Tale of Two White Chairs

Good day friends!  How did you spend your weekends?  Although I enjoyed a lovely Mother's Day, I spent the good part of Saturday painting our master bedroom.  It was long overdue.  My husband and I agreed on the color 'Sea Pearl' by Benjamin Moore.  It's a light white/grayish color and I LOVE it!!!  Worth all those hours of toil.  So now the fun part begins...re-decorating the room to suit this new serene ambiance.  There will be more posts as the room comes along.  I may need your invaluable advice, right?

I started by painting this $15 thrift store chair the same color as the room:

I also tore off the yucky upholstery and plan to re-cover it myself.  Wish me luck...
Some recent thrift store finds surround the chair.  A lovely lace veil, monogrammed linen towel, and a frame I also painted in a similar hue:

The large white chair that was originally in this bedroom corner got moved to the living room, where it will serve a better function than holding laundry. 
Here it is in its' new location with a great pillow I scored today at HomeGoods:

This week starts the Brimfield Flea Market and I am disappointed I won't be able to make this one.  But there's always the July and September shows this year.
I hope you local ladies that are attending have a great time.  Take lots of photos and happy hunting!
Linking to White Wednesday and Show and Tell Friday this week.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm wishing you all a happy mother's day.  I hope you are enjoying celebrating with your children and/or your dear mothers.  I am so thankful for my caring Mom and dear mother-in-law.  They are beautiful ladies, so near to my heart.
And how blessed I am to be a mother!  I wasn't always sure that day would come, as I met my guy and married later in life.  I am forever grateful for the blessings these children bring. 
My sweet young cherubs (and of course Dad) surprised me with this gorgeous flower arrangement, as well as the sweetest handmade cards and gifts. 

 
It has been a lovely spring day here, and we've taken time to admire the tulips...

...and the pretty weeping cherry tree in bloom:

This tree was planted just last year.  Here's a picture of our children 'helping' Dad plant it:

Hope you all enjoy these beautiful spring days!

White Wardrobe

I can't believe it's time for another White Wednesday already.  This week has flown by!  To share this week....the white wardrobe from our master bedroom:

Several years ago I spotted this terrific white wardrobe cabinet in the July/August 2008 issue of Victoria magazine.  It was from the lovely store 'Whitewash' in Charleston, SC:

After spotting this, I kept my eye out for anything that resembled this lovely piece.  Imagine my surprise when a very similar wardrobe turned up on my local Craigslist in the fall of 2010!  The sweet and talented seller had already painted and distressed it white, so I snapped it up.  I love the details on the piece:

The inside is very similar to the magazine's wardrobe, in that it has shelves on one side and a rod for hanging items on the other side.  I'm using my wardrobe to hold craft books, supplies, fabrics and my sewing machine:

We'll be painting our master bedroom walls soon (I never liked this pale yellow-ish color), so there will be a post of that some day this spring. 
I'm looking forward to seeing all the inspirational white posts over at Faded Charm...see you there!

Easter Setting

I hope you dear friends had a blessed and joyous Easter!  We had a wonderful day, starting with a beautiful Mass celebrating His Resurrection, followed by a lovely family dinner at my Mom's.  Time spent with my family yesterday was precious.  Although I didn't host dinner, the four of us enjoyed a simple breakfast in our dining room:



     

A closer look at the blue & whites (my favorite color combo, as you may know)....

Some handmade touches added a special feel to the room.  I tied Easter tags from Ozma of Odds to each chair, along with some scrap fabric I tore to appear as tassels:

Several years ago I made seat covers for the dining chairs, as well as back covers for the 2 arm chairs.  They were fashioned using inspiration from Rachel Ashwell's 'Shabby Chic Sumptuous Settings and Other Lovely Things' book.  I loved the look of Jennifer Lopez's restaurant, which Ms. Ashwell designed, so I took my cues from that chapter in the book: 

The pleated tablecloth was sewn from cloud blue Shabby Chic fabric I scored on Fabric.com after the unfortunate 'Shabby Chic' liquidation.  I'm so happy Ms. Ashwell has since returned renewed with Shabby Chic Couture! 

It's not all blue and white in here.  Other pastels found their way in...

