redos

Karla and Twinkle’s VINE COVERED Cottage

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 17, 2008

My bedroom is all redone and put back together, and today I finished the connecting sink/nook-type area.

I used the same shade as on the walls of the bedroom, but slightly darker. And the ceiling is a warm caramel with the door faux finished in the same color.

Peaceful, tranquil, romantic, and cottagey was what I was going for, and I am so happy with the color! The name is "nurture" and it is a Behr paint, my favorite to work with.

Behr is affordable and has fantastic coverage, usually one coat plus touch ups.

The ceiling was actually a pretty simple project, sepia and bronze glaze, swirled around with a one inch flat brush that I turned sideways for a thinner line for the vines.

Speaking of vines, I noticed a theme in my home. I do love flowers, but I seem to be drawn even more to the vines that flowers grow on. I know I am always scribbling little vines and swirls on collage pieces I make, and painting vines on furniture.

Do you ever have a theme that meanders through your home without you really thinking about it or planning it that way?

So, I’ll show more photos of the bedroom redo later, right now I thought I’d take a tour of the twisting vines around my cottage.

This closet door has been color washed in bronze over ivory with bronze vines painted with glaze.

The ceiling of my dining room is bordered in hand painted acanthus looking vines.

And of course, I have the vintage wallpaper vining roses going up my stairs.

The stairs lead to Sugarwing’s room, where I have a hand painted sign above her bed, with –what else– on it? Vining roses.

By the linen closet upstairs, I’ve painted vining leaves on the wall to mimic wallpaper.

The same look is on the bench that I keep out in the breezeway.

The guest bath has a hand painted floor that green vines wind around.

And while the cement was still wet, I took a stick and drew in the concrete. You should have seen the look on the face of the contractor, he was horrified!

Ceramic roses vine around the bathtub.

And wooden roses vine themselves around this $4 garage sale mirror in my bedroom.

In my entry way, the steps have a mosaic of marbles and Venetian glass tiles that are in an organic, viney design.

In keeping with my vining theme, I wrapped some roses and ribbons around this garage sale watering can I had painted white.

It will be part of my June Garage Sailing Giveaway prize pack, and every comment for the month is entered to win.

Included will be this Victorian scrap ephemera, a crocheted doily, and some vintage gold trim.

Along with those goodies, is the baby dress I found last week at a sale, a white ceramic teapot/flower vase, a pretty yellow flowered plate, a white pottery urn (old) that I added flowers to, a Lucky Day button card (don’t we all deserve a LUCKY DAY?), and filling the flowered plate is some bits of old jewelry.

If you enjoy mixed bags of free and vintage goods, you should also enter Beth’s giveaway. She has a big pile of cool auction finds to share!

A dark and stormy day, but a bright and cheerful redo

how-to projects, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 15, 2008

Slight change of plans…. Sorry, I wasn’t able to get the flickr photos of the 100 birthday cards for Caroline’s 100th birthday done today.

It stormed all day and the light simply wasn’t good enough to take decent photos of the cards.

So, instead, I painted my bedroom that soft, dreamy grey/blue/green color that I bought to match my new vintage-ish bedspread.

I painted the ceiling the same color, then accented it with free hand vines, swirls and leaves done in sepia and bronze.

Tomorrow I’ll take more photos of the space when the light is better and the room is put back.

This photo was taken when I layed on the floor and looked up. This will be my view when I lay in my bed at night. The paint is a bit metalic, so when light hits it, it has a nice sparkle. I think I will like it.

There wasn’t quite enough paint to coat the bath area too, so I’ll need to go back to Home Depot tomorrow before I can complete the room. Drat it. I hate to leave a project over night.

While I had the metallic paint and sepia colored glazes left over on my palette, I decided to glaze the goddess statue I bought at the flea market the other day.

She was already base coated with spray primer in white. I then painted the dark glazes into the crevices and covered the entire piece.

Normally, I use a torn cotton tee shirt for glazes, but all I had handy was paper towels and I was too impatient to go in the house and find a shirt to cut up.

I don’t recommend using paper towels to wipe up wet glaze, it gets a bit shreddy. But it worked.

I wiped off the glaze, leaving it in the deeper places.

The goddess was pretty good at that point, but I decided I wanted her more stone like.

So, I put some moss, mink brown, and ivory on my plate and dabbed it onto the statue.

I was using the same shredded paper towel to do the dabbing, and mixing the paint on the statue as I went along.

I dipped the disintegrating paper towel into all three colors at once and dabbed and smooshed it on the raised surfaces, leaving the previous dark glaze down in the crevices.

Isn’t she pretty? All she needs now is a crown, and to be placed in my newly painted room.

I’m afraid I missed my window of opportunity to take pictures of the birthday cards for a few days. I heard from Fifi and she needs the article I am supposed to write for Romantic Country.

So, I need to take care of some business and get that article done in the next day or two, plus put my bedroom back together. I’ll get the photos done soon, and tell you when the flickr site is updated.

