What DO You Do With A Wee Tiny Room?

Most of the rooms at That Old House have had
their makeovers in the six years since we moved in.

But a couple of them are still in their as-found state.

Including this one:

My, my.  Ain't that purty?
Especially that dingy old strawberry wallpaper, the shade at a rakish angle,
and the college-dorm plastic drawers as a nightstand.  Stylin'.

The Cell, as Annie has dubbed it, is the first of three
similarly sized rooms on our second floor.
Each is about 12 feet long, and 7 feet wide.

The second of the 3 wee little rooms is our upstairs bathroom.
(Yes, I did go there ... wee room.  Bathroom.  I crack myself up.)

I don't take wide-angled shots of this room, because that would include the ... well ... the potty.
No one needs to see that.

The last of the wee little rooms is Howard's walk-in closet.
I do not have pictures of that.  Do you have closet pics?
I thought not....
 Someday, this third wee little room will be our master bath.

Since this house was built before indoor plumbing, these wee tiny rooms probably

were nurseries, or hired man rooms, or even box rooms, for storage.

Or, maybe, they were simply ... teensy bedrooms.

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The Cell is kind of out-of-sight, out-of mind.
It's at the top of the front stairs, to the right of the little landing, 
up the one step that you can see just at the right edge in this picture:

Since we almost always use the back stairs, which are past that tiny mid-hall step,

and not the front stairs, we really don't see this little room very often.

It's turned into a sort of modern day box room, and that's a shame.  It has potential.

I needed some inspiration.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this picture, below, online.

I loved it.  And it put me in mind of our own tiny wee room.

I saved it, but forgot to label it with its source.

I apologize.  I'm quite twitchy about stealing intellectual property,

whether that be words or pictures, recipes, whatever ... and I spent

a lot of time today trying to track down this picture.  No luck.

If you know where it is from, please let me know so I can credit it properly.

I thought it was from Better Homes and Gardens, but I cannot find it on their website.

However, there is Houzz.

And Houzz has thousands of pictures of, well, houses.  (Houzzes?)

Inside and out.

Including bedrooms.

Even wee tiny bedrooms.

So I have been cruising Houzz, looking for inspiration for our own wee tiny room.

You can click on any of the following pictures to go to their source, or to their Houzz location.

See anything you like?

This is a little white for my taste, and a tad claustrophobia-inducing.

I wonder... do you squinch in along the side,

or walk onto the bed by climbing over the footboard?

Farmhouse Bedroom by Quakertown Design-Build Firms Sullivan Building & Design Group

Traditional Bedroom

Farmhouse Bedroom by Chatham Architects & Building Designers JAMES DIXON ARCHITECT PC

Eclectic Bedroom by Other Metro Interior Designers & Decorators J+G Deisgn

I have thought often of doing The Cell in toile -- walls and
ceiling -- but as we'll probably be selling That Old House
when Howard retires, I'm not sure that's a wise choice.
But wouldn't it look grand?  It would be like sleeping in a lovely hat box!

Traditional Bedroom by Chicago Interior Designers & Decorators Branca, Inc.

A daybed is very tempting.
But I hate to change the linens on them .... so awkward.

Traditional Bedroom by Covington Design-Build Firms Highland Homes, Inc.

Admitted -- this one caught my eye because of the
dress form; it's very much like Anne's old dress form.
But of course, that one lives with her in D.C. now.

Eclectic Bedroom by Brooklyn Media & Bloggers Lauren Gries

If I were a little girl, I'd so want this!

Traditional Bedroom by New York Interior Designers & Decorators Adrienne Neff Design Services LLC

Dark walls.  I like it.

Eclectic Bedroom by Toronto Home Stagers GHStyleworks

This English room, at 2 meters by 4 meters, is just about
the same size as The Cell.  A little smaller, actually.
Nice end wall treatment.

Contemporary Bedroom by South East Interior Designers & Decorators Furnished by Anna

I'd love to visit this room, below, but not have to clean it.

Some rooms are meant for admiring.

