“creepy basement” September 22, 2009

On WordPress, one can see which search terms people have used to get to one’s site. Today a search term that brought someone to my site was “creepy basement” –

“Grace Flows Down” September 18, 2009

I bought this GORGEOUS painting titled “Grace Falls Down” at the Mattoon Arts Festival this year. It’s by artist Catherine Gibbs of Westfield, MA.

I saw it on her web site when she signed up for the festival and thought it was lovely then, but seeing it in person just floored me. What a wonderful painting. I love, love, love, love it and hope to be able to buy more of her paintings in the future. I like to just sit at my kitchen table and look at it.

Especially as it is getting colder and it will be a great visual comfort in the winter!

Garden Tour, Sept. 2009 September 16, 2009

Some years we have a garden tour as part of our arts festival, and 2009 was one of those years. So I tidied up my garden, filled up the fountain, and let the sun do its thing. Here are a couple of photos I’m planning to look at over the winter to remind me of warmer times….

Lilacs in pots, ready for spring

Burbling fountain and favorite chair

King Cricket September 15, 2009

I had this big cricket hanging out in my garden for a few days, but I haven’t seen him for a while. I call him King Cricket because he’s so big. He has these really soulful eyes, and I just love to look at him. He has stripey legs, but I think he may be missing one leg. Anyway, here are some photos of him in my little back courtyard. I wish I had more zooming power, oh well!

King Cricket

King Cricket

Getting ready for the festival… September 15, 2009

We have a fantastic arts and crafts festival on our street every year — it’s always the weekend after Labor Day. There is a magical moment on the street when all the cars are gone, and the street is swept clean, and no one is around…. and then the exhibitors start setting up. But here are some photos of that magic moment of silence…

And here’s the festival web site (maintained by yours truly): MattoonFestival.org

Another charming section

Empty street!

The trees are so pretty

Bow front houses

The long view…

Darkening things up nicely September 11, 2009

As one of the final touches for the stripey hallway, I looked high and low (okay, only on the Internet) for black and white polka dot clip-on chandelier shades. To no avail. The closest I found were perforated black and white shades made by Kathy Ireland and sold at LampsPlus. They were $9.99 a piece, plus shipping for a total of $65.00 for five shades. Well, after a long long wait and some calls to customer service, they finally arrived today. I think they may have been discontinued, because I just searched on LampsPlus to find a link to the product and couldn’t.

Well, they’re here. They’re pretty poorly constructed, the glue has worn away in some spots where the shade was attached to the wire frame (maybe that’s why they aren’t showing up on the site), but they look okay for now. I had four matching (quite nice but plain) silk-covered shades on the chandelier before, plus one that sort of matched the others. So if worse comes to worse, I suppose I can figure out how to re-cover the others and/or find someone to do it.

But I think these look okay — they’re pretty nifty with the light shining through them, and they darken things up considerably (I have two sorts of friends — those who love the old dark Victorian look, and those who are constantly nagging me to open drapes or get more lamps or do “something to get more light in here”).

Here are my photos, but please bear in mind what a poor photographer I am! I think they look better in person.

New shades, lights on, taken without flash.

New shades, lights on, taken with flash.

New shades, lights off, taken with flash.

My kitchen September 9, 2009

My kitchen is really nice. My house had been a boarding house for single men since at least the 1930s. Each room had its own gas stove and sink. Hence, no need for a kitchen. In the room that has become my lovely kitchen, there was a barely-used all-in-one sink-stove-fridge dealie (now in the butler’s pantry, q.v.). And a table. That’s it! So, flush with money from the sale of my old house, I hired a very inexpensive contractor and bought a lot of nice stuff. It took six months for the ground floor of my house to be redone, but it was worth every minute of agony, microwaved popcorn, and drinking out of the bathroom sink.

This is the only white ceiling in the house… it’s definitely time for a fresh coat of paint on the walls, and I think the ceiling may need to get some color when that happens (next summer though, I’m done with painting for the year).

Jerome and window (curved wall), Skunkie’s orange couch in front of window.

Jerome and window (curved wall), Skunkie’s orange couch in front of window.

Art work, brick fireplace (doesn’t work), and stark white ceiling.

Fridge, sink, cabinets, dishwasher, cooktop and stove all in a row.

View towards back door, which leads to courtyard.

Powder room that roars September 9, 2009

I’m not a good photographer, so please forgive the photos. I see so many photos of people’s homes on their own blogs that look tremendously crisp and amazing and professional. And then I try to do that at home and I get washed out colors from the flash, or a totally dark room with no flash… and forget about those crazy close ups other people do. Oh well!

Here are some mediocre photos of my quite fabulous powder room. This is on the ground floor (where the kitchen, home office, stripey hallway and door to the dirt-floor basement can be found). When I moved in in 2002, it was a full bath, with a pink-ish tub and shower where the washer and dryer now live. I believe it was all white (since everything in the house was all white when I bought it), but for some reason I have blocked it out of my mind.

