Music Room Anyone?

Now that the wedding craziness is over, I thought I would share with you some of the house projects I have worked on in between wedding stuff.  In the two years I have been retired, I have managed to do a few projects, but not nearly close to the number I have sitting in my head! (I can hear Bob cringing as I write that line). One of my favorite projects just kind of came to me out of the blue... transforming my living room.

The above shows the finished product,(sorry, no before photo to share).


My home is a 1973 colonial.  When you walk in the front door, to the left of the foyer and stairs is a combined living room/dining room space.  I think it is a pretty advanced open-concept design for 1973, and one would think I would know exactly what to do with it being that everyone wants open concept design today.  Uh, welllll....I didn't.  The dining area was easy to design:  table, chairs, china cabinet...DONE!  But, what to do with the living room area.  The problem was we really spent so little time in that room, all of our together time was spent in the family room where the TV and computer are located.  I had filled the living room with haphazard pieces just to take up space.  There was no design plan...sigh.  Then inspiration hit!  The one piece in the room that dominated the space was the piano; it had to stay.  So, I thought, why not make it the purpose of the room...a music room.  LOVE IT!!! Once I had decided on a purpose for the room, the design all fell into place.  First I transformed some of the pieces I already had to fit the theme.

On the large outside wall, I created a music- themed photo wall.  I started by framing some music sheets from my daughters' band days.  I also was lucky enough to find sheet music that was stamped with black block prints of birds done by a local artist who also is part owner of a favorite antique shop on Main Street downtown Flemington. I thought it would create a nice mix of art and music.  Since the walls are a Wedgewood blue, I decided to keep all the frames light.

The center picture needed to be larger, so I scoured the music in the piano bench and found Phantom of the Opera...our very favorite Broadway play.  It brings back such happy memories.  My oldest daughter's marching band won first place with this music ( in fact it is her saxophone sheet music from high school that I framed.)

You can also see that I stylized the top of the secretary (an heirloom from Bob's mom).  I tried to keep things simple: a few books, silver pieces and alabaster statue.  I kept the music theme going by rolling up some sheet music and filling the large silver urn (actually an ice bucket we received as 25th anniversary gift).

On the drop down top I placed my oldest daughter's flute (sadly she no longer plays it) along with a vintage ink bottle and a few pages of random music. Next to the secretary you can see my youngest daughter's saxophone (again relegated to the past).

As I scoured garage sales last fall for items to furnish my youngest's new home, I scored this pair of wall sconces... music harps!  Perfect fit to round out the music wall collage.

 Next, I turned to the sofa area that I use as a divider between the living room and dining room areas.  I covered the sofa ( a 1980"s pink floral number...YIKES!!!) with a neutral pewter- colored slip cover.  I added some vintage doilies as arm covers and tossed on some neutral -colored pillows to freshen the look and blend in with the color scheme of the wall collage. I brought in a vintage pie crust table I had used in the family room and topped it with a converted oil lamp that I had purchased years ago and had been using elsewhere in the house.  I like it here in this room better; it adds to the old world charm that a "music room" connotes, don't you think?

 Behind the pie crust table I placed a hinged pair of glass doors that I had purchased a while back on an antiquing outing with Bob.  I just loved them and at the time didn't know where I would put them, but I knew they would look nice somewhere.  I was so right.  They make the perfect room divider here. Plus, I continued the music theme by decorating a few of the window panes with sheet music.  Also on the pie crust table you can see the crystal vase holds a collection of drum sticks that I scored for $1 a piece at the same shop I got the bird block prints.

In front of the sofa is a diminutive vintage glass-topped table.  I brought it into the design by simply slipping a few sheets of music under the glass top and simplifying the vignette with a footed silver bowl, mercury glass candle and Waterford crystal bowl.

To the right of piano is a vintage music cabinet I had found over ten years ago.  I used it to store all of the piano music my girls and I had accumulated over the years.  Plus, who could resist such a lovely lady...do you see the mirror peaking out on top and the lovely turned legs?  So, as I was transforming the room, I wanted to highlight the piece even more.  Two years ago, my daughter had given me a replica phonograph.  I decided it absolutely needed to be in my music room, so I placed it here on top of the music cabinet.  I opened the doors so you could see the lovely shelving, used some of the shelves for album storage (I won't tell you I have an original Abby Road album and the original Tapestry album...can we hear a you're that old!!!!), and threw a couple of vintage linens on the door.  Just love the monogram even though it's not my letters.

