Gorgeous Belle Notte plus Bedroom

I posted about Miss Linda's home that I had done some sewing in over the past few years.

Here is the guest bedroom that I just loooove!

 She started with ordering her Bella Notte bedding for the bed. If you are not familiar with Bella Notte...let me tell you...it is the softest, most comfortable, luxurious linen bedding you will ever find.

She received her samples that the bedding was being made out of and set out to find some coordinating fabric for the drapery treatments for behind the bed and the french doors...

 

 

She found a beautiful floral print, sheer and silk for the swag...When she got everything home she decided the silk would be a little too formal for her look...she ordered some more Bella Notte linen.

She found pictures of what she wanted everything to look like and handed it over to me.

The window behind the bed is only about 35 inches wide. We went ahead and extended the window treatment out to the corners of the bed to make everything look larger.

The sheers on the doors have ties at the top.  

We made a cord cover out of leftover linen to cover the cord of the swing arm lamp.

 

The colors in this room are much more gorgeous than these pictures show. The blue linen is a pale aqua and just the most gorgeous color.

The little table in the corner now sports a little aqua blue linen scarf with a ruffled edge...can't find the pic right now.

As I said before...Linda's home is just a relaxing, gorgeous home...wish all of you could take a tour!!!

 

Mandy

The Business of Beautiful

 

There happens to be nothing more fun than being able to make something beautiful for someone. Such is the case with Miss Linda. Linda has a FAB.U.LOUS. home. She has exceptional taste and I love everything she chooses to do in her home. I have had the honor to sew for her and here is our latest project for her bath. She had a cute valance already on this window but "just wanted a change"....gotta love that!!!

 

 

The pleated shade is silk and the top curtain is linen....love the combo of fabrics that she picked out.

 

A while back she brought me this antique chair. It is in fabulous condition but she was going a little different direction with the guest room. She decided to have me make a burlap slip cover with some cream linen accents. She had the precious pillows already that just finished the look.

 

I think about 3 or so years ago Linda was redoing her bedroom. She already had someone making the pillows and bedskirt. She told me her idea for a bedspread and drapes. Here was what we came up with. It looks just fabulous!!!

 

We stood in her bedroom and could not remember exactly what I sewed!!! We know I did the bedspread and we are almost sure I sewed the large bolster at the foot of the bed.

Her drapes were a true labor of love for my husband. He agreed to help me install and this almost killed him. He perfectly measured and hung each finial. The problem with Linda's house is that it is a steel frame house. So my sweet hubby never knew when he would hit a steel beam when he drilled into the wall...I owed him big time for that!

 

The very first job I did for Linda was her husbands study. We put valances on the doors...

 

...and this drape on the window...Linda's husband is a hunter...this past winter he went "black bear hunting" and wouldn't you know....Linda is getting a BIG black bear rug....She quickly stated that it will happily reside in her husbands office. :)

Can't wait to se that!!!

 

Before the bathroom, we did some drapes in a guest room....that is coming up next...

 

Love, love, love her house!!!

 

 

Mandy

 

 

Fabulous Antique Mirror

Last weekend I picked up my mom and drove to Beaumont where my sister's family lives to celebrate my moms birthday. My niece just moved into her apartment this summer and I was gifted with the job of helping decorate it. Sarah already had the basics of furniture and had been collecting decor items for a year. I picked up a small chandelier from The Old Oak Cottage and we were going to hang it beside her bed....

All of that to show you my treasure....

While we were there I had asked for a trip to Urban Habitat, an awesome antique/home decor/just all around fabulous store in downtown Beaumont.

I went back to this mirror 3 times...

which told me..."hey silly, just buy it, you love it!"

You know, you've been there right?

Anyway...I have often been right at the point of ripping this builder's grade mirror off the wall of my half bath because...well, it's builder's mirror and not Mandy's mirror...but, I knew that before I could do anything pretty I would have to fix the wall...and, well...I just did not want to.

When I saw this mirror I thought, "Of course, a mirror over a mirror, YES!!!"

It is the absolute perfect size and I LOVE IT!!!!

The frame is perfectly chipped and imperfect and it has this fabulous etching at the top.

