Small changes Part 2: The Master Bedroom

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I have been working on making small changes in three rooms in our home.  The second room to receive some of those changes was the master bedroom.

Since moving into our home four and a half years ago, we (or I should say I) have painted every room in our house at least once.  Every room that is except the master bedroom.  The master was the last room I got to, and frankly by then I was just tired of painting.  So I tried to work with the existing color.  Not a color I would have chosen, but one I was hoping I could live with.  Gold.  I already had a navy and white duvet set and I found a picture in the Pottery Barn catalog that paired the blue and gold beautifully, so I chose to let that picture be my inspiration, and embraced the color pallet.  At least for the time being.  But as time went by, I found that I wasn't content with the pairing, so tried to soften the gold with small changes.  I painted the bed a soft Robin's egg blue. I liked the blue, but it didn't seem to have the softening effect on the room I was hoping for.  So a bit later I  painted the armoire.  I went with a kind of drift wood look using tans and grays.  I loved the way it turned out, but again, it didn't negate the glare of that gold.  Do you see the irony here?  In the time it took me to paint these pieces of furniture, I could have painted the walls in the bedroom... TWICE!!! So here I am, four and a half years later with paint roller in hand saying, "Enough is enough!  It's time to abandon ship! Time to get rid of the garish gold!!"

I have a navy rug I purchased for the space, and since I also have navy in the master bath, navy will be part of the color scheme. So that is my starting point.

After pealing through my Pinterest boards and looking at other bedrooms in magazines, I decide I want to go with a neutral for my walls to compliment the blue in the space and hopefully create a more serene and calming feel in the room.  I wanted a grayish, beige tone or"greige", so went with Sherwin Williams "Agreeable Gray".

To update the bedding, I purchased a new duvet and sham set that still had the blue, but also had the neutral beige and robin's egg blue I had been using as an accent color in the room already.

The final touch to the bedding was a simple handmade blue burlap pillow, personalized by my neighbor who has a monogramming business here in Jacksonville called Cricket and Frog.

This frame was purchased from Marshalls.  The picture in it was taken on our honeymoon.  I keep it on my husband's nightstand as a sweet reminder to him, now 34 years later.

The galvanized tray I have sitting on the trunk at the foot of the bed came from The Magnolia Market's online shop.

The sign came from my favorite artist, my sister.  You can purchase her wares from her Facebook shop called White Hen.

Although the changes are small, I think they make a huge difference in the room, and my husband
and I are both sleeping more peacefully in our serene space.

Springtime at Bethany's Fancy Dancy house.

My daughter is away on a road trip to visit a friend during her spring break from teaching.  While she is gone, I want to surprise her by doing a little sprucing up of her yard and porch.  

My daughter Bethany affectionately calls her house the "Fancy Dancy" house because it sits on Dancy Street.  She got a good deal on it because she purchased it as a short sale, but the trade off was it needed a lot of TLC.  We painted it the light minty green, added shutters and flower boxes to the windows, and added a little landscaping.  To freshen it up for spring, I simply added new flowers to the flower boxes and flower pots at the front step.

I love the old metal garden chairs that Bethany found in local antique shops.  I brought this one outside.  

The happy little gnome watching over Bethany's flower garden was a rummage sale find.

I found a cute, springy rug and throw pillows for the porch.

The old watering can was another one of Bethany's finds from our favorite local antique shop, Southern Crossings.

This little piggy stayed home.  A little ivy in the piggy planter adds a cute, whimsical touch.

This hand painted greeting Bethany painted on the door welcomes visitors to her "Fancy Dancy" house.  Hopefully the small touches I added while she was away will be a nice welcome for my daughter when she returns from her trip.

Birdseed, bunnies and botanicals

I will admit that living in Florida, we don't anticipate the coming of spring quite like those in the northern states do.  We don't get as much cold weather, hard freezes or any snow, so one might say we don't deserve to celebrate spring.  I say no matter how mild the winter, the sweet new buds on the trees and beautiful blooms on the redbud trees are always a welcome sight.  God's creation never ceases to amaze me.  And with the coming of spring, we celebrate the risen Lord, and that is for sure something we all should celebrate!

My spring decorating started in the dining room.  I added bunnies to my white dishware and adorned the chalkboard with a verse that communicates well what this season is all about.

 One thing I added this year was the little plants in some of my white ware.

 On the table, I partially filled apothecary jars with birdseed and added my little white ceramic birds.  I love that natural look on my new farmhouse table. 

In the living room, more bunnies appear on the handmade burlap pillows.  I stenciled the white bunny and added a pom pom made with white yard for the tail.

The framed bunny stenciled on burlap was left over from last year.  I had to bring him out on my mantle again.

This year I brought a little bit of spring into the sun room as well.

I hope you can enjoy the new life that spring brings and have a beautiful time celebrating.

Small changes Part 1: The dining room

This is part one in a three part series.  I am currently working on doing some small but hopefully impactful changes in three of the rooms in our house.  I know, I know!  THREE ROOMS?  But like I said, they are relatively small changes, so I'm working on more then one room at a time.

Room One:  The Dining Room

I have always loved the look of an age old farm house table.  I love the warmth and history they bring to the home.  Recently, a friend of ours began building farm house tables.  As soon as he shared his interest in this new hobby, I raised my hand to say I wanted one.  It isn't "age old" but Terry does a beautiful job in aging and distressing his pieces and making them look like they have been used for hundreds of years.  His craftsmanship is beautiful and I am thrilled to be one of the first to have a table built by him!

I love the way Terry distressed the piece to make it look like it was well used and well worn.  He even added "hash marks" like old Uncle Joe had years ago been sitting at the table while playing with his pocket knife or whittling.

Knowing my table was being built, I decided I wanted a fresh look for my chairs.  I changed out the old slip covers and made new covers out of drop clothes purchased from the hardware store.  I love the natural look the canvas brings to the room.  They are inexpensive (only costing $5 a chair), durable, easy to work with, and are washable to boot!  What more can you ask for?  And I think they compliment the table nicely.  I plan on painting the chairs black in the near future. I think the black exposed legs will look great with the dark stain of the table. I haven't made it to that project yet.

Lastly, to one end of the dining room I added a small buffet that I found at an antique shop.  It gives additional storage and an extra serving space for entertaining.  I painted it using black chalk paint to compliment the hutch on the opposite side of the room.

By simply switching out a few pieces of furniture to the space, the room has taken on a completely different feel. I can't wait to have the whole family in for a meal around this beautifully handcrafted table!!