Two favorite books and a few details about my bedroom

Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all having a great week.

I wanted to post a few details about my bedroom with you.
I first wanted to share two books with you that really inspired my bedroom makeover.
The first book French Home, is one of my favorite books.
I never tire of looking at the photos in this book.
This book has really inspired me to add a bit of a rustic french style to my home.

The second book is Recycled Home.

This book inspired me to use some architectural salvage for my headboard.

Recycled Home really is a great book because it gives you so many ideas on ways to repurpose so many different things.

Both of these books left me inspired to try and create a space that had an authentic french farmhouse feel.
I wanted it to feel rustic, but yet romantic.

A few details about my bedroom.

My mom made the lamp shade.  

She made it from an antique monogrammed towel.

I love how it looks on the alabaster lamp.

The grain sack pillows and the runner were also made by my mother.  My mom really does a great job sewing.

You will see similar items in my shop, that will be opening in the near future....

The bedskirt is from Anthropologie.

The french linen sheet that is covering my comforter was a birthday gift from my mother.

I actually used to use it to cover a chair that I recently got reupholstered.

My husband plans to build a frame around the base of our bed out of salvaged wood.

We just haven't found the right wood yet.

The door on the left unfortunately doesn't even look like the same door that I found.

I kind of did a number on it, and I do not mean in a good way.

It had a lot nicer patina, until I decided to scrape a lot of the white paint off.

I was trying to go for a raw wood look and decided I didn't want thick peeling paint over my head. I can't tell you how mad I was at myself for scraping all of that paint off.

I do wish I would have left it alone.

I am so glad I left the green door alone.

I am lucky that I have a husband who will play musical chandeliers for me!

I know that sounds terrible, but you would be surprised how many times the chandeliers in the house get moved from one room to the next.

I will someday show you what I did with the mantle that was in here as well as the chandelier.

We finally finished that tin ceiling.

The 100 year old tin was smoke damaged and needed to be painted.

I painted the tin in a Kelly Moore Paint called Country Cotton, in an eggshell finish. 

My sheered curtains are hanging from birch limbs.

My Aunt Mickey inspired me to use limbs as curtain rods back in the 90s.

She is from Portland, Oregon and has a new blog, called Vintage Station.

I am hoping I can make it up her way to photograph her store and home to share with all of you. She is a very talented...

I have had this armoire for a number of years...

It is one of my favorite pieces.

I like how simple it is..

I also like how it looks mixed with the rustic doors.

I do not have anything hung on the walls in my bedroom.

I wanted the room to have a light and airy feel to it.

I love the way the light filters through the lavender bottles.

This stool used to be out in my living room.

When I redid the bedroom I needed something a little more formal to mix with the rustic doors so this stool helped do the trick.

I originally bought this old window with the intentions of putting mirrors in the place of the windows. It ended up being too costly.

I think I like it better left just how it is.

simple...

I love using our everyday boots as props around the house.

Sorry I had you have to see the same pictures again!

Now to answer a few of your questions.

Do you live in a new house or an old farmhouse?

I live in a newer modular home.  We do not own the home we live in, our boss so generously let us pick out this home to live in.... I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

What color are your walls?

My walls are a Ralph Lauren color called Country Dairy, and I used an eggshell finish.

Even though Home Depot doesn't sell Ralph Lauren paints anymore they will look up the formula for you and they will make it in the Glidden paint. You can also find dealers for Ralph Lauren Paints by going to The Ralph Lauren Website.

What color of paint did I use on the trim and doors?

I used a Benjamin Moore paint, called Decorator's White.

I used a semi-gloss finish.

Did I distress the doors?

I didn't distress the green door, but I did mistakenly scrape a lot of paint off of the door on the left.

Are the doors attached to the wall?

No, the doors are not attached to the wall, they are just leaning against the wall.

Where can we find your post about your bedroom with the before pictures?

http://dreamywhites.blogspot.com/2010/04/before-pictures-my-bedroom-is-in.html

Thank you!

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped in and left me a comment about my bedroom.

I can't tell you how much I appreciated it.

I was so nervous to share my bedroom pictures with all of you,

I wasn't sure if any of you would like it.

Thank you for taking the time to stop in and say hi!

A guest post!

I am also guest posting today for my friend, Federica.

You can find me over at Sweet as a Candy Blog.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Take Care,

Maria

The before pictures~ My bedroom is in the process of getting a makeover!

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all having a great week!

I wanted to share a few BEFORE pictures of my bedroom.

I am currently in the process of changing this room around.

These are photographs from a couple of weeks ago.

I actually am not going to tell you what I changed just yet.

I found two items for a great deal, and

I actually had planned to use it in another room, well as soon as I got home with them, I knew they had to go in here( my bedroom). 

So I thought I would share the before pictures, because I actually had intended on posting about my bedroom here soon.

So this was how my bedroom was arranged before the weekend trip to the coast.

You can be the judge and tell me if you like the before or the after photographs later on.

You might notice I have boots on my dresser. Well I love to use my boots as props. I figure if you are going to pay that much for something you my as well get two uses out of it. My kids don't quite understand my philosophy.

I have had this dresser for over 10 years. It is a 1950s American made, maple dresser that I sanded and painted white. It is made to look french.  I also added glass knobs that I purchased off of ebay. It used to have a mirror attached.

I didn't like the mirror so I took it off.

I love this dresser it is very sturdy.

The best part is I bought it from a family friend for practically nothing.

This antique french basket is filled with lavender pillows that were made by my sister from vintage french linens. I have so many lavender pillows, I can't even tell you how many. I don't think you can ever have too many lavender pillows.

