My Friend's House ~ Part III

Welcome back to the tour of the beautiful home of my good friends Liz and Ed Snow. If you missed the beginning of the tour, you can see the living room, dining room and sunroom or the kitchen, office and downstairs guest bedroom by clicking theses links or the picture below.


But for now it's time to head upstairs.
At the top of the landing, we find ourselves in the middle of the largest room in the house, the master bedroom.


But before we linger here, I want to show you the second guest room. It is just off the master, and is most often occupied by Liz's darling granddaughters.


I love this vanity.
It is the stuff dreams are made of...
and the dreams those girls must dream here will be memories for a lifetime.


The room is adorned with all sorts of vintage clothing to capture a young girl's imagination.


This exquisite blouse was worn by Liz's mother many years ago.


But should the girls tire of dress-up there are also some enchanting dolls to delight a young heart!



This black chest is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. Those gorgeous handpainted roses are original to the piece!


Now we return to the master bedroom for a closer look.
It is an attic room that spans the entire depth of the house.
There is a sleeping area on one side...


And a sitting area on the other.


I love this lacey wire plant stand, repurposed as an end table.


This wonderful old wardrobe is one of many case pieces in the house that stores Liz's vast collection of vintage linens.


Such a sweet vignette on the coffee table!
Isn't the little bluebird on the candy dish adorable?


Liz and I share a love of old clocks.


We also have a mutual taste for cherubs.
Don't they look great together!


And now for my favorite room accent....
A vintage dress form all decked out in a 1950's prom dress!


Liz and Ed's French style bed is sooo dreamy!


It's one of very few pieces in the house that isn't vintage.


It's so hard to believe this came from J.C. Penney!

And so our tour is complete.

I hope you've enjoyed the visit,

Many, many thanks to Liz and Ed for sharing their inspiring home!

Until next time,
Sheilla

I'm linking up with "White Wednesday" at Faded Charm. Come on over and check things out at Kathleen's gorgeous blog!

My Friend's House ~ Part II

Last week we started a tour of my good friend Liz Snow's home, but there's so much to see, we only made it into the dining room. Today we'll explore a bit further into the house.



We left off by peeking into her vintage kitchen; it is the brightest room in the house, which is otherwise predominantly done in dreamy whites and pastels.



Her kitchen is small, but it lives much larger than its size through her use of lively color and open cabinetry. The open cabinetry displays more of her gorgeous collection of art pottery. This, along with other vintage dishes, glassware and whimiscal accents makes this room come alive with personality and energy.



Liz has numerous birdcages through out her home. This turquoise one, sitting on top of her refrigerator is one of my favorites. I love the little green "parakeet" inside!


Now we move along to her etheral white bathroom

It is such a small room that it's hard to get in and photograph, but this tiny room is just loaded with style. I especially love the ornate shelves that hang over the toilet. She's created such lovely vignettes there...

Her "lady collection" mixed with cut glass, crystal, perfume bottles and other lady-like essentials is just stunning. Here you see a more complete view.

and a close-up...

These vintage toiletry and vanity pieces are just too pretty for words!

Moving on past the bathroom, we find ourselves in Liz's charming office.

She has a number of gorgeous statues, but this is one of my favorites.

This display rests atop her armoire.

This window overlooks her beautiful gardens.
Perhaps a tour for another day...
The pillow peeking up from the lower left corner is one that I made for her from a piece of vintage barkcloth.

I also made the "Dream" banner that hangs across the mirror over her desk.

The next room on our tour is the guest bedroom.
Because Liz's mother spends quite a bit of time here, the room is a mix of both of their collections.

It is packed with all sorts of amazing vignettes.

I love all of these old purses with the family photos mixed in.

This fabulous, shabby bureau was picked up for a song at our favorite "hunting ground".

I love how it is painted white with just the wooden hardware left natural.

The top is home to some beautiful old perfume bottles and vanity accessories.

Here's a close-up view.

This is part of Liz's mother's biscuit jar collection.

And a bit more of it...

