Oh Yes, I DID Put My Desk In A Closet!

Hi Chickies... Yes, as usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short.





I'm joining Sherry @ No Minimalist Here for her Open House Party.... which started YESTERDAY.


Every time I see Sherry's blog title it reminds me of my home, we don't/can't use the word minimal here.... TINY and packed to the brim....and I make EVERY inch count.


As I've said before.... We live in a planned community and when we built our home there were some choices we could make but many requests were met with "I'm sorry, that is NOT an option"... Oh, how I HATED those words.


But, I was able to add all the plugs, cable outlets, etc. in a closet so I could make it my desk area in my den.


I showed you the finished den HERE..... This little "office" is on the other side of the room.


*Click on any photo to enlarge.*

And, I have this little area packed to the BRIM!

I tried and tried to get a really good shot of this little spot.... but, the room is so tiny I had a hard time getting the whole thing in one picture. I just couldn't far enough away from it. :-)




I actually built this whole little spot myself.....except for the file cabinets.... and I showed you the little desk chair slipcover HERE. What a difference a dropcloth can make. :-)



Oh my yes.... everything is within easy reach. Who says I need a huge desk area? Well, I'd really love to have one, but I'll just do with what we have here..... and be happy with it, right?

There is actually one more shelf above these two.... it has a row of baskets just like the others all lined up and, of course, they are FULL!

I bought a set of file cabinets at Penneys and had the paint mixed, for everything else, to match exactly. I LOVED it. Then, the drawers started drooping.... nothing worse than droopy drawers....and they wouldn't open right, so I bought these @ Pottery Barn. They're so much nicer, but I liked the way the other two snugged up perfectly together. And, these were a different shade of white which meant re-painting everything. Dang it.

Since the curtains for this room were dupioni silk I bought silk to cover the little French bulletin board on the back wall. It's packed full.....NO MINIMALIST HERE! I like having all those lovely pictures around me...and I spend a LOT of time here.......peeking at what other bloggy chickies are up to.


I forgot to turn it on, but I have a little light up under the bottom shelf....and hid the wire behind the bulletin board.

I think this area's about five feet across.... Man, can I stick a LOT of stuff in five feet of space!

So there you have it... The HOME OFFICE... :-) It just cracks me up how cluttered it looks.... but this is real life at the Cottage!



Wish the pictures had been better.....


Have a wonderful day dear girlies. And, don't let the lack of space hold you back!


Too much is never enough.... That's MY motto!



Huggies and Lovies too,


Spencer


xoxox


Also a day late to Savvy Southern Style's Meme... Faded Charm's White Wednesday and We Did It Wednesday .. Is it true?.... Better Late Than Never?

Come On In..... It's The Den REVEAL!

Hi Sweeties!



I'm so excited to show you the finished den.... I've been going to do a little tour for soooo long. I have a terrible time taking decent pictures.... As you know Bellamere Cottage is a teeenie, weensie, little home and it's tough to get far enough away from anything to take a great shot.



I've done my best here, so let's just get right to it.... OK?


I have three of these darling little doors in the cottage.... As you know, our home is in a planned community... If you're unfamiliar with the procedure, you pick your home style, elevation and lot. Then you go to the design showroom and pick out all of the options you'd like. The choices are somewhat limited, so I opted to get the standard choices on some of the items so I could change things later on my own.... I wish I had gotten a couple more of these doors though... They make me smile.


You can click on the pix to enlarge them, if you like!

Ok....first peek............see that great big 'ol empty spot above the TV??? YUKKKK! That's just plain scary, isn't it?

Much better, right? Remember a few months ago when I showed you this shelf in progress??



Yes, I DID make it alllll by myself and I'm pretty darn proud of myself too.


I am CRAZY about it. It's exactly what that spot needed and since I'm the kind of chickie who loves a LOT of stuff it gives me a great spot to display some of my cute little thrifty finds.


I forgot to add the photo, but I just saw that Pottery Barn has a similar shelf (although highly distressed) for THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE DOLLARS!!! Bear in mind.... I AM TRULY Tightwad Tilly and there's no way I would EVER pay that for a little shelf... I think this one was probably about thirty dollars.....

See what I mean???? It's so hard to get a full shot of anything.