The Rest of the Studio and a Bucket of Buttons

antiques/junking, redos, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 31, 2008

Over at Sugar Sugar, there is a button challenge. I’ve enjoyed looking at the linked site’s bountiful displays of beautiful buttons, but the best is Beth’s. (now we need to see Susie’s seashells or hear Hilda’s horn, I do tend to over do the alliteration, huh?)

All the buttons on the challenge tour are so nicely displayed and there are even tips on washing the collections.

Washing? I dump mine into containers, dig out a handful here and there to use in projects or to send in packages. Hmmm, they are supposed to be washed?

I am hugely ignorant of button value. I was floored when Beth sold a set of 3 buttons for $150 on Ebay!!!

I just use mine, gluing them onto pretty pieces I make. I wonder how many valuable ones I have glued onto a collage and sold the whole thing for $5-10? Story of my life. If you ever buy something from me, examine the button, it might be worth a lot more than the piece itself!!

Thank you for all the kind comments about my studio.

I am CRAZY about my studio and know just how lucky I am to have it. I’ve had to store supplies under a bed, and set up card tables in crowded corners in the past. It is pure joy to have all this space to spread out into now.

Heck, at near 1,000 sq ft this studio is larger than the 90 year old house was when we bought it, and started adding on to the building.

There are benefits to living in Kansas where land is cheap and prices are low!

I thought I’d show you some more of the room and how I use the space.

Of course, there is a spot for Sugarwings and her best pal, Twinkle. Or as she calls her "Yeenkle".

The space is one large open room, that I have divided up with old doors hinged together, and with large pieces of furniture. The desk sits under a gazebo I made from 4 porch columns ($6 each at a junk shop) and a miss matched bunch of 8 white wrougth iron corner brackets.

Right next to Sugarwing’s area is my office. (I’d like to recover the chair, but don’t know if I am up to the task)

This old hutch in the office area holds all of my mailing supplies and collage kits listed on Etsy and waiting to go to their new homes.

That office hutch sits back to back with this giant piece (known as the crying cabinet because it about caused a nervous breakdown at the auction Beth and I found it at- that is a long and whiny story you don’t want to hear).

I have two large closets in the room. One is full of shipping boxes and bubble wrap, the other is for utilities. The door with the iris was an original kitchen door in the farm house. I added the flowers with stained glass paint.

Here the door is from the other side, with the sunlight shining through the glass.

This storage room is in the back corner of the room and is where I keep my paints, tools, seasonal storage and just JUNK.

At the other end of the storage area, I keep completed projects I am sick of looking at and jewelry I have made and the displays I sell it from.

This odd assortment of furniture and a screen is what I have lined up to make the wall that forms the storage area behind it.

The more I look at this the more the black cabinet bothers me. I really think I need to paint that…

And what do I watch on TV while I work? Dragon Tales, what else? Although prefer the Hoobs and Tiddlypeeps.

My studio will never look totally pulled together, because I have so much stuff in it. I love all the little details, like ballerina fairies on the candelabras. What is a studio without fairy candelabras???

There are sentimental things too, like this "wishes" tag that my Sissy sent to me.

And a lot of my labels are made from gifts other artists have given me. This fabric covered piece is from Beth, as part of a birthday card she made a few years back. I saved the cover and turned it into a box label.

The birdie adorned box was a gift from my first swap partner, Karin.

It holds Valentine ephemera.

Of course, there is a picture of Sugarwings. This is her Easter picture, instead of putting it in the scrapbook, I decided to stick it into the corner of this De Longpre print that I found at a garage sale for $10.

My Sweet Treats and Roses recipe book sits near my desk too.

The cabinet it sits on holds my sewing machine (which rarely gets used) and its top is a ceiling tin that my son added for me. That sure changed the look of this piece that I found in the trash and fixed up.

As a matter of fact, most of this furniture was free or dirt cheap. Trades, trash, or cast offs from family that all got fixed up. My main splurges in this whole studio are the 3 folding tables that I actually use for work space. I’d say that $58.00, 6 foot table is the most expensive thing in the room.

That is, if you don’t count my collection of wallpaper. I’ve probably spent more on that than I have furniture.

Well, I seem to be organized now, I hope I can make it last. I love my new storage pieces, the trick will be using them instead of making piles everywhere.

Wish me luck!!

ps- birdhouse decorators are still adding their links to our party post on March 27th, if you want to see more, check out the lastest comments.

ppss- I will draw a name for the winner of March’s giveaway tomorrow, you still have time to enter!

A day of frivolous things

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, redos

By Karla Nathan / March 8, 2008

It was so nice to have my group of artist friends over for brunch today. We don’t do this as often as we used to, sometimes life gets in the way of getting together with your friends.

But when you have good friends, you always know that they will still be there when you do have a chance to catch up and visit.

Often, we’ll meet at a coffee shop once a week or so, and sometimes one or the other of us will have everyone over for a brunch or coffee and bagels.