I even filled the anthropolgie linen bag (that they give you with your bill in it)

with lavender. It is the bag with the yellow string.

My light blue bedding came from Anthropologie. Well I haven't bought new bedding for our bedroom for years. I couldn't decide what I wanted. I have always thought I would end up buying a white duvet. Well last year I signed up to be an Anthro member (it is free) and you might be lucky and get something from them when your birthday rolls around. Well I did get lucky and got a 20% off card in the mail for my birthday from Anthropologie. So I went to Anthropolgie with intent to purchase some bedding.

I have always liked this design.

I think it is a little bit modern and has a younger feel.

Part of me wanted something white and neutral, but then part of me wanted something a little different.

It is called the cirrus bedding and was on clearance. I am not sure if it still is!

I know what you are all thinking... What does the cowboy in the house think.

Well lets just say he loved it in the bag. He said he really liked the color.

He even liked it on the bed, that is when it was on the wrong side~the smooth side.

I wish I had a camera to capture his expression when he saw it put together properly.

He basically shook his head and said you have got to be kidding me!

NOPE... I wasn't kidding. 

To break it up a bit, I added a vintage french monogrammed sheet, a grain sack and a comfy throw. This made a big difference in getting my husband's approval!

After all I do have his cowboy hat on display.

Kind of a compromise right???

I can't show you too much because it isn't finished.

Below is a sneak picture of what I brought home....

Can You guess what I changed???

To be continued...............

Please come back Friday night, I have a great guest who will be filling in for me.

I know you all love her as much as I do.

I wanted to remind you that you can still enter the Minted.com stationary giveaway.

Minted is sponsoring a Mother's Day stationary giveaway.

You have a chance to win a set of 50 beautiful personalized stationary from Minted.com.

a value of $92.00

They have beautiful stylish designs for every mother.

Please click here to read all about it and enter my giveaway if you wish do so!

giveaway ends April 24th 9:00 p.m p.s.t.

Minted.com Giveaway in Honor of Mother's Day!

Creating a Relaxed French Farmhouse Feel, The Talented Ruby Wand, and a Winner

Hello!

I hope you are all having a great week!

I first want to thank my friend, Melaine from My Sweet Savannah for hosting the chic french linen market tote giveaway for me.

Thank you Melaine!

Also I want to thank all of you for participating in the giveaway and for all of your sweet comments you left over there.

Melaine picked a winner this morning.....

The winner is the author of the blog Fete et Fleur

Congratulations!

Thank you Melaine!

Today I wanted to share a few pictures I recently took of a french fruit basket....

I spend a lot of time taking product pictures for my shop...

I hope you don't mind if I share product pictures with you from time to time.

I love to try and give my house a relaxed french farmhouse feel.....

When I took these pictures of this french fruit basket, that was the feeling I was trying to capture in my photographs...

Here is what I did to try and create a relaxed french farmhouse feel.....

I first started out by adding a jar filled with lilacs to the basket, that ended up not looking quite right.

Since my lilacs are in bloom, you will see a lot of lilacs in my product pictures (sorry)

 I ended up just laying the flowers in the basket....

I added my J Crew sun hat  to one side of the chair...

I love using this hat throughout my house as a prop...

I added my Chic French Linen Tote to the other side of the chair,

I think the white tote helps break up all the wood that is in the picture.

I threw in my favorite lavender pillows that my sister made for me....

I like how the material looks against the wood and next to the lilacs.

I love creating displays on my bistro chairs.

Bistro chairs also make great night stands and or end tables.

That is how I tried to create a relaxed french farmhouse feel for a product picture....

On a completely different note....

I wanted to introduce you to the talented Ruby Wand.

Ruby recently special ordered a french ticking duvet and a set of french ticking euro-shams from us.

My sister Liz designed and sewed the duvet for Ruby.

I actually didn't get to see the duvet in person, since my sister lives in Atlanta, GA.  

Ruby just sent me pictures of the duvet over the weekend....

I could hardly wait to share these pictures of her bedroom and the duvet with all of you.

I love Ruby's style.... I think she is very talented.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of Ruby's bedroom....

Ruby used to live in a 1900's white cottage. 

They had to move due to her husband's work and currently rent a condo.

I just love what Ruby has done to this condo.

Ruby's husband Russ, made the night stand and the bookcase.

I love how Ruby used this mantle for a headboard and then added an antique bench to the foot of the bed.

I also love how Ruby mixed so many white linens with her gray and white french ticking duvet.

(The bottom side of the duvet is made from an antique french monogrammed linen sheet.

My sister designed the duvet so that Ruby could also use the linen sheet as the top side if she wished to do so.  Liz used antique buttons made from sea shells to close the duvet.)

I love Ruby's bedroom!

Thank you Ruby for allowing me to share these pictures of your bedroom on my blog.

I hope you will start a blog someday soon! 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Take Care,

Maria

A sneak peek into my bedroom makeover

Hello everyone!

How are you?

I can't tell you how much I have missed all of you!

I first want to say thank you to everyone who left me such kind comments about my cupboard.

I really appreciate everyone who took the time to leave me such kind comments.

You all know how to make a girl feel special!

I am going to be away from my computer all of this week too.  My kids are in 4-H and we raise show steers, so I will be gone to the fair all week with my family!

So I just wanted to say hello to everyone and share a few pictures of my bedroom with all of you.

I will FINALLY be showing you pictures of my bedroom next week!

Yes it is actually finished, I am sorry it has taken me so long!

I am just going to show you a few glimpses of items in my room that I haven't shown you yet.

I hope you are all having a great week!

I miss you all!

Take Care,

Maria