Sharing Shadymont, My Mountain Cottage

Just before Christmas, I moved the furniture in the sunroom around.  I liked it okay for a while, but lately when sitting at the table, the view into the room bothered me. I had a steel type shelf unit at the window holding the plants. That happens to be the spot where the table and chairs normally sit. I moved the plants to the floor, and my husband took the shelving unit back to the garage for his use there. I brought this vintage table back from the master bedroom, and placed it here where the jelly cupboard was and stood the old closet door behind the table. I had recently been using a rug with pink and green in it, but it had a stain I could not get out, so I bought a small white rug for the room.  Here you can see the rug, and how it blends in with the walls and tile. I hung these printed sheers in the room.  I've had them a long time, and they once hung in the guest room.  I like the color combination in these curtains. The ...

I found these lamps several years ago at a yard sale, for $5.00 each.  They are very heavy, and the lady who had them said she had purchased them from a nearby upscale store.  I was delighted to get them, and have used them ever since. Today, I decided to give them a makeover. Before base I love the style, but lots of times when turning off the lamps, the pineapple fronds at the top would poke our hand or arm, and in fact, several fronds had broken off.  So off they all came. It was easy to remove them simply by just lifting them up and down a few times. After that, I brushed on Pure Gold Metallic Craft Paint. I wasn't worried if some of the darker color showed through. I painted the upper part of the lamp, and left part of the base as it was.  Here you can see how it turned out.  It still needed a little something. I decided to embellish the lamp shades with some greek key ribbon I found in the Craft section at Wal Mart. ...

I've had this vanity bench since we built the house.  I bought it at Kirkland's (13 years ago). The base is all swirly, and was a goldish color that had darkened in places over the years making it look a little grungy. The silky cushion cover is still in great condition, but has a few spots on it. (I didn't take this photo until I had it on its side on my bed, getting ready to take the cushion off, sorry). I had planned to cover it for some time, so I had picked up a yard of fabric at JoAnn's, on sale, so the fabric used to cover the cushion was about 1/2 yard, so $3.00 total to cover it. I simply laid the cushion on the fabric, cut around it, and stapled it to the board underneath the cushion.  Really easy and fast! Here it is covered, with the goldish color frame.  That's snow on the frame......(the dust fairy came through and sprinkled it).... uhh, I haven't dusted it in 13 years???  (Take your pick of these excuses!!!)    I wasn't...

Do you like lazy afternoons?  I do, and today has been just that. I've visited blogs, vacuumed a couple areas in the house where I made a mess, and a did a couple of very quick makeovers. I've had this flower arrangement for probably 6 or 7 years, found in a consignment shop for $20.00.  It's been all over my house.  But I never liked the large arrangement in the tiny vase.  So on one of my whims, they got separated.  The vase holds potpourri, and has been painted aqua! This is the vase below.  See how top heavy the arrangement was? I had been thinking I would make another arrangement using the flowers from this old one, since it has such nice roses, and the colors look so good.  I recently remembered a metal container that I bought a long time ago, too, and today was able to find it in my craft place in the basement.  So from that one arrangement, I crafted several "pretties". This is the arrangement I remade in the metal containe...

Out with the red!  To change out the entry from Valentine's decor, I placed hydrangeas in the "gate" and hung it  above the entry table. I took a wreath apart to get the flowers. The "gate" is so versatile and such a fun piece to work with. I  need to change out the lamp, or at least the shade.  So I will be on the lookout for that.  I might just shop the house, or make a shade cover.   Yes, gotta change the look of the shade. Love this gate!! Later:  Okay, I looked through my stash of fabric, and made a cover for the lamp shade.  I took the shade off, and traced around one side of it.  Then I just cut out four pieces of fabric like the pattern, hemmed around the edges, then sewed the four pieces together, and here is the new look for the lamp. I bought this fabric at a remnant sale several years ago. I changed out the flowers too, so I think this is looking better.  (for the time being).   I th...