I’m always looking for an excuse to set my table and have a mini party, so was glad to invite them all over today to fill each other in on what has been going on.

I set up an Easter themed table scape as a centerpiece for the meal, all gathered together on a vintage blue mirror.

I raided my shelf of things I have listed for sale on Etsy and used some of them on the mirrored tray along with vintage goodies.

This little sugared ballerina in a tiny tea cup nest is too cute to be hiding away on a dark shelf until someone buys her! She deserved to come to the party too.

My table scapes are usually pretty busy (and gaudy), but guests seem to enjoy looking through them, the displays are full of little surprises.

I always start with something underneath, to pull it all together. Either a tray, a doily, or a mirror, something to focus the mismatched pieces that I bring in.

Two things that I ALWAYS include are fresh flowers and candles.

The tallest thing, usually the candelabra, goes onto the table first. Next, the flowers. After that, I find something else to use for height, to build layers. Usually a cake stand, basket, or compote to fill with pretties.

I fill in around the taller items with some bigger pieces like this tussie mussie that I placed a nesting bird into.

This is the nest I received from Jeweled Elegance, my partner in Speckled Egg’s Nest Swap. Thanks Heather!!

I like an eclectic mix in my center pieces, hand made things, vintage, elegant, cute, unexpected and traditional all together (did I mention busy and gaudy?)

After the:

1.base underneath

2. the taller items

3. flowers and candles

4. larger items

5. I then tuck small items here and there and fill holes, making sure that there is something of interest as a focus for each seat at the table.

One friend wasn’t feeling well, so she couldn’t make it today. I packed up some Cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins, egg casserole and yogurt to take over to her.

Of course, I had to include a pretty!

I wrapped some carnations in a wet paper towel, then slipped them into a plastic bag and tied them up with tissue and a ribbon. The bouquet fit right into this tussie mussie along with a fluffy chick.

And you know how one redo begets another? I am working on slipcover ideas for the sofa now. I have been buying vintage fabrics and will soak them in a tea color dye to make them all tie together better.

So far, I can’t make up my mind which fabric I want where, but do know that I want to get some ticking stripe to use so that I break up the florals a bit.

And I think I decided to go for a trailing skirt on the couch, like in the sketch on the bottom of the pile of ideas.

And of course, I am still not done with the dining room. The corner cabinet still seemed too country-cottage, with its bead board sides. I looked through my vintage wallpaper and found one that matched well in the room and taped pieces to the back of the cabinet.

I didn’t glue the paper down, some day I might want to have the bead boards show again. I do tend to change my mind a bit……

This large glass knob will be great to add to the door, but I don’t have the right length screw, of course. Does anyone ever have the perfect screw handy when you want to change a knob?

The corner cabinet seems better now that I have added the trim and the wallpaper. The glass knob will help too.

The room seemed off balance, so I moved this narrow cabinet into the other corner.

I’m starting to feel more satisfied with the space and it certainly was a comfy brunch, with everyone around the new table! The chairs are very welcoming.

What a pleasantly frivolous day. Brunch, visiting a friend, sketching, doodling around with centerpieces and fine tuning the dining room. I also went to a movie, then rented a nice gory vampire movie to watch with my son. Yep, a fine day of making things pretty and hanging out with people I care about.

Why does getting something new in your house make everything else look dirty? I can’t really be THAT bad of a housekeeper, can I???

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, redos

By Karla Nathan / March 6, 2008

All of the re-dos that were spawned by spiffing up the stairway are about to finish up! This snowball has to melt sometime, one thing has led to another, to another, and on and on.

I even CLEANED MY HOUSE! This is getting serious, it has to stop somewhere. I was blissfully ignorant of the dust before I redid those stairs.

After repainting and adding trim to the corner cabinet, I realized the interior of it was a bit of a mess. Dusty and overstuffed.

So, I cleaned all the shelves, and rearranged all the pretties.

I used to store all my vintage linens on the bottom shelf, but decided that I wanted the room less country cottage and more romantic cottage. And less cluttered!! That is a hard one for me.

But I got rid of some of the things on these shelves, packed the linens in a linen closet, and redistributed 3 shelves worth of blue and white knick knacks and dishes onto 4 shelves.

It is a bit more streamlined and less cluttery, but heck, I can’t go clutter free cold turkey!

And I can’t do away with all the cute stuff, I need my pixies and birdies.

And my little angels.

I’m fond of anything winged. Well except mosquitoes of course. And those horseflies that bite.

When I went to hang my new curtains (of course, I HAD to have new curtains, that matched the new look!) I noticed the the cobwebs that had been ignored for … well I don’t want to admit for how long. Anyway, I cleaned all the pottery collection above the window while I was up there. And while up high, I saw how dirty the chandelier was…

And of course, after taking my old table out to the studio, I could see that the tile floor in the dining room needed a good bleaching.

Thank goodness my friends arrived to deliver the new (old) table, I was about to clean the windows!

