Move the Bed

For ages and ages our back bedroom (which we call the Treetops Room since that’s what you can see out the window when you wake up in the morning) has been set up the same way.

The Treetops Room viewed from the doorway.

Then we inherited a headboard which I have been storing in the room for 3 years.

The iron headboard is leaning against the far window with a robe thrown over it to keep it from scratching the paint.

We hadn’t attached it because it would slam into the large painting on the wall if it were connected to the bed.

If we connected the headboard it would bang against the frame of this Kolean seascape which is already hung about as high as possible.

Since our aim is to get things put away and consolidated before the renovation begins in earnest I asked Charlie to put this iron scroll headboard on the bed.

An arabesque iron headboard.

So it wouldn’t smash into the painting (which we’ll probably move after the reno if we can find a wall large enough to hang it on) we turned the bed sideways into a little alcove.

The bed just fits in this little nook.

It’s not pretty but it is functional.

Do you live with unfinished projects waiting for just the right time? Are you as patient as I am? HA!

Sweetgrass Baskets! $$$$

Before I went to Charleston (South Carolina) I had never heard of a sweetgrass basket. Our accommodations were in the Sweetgrass Room and I just thought it was a type of native grass.

Sweetgrass baskets come is a variety of sizes from tiny to waaaay big.

It is a native grass. Charleston Sweetgrass is tall, thin, and has a distinctively sweet smell. Sweetgrass grows in bands about 50 to 75 m from the mean high tide line in undulating sand dunes usually behind the first dune along the ocean from North Carolina to Texas. Sweetgrass grows on many of the barrier islands along South Carolina’s coast, such as, Kiawah, Seabrook, Dewees, Bulls, Fripp, and Hilton Head.

Sweetgrass grows freely from North Carolina to Texas.

The baskets were originally crafted for the practical purpose of collecting rice and cotton in plantation fields.  Now they’re used mostly for decoration.

The handwoven baskets are usually signed by the weaver.

At the historical market in Charleston there were many vendors and makers of sweetgrass baskets.  Some of the most attractive ones combine other grasses to vary the design.

Many vendors of sweetgrass baskets populate Charleston’s City Market.

I was ready to buy one until I turned a beauty over and looked at the price: $395. More than I want to spend on a basket although they’re lovely and collectible.

Flowers from palm fronds.

Photo Link

My darling bought me a palm leaf flower instead that a young man was making while he stood on the street.  We’re always glad to support the local economy.

Does you area of the world have specialty crafts indigenous to it?

Saturday City Outing

Charlie and I went on a little outing on Saturday afternoon into Baltimore City to visit one of the City’s historic landmarks: The Bromo Seltzer Tower (now called the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower).

The Bromo Seltzer Tower is modeled after the bell tower of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy.

We had never been to the Tower although it’s impossible to miss it on a drive into the city of Baltimore.

A view from the base of the tower.

They hold an open house on Saturdays from May to October (check website for more information).

Upon arrival we were greeted in the tiny lobby and  gallery by a vivacious woman who told us we could sign up for the “clock tour,” go to the 11 floor (of 15) for poetry readings, take in a youth production on the 15th floor, and drop into the various art studios.

The building is over 100 years old and uses the original elevator floor indicators. Note there is a mezzanine but no 13th.

We signed up for the tour and waited for the elevator to take us to the 15th. Upon arrival at the 15th we walked down a few floors to see the artist’s studios and works.

A view from the 15th floor looking down the stairs.

The walls were used as galleries for the various artists studioed here.

Varied media, sizes, and styles are available.

One of the studios was also a gallery of the watercolorist Martha Dougherty.

The watercolor studio of Martha Dougherty.

I enjoyed her large-scale floral and  architectural renderings.

These prints can be hung in any direction.

We had an interesting visit that was not finished until we took the Clock Tour which I’ll detail in a separate post.  Charlie and I walked down the 15 flights of steps just to make sure we didn’t miss any of the displays.

