Black walls

I love them - always have.
Some people have a misconception about black walls - thinking it closes a space - makes it look smaller when the exact opposite is true.  Black brings depth into a room - especially when it's only done as an accent wall - surrounded by white.
2 houses ago I painted our entire dining room black - the room had 2 double sets of french doors and crown molding with high baseboards - so there was a lot of white trim to contrast it.
When we sold the building ( it was a duplex ) the realtor advised that although HE liked the black dining room, it might prove to be a hard sell.

That home sold in 8 hours - with multiple offers ( in off - season ) for double what we had purchased it for and every single potential buyer loved the dining room.
Moral of the story?

Any color can look gorgeous if done properly in a space -
I remember people reacting with horror when I told them my plans.....................
But it was only paint - and the marvelous thing about paint is that it's never permanent
( your talking to someone who once painted her living room 3 times in a week until I got the right color - but oh what a gorgeous color I ended up with LOL )

Here's some samples of Black that enhance a space.  ( in my humble opinion )

THE UNCOMMON LAW

NOSTALGIA AND NOW

HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

DECOR PAD

Even black wall paper is gorgeous if done in the right setting - look how sophisticated this room looks

EUROPEAN-WEB.ORG

EUROPEAN-WEB.ORG

I painted a small accent wall in the entry way in black in this house ( you can see more pics HERE )
Oh God - I'm looking at the before - I'd forgotten how horrible it all was....................

and now I've done one wall in the second guest room
( please don't look at the floor - it only has one coat of primer on it - and don't look at the window either - it's still a work in progress )
I'm only granting permission to look at the wall itself -

A white dresser will be put against that wall - so you'll see even less when it's finished -
But the white floor and black wall already make this tiny little room look bigger

Plus it ties in with the black accents on the other side perfectly

I want to retain the cottage-y style of this house without a doubt - that is after all, what it is - but I also want to add ( on some level anyway ) a little sophistication to the mix and touches of black seem to do the trick.

Has anyone else ever painted a wall black?

Much love,
Me

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Soda's Update

My little munchkin is on the mend -
But now that it's over I can tell you that we were a couple of zombies over all of this -
So much so that we postponed our cruise for next Fall ( the only place they had for us and we had to upgrade to get it )
There was no way we could go days after she had her operation - she was lethargic and I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her while we were away.
It wasn't a hard decision at all - in fact I was so filled with anxiety about leaving her - that once we decided we would postpone - a feeling of complete peace came over me.
She's an older dog - and she has a heart murmur - so being put under to remove a malignant tumor
( it was breast cancer ) was a huge risk and she had a lot of medication to take after ( and still has another week of it )
BUT SHE'S OK !!!!!!!!!!!
She's come through it with flying colors - what a tough little girl - really.

The only thing she asks is that I cover her up while she recuperates.........................she sits wherever she wants to lay -  and looks up at me questioningly - until I place a blanket on her and then she curls up under it and naps.

There'll always be cruises -
There's only one Soda - and she owns us -
Completely.

I have to thank everyone who left such kind comments about her - they were more appreciated than you can know.

Life is good
Life is so. so good

Much love,
Me

Do that to me one more time...............................

That's what my furniture says to me -

I can never get enough of a girl like you ♪♫
Paint me, like you just did, oh baby  ♪♪
Do that to me once again   ♪♫♪

I don't usually post on the weekends and here I am posting on both days - there's just so much going on with that little guest room !

Last week I asked if I should keep the armoire in the little room - or a dresser - most of you voted for the armoire - so I decided to go with the dresser LMHO - but I did give it a quick makeover anyway - and I do mean quick - as in 20 minutes or so.
Paris Grey - the white was already on it ( when it was duck egg blue )

This thing is heavy - as in if this thing fell back it would have killed me instantly.  With just my legs sticking out like the wicked witch that I am..................
So heavy that I should have worn depends when we lifted the top piece off to move the bottom piece ( too much information I know )
So heavy - as in I may have popped a blood vessel or two and I can lift heavy things believe me.