Ta Da!! Isn’t it fancy???

How elegant is this???? I’m not usually one for unpainted wood, but this set has a nice mix, with just the top as natural wood and the rest painted. And it kind of feels good to buy something and enjoy it as it is, to not have to completely redo it.

The set goes perfectly with the new stairs.

I’m just in awe of the change. I really was never too happy with my old set.

The old set will be perfect in my art studio. It has 3 leaves that I can put in it. When I have big family get togethers, we always go into in the studio so we can spread out and have a sit down meal together.

Actually, you can tell, it isn’t a set at all, it is mismatched chairs from garage sales ($10 or less each) that I painted to match the flea market table.

ooooh, what a difference!!!!!!!! All of a sudden, my house looks all grown up.

But I know that no one at this house acts like a grown up, so I used two cans of Scotchgard on these chairs to protect the fabric.

I am having friends over for brunch tomorrow to try it out. It is going to be so much fun to set the table and get ready for them.

Oh by the way, the packages of tags are coming in daily for my St Pats Two Tag Swap and I am overwhelmed by the quality of the tags that are arriving! I am trying to not peak yet, I am just double checking each package to make sure all is there, and will open and enjoy them all together after the deadline. But WOW you should see some of these tags!! The luck of the Irish is with us on this swap, its like finding the end of the rainbow!!

The mail lady also brought this package back to me. Somerset Life is using this framed vintage doll dress in their next issue and sent back the frame since they were finished with it.

There is mail that needs to go out too. I sold a scrap pack of my stairway wallpaper remnants on Etsy ($6). It just kills me to waste anything, plus, vintage wallpaper is so beautiful it should never ever ever go to waste!

I will be listing more, and also cut up some to put in the St Pat’s Two Tag Swap envelopes when I send out the tags.

You know, there are still a little time left if you want to be in the swap. Have things in the mail to me in a couple days.

Well, if I am having a breakfast party tomorrow, I’d better be in the kitchen, I need to make a fruit salad and get cinnamon rolls and muffins ready for the oven.

It took a few days, but I am finally done with the stairs!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), how to's, paintings, redos

By Karla Nathan / March 4, 2008

Its done! whew, am I glad. So are the dogs, they have been penned up way too much to keep them out of the construction mess. Plus, I knew that Twinkle wouldn’t be too much help with the stair painting. She’s helped me paint before and it usually means tiny little footprints across the room.

Remember last week, I had this?

Now look!!

My stairway had been quite the hodgepodge of wall art, none of it really went together. It was dark, gloomy,a nd I could never keep that carpet clean.

Plus, we have an old house, but the upstairs addition is only 15 years old. I always thought that the stairs looked too modern, plus the whole area was just blah.

Because I was too short to reach up into the corners of the ceiling, I had to paint the walls and ceiling both the same color, I simply couldn’t cut in with a brush. It all had to be done with a roller on a pole.

I am a big believer in painting your ceilings a color instead of white. but might have preferred some contrast here. Oh well, its so much better than before!!

I also edited and rearranged the artwork hanging on the walls. (of course, that also means that I had to redo a wall in another room to make space for the family pictures I took down from the stairway, but I already said, one redo automatically leads to another!)

While I had them all down, I painted the frames white and distressed them. It is a much more cohesive look. Instead of it being the place where my unsold watercolors go to die, it looks like a gallery! (well, not quite, it is still full of rejected paintings!)

While I had the white paint out, I redid all the wood work too, including the banister and the old door at the top of the steps.

A little splash of Strawberry Whopper Pink in the background livens up my living room a bit too.

The thermostat had always bothered me, since it was glaring white. I toned down the brightness with some glaze, and also glazed the closet door next to the sofa.

I had to do the same with all of the steps and trim. After painting them a semi-gloss, bright white, I brushed a pale coffee with cream color glaze into the crevices and cracks, then wiped it all down with a wet rag torn from an old T shirt.

Next, I wallpapered each riser with some gorgeous, old vintage rose wallpaper I’d bought on Ebay. I used Elmer’s glue instead of wallpaper paste, for a tight hold.

When I stood back and looked at the finished work, I was worried it was just way, way too much.

The wallpaper was in such good shape, it didn’t look old!! Too white and too perfect.

So, out came the glazes again, and I toned down the glaring newness and some of the busy-ness of the steps. They are still pretty durn busy, but in a way I can live with now.

And since I was redoing…. Beth had given me this iron arch, it was originally brown. (yes, she is a great friend to have around, isn’t she??? I bought her lunch, but think this arch is worth more than that.)

I painted it white and glazed over it too. Then painted the mirror white, it had been gold, and I’ve used it as a center piece for my white dining room table since Christmas. But I am getting a new table this week!! The top of it is pecan, not painted, so the gold mirror, just wasn’t going to work there any more. Plus, it is always time for a change!

