Patty Rose Design

Pinterest

Pinterest is rocking my creative world.  I can't get enough.  I read and pin until my hand is paralyzed.  Inspiration pours from the site.  It's better than 10 magazine subscriptions.  As a creative, I have a constant thirst for inspiration.  This site gives me all I need and more.  So many projects, so little time!  My first truly, Pinterest inspired project. 

I saw something similar years ago and wanted to make one but of course could never find the source in the ocean of internet locations. 

I have this affinity for pretty plates and cups, mismatched and crackled.  I cannot pass one up at a flea market or thrift store.  I lovingly bring them home and tuck them away.  I knew someday I would turn them into something beautiful and useful again. 

Two tubes of E6000 (take my word, no matter what the blogs and posts say, avoid Gorilla Glue, it makes a huge mess) later, I have wonderful little tiers organizing my crafting table, dressing table and desk.  There are a couple of extra ones, just in case I find another corner that needs a pretty little organizer.

Garden totems are next in the grand scheme....I bought 4 tubes of E6000, so I should be good to go.

Bedroom Redo - How to Turn One Day into Two Weeks

The poor "back bedroom".  It hasn't been redecorated in years.  It was once our son's room, then a semi-hospital room, a packing room, and lately just plain 'ole forgotten.

Before, yes, sad, I know:

Last week I decided that it was time for a new paint job and maybe a few new prints of my European vacation photos.  One steadfast "rule" in design is when redoing a room, you must move everything out of the room.  I mean everything.  I wasn't going to do that at first, but I know there's a magic that happens when you clear a room.  All the hang ups, limitations and workarounds disappear.  You look at the room and its arrangement and contents with truly fresh perspective.  So I diligently cleared the room.  Mr. Rose was not excited about this.  He knows what happens when I get this serious about a project...

So...I sat in the middle of the room on a chair and just studied things for awhile with a glass of sweet tea (this was my second mistake, sugar and caffeine are a bad combination when contemplating activity).

 I decided (with the help of the caffeine and sugar) that since everything was cleared out of the room, it would be the perfect time to finally do something about that awful carpet (and the magic begins).  The carpet was on my last nerve.  I proceeded to tear it all out including pad, tack strip and a million staples.  The things that settle under carpet and pad after 25 years are down right disgusting.  Glad I tore out the carpet.  Ah, much better.

Hmmmnn, now the woodwork really looks tired....

I restained all the woodwork with Minwax Polyseal and it looks brand new.  So fresh and rich again. 

Since everything is out of the room, and its all freshly painted, now would be a good time to put the new shelving (I bought for the closet 10 years ago) in.  Oh, and if there's going to be new shelving, I'll need new closest doors so out with the yucky doors:

I installed a new type of floor that looks just like wood, isn't laminate and was super easy to install.  So now the carpet is gone and the floor is brand new and squeaky clean.

And now that the woodwork, new floor and paint are like new again, that gold door knob really must go.  I installed a new oil-rubbed bronze, lever, lockset door knob with a little You Tube help.'

Isn't it pretty?

Just a few more little things to go and then its on to the decorating part.  So....a week later, its almost ready to restyle and I LOVE it so far!

 

 

A Moment of Dry

For almost the entire month of April and most of May, we have experienced record rainfall.  In April alone we had almost 14 inches of rain.  This has left little time to get the spring outdoor projects completed. 

This weekend we had almost two days of sunshine.  The garage was in dire need of cleaning out the clutter that accumulated during the winter.  Additionally, we had yet to decorate the back porch with its summer goodies. 

We started with the garage on Saturday and worked into the evening, finishing this morning.  Over the winter our son moved and used the garage as a holding spot from one address to the next.  Funny how whenever he does that, items are always "inadvertently" left behind.  There's camping gear, boxes of books and unwanted furniture piled on every side.  And I have to be totally honest, I have a few projects of my own stuck in various areas.  Chandeliers waiting to be restyled, miscellaneous birdhouses, small pieces of furniture and garden items waiting to be repainted. 

A mountain of unwanted and unused items headed to the curb.  By early afternoon today, I'm happy to report, that many of the items found new homes, taken by several passersby.  Glad the items will be put to new uses and they are not going to the landfill.  It feels so good to lighten up.

I managed to nab a corner of the garage for a potting bench/painting area.  I took the old table that my son no longer wanted and an old dresser and created this little spot to work on projects.  I had a stained glass light that I picked up at an auction a few years ago. I installed it over the work bench just to give it that little extra fluffiness I love.  Sorry honey.  I know garages aren't supposed to be fluffy.  Notice how the painting projects have already started a pile?

We also managed to get the back porch mostly decorated before the storms hit. 

And Mr. Rose brought me a handful of peonies from the flower garden.  Isn't that so sweet?

We got most of what we wanted to do accomplished and then all hell broke loose.  The rain started again.  Not to mention the lightning and thunder.  We sat in the living room with the patio door open to enjoy the fresh, cool air when a bolt of lightning hit so close we almost came out of our skin.  Within 20 minutes there were 4 fire trucks and several police cruisers on our street.  The bolt hit close, a neighboring house was hit and caught fire!  Everyone in the house is okay, but I'm sure shaken and will now have to deal with fire, smoke and water damage. 

