Hyacinths part three

Jan. 28

Feb 19

Today

My purple hyacinth turned out to be pink

The scent fills the whole room...

The Nester has some interesting posts on thrifting:

• How to Cure Thrift Store Shopping, I Hate to Pass Up a Great Deal-itis Disease Syndrome 
• Your Thoughts on Thrifting-itis 
• Final thoughts on Thrifting
  

Lately I've been witnessing a subtle change in many of the decor blogs from acquiring more to doing more with less.

Interesting, don't you think?

Could you live in 350 square feet?

I did.

My first "big girl" apartment was about the size of one of the entrants in the "small and cool" teeny tiny division over at Apartment Therapy.

This apartment caught my eye because is was so like my first apartment layout which I dearly loved.  As I continue to declutter I keep a vision of that dear little apartment, full of sunlight, and devoid of clutter in my mind.

I once had an apartment with a kithcen whose floor dimensions from counter to counter was 2 feet very much like this one.  The stove was one of those miniature apartment sized ones.  It was like working in a doll house. I loved it - and once cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner with just a bit of planning.

Too cute kitchen...

We currently live in a 4 bedroom house.  Buuuuut - three of the bedrooms are devoted to our businesses.  My husband runs our teaching and publishing business out of two and my daylily nursery is run out of the third one. 

My question for the day is:

Where does all the "stuff" come from that we think without which our lives would be devoid of purpose and worth?

All picutes courtesy of Apartment Therapy - and we thank them.  Take a look at some of the other "small and cool" apartments.

The Dust Ruffle...

(which is really a bed skirt - who knew???) is finished.  And boy am I ever glad!

Using the directions garnered from do-it-yourselfer extraordinaire Gina, over at The Shabby Chic Cottage, I managed to stitch together a lush king-sized bed skirt for $20.00.  It would have been way cheaper if I hadn't over-scrunched the material when I was sewing it together necessitating adding another sheet plus 1/2 of a 5th sheet, but I love the lush over-done look.

It took 4 1/2 twin sheets which cost $4.00 each at WallyWorld.  I had a bed skirt on the bed that cost $2.00 at the thrift store so I used that for the base and simply stitched the new folded over fabric right on top of the old stuff (which was ugly) and only had a 14" drop.  My bed has a 16" drop plus I wanted some extra fabric to puddle on the floor.  I was shocked at the cost of decent looking bed skirts online.  Even Pottery Barn was in the $90.00 range. 

Rather than reinvent the wheel, Gina has fabulous instructions here.

It's a bit like sleeping on top of a wedding cake...

The left over fabric will be used to form a ruffle for the footstool...

The top cover for the footstool will be the fabric that is being used to recover two more of my ugly "dentist office chairs" (which seem to have bred like maggots. These are the other two of the ones I already re-covered for the dining room.) It appears like the fabrics don't match but they actually match perfectly...

About the cover on the down comforter ...

Many years ago I bought a very expensive duvet cover.  The down comforter was always slipping around inside and it was a hassle to remove and wash.  This is the first time ever we have not had a couple of dogs but we still have two cats.  The "fur-people" crawl all over the bed and therefore I'm not going to spend a gazillion dollars on a duvet cover that is inconvenient and can't be easily cleaned.

I love old sheets.  They are soft and nicely faded due to years and years of washings.  King sized flat sheets are readily available at the thrift stores.  Bottom sheets not so much because they are the first to wear out.  For years I've scarfed up old king-sized flat sheets, purchased a good coordinating fitted sheet and, voila, a king sized set for about $20.00 bucks.

For the comforter cover I simply throw a king-sized sheet over the comforter and fold it over the top of the comforter.  It comes off every week and is washed along with the sheets.  Simply and cheap inexpensive.

Another vintage sheet I use...

I've linked to Gina for Transformation Thursday.  Visit her at The Shabby Chic Cottage for more wonderful ideas...

I've linked to My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday, too

Growing bulbs indoors...

is super easy.

While picking up a few things at the hardware store I came upon some bulbs that were on sale for $2.00 per package.  Some of them had 6 bulbs, some 8, and the tulips had 12 bulbs.

There were packages of  purple and white hyacinths which I dearly love for their wonderful fragrance. The bulbs were large and already sprouted, so I grabbed a few packages. 

I rooted around (no pun intended) and found a nice low clay pot.  After putting a bunch of broken clay pieces in the bottom for drainage, I added a bit of soil and stuck in the bulbs.  After covering the top with bark the pot was watered and placed by the window.  When I'm bored I can always sit and watch the hyacinth grow.