Since I had already repainted or glazed:

stairway walls

stairway ceiling

door at the top of the stairs

banister

steps

kick board

trim

closet door

thermostat

the picture frames

iron arch

mirror

Then, I figured, why not paint the corner cabinet in the dining room, so it will look better with the new table that I am getting this week? It had been a white-white, and I painted it more of a creamy white. Not a big deal to most people, I guess, but it mattered to me. I added the ornate piece at the top of it. I had to stand on a step ladder and hold it in place for about 20 minutes, waiting for the liquid nails to dry. But I took a book with me, it needs to be read before book club next week and I keep putting it off. So, there I was trapped for a bit, with nothing else to do, a perfect time to get some reading done!

I have a screw loose

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, paintings, redos, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 14, 2007

Last night, I embellished old jars that I had filled with vintage buttons.

I used wallpaper on the lid and the label of this one, then added hand drawn swirls onto it in that translucent gold pen I like to use.

It shows up a bit here in the close up of the lid, but really is prettier in person. (I just got an email, the first jar sold on Etsy, but I will list more)

Everything I used on these jars is from my stash of old stuff. I have tons of scrap booking paper and supplies from Michaels and Hobby Lobby, but when I do my art projects, I prefer vintage materials.

I also finished up my Silver Bella ATCs. They have trim at the bottom and a ribbon to hang from, so I don’t know if that breaks any ATC rules, or not. But the swap is at the holiday time, so I thought they’d make nice ornaments.

They are all basically made the same, but no two are exactly alike.

Today, I haven’t done much of any thing but piddle around here and there. I listed a button jar on Etsy and those beautiful, old French illustrations on Ebay.

I’ve been struggling to get this crib together for Sugarwings for months now. I’ve asked everyone to help and no one could figure it out!

The friend who loaned it to me came by and we got it together, but of course, I am missing one screw. As always in any project!

It looked kind of plain so, I added an old table cloth as a skirt. My mother made the quilt years ago, the rosebuds are perfect for this room.

Now the fairy grand baby can actually sleep in her special room, instead of a portable bed downstairs.

(the bed has wheels and I will roll it away from the wall and cords before I let her sleep in it, don’t worry!!)

This chair used to be in the corner of her room, but I moved it into the library to make space for the crib.I added an old slipcover I had made for the chair when it was previously in the living room. For a heavy chair, it sure gets moved from room to room a lot.

The old log cabin style doll house was at a garage sale for $8. I painted it ivory and took the removable roof off to use it at a book rack for the baby’s favorite stories.

This is one of those catch all rooms that a lot of people seem to have. Where all the odds and ends go and you try to make them fit. (this room will need a LOT of work before people tour the cottage!)

This garage sale wicker desk needs repainted, but for now, I just laid two hankies on the top and covered them with a piece of glass from a dresser top.

I’m getting ready for a holiday home tour, so will stick with red and green for this room, and bring in my funky knee-hugger elves and other kitschy things.

The library is a room we added in the attic, this is the little room in the main part of the house that serves as an entry way to the space.

The library walls were textured, by adding joint compound to the paint.

The entryway is the same color of paint, but no texture. I painted leaves onto the wall with acrylic craft paints thinned with glaze, in a slightly darker green. (I just love the fabric on the old chair! It used to be curtains)

We walled of the end of the room to build a linen closet. To give the tiny room some interest, I cut up a broken Victorian foot board to hang above the closet doors.

I have a few of my watercolors hanging in this alcove area.

Sugarwing’s room and our guest room (also part of the attic) are upstairs also.

This is the door that was on the front of our old farmhouse when we bought it.I wanted to keep it, but really had no where practical for it, so here it is at the top of the stairs.

Some one had irritatingly painted over all the glass! I stripped those down to discover that some of the colored glass had been replaced with clear. So I used stained glass paint from Hobby Lobby to fill in. (the fakes are the purple panes)

My last piddling around project this morning was hanging the old print I had added fairy wings to, and above it, the portrait I painted of Sugarwings, back when she was 5 months old. (seems like ages ago that she was a tiny baby!)

These are in her room now and I think I am completely done in there and ready for the Holiday Home Tour!! The baby’s room and the guest room are set to go. Well, except for that one missing screw to the crib……

I’m off to go paint something. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway drawing.

What do you LOVE about your Home?? And a kitchen evolution.

antiques/junking, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, parties, redos, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 25, 2007

t Welcome to the Romantic Country Party! You are all invited to show or tell us what you LOVE about your home.

If you are a fellow blogger, leave a comment to tell me you have posted pictures or stories about what you LOVE about your own home. I will add links throughout the day Tuesday so we can all visit each of the party sites.

If you are a reader, please share stories of what you LOVE about your home in the comment section too. I will be drawing names of a blogger and of a blog-supporter for prizes to be given out on Wednesday.

What do I LOVE about my home?

It makes me smile to have an eclectic mix and a never ending, always changing menagerie of possessions. To find bargains at thrifts, garage sales, auctions, in dumpsters, places where I can spy a diamond in the rough.