My Son dropped in for a visit and I asked if he could help John take the top piece off ( again ) because it wasn't level
He did it himself !!!
Oh my God - I don't know how he did it

Mom says - Did you pee a little when you did that?
Gordie says - Ugghhh Mom - why would I pee?
Mom says - From the weight ?
Gordie says - That's gross - you're my MOTHER - don't talk like that
Mom says - Like what?  Sheesh - it's just pee
Gordie says - You should have worn Depends
Mom says - I know that.........................

But I digress - you didn't come by to hear about my bladder after all.

It's a very light coat of grey actually - some duck egg blue is peaking through here and there but I kind of like that
And I left the white parts as chippy as they were - cutting the painting time in half I'm sure

 It's in the hall landing - and it's ridiculously too big for the space but that's where it's staying until I get the office done - ( and God knows when that'll be - it's the last room to do upstairs and I'm not in the hurry that I should be )  I DO have the perfect spot for it in the reading room downstairs - but JOHN'S t.v. is in the way.

But it suits the space better then the duck egg would have

It can always go back to it sometime in the future - no big deal-ee-o - right?

I DO love the color - it just didn't fit

( I'm writing that because now that I'm looking at it - I'm afraid you're all going to say I shouldn't have touched it ) 

You can see the original 2 part posts on the first makeover HERE and HERE

I dry brushed a little gray on the 2 interior drawers as well - very little actually.

Paint me - like you just did  ♪

Oh baby................... 

Do that to me one more time  ♪♫♪

Now I officially have clothes in my bedroom - in both guest rooms and the upstairs landing

John says - Are you sure you have enough drawers

Suzan says - I could probably use just one more 

John says - I think there's a corner in the shed outside we could probably squeeze one more in 

John says - It's too much - there's dressers all over the bloody place 

John says - It's like living in a shop

Yaddy yaddy yadda

I'm thinking of secretly taping him - so you get the audio

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone - 

Hugs,

Me

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Creating a bed nook.....( and overcoming obstacles )

John says - This is absolutely ridiculous -
John says - This is STUPID
John says - The room's too small - this is ridiculous
Suzan says - You already said that
John says - I can't believe you're hanging a curtain there - the room's small enough - this is absolutely ridiculous

3 times............................

GET.  OUT.  OF. THE.  ROOM.  PLEASE...................................
Obstacle no. 1 taken care of.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Now for the second one and this is huge - we couldn't get the box spring upstairs.
For the first guest room we were able to cut the box spring and fold it in half since it was a spring ( coiled ) one.
Assuming this would be the same, John began sawing away
( Yep - right through the gauze - don't ask - we had plenty to fight about last night - this didn't seem worth it at all )

You cut the 3 main pieces of frame like this

and then simply fold it over

John says - There's nothing " simple " about this
John says - I don't know anyone else on this earth that does this crap
Suzan says - Trust me - people do this - in fact a lot of people do this that live in little old houses
John says - WHY COULDN'T WE JUST PUT A SINGLE BED IN THERE FOR GOD'S SAKES?
Suzan says - Because a double fits in and I want to create a nook

Except -

Suzan says - Oh oh - there's no springs - we can't fold it in half because of all the wood slats
John says - Oh well - there goes that idea - we'll get a single bed - and he gets up to walk away
Suzan says - No way, Jose, we'll just cut the entire thing in half and then re-attach it upstairs - in place
John says - WHAT DO YOU MEAN  " WE'LL " JUST CUT IT IN HALF?
John says - I only see one of us with a saw in his hands
John says - I'm really at the end of my rope with all of your sick ideas
Suzan says - THEY'RE NOT SICK IDEAS !!!!!!!!!!
John yells - WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NOW?
Suzan says - taking all the fabric off to one side so you can remove those slats...............it'll be easier for you that way, trust me
John says - EASIER FOR ME????????????????????