This shot is peeking around the corner....there's a little bookcase in the entry area, mostly filled with my grandson's books. That's the little white corner in the shot.



I've had the little maple desk/table for about thirty years... It's one of those pieces that I'll have forever. I just love it.

A couple of months ago the Hubbs and I went to Camas Antiques and I bought several of these darling little number plaques. I haven't decided where to use the others, but I LOVE this one here.

I have a very colorful albeit pastel-ish house for the most part. This is the creamiest room in the house....I had been collecting some of the white ironstone pieces for awhile and thought it would be a great place to use them all together. I am a Christian, however, not Catholic.... but I am crazy over that Madonna. Isn't she lovely? A thrift store find that started out in a horrible bright color, spray painted a lovely cream.......that's not all either...........she's PLASTIC!

I can't take credit for this little pillow, although I did make it.... I got the idea right here in Bloggyville and flat out copied it. I wish I could remember where I snatched the idea so I could give that creative chickie credit....it's on top of that chair that I did the slipcover tutorial for awhile back. You can find the link on my sidebar if you're interested.



You can just see my cute little file cabinets peeking out there.... That's the desk area. I'm going to share that another day. I spend a LOT of time there.

This little Ikea bed is where my little grandson "lives" when he's here. The TV is strategically placed so he can see it from his bed.

I bought the ivory silk queen size spread at Tuesday Morning. I had to get up at the crack of dawn to get there that particular Tuesday.... so hoping to be able to snag one of these. There was only ONE and there was a man standing there with it in his hands. I wanted to cry...... He asked me if that's what I was looking for.... I said yes...and he said I could take it....he really didn't need it. What a great fella! I made the cover for the bed and the bolster pillows out of it, and it came with the two shams on the back of the daybed.


I made all the other pillows

The curtain fabric was my first purchase for this room. I was searching for something totally different, but when I saw this I decided it would do the job.



It's dupioni silk and was a fabulous buy! That's all a tightwad needs to know, right??


You can't tell in this picture, but there's a tiny little ruffle down the side. I like ruffles!

Don't tell anybody, but that little side table is actually a tiny dresser turned sideways... It was exactly the right size so it'll do in a pinch! The drawers are packed full of things I never need, but don't want to get rid of and I took the knobs off so they wouldn't show. I did that little cutie a long time ago. It was spray painted black and had hideous knobs and legs.... I added the braided molding and ball feet.......

I wanted this room to be more manly.... God bless my Hubbs, he lives with lots of pink and ruffles and isn't it only fair that he could have a spot for himself? Not that he EVAH complains about the pink frills.... What a GUY!



This is HIS chair. Not really what I would normally pick out, that's for sure. We almost NEVER buy anything new (as in go to a REAL store, not a thrift store)..... but I couldn't find anything that would work for this room. Our little dog, Ruby, sits with him every single night. She won't sit on his lap, she wants to sit beside him....so the chair needed to fit both of them. It had to be easy to clean......and I was looking specifically for a style that could be slipcovered eventually..... No wasting here. :-) I searched until I was sick of looking. The Hubbs loved this one so I was sold! It's the most comfortable seat in the house. I'm jealous.



I bought the picture above it at a garage sale years ago. It's scraped up pretty badly because the glass was missing, but I loved it......still love it........isn't it wonderful???

I used to have a whole wall of these pictures.... Do you know it's Jesus and is called "The Light of the World"?

I bought this cabinet a gazillion years ago....it's perfect for extra notepads, paper and greeting cards. Everything in this little cottage is FULL! VERY full.



It's such a wonderful old piece. It's been moved so many times and has been in bedrooms, living rooms and an entry.




Thank you so much for coming and for checking out this VERY long and WORDY post.




I so appreciate you.



Huggies and Lovies!

Spencer


Linking to these wonderful chickies!


Diane at 2nd Time Around Tuesday


Linda at Coast Charm


Jan at Bobby Pins Boardwalk


Tam at The Gypsy's Corner


Leah at Silly Little Sparrow


Today's Creative Blog


Erin at Lucky Star Lane


Marty at a Stroll Through Life


Kathleen at Faded Charm




Whew, that's a LOT of parties, isn't it??





Don't miss out on the fun! Pop on over.... :-)

Hey Chickies! Saturday Giggles For YOU!

