Forever Decorating!

1/23/2011

Another Child's Chair

Finished chair cushion

Here I go again with working on yet another child's chair. This one is an antique chair that I purchased for myself at a local garage sale. It is so adorable and in perfect condition that I knew I wouldn't paint it.

Before

Instead I made this oh-so-cute chair cushion for it. I find some really cool things at garage sales!...I found a unfinished needlepoint purse. I finished the black part of it since the rose part was already done. My eye sight is not what it used to be so this was almost painful.

Needlepoint and other fabrics used

I knew that I didn't want to make a purse and thought the curves of the purse design matched the tiny child's chair seat that I already had. So with combining fun fabrics, I sewed up a sweet chair cushion.

Cushion top

Above is the top with added ruffles to extend the upper area and black and white piping that I made and attached. Unfinished edged ruffles are all the rage now and I thought that they would bring some whimsy to the fancy needlepoint.

I added a fabric rose from the fabric used on the under side of the cushion.

Tied with a bow on the back, allowed it to be attached to the chair and I think it turned out sooo adorable! And I get to keep this one! Terry

NOTE: Click on any picture to enlarge for detail

I am linking up with these parties:
Met. Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Boring To Better party
Transformation Thursday
Frugal Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Saturday Nite Special

1/22/2011

Hand Painted Child's Chair

I hand painted this chair...

And you can see it in this post here, but I had picked up another chair at a garage sale almost just like it.

Before

I decided it was time to paint this second one. I had an idea in mind to paint some kind of bird and make it look rustic and free-form, so I basically let my mind run free and this is the result.

Back, a bit of playfulness

Front, a bit of subway art

Seat, a bit of cuteness

I then decided to embellish it by making a matching pillow to hang from the open back.

NOTE: You can click on the pictures to enlarge for seeing the details.
I'm linking up to these parties:
Saturday Nite Special
Sunday Showcase Party
Met. Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Boring To Better party
Transformation Thursday
Frugal Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Look What I found Friday
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed

1/21/2011

Just Playing...Wool Rose Pins

WOOL ROSE PINS!

I thought that I would try my hand at making roses out of old wool sweaters. Remember the wool purse I made? If not you can check it out here.

Working with wool is easy, fun and addicting. It's cheap when you buy the wool sweaters at a thrift store for only a $1 too. Here are two wool rose pins that I just made using a hot glue gun.

These are shown here on my black winter coat. Aren't they so cute? Terry

You can click on each picture to enlarge for viewing details. I am linking up to these parties:

Frugal Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Saturday Nite Special
Sunday Showcase Party
Met. Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Boring To Better party
Transformation Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday

1/20/2011

Guest Bathroom Tour

This bathroom has gone through three transformations in eight years. Can you tell I like to decorate just based on the first statement? It was your typical bland white walls and all white fixtures originally. Now it has a black and white Parisian theme. This bathroom has one long white vanity with one sink. I installed new light fixtures. Our handyman installed bead-board wainscoting, new faucets, and a new exhaust fan/light combo. My son installed a new toilet on a visit this past summer. Yes, I ask him to do honey do's when he comes to see me. Now, would that be a bad Mom? Not, as long as I don't have him do too much and I even pay him for his services. A win win if you ask me!!

To jazz up the huge and frame-less mirror, I Velcro'd a white painted antique picture frame in the center over the sink. See first picture. That is a mirror reflecting the opposite wall.

We took out the glass shower doors since they were gold. (We took all the gold out of the house...new door knobs, drawer knobs, hinges, etc.) In place of the doors, hubby installed a bowed shower rod and I picked up the shower curtain at TJ Maxx.

The floors are marble like other parts of the house, so that was fine and didn't need to be changed.

I put a black vinyl chandelier on the wall above the toilet and shelf.

On the opposite wall, I purchased a 1948 French magazine at a garage sale for $2 and picked out three ads and framed them as art.

I painted the ceiling to look like rolling storm clouds.

The upper walls are painted Practical Beige by Sherwin Williams. And I used vintage silverware handles as the hooks for the towels. Much cheaper than purchasing towel hooks or rods.

BEFORE, See the gold knobs and shower doors? Yuck!

All inexpensive fixes and the room looks pretty, clean and functional. Terry

I am linking up to these parties:
Frugal Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Saturday Nite Special
Sunday Showcase Party
Met. Monday
Amaze Me Monday
White Wednesday
Boring To Better party
Transformation Thrusday
Feathered Nest Friday

1/18/2011

Child's Rockers

I have painted many child's rockers over the years. I have clients that come to me...usually grandparents and some parents and I basically do an interview about the child the rocker will be given to. They give me some idea of what they are looking for and I ask about the personality of the child. I then go to work. Some are more elaborate than others mostly because some clients have a very limited budget and others let me have free rein. I must say, the ones that "let me do my thing" are the ones that turn out the best.

This rocker was provided to me as a stained child's rocker. I was given free rein on this one and it's one of my very favorite. This grandma has three granddaughters that would share this.

Before

This next one was painted for a little boy that was only 6 months old...but Grandma told me that one grandfather liked John Deere and the other liked Massey Ferguson. So I painted whimsical versions of both tractors on this rocker. I had to be a bit more creative to paint the following rockers because of the slatted seats.