Put a long screw in the wall, wrapped some burlap ribbon around the picture wire and slid an antique glass doorknob over the screw and stood back and said,

"AAAHHHHHHH"

I just love it when you do something simple and the sky's are blue and the birds are singing....

Mandy

Linking up to

From My Front Porch to Yours

High Maintenance

A week ago I started my upholstery class!!!!!!!! Yea!!!!! I have wanted to learn this craft for quite some time now. Jennifer at Metamorphose Upholstery and Furniture had endured months of me asking, "So when are you going to teach an upholstery class?" This was always asked while I was standing in her shop, stopping her from what she was doing. Every once in a while she would pick up the stapler and quickly fold the fabric over into the perfect corner and staple it in place. How does she do that sooo effortlessly???

So, I dug around in my stash of furniture and, apparently, brought quite the difficult chair to the class...high maintenance...uh huh...

After at least 8 hours of stripping...not me, the chair, but I felt like it with the sweat running down my back...(side note: Jennifer's husband showed up and said, "I heard there were some strippers here and thought I would stop by" hehehe)

Anywho...The pic above is where I ended up after 8 hours on the first day. Jennifer took 1 look at the chair and thought...Restoration Hardware Deconstructed Look...hmmmm, ok.

Day 2...I was taught how to re-strap the bottom.

...replace and tie the springs. I asked Jennifer if she was punishing me for bringing such a difficult chair because after each string I would think I was done and she would say...um no, now tie diagonally...omygosh! Seriously!? She taught me the 8 tie method which is the most sturdy...ok, yeah..

We then replaced the burlap, foam, cotton batting, dacron and muslin.

Finally! We can start the finishing details...only after 17 hours of hellasish stripping...is hellasish a word? You get the drift though, right?

 Burlap on the arm so that you will be able to see it from the outside...I am so excited to be learning this style of upholstery!!!

At the end of 2 days (2 looooong days) here is where we ended up. I am loving the details so far. The nail heads add so much cuteness to the chair.

Being the 'high maintenance' student that I am, I will be having my third and final class this week. Can't wait to show you how the chair turns out!!!

Thanks Jennifer!!! You have been a fabulous teacher!!!

Linking up with

Metamorphosis Monday

Mandy

For the Chocolate Lover

Last summer our family vacation was a cruise...we had a wonderful time...especially while eating :)

This dessert was not on the menu every night but you could special request it and our oldest son did just that...as in two of them...each night...cruise staff just aim to please!

He also orders this every time we eat at Chili's.

We all get a spoon and not a word is spoken until the last crumb is scooped from the plate.

If you speak, you may lose a bite....and that is just not happenin' in this family!

Chocolate Molten Cake

I bought my ramekins from Wal-Mart...good ole Wal-Mart...if you can stand it, you can find things for cheap like ramekins....

Double-boiler

The main, and oh so important ingredients, butter and chocolate....

my recipe called for bittersweet chocolate, but, this is what I had so semi-sweet it is!

Some good ole vanilla...

After you beat the eggs and sugar for a couple of minutes, add the vanilla...

hehe...is just getting better huh?

Get a 1/2 cup of flour ready...

After the butter and chocolate have melted, I added the sugar, egg, vanilla mixture, stirred it around...such bubbly heaven there...

Add the flour, mix until smooth and pour evenly in ramekins...which have been heavily buttered...

EVEN BETTER!!!

It only takes 15 minutes to bake...during this time you can get caught up on a beautiful book you have been dying to look through...

Then.... Chocolate Heaven

with of course vanilla ice cream...

May I just warn you...

This is RICH....

of course...that has never been a problem for me...

which may be my problem with keeping weight off my behind....

but, a girl has gotta live, right!

Here is the link to the recipe I found and used

Chocolate Molten Cake

Enjoy and worry about the big butt tomorrow :)

Mandy

IN THE MIDDLE

of EVERYTHING!!!

So much going on, nothing finished....

I am in the middle of several projects....I am not sure when or how this happened...

It seems like this happens every few months...I am just rolling along then, oh crap...

I have too many things NOT FINISHED!!! 

