A Girly Girl Dream Comes True :)

 

A very long time ago in a far away land there was a little  ORANGE room in our house. It was right next to our bedroom and is actually the size of a modest size modern day walk in closet. :) I had a dream of creating a happy sunny girly girl room just for me. A little spot to sit and rock, or read and to put my makeup on in the mornings.

Remember what the room looked like when we started??? Let me refresh your memories.

Oh yeah it was ORANGE alright and it had been painted on the insistence of the old owners with the full strength wall paint we have here. The paint is meant to be thinned!! If you don't it will get moisture behind it and begin to lift off the wall. Not unlike vinyl wall paper. It literally took us days (weeks) to get it all off.

Then came the rains. The roof developed a couple of leaks and our attention and house budget was focused there. But finally at long last my little girly girl nest was painted and fluffed. I can't even begin to tell you how much I LOVE this little room!!!! :)

I have always wanted to have a blue and white room. I have collected books, magazines, and pictures for years. But when you have big dark dogs and little boys (that grow up to be big boys) some how white doesn't work. And I don't care what they say about it being soooo easy to throw in the washer to clean!!!!! One things I worried with a white and blue room was that it would look harsh,boring, and clinical. I'm sooooo thankful for my lit'l sister Renate's advice!! She suggested that I might think about adding some warm colors to the paint. She reminded me that the reason white works so well in Scandinavia is because they don't have the same exposure to the light and sun as I do. Taking her advice to heart I used a soft sandy beach color for the walls and a light warm blue for the ceiling.

Although I wanted feminine lace I didn't want flouncy,fro-fro polyester lace. So I used hand embroidery linens,cottons with battenburg laces, and hand made cotton laces. I really wanted to celebrate the incredible beauty you can create with simple needles and threads. I also gave myself the challenge not to buy any new furniture or furnishings. The few new pieces I used where the uglies that friends were sending to donation heaven. 

Would you like a tour??!

 Since I'm not very much of a black or blue and white kind of personality I had to throw in a few splashes of other colors.

Underneath the table fabric is a plastic tub will my back issues of the old Victoria magazine! :)

This little room does have to function as a guest room if need be, so I turned the twin bed into a day bed. Then covered it will a battenburg lace duvet set that Lee gave me.

A few years ago Fifi O'Neil (yeah of "Romantic Prairie Style&Romantic Country mag) had a huge online yard sale. I HAD to HAVE the antique wall scones and plaque. I had no real idea how big they were so I had then sent to my friend and mule Jackie D to bring down. And as you can tell they are huge!! They are wood and cast iron. The SPQR plague looks like carved wood however it's a theater prop. It's really a type of carvable foam! But until you pick it up you can tell the difference! Cool huh? Still has the prop company's tag on the back.

I draped a long piece of jute I washed and sewed beaded trim on the edges over the sconces. I like to think that simple homespun can be as beautiful as luxurious velvet. My mom who was raised in logging camps during the Depression taught me that beauty and money don't have to go hand in hand.

This was a set of shelves I think companies like the Franklin Mint sell to display their teacup collections in. It was cheap brown wood with spindles on the front of the shelves. Look sorta like a cage or stair banister. I took them off painted some nice thick layers of white them crackle then finished with light blue. It holds some of my favorite things of past, present and room for future.

The ivy heart wreath at the door.

Until I find the perfect dressing table this will do just fine. I covered it with an almost antique linen&cutwork embroidered table cloth my grandmother made.

Tiny little hand stitched and embroidered baby slips, one of the most precious expressions of a mother's simple love and devotion to her child. What baby isn't an angel?? They just check their wings with Saint Peter before they climb on the delivery stork.

 And so here we are where we started

Every morning when I open the door to my girly girl nest I can't help but sigh, smile and pinch myself. Then quietly thank LW for helping me bring another dream to life!

Have a most audacious art filled day no matter where in the world you are.   p;