I adore the parts in books where the happy couple buy a cottage together and then make it theirs. Here's a couple of my favorites:
The Vicar's Daughter - Margo and Gijs buy a home in London (to go along with the stately home in Holland) and proceed to furnish it.
Marrying Mary - Roel asks for Mary's advice in redecorating the kitchen and servants quarters in his country cottage.
I bring all this up as an excuse to post these pictures of the painting done in Betty Tia's kid's rooms. Betty Keira went over and helped with the paintings. I have to say, well done ladies.
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| Argyle - how cute is that? |
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| Similar (but better) than the mural Betty Keira and I painted several years ago at my house. |
Betty Sherri here, talked to Betty Tia and told her I wasn't talking to her anymore - and neither should the rest of you - and then proceeds to chat for 30 minutes. Just can't stay mad at that kind of talent darn it. I need Betty help to redecorate my house. I'm feeling blah about the whole thing...
ReplyDeleteWow, that is really cool!
ReplyDeleteBetty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteArgyle Rocks!!
Impressive Job, Betty Keira! And no one is invited to see the Casa Vue der Plane as we are firmly stuck in the pastel 50's. (Not my fault.)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work! My goodness. And ambitious, too.
ReplyDeleteWhen my sisters and I have started jobs like that, we always end up at a point that seems like it's never, ever, ever going to end, work out, get cleaned up, etc. We get insanely silly, eat food that's ridiculously bad for us and, revived, face our demon and finish strong! :)
I hope you all have similar fun.
me<><
I too was in the blahs about decorating my home, when my real estate friend, who is an expert on something called staging, took control. She said that first - we shop at home, so we went around my house and moved everything - pictures, furniture, vases, plants, etc. We even changed my living room into my dining room. I had a couch set that I hated, so we got accents that picked up a color in the fabric that I hadn't noticed and it looked like almost different pieces of furniture. So with very little money, I got a new look for my home. This is perfect for a weekend project.
ReplyDeleteI have (or have had - one I gave to my niece and she's carrying on the tradition) a few pieces of furniture that have been re-purposed to be used in just about every room in our house over the years.
ReplyDeleteThe piece I gave to my niece is a hutch base or small sideboard - with two square drawers and two doors with a shelf behind them on the bottom. The doors at one time had a decorative panel in them - the piece was a hand-me-down when we got it and those pieces were gone. I've had copper panels, and several different fabrics in them over the years.
It's been in the kitchen, living room and bath, and of course, the dining room. It's stored food, cookbooks, toys, videos, linens - you name it. Then we painted it. ;-) It was a rather insipid maple finish so my sister and I scuffed it up with sandpaper and painted it a rich, deep green. And it began a new circuit around the house! :)
When we remodeled our house a few years ago, my niece claimed it, and it's made a similar journey around her rented house, to find a new home in the family room of the house they just bought as a base for the TV and a home for DVDs.
I learned to use furniture pieces in creative ways from my mother, who had a blonde drum table from the 40s - heavy, solid, almost indestructible! - that we laughed about. It made similar journeys through my parents' several houses through the years, was painted several times, skirted, unskirted, got a decoupage treatment with a glass top, then finally, my mom and my sister stripped it all down and finished it with a nice stain. Regretfully, when Mom sold the house after Dad died, the table disappeared. She must have given it to someone outside the family. :(
Right now my son has a table my father built 40 years ago as a coffee table. When asked how tall it should be, Dad was told "knee-high," but whoever told him that forgot that my father had very long legs. The table, while beautiful, has always been annoyingly high. But it's rock solid and makes a wonderful bench for extra seating in a pinch. When Mom emptied the house, my sister got it, then when my sister died, I got it. We used it in the living room as a coffee table and a tv stand, and then a bench, and then my son wanted it in his room and when he left home he took it. He says he'll never part with it, but I haven't heard his wife say that! ;-) Still, their big-screen TV fits on it very nicely, and as it's so tall, small storage boxes hold their various video game consoles and games very nicely underneath.
All that is to say that looking at pieces in a new way is fun and can spark all kinds of other ideas for a room. For little to now money.
me<><
Ummm...that would be "no" money.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if you have money "now," you can do what you like.
;-)
me<><
Betty Ellen -- I'm a big proponent of staging. When Betty Ross needed to sell his house in Twyford, Berks, I volunteered to stage it. He'd put it on the market earlier in the year and it hadn't sold. I was pretty sure I knew what the problem had been: the house had been presented badly. Not because it was untidy -- in fact, it was scrupulously clean and even a bit empty -- but because all the rooms were being presented badly. There wasn't much we could do with the kitchen & bathrooms (the principle bathroom had been updated, which was good), but all four bedrooms needed to be shuffled.
ReplyDeleteMind you, it was a tiny four-bedroom house by American standards, and if you're thinking thatched roof & cottage garden, dream on. This house was in a housing estate (Britspeak for subdivision) and although it was detached (i.e., not connected to its neighbors), it looked exactly like all its neighbors.
The bedrooms came in diminishing sizes: #1 was the master, #2 had a twin bed in it, a chest of drawers and a single chair, #3 was the "library" which meant it was lined with shelving, luckily not fixed to the walls, and #4 was the office but could be a nursery. My thinking was that everyone could tell that #1 was the largest, so I moved all the books and shelves in there with boxes, and the general detritus of packing. It was tidy, but its obvious purpose was getting ready for shipping to the US. The big bed went into #2 to show that it was a large bedroom too. The twin bed went into #3, which was staged as a guest room. And the office was painted a pale periwinkle blue with white curtains and accents. It was still an office, but it clearly could be used for a baby or small child.
Downstairs, I bought artwork from Ikea (grand total spent on the entire makeover was £250 by the way) and restaged the living room & dining room. The whole thing worked great -- he sold his house pretty quickly and for £25,000 more than he'd asked for six months earlier!
Betty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteI am hopelessly addicted to the home improvement shows, especially the ones that focus on getting your house ready to sell. and I am also fond of the 're-purpose what you've got' shows.
So I have all these lovely ideas, know exactly how I want it to look,etc. So why doesn't it? Aging bodies, my dears. When once Mijnheer van der Tarheelin and I would have cheerfully painted, papered, furniture shuffled-no problem; now it's "oh my aching back"(him) and "I can't do ladders"(me).
I think we are going to have to call in the pros. And I'm not sure if to do so will hurt our pride or our pocketbooks more!!
Betty Cindy--yes! we have several chests and book cases that have been numerous colors and have lived in every room but the bath. Right now they are doing duty in DH's workwork, holding tools and paint. But they are in good enough condition that they can go around again, if needed.