But ... I do love, love, love that bed.

That's a bed I can see in The Cell.  Sometimes bold is it.

Eclectic Bedroom by Dallas Artists & Artisans Grace Designs Dallas

First step: The Walls and Ceiling.

This explains why we have not done this room, and the one next

to it, yet.  Wallpaper stripping.  Worse than root canal.

And we'll keep the eventual sale of this house in mind, as we make our choices.  Because in 5 years or so, Howard will retire, and we'll decide that New Jersey is just too expensive, or too cold, or too far away from one or the other of our children ... and we'll move.

I'd like to go to some enchanted little place like this;

it looks made for grandchildren.

Traditional Exterior by Portland Architects & Building Designers Alan Mascord Design Associates Inc

And convince all the neighborhood kids that I'm a witch.  :-)

Is it cold where you live?  It's in the 20s F here.  Crazy.

Just a week ago we were still growing tomatoes.  Nuts.

Link Parties!

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Well, Yes, It Does Look Like A Girl Scout Project

I described my plan to my daughter Anne.
"I don't know, Mom," she said.
"Sounds like a Girl Scout project to me."

Well, perhaps.

But in my defense, the girls in my Girl Scout Troop got to do

a lot of neat projects.  They'd have liked this one.

Pssst. . .  Crazy Lady is at it again.

This project started because I have about 9 clear glass cylinder vases left from

our daughter's wedding last June, and I'd like to play with paint and do something with them,

But I wanted to experiment first with other, smaller, more plentiful wedding leftovers.

Enter these frosted glass candleholders, also from the wedding.

I had 84 of them.  2 broke.

You do the math.

 Using these humble tools -- craft paint, a toothbrush, a paint brush,

and a Dollar Tree paper plate -- I decided to play with some of the holders.

Those little black things on the paper plate were not left by the mouse; they are wick trimmings.

 A little paint on the plate, a mostly-dry paint brush,

and a whiz around each candleholder with the Copper color.

I tried to get an action shot of my actually doing some of the painting, but I'd have needed at least one extra hand.

 I used Silver on one of them.  I like the Copper better.

 Below, Copper on the left.  Silver on the right.

Dry brush strokes of paint on the outsides of the frosted glass.

 I had a practice piece that I painted inside and partially outside with an old toothbrush, using both colors.

Now Howard knows what I was doing this morning during our 2nd cup of coffee.

 Yes, this does look a little bit as if it has leprosy.  It's not a keeper.

 Finis.

Three frosted candleholders, brushed

with metallic copper paint, and with lit votives inside.

 How they'd look at night, even though it is day now.  But cloudy.  The rain just stopped.

 I am not sure where the mouse went.

He is such a critic.

Anyway, these didn't turn out quite as I had

envisioned them; they ain't great beauties.
But still, I'd like to make a few in blues and turquoises for the

beach house.  Time for more paint. 

 Meanwhile, if you are interested in a frosted white glass candleholder,

or a dozen frosted white glass candleholders, let me know!

Tomorrow, Friday, be prepared to get a gander at these beauties:

Squash cleavage.  -- Cass

Link Parties

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I'm Paintin' In The Rain, Just Paintin' In The Rain . . . .

On Friday, Anne and I loaded Dion DiPoochy
into the car and set out for the eastern end of
Long Island, where our family has a beach house.

Howard took the Hampton Jitney from mid-town Manhattan
on Friday night and joined us.  It was so good to be out there.
I had not been out since the end of May.

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On Saturday, we did some antiquing and yard-saling.

No finds!
But I did pick up a few things at the Riverhead Home Depot; I had painting on my mind.

On Sunday, it rained.  Buckets.

Dang.  Spray painting and high wind and rain aren't natural partners.

We spent Sunday morning inside the house with coffee and toasted bagel thins and books.
In the afternoon, Anne worked on pieces for her Etsy shop.

Howard did some of this, which is a time-honored beach house activity,

while I turned my head lights on that green chair in the picture above, and its three siblings.

