This has been such a busy summer for us. Our son graduated on June 8th and moved out on June 10th and of course you know what that meant............many sleepless and tearful nights worrying about how he would manage in the big, bad World.
HECK NO!!
It meant it was time to haul all the stuff he had left behind in his bedroom and store it in the garage then rip out the carpet (have I mentioned before that I hate carpet?) and begin with a new canvas!
So below you will see a few pictures of the empty room.
The walls were painted a latte colour. We had new windows installed last fall and he had so much "stuff" in his room that I could not get in to repair the damaged wall.
I think the measurements for the room are about 12 X 10 feet.
I love the windows in this room. The small gabled window faces east and the morning sun shines in and is very pretty.
I had been thinking of what colour to paint the walls for probably a year.
I wanted something bright and fresh....
but not too modern because I love antiques and vintage treasures.
This is what the floor looked like when I tore up the carpet.
We want to install a dark warm fruitwood hardwood floor, but just can't afford it right now.
I knew what furniture was going to go into this room.
Marjorie's bed was going to be the feature of the room. Here is a picture of it hidden amongst a pile of boxed treasures in our other spare room.
I restored this bed two years ago or more.
I decided I would paint the room an aqua colour. I spent a few weeks looking for the "right" shade!
I also "shopped the house" looking for anything that had aqua in it to inspire me and possibly use in the room..
Here are the things I "found"!
An antique framed print.
Pretty fabrics to make cushions.
Another vintage print. I pick these up whenever I see them.
An antique hooked rug.
A large McCoy flower pot.
Antique vases.
An antique green painted flower basket. The green is a fabulous 1930s colour!
Aqua in the flower arrangement of these t.v. trays.
Antique and vintage majolica bowls and a Royal Haegar basket vase.
This clock belonged to my Auntie Reet (Rita).
She gave it to me years ago. It lived at her cottage and when she painted her cottage back in the 60s, she painted the clock, too!
This little lamp used to live at our cottage when I was a little girl.
A few years ago I bought a pair of old curtains. The lining fabric was rotten, but I knew that with a few hours and a seam ripper I could salvage the fabric for cushions or "new" curtains.
This is an old chandelier that I thought might look nice in the new room. Not as is of course! I planned to paint it white! And replace the socket covers.
Below is a picture of a vase and pretty plate.
The rim colour of this plate is what I chose for the wall colour!
It was made by the "Doulton" pottery company in England. This bone china plate was made between 1886 and 1891. That was before the company received the royal warrant whereby they could change the name to "Royal Doulton"
Here is a pretty aqua and roses cup and saucer.
A collection of antique glass marbles.
There is aqua in this tote I made a few years ago.
More aqua vases..............
Pretty blue colours here.........
Another aqua vase. The young man is my father, Wes, when he was about 22 years old. The woman is my late mother-in-love, Marjorie. The clock was given to my father's mom and dad on their wedding day November 26th, 1913.
I thought I may use a bit of antique silver in the new room.
Here is a pretty aqua plastic frame with pictures of my mother and father around the time that Tim and I got married in 1983.
"Gift from the Sea" is a lovely book written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. This cover is........aqua!
I looked at many magazines searching for inspiration. This one magazine featured below was the Cottage Style summer 2011 issue.
Pretty pouty misses as bookends.
A vintage wicker purse that I purchased in Vancouver's china town while I was on an exchnage trip in highschool in 1978. OMG that was sooooo long ago!!!!!!!!!! I bought the bird cage that same day for my mother. It came to live with me after mom died.
Here is a lovely needlepoint cushion that has the same colours as the curtain fabric.
Martha Stewart has line of office organizational stuff and I bought one of the binders with dividers etc for organizing my decorating projects. It is aqua, too!
I thought of using a Martha Stewart colour for the walls...........
here is the one I liked.
More pretties............
This is the colour I chose. It is called "Weathered Glass"
by Eddie Bauer
I took the paint chip to Home Depot and had them colour match with their "Behr Primer and Paint" in one paint. IT IS EXQUISITE PAINT!!!!! I have not nor will not receive any rewards from Home Depot for telling you that. It is just freaking wonderful paint to work with and it hides dark colours very quickly ie., 2 coats and you are done!!
An antique Victorian jardiniere with deep aqua/turquoise and ............
ROSES!!!
A painting with more roses and a hint of aqua!
A beautiful aqua and pink majolica jug. I love it!!
I knew that I would use some antique books for vignettes.
OH! This a picture just to show you the condition of the lining of those curtains that I salvaged.
I picked this mirror up at a yard sale earlier this summer. It was in a pile of "FREE" stuff!
I love the flowers and scrolls and other features of it.
It needed a bit of elbow grease and a sharp knife to scrape away the pealing paint.
But I knew that with all the old paint gone it would be great repainted a gloss white!!
An now for a little snack. My hubby makes excellent and delicious home made pizza.
He even makes the crust from scratch.
This one had pepperoni, tomatoes, fresh basil and chunks of mozzarella on it. It was so yummy good!
The crust was just right!! He swears by this pan with the holes it.
AND NOW FOR THE BIG REVEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Presenting our new spare room.
It came together just as I had imagined it would.
I won't write much.
Just enjoy the pictures.
If you have any questions just leave a post and I will getback to you.
The last picture features a cushion that I bought from my Ebay and blogging friend Lynn at Teacupstitches.
This has been a very long post.
I hope you have enjoyed witnessing the transformation of our son's room into our spare room.
I am heading outside to putter in the yard. Later today during the heat I will be making a batch of my favorite peach chutney.
I hope you have an exquisite day whatever you do!
Much love and many warm hugs, Laura