My inspiration for this room was the brown pedestal sink ($50) and black granite floor tiles ($1.00 each) that I bought at my local Re-Store. (BTW, I’ve decide to post the costs of things, since I would want to know if I were reading this blog). Then I went brown on the walls. Brown paint, that is. And I thought I would do some sort of glazed finish. It was like sitting inside someone’s colon, and strangely unconducive to a bathroom.

So then I found some wallpaper… ooo la la — leopard and architectural froo fraas. I don’t remember the makers or the precise cost, but it was around $300. So I hired someone to do the wallpapering, which cost more than the wallpaper (around $400.) It was after that experience that I decided to learn how to wallpaper.

I wanted to hide the washer and dryer, and considered painting them in a camoflauging leopard pattern, but thought better of it and found some fabric to make drapes. I looked everywhere for a matching leopard fabric, and finally settled on this nice soft one (kind of furry, but not in a gross troll doll sort of way) at Jo-Ann’s fabric ($40.00 with a discount coupon). The ceiling curtain rod is from Ikea and cost maybe $5.00

Then I realized that the ceiling was incredibly plain (it was white — gasp!). I started wallpapering with leopard scraps, thinking I would easily buy another roll if/when I ran out. So of course I ran out and the paper was no longer available. Plan B: remove the paper, don’t bother cleaning up the glue, and paint it with gold paint resulting in an interestingly textured ceiling.

Enjoy!

…. and leopard curtains opened to reveal washer and dryer.

Leopard curtains closed….

This is me trying for one of those cool close ups I always see on blogs. I failed.

Other corner of w.c. art gallery nook

Sink, leg, etc.

W.C. in little art gallery corner.

View of bathroom from stripey hallway.

Stripey hallway — almost done! August 26, 2009

Here are some views of the latest odds and ends I’ve done in the fabulous striped hallway. Got an INCREDIBLE rich teal blue silk velvet remnant at Osgood’s for $24.00 (!!!!), and have temporarily hung it with temporary clips on a rod with glass finials (Big Lots — $15.00). Also got a cool drape pulling rod (Big Lots, $5.00). Have to sew the drape up properly with hem and lining (I’m thinking shocking orange liner), and have settled on having the one drape only (since that’s all there was for the remnant and it was such a good deal).

Got a mirrored top for the table at ABC Glass ($35.00, custom cut — thank heavens I got the measurements right for once — I usually write the measurements down then mistrust what I’ve written and add a few inches to things for no reason), and will be getting same for top of armoire (in hopes of it reflecting some light into that very dark corner).

Cute little “PAID” stamp bank came from Savers (‘natch) for $3.99.

I went through FIVE paint colors and “custom blends” before I found the one that is up there now. It’s Pratt & Lambert’s “erica” (my name), so how could I resist? Plus, I like it.

Have to decide if I really want to hang the picture that’s leaning against the wall. But those are the last few things — oh, and the polka-dot lampshades. I ordered some from Lamps Plus. I hope I like them, because they were $10.00 each plus $15.00 shipping, so I’ll be out a pretty penny if I hate them and have to send them back….

This is the little sample pot (all I needed) of “erica” by P&L paints.

Painting the radiator.

Radiator, oh radiator. You are so much more lovely in white.

The lovely, lovely blue fabric, with the neat curtain puller thingy.

One side of the armoire papered. Still wet.

Not exactly doorknobs. These are hooks from Job Lots ($1.99 each), but they’re really spiffy!

Eeek! Several of the paint colors and why they weren’t working.

Ta da! The armoire papered and painted. Awfully nice, if I do say so myself!

View of the lovely blue drape beside the armoire.

Armoire in its natural state, somewhat the worse for wear.

Lovely mirrored table top for horribly warped, water damaged table top.

Dining room — Winter 2006 August 21, 2009

I decided to re-do my dining room over the Christmas break of 2006. During the work, I came down with a terrible cold, but soldiered on and completed the papering and painting in about a week. The room was all white (as was everything). There had been a door on the wall opposite the fireplace that led into a small empty room (now the butler’s pantry). Having that door there made no wall large complete enough to hold a buffet (two windows on one wall, fireplace on another, and pocket doors to the living room on the third). So friends helped cover up that door (also made for much more room for cabinetry in the butler’s pantry, q.v.) in 2004 or 2005 (lost photo years, sadly).

The wall was very very bumpy where the door had been, and I knew that foil wallpaper would help disguise it. I got this fabulous wallpaper from ebay — it’s a Van Luit, Winterthur collection item. Gold foil with black and white partridges and other birds. I did a lincrusta-esque paper on the bottom, with a lincrusta chair rail. Painted the ceiling the same metallic gold (Ralph Lauren at Home Depot) as in the living room. White trim is also same from living room (also R.L. at the Depot).

Will post some more detailed/close up after photos soon.

Before: the wall of art on ex-door wall

Before: hard to have eaten in this all-white room. Tried to disguise white with paintings and crowded furniture, but it was still there… white…

Note how flat the wall looks due to wallpaper’s incredible structural properties…

Wall where there once was a door, then there were lots of paintings.

More of same

After: Windows, radiator cabinet.

What a coat of Quick Shine will do!

Another view of paper and fireplace

After: Gold ceiling, flash reflected in gold wallpaper, cleaned up fireplace mantel, waxed floor