It's Been A Long Time

It is done.

FINALLY!

I did get a few things done since you last heard from me.
Christmas passed by, Valentines and almost Spring.  I will wait until next year to share the ton of pictures from this past Christmas.

Working full time, going to school, being a mom and wife means there is less time devoted to being creative.  The need is still present, only time and energy are lacking. I enjoyed spending time on the computer being inspired by some many great bloggers.  

Finally after months of looking at the unfinished settee in my bedroom.

This is what it looked like when I found my treasure at Sally.  Good bones, ugly fabric.  It wasn't until I took the old fabric off that I had to figure out how to put the new one on.  This was a bigger project than I have tackled in the past.

The legs have such great detail.

First I painted it. White of course!

Same details but I like the color better.

I used two different fabrics. The plain white is just a simple cotton duck that I used for all the piping and cushion edging and bottom, back and seating areas.

The decorative fabric is a matelasse. 

Since this was my first settee and I have never upholstered a piece of furniture so large, I will give myself a break.  There are some areas I wish I had done better on, but, overall I am happy with how it turned out.

One of my favorite parts of upholstering this piece is the double welting.

It did a lot to hide some mistakes and it was easy to apply.  I would definitely

 use it again.

The design is beautiful and it was hard making that first cut in the bedspread.

I have since moved the settee from my master bedroom to the office.

It is a nice place for the kids to read and watch movies on the computer.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. 

It has been awhile since I posted so I thought I would do a little partying too!
French Country Cottage
you can also find me at
The Curator's Collection for Making Broken Beautiful

Thank you to everyone who stopped by from French Country Cottage!

Where I Blog.

I was supposed to be joining a party for Where Blogger's Create with Karen from My Desert Cottage.

But!

I was late.

Again.

This has happened before.

Last time I dropped the computer and broke it.

That was bad, very bad.

This year, I was just too busy with BASEBALL life.

But!

I am ready now.

I rearranged furniture.

Dusted.

Put away stuff.

CLEANED!

One of my ivy plants that I am trying to keep alive.

Believe it or not.

Me, the gardener, kills most of her house plants.

I am not giving up.

My favorite corner cabinet.

Full of some of my favorite things, ironstone, silver, buttons and more.

The bottom of the cabinet holds extra paper for the computer.

Fabric pin board.

I was able to move my first ever slipcovered couch back into the room.

I had to move around the computer desk.

Hand crafted wall cabinet full of whatnots.

Simple garage sale find made beautiful with white paint.

It holds lots of my craft supplies.

How do you like my crazy rug. 

I am digging the multi spring colors.

The blue trunk.

I told you, blue is creeping into the house.

Morning light comes in the windows.

I was still able to keep the slipcovered chair in the room.

Lots of seating for children who like to come and sit while I blog.

The couch and chair are favorites for reading and playing hand video games.

A cute basket filled with faux floral.

My favorite florals, made by me.

I love all the spring colors.

I love the vintage barkcloth fabric on the pillow.

This is what you see from the living room.

The cow throw is so soft.

My sister had one and I fell in love. 

 I was lucky to find one just like hers.

Surrounded by pretties.

The small rose pitcher I found at a flea market this past weekend.

I think it I may have to go through my stash in the basement and bring up some more of my rose plates, cups and platters.

I am in need of a little fresh color.

A favorite vintage hat, ironstone pitcher and vintage camera.

If I ever get a tattoo, I think it will involve roses and a hat.

I hate needles so it will probably never happen.

I have loved this cabinet forever.

Ever since my best friend and I saw it at a flea market and she saw it first. 

And took it home.

It looked great in her kitchen.

Until she had to move.........it couldn't take it with her.

I bought it, she knew it would be loved.

THANKS SARA!

I love the latches, they match our kitchen ones.

I have filled it with storage and some of my pretties.

There are tons of stored craft supplies behind those doors.

3, one of my lucky numbers.

A favorite picture of my youngest son.

Little shoes.

I hope you enjoyed my blogging room.

Thanks for visiting.

Office Love it.....Hate it

I haven't shown pictures of the office yet, because, well the title says it all.

I am loving the new floors, but the room just wasn't happy.

Flirty legs and some Spring color.

My view into the study from the living room.

Maybe it is the white or maybe the slipcover ruffles but I love the view now.

The new corner cabinet I bought over the summer.

Great bargains that day.

Both my sister and I drove away with a cabinet. 

 We would have bought more but we had no more room in the truck!

It did not have a back and was in need of a paint job.

My favorite pin board, love the chippy frame and vintage fabric.

We moved furniture until it was right.

And moved.
Yep, moved again!

My poor son has helped me move a table in the living room twice.

Move a table from the basement to the office. 

AND

Back down into the basement to the exact spot it came from.

My sister will read this and laugh because I used to ask her to do that.
She knew to screen calls and was hesitant to answer if I said "what ya doing?"

That was before my son had muscles.

We moved the couch from the office to the kitchen.

AND

The chair from the kitchen to the office.

I think I am almost done moving furniture.

I had to keep trying, I was hating the layout.

I just can not sit at the computer with my back to the door, I feel exposed.
Part Feng shui, part not being able to hear anyone behind me.