I have been itching to spray paint them white.

But even I am not chuckle-headed enough to spray paint in pouring rain and wind.
I took a video of the rain from inside the house.

I turned my head lights on other things needing painting.

Small things.

Last spring, the oak master bathroom vanity was painted in Benjamin Moore's China White.
I didn't want to put the old oak and antique brass hardware back on; I envisioned lovely shiny nickel or chrome pulls.

But this weekend I noticed that the hinges on the doors are darkened brass, and look bronze.
Maybe shiny chrome wasn't the right choice after all.

Hmmm . . . what if I took the old hardware and spray painted it in Oil Rubbed Bronze?
I could do that in the utility room, despite the rain.

I set up a paint box, with a very old quilt for any overspray, all on top of the dryer in the utility room.

And Presto-Change-o!  Done.

Well, not quite.  It was so wickedly humid on Sunday that they stayed too tacky to re-coat.
That's a project for the next visit, and then we'll put them here:

And they'll look smashing.  Or, at least, they will work and they were free.  We loves free.

That was my neat and tidy painting project on Sunday.
When the rain let up and the sun poked through,
I decided to tackle the chairs.
*******************************************
Some decisions are wiser than others.

I put a big piece of cardboard down on the (wet) grass, and upended one of the chairs.
Sprayed the bottom, sort of.  See, the rain had stopped . . . but the wind had not.

I flipped the chair upright and continued spraying, until I heard my husband calling from the garage,
"Are you nuts?  You are in the middle of a cloud of paint!"
And so I was.
Which may have explained the coughing.

Well, I tried.  I put the partially-painted chair --which did dry in the sun and wind -- back at the table.
Check out those sexy shabby chic legs.  Hey, it's hard to spray paint legs in the wind.

Just a sketchy first coat, but how do you like it in white?

I like it.  Anne's not sure.  I don't think Howard cares much one way or the other,
as long as the chair still works for sitting on, at meals.  This is a good thing in a husband.

Okay, chairs.  You have two weeks left before your worst nightmare
shows up again, armed with several more cans of spray paint.  You have been warned.

It's good to be back home.  

That Old House is tactfully pointing out all the painting projects

waiting here for a nice dry sunny day.  She's such a nag.

But she does have a point, and it is indeed a nice sunny day! -- Cass

Linky Parties!

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Furniture, Paint, Whitewash and Scotch

Paint.
There has been a lot of paint in my life this spring.

The entire beach house on Long Island was painted -- every room -- over 8 days.

I know, I was there and watched.

In New Jersey, That Old House was given a new wardrobe of white paint.

I know, I was there and watched.  

Time for me to pick up a paint brush myself

and put my own lazybones hands to work.

My sister Peggy and I need to haul our bottoms (and the rest of our selves) out to the beach house

and get to work on painting furniture out there.  She sent me a link to a company that sells

cottage and beach house furniture.  Oddly enough, it's called Cottage and Bungalow

 and it sells a coffee table called the Destin:

It's nice and roomy, beachy, would be great in our second floor great room.

It costs more than $2000.  Too many greenbacks for our beachy budget.

But in our upstairs family room out there, we have the coffee table you can see in the left in this picture:

Peg and I think that with a bit of paint, a little distressing and a slick of glaze,
we can give this old pine coffee table and its end table siblings a similar look to the

 Destin, and still afford to buy meat and the occasional small jar of Macadamia nuts.

Besides, that old coffee table holds lots of memories; it was in the family room of the house we grew up in.

Cottage and Bungalow also sells simple contemporary Windsor-style chairs:

Again, they are beyond our budget.

But painting these chairs, below - 1990s dinette chairs - currently in forest green and yellow stained wood, isn't.

Beyond the budget, I mean. If we don't go for Heirloom White, what do you think of turquoise?
I've got my crazy color flag flying this year.
Have you seen the new color on the front door at That Old House?
Wear your sunglasses.