Hyacinths come in many beautiful colors

My pot will have a mixture of white and purple

 
Hyacinths and other bulbs can even be grown in water.  My grandma used to put them in a beautiful low bowl surrounded by rocks with just a bit of water.  They also make cute little bulb vases.

 In just a few weeks I'll have a beautiful blooming pot of fragrant hyacinth for about $1.50.  The bulbs I didn't use for the pot will go outside. 

I'm being harassed by fellow bloggers and it's not pretty...

sigh...

Angela, the Parisienne Farmgirl (of the beautiful kids, lovely chickens, and honey lavender ice cream), is "requesting" to see my chandelier after it's paltry makeover.  This re-do is more a case of "anything would be better" than "isn't she just amazingly clever." 

To save you time here's the "old" very ugly cheap chandy with it's too small shades.  Love all the extra chain and wires sticking out...

Original plan?  Redo the shades in a cool fabric to match the burgundy trim on plate and paint the chandy white (via Jan at Bobby Pins Boardwalk)

Shortly thereafter, a quick trip into Tuesday Morning unearthed two darling little shades.  Ooooops.  I need four.  The manager overheard me saying something to hubby (angel intervention alert) and she said,

"Did you see the 50% off ones in the back?"

"Why, no - no I didn't."

Buried in a bin in the back of the store were 5 high quality white shades.  Final cost after the additional 50% off?

$1.50 each

See how much bigger they are?

After slapping some primer on the chandy, I knew white wasn't going to work.  I got out my acrylics and started mixing until I matched the plate and voila - burgundy chandy  (Jan will be proud)...

The fabric I originally purchased for the shades will become the cord cover...

De-cluttering continues with the question, "Does a 65 year old woman really need her eighth grade report card?"  Purely rhetorical as it already hit the trash can.

Downsizing takes a nosedive...

Sigh...

I made the mistake of wandering over to the Christmas Cloche Party at A Stroll Thru Life.  The blame all goes to the sweet Glenda over at Dab of This and That.  She posted pictures of her wonderful cloches and directed me to the Cloche Party.

  It seems cloches, sometimes called Bell Jars, are popping up all over and are quite the rage.  Now I don't need a cloche. Does anyone really need a cloche? Therefore, I had no plans to acquire such a thing.  However, two weeks or so ago I made a quick stop at Tuesday Morning.  I hadn't been in there for years since the store became so junky and dirty.  Lo and behold, it was cleaned up and was stocked with some fairly nice stuff (most of which IMO, was still very overpriced.)

Sitting on a shelf were two cloches.  Not ordinary cloches, but ones which lovely etchings on the the sides, a glorious huge glass nob on top, the bottom edge covered in silver, and standing almost a foot tall including the knob.  It was priced at $19.99 which I thought was more than reasonable.  Did I make the purchase?  No.  Aren't you proud of me?

Then..................................................I go to the cloche party and the fever for a cloche hit an all time high.  I MUST have that cloche says I (while breathing rapidly into a paper bag.)  Thinking it would be long gone I popped Tuesday Morning yesterday and discovered they were still there.  

It gets better, though.  One of them had a wee chip on the bottom.  Did it mar the overall appearance?  Nope, you can barely see it.   So I headed up to the manager and asked if they discounted damaged goods.  Why yes indeedy - they did.  How about $15.00 instead of $19.99?  Well, ok!

Now I have a cloche...

The chip that saved me $5.00

Tonight we'll be off to the 123rd annual Candlelight Concert at the beautiful St. Aloysius Church on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane. 

For our "fine dining experience" after the concert, nothing compares to Dick's - a Spokane institution famous for the Whammy burger and the best fries in the entire world!

One down - three to go...

First of three chairs is done, but not without an almost complete meltdown on my part.  I forgot how miserable it was to cover those chairs.  They need to be taken apart and when I reassembled them I put the seat on backwards.  That's why the little piece of fabric is hanging down in the front corner. It was ripped loose when I crammed the seat back on.  I'll repair it when I do the next chair.   It's taken me three days to recover from the ordeal.  At one point I seriously considered throwing the chair out in the snow bank.  Really!  Hubby hid in his office.  Smart guy!

These chairs are my hubby's favorite because they have little rollers on the bottom.  If the "design" looks familiar it's because you probably sat in one just like it in your doctors waiting room.  After doing the second one for the dining room, I'll tackle the two that live in our bedroom...

