Bring In Some Loveliness

If you have read my blog for very long it is no secret I am a big fan of Eddie Ross. To tell you why would probably take too long. In short, he is one of the most endearing young men I have met in a long time. He has so much talent and I believe has the ability to bring the “Lovely” back into our homes.

He just did a post on an article that was in the Home section of the Chicago Tribune Sunday paper. The title is Lost Luxuries. Eddie talks about ways to bring back luxuries into our everyday life. You must go and read the article. I was so taken with it I did not want it to end. I could have read a whole book with his wonderful ideas. I won’t talk about what he wrote, you must go and read it on his blog post here.

The article did get me thinking about some of the things that I like to do to bring back the Lovely or as he put it, “Lost Luxuries” back in my home.
It is never the over the top things that we do that seem lovely but the simple things that make ourselves and others feel special.
At the end of his post he asked what are some of the things we do in our own home or lives. I thought I would share a few with you here on my own blog.

 

I always drink out of pretty glasses even if it is a glass of water. I try to have a lemon or a lime slice to add to it. There is nothing prettier than a glass full of ice with water and a pretty little slice of yellow or green citrus floating in the liquid.

  I try to keep fresh flowers in my home. I make sure I have at least two areas where I can display fresh flowers. Even in my bath I have a very small bud vase on the sink with a flower or two in it. It does not always have to be flowers either. A few stems of fern or greenery can add freshness to a room.

I spray all of my beds with a Lavender linen spray. I like the one made my Scentennials.

In the evening and I must admit even during the day I have ambient lighting. I use small refrigerator bulbs 7watts each in my lights that I like to keep on. If you ever come to my home you will notice the lamp light on the porch is always on.

Candles, I love candlelight. I use unscented votives and sometimes in the evening I will have one little votive by where I am sitting just because I think it is lovely.
Music is always playing in my home . I like soft background music, you know the kind you can hear gently but nothing ever to loud.
I did a post when I first started blogging that I called A Sense-sational home that mentions these. If you have time you might enjoy reading it also.

I hope after reading Eddies wonderful post and reading my post that was inspired by him you go away with wanting to bring back the Luxuries or loveliness to your home.

" Enjoy the Process" Of: Bringing some loveliness back into your home.

Kathysue

The Fabric has been Chosen!

I actually brought home three samples of fabric. One was a green and white damask, one was a stripe with greens and pinks with an overlay damask print in cream, and the last one was a soft off white with varying sizes of green stripes. I lived with the samples for a few days and made my decison. The pink and green was actually the perfect colors and pattern, however, it just said too much. It kept saying, "Look at me,look at me." I was tired of looking at it within the first hour. I wanted it to be a quiet soft look.  The damask had too much yellow base in the green. The soft green stripe won!  Stripes afterall are  a consistent pattern in my life. The color was perfection and it went well with some damask green and white pillows that I already in my wicker chairs in the living room. I also have some silk green and cream curtains in the room. So here is the winner………

I fell in love with this trim. It is not the conventional gimp that might be on a chair like this but I like a little whimsy in my life and this just called out to me. They only had enough to do the chair and  it was discontinued, so I felt it was just meant to be for me to buy it.

The chair has been gutted, fluffed and puffed, stapled and tacked. This is what it looks like now…………………………….

Here is the fabric draped on the chair. I really like the way it looks, so soft so pretty. It is like a diamond matelasse’ on the background with the stripe overlay. Simple, soft and lovely.

This is a picture of the damask pillow and the silk drapes that are already in the room. It is an unfinished room but it does have a garden room look to it because of the great light that comes through the bay window. Rememer this room has vanilla icecream walls with white molding and a green ceiling. Here is a picture of the ceiling so you can see how it all ties in together……….

This mirror is reflecting the ceiling. Now it is onto the part I have been waiting for, putting on the fabric. Wish me luck!! To be continued……

“Enjoy the Process” Of: Seeing a project unfold.

Kathysue

Oh My! What Have I Started!!

I mentioned in my DIY project post that I had two small projects, the frames, and one bigger project, the can of worms. Well, I decided I could freshen up an antique rocker in my living room. Eventually, if I ever get to do my living room I would like four matching chairs with a large table in the middle. This room was called the quiet room when my boys were growing up. It was used for reading and playing the piano. My lady friends and I sit in there and have had great conversations. Back to the rocking chair. I sat in this chair and rocked each one of my Grandbabies and we have read books in that chair. I checked on having it re-done, but it would cost more than the chair was actually worth. It looked like a simple job, NOT!! Here is the chair………..

You can see it is mahogany and it is a simple upholstery job. There are  springs in the bottom and one had broken through the bottom, time to do something about this.

Hubby and I flipped the chair over and took a peek inside to find old springs and webbing that was coming loose. We proceeded to replace the webbing and sew each spring to the new webbing. I will not even bore you with these details but let me say three trips to the store and two days later, the chair has new insides.

We proceeded to strip the fabric and stuffing. Inside we found old cotton batting and even horse hair, so we know this chair is really an old rocker. We proceeded to paint the chair in a gloss white to freshen it up ala Brocade style………….

How do you like my work bench? It actually worked quite well. You can see the old burlap backing and the cotton wadding. They had taken an old piece of fabric to cover the springs. It still had a covered button attached to it, which I thought was kind of funny. There were three different fabrics on this chair. The gold damask that you saw and a soft pink embossed fabric that looked like it was from the forties, and than a tiny floral print on black, I bet it looked really pretty in that fabric. Here are a few more pictures of what was inside……………..

There were a bazillon tacks and staples to be taken out of the rocker, borrrrrring!

You can see just a bit of the pink fabric and below is a bit of the small floral print.

You must understand, Hubby and I do not know what we are doing at all on this chair. At this point we are both wondering what the heck have we done!! Now on to the fun part, choosing the fabric!!! To be continued……..

“ Enjoy the Process” Of: Taking apart an older piece to try and make it new and fresh!

Kathysue