I think I have the room where I am comfortable.
Now if only I could get rid of all the cords.
I have a feeling Mr. M. the computer guy can help me with that.

Now it is time to hang the shelves and fluff the room.

I had been searching for a rug for under the office chair with no luck.

Until Mr. M. and I were out shopping over the weekend.

I really love all the color and it would look great against all the white.

Until I went on line to locate it and just as I was about to order, I looked around the office.

Color...mmm....no, more like black and white.

Change of plans.

More rug searching.

Then I found it.

The rug above is on order from Lucketts.

And while I was at it I added some of Miss Mustard Seed's Ironstone milk paint.

Although I may still get the orginal carpet for the living room, Spring is on it's way you know.

So, what do you think so far?

In Case You Thought I Dissapeared

I didn't.

I took a sick week.

Me.

The kids.

No not Mr. M.

Although, I did threaten to lick him.

It all started last Saturday, such a wonderful day off with lots of plans.

But, not for a sick child.

The little guy came down with the flu first.

OK, I can handle this, give him some Tylenol, a comfy spot on the couch and a day of rest and movies.

The older kids were enjoying the day of leisure.

What were Mr. M. and I doing?

Glad you asked.

The angels sing as we ripped out the carpeting in the office and laid the new pine floor all in one day.

In between gluing and screwing.....I made sure the little guy was doing OK.

We were able to finish getting the floors in and Mr. M. planned on picking up the sander on Sunday to finish the job.

Then it happened, the unthinkable.

I GOT SICK!

No...............this can not happen, I have too much to do.

Buggers.

I spent the day on the couch with the little guy while Mr. M. did the work.

I wish I could have stayed at home Monday too, but alas I had to go to work because my job has a odd way of dealing with sick days.  

Mr. M. stayed home with one sick child, but as the day progressed he ended up with all three children home sick.  Good thing I was going to have the next three days off.

The floor, each day I would look at it almost done.

Not forgotten, just put off. 

Till TODAY!

As I type, Mr. M. is finishing up the stain.

Then we are going out for lunch because it smells.

Funny, the room looks smaller without any furniture in it.
Tomorrow we will put a couple of coats of poly on.
 During the week we will put 2 more coats of poly on and I will repaint the walls and trim.
Then comes the fun part of  deciding what goes back into the room.

When we finished the living room, not all the furniture made it back in.
I must say I am doing well will the less cluttered look.
BUT, the basement seems to have some extra furniture now.

I hope you are all well and have a great weekend.

Where I Create 2

The pictures in the last post were supposed to be from last years' Where Blogger's Create.
And really nothing had changed until last week.

I made a few adjustments.

I found that having the desk on the front wall made it very difficult to see the computer after 8:00 in the morning.

I could have put up a curtain would be the easy way.

I don't always do the easy way.

I decided to rearrange the room around totally.

I did that last year and accidentally knocked over the hard drive.

BIG NO NO!

This time I was smart.

I smiled sweetly at Mr. M. (the computer guy) and asked if he would please help me move the room around.

Let me tell you, he did not wine at all, he was full of "yes dears, anything for you!"

Yep, you guessed it, he was doing some butt kissing.

See, I finally caved in and he knew he was going on Monday to pick up his new truck.

The man is still on cloud nine.

Anyway, I managed to convince him to not only move the computer, we moved the HUGE cabinet to the basement.

As much as I loved it, it was not doing much good for storage in the office.

Let me tell you a secrete, I have a cute corner cabinet I have my eye on that I may just put in that very same spot.

But, that is another day.

This is the quote I painted above the door on the inside of the office a couple of months ago.

This is the corner where the large cabinet was.

A music sheet inspiration board.

I originally made it for a sale I had a couple of years ago, but I decided I liked it too much.

So, I kept it.

Black and white, old books, worn children's shoes and buttons.

A few of my favorite things.

This shelf and dresser were originally from my first shop.

I moved them twice before putting them back in their original spot.

I am a visual person, I have to see it to know if it is going to work or not.

The baskets on the shelves are great for holding paper and other necessities in my office.

The glass jars come in handy for holding ribbons, buttons and thread.

In this corner I moved my little secretary and a chair for relaxing and reading.

And for children to wait patiently for their turn at the computer.

A little chair I found at a flea market several years ago. 

I just love this old hat form.

It is holding one of my vintage top hats.

Pretties on the desk.

As you can see the bright morning light can be very blinding.

Now that the sun shine is to the side of my computer screen I have no problems seeing the computer.

This is how the room looks at 7:00 at night, still lit up by the light from the windows.

Fresh Hydrangeas and Phlox from my gardens.

A favorite little hand made cabinet.

This room is only 9x11.

I am standing in the doorway taking this picture.

I thought I would amuse you and show you the other space where I create.

Another small room, this is 6 1/2x9 and is located in the basement.

On the left side is the kids' play room and on the right is a door to a closet.

I have my work table, a large shelf on top, filled with lots of different craft items for me and the kids.

On the opposite wall there is a narrow dresser filled with more little bits of whatnot.

I do my sewing here, sometimes.

If it is a big job, I move the sewing machine upstairs to the kitchen table.

Arbor views from my office window. 

Thanks for stopping by.

After working extra hours at work this week, I can think of nothing better than visiting my blogging friends.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend too!