Everything's Coming Up Roses!

Three things were tossed up onto our
front porch by delivery guys on Monday.

 I brought them into the house.

Left to right . . . a roll of toile wallpaper to finish off the back stairs.

Black and white, it matches the kitchen wallpaper; that's the back stairs on the left,

with a basket of (thankfully) clean laundry on the landing.

It's wallpaper doesn't (yet) go all the way up to the second floor.

Yes, this picture is from November '10, shortly after we finished the kitchen.  Stair wallpaper still not done!

Next, another roll of wallpaper, this one thick paste-the-wall beadboard,

destined for the kitchen at the beach house on Long Island. 

We used it last spring on the kitchen backsplash at That Old House.

Here, that work in progress:

Graham & Brown beadboard wallpaper.  It is great.

And ... on the right, in an amazingly compact package, wrapped in white plastic, is an 8 x 10 rug.

No, really.  It is.  Daughter Annie unwrapping it:

And unfolding it . . .

We don't have a rug pad for it yet, so Anne and I just spread it over the sea grass rug beneath --

 just to see what it will look like:

Anne:  "Mom, this is a bedroom rug."

Me:   "Yes, it is, but won't it look great in here for the summer?

In the Fall it can migrate north to the pink guest room."

Anne:  "It would look better in the yellow guest room."

Me:  "Yes, it would, but I think it might go wall to wall in that room . . . ."

 Bottom line:  the new pink and cream rose needlepoint rug will summer in the Parlor,

and that is A Good Thing, because it means I don't have to hurry to reupholster

those two lolling chairs we got at the consignment shop in Williamsburg last month.

Below, the chairs are on the right, in pinks and greens and blues.  It works for the season.

See the table leaf blocking the doorway?  That is our Dion-blocker; that little bit of wood keeps him out of our parlor, and keeps his doggy hair off the black wing chairs by the fireplace.  In 3 years, he still has not figured out he can step over the barrier!

  I love needlepoint rugs.
 This one was an auction on eBay.  It is new, and I think I was the only bidder;

I got it for what is a song for an 8 x 10 wool needlepoint rug.  Really.  I still can't believe it.

 Now I need some needlepoint rose pillows, don't I?

Loads and loads of flowers for the summer!

 

 I'll banish the few remaining bits of red from the winter decor in the Parlor,

pile on the whites and creams and greens and pinks,

and we'll have a lightened-up living room for the warmer months.

It will be nice to get a rug pad, and get rid of the wrinkles!

I've been searching for a slightly vintage Persian rug for this room, one with mellow colors but not too much wear.  I found some lovely ones, but they cost 10 times what this needlepoint rug cost us, and that's not going to happen anytime soon!  Or, ever.  I'll need to score that elusive eBay auction buy again.

And guess what I found on Sunday?  I pulled out my big red purse, and there in the bottom was my missing point-and-shoot camera, missing no more.  I've been using Howard's big heavy scary Nikon since February; I am delighted to have my little Canon back again.

I'm sharing this post with Tam at The Gypsy's Corner for Three Or More Thursday.  Click here!
And also at Sugar Bee Blog, for Take-A-Look Tuesday.  Click here!
 And enjoy.  -- Cass