There are quite a few older pieces of furniture out in the Southold beach house that will benefit

from a facelift of paint. If by quite a few, we mean a poop load.
I would love to use  Annie Sloan chalk paint for some of them,

as from what I've seen on the web that paint would give some of our pieces just exactly

that vintage bungalow-cottage-beach look we're going for.

But with our limited budget for the beach house makeover, and so many things that must

be purchased, chalk paint is probably not in the cards.  Have you used it?
I hear it does go a long, long way . . . .

*****************************************************************

Home here in New Jersey, there's more furniture painting to be done.

I've got a couple of demilune tables parked in the dining room,

waiting (for months) for their transformations.  I planned to paint this one black:

 and this one creamy heirloom white:

But now, after seeing this table, below, in lotsa color incarnations, on the Oomph website,

I am having second thoughts.  I'm telling you , crazy colors are calling my name.

This table is called the Palm Beach Console and it costs more than $1500.

You should check out Oomph's website for the fabulous, luscious colors they use.

Last time I checked, they were using the Sherwin Williams' palette.  Nice.

 Also here at home, there is a kick line of outdoor furniture waiting to be painted

and put back on the newly painted porch.  Luckily I've got a big bag of
spray paint, and I know how to use it.

 I've also got a shed packed full of cute little tables, waiting for their glam makeover.

I can't resist bargains in little old tables and orphaned chairs.
Get thee behind me, Craigslist!
 

I know so many of you have painted loads of furniture

in shades of white, and in black.

But have you gotten into using brilliant colors for accent pieces?

My Mom went the eye-popping color route decades ago, which is why I sit in a chrome yellow oak chair

that once belonged to the New York City Board of Education.

Only way back then, it wasn't yellow.

I'm not sure what kind of paint my mother used, but it's held up to countless bottoms for 40 years.

As for the beautiful pieces of furniture in this post that are for sale online, I'm not saying they

are not worth their cost.  They are lovely pieces, well made.  They aren't right for me because I can't afford them.

But I've linked to the websites so you can take a look and be inspired.

 *******************************************************************

When we do get back out to the beach house, 

and can sit on the upstairs deck as the day begins to wind down,

the drink that may very well be in our glasses is The Muttini.

It was my Mom's signature fun cocktail, and it couldn't be easier.

My niece Alice blogged about it yesterday, so if you want

to read about its history in the family, you can check it out here.

I'm just going to give you the basic recipe.

Ladies and gents, The Muttini!

1 can frozen lemonade (pink looks nicest)

1 can of water

1 can of Scotch whiskey

A few ice cubes

Optional: a maraschino cherry, 1/4 slice of orange

Put the frozen lemonade in a blender.  Using the same can, fill it with water and dump in.

Then refill the can with your best not-so-expensive Scotch, and in it goes.

You don't want to pour the Glenfiddich or the Lagavulin into this, at least not if your husband is in the kitchen.

If you have a severe aversion to Scotch, you can use rye or bourbon,

but it will be sweeter, cloying, and not as delicious.  Otherwise, it will be fine.

Toss in a few ice cubes for slushy bulk, and fire up the Waring.

When it's all lovely and slushy and icy pink, pour into glasses.

Highball glasses work well, or you can use stemmed glassware.

Plop in a cherry, and add a quarter of an orange slice on the side for pizzazz.

No little umbrellas needed.

Pass 'em around on a beautiful tray, don't forget one for yourself, and listen to the compliments.

I've been trying to figure out how to go low carb with this using Crystal Light . . . .

*********************************************************************

One more thing I need to do, and soon --

make a new header for That Old House.

She isn't yellow anymore.

 Maybe I should wait till we have new shutters for all the nekkid windows.

 But that could be awhile!  Have a lovely Friday -- Cass

Link Parties!  Friday is a-popping with them.

At Designs By Gollum, it is Foodie Friday.  For today, my food is Scotch.  Click here!

It's Feathered Nest Friday at the French Country Cottage.  Click here!

Miss Mustard Seed is gathering Furniture Friday posts.  Click here!

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