Dressing Up

Soon, I hope to do the reveal on the dining room ~ I will still be adding a few more things later such as art (I have a piece in mind), and perhaps drapes when I find some vintage linen. The next big project will be changing the look of six chairs with yet another paint job, and recovering the seats with new fabric. I can't afford new chairs right now!

A few snippets of how I'm putting together my china and decorative bits on the 'French' dresser. Remember when it was Welsh?

Some of my favorite items are the antique silver and old books I brought back from the South of France last October. The ice bucket is Italian. Note, I do not polish my silver, I prefer it tarnished!! The colors are so lovely!

Apologies if I've not stopped by your blog lately. We've been having difficulties with Internet Explorer and it's been virtually impossible to leave comments. It took so long and then I lost so many while trying to post them, I gave up................and returned to painting instead!
I am now using Mozilla Firefox as my browser and am finding it awesome.
I'd be really interested to know which browser you use and whether you have found Internet Explorer to be failing you lately.

Sweet Mary at Isabella's Closet made another lovely banner for me. Be sure to visit her for a great selection of ready made or custom banners.

Heartfelt on Pink Saturday

~ Happy Saint Valentine's Day ~

Sweet PINK roses from my dear loved one.

Vintage German hearts I made into a card.

Wishing you a St. Valentine's Day full of sweetness, romance, love.............with chocolate, PINK or red roses, and hearts of course.

Stop by to wish Beverly a happy Valentine's Day ~ she's waiting there at How Sweet The Sound with the biggest group of warm hearted blog friends who want to share their pink today.

******

First Signs.......

Today will be another busy one.........just had to share this bit of Nature with you to brighten up the day.

They were nodding in the gusty wind yesterday outside the kitchen window. Bright sparks of yellow between green leaves. They seemed to shoot up overnight in this warm spell we've had for several days. Daffodils, one of the earliest Spring blooms. Accompanied by the arrival of many robins on the lawn, it certainly made one feel the change in the season is not far off.

The signs of Spring.

Later in the afternoon, when the sun was warm, I took my granddaughter to the nearby pond. Armed with a bag of food, we fed a few ducks and an army of Canada geese. Turtles were sunning on the tree trunks in the water, the Carolina blue sky was brilliant.......all seemed perfect in our little world. I couldn't resist and picked just two sprigs of fat, dangling catkins, beautiful with the daffodils.

I hope you will enjoy the early signs of Spring arriving in your garden soon.

Lady Fingers

I ran away yesterday...............to Trader Joe's. Had to escape the dining room and see the world for an hour. I love this store but have to drive to the next town to shop there. Soon one is to be built just minutes from the cottage, the lot is ready and hopefully they'll start construction this Summer.

I spied beautiful boxes of Lady Fingers...............they are from France! Right now my fingers don't belong to any lady, they are paint and wax stained, red and rough from so much washing. They need slathering in sweet lotion such as this one, my favorite Origins 'Ginger'.

Chipped, stained, French Grey wood........my nasty fingers are responsible! It's just about finished and I'll show a picture as soon as I get the top shelves on and display something pretty.

Fresh lavender for sale at the market.

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Provence ~ October 2008

If I wasn't so tired I'd draw a bath, throw in a little bag of lavender......and soak my tiredness away.

One of dozens of antiques shops in L'Isle-sur-la Sorgue, Provence.

Looking in my mirror I see I look my age ~ but that's OK, I am getting the painting and primping done, I'm not giving up, and I will sit down to dinner soon in my simple but pretty dining room.

Brushstrokes

I'm feeling like a prisoner in my dining room.................and there's no escape for several more days.

Thinking time continues.

Yesterday's thoughts were bothersome, I couldn't concentrate on one subject for long. No village strolls, no country rambles, no paddling at the shore............just thoughts on how to get the look I want in the room. I take comfort in knowing that many of you who visit here are interested in decorating your home. We share our creative endeavors. We like to use any artistic talents we may have to make our homes special, reflecting our personalities and interests.

The color on the right is Classic Grey which I now have on the walls. The center color is Metropolis which I'm using to repaint the Welsh.........soon to be French..........dresser! The third color will not be used as it's too blue.

I painted the first coat, sanded lightly and painted a second coat.

This brand of paint is great, covers well and evens out very nicely. I'm using a flat finish. Note the color looks a little more blue here in bright light.