Do you have a list of free or inexpensive happenings in your hometown?

Saturday Plans

I made myself a list of projects and plans to work on at the beginning of the month and frankly have made very little progress.  Today I’m kicking myself in the pants to stay on task and get something done. (Oh, I’ve been doing things but they weren’t on the list to begin with.)

#8  I’m singling out painting dining room chairs since Charlie finished sanding them (which is the part I really hate to do).

These oak chairs have been sanded and wiped down with mineral spirits.

# 9.  Work on my personal wardrobe – try on, make a list, weed out.  This item is at least started.

#10. Buy √motor oil, √ grey spray primer, √clear resin, √ navy spray paint and √ gym shoes.  I totally knocked out this item which consisted of a variety of purchases.

New gym shoes

So, numbers 1 through 7 on the original list are still in the planning stage while 8, 9 and 10 have a real shot at completion.

We have also planned a local outing for today on which I’ll report.

Have you ever finished a to-do list? How?

Some Old Windows

We have some old windows that I bought for a few bucks at a yard sale. Charlie uses them to cover the early plantings in the potager.

An old window helps warm the soil and protects the seeds.

But we also found among our stuff (and we don’t know where it came from) a basement style window.

This old window has frosted up overnight but the panes of glass are actually clear.

I’ve been wanting to try Catherine’s (at Freddy and Petunia) technique of adding a little music and faux mirroring to a window. Check it out here on Pinterest.

I bought my mirror spray paint. (Looking Glass Mirror-Like Paint by Krylon)

The Looking Glass spray paint by Krylon gives a mirror finish. Spray adhesive holds paper to glass.

I chose my favorite hymn (Great is Thy Faithfulness), photo-copied it on old vellum, and tore it to bits.

Sepia-tones copies of “Great is Thy Faithfulness”.

Then I glued it to the back of the glass with spray adhesive.

The paper is glued to the back of the window with the writing showing through to the right side.

Masking the deliciously worn painted wood with tape and paper I sprayed the mirror paint onto the back of the windows. (Five light coats.)

Spray the Looking Glass paint onto the back side of the window.

After letting the mirror finish dry for at least 24 hours I painted the back with outdoor paint to protect the mirroring. The back paint lifted some of the music so it was necessary to reglue the corners.

The window blends well outside.

I’m going to find a place outside to hang this one-of-a-kind meaningful piece of vintage up-cycle.

A chippy detail.

Do you like it?

Great is Thy Faithfulness

I’m tickled with it.

What music would you have chosen?

But Can It Be Called “Art”?

I changed out the desk lamp in the Diva bedroom and now it sits right in front of the clock I made with our souvenir map from France.

The right side looks kind of empty.

I think the clock needs to hang higher so it balances the art work on the other side of the window.

Map clock

Since this IS the Diva Room and  is sort of dedicated to the arts I thought my pink toe shoes might look good hanging on the wall.

Well-used pink satin toes shoes

I found this unique little hook to hang the ballet shoes on.

The screw holds the brass fan on the wall.

I moved the clock up and put a hook for the ballet shoe ribbons to be tied to.

The wall near the computer now has toe shoes under the clock. Time to dance?

I’ll show the before photo again.

Before adding the ballet shoes to the right-hand wall.

That’s a little more balanced.

Compare this picture to the one above.

Can you call it art?

Next, something for the bare wall on the left.

Seriously.

Do you hang personal belongings on your walls? Do you call it “art”?

Spring Cookie Cutters

I’m not a cookie baker; it’s too labor intense for me but I have some neat cookie cutters.

These cookie cutters are about 9 inches tall.

Happily they’re bold enough to double as kitchen wall decoration.

These cutters are made of copper.

One is a bunny.

Bunny cutter

The other is a doggie on his hind legs.

This little dog seems to be wagging his tail.