It's all about the wording, isn't it???

I love getting the emails that have boo-boos in them.... Funny newspaper titles.... and signs... don't these folks READ what they write?


At any rate they ALWAYS make me laugh out loud.

And, nothing's better for your health that a good guffaw, right?





This has been my longest blogging break ever...



We got the den painted. OH MY GOODNESS. I picked out the most delicious chocolate brown...it was delish...and with the cream accessories it would have been yummy.... See that "would have been"???


The itsy-bitsy Bellamere Cottage has rather an open floor plan.

That's really nice and I LOVE it.

However............


If you stand in the kitchen or living room you can see into two of the bedrooms.

The living room is VERY pale blush pink.

The bedroom (the just finished one) is pale blue.

And then...........this BROWN room?


It just wasn't going to make it for me.


I was so mad at myself......but we took a trip to Home Depot and bought a reallllly unusual color..........CREAM.... Yeah, I KNOW.... Not too interesting, is it?


But, from the kitchen it doesn't look funny and I still think it's going to be ok.

Sooooooooo...........covering BROWN with CREAM??

Not a picnic.

I will highly recommend the new Behr paint with primer already included though.

GREAT PAINT!


My little desk area is all finished.........It's going to be wonderful compared to what I had before. Can't wait to show you.

I've been sitting with a recycle bin and a shredding bin all day sorting all that dasterdly paper stuff..........for HEAVEN'S sake....where does it all come from?


Do I really have to keep it?


So, to do the desk and paint we unhooked the computer. No problem, I can use the Hubb's laptop so I could keep up with blogging.


WHERE WAS MY BRAIN?


No wifi if the stuff isn't all hooked up, so I was computerless for days and days.


And, I've had my little grandson here since Monday. He is hilarious so he's a joy to have and I wouldn't miss time with him for ANYTHING.


I probably don't even need to tell you I am soooo darn pooped.


So, girlies, that's my story.


We've had lousy weather so I haven't taken passable pictures of the finished bedroom and bath yet.... Soon, I hope!


Hope you've all been well.





Love you much!


Have a wonderful weekend!

Huggies and lovies,
S

Ouch!

Now, I think THAT'S a bargain!

You know how I LOVE a sale.

Yep, I Fired Up The Sewing Machine!

Hi there sweet little chickies....


Well, finally! I can say that alllll of the sewing is finished for the den.


I've moved onto the Master Bedroom now and will share a smidge of that in a couple days.


I bought this delish dupioni silk over a year ago with plans to re-do the den. (As I've said.........I dreaded it. It was HORRIBLE to sew on).


I thought it was sort of manly-denish (yes, made up word)....but still has a cottage feel?




There are just bits of fabric left now. And, I'm pretty darn proud of myself, I must say.


Hey, I've been procrastinating for soooo long, I HAVE to pat myself on the back, right?

I like LOTS of detail.........so, lets have some lace and ruffles too!

Oh, and some vintage buttons?

Several weeks ago I shared the ruffle dilemma.....on the edge of the curtains. Well, I never did figure it out.......so lets just hope no one notices. (On one curtain the pleat goes up and on the other it goes down.) Darn.


Oh, and they're not hemmed yet. I'm not quite sure where the rod will end up so I wanted to leave that until it's up so I can measure properly.


I'm hoping for crown molding... Hear that Hubbs?


The walls will be painted the darkest brown. (I've had the paint so darn long I hope it hasn't gone bad.. :-) )


And, you can see a bit of ivory quilted silk? That's the cover for the daybed. I did big bolster pillows for the ends too.

Sooooo.....here's the rundown of finished items.


*daybed cover
*bolster pillows
*desk chair slipcover
*side chair slipcover
*ottoman slipcover
*nine pillows
*curtains





Gosh, that made me feel good.........to actually see it all listed. It makes me look like I've been busy. :-)

I hope you've been enjoying a great week so far.


It was rainy, foggy and dreary here today. YUK. But the grass is greening up and things look they're coming to life again.

Yippppeeee! SPRING!


Lovies and Huggies Dear Ones!


xoxoxoxox


Spencer


Edit:

I've linked to two great girlies........There is some REAL inspiration here..

www.Bobbypinsboardwalk.blogspot.com

and

That sweet little Marla over at

www.alwaysnesting.blogspot.com

So hoping you won't mind copy and pasting those addresses into your browser. Yes, I AM computer illiterate.........I STILL can't figure that little gizmo out.