This photo of my gazebo was in Victorian Country a few years ago and you can see from it, that I like to use pieces that go together, but that aren’t matching sets.

Right now, some rooms from my home are in Romantic Country along with a short article I have written.

Here is the kitchen scanned from the magazine.

I like to redecorate, but they have gone even further and completely renovated and given me a mirror image of my actual space! How fun is that?? Perfect for me, I love changes and with this one, I didn’t have to do a thing!!

To give you an idea of some of the changes my kitchen has been through, here are some older magazine shots.These have all been taken by Bill Mathews and styled by Gloria Gale for Harris Publications (Country Victorian and Country Almanac).

This one was taken by Diane Guthrie for a local magazine. She took this after we replaced the original farm house cabinets with new ones my son custom built for us.

I repainted a bit since then, this is the latest incarnation.

And from the other angle.

When we remodeled, I saved money by repainting my old fridge to match the cabinets, in the same paint and glaze I used on them (oil based french vanilla color with a mocha glaze)

One small addition to the kitchen was made this weekend, I found a toy stove/fridge for Sugarwings at a garage sale for $1. Now she can help me fix dinner.

If you are new to my blog, (as I know a lot of the party crowd is), you’ll see I tend to run on and on and my posts can be long winded.

I’m afraid this one will be a record breaker by the time I add all the party invitations to other blogs!

I look forward to visiting each and every one of the listed parties, and hope everyone else enjoys mingling and party hopping too.

I’ll check throughout the day and add links as I receive them. If you don’t see yourself listed, please email me and let me know I have missed you!

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR HOME?

PARTY LINKS:

My buddy Beth has already started and is showing some of her art as well as her great junk hunting loot.

Here is a taste of what she has to show. Also, she is my tech adviser, every time I have issues with my lack of computer skills. She is also great with adjectives and lists, so offered some advice on party invitations. Here are some she sent to me:

Take a gander at Beth’s beautiful home
Feast your eyes on Beth’s beautiful home
Ogle Beth’s beautiful home
Behold Beth’s beautiful home
Check out Beth’s beautiful home
Wander on over to Beth’s beautiful home
Follow the path to Beth’s beautiful home
Hop on over to Beth’s beautiful home

Actually, she meant for me to sub other names in, but I couldn’t resist posting it like this, it is cute!!

Jessica of Wild Rose Stamper, has a rosy room to show us and instructions for making a tussie mussie.

Yellow Rose Arbor has a gorgeous swag that she has made for her romantic bedroom, and scroll down to see all the yellow roses!

Becca always has beautiful things to show us and her party pictures are no exception!

Stephanie has a unique green mirror that makes me drool and turn green with envy.

Rachael from the other side of the world has gotten a jump start on us and is opening the champagne!

Katrina is hosting her party from her warm and wonderful kitchen.

Jennifer has some of the sweetest eye candy around! Look at this baby girl’s shadow box- wow!!!

There is a rosy glow in the sky over the party at Betty’s house.

Clarice is sharing Autumn Bliss with us at the Story Book Woods.

Jennifer‘s old painted cottage is on the cover of this issue of Romantic Country!

And Kari‘s artwork can be seen on page 70. This issue has the blogworld well represented!

Our Bejeweld friend is sipping hot cocoa on her new patio and is waiting for you to join her.

Sherri has her guest room done up in the prettiest pink ready for a grandbaby to come and stay over.

Something old, something new is on show at Corinna’s home.

All the way over in Sweden, Linnea-Maria is sharing what she loves about her home. Her blog is in Swedish, but she has left a comment on my blog in English to explain.

Kitty is throwing some light on the subject of what she loves in her home.

Joy has the welcome mat out for us.

Ginny has invited us over seas to England!

Jennifer has a montage to show us what she loves at her home.

While you are out globe hopping, drop in to visit Aukje.

And who doesn’t LOVE everything about Kim’s Daisy Cottage?

Julie has invited us to visit her too.

Jennalee is ready for guests at her lovely home.

Terri has a family heirloom to share, and if you scroll down, there is some home made bread that I am sure she’ll offer a slice of!

Rosie has a wonderful porch for us to sit and relax on.

Felicia has invited some cute little friends over to enjoy the party with us.

There are Super Heros to visit at Meg’s.

When you visit Louisa‘s party, make sure you scroll down to see her water color roses from a previous post too!

Isabella’s cozy cottage is somewhere you’ll want to linger for a while.

Susan’s home is all decked out in cheerful fall colors for her guests.

suzy has gorgeous pictures of her home ready to share. (this one was re-done later, it had not been a connecting link earlier, please go back to visit her, you’ll love her place!)

Karen has the air filled with the scent of pumpkin spice at her party.

I love Tami’s mantles too, and so will you.

Crystal has stories of what she loves about her old farmhouse. Scroll down to see some tiny little people who are showing off what they love about thier cute cottages too!

Cindy has a fantastic studio (wish mine was that tidy!) with a beautiful faux treatment on the walls.

