Simply Grand

You know it when you are surrounded by it. What could I be referring to?   B R I L L A N C E....

 From this man, Mr. Bart Swindall. He is the manger of my Chicago shop SG Grand, and the owner of the blog "Simply Grand" about his happenings in the shop, his expertise on antiques and educated flair for design.
Here Bart is posed for a blog entry entitled; "What is Bart wearing?" (here), his brilliant take on color and tongue-in-cheek reference to the blog "What is James wearing". A must read for his insight on color versus "greige" and our ongoing dialogue on what to finish this settee in.

Bart.......watermelon linen
Me........patterned linen, something funky

Finally agreeing, I am faced with a new dilemma, well a few.......a lack of time to find the fabric and now back to thinking patterned linen (sorry Bart) since by the time I do find it we may be peeking at Autumn.

Jump in here.......what would you do? Maybe none of the above, perhaps something entirely different?

Anyways, I digress. The current dilemma is a sudden burst of sales and a near empty shop with an important international crowd due to arrive. His inner Mc Guyver surfaces to save the day without a budget. Think paint (doable), dumpster diving for industrial strapping, a computer program, painting tape and straight pins to ultimately achieve a room fit for Madeleine Castaing. 

I don't know, maybe natural linen is the best choice?

Hate to blow a surprise but let Bart see here the beautiful bench I have in reserve. If he tires of the natural look, he can reach back and grab a new paint color! 

I do have one complaint about his blog, no, make that a huge complaint, 

"WE NEED MORE ENTRIES!"

xo (he hates this) Bart

Debra

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Office Project: Map Wall

When last we visited my front-room-turned-office project (seen here), I left you with a little teaser of the wall treatment for the desk wall:

Yeah, I’m kind of ornery that way!

I really wasn’t particularly planning on doing something special that wall, except maybe painting it a to-be-determined accent color.

But there I was, minding my own business, and my latest Pottery Barn catalog arrived…and there was this picture:

Oh, I fell…and I fell hard!

Oh, how I love the look of that map-covered wall.  The problem?  The Pottery Barn decals are $129 each, and to completely cover my wall, I would need…four. 

Yeah, that’s a little out of my budget!

I will spare you the details of my long and exhaustive search for a reasonably-priced alternative, and just share the good news…

I found one!

Target carries a map wall mural for about $89.  With an on-line coupon code and free shipping, I was able to get it for about $80—and it’s 8’8” x 13’!!  (It’s also easily trimmable.)

Can I get a woo-hoo??

So I ordered it.  And here I am “testing it out” by holding pieces of it to the wall with painter’s tape!

I think…I like it.

Here’s the kicker…the wall mural comes in 8 sections.  They are NOT pre-pasted, although the mural does come with some mix-it-up-yourself paste.  I have put up a fair amount of wallpaper in my time, but pasting your own is a MAJOR PAIN.  After a panel or two, I discovered it was better to paste the panel AND the wall, but it was still really, really tricky to get everything to line up.

Since the desk is going on this wall, I am counting on it to cover my flaws!

Here are the first two panels in place:

And here’s a peek at the completed wall!

I think it’s an improvement over what I started with, don’t you?? 

And here’s a peek at the adjacent wall…more on that to come!

  (hint:  no matter what the picture looks like, it really isn’t just painted white!)

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This project was featured at Simply Klassic Sunday.

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Decorating Insanity	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground	{aka} design

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Met a fellow blogger!

Tina and I have been trying to set up a lunch date for quite some time now and yesterday was the day we finally got to meet.
She and her husband have relocated for the time being in our home town and so how convenient is that???
We met at a wonderful restaurant and had a great visit.  Tina is as sweet as she looks and we exchanged gifts too – I had something special I wanted to do for her but didn’t have the items I needed but she liked what I made for her regardless and she gifted me with an adorable Pillow Tuck she had made especially for me that morning…what a lady!
Now I’m sure most of you know Tina from her blog:  http://earlyamerica1815shoppe.blogspot.com/  and author of An Early Christmas…of which I have her book and I know many of you do too.  She’s working on a new one right now – and I am so anxious to see what it will be – but it will be awhile yet she said.  Best of luck Tina – we’ll all be waiting again.

This wasn’t my best photo day….I didn’t feel all that well so is probably shows in my face – my back was hurting like crazy but I kept going…I didn’t tell Tina this as I didn’t want to cancel the visit – so I took a pain pill on the way there and could sit pretty still during lunch.

Could this be any sweeter???  And the Red is perfect…my signature color too…how did she know?

After lunch I went to visit my aunt…she’s failing fast…my heart hurts for her – she is a fighter and I know she knows she doesn’t have long…my guess is a week possibly a tad more but only God knows for sure…I just pray he doesn’t let her have pain in the end.

I also went to Sam’s Club and they had the most beautiful potted arrangements for little money – not as expensive as the garden center that I normally buy mine from so I picked up a large potted and a hanging one.

The potted one isn’t showing up the flowers very well but there is lots of color in it like the hanging one.

Blessings to all and I’ve so enjoyed reading your blogs this week – thanks for being such faithful blogger friends.

Karen

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Spring Suitcase Wall

Among other changes I have been making in our home, I decided the suitcase wall needed a little updating.  Can you see the difference?  (You can see its debut—and the “how to--here, or its Christmas look here.)