I made the linings for these two Easter baskets belonging to our little cherubs.  They patiently awaited the Easter Bunny's arrival...

Easter cookies made with 'help' from my daughter:

I'll be linking to White Wednesday to share this (mostly) white dining room setting.  Hope to see you there!

Spring Whites

Happy White Wednesday!  Thought I'd share a few spring updates to our living room, some of which continue my 'thrifty' theme from the previous post. 
Here is the entrance to our living room:

I made two spring pillows from $3 Ralph Lauren floral twin sheets I got at the thrift store.  Sewing the material wrong side out gave them a more faded look.  The couch also has a thrift store chenille spread thrown over it (easier to clean than the slipcover):

A while back I dyed a vintage tablecloth pale pink (thanks to a Shabby Chic DVD episode which taught me how).  Here it is on our round side table:

The ladies from the 'At Home With White' event inspired me to paint some of my existing furniture white.  This column was originally an uninspired beige:

It's a bit 'too' white and pristine right now, so some sanding may be necessary.  But it's a nice change.  I showcased it with some pretty roses in my etched jars:

I also painted this side table that was my grandmother Evelyn's (one of this blog's namesakes).  Last week's photo of my prized shutter didn't showcase it as deserved, so I spruced up the displays surrounding it to include this table:

Here's a bucket I decoupaged with a French graphic.  It's holding last summer's dried hydrangea blossoms:

A glitter star hung next to Sandi's business card:

Some of my French-inspired pillows in the urn:

Lastly, this cute toile pillow I made 2 years ago:

Just a few updates with thrifty finds or items I had on hand. 
Hope you all have a joyous Easter!

Ballet at Play in a Thrifty Way

Hello friends!  I must say how I've enjoyed reading your spring blog posts lately.  Inspiration abounds!
I've mentioned before that my sweet little girl's room is getting touches of ballet-inspired decor.  I stumbled across this pale pink frame at the thrift store for $1, and thought I'd fill it with ballet art.  Specifically, some ballet paper dolls.  I bought a ballet paper doll book on Ebay for a few $, then traced the main body form onto two pieces of card stock.  I picked 3 lovely outfits from the book to display on these forms.  Once I chose the outfits, I simply covered the exposed areas with vintage book pages and pink glitter.  Voila!  Instant ballet art:

Here is the original doll:

And here are my copies:

This glitter trophy was also a $1 thrift store find.  Inside I placed some ballet cupcake toppers with tulle.  The adorable pair of ballet pictures was an inexpensive find on Etsy:

This round box covered in vintage wallpaper was a whopping $2, and I made the embroidered pillow & heart last year.

This "A" ornament was heavily reduced at Pottery Barn after Christmas.  I simply strung pink ribbon through it to place on my daughter's cute shelf:

Pretty soon I'll share the room in its' entirety once I tidy up the floor (you can relate, I'm sure).

I'll be linking to Beverly's "Pink Saturday" party to share these thrifty finds.  Have a great weekend!

At Home With White - continued...

As promised, here are more photos of the delightful "At Home With White" event this past weekend at the Wrentham Country Store.  I still can't stop thinking about how wonderful it was to attend, and to meet new blogger friends (see my previous post). 
For White Wednesday, I thought I'd share more peeks into the glorious white tent, as well as the treasures that came home with me.

Here are some photos of Sandi's enticing space:

And here is Karen's lovely space:



I have a bit of regret for not purchasing that white wire laundry basket (standing in front of her space).  It's 'the one that got away...'

And here is what I was lucky enough to bring home....a chippy light gray shutter from Karen:




Here it is with Sandi's beautiful business card tucked in:



Here are a couple of adorable jeweler's tins I got from Sandi.  I just love their patina:

This awesome galvanized watering can was a great find from Sandi's space.  I love how it looks with flowers, and will eventually bring it outside for gardening season:



Lastly, here is a lovely chippy white basket from Karen's space.  I may eventually use it to hold pots of flowers outside, but here it looks perfect holding some table linens and Fifi's amazing book!!!

I must also thank sweet Lisa of Suburban Retreat for the amazing giveaway I recently won, which included Fifi's book, as well as a lovely spring tote and pink bracelet:



No wonder I can't stop grinning!