The past few weeks I have been watching as my living room has been transformed. We took out old sliding doors and windows and replaced them with french doors and more attractive and more efficient windows. The man doing the work also added wider trim around two doors and another set of windows in the living room. The painters came in and everything became whiter and brighter! We haven't got the furniture and decor all back in place yet, but what an improvement! We actually thought we would rebuild the fireplace at a different time, but a couple coats of white paint and it is a huge improvement there also. Oh, and I painted the front door red! I love that too! (I forgot to put a grid between the photos so they kind of blennnd...but you know!)
We have more work ahead of us. Now we are dealing with the issue of wood floors. There are so many types that we are overwhelmed. We want really dark floors, kind of distressed or handscraped wide planks. Any advice from someone who has done this with happy results? I want brands and colors! Solid, or engineered? I am grabbing for a life-line here! Too many choices!
In the course of cleaning and refreshing my surroundings I decided to hang these wonderful old photos of my grandparents in my bedroom. I wish I could get a photo of the effect of how they look in the room, but that didn't work so well. I had to take quilts of the wall to make room, but I am pleased with the results. My mother always had both of these hanging together and I loved that, but space would not permit in this case. Above is my grandfather, Celo Chambers, and his little brother. They lived in Punxsutawney, PA.
This photo is of my grandmother, Mary Payne (Chambers), and her brothers, John and Billy Payne from Mt. View, Alberta, Canada. Aren't they delightful! These three have their names on my Ancestor Quilt that I have discussed in previous blogs. It is difficult trying to get a picture of a photo behind glass. these are both large photos and I didn't want to remove them from the ancient frames. I was able to get good shots by taking the picture from a bit of an angle so the flash didn't glare off the glass.
Thanks for stopping by, and come back again for something quilty, if that is what you are after!
Or maybe I should say, "cheep decorating". Yeah, it's me playing with words again. I like birds and find cute ones from time to time. This plate rack has become one of my favorite little places to decorate and change with the season. I have shown it before in other arrangements. This time I put this antique bird book up with a nest and a couple little birds that are both made of wood. I am not very clever, so sometimes the decorating comes a piece at a time. I will walk by and think of something to add until I have it the way I like it. They will never hire me for HGTV, I am just too darn slow! Even if I think up a cute name, which is really one thing I seem to be good at. But wait, they do have those cameras that speed things up. It could look like I really think and move fast!
Speaking of moving slow, I wonder how long it will take for this quilt top to reach Tracey in Australia? Tracey is collecting blocks to make quilts for victims of the bush fires that destroyed so many homes and lives in Australia recently. I had a top that I never managed to get quilted and so I sent it along to Tracey. I hope she will find a volunteer quilter to finish it up for someone.