Huggies!

It's A Sewing Dilemma......

Happy Tuesday sweet girlies!

I've been up to my eyeballs trying to finish my curtains for my den......I know...........you're rolling your eyes and saying "FINALLY"!

I ran into a smidge of a problem last night and I swear, I cannot figure it out.  

I made a pleated ruffle for the edge of the little curtain.

Sewed it on....

Perfect.

Time to sew the other one on.

Hmmmmm........not so perfect.

The stinking ruffle is upside down.

No problem, unpick it and turn it around.

That DID not work either.

I'm confused.  Of course, it doesn't take much to confuse this old gal.    :-)

It just did not make any sense.

I'm going to look at it again this morning.

Hopefully I'll see the light.

I know most of you know my sweet little friend Sheila over at

www.thequintessentialmagpie.blogspot.com

Oh what a dear and wonderful girlie she is and I know you love her too!

She's having a bit of an OVERWHELM problem right now....

and, has asked for prayer.

I love you bloggie girlies and I know you'll be happy to pray for this sweet chickie!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Huggies,

S

Ta Da!!! And, Here's The Finished Slipcover!

Is it Wednesday already?  Wow....time does fly, doesn't it?

I hope your week's gotten off to a great start sweet girlies!

As promised......FINALLY.....the post on the den desk chair slipcover.....

Man, that's one ugly chair, isn't it?  Yep, that's what I thought.......how have I lived with this darn thing for about five years you ask?

Heck if I know......you know how you just become accustomed to looking at something?....Then one day you look again...........horrified there's something so disgusting in your home?

Ok.........you probably don't, but I sure do.

I had a little desk that I just loved, but something was just "off"....well Spencer, have you noticed the pulls are UGLY?

See, that's what I mean.     :-)

Enter a lovely (ok, not lovely......but CHEAP) dropcloth, some cording a stencil, a couple of vintage buttons and we're off.........

 

Now, things are starting to come together.....

I'll put a little pillow on it too........I should have done that for the photo, but totally forgot.  It would have been so much more smashing, don'tcha think?

  

 Profile view....    :-)

Curvy little gal, isn't she?

  

  Ahhhhhhhhh...........I saved the best 'til last.  Isn't that cute?  Do you really think so?

You know how all of the packaging now is that hard plastic stuff?  Well, Tightwad Tillie here saves allllllllll of it.  (That's why you'll NEVER see pix of my garage.......SCARY).........anyway, I found a cute little fleur de lis on the net, copied it and traced it onto a piece of that 'ol plastic cut it out and stenciled this little cutie onto the back piece of my slipcover.  Then I stitched around it to puff it up a smidge...

 

I'm a girlie who loves details........so I added this little do-hickey with buttons too.

And, since my chair will usually be pushed into the desk, this is what will show.

I'm happy to check one more thing off of my list.  Now, tomorrow it's onto the curtains.  I've been procrastinating forever on those.......but the time has come to cut into that fabric and go for it.

Measure twice, cut once.  Boy, that's some good advice!  Glad I reminded myself of it.

I'm always afraid to mess things up.

But I'm going for it.

Tomorrow.

Really, I am.

Ok, girlies........I'm going to go to bed now so I can get up bright and early and get to it.

Huggies and Lovies,

Spence

xoxoxoxo

First Put On A VAT Of Coffee.....And Then Let's Do A Makeover!!!

Sometimes I even have to laugh at myself........I'm such a TIGHTWAD. And, I didn't want to have to buzz to the store to buy matching fabric for cording for my little project, so I whipped up a nice strong vat of coffee and dyed some dandy little bits.

Well..........first I started with tea.....but it was a bit too gold in color, so on with the coffee. I was using a canvas drop cloth from Lowe's as my main fabric......Wow! What a thrifty buy!

The fabric on the right is the tea stained and on the left is the coffee model which matched my drop cloth perfectly.

I buy white sheets at the thrift store ALL of the time. ONLY 100% cotton and in great condition. They usually run about 3-4 dollars so it's a lot of fabric for a tiny bit of cash.

They're so handy to have on hand.

