Summer’s Last Hurrah.

September 3, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Some end of summer Hydrangeas add the personal touch for the end of summer visit.

Mother Nature had the last word this weekend. The warmest days of the summer were upon us. My hope is that it will segue into a fine, fine fall. I am already thinking about my fall décor and the Round Top Antique Show…two things that bring me an incredible amount of joy this time of year.

Just one last summer post before we all move on. My house re-design that I have blogged about previously included completely changing my guest room. As I transition my home to a lighter, coastal feel…this room was a great opportunity to showcase the simplicity of my style.

I’ll be the first to say the room isn’t particularly refined…but that is what I like about it. It sort of feels like a room you would find in a beach cottage.

Here are the before and after photos.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always.

Cindy

Before.

A collection of architectural objects.

Guest Room.

After.

Late summer guests are greeted by lavender infused water, ocean scented candles and simple surroundings.

With an antique table, heirloom cotton towels and a vintage enamel pitcher and basin, why not create a modern day wash stand? Still every bit as beautiful and useful as it would have been when my old cottage was built.

Simple white is my philosophy when it comes to dressing beds. Seasonal quilts, pillows and lampshades are the opportunity for color and change when you want something new and different. These light weight quilts were a steal from Kohl’s at $32 each.

A mostly soothing, white room, I can’t resist well placed doses of my favorite color, red.

The room formerly had a single queen bed. Now using two twin beds with white cotton sheets and a light, summer quilt for when the ceiling fan makes the room a little chilled, this room has a simple and quiet countenance.

Direct from local lavender farms, this essential oil is a treat for my guests.

Lavender pods along with Lavender essential oil in a vintage basin ready for summer time guests.

My grandmother’s vintage towels, lavender infused water with thick terry washcloths for a soothing sleep time compress on a warm summer night.

What used to house a television in another room, now stores quilts for cold winter nights and a small flat screen for guests who wish to squire themselves away to relax and watch Pride and Prejudice.

Imported Soap, Burt’s Bees Balm and a lovely Ocean scented candle for pampered guests.

Bedside refreshments for overnite guests. A glass and carafe are left bedside for guests and refreshed every evening.

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, bedroom, coastal, cottage, guest, room, vintage

One Room or Another…

July 19, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Before: Den

After in the same spot: New Side Table/Night Stand in the new Master Bedroom.

The beauty of an old house is that each room can be anything you want it to be. Just as antiques can be moved from one room or another based on fancy and feeling, rooms can be re-purposed out of whimsy or necessity. For me, necessity dictated some changes.

I have a special needs dog who often requires care throughout the night. For the better part of three years, she wakes me up 2 to 4 times during the night. The original master bedroom was upstairs, so it required me to pick her up and carry her up and down two flights of stairs (she is blind and can not walk down them on her own) which was difficult, not to mention dangerous.

About two years ago, I felt it was better to sleep downstairs in the guest room because it was easier to take my dog outside without having to navigate two flights of stairs. However, the guest room has no closet and is hardly large enough for decent clothing storage.

The solution was to re-purpose each room downstairs in order to create a master bedroom for myself. Indeed, it would help me feel less like a guest in temporary quarters as I did, storing my clothes in stacking plastic storage containers.

And so it goes, I had a major antique sale to get rid of the furniture that would not fit in the new arrangements and I set out to re-design each room in a way that was more suitable.

I will share the pictures in future posts, but I thought I would start out be sharing the old and new floor plan along with a sneak peak of the results.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Cindy

A guest room, den, dining room and sitting room.

A guest room, master bedroom, dining room and den

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: after, antiques, arrangement, barn, before, before and after, cottage, glass, lamp, master bedroom, mercury, pottery, pottery barn mercury glass lamp, redesign, room

Anatomy of a Redesign – Part 1

June 25, 2012 by Cynthia 2 Comments

I would describe myself as a nester. I would also tell you that like alot of people, change is challenging. However, you would never know these things about me by looking at my house and the evolution of my style over time. I am constantly changing things around.

I never know when or why the inspiration to change something will hit me. I had just such a moment in my dining room when I realized one small change would change the entire dynamic of my dining-living room space.

Once I have the idea of what I want to do, the next step is the floor plan. Here is the current floor plan, to scale:

Dining Room Current Floor Plan

You can see from this lay out, the space is very small (narrow) so the options are limited. The new floor plan will open up the space visually as well as practically, by improving traffic flow and allowing more space for the living room furniture by kicking it (slightly) into the plane of the dining room. Here is the proposed new floor plan:

Dining Room Proposed Floor Plan

Here is the “to do” list:

Build window seat
Swag lamp over to new dining area
Move antique cabinet to where the bench is
Find a new home for the bench
Make window seat cushions
Remove leaf from dining table
Store two of the four dining room chairs

Cost wise, this is a very economical re do that will have major impact. The materials for the window seat should be $200, give or take. Beyond that, since I already have the fabric, I only need some foam for the bench cushions which I would estimate to be appr. $50.

The result will be featured in next week’s blog article.

As always, thank you for stopping by!

xoxo,

Cindy

This will be removed and the bench (not pictured) will be removed and replaced with the antique cabinet shown in the picture below.

This area will be the new window seat/dining area and this cabinet will remain in the dining room, but moved to another place.

This won’t change, but will now become part of the window seat area for the dining table.

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: after, antique, before, cottage, dining, DIY, re-design, redo, room, simple, vintage

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