They were just stapled in - so they were in fact quite easy to come off - here it is with all the horizontal slats removed

John says - THIS IS THE LAST TIME - DO YOU HEAR ME - I'M NOT DOING CRAP LIKE THIS ANYMORE
Suzan says - Aw c'mon - you just have to saw the 3 main piece of wood now and it's done

Here's how it looked when it was done

John says - I BASICALLY HAVE TO REBUILD THE BLOODY THING UPSTAIRS NOW
Suzan says - Could you please stop shouting?  You're giving me a headache
John says - YOU ARE A HEADACHE

It was incredibly light to carry upstairs LOL

We placed it on the bed frame and John reinforced where the 3 cuts were made

and then he nailed the slats back in ( I patched up where the fabric had been cut )
I only kept the fabric on the sides since the mattress is going to hide everything else..................everything else was cut up and thrown out

Obstacle no. 2 taken care of

A bed skirt would have been difficult - ( plus I didn't have one LOL ) so I cut up a drop cloth - folded it in half - and stapled it along the edge of the slats

Obstacle no. 3 - done !
And there you have it -
By hook or by crook - I've we've created a nook !!!

This tiny little space took me over a week - not the room - just the nook - so that's all you're going to see
( and by the way the entire room is basically double the size of this -

The " curtain " is a duvet cover I had on hand ( you can see that post HERE )
Did you notice that little window?
I put the matching pillow case on it - I can fold it to whatever size I need ( shorter in the day ) again I didn't cut the sham at all - just simply folded it - the top part of the window only shows roof lines and tree tops so I didn't think it was necessary to cover that part ( unless there's a chimney sweep in the area, it's perfectly safe)
 I also painted a frame around the window to give it a little more substance

It's not easy getting photos of this small area, let me tell you but I'm going to do my best to show you
" around " lol

I added a mirror to my wood plank " glam " frame - and installed 2 reading lamps on the wall -

A picture of the Eiffel Tower - and benches that I actually used to read on once upon a time !!!
( and fell asleep on one sunny beautiful afternoon )

The mirror is painted white and distressed ( a long long time ago )

And I guess that's kind of it .................almost ready

but not quite

John says - Why do you always work a$$ backwards?
Suzan says - I don't !!!
John says - You've decorated half the room - and you still have to paint the floor on the other side
Suzan says - It gives me hope when I can look up and see the other half done

He doesn't even realize I've only painted half the ceiling also LMHO

Oh and here's the seller's photo from MLS and how it looked when we visited the house

Later on in bed...................

Suzan says - Maybe our next place should be a loft
Suzan says - You're becoming quite the carpenter you know
John says - The next time I move it'll be in a pine box
John says - In fact - that may be the next project I work on.....................

Have a wonderful day everyone - and weekend for that matter.
I'm praying I'm finished this room by the end of it -
Please don't let it take another week

Much love,
Me ♥

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Stone Gable

Using a duvet as drape/curtains

Good morning everyone !

This last little guest room feels like it's taking longer then the entire kitchen to do !

But at least the beginnings of a bed nook is well on it's way.

Remember I showed you the duvet cover I was going to use in this room ?

What I didn't tell you was that it would be used as a " curtain " to create the " nook "
Since I didn't want to destroy the duvet in any way, I simply took the open end, folding it once and placed hook rings to hang from the rod.
It's important to use the open end of the duvet for the top for 2 reasons -
1)  It allows you to have a little substance on the top
2)  It allows for perfect " puddling " at the bottom

We hung a rod across the room using simple hardware you'd use to hang a pole in a closet
( I spray painted it of course lol )
I think it cost 2.00 or so - you can get metal ones but this one works fine since it's only holding a curtain

and the best part is that the duvet was in no way altered or damaged to create this !!!

Ok - we have to saw a box spring to get it up the stairs...................so I would imagine there's going to be conversations and a half going on here this weekend.
Yes - you actually heard me right.
Why stairs were ever built this narrow I have no idea - didn't they have box springs 100 years ago?
( it's not so much that they're narrow - it's that turn half way that stops us from getting it up there )

Have a Happy Hallowween and a wonderful weekend everyone -
Much love,
Me


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