I use them for all sorts of things. And, it's the best ever for cording you need to cut on the bias. You can get much longer strips. I know there's a method for cutting endless bias, but I need to see someone do it someday, I just CANNOT figure it out. :-(

Ahhhhhhhhh.................the little ottoman........BEFORE it's makeover. I had been looking FOREVER for one for my husband. I had already gotten him two different ottomans. The first one he gave to my daughter after I had it all finished. Grrrrrrrrrrr. The second one was too high and he didn't like it, so when I found this petite 'lil number I snatched it right up. And, only 14.99 too! What a deal.

If you're going to make a slipcover...........cut off the binding. It looks horrible when it shows through the finished product.

A simple little slip makes it look totally different, doesn't it? A funky old stool becomes a little cutie. Do you think so too?

Ever so simple.

Measure the top. Cut the fabric to that measurement. I don't add anything extra or it will be sloppy. And, I only use 1/4 inch seams. Now lots of girlies like their slipcovers sloppy, but for me....I like snug. It's all up to you!

Then four pieces for the sides. Cut those to the exact size too.

Now, I don't know why this works, but it does. CRAZY.

Sew the cording to the top.

Then the sides into a loop, then sew those to the top.

Add ruffle.

EASY PEASY!!

I used Old English on the legs instead of totally re-doing them. They actually turned out pretty well.

This is going in my den. I think I posted a picture of my fabric for that room in one of my very first posts and I'm just getting around to doing the sewing. YIPPPPEEEE!

I'm finally in the mood.

I've been working on all sorts of little things for the re-do.

I can't wait to show it to you. But I'm not even close yet!


Have a wonderful day, little sweeties!

I think you're the BEST.

Huggies and Lovies,

Spencer
xoxoxox


Oh, and PS.....If you haven't been over to see Jennifer's new kitchen and dining room, you really MUST! It's so darn cute. I LOVE it. Especially the counter/table built by her hubby with shelves above.....DELISH!

Oh my goodness.........I just went over to verify her address and she's added her living room now too. Dang it's cute!

www.theoldpaintedcottage.blogspot.com

I'm A Little Bit Late! Happy Sunday Favorites!

That SWEET little gal, Chari, over at Happy to Design just started this new MEME......

What a grand idea. It's a chance to re-post one of your favorite posts......well, this isn't exactly my favorite post, but I'm getting geared up to actually START the project now, so a re-post is a pretty good idea. I did find the silk duvet cover at Tuesday Morning as planned, so I have all my fabrics and I'm ready to begin! It's time for a den beauty make-over, that's for sure. I can't wait to see this finished.

I'm still at my girl's house taking care of her after her surgery....(I have been so blessed by your messages and prayers.......thank you soooooooo much!) I think I'll be able to go home by Tuesday. My poor hubbs and my pup really miss me. Isn't that sweet? It's so nice to be missed. My grandson LOVES it when I stay. Poor kid is kind of torn. He loves to be with me, but doesn't like to leave his mom........so when I stay he gets to have both.

I'll be posting the updates as I get rolling. :-)

Please pop over to Happy to Design to check out the other posts!
I think this is going to be fun!

Again......I'm sorry I'm so late.

I always try to re-decorate a room every year. Our house is really tiny so it doesn't take too long before each room gets a new "do". The den is on the list this year. I already found a terrific chair and this wonderful fabric! I was thrilled! It's dupioni silk and was on a great sale. Tuesday Morning has a comforter cover on sale next week I'm hoping will match my plan, so I'll use it to make the daybed cover and bolsters. These little pretties came from Hancock Fabrics and I actually found the shade there as well. I'll paint the walls the darker brown shown here. I'll post the pix when I get it all pulled together. I love having something to look forward to and it inspires me to start on my Spring cleaning.


I don't have a plan for the curtains yet, I'm going to have to think about it, but I bought ten yards of fabric so, hopefully, I'll have enough.


I'm totally hooked on the Swedish blogs right now. I can't read a darn thing, but their decorating style is wonderful. So clean and crisp.......and very interesting. It's so different from my style.......which is "Too Much is Never Enough"........I like things VERY full. This yummy Swedish style could sway me, but what would I do with all these things that it's taken me years to collect.....I know, I can hear my daughter saying "Mom...pass it on"... :-)

Wishing all you wonderful gals a terrific Sunday.