Karla was one of my first blogging friends. She is always a wonderful person to visit with and she has invited us all over for espresso and home made bread. Check out the gorgeous blue of her walls while you are there.

Natasha has asked us all to come to Australia to see her romantic cottage, and to help her celebrate her 100th post, coming up very soon.

Debra is all decked out for Halloween at her place, and she is the master of that holiday (hence the "boo" in her blog title)

Phyllis has invited us over to enjoy the sunset and sit back in some cool old twig furniture.

Look what came in the mail yesterday from Phyllis- a section of old greeting cards and crafting papers. Thanks, buddy.

My good friend, Heather is making me just way too jealous with the photos of her house. I might not be able to be her friend anymore.

Pattie has been out thrifting and has new finds to show us.

Brenda asks us to join her in her vintage country kitchen.

Julia shows us what she loves about her home in a collage.

A fellow Silver Bella, Natalea, is offering us views of the lake outside and some lush and rich color and textures inside her home. Plus an invitatioin to play the "Name Game". I love to play those silly tag games, and have already done this one at the end of this posting, but my middle name is JO, so it was a short one!!

Catiean has the most amazing wall treatment, you have to see these!

http://violetladyathome.blogspot.com/ has her favorites on display for us.

I have another Silver Bella coming to the party- Jessi has her house decked out for the holidays!

Home is Where the Heart is among the sweet little rose buds at Barbara’s

Blanc and Daisy have invited us over to visit.

Who could resist dipping into the fairy dust over at The Glitter Fairy’s

Studio???

Cathy has a green thumb and a set of kitchen cabinets that are making me turn green with envy again. I swear, all these homes are just making me so jealous.

Another featured home in Romantic Country for this issue belongs to Dawn. This issue is filled with bloggers! (Her photo is on page 71, near Kari’s on page 70)

Bethany has a collage of pictures to show us, and make sure you look through her blog at some of her artwork! I love her sketches, here is one she did of my little sweety, Twinkle.

Mary Allison has given us a peek into "the Kingdom". I just want to steal that name for my studio now too!!!

Angelina has a piece from one of my favorite artists, Holly, on her site. As well as some of her favortie holiday decor.

Elizabeth is up at night dreaming about paint colors. ( I know what that is like! When the paint chip fairy comes to visit, you just give up and start looking through colors, YOU MUST REPAINT)

Michelle has some favorites highlighted in her home for us today.

With a name like Flea Market Queen, you know she’ll have good stuff to show us!

Our friend, Marie Elena has wonderful style and lots of talent that she has put to use remodeling her Chilean home.

June not only invited us to see what she loves about her home, but gives us a list of resources to help find what we need for decorating our own homes!

Stacy has invited us to see the magic in her home.

More globe trotting! Time to experiance autumn in Germany with Regina

Vintage Flair has some romantic and sentimental photos to share, and don’t miss the very last one, with the old wallpaper and trims. She has made a lovely display!

Becky has a beautiful home and I am crazy about the little green dresser she has as part of a table scape. Be sure to read both of her posts today, Blogspot only allows 5 pictures per post so she had to post twice. Stingy Blogspot!

Wanda is bidding a farewell to summer with photos of her swimming pool and lovely garden spots. Plus look at how dramatic the red wall is!

Lolly shares her therory on "more is more" which is mine too!

We have unique aquarium pets and one of my favorite sofas, ever at Vickie’s

Debbie has invited a collection of furry freinds to stay in her cozy room for her grandsons.

Cindy has taken a fantastic photo of her lavender room reflected in the mirror, you have to see it.

Kelley has hired a cherub to serve us crystals as party favors in her newly done dining room.

The lovely Ele is inviting us to her lovely dining room.

Melissa just found out about the party and will be posting some home pictures soon. In the meantime, you can click on "home" on her site to see some of what she loves.

You can see the love that goes into all details of Mary‘s life when you visit her place!

Sharon, another Silver Bella, has some of her pretty mosaic goods on display for us to see.

Mary is joining our party, and has such a warm and welcoming home!

Kim is moving and has shown us what she will be missing when she leaves this home, scroll down past the Sinister crafts to see it!

Jenn has a pretty pink kitchen to share

And The Queen has a lovely wreath on the door to welcome us.

Vanessa Valencia the Fanciest of Them All always has her place filled with fun, magic, and exciting happenings. Have you ever been to see her? If you go once, you’ll never want to leave her fanciful world.

Andie has a blue and white treat for us.

Lisa really does have a thing for roses, just like the title of her blog says!

Katie has whipped up some fall baking for us to snack on.

You’ll have to visit the whimsical delight that is at Cherry’s

Kristi has some lovely textiles in her kitchen.

Romantic Homes, the competitor of Romantic Country magazine (that inspired our party),, has featured this unbelievably beautiful house, not once, but twice! You have to visit Jennifer to see for yourself.

Andrea has not only shown us her own home, but a cute little red house for her birdie friends!

