Decorating Imaginary Rooms

I hope you are all having a wonderful Valentines' Day.  I got some great gifts, but it is too dark to show them off by taking photos.  Instead, I have been decorating rooms that don't exist in my house while the paint dries on the laundry room project.  Now, I apologize for the quality of the above photo ( I took it with my camera phone while I was antiquing), but they are beautiful.  They are 2 twin size beds with a cane detail.

Look at that detail!

  Right now, we don't have a guest room because that is where the studio is. But, I am seriously tempted to go back and get these beauties.  So seriously, that I will not tell you where they are hiding.  They are that gorgeous!  So,  I am sitting here daydreaming about what I would do if I had a guest room that I could decorate around these lovelies.  

First things first, I would paint them... don't cringe... they truly are lovely the way they are and I am totally a green person, but imagine them a wonderful grey with silver leaf accents

Benjamin Moore Feather Grey from here.

So they will look similar to this:

Found here

And, since we are daydreaming and all that, let's cover them with this:

Pine Cone Hill Bedding

I adore Pine Cone Hill, we have it in our bedroom and it is swoony!

Here, I may go with the predominately white one... I am undecided on this.  Oh, and just so you know, in this imaginary room, there are 2 perfectly proportioned windows that the beds will sit right in front of... and there is the perfect spot for a vintage 3 drawer chest.

Found here

Metal that is.  And there will be a lamp on the chest

Found here

Mercury glass, of course... this is a dream room!

and a pretty vintage mirror hanging above

Found here

And the floors will either be refinished or painted white.  I do think that there needs to be something to warm their toes on, so let's do this:

Dash and Albert Swedish Stripe

Oh I almost forgot to mention that the walls will probably be this color

Porch Ceiling Blue from Martha Stewart found here

 above the beadboard, which is white.

And, what swoony dream room would be complete without a chandelier, (this one was original to my imaginary home, that makes it better!)

And to keep it from looking too pretty, I'll add this beat up vintage trunk.

Found here

Well, I am thinking about checking out those beds again next weekend and seeing if they happen to be in a booth with a sale.  And, they very well may be collecting dust in my garage in a week or so.

Well, back to working on my real life house, with real life projects, removing real life "original to the home" fluorescent lights.

baby hughes' Bathroom is finished!

Okay, here it is.... I kind of feel like I have built up this project like we ripped out an ugly bathroom and put in a mini day spa for our child.  Not the case.  It was a simple project that didn't take a lot of effort or dinero.

Now, here is the before.  A basic bathroom that had okay cabinets and vinyl flooring.  Blah except for the punch of color from the shower curtain.  Since we are going forward with The Plan, this needed to be an inexpensive project.  That meant no new flooring or anything major. So, I shopped the house.

Found this in the garage.

Found this in the studio.

So, after some paint and a new shower curtain and some towels, here is the After:

I painted the cabinets a creamy white that I had left over from the kitchen so no $$ there.

This shelf was already in the bathroom.  And, I had all the accessories except for the little washcloth. The beach watercolor is one that we bought on our honeymoon in St. Martin. I painted the walls Pale Orchid by Ralph Lauren.

Here is a shot of the cute little hand towel.  And a pirate rubber ducky, because let's face it, no bathroom is complete without one.

This wheel is hanging over the bathtub and it was leftover from baby hughes' pirate party.  We left it outside and it is all weathered and worn now... perfect!

(I know, I need to iron the shower curtain!)

Here is what I decided to use for a rug.  This bathroom is awkward in that it seems to need 2 rugs... one in front of the tub and one in front of the sink.  But then it looks too cluttered.  Plus, I couldn't really find a cute one I liked.  Then, while showering away the massive amount of paint I had all over me ( I am a messy painter) I had a epiphany... most of my epiphanies are design related.  I had an extra grain sack that is the perfect size for the area.  So, I velcroed it to the blah vinyl.

Here is what became of the galvanized mop bucket.  I just stenciled on it... I think I need to distress it slightly...

And this is what I did with the piece of wood from something Mr. Hughes found. I took down the traditional towel bar and added this. Painted it, distressed it and added three hooks from Home Depot.  I used some little numbered tacks to cover up the screw holes.

And, here is what the towels look like hanging.  We had the green towels and I was going to replace them, but I really liked the way they looked with the green stitching on the pirate towels and the way the green looked with the ticking stripe.

So there you have it.  If you have been keeping track, I bought a can of paint, three hooks, a shower curtain and the set of pirate towels from Pottery Barn Kids.  Pretty good I think!  At least it has more personality than the boring builder's basic that we started with.

We are working on the laundry room and hopefully we will have that finished this weekend. Hopefully *wink*

Who Cares What the Groundhog Said?

As I am typing this, it is snowing outside.  Big, fluffy snow.  Snowball making snow.  But, I am ready for Spring.  To get out in the yard and mulch and plant flowers.  I love the smell of fresh mulch... strange, I know.  So in the spirit of Spring, I have added these these mini burlap bags to my etsy shop.

These little bags can be used for so many things: give a gift in them or a bottle of wine, cover a flower pot, use them to hold your bulbs until you plant them, stuff them... even use them as table numbers for your party or wedding reception.

Mr. Hughes is going to try to take some photos of the finished bathroom tomorrow while I am at work, so hopefully I will be able to post about it tomorrow.  Now, I am off to work on the laundry room...

Don't Hate Me

Because I won!  That is right, I won the Faded Plains $50 gift certificate.  And I am so excited!  Do you want to see what I picked out?  You do, you do...

I picked out 2 of these enamel numbers... aren't they awesome?

and then this little organic sandwich bag.  I take my lunch to work alot so this will be perfect.

So, thanks so much Andrea... stop by her blog and say hi.... her recent bathroom transformation is incredible.

Oh, and check out Gina's giveaway over at Shabby Chic Cottage.  She is giving away a whole bunch of great stuff from one of my favorite blogs/ etsy shops, Chester and Donkey.  

Jennifer is so sweet and has a great eye.  Like those ironstone butter pats?  Well, tough, because I ordered them tonight.  But, she has lots of other treasures for you.  

Well, Mr. Hughes put some finishing touches on baby hughes' bathroom, so with any luck I can show you the after this week.  

My favorite flower

 

Image found at Frolic

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that peonies were my 2nd favorite flower.  What?!?  How can they no t be my first favorite.  Many of you asked what my favorite one was.  Well,  that spot has belonged to the Anemone for years now.  Sometimes the color changes (it is white right now,) but my favorite will always be this lovely flower with the big black center.  I wanted them so badly at my wedding, but they weren't in season.  I had to "settle" for peonies, hydrangeas and gerber daisies.  Don't get me wrong, my bouquet was beautiful.... 

  

(I wish I had one in color, but I don't while I am here at work on my lunch... I stole this off of my facebook page.  But, the peonies were white and pink with green hydrangeas and a darker pink gerber.)

Check out these next 2 and see if your favorite flower doesn't change:

Photo found at ambiencefloral.com

 

 Photo found at Brides.Com

Oh, and I am loving that dress...

It makes me want to plan another wedding.  I keep offering to divorce Mr. Hughes just so we can get remarried to each other and I get another wedding...  He doesn't seem up for it.  It isn't "cost-effective" or in our "budget."  C'mon!  What is he thinking?  I would even get to have a ring bearer this time, baby hughes, of course.

So, what is your favorite flower?