So, that's how my music room came to be.  I apologize for the photo.  There is so much light streaming through the windows and (sigh) I am still using my cell phone for photo taking.  But, I think you see the gist of the themes in the room.  Blue, creme, gray, neutral colors are so soothing. And of course...music, music, music.  I now love the room and you can find me at quiet times, reading on the sofa or tinkering away at the piano.  I have even been known to put on an old album and sip away on a glass of wine.

Do you have any rooms that never seemed to get use?  Can you think of ways to transform them into useful spots again?  I'd love to hear your ideas.

Wedding Madness

Good Morning Dear Readers,

Well, we are down to the last push before my daughter's wedding.  Sixteen days to go!  I don't have time to give you lots of detail so I thought I would just share a few photos of recent projects.  I need to get the house in the wedding spirit so I thought I would switch out some spring decorations with some wedding themed decorations.  Here are a few of the results:

Starting with the foyer.  The front door got some white roses in my vintage Saturday Evening Post mail bag:

To the right of the door is a bench that now is filled with wedding albums and paraphernalia from my older daughter's wedding, my wedding, my mom's wedding and my in-laws wedding.  Lace and tulle bind them together into one vignette.

I also replaced the eggs in the vintage egg basket with the headpiece from my bridal veil.  Brought back some lovely memories:

Above the bench, I filled the sewing drawer with pale pink satin (my daughter's wedding color), white lace and several pictures from my parents 1940's wedding.

I updated my birdie on the kitchen windowsill.  Now she is a blushing bride.

 

Onto the dining room.  I've just started there because it is the staging area for all of the reception decorations that will be transferred two days before the event.  Until then I can only decorate a few areas.  I started with the linen dresser.  On top I put a chalkboard and photo vignette  dedicated to Allison and Rob.

That's it for now.  I'm off to make the last payment at the reception venue.  Hallelujah!

My Personal Chef

What could be more lovely than a romantic dinner for two prepared by your own personal chef?  Not much, I say.  But that's one of the benefits of being married to Bob.  Not only does he take me for delectable bike rides, but he also whips up some delectable dishes.

With our straining wedding budget, we have had to forego eating out at fine dining restaurants.  This has been quite a challenge for my "foodie"  of a husband. We have tried to make up for it by spicing things up in our own cooking.  I'm a decent baker, but I must admit, Bob is the master chef of this household.  He loves food and is not satisfied with a can of Campbell's Chunky Beef soup over noodles ( a staple of our first year of marriage), so he scours the newspapers and magazines for tempting things to make.  This weekend he graced us with a salad that was a meal in itself. The salad boasted golden beets, raspberries and pistachios sprinkled among tender greens.  And it was accompanied by goat cheese toasts...heaven!!!  He found the recipe in the Healthy Eating section of The Star Ledger, but it came from the cookbook of Ellie Krieger.  Ellie has a blog and a weekly newsletter and you can reach her Here .  Take a look at these greens:

Bob may have done most of the cooking for the meal, but I added some ambiance.  I set the small round table in our sun room with a faded pink vintage linen table cloth.  The centerpiece is a simple rustic green Ball canning jar with a "necklace" of jute twine.  I added a few Queen Anne"s Lace blooms from the garden.  The dinner plate is from Pier One (last year's summer purchase) and the salad plate is a find from Home Goods.  Just lovin' the blue transferware-like patterns. Wine goblets are part of an etched glass collection we bought years ago from  Flemington Cut Glass.  Sadly, after decades of being in the cut glass business they closed up shop.  What a loss for the community, another landmark gone, but at least I got a few treasures before that happened.  

To make the experience even more romantic and restaurant-like, I added some music from one of our present favorite artists, Michael Buble.  Love those mellow tones and smooth jazz sounds.  Bob was so inspired, I got a slow dance out of him!  We kept the sliding door open, so we could hear the burble of the patio fountain and feel the warm late afternoon breeze.  Almost like eating alfresco.  We must have created some envy in the neighborhood because we ended up with visitors at our door.

The basset on the left is our neighbor's dog, Violet.  She often stops by for bones and sunny spots for sunbathing on the patio.  The beagle on the right is our grand-dog, Lilly.  She's our youngest daughter's dog and used to live here with us before Alli bought a house of her own and moved out.  Lilly often comes to visit her old play pals Violet and Violet's housemate Sudsy.