The top of the dresser shown here while still cream is also finished except for aging. Yours truly feels somewhat aged herself right now, especially her shoulders and knees! In the reflection you can just see a smidgen of the dark Graphite color used in the entry.

Initial distressing of the dresser using sanding blocks ~ this image shows the color well. May bash it up a bit more then wax to add some age, a soft sheen, and to protect the finish.
This is where my brother calls - from France - and says, "Mar, you need to muck it up a bit more to make it authentic. He's really good at furniture painting and does a lot of it around his French home.

And you are asking.........why does an English woman living in the American South want a room to look French Country. Don't ask me. Blame it on the 'shelter' magazines exposing us to beautiful places far away. Blame it on growing up in a house where we were always painting and hanging wallpaper. But most of all ~ blame it on a recent month in France!

French Village Stones

As I paint, I think..........................

The swoosh of the hairs on the paintbrush touching the wood, depositing color, give me time. Time is so precious and we usually don't seem to have enough of it. When you are giving your all to a project which needs many hours for completion, you can let go of all the other things for a while and, if alone in a room just brushing and smoothing, you really have time to think.


Yesterday I thought about October in France. While painting in soft French grey I relived the pleasant daily walks around the village. I recalled the ancient stones of the village walls.

How do stones support an arch? During the afternoons the small streets and lanes were silent as people rested following lunch.


The elementary school stood across the lane from my family's house ~ the stones were cut from huge blocks.

Soft blue, a shade of green almost aqua, misty washed grey................the colors of the shutters

The grey cobblestones worn smooth by footsteps since the 9th century.

The inclines, almost hills, climbing up toward the ancient village walls.


I wonder what I'll think about as I brush on more paint today?

All images taken in Caunes-Minervois ~ October 2008.

Singing the Blues ~ and greys......

Do you grab an idea and run with it? Do you just get your stuff together and start sanding and painting willy-nilly? Or are you like fuddy-duddy me, planning each step of a decorating project, hesitant to jump in and just have fun with it?

Here's what I do ~ collect magazine tear sheets, paint chips, photos of rooms I love, mount them on a board and stick them up there for the world to see! Meanwhile I think for a while, try to get my thoughts in order regarding where to start, Then I gather the necessities, drop cloths, wood filler, paints, brushes, tape, sandpaper, wax etc. Grab a pair of rubber gloves as I hate to get paint under my nails ~ they're long ~ old towels and t-shirts, empty paint cans and stirrers. Like a witch at her cauldron, I pour and stir, mix and blend - three black spiders, two rats' tails, no, no, no - I mean half a quart of medium grey, 2 ounces of dusty blue, a dollop of whipped cream white.

My current 'story board' as I get ready to paint and distress the Welsh Dresser, sideboard, and other sundry items in shades of French Grey and misty blue-grey.

The large crack ~ house settled? ~ was in this corner. Nice job done to repair that eyesore! And the beautiful now smooth ceiling with the texture gone, forever!!

Here you can see the new Classic Grey shade on the wall and the embossed paper below the chair rail. Like all paints, the color changes according to the time of day and the light source in the room. These pics were taken mid-morning with strong Winter sun streaming in the South facing room. This is why choosing the right shade is always so difficult and frustrating. You know it's never going to end up exactly like the little paint chip so doing a sample board is always a good idea. Remember also that paint dries darker than the color appears when first rolled on to the wall.

Notes about the painting ~

• The wallpaper border would not come down without a long process of soaking, scraping, peeling, yuck! Instead, my painter was able to skim it with 'mud' to make the lower edge disappear and then the two coats of paint covered it completely - thank goodness. Luckily it was a light colored border pattern!
• At first I thought the grey was too light but as it will be a backdrop for the painted furniture pieces, which will be deeper shades, its silvered white shade is really perfect. There is absolutely no blue in this color. As much as I love blue I didn't want a blue room.
• I actually had the paint used on the embossed wallpaper mixed 25% darker but it really doesn't show.

Hope to have more pics once the furniture painting is completed and the room put back together. Then perhaps a dinner party ~ would you like an invitation?

Note: The Graphite walls ~ DH likes the look! He still thinks he may lose his way in the middle of the night, but he actually said, "I like anything you do". How sweet after all these years.