Everyone’s friend, Carole has joined in on the party and has some hula dancing entertainment for us and craft supplies out for us to make some pretty things with her!

the Contessa is inviting us to join her at the tea table she has all set up.

Heidi has gifts from fellow blogger friends to show us. Aren’t the gifts we get from all the generous people out there, so thoughtful???

Watch out, Amy’s decor could put a spell on you!

Barbara, my birthday twinner, has a hand stitched sentiment to share.

Any time you go to visit Jody you see all the love that goes into her life and her family.

Sara has a striking home in black and white you can’t miss.

Michelle has an old farm house that is a work in progress (as most farmhouses are, I know mine is!) That garden and porch are so inviting. After a long day of trying to list all these blogs and not mess up the links (only a couple needed tweaking!!) I’m ready to go and visit Michelle and relax on that wicker seat.

Jen has started a blog and today is her very first post, so this party is a bit of a house warming for her! Please drop in and welcome her to the blog community so she’ll see first hand what a friendly bunch she is joining!

Britt has things sparkling at her place!

Romance is in the air at this romantic cottage of Linda’s

Heather has invited us to visit her home and meet a dainty little witch.

Nature Girl finds joy in spending time in her gardens.

Leelee_and_cake_2

Thank you all so much for joining in this party today! I’ve had a wonderful time mingling, meeting new friends, and seeing the creative and loving touches you have added to your homes.

I think that this subject is a meaningful one for many of us and I have been asked to host more parties like this in the future. How about a "What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home?" Mid December?

Sugarwings and I are all partied out at this point and we need to call it a night!

THANKS!!!!!!!

Wednesday morning note- I think I went to bed too early, sorry I missed some of you! but hey, I am a Granny! I can’t stay up all night partying like I used to years ago. I am going to add the rest of the emails I got after I went off to my pillow at 11pm last night:

Lorraine‘s cottage is celebrating its new floors.

Fairies dance across the mantle at Gayla’s

Dana has some amazing flea market deals in her beautiful cottage

Shabby Chic treasure and pretty pastels at on view at Joy’s

And Cerris is one of my very favorite places to go on Etsy, her home is just as wonderful!!

You just have to go across the pond to see Mary!!!! You’ll be glad you visited

Erin has a thing for red and you will see why. Her cottage is such a cheerful place!

Come out into the yard and play at Jeanne’s

Sophie’s home is an absolutely can’t miss!

Check out the painted geraniums on the wall at seeb’s

Joy talks about her love of autumn and her ‘joy’ of preparing for the holidays.

Cindy is shabby-chic-a-riffic!! She is late getting to the party, but sometimes it is good to save some sweets for later, isn’t it?

Cheryl loves the beautiful, Canadian countryside where she lives.

Don’t we all love to visit Holly??

And Lidy has autumn decorating tips for us all.

The party is just getting started at Gayla’s

Kathee doesn’t have a blog but has posted home pictures on Photo Bucket for us.

More updates- a few days later- Dayami has been scouting out pretty white serving pieces to serve goodies by her pool!

redos

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2007

I finally found a place to use the giant garage sale mirror that I bought for under ten bucks and repainted. I have a mantel as a headboard and thought, a giant mirror over a mantel is just perfect. Thing is, I painted it a little too white, I will have to tone it down a bit. I hadn’t planned on it going there.

Here is another angle of the room. I redid it just about a year ago. All in one day, took every single thing out of the room, (well, except that huge cabinet, I painted around it and stood on it to paint that corner of the ceiling. It weighs 900 lbs!)

Then I repainted the whole room, ceiling and all, and I changed out the bedding, and other stuff. It took me from 10am till 2am to do it all. But I like to finish what I start, down to the last detail.

If you are thinking the bed looks like it could use more throw pillows, why, yes, I have them. But my husband went camping last night and took the matlesse covered pillows to the lake. Yes he is the same guy that used mop handles and old broken pieces of wood to tie up tomato plants in my pretty garden. And the same guy who showed all those magazine photos to his mother, and was telling her about what I did in the house- without realizing that it wasn’t even pictures of our home, or even an article that I had written!!!

He is sweet and lets me redo a lot, but he never understands why. Or notices when.

I still like this incarnation of our bedroom, after about a year, so I might have it a bit longer. I like that it has cleaner lines and is more tranquil than before.

I was looking through old pictures to work on thatRomantic Country article yesterday and came across some previous bedroom photos from magazine shoots.

This was Country Almanac, way way back, maybe 6 years or more?

My Mother made the quilt for me. I was at at thrift store that sold clothing by the bag for $3. So I bought a sack of dresses and asked mom to do a crazy quilt, using the lace, ribbons, buttons, all the trim on the dresses as it was.

Here is the next incarnation, it was also in Country Almanac.

This is a little snippet of the photo that will be in Romantic Country this fall. I can’t show all of it, it has not been published yet. All three of these pictures were taken by Bill Mathews and styled by Gloria Gale.