Look down….look down…look down…

Yep, the little green suitcase is a new member of the family!  I never did figure out what to do with the awkward space at the bottom…so I put a suitcase in it!

Then I moved around some of my favorite vintage goodies, and added a bird nest or two…  (And notice the canvas I had made of Bubble Boy!)

It’s probably hard to tell, but the wall color is actually different (more on that later).  It took me a long time to work up the nerve to paint the suitcase wall!  I had to take all those suitcases down…then put them all back up…  Ugh!

Since I had to go through all that trouble anyways, it seemed like a good time to cut another suitcase in half!

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This project was featured at My Repurposed Life and Elizabeth & Co..

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground	{aka} design

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How to Make Chive Vinegar

Over at the popular blog Food in Jars, Marisa McClellan has some interesting information about making chive blossom vinegar. I was lucky enough to read her post when a corner of my flowerbed was a riot of delicate chive blossoms, so I gave her recipe a try.

A day in my mixture looks beautiful and smells even better. I didn't follow the directions exactly (I never do). This is my variation

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Chelsey’s Bookcases

My friend Chelsey has had these Grandma-bookcases (literally) for quite some time now.  Probably two years ago we talked about the “how-to’s” of painting them—but this year, she finally decided to just have me do the work!

The bookcases have some really pretty details on the doors and on the crown molding.  The right one is actually more of a “secretary” with a pull-down work surface.

Chelsey thought all the brown was bringing her living room down, so we went white!

She may not know it, but the white I used is the same color that is on the trim in my house!  When you find one that works, I say, stick with it!

I will admit that this was NOT my favorite project.  Unfortunately, the main construction of these pieces is laminated particle board, and it did NOT want to be painted!  It took one coat of primer (which obviously wasn’t sufficient) and FOUR coats of paint to cover!

I used a dark-brown glaze (antique walnut stain mixed with Martha Stewart glazing medium) to bring out the pretty details.  Plus, there was lots of “natural distressing” on these pieces already—the glaze makes it look like it’s on purpose!

…and I played with PicMonkey’s “Urban” effect for the following pictures!

I miss Picnik—I felt like I was just starting to get the hang of it!  But PicMonkey is very similar, so that’s good—for me!

Anyway, I think we brought Grandma’s furniture into the new millenium!

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This project was featured at Decorating Insanity.

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Decorating Insanity	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground	{aka} design

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Container Gardening with the Enchanted Home

Today you must visit the wildly popular and beloved blog, 'The Enchanted Home'!
Imagine my delight when Tina asked for my participation in a conversation on container planting, with all my professional tips and tricks.

Haven't been? You are in for a treat! So many of us have followed along as Tina and family dreamed, then built a truly enchanted home, an architectural gem in the old meets new French style. I could show hundred's of pictures but let these give you a glimpse into Tina's world

 Recently Tina opened her own online shop featuring timeless accessories for your home that are very reasonably priced. Visit the shop here. No doubt she is swamped with Mothers Day orders! This endearing woman inspires so many with her home, ideas and the ever popular "What would you choose?" posts.......Enjoy!

See what I mean?


Containers being a favorite topic I was indeed thrilled to talk in depth on this subject, a project all of us can participate in. I gave Tina all my secrets........to view the post click here

On topic, let's discuss how to choose the right containers to match your home. If you have been following my gardening series the one repeated mantra is to "look up!" The architecture of your home should reflect and compliment all of your choices in the garden.
Today's topic is four distinct architectural styles and matching container considerations, the possibilities are endless!.

 An Arts and Craft or Bungalow style leans toward a masculine aesthetic so I would not choose a frilly urn but more of a pot. In keeping with our lessons in "looking up", in this example you could choose to take one of the homes colors and replicate that element in your choice.
The terra cotta pulls out the front door and the green and yellow pots the trim.
If a window box were to be added I would choose something non-descript as there is already enough to compete with.

The American farm house, and in this case all white, can introduce a touch of formality. A large scaled container to meet the largess of the home. Most of my choices are on pedestals, elevating the urns figuratively and literally.

My last example is white which I would never set against a white house, but think of painting it and the front door, introducing a color.......what pop!

Speaking of color, our Shingled styled home has a great door color, pull that out with pots of the same color, like these copper gems.

Look closely, if choosing the terra cotta pot, see that it pulls out color of the surrounding stone walls? Being an informal home, your choices again should be informal, loving the wooden pots above. And how about an architecturally interesting window box? Can't you just picture those charming scallops on this home?

Lastly a French home.....always a favorite. Of course the perfect choice is the 'Versailles' container as shown above, right. The originals have metal hinges and are to be passed down the generations......for a price. But many 'Versailles' styled copies abound. Loved the green one shown, this home could use another color introduction, don't you think?
How about olive jars? Filled or as is?
With this particular home window boxes could work, actually as I look closely there are tiny ones on the ledges, but, what if we take the zinc like trough and pull it under the ground floor windows? That would have presence!

Thank you Tina, for including me! It was such a delight to collaborate with you, and truly an honor!!

Still spaces available!

debra@scentimentalgardens.com

Cheers!

Debra

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