last weekend, while my brother was out playing in the briar patch, my father and I were in the master bathroom closet replacing the shower valve.  Why?  Well, we were only planning to replace our shower head, and repair the trip lever to stop up the drain which was broken.  But you know what happens when you give a Sarah a new shower head…. she goes off and picks out a brand new faucet which requires a different valve than the outdated one you currently have.  So you have to replace that, too, and then you might as well get a new spout while you are at it…  see what I mean? 

The new faucet was to replace our poor, old, plastic knob thing that says “PUSH UP OPEN”.  If you have a Delta faucet from the 70’s and 80’s you know what I’m talking about.  The one that gets all grody and the cap falls off and fills with water… that’s the one!  We had these at my childhood home (still do) and we have three of them in our current home (one is a sink faucet).  But this one just had to go!

Anyway, my dear, sweet father was kind enough to come install the new valve and faucet for me.  If I had known what a job that was going to be, I would have just sucked it up and stuck with the outdated faucet we had.  ;)  Oh well!

PROCEED WITH CAUTION! (Or just call a plumber and make it his problem!)

First things first, we turned off the water to the house.  Next we took off the existing fixtures. 

So far this post is a thrilling tour of my master shower. :) haha!  After we removed all the fixtures, we went into the closet wall behind the shower (where the pipes are) and cut open a hole in the drywall so we could access the pipes.  In our case we cut one up at the shower head and one down at the faucet. 

This exposed the valve in the wall.  Then Papa cut the pipes connecting to the valve so we could remove it.

This is what it looked like:

Antique. :)  And on the other side of the wall, this is what we were left with:

Next, we carefully measured the existing pipes to join to our new valve with short pieces of pipe and little connector pieces called unions.  We also needed three elbows to reconnect all the pieces.

After measuring, cutting, and cleaning our new pieces, Papa began soldering them all together in the basement.

That was exciting and neat!  Then he had to solder the rest of the joints in the wall, which was even more challenging.  I didn’t take any pictures of this step since I was holding the flashlight and praying that nothing caught on fire.  Nothing did. :)

Next was the tedious process of checking all the joints for leaks and resoldering some of them.  That took a few tries, but suffice to say, we persevered!  Thanks Papa!

After reinstalling the valve, we followed the assembly instructions for the new faucet, spout, and shower head.  We also replaced the trip lever at this time.  And while we were at it, we cleaned out the tub drain.  It’s a much nicer shower experience now! :)

The best part:  When we bought the house, our pipes were reversed with hot on the right and cold on the left so when you went to turn the water colder it got hotter instead, and vice versa.  We quickly learned to compensate (so much so that when we vacation, I get confused as to why the shower is backwards!).  Our hope was that in installing a new valve we could switch the hot and cold back to normal.  Luckily the cartridge for our new faucet was set up to reverse the sides easily in case it was a “back-to-back” shower set-up. (This is when you have two showers coming off the same set of pipes.  One will be correct and the other will be reversed.)  So to ensure that the hot/cold would correctly align with the markings on the new faucet all we had to do was flip the cartridge over.  It was conveniently marked to help with this process.  :) Yay, Delta!  And ultimately, it worked.  Red is now hot and blue is cold!! Whoo hoo!

Now for the part you have been waiting for, the after pictures… Voila!  A shower from the future!!

The faucet we selected is the Delta Lahara Monitor 17 Series in chrome.  We found it on Amazon for the best price.  I ordered a separate spout with a diverter since the one that was in the Lahara set was ugly. :) Sorry, Delta.  The faucet is great because it has two control handles, a large one for on/off in the back, and the little one in front to set the temperature.  That way you can set the temperature once and then just turn the water off and on and each time the temperature will remain the same.  This is so nice because I used to turn on the water to run a bath without really checking the temperature and it was always too hot!  So now I just turn it on and rest assured that it won’t burn my toes off! :)  It’s the little things…

Like a shower head with “touch clean” technology that cleans away calcium deposits with the swipe of a finger.  I haven’t had the opportunity to test that out, but it sounds neat.