Blessings and hugs!
Spencer
xoxoxo

Show and Tell Friday. A New Bargain For Bellamere Cottage!

I have looked for a chair for this little desk for a zillion years, without success.

I had a VERY early appointment on Wednesday and got finished much faster than I anticipated........well, DANG......what am I going to do with 1/2 hour until my next stop? Hmmmmmmmmm............well, will 'ya just look at that nice little 'ol Value Village over there????????

I was looking at two adorable little kitchen chairs for SEVEN dollars each and trying to figure out if there was anywhere in my little cottage where I could possible stick them in..........when...........I spotted this little find. The desk is rather low, so finding a chair that sits low enough was the problem.

$19.99??????? REALLY. It WILL be mine! Now it's going to have a beauty make-over. I'll strip the paint off the legs and make it a slipcover. Oh, how I love a slipcover. I've made quite a few of them now. It's amazing how easily they change the look. I looked for fabric yesterday with no luck, so I'll be on a quest to find the perfect thing.

What a great price! I'd much rather buy a used piece that I can re-do myself than buying something brand new. Sometimes, though, you need to look for quite awhile before the perfect piece presents itself. We just bought the new chair for the den, but we rarely buy brand new pieces. Had I been able to find something old to slipcover I'd have been much happier........and would have had much more moolah!



Now, don't forget to go see all the other great girls on Show and Tell Friday!

Thank you so much, Kelli for hosting! I'd add her little button, but I'm a miserable failure at techie stuff and mess it up every time.

www.kellishouse.blogspot.com




Have a wonderful day and do come back tomorrow. I actually will be here for my first Pink Saturday!


Blessings!
Spencer

PS.........you can click on any photo for a bigger shot! :-)

Bellamere Cottage Has An Itty Bitty Den!

Aren't these wonderful pictures??? I bought them both at garage sales. How could anyone sell them? I don't remember how much I paid for Jesus, but I know I paid 15 dollars for the bottom one. I've had it for many years and would NEVER get rid of it. It was missing the glass so the picture is a bit scratched up, but I don't care. I love it anyway.

Wonderful old suitcases............GREAT storage.

This is the room I bought the plaid silk fabrics for.......I also found a silk duvet cover to use for the daybed cover at Tuesday Morning........quite a bargain too! It's king size and came with two king size pillow shams for 100 dollars. Not bad for silk.........I'm going to remake it into the daybed cover and bolster pillows.

I bought the pine cupboard many years ago. It's always been one of my favorite things......yeah, I know, I do have a zillion favorite things! :-) That's the new chair on the left side, barely in the photo. It's microsuede and really not my usual style.......my DD HATES it, but I think it's going to be just fine when it all comes together. I don't have very much white ironstone, but I do have these three platters. I love them. I love those old suitcases too.........I've looked for more for quite some time and just can't seem to find any great ones. The center one was my Mum's. She stored old pictures in it. I love having it. The curtain is made from an old damask tablecloth. Old fabrics have a look to them you just can't get with new fabric.

I collect old postcards and some find their way into this old planter. Isn't it sweet?

I love and collect heart shaped rocks. Ok.........this is my collection. Isn't it pitiful? I do have a couple of big ones outside, but I think I'd better get busy looking for more small ones. My little grandson found the one on the bottom left for me.........not a good angle to show their heart shape......

I bought this little white chest at a garage sale for five dollars. It was painted with shiny black spray paint, had about ten inch legs that were pointy and the UGLIEST modern chrome handles. I added the little bun feet, new knobs and the little braided edge. A nice coat of paint and now it's a cute little piece. I like it because it's small so I can fit it in SOMEWHERE. I don't think I'll ever stop being amazed at what a few coats of paint can do for something.

The walls will be a cocoa color, the fabric is blue/brown plaid silk........the duvet from Tuesday Morning is ivory..........It's soooooooooo not my usual look, but it's a den........and the room that my Darling Hubby uses to read, and I think he'll like it. I do try to please him once in awhile.......poor guy lives in a VERY girlie, pink house. (I didn't notice the tassel was crooked when I took this shot..............ooooooooooops!!!)


Thank you so very much for your visit.

God bless you.

Spencer