And then................ in true ADD fashion,  I'll touch-up the paint on the arms.  What?  Is there a better way? 

With a little help from our friends...

decisions can be made.

After much help from Jan at Bobbypin's Boardwalk, I was able to make a decision on my ugly kitchen chandelier.  Her comments forced me to think a bit deeper and I decided to re-do the shades before deciding on the color for the chandelier.

Voila.  Like magic the perfect fabric jumped into my cart last night at WallyWorld.  When viewed in person the green is very, very muted - almost a sand color and will probably be the color I paint the chandelier - cream with a the barest hint of beige/green.

While I mull over how I want the shades to look and in what manner I will make that happen, I must cover two chairs in the dining room.

This disgusting mess...

(Do not, under any circumstances, embiggun this photo.  Really!)

should be covered in this...

(you may embiggun this photo by clicking on it)

What color should I paint my chandelier? w/ Update

This is undoubtedly the ugliest and cheapest chandelier ever manufactured.  I've decided the only way to even partially redeem it is by slapping on a coat of paint.  I'll be adding a cord cover to mask the sloppy job the previous owners did on installation. 

I'm happy with the little blue shades I added but the cheap fake brass needs paint.  I will not be taking it down but using a footstool and a paint brush.  First I'll do primer and then  any color I want because I can mix it with my acrylics.

I thought about a black undercoat with a chippy cream topcoat.  Your input would be much appreciated.

As always you can click on picture to embiggem.  You sure don't want to miss the wire sticking out of the side of the cord (and maybe a dust bunny or two.)  If you're wondering about the wicker looking thing on the ceiling is  (of course you are),  it is a blind over the sky light.  All my life I wanted a skylight.  Now I have two - the other one is in my bathroom.  Guess what?  When the sun is beating down in the middle of summer it will fry your brain. 

The wall color in this photo is pretty true.  Sort of a coffee with lots of cream. 

I really like the little shades...

So what color should the chandelier be?

From the combox:

Jan of Bobbypin's Boardwalk said:

Well, Adrienne, you know you can never go wrong with white. The only other color that grabbed me was in looking at your picture I saw a plate on the wall. It appeared to have a burgundy trim. Boy that trim really stood out against those walls beautifully. I wonder if that could be an option. However, since you are keeping the darling blue shades, I think I would probably do white. I also like yellow and blue, but don't think the yellow would work in your kitchen. Yes, I keep coming back to white. Can't wait to see how it ends up.

Oh wait!  I don't have to keep those shades. Really!  So I popped online to check out different shades.  Prices?  Outrageous!  The current shades have the top ring and lamp clippy thing.  The bottom ring is being held on by the stiff fabric.  It would be easy enough to attach the top and bottom rings with some wire and recover the lampshades with whatever I wanted because I really like the idea of burgundy for the ugly chandelier.  I remember hanging that burgundy trimmed plate and thinking the same thing Jan did.

Thanks, Jan 

Guess What I Got?

Thanks to the help and encouragement from a lovely lady I met at Costco yesterday, I was able to make a decision on a purchase.  It's the smaller decisions that befuddle us ADD'ers and some help is always appreciated.  I may take her with me whenever I shop!

No fair peeking at the end of the post to see what I bought...

A little closer...

A snowflake?

Another one?

What's this?

Did you guess?

Luxury weight!  Whooooeeee!  We only have one pair of flannel sheets which I cheaply frugally purchased at an estate sale over 12 years ago.  They were premium J.C. Penny sheets and are still in good condition but I've wanted a second pair for several years.  This set was only $34.95 and they are extraordinarily heavy.  Don't you love the colors?

It's snowing again (what's up with that???) and so I am finally going to finish some projects that have been on the agenda for at least a year.

In case you missed it:

Parisienne Farmgirl has decorated her chandelier and it is gorgeous!  Be sure and check out her living and dining room while you're there.  It is exactly the way I want my house to look.  

Need some inspiration?  Check out Entry Hall ~ The Woodland Tree by Adrienne over at LaVie Quotidienne 

Looking for help in getting started with a project?  Gina over at the Shabby Chic Cottage and her hubby re-did their bathroom (down to the studs) in TEN DAYS and the results are outstanding.

Some good words of advice from Cherie over at Renaissance Garden  Christmas and Our Health 

 DON'T MISS Jan's Boardwalk Bragfest.  There is a plethora of great ideas...