If any of my cookie making friends want to borrow these cutters just let me know.  They’re so large a batch of cookies will probably only yield a half dozen.

What’s in your oven?

Blown Glass Gallery

The other evening while Charlie and I were having a “date night” at McFadden Art Glass Studio we wandered into the gallery and shop.

Vases of various shapes, sizes and colors. The blue one is about 15 inches tall.

Greeted by the owner’s mother she told us her son’s story of how it all started which you can read about on Tim’s website.

The shop is small so lots of objects are jammed together on shelves.

There were items large and small in the gallery.

A wavy bowl full of cool blue ornaments. (Detail from shelves above.)

Something to attract everyone.

A large (about 18 inches in diameter) crushed glass bowl.

I really liked this glass-topped coffee table.

 

The base of this table is blown glass balls. (The table is about 3 feet long).

Charlie liked this twisted plate.

Yellow and blue swirled plate has about an 18 inch diameter.

McFadden can be commissioned for pieces like chandeliers and pendant lamps.

Blue and yellow blown glass chandelier originally made as a wedding decoration.

Wouldn’t that be a fun project to collaborate on?

Have you collaborated on any artsy projects recently?

A Beautiful Old Frame

I have been saving this brown frame since 1977 (the year my friends moved to California and I took up residence in their apartment).

I’ve lugged this old frame around for almost 40 years.

It’s beautifully carved wood. At one time the corners had been gessoed.

The frame had broken corner medallions.

After I removed the broken corners I realized that most of the gold leaf had worn off over the years.

Using a light hand and a small chisel I removed the gesso from the corners.

Using my mother’s go-to technique for cleaning old wood, I used mineral spirits on a rag and began to wipe the surface dirt from the frame.

Remarkably the gold was still in tact under the dirt.

Aha! The gold leaf was still there, just covered by decades of DIRT.  After just one layer of cleaning in the above photo there is a distinctive difference between the dirty frame (on the left) and the clean frame (on the right). After going over the entire frame about six times with mineral spirits and changing to clean rags, it began to look downright “Belle Époque”.

Corner with gesso removed is bare woodtone.

I knew I couldn’t repair the corners like new so I worked up a not-quite-perfect but close-enough-for jazz method with materials I have on hand.

Clear Briwax and a small pot of Florentine gold wax.

I mixed gold Florentine wax (which had almost dried to a solid) with clear Bri-wax.

I mixed the gold wax with Briwax on a paper plate with a plastic spoon.

I rubbed this paste onto the corners with a latex-gloved finger.

The gold is not as beautiful as the gold leaf but it will suffice.

After letting it dry a bit I buffed the corners and the entire frame with a soft cotton rag.

A beautiful refurbished frame.

Et voila, a beautiful frame for a new project in the kitchen.

Before and after

Lately I’ve been using a lot of old things that I’ve held onto for eons.  How about you?

I’m linked to

Framing a Chart

My employer was decluttering his office recently and decided to throw away this nautical chart (a map of waterways).  It was still in the plastic sleeve and in perfect condition so I took it home with an idea to frame it and hang it in the Cottage.

Waterproof nautical chart of Pine Island Florida from the discard pile.

I knew we had a large frame with glass that would probably fit it from which we had removed a water-damaged poster.

This large metal and glass frame is about 18″ by 24″.

I cleaned up the frame and glass with glass cleaner and smoothed the map as best I could to remove any dents or creases. (Normally I would have ironed a paper map but this chart is actually made of vinyl so ironing was not an option.)

After cutting it down to size, I slid the map into the frame behind the glass.

I cut down a piece of foam core board to hold the chart in place within the frame.

Foam core board is lightweight but rigid enough to hold the map snugly in the frame.

Once it was all together I found a place on a wall in the Cottage to hang it.

Charts and maps have great coloration for aqua colored walls.

The size and colors are perfect.

A pretty corner of the Cottage.

Do you  take other people’s cast-offs? Do you use them or store them?