Monday, June 30, 2014

Weekend Hapenings

I started of my weekend with a visit to Habitat
Restore. Ed, another merchant came in my store
Friday morning, and in our conversation about what
was going on in our lives, I asked him if he had seen a
partners desk around. Yes, get in the truck with me and
we headed of to Habitat. The desk was huge, oriental in
style and a good price. I took pictures and sent them to my
client. Still waiting to here if it will work in her husbands study.
I did find something for myself/ store, you never know were
they will end up..........


  $75.00 - 15% what a steel. I bought this exact bench in white years
ago in Richmond for $300. So, I am painting is black, will put a blue and
white embroidered Robert Allen fabric on the seat and bolsters. I will post
before and after later.

 Sunday morning I made a Carrot Cake Smoothie that I found on the internet.

This was soo good, easy to make and way to good to be that healthy. Four chopped up
carrots, one banana, 3/4 cup of vanilla soy milk, a dash of cinnamon , a hand full of oats and
a swirl of agave nectar, blend.
This treat keep me full till the afternoon!
I went by The Dollar Store for some 4th of July decorations, slim pickings,
but I found what I wanted and then some.

And Sunday, I picked a variety of green foliage from the yard for a
different centerpiece in my hallway.



Lambs Ear, wild onions, some kind of striped grass and a mossy green shrub.
On one of my walks, I ran into my neighbors who showed me a Mulberry tree,
full of berries. Last night Elfie and I walked down with a container and picked a few
mulberries to freeze for topping ice cream, put in my yogurt or plop in a glass of champagne.
On the way back, I picked a beautiful bloom from a saucer Magnolia and a brunch of
red climbing roses from the side of the house across the street that is empty  right now.
Shhh, don't tell any one!





I love the intense color of the magnolia and the velvety red of the roses, very pretty.
Last but not least, I finally found a fabric for the freebie camel back sofa that came in months
ago.


 The fabric is a Duralee woven paisley called Isla in blossom, this will give
the sofa a more modern feel with a Far East twist. Will post before and afters
later.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Christmas House Tour and Gardening

A couple of months ago a friend who is in charge
of the Staunton Christmas House Tour, asked me
if I would let the house I am renting be part of the tour
this year. This tour is out on by the Staunton Historical
Foundation and they are featuring new residences on East
Beverley Street. It is great for me because I have helped decorate
almost all of the homes on the list. So, I am starting to make a
few changes to get ready for this.This weekend I started in the
dining room......

The dining room had these dark heavy blue cornices with blue floor to ceiling
panels. They made the room very dark, so I brought home some curtains I had
in the back of the store. They belonged to a retired decorator from a job she
never finished.

The new drapes are a pink and tan silk and are very long, perfect for the
big windows. i am amazed at how much brighter the room is now, I left
the lace sheers in the windows to help filter the light. I may have an old picture
of the blue drapes in a past post.


 I found two old pictures were you can kinda see the blue drapes
in the background. I picked up my sconces from Ebay that I had
rewired. I bought them because they plug in instead of being a hard
wire, so if I move I just take

 them off the wall. And now off to the yard, which has nothing to do with
the Christmas tour. I put in some annuals and perennials in some of empty shade
beds and filled up the containers below these beds.



Astilbe, that will come back next year, impatients and begonias, caladium and geraniums
that I bring indoors in the winter. This shade side will be pretty all summer long.
Elfie, standing guard.







The Larkspur came from my old gardens by way of seeds, the rest came with the house.
Love the bell flower. Now for new plantings which I hope to be able to see grow.



The cone flower is an exotic pink, the delphinium was a big splurge, but oh so
hard to resist, it's huge with lots of blooms. The knock out rose was on the $3
discount rack and will be huge one day. The hydrangea is to replace the many I
left behind at the old house, including an oakleaf that I had planted some 5 years
ago. Now there will be lots of watering to do.

Friday, June 13, 2014

The Week of This and That

Things are picking up around here.........



Found this beautiful mahogany inlay demi lune table at an antique store called Frank's
on route 11 on my way back from the Dayton's farmers market. Frank's has really cool
stuff, will definitely go back. I went the the farmers market to pick up my sconces that
had to be rewired, that's were my lighting guy is. Will post pictures of the sconces and
there story next, soon.

This is what I am shipping out to San Diego on Monday, several phone calls, several
emails and two shipping quotes later, that thing has sold. I bought three or four years
ago on Ebay, drove to Asheville, NC to pick it up. I just decided a week ago to list
it on my Ebay site, it's been on my Etsy site for a while, and I dropped the price and bingo,
it sold. My moving guy is boxing it up and Fedex picks it up on Monday. That took a weeks
worth of work.



And to end the week, a local artist brought in some of her paintings for me to
sell. Love the colors. TGIF!