If you want to make the salad yourself, you can see the recipe HERE. All in all a lovely evening.
 

Spring Inside and Out

Hello Dear Readers

I know Spring is well underway, and I assure you I have welcomed it into my home.  I just haven't had time to share with you what spring touches I have added to bring spring into my world.  So I did a quick photoshoot around the house, inside and out, and will simply share with you now, some of the quick things I did to celebrate the season.  After such a cold and long winter, I was delighted to decorate the house with new life!

family room mantle gets dressed in spring blooms

I have a grove of lilly of the valley blooming under a kwanzan cherry tree in the back yard.  Every spring, I look forward to their reappearance.  It also reminds me of my grandmother who was born in May, since lily of the valley is May's flower. I gave them a place of honor and put a few blooms inside some vintage jars.  I also added a few branches of the spirea bush that is putting on quite a show in the side yard! Here's a closer look at the blooms.

My kitchen needed a little spring too, so I added a new Scrabble message next to my birdie that sits on the window sill my my kitchen sink. Now I can look at birds inside and out  

Birds and nests and eggs are such symbols of spring.  I decided to use these symbols in my spring decorating. My dining room is inundated with wedding preparations, but I managed to carve out a little space on the dining table to display a vintage silver tray filled with espresso and tea cups that I made into bird nests with moss and shredded raffia (PS - the center tea cup is from my grandmother's set...I will do a whole post on that later...they are one of my favorite things)

Front entry also needed a touch of spring...eggs for the vintage egg basket.  Scored the simple white eggs at Walmart at Easter time.

Outside is welcoming the season too. Pansies at the front door...

Hope you have brought spring into your home too!

Framed

Good Morning Dear Readers,

I've been busy with my wall art project and have made significant progress.  I wanted to re-purpose and reuse as much as I could for this project because I did not want it to be an expensive project, so I went in search around the house for things that could possibly fit the words/lettering theme.  As I rummaged through the attic for usable frames (I have so many) I came across a project I had done for my husband shortly after his father died.  I had found letters his dad had written to his mother (my husband's grandmother) from Europe where he was stationed during WWII.  I had framed the letter and a picture of the young Donald in uniform.  I thought this would be a perfect choice of picture to include in my current project.  Here is the picture I had done.

As I recall I had purchased this vintage frame from a local antique shop.  It had a black and white photograph of an aerial view of some factory site.  I remember thinking that would be a perfect backdrop for the war-era ephemera.  Resurrecting this picture lead me to search for other letters or primary documents from deceased loved ones.  The wall would then take on an even deeper meaning than the glorification of the word which I initially had intended.  I thought about framing some of my husband's love letters that he had written to me in the early 70"s ( I've got them all safely stored in a box that is stashed in the spare bedroom's closet), but that might be just a bit too personal and not to mention embarrassing.  So, I searched even further.  Two weeks ago, I had surprised Bob by making him crepes from his mother's recipe.  As I searched for the recipe, I realized it was one of the few things we had with her actual handwriting.  A ha! Perfect subject to be framed.  The recipe was written on a lined sheet of notebook paper and in pencil; the text needed to be darker for anyone to see it from a distance.  First, I photocopied the recipe so it would not be lost if I messed up in tracing her handwriting in black ink. Then I reused one of the photo frames from my girls' pictures, placed the recipe against a solid black backdrop and Presto! Another item for the wall.  This one only cost $.79 for the black paper.

The recipe idea spurred me to search  through my own mother's recipe cards.  I was rewarded with a great find, not only did I find several written in my mother's handwriting, but I also discovered one written in my grandmother's hand.  I decided I would do a generational picture of 3 recipe cards one written by my gram, one by Mom, and one by me.  Again I reused a photo frame from my girls.  The result is seen below:

I was on a roll now, so I dug through some of the rememberances my husband had received when his grandmother died.  She was the sweetest old lady I had ever met.  She was 107 or maybe even older when she died.  Nice longevity in his family. I found two letters that were written to her.  I decided the envelopes themselves were more interesting than the letters.  One had a post mark of 1907, this was before she was even married, but was I believe either when she was a teenager or early 20's.  The letter was from a friend who recounted all the fun they had flirting with a group of boys.  I guess no matter what the era, life follows certain patterns.  Anyway, the postmark was intriguing. Guess how much stamps were in 1907?  2 cents! The second letter was postmarked 1947 and came from England.  During the war, my father-in-law had been stationed in England and married a war bride.  Her family became friends with Bob's grandmother and corresponded with her.  I put both letters in their respective envelopes and framed them together.They will make nice conversation pieces as well as lovely art.  See them below:

I have a few more ideas for things to frame, single ABC letters for example.  I'll let you know how the search turns out.  I'm hoping to complete this project by the end of the week.  Unfortunately, I do have to include Bob in the project.  He insists on nailing things up on his newly painted walls himself.  I guess I don't mind the help, but it will be a challenge.  He's not the most patient person when it comes to making changes and especially in taking directions!  This could be fun.

