Helen's Room

My best friend, Helen and her husband along with my other two very good friends, Maryke and Sandy plus husbands (collectively known as The Blue Hats) are coming for the weekend. There's nothing like a deadline like house guests to make you finish those projects which have been cluttering up the workroom. Case in point, this table which I bought at a thrift shop back in April:

It was a great find for $15 and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! It had the right size and shape to sit beside the bed in Helen's room. Its' not actually Helen's room, it's the guest room. But she deemed it to be hers the very first time she visited. My daughter calls it her room. My mother called it her room when she was down at Mother's Day. But really it's Helen's. Sorry Lisa.

please ignore the ugly 90's lamp - it's going soon or at least changing a bit

I already had the bed which I found at Deer Ridge Farms made entirely from reclaimed wood and finished with a chalky white paint. It's covered in a matellase quilt and an embroidered pillow I found at HomeSense for a song. But I needed something substantial to bring it together. Enter my thrift shop find newly painted and distressed with my homemade chalk paint - the instructions are here.

The top is covered with a piece of glass - I guess originally to protect the wood. But I wanted to something a bit more interesting. So in steps the Graphics Fairy with one of her terrific images. This time I chose an open design and transferred it onto some muslin.

sorry for the glare - there was light coming in from everywhere

Don't you love the beautiful handwriting and postal stamps on this? I saw this image a few months ago and have been dying to use it. I think I found the right place for it - it doesn't compete with the piece but gives it an added design element.

On the other wall there is a dresser which we found at the local antiques mall - the place I'm thinking of opening my painted furniture business. After all, I've got to do something with all these pieces I'm finding. I haven't done anything to the dresser - it came "pre-chipped" so why change what works.

oops, another ugly lamp alert - okay maybe just the shade is wrong

I'll probably change up the handles or even paint them. Above the dresser we hung this leaded glass window, another treasure from Bill at Deer Ridge Farms. Some gardening books, a treasured shell from PEI, a Moroccan oil lamp from a trip there in 2006 and a photo of my grandmother dress the top.

All I need to do in here is hang some curtains, strip the wallpaper (it's peeling in spots I won't show you) and find a small rug for beside the bed. But for now, it's almost ready for Helen and her hubby to stay. I just need to add some fresh towels and a vase of flowers from the garden on the bedside table.


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