After all the commotion ended, the sun came out again. 

Everything looks so beautiful sparkling wet in the golden light of early dusk. No clue as to the scary storm that passed through just moments prior.

It's so true what they say, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes, it will change." Or however that saying goes.  Crazy midwest weather.  Glad the neighbors are okay. 

 

 

Chaise Before and After

I purchased this chaise at a tag sale several years ago for $20.  I fell in love with it the moment I saw it.  It is from the 1950's, has a very unique reclining mechanism and great decorative tack details along the sides.  I saw the potential beyond the white, stained and cracked vinyl.

Last year I finally had it recovered.  For now, I have it in my studio awaiting the upstairs redo.

I love the detail...

I see it paired with this, covered in flax linen....

With these in cream... 

And if there is some wall space left, maybe these...

And this petite little sparkler, hanging overhead for a cozy reading corner...

Hmmmnnn, I can't wait!

 

 

 

A Half Gallon of Cream

Last weekend I spent all day Saturday and Sunday painting.  It started out innocently.  I woke up thinking, "Today is the day that my craft table is getting painted!"  I've been threatening it for more than four years.  It's been the plan all along but the table never seems to be empty and the next project is always looming.  So...I cleared the table of all the holiday project remnants and gave it a coat of beautiful, buttery cream paint.  As I sat there admiring the lovliness of the new coat of paint, I thought, "What the heck, I'll just throw a coat on the dresser real quick, it won't take long.  I can't put the next coat on the table yet anyway." 

Fast forward 16 hours.  I am covered head to toe in paint, my clothes look like I was using them to clean the paint brushes, I have string in my hair (I'll explain that in just a moment), I have paint on my skin UNDER the clothes I am wearing and the basement looks like an explosion occurred.  However, before me now is a grouping of three freshly painted pieces of furniture, all tied together by a half gallon of cream.

Now that I have everything back in place, my studio looks so much better, it looks crisp and unified.  I love it.  When the carpet is installed this spring, it will be ready for a few small classes. 

Now back to the string.  In the midst of the painting fury, at 7 PM I might add, I got my last little bit of inspiration (or total lapse of sanity) and decided to slipcover the bench to tie it in with the new cream paint.  All the cutting and stitching of fabric creates a bit of a mess, hence the string.  At this point it is 10 PM, I can barely walk, and I have paint and string from head to toe, but I am happy.  

Disappointingly however, in my frenzy, I forgot to get the before photos.  

So now, one week later, I am contemplating putting the second half of the gallon to use on another grouping of tired furniture. I took the before photos this morning so I wouldn't forget.

Here are the results, notice how the table is already filled with another project!:

My comfortable little bench has a pretty new dress, no more pink and blue flamestitch.

And a new home for my stamps.  I have one additional treat for this dresser, more on that a little later.

And a new place for my dies and cutters. I wish I had the before photo on this one.  This cabinet is from the 1960's.  Before the paint, it sported a black formica top and chrome trim.  Wow.  I'm not sure how I live with that for the last 15 years.

I can't wait to see what magic awaits for the next half of the gallon!

 

 

 

Trunk Re-Do

The trunk is almost done.  I just need to paint and add the handles on each end but that requires a drill.  Power tools intimidate me a bit but I'm working on it.  The photos don't do it justice because it is sitting in storage mode until I regain custody of the guest room.  You know the story....  Anyway, I have had this trunk since I was in high school and begged my grandfather to save it from the landfill.  Reluctantly, he obliged and I have loved it ever since.  It reminds me of my Kentucky days and my wonderful grandparents who have both gone to heaven.  The hand painting on the front resulted from a botched attempt to apply a large decal.  Unfortunately, I peeled the wrong side off first.  The decal was way too swirly and detailed to attempt to salvage it.  I ended up having to hand paint a rogue resemblance of the original.  Not what I had hoped for, but a great story.  I'm satisfied with the way it turned out and it will look way better once it takes its place at the foot of the GUEST room.  

This is the before photo:

I sanded the entire piece down prior to painting.

I decoupaged the inside of the box with pages from an antique Voltaire book.  The patina on the pages is delicious.  Once the decoupage medium dried, I put red gimp around the top of the inside.  The red made the patina on the pages and the blue of the outside really pop. 

I also added a few squares of red and blue scrapbook paper to tie in the red of the gimp and the blue of the outside.

I added legs to give the trunk a little more height. 

Once all of that was done, I painted the white swirls on the front, layering them up and across the top of the box.  I shadowed the white paint along the wines and added red detail to the center of the flowers.  Once the swirls were painted on and dried, I then glazed the entire piece with Ralph Lauren glaze in Tea Stain.  I applied the glaze heavily so that the trunk would look old.

The before and after:

I then promptly filled it with stuff....lots of yarn because my yarn and knitting/crochet fetish has gone cold for now.  Maybe I'll dig it out again in the heart of winter. 