This blog has suffered because of this and I was going to be a better blogger this year!!!

Here, I am in the middle of a tailered, box pleated bedskirt and pillow shams...

My foyer is the only spot in the house that is big enough to lay out the fabric and cut...this is starting to get a little taxing on my back and knees...I have an idea for a bigger sewing space...hmmm, that will probably have to wait because so many others things need to be out of the space I want to claim.

I will keep you posted on that...

Here is a fabulous window treatment....in progress....

There will be sheers, swags, panels, and a pleated valance all in one treatment

It will be FAB. U. LOUS.

The client already ordered and received the bedding from Bella Notte...a fabulous bedding line that I absolutely Loooovvveee!!

Can you say fabulous?

I will be installing the window treatment when finished so I will take pics and let you enjoy the "gorgeousness" of this guest bedroom!!!

Then...the Duncan Phyfe couch......

 

Oh, I sooo hope I can bring this beauty back to life again....

Here she is...

stripped down to her bare bones

So far...

I am 50 bucks and 1 million removed staples and tacks into it....

Next step...

Refinish the frame....

And here is my inspiration photo...

I so apologize that I do not have a source for this photo...I had saved it to my computer knowing that I would refer back to it several times because I JUST LOVE IT!!!



So many after pics soon to come...Lord, I hope.....

I HAVE to finish something!!!

Mandy

Great giveaway over on Rosemary's blog...check it out!!!

Villabarnes

Love how she used gesso....gotta try it sometime!!!

Mandy

Finally!!! Project Completed!!!

I posted about this slumber chair a while back...you can read about it here.

It has undergone quite the transformation...this was a "I am teaching myself something new" kind of project. I have upholstered over upholstery but I have never stripped a girl down to her springs before!!! Thank you google for letting me search and find out how to tie the springs back together and re-attach to the frame, attach new webbing, cover with burlap, foam, and dacron...then cover with the fabric...

The frame had come apart at ALL of the joints...this was just the beginning of the re-gluing and strapping..

And...here she is in her new dress!!! Very simple, kind of like a single strand of pearls, but classy at the same time.

I painted the frame in ASCP Old Ochre, sanded quite a bit and waxed with clear wax then came back and just highlighted with a little dark wax. 

 Then dressed her up in some oh so famous drop cloth that had been washed and dried and became really quite soft.

 The ottoman was done basically the same way.

The sweet little bird pillow is a Big Lots find...that place is definitely a hit and miss kind of store...It was a hit for the pillow and cute little bird under the cloche.

I have completed a few more projects...I will share those as I get good pics...still trying to figure out the photography/editing thing...that has been the hardest thing for me to understand so far!!

Mandy

Linking up with

(PRIMP)

Faded Charm

From My Front Porch to Yours

So Little Time

Since the New Year I have been project happy...There has been sooo many things I have wanted to do and realized no one else was going to do them for me :)....So I decided to get busy.

I took my drapes down in my dining room because I wanted to change up the look...I knew that going back with something pricey was out of the question since nothing was really wrong with what was hanging up there...(according to my manly man husband) :}

So, I got busy with my favorite drop cloth/burlap combo and here is what I came up with...

through a little trial and error...

I usually never have a plan...fly by the seat of my pants kind of thing

 My friend, and fellow craft supply hoarder (her house is a glorified Michael's), was given some burlap rice bags...she brought me a few and said, " I want some bags made out of these". She gave me an idea of what she wanted but also said..."just do what you want"...

How fun is that?...I ended up making 5. Four of them are kind of like shopping bags and one was a messenger type bag. I did not get good pics of all of them but here is a sample.



Finally....we bought new furniture...

which has prompted a whole redo of the living/breakfast room since we have an open floor plan...

It always snowballs, right?

Our furniture in our living room was 18 years old...yes, 18...

Of course, the pillows on the couch were not going to work with the whole decorating redo...so I made new pillows for the couch...planning on new pillows for the chairs and also new drapes....pics to come soon!!!

One of my desires for this year is to be a better blogger...I would love to post/link up to parties more often. How do these girls do it?

Mandy

Linking up with
Funky Junk Interiors
Metamorphosis Monday