How do you like the new fixtures?  Want to come over and try out my shower?  Sorry, you have to use the guest bath, this one’s all for me!!   Unless Papa wants to use it… I think he’s earned a shower or two. ;)

A Full Length Mirror

It’s one thing every girl needs… a full length mirror so she can check out how those shoes go with that outfit.  For the past four years, I’ve been running downstairs to the den where my full length mirror resides to check out my shoes.  I am a seamstress so it’s important to have a mirror downstairs for my clients.  But I’ve always wanted to get one for my bedroom, too. I wanted one of those giant, leaning monstrosities that costs upwards of $200, but I wanted it for fifty bucks.  Story of my life. :)

Well, my mother tipped me off to a mirror at Big Lots that was pretty large, not big enough to lean, but definitely surpassing the $20 over-the-door mirrors that you see in college dorms.  This one was only $50.  And after hemming and hawing over it and looking at comparable models at Overstock (nothing under $100) and Lowe’s (one I found for $90) I decided to get the Big Lots version.  Lucky for me, Sunday was 20% off everything in the store!  Woot!  So I picked up this bad boy for forty bucks and Mama and I wrangled it into my car with complete lack of finesse. :)  And yesterday I hung it up on the wall beside my closet (even more lack of finesse involved there… evil wall anchors!). 

Anyway, check it out!

It has a plastic frame (I would have preferred wood), but for $40 what do you expect?  The frame is a dark brown color which looks black in pictures and if you are Michael.  (I told him it’s brown.)  The mirror is almost five feet tall and a foot and a half wide which sure beats those crappy over the door mirrors. 

See how the dark brown coordinates with the dark brown frame on the same wall?  Both of those frames are a bit dark for the wood tones in this room, so I may end up painting the mirror frame at some point, but for now I am loving it!

And most importantly, this mirror is big enough for me, or my 6 foot tall husband, to see ourselves in (even our shoes!).  Oh and Riley can see herself, too.  She likes to stand in front of it and look at the room backward.  She’s a funny girl. :)

Cloudcover Quilt

Happy February!  I finally found some time to photograph our new comforter that I ordered for Christmas.  After Riley destroyed our beautiful cream Pottery Barn essential quilt I had to replace it.  And since the PB one was sold out and discontinued ::wails of despair:: I had to find something else that I loved.  So I scoured the internet in search of something light and beautiful, made of cotton in cream or blue.  What I finally discovered was the Diamond Stitch Cloudcover Quilt from West Elm.  I was worried about ordering something blue because I had past experiences with the blues not matching my impression of them online.  Luckily this blue was the PERFECT shade to match our paint color (Going Gray by Olympic).  It was love at first sight!

It is more like a comforter with tufted quilting and navy blue topstitching.  I wasn’t sure the topstitching would look right in our bedroom, but I think its just the right touch of contrast.


Yay new quilt!  Let’s just hope that “Riley the Ripper” doesn’t get ahold of this one and that it will last for a long time!  Maybe even long enough that I’ll iron it one day! :)

Sheet Music Art

Greetings!  Tonight I have for you a quick little project using fern clippings from the yard and some old sheet music. 

You may remember the old fern art in the bedroom.  Okay, you probably don’t… Maybe this will help jog your memory:

Well the ferns I gathered back in 2008 were starting to look a little old.  They were ready to be replaced with something new and green.  So a few months ago I took them out and put a few homemade fern prints that I printed from vintage printables. 

They were sorta lackluster and they didn’t have that real greenery feeling that I was craving… and they were small since I was limited to my 8.5” x 11” printer size. 

Tonight while I was browsing my blogroll I came across this DIY pressed fern project from Pink Postcard. 

Her version was framed over ledger paper, but as soon as I saw it, I immediately thought of my stash of sheet music that I got from a family friend last year.  The sheet music is destined to line my antique trunk when I ever get around to restoring it.  But I don’t think it will miss a few sheets! ;)

I snatched my lackluster fern prints from the bedroom wall and began gathering my supplies:  three fern fronds from the yard (these are Japanese painted ferns, I believe.  I would have liked some variety, but my fern collection is limited), sheet music, glass cleaner, and glue. 

