Guest Room Update

An update from last summer on decorating the guest room. What's new since the last post:

Queen bed, Haverty's (I love the position of the drawers)
2 brushed nickel adjustable-arm lamps, Home Depot
Top down-bottom up pleated shade, Levolor
2 yellow pillow shams, Kohl's

Still left to do:
Find new nightstands (with drawers!), white or black
Refinish an old desk for the opposite wall

Existing items:
Duvet cover, purchased in Paris years ago
Mattress, IKEA
Bed slats, IKEA
Wall color, Behr "moonlit yellow"

The opposite wall with our current dressers is just temporary. This is the feminine side: my Paris tea set, and a shadowbox I made of our time in France. The handmade lace runner is from Bruges.

I'm joining Met Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.

Lovely Wrap Skirt

I found this skirt pattern in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts. I think the pattern looks very flattering, and I really love this fabric. The book says it is a Liberty of London print. I have checked every website I can find, but I can't find this particular fabric. Does anyone know where I can find it?

The Chair

The Chair is my next big project, and I'm afraid that it is a true BIG PROJECT.

My goal is to strip all the paint off, down to bare wood. Here you can see the folly of that idea: there are at least eleven layers of paint on the chair. In order, as far as I can make out, starting from the outside and working in, we have:

bright blue
red
orange
lime green
cream
mint green
black
bright yellow
emerald green
mint green again
pale yellow

The black may have had thick white splotches all over it; perhaps an animal print look? Anyway, there are thick white splotches embedded in there too.

I began the stripping process with my little Ryobi detail sander. That was getting me nowhere fast. Next I went to gel stripper in a can. That took off one, and sometimes three, layers at a time. It worked best on the seat of the chair; it didn't seem to affect the spindles. When I emptied the can, I reverted back to the electric sander. Then I tried coarse steel wool, first with mineral spirits, and second with chemical stripper. My second can of stripper is more powerful, so it seems to take off more layers more quickly.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

French Flower Buckets Meet Oil-Rubbed Bronze

I love browsing my favorite thrift stores ~ I never know what treasures I might find.

A year or so ago I found a cute galvanized French flower bucket for pennies, and I have enjoyed decorating with it after I painted it a nice bronzy black. But I realized that I would prefer to have two of them when I decorate my mantel; I like a little symmetry up there.

So, guess what I found on my last visit to the thrift store? A French flower bucket! But instead of galvanized metal, it was painted with folksy flowers and a red interior. Fffft. Off to the store I went to replenish my supply of oil-rubbed bronze paint before this spraying session began:

I got over-anxious to paint and forgot to take a before photo until I had this much paint on the bucket.

Here it is, all finished:

And here is the first one I found ~ it is a little shorter than the new one:

After: the symmetry I wanted.

I also picked up this rather flimsy metal pot at the same time:

It got its own coat of oil-rubbed bronze paint, and now it looks like this:

Scruffy Frame Renewed

I bought the world's ugliest framed print at the thrift, with plans to renew the frame with paint and a new mat. The old matted print is trash now. Here's the before:I'm showing the frame in portrait mode because I plan to hang it that way, even though the original print is in landscape mode.

I'm handy with a spray can so I won't have trouble painting the frame. But cutting a new mat is a different story. I hope to convince cajole sweet-talk Art Lady Greta into cutting what I need. Update: When I bought the mat board at Dick Blick they cut the exterior to size and cut the four openings in each mat ~ for only $4. That kind of deal is worth it to me.

Here is the freshly-painted after:
And here it is in the hallway next to another frame I revived with black spray paint also:

Ultimately, I will have a third frame too, for portraits of David.