A Beautiful Spring Morning Time For Tea

It is a beautiful spring morning, time for tea  here in Charlotte.  It has been rainy and overcast a lot in the last couple of days so the sunshine is very welcome. My hellebores are blooming profusely so I picked a bunch to bring inside.  I've discovered that if you don't cut the stems short they will start to droop very quickly.

 As I was cutting them I thought that it  was mild enough outside to have tea on the deck: first tea outside this spring!

 A cup for me and one for you too  in case you have time to stop awhile.

                             Got oatmeal raisin cookies for us too ( store bought but still pretty tasty!)

You'll need a warm sweater or fleece, but it feels so good to be outside in the sunshine enjoying the sound of the birds and smelling the fresh spring air.

Thanks for stopping by.  I enjoyed our visit.

 Rhondi

Denim Slipcovers

Hi.  How have you been?  Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. I have been very busy but I did manage to squeeze in a little time for a project: denim slipcovers chair for my guy’s chair.

My sweet husband John is my guy.  His favorite chair was so worn looking and had been bugging me for quite awhile.  I have been looking  on Craigs’ list for a leather one, but didn’t find any cheap enough to suit me, so I decided to collect some old jeans and make a slipcover that would be washable.

 It's not quite finished.  You may be able to see the raw edge of the seam at the bottom.   Usually I like to put piping on my slipcovers because I think it makes them look so professional, but with this denim the casual look of no piping seemed more suitable.

Something serendipitous happened while I was sewing.  On the side I used a piece with the pocket on it .  It just happened to be at the perfect spot to put the remotes!!  I couldn't have planned it better if I'd tried.

I covered the ottoman also, but now I'm not sure what to do.  I sewed a skirt on the ottoman and was going to put a skirt on the chair too.

                                       
 Now I'm not sure which I like better, with or without a skirt.

I would love your opinion...with or without a skirt?

With rose colored glasses,

Rhondi

A Room Of My Own Inspired By Where Women Create

Sometimes I think of Monday mornings as a “do over”  I get to start a new week and maybe get some of the things done  I intended to get done last week, or the week before that or the week before that!  My project is to make a creative space for me, a room of my own, inspired by Where Women Create, a place  where when I have to stop my creative work I can just shut the door on the mess.   When I return to it I can pick up right where I left off.

If you’ve known me for awhile you may remember when I had my sewing studio in our beautiful sunroom.   It is tidy in this photo, but the problem was that I couldn’t close the door on the mess.  I’m not a neat freak or anything like that, but I hated being able to see the mess ALL THE TIME!   It was visible from the kitchen, and the TV room and was immediately inside the back door so every time I came  home there was my messy creative space staring me in the face.  Also if you always have to clean up  before you are finished your project and then get all the supplies out again when you are ready to continue, it really stifles creativity.

 So, here is my project: our old guest room, which I plan to turn into a room of my own inspired by Where Women Create. It has been a guest room with a less than comfortable bed in it. It gets used maybe twice a year, and the rest of the year I use it for sewing.

 The bed took up most of the room and was always in the way. My sewing machine was kind of crowded in one corner. We removed the bed but now it’s a catchall for all my projects and doesn’t function well at all.

Every woman needs a room of her own where she can shut the door to the outside world, a quiet place to think, to rest, to dream, to create.

That is my goal: to turn this guest bedroom into a room where I can do that.

 I have this ugly grey chair that I use when I am sewing.  The first thing I will do is cover it in something pretty.

I have this white feather Christmas tree which I’d like to use all year round instead of just Christmas, so I thought it might be fun to use it in here.

My husband put up a shelf for me which is above the window so I have a place to put pretty non functional things that I like to look at but don’t want to have them take up valuable work space.

I’ve always admired many of the workspaces I see in the magazine Where Women Create.  My space might never be magazine worthy but I am going to make it a room of my own  Where (this) Woman (can) Create.  Hopefully by telling you I am doing this it might get me more motivated and keep me accountable to get it done and soon I will be able to show you a finished creative space.

                                                                            Rhondi xo

Annie Sloan Paint

Hello dear friends. I think of you as my friends even though I don't know most of you!

One of the things I love to do is find new shops that have interesting old and new items.  Recently I was on my way to an appointment and I saw  a little shop called Cottage Treasures.  There was no time to shop just then so I told myself I'd  come back when I had the chance, which was yesterday.  It is a charming  little store  on Independence Blvd on the outskirts of Charlotte.  If you go there introduce yourself to Susie, the owner and tell her I sent you!  I wish I'd thought to  take some pictures of it.   Anyhow I found this cute table.  The wood was in pretty bad condition but I loved the shape of it and with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint it doesn't really matter the condition because it covers everything.

 The color I used is Louis Blue and here is the finished table.  I haven't decided if I am going to distress it or just leave it as it is and wax the top. In the meantime, I am using it in the living room.  This wing chair needed a small table beside it and this is just the perfect size. And there is a place to store books which I like.

 When I get a paintbrush in my hand, watch  out.  Nothing is safe. Not sure where this came from but it was sitting in the basement just waiting  to be painted.

It just needed some dusting off and a coat of Louis Blue and it was ready to be used somewhere.  As is my usual routine, I carried it around the house looking for a suitable place to put it and decided to lean it against the wall in the corner of our living room  (for now at least).  I had these 3 white plates which were not being used so I hung them on it and I think they look nice against the blue background.  If I finally get around to making some curtains I will need to move it.   We've been in this house for 8 years without curtains, so it may stay there for a long time :)

In the middle of the night we heard a crash and I thought for sure one of these plates had fallen, but in the morning they were all still here.  Turns out one of my plates on the wall in the kitchen fell down.  Fortunately I had  2 of them so I still have one.

So that was my little weekend outing and project. I found another neat shop but I'll share that with you another day.  Did you do anything fun this weekend?

With rose colored glasses,

Rhondi