So, now you've seen the downstairs. I hope you'll join me next week as we head upstairs to complete the tour. Many thanks to Liz and her husband Ed, for allowing me to share their wonderful home.

Until next time,
Sheilla

I'm linking up with "White Wednesday" at Faded Charm. Come on over and check things out at Kathleen's gorgeous blog!

My Shabby Boho Bedroom

I sometimes dream of having a frothy white bedroom.
Something like the one below...


I did once upon a time ago...

But it's just not feasible right now. You see, the bedroom in my little pizza restaurant turned rental cottage is quite tiny. And to compound matters even more, there are no closets in it. In fact there are no closets in the entire house! To up the difficulty factor in decorating the bedroom, there are additional constraints in place. I need to crate Reese when I'm away and the only logical place for his crate is my tiny bedroom. Additionally, my precious Lucy and Reese sleep with me each night and while they're the best bunk mates one could desire, they are very hard on bedding. So for quite a while, I settled on a strictly utilitarian space and focused my efforts on the rest of the house.

But then I came across this spread in Domino magazine.

It started wheels to turning...
If I can't have a fluffy shabby chic bedroom, then why not try a 'sleeping closet'? While I love the idea of a loft bed, it wouldn't work for me because of the dogs, but there was still something in this article that put the wheels in motion.
This is what I came up with...

Since I'm continually replacing bedding, I shop yard sales and thrift stores for pretty florals that can be mixed and matched.

I sort of like the way it looks....

Reese's crate is situated at the foot of the bed.

Prissy the cat checking out Reese's crate

To make it look a little less utilitarian, I draped a sofa throw across it.

The top serves as useful storage for my sleepwear.

One problem solved...
Now on to the next one...
Windows!
I love the large window next to my bed...


I love the light...and the view...
And I love being able to look up into starry skies at night...
But it just doesn't lend itself well to conventional window treatments.

My curtains were continually becoming damaged or knocked down, so I opted to knot them up and tie them back secured with a cup hook.

For some added interest I strung some picture wire across the top of the sash and cliped on some artsy postcards for a valance. To add just a little more drama, I hung some Chinese lantens from the ceiling. The little battery operated lights come in quite handy during a power outtage!

Ok, you're probably thinking by now...
"So you have a bedroom with a dog crate in it...
Where does the sleeping closet idea kick in?"

Left without many other options, I've been using my clothing and accessories as part of the room decor. I love vintage bed jackets, and having this one so close at hand reminds me to actually use it when the mornings are a little chilly.

While I know it would be prettier if all my clothing were in soft pastels like the bed jacket, I've got to work with what I actually do wear. Here is my "closet".

As you can see, much of my clothing is hung on a rod that was already in place as a "closet" when I moved in. I added another freestanding rack for additional hanging space. Shelves above the rods store purses and accessories. Shelving and cubbies below house my shoes.

I keep all of my denim on the free-standing rack.
Some of my favorite (but not often worn) shoes and handbags "decorate" the shelf above the denim.

I hung a towel rod to "display" my scarves.
My boots are on and also under a bench placed below.

Jewelry storage acutally turned out to be a fun challenge.
I decided to keep most of my jewelry out in the open where I could see it and enjoy it...not to mention, be reminded to wear it!

The jewelry display was made from an old cork bulletin board cut to fit a frame that I had. I covered it with fabric and then used various items to secure my "jewels". The star-shaped wire basket makes an ideal earring holder. Necklaces and bracelets are hung from push pins. Brooches just push right into the cork board. Additional jewelry is kept in the trinket boxes on the dresser/night stand.

So, there you have it.
My solution to the too small bedroom with no closet dilemma.

Lucy and Reese seem to approve.
And while it probably wouldn't win any design awards, it works for me. Hopefully if you find yourself in a space crunch, some of the ideas here might work for you, too!

Until next time,
Sheilla

This post is shared on "Show and Tell Friday" at Cindy's gorgeous blog, My Romantic Home. You should check it out....lots of great ideas to discover!