Picture Perfect

Hi Viewers and Readers,

I'm starting a new house project that I wanted to share with you.  My husband and I are currently painting and repairing and refreshing just about every room in our house...LONG OVERDUE.  The first room to be painted is the family room.  While Bob really does all of the painting (he thinks I am too messy...when really he just has a control problem !) I am the organizer and decorator.  I must say, that I am good at organizing and kind of have a knack for decorating. At least I enjoy those activities.  I chose Benjamin Moore's Cameo white for the walls.  It is my favorite white, nice and creamy, and it has a soft texture not harsh at all.  I thought this would make a nice neutral background for any wall art I will do.

The main wall of the family room is now a blank canvas and I will be decorating it.  Right now the wall is home to two bookcases and a console table that supports the TV.  Before painting, the wall was covered in black-framed photographs of my two girls.  They were lovely pictures, but my youngest, Alli, was in middle school when those pics were taken and now she is 26!  I think it's time to move forward, don't you?  Of course I will miss the pictures, but I am putting them in a lovely separate album that I can flip through whenever I want.

I've taken several days to plan and mull over what I want to do to the wall.  I've finally, decided on a word or lettering theme.  The family room also contains a corner where the computer table sits, along with another corner built-in bookcase.  Lots of books in this room I thought, why not focus on emphasizing them and go with a complimentary theme like words and letters.  I had purchased vintage word flashcards from a local antique shop in town this past summer, and decided they would be the perfect thing to frame and at least be a start for the theme. The cards came in two sizes and I had picked out some great words like pretty, jam and meow. I'll reuse the frames from my daughters' photos in order to economize and will be on the lookout for various other items that might be frame-able and fit the theme.

I keep you posted with the progress.  Below is the freshly painted wall sans photos.

project 1

So, painting a piece of furniture is not such a quick and easy task.  I thought I could knock it out in an hour, two tops, but I guess Robert Burns, Lennie, George, and Steinbeck knew what they were talking about (best laid plans...).  I first sanded to rough up the glossy surface of the dresser, then smoothed it out with another sanding using an ultra fine sandpaper.  Who knew that at 61, one has no arm strength and would need to take a break for two hours before starting the next step!  (I think I know what my next project should be:  a visit with a physical trainer.)

The painting stage was again a surprise.  I bought paint that had a built in primer in hopes of having to paint only one coat.  Wrong...it took three coats of paint to get the wood covered adequately.  After using a brush with the first coat, I decided I would use a small sponge roller (another HGTV trick I saw on one of the design shows) for the final two coats in order to have a smooth, unstreaked surface.  That actually was a successful move.

I do love the new look of the dresser.  I'm thinking of adding a little bling to the first drawer and purchasing either clear glass or milk glass knobs as drawer pulls.  That would necessitate a mini-lesson on the use of power tools. I'd ask my husband for a lesson, however, he wasn't too pleased about the painting to begin with; he doesn't like change.  That is one thing I will be embracing during retirement...Change.  After doing basically the same job for 39 years, I am ready to try lots of new things.  I don't need to make major changes right away, like moving or divorce or changing religions (just kidding), but trying small things like learning to use a power drill.  Could be fun.

So below are before and after photos of the dresser of project #1.  Lighting in my hallway is very bad so the pictures do not do the piece justice.  I decided to display a few milk glass pieces on top, including a milk glass lamp.  Since the dresser houses extra linens, some of which are vintage linens (one of the things I like to collect), I also used two crocheted doilies I got as a wedding shower gift, made by Bob's grandmother to protect the surface of the dresser.  The wall above the dresser has some family photos, so for my real next project I am going to create a family tree with unifying frames.  Keep you posted on this one.

BEFORE PIC:

Can't figure out how to turn this picture SORRY

AFTER PICS: