MY NEW WORKSPACE--SUNSHINE, SPHERES AND SPARKLE

Recently I abandoned my desk in an upstairs bedroom and claimed the spinet desk on the main floor.  The desk was in the family room.  I dragged it through the foyer to its new location in  a corner of the living room.  I removed everything from the living room corner with the exception of the large pier mirror leaning against the wall.  I like it there. I faced the desk into the room with the mirror behind me.  The wing chair was already in that room and became my desk chair. The disco balls have been rolling around this room for a long time.  They originally were a tree skirt under our Christmas tree.  That was many Christmases ago.  They were just too pretty to put away after the holidays so they roll around all year long.

MY NEW WORKSPACE

 I photographed the space and was ready to edit and write the post the next day.  When I walked into the room the next morning, I was greeted by sunshine and sparkle.  Those disco balls are amazing.  You know how I feel about sunshine, spheres, and sparkle.  I just had to get the camera and start all over.  By the time I finished taking the photos, the sparkle had traveled to another location.  

SUNSHINE, SPHERES, AND SPARKLE

Since I ran out of sparkle before I could photograph everything again, this post will be a mix of photos with sparkle and photos without any shimmer at all.

SUPER SHIMMER UNDER MY DESK

The reflection filled the ceiling too.

CEILING REFLECTION

REFLECTION IN MIRROR

I have a yellow lab, but that didn't stop me from adding this pillow to the wing chair.  

DOG PILLOW

There aren't many drawers in this desk so I used a magazine rack for my folders.

MAGAZINE RACK FILE BOX

The art was already there.  They're a pair of architectural drawings.

ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS

Where do you have your "office".

If you'd like to see my spinet desk in its previous location, go here.

To see my tree with its disco ball tree skirt, go here.

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Thankfulness

I'm having a crowd for Thanksgiving.  Yea!!

I come from a huge family, so a crowd is pretty standard.  You could call us the large loud family.  At gatherings we all talk at once and over each other.   Surprisingly, we pretty much get our info across and get the gist of most of the multiple conversations.   I guess it's just years of exposure, but we hardly notice the noise level.  New guests are a little more sensitive though.  My three sisters and I all share the same story about when we brought our future husbands to their first family get together.  Each one of them had to leave the room and take an outside break from the noise and commotion.  My husband actually said that he wanted to go outdoors for a few moments.  This was in bitter cold Pennsylvania winter weather.  So funny now, but not then.

Well, this gathering will not be any different.  I have to say though that where there's a lotta talkin' goin' on there are also a lotta spills and stains.  I've given up using fancy table coverings that are hard to clean.  We also talk with our hands, and those gestures cause some major mishaps too.

Good old Pinterest has come through again for me for the tablecloth dilemma.

Each Thanksgiving we actually stop talking before we eat and we each share what we are thankful for.
 Yes, only one person talks and everyone listens.  

Well how perfect is this?????  I have a huge roll of brown painters' paper.
 I'm going to cut placemat-size squares from the paper and put one at each place setting to catch
 all the spills--and record the thankfulness.   

Via Pinterest

And, have you ever checked the bins at Michaels??  I always find treasures.  These pencils are one of my favorite finds .  They come in all patterns--snakeskin, houndstooth, leopard.   I have enough for each guest to compose his/her thoughts.  You can really go wild when things are 12/$1.50.

I think I have the beginnings of my centerpiece.

I hope my family members will be as excited as I am about writing down their thoughts and sharing.

(Hopefully, I won't have to use so much Shout after this holiday either.)  

May your Thanksgiving be filled with fun, family, and friends.

Kathy

More Tweaking At My Daughter's Apartment

One of my daughter's requests for her bedroom was a bench at the foot of the bed.  Of course her bargain hunting mother found a bench for $15.  It had some pretty ugly fabric.  In fact, the 1980's called and wanted it back.  But, I knew I could make it pretty.

Again we wanted to go girly.  I found some hot pink faux leather fabric on line.  Perfect.  The upholstery job was pretty easy.  The whole bench disassembled.  I removed the top and the legs.  After that it was just a matter of covering each section. Easy peasy. There was no sewing involved.  All I needed was a tape measure, scissors and my electric staple gun. After I removed the old fabric and added more padding to the top, I covered each section with the faux leather.
I reassembled it and this is the transformation.

I couldn't wait to get it to her apartment.  It fit perfectly at the foot of her bed.  Her houndstooth bed spread is orange and white.  Her dust ruffle is pink.   I love the combination of orange and pink.

This is the full view.  How cute is the lavender flokati rug?

Some orange and pink inspiration.

Simplified Bee

Splendid Sass

Mrs Howard Personal Shopper

Camille Styles

Amanda Carol at Home

Pinterest

Pinterest

J. Crew

See, that combo is everywhere.

You'll have to wait to see the completed room.  I have one more project.  What do you think?



Link to another post from my daughter's apartment here.
Link to her chinoiserie nightstand here. 
Link to her hoosier turned bar here.
Link to her small entry way here.

Sister Saves Sister From Change Up

Do you remember when I found that iron day bed and decided to use it as an inspiration for
 a change up on my whole screened porch ?

My New Screened Porch Decor

 You also might recall that the change up left me with a room full of wicker furniture.
Death knell for the wicker.

Sister to the rescue.
One of my three sweet sisters describes herself as being in my home decor food chain.
She had just enclosed her back porch and said she'd love to use my wicker there.
Whew!  How timely was that?

My husband and I loaded up the large van before she could change her mind
and drove it over.  We arrived  at her house with quite a load.
We were filled to capacity.

My Filled to the Gills Truck Arriving at My Sister's Home

We had an empty room to work with. 

She painted the walls Benjamin Moore's Davenport Tan and one wall Shelbourne Buff. 

The floors look amazing.  Her handy husband installed them.

We placed the sofa and painted table on the far wall.  The floor lamp is vintage.
The clock completes the vignette.

You know I love to mix fabric patterns.  There was no exception when I sewed the pillows and cushions for the wicker.  The main fabric was the P. Kaufmann monkey fabric.  To the mix I added the houndstooth, the paisley, and the pillows with leaves.

To see more of my mix and match fabric choices, go here, and here.


I was lucky enough to find more of the houndstooth fabric and sewed some draperies for the sliding glass door.  This is looking in from the hallway that adjoins her kitchen.

The side wall with the huge window has a wicker rocker, a wicker chair, and a large wicker sofa table.  They're all vintage.  The carpet is stenciled jute in just the right color tones.  I covered a long bench with coordinating paisley fabric.  It can be seating, or if she adds a tray, a coffee table.

This is another view of the mix and match fabrics, the rocking chair and pillow with buttons, the birdcage, the bench, and the fabulous sofa table.

We even have monkeys on the lamps.

On the wall opposite the sofa is a lounging area with a chaise.

My sister said that the chaise and the glass-topped nesting garden tables with the attached lamp is her favorite spot to relax with a cup of coffee and a book.

My sister and her family are really enjoying the new room. They call it the Monkey Room.

What do you think?

Kathy

If you missed my original screened porch post click here.

To see view two go here and for view three here.

Kitchen Update Reveal

I continue to update my 1970's knotty pine kitchen.  In a previous post I shared that I painted my cabinets gray.  As a back splash alternative I used Duralee  Faux Snakeskin fabric and trimmed it out with nail heads.  This vignette with the pewter plate and urns stayed the same.  So did the back splash.  I love the faux snake skin fabric and nail head trim as much if not more than when I added it more than two years ago.  If you missed that post, go here.

I decided to change the window treatments to this Schumacher chevron fabric, High Voltage.

And also changed the chairs in the eat-in area from this:

To this set of four, found at a consignment store.

Modern Chrome and Leather Vintage Chair

Not much changed in the kitchen prep area.  I made a faux roman shade for above the sink and changed the red French canister set for a set of stainless.