Remove old print, clean glass, select sheet music, reglue to glass, place fern, sandwich in between glass and pop back in frame.  Voila.

I’m sure that’s not the way you should do it, more like you should press and dry your ferns first, but this is how I did it the first time and it was fine.  So, we’ll just see how it goes. :) haha

I rehung the frames and then tried to make the after pictures as bright as possible.  :)

I picked music with the least writing, but two are from a piece entitled “Romance”… how appropriate.

The first one is from Brahms “Hungarian Dance No. 5” which I also thought was special because my husband’s family is from Hungary.  So there you go,  sentimental + music + nature.  Trifecta.

I’m liking how the creamy sheet music plays off the bedding but still looks layered because of the wall color showing through.  What do you think?

Operation Paint the House: Going Gray

I finally got back to Operation Paint the House and tackled the master bedroom last weekend.  Since we moved in, I’ve been saying I wanted to paint this room either tan/cream or pale blue.   All the linens were pale blue, so it seemed like maybe the walls should be some other color.  Until I got a cream quilt.  And then I was back on the fence about blue versus cream.  Even a slew of paint samples couldn’t seem to make up my mind.  The contenders were all Olympic colors:

After analyzing and reanalyzing and then making Michael analyze, I finally gave up trying to find the “perfect” color and just picked the palest blue gray one.  Lunar eclipse was a second contender because it is the color of the master bath, but I thought it was a bit too dark in the bedroom.  I nixed all the cream and tan shades for being too blah.  I may end up using something similar in the hallway/foyer/living room where we really need a good neutral.  Once I had picked the color “going gray” (which seems to be a misnomer, because its definitely more blue than gray, maybe it’s blue going gray??) I went to Lowe’s to get it mixed.  I decided to do an eggshell finish, because I am fed up with trying to scrub flat paint (even though I love the look of it)…  And they convinced me to try the new Olympic One paint.  Silly me, I thought the “one” meant one coat, instead of paint and primer all-in-one.  Yes, I can read.  :)  Well I tried to do one coat, but my roller was not cooperating, and the pale color of the paint made it hard to see where I hadn’t yet painted.  Once it was dry, I realized I had a lot of touch up spots.  I should have just sucked it up and rolled on a second coat, but impatience struck!  My feet were tired from standing tippy toe on the ladder all day, and so I gave up and just touched up with a brush.  “Big mistake!  Huge! I have to go shopping now…”  <—name that movie…

Anyway, lesson learned.  You can’t touch up your first coat by going over the spots you missed.  I was left with little shiny spots in my finish everywhere I had touched up.  I think if I were using evil flat paint, that method would have worked.  At least that’s what I tell myself.  So, some day Sarah is going to have to repaint the bedroom.  But not today! :)

On to the results… Ta da!

This color is just perfect for the bedroom, very serene and relaxing… and matches everything without being too much blue.  I love it!  For all you detail-oriented people out there, please note that I finally lengthened the curtains that I restyled back in oh… January.  :)  After adding a piece to lengthen them at the top, steaming them, and then stitching the pleats in place, now they look great!  Just don’t try to close them, Michael, because they are all tacked together to make them stay!  Yeah, I am that girl.  What’s that about form follows function??

I wish our bed looked like this all the time!  It’s so inviting…

 

And here is a recent addition to the room: my mother’s jewelry box that she gave me. :)  It’s so pretty.

Okay, I would say things are about done in here.  Maybe need some new artwork, and a new light fixture, of course.  But we’re almost there!  Here’s your side by side before and after comparison:

 

So, what do you think?  Want to come have a sleepover on my plushy bed?  We can stare at the new blue walls and sigh contentedly…

Thanks for stopping by… I’ll be back with some exterior paint work as well as some fun party ideas coming soon!