 

If Nothing Else, My Recipes Are Finally Organized

I'm not even going to say it because I'm tired of hearing it myself.  I've been camping out in the recliner for almost five days now with the (word I'm not speaking).  There is only so much you can do when you are recovering from (word I'm not speaking).  No need to do laundry (haven't changed much in these few days).  No dirty dishes (no appetite).  No stamina for anything that requires moving out of the chair.  I'm going stark-raving stir crazy, so cut me a little slack for my priorities.  Low energy levels narrows the list dramatically.  So.... my recipes have been stuffed in this bag for the last few years....

The bag has been stuffed in my closet.  So, imagine the pleasure of standing on your head to get the bag out of the closet amidst the shoes and clothes and then going through the bag to find that one little recipe that I need.

I decided now might be a good time to tackle organizing it since I could do it from the Recliner/Blanket/Tissue/Advil Central Command Center.  I gathered up a few little supplies and got to work.  

I had no idea how to manage all these recipes and that's why they were just stuffed in the bag in the closet.  The recipes were in so many different formats.  Heavens knows I had NO plans of rewriting each and every one.  Not a chance.  It finally came to me this morning.  I would put each of the recipes, regardless of size, shape or format into clear sleeves in a binder that I had already started at some point. 

 
That solves the consistancy issue!  Plus the plastic sleeves let me preserve the recipe in any format that it came to me.  I love that.  Because even the various formats have stories to tell.  Recipes written on napkins, torn from newspapers, copied from books, with notes from friends, printed off the internet, gathered free at the grocery, however they came.  AND I didn't have to re-write or type any of them!

Then I organized them in the categories that I use.  No unused categories begging for attention.  Just the basics, Breads and Scones, Cookies, Cakes and Pies, Main Dishes, Sides and Salads, Soups, Gifts, Misc.  No spare categories that I will never use.

I created a title page at the beginning of each section and then stapled on punched out shapes to act as dividers for the sections, writing the title of the section on the front and the back of the punched out shape. EASY. 

 
So just in little more than an hour, I have saved myself the grief and hassle of not being able to find what I need.  There is nothing worse than looking for something most of the time that you have alotted to actually DO the task.  That doesn't even factor in the loss of momentum and mojo due to the frustration!

So now I present to you (and myself!) my newly organized recipe file.  It's not over fancy but it gets the job done.  And more importantly, it lets me get the job done!

One more, just to appreciate the transformation:

 
Just in time to get out my Christmas cookie recipes.

Staying Busy

I've completed a few projects recently, it helps to keep my mind off of the sad stuff and the disappointments.  I feel a strong shift of energy so hopefully we are moving on to more positive adventures.  Finishing something I've had in mind for a long time always makes me feel better.  It helps me feel like I have some sense of control over at least some of the things in life. 

Here's the swing I bought at the Tri-State Antique show back in early summer.  Thanks Jessica for not letting me walk away from another one!  Here's the before:

And here's the after:

I found this pretty little nest up in Waynesville a few weekends ago but never found the little robin's eggs I had in mind for it.  I dug around in the workshop and sure enough, I found three little wooden eggs.  So after a little paint, a little glaze and a bit of speckling, voila!  Now that little project is done also.

And here's a little sneak peak of something I'm very excited about.  Here is the before:

I've had this chest for over 32 years.  It's had many incarnations, but the upcoming incarnation is the best its ever been.  This chest is one of the first things that I ever restored.  This is its 80's incarnation.  It's about ready to debut its 2010 restyle.  There's a bit more painting, a bit more sanding, and a few other special applications that I can't wait to finish!  A little peak into the newly restyled interior:

Decoupaged with pages from a very old book...More to come when it is finished.

Little Chair

This little chair came to me while I was conducting a tag sale last year.  A young gentleman pulled up to the tag sale in his pickup.  In the bed of the pick up were these three little wooden chairs.  I asked him where he was heading with the chairs and he said that he was getting ready to throw them away.  NO!  Not those cute little wooden chairs, all they need is a little TLC.  So while conducting the sale, I bargained with him and got the chairs for $5 each.  This is the first one that I’ve finished.  I wish I had taken a before shot because it is a real transformation.  The chair was a very tired shade of white that looked more like gray with red and blue lines highlighting the grooves.  Peachy.  Or would that be groovy?  So I sanded down the chair lightly then applied a bright sky blue paint.  Sanded again slightly and applied a coat of crackle medium.  Once that was dry, I then put on the green color.  It’s an odd mossy green.  Crackle medium can be tricky, you have to work quickly and never go over the same area twice.  The thicker you apply the medium, the larger the crackling.  Once all of the crackling was complete and thoroughly dry, I then painted on the flowers.  I sat outside on my deck one very pretty, blue-sky day and painted on the flowers.  After everything was complete and dry again, I rubbed down the entire chair with artist pigment of burnt umber mixed in a glaze to give the chair an antique look.  It seems like a lot of steps, but it really didn’t take that long.  I added this pretty little blue cushion, which highlights the sky blue under the crackle.  From the back of a pick up, heading to the trash pile, to a place of honor in our home office.  One down, two to go.