The World's Ugliest Ottoman Transformed!

You get an extra post this week. Isn't that exciting? LOL Anyway, Happy Valentines Day to everyone and hope your sweetheart makes you as happy as mine makes me.
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This is the world's ugliest ottoman and I am almost ashamed to admit I bought it in 1973. Yes, I did! But the upside to this is that as ugly as it is, it's been used every single day since we bought it and hasn't lost its foamy-ness (just try to figure out how to spell that since there isn't a word) or its usefulness or its cushiness. It was well worth the price. The chair it came with is long gone. I just couldn't stand it anymore. Gone to chair heaven with all the other hideous stuff I've bought over the years. Remember, when hubs was a Marine, we took hand-me-downs and whatever we found cheap at garage sales. This was the sixties so you can imagine what we had. This ottoman and its matching chair I actually picked out myself new. Bleecchhhh!! Must have been cheap because I wouldn't even consider it today. That's why I gave it a new cover. This is what I made for it a couple of years ago. It's in the forefront here.

Here it is uncovered, ready for a new fresh cover.

I used a $20 drop cloth from Home Depot and had some left. Now, here's the story.

I used the old cover as a pattern so that worked out well. But when I put the skirt on the two seams were inside out. Now, I did this over a couple of weeks to not get frustrated and hurried and make mistakes. Sigh. Mistakes happened anyway. I ruffled the skirt and them sewed it to the border around the middle with the seam showing on the outside. Hubs told me to just take it apart at the two seams and turn them. I started doing it for then I realized I not only sewed a straight seam but I also sewed a overcast seam and that wouldn't come out as easily. So I thought I'd be creative, leave the seam inside out and add a feather stitch up the seam. Turned out fine. I simply didn't want to take it completely off and turn it around after sewing it on and overcasting all the edges.

This is the top with a ruffle of rose and cream stripe. I still need to iron the whole thing and hem it. But it's pretty much what I wanted to do.

Here is the seam if you look closely. Just a cute embellishment, I must say and there are only 2 seams so that's a bit of luck.

A fence with a plethora of roses on it.

I thought this wintry snow-covered road was beautiful.

Look at those darling little crocheted shoes for a little baby. And those little legs? Adorable!

Just a beautiful look at fall foliage.

Another look at a European village and the beautiful homes and walkways.

A lovely study in blue.

Just can't get enough of these thatched cottages and will display them as long as I can. They are so serene-looking.

And I love looking at dining chairs now that I am on another quest to find 2 more chairs for my dining room.

I love this setting but I think it's more than one tablecloth. I could do this and think I shall when I get some time. First come the dining room table and 2 French chairs, painting them with some chalk paint. This may take a while though. I'll be looking for some old cotton sheets for making the 2 cloths.

I thought this was one of the cheeriest 2 rooms I've ever seen. Just so bright and cute.

This has also given me an idea. I have a chandelier just like this over my dining table but done in pink. But I am going to add some little roses to the lower arms like this. Truly, I can't get enough roses! :-)

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Tidbit:
Worldwide, Norwegians drink the most coffee and have the highest rate of anxiety disorders.
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Linking up with Inspire Me Monday.

A Story About Cotton Sheets

First of all, yeah, yeah, I know, another "first of all" but I think you'll like this one.

I have had so many bloggers email me and ask about my photos. Now, I am NOT going to give my sources; you'll have to figure out your own sources. But I will tell you that I'm in the process of loading a lot of them to a website for you to view. I have well over 14,000 of them so far. I only post about 15 on each blog post. I truly want to share with you and you can grab any you want. I don't care one bit. I am truly, truly excited to share with you but it will take me a long time. So I'm dedicating the time in putting them somewhere that you can view them without all my talking; although, many of you like the stories as much as the photos. I'll let you know when I have a good amount uploaded to the site. I can do that a lot faster than a blog post. But trust me, it's going to take a while to do them. Just keep reading and I'll tell you when.


Oh, and another thing. I just had surgery on my left hand last week and am having to curtail my keyboarding for a bit till it heals, but I'm scheduled out for several weeks so not to worry.
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I love cotton sheets. My daughter even bought some 600-count cotton sheets for one of her guest rooms for when we visit her. They are worth the money. I will only buy cotton for my bed. My feet especially can tell the difference. They are the best and, therein, lies a story.

I told this to a "thrifty" friend of mine about 12 years ago. Thrifty meaning cheap. ;-) Loved that woman but she was cheap. She would always, and I mean always, buy the cheapest brand, something I wasn't used to. I mean it's not my deciding factor with a lot of things, especially sheets. She had purchased 50%  cotton/50% polyester sheets all her life.

Anyway, she heeded my advice and finally got some 100% cotton sheets. She put them on her bed and when it came time to wash them, she did. She called me and said, "How do I get the wrinkles out?" Well, for me, wrinkles weren't a problem. I said she could iron them or just put them on the bed. I could tell over the telephone she was disgusted, having never thought of wrinkling. I just take mine out of the dryer, fold them as carefully as possible and put them in the linen closet. (And, yes, I used to iron them, but gave that up about 10 years ago.) I think she threw them in the garbage! I would have bought them from her. What a waste. But I love the cottony feel of them on my body and, yes, I can tell the difference in the 100% and the 50/50. To me, it's a no brainer! She moved away right after we moved to this town. I doubt she's ever forgiven me.
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This was one of my favorite rooms during the 90s. I don't know why as I'm not a person partial to brown or beige but the yellow walls just entranced me. Plus the black of the coffee table was beautiful. Just a very elegant room.

I've stated before how I love this kind of shower, one that doesn't need a door or a curtain. I love the whole design of this bathroom.

This is a house owned by Sister Parrish, one of the foremost designers of the last century. (For those of you younger people, that's the 1900s, not the 2000s!) I loved her casualness of an elegant room. Absolutely divine! She gave me so many ideas my head just swam.

Even back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s people wanted an elegant/rustic getaway.

When I saw this photo in a magazine I wanted immediately to have a spot in a room like this.

Plus, even back then, women wanted an elegant outdoor room to entertain.

It was even back then I recognized the beauty of leather pieces in a room.

Pink was "in" by several innovative women. I could see the future of that color back then.

This was one my one all-time favorite rooms also. I loved the pink, red and yellow together. It would be years before I caught the "vision" though. ;-)

Here again, the vivid reds and yellows brought into a room by the innovative use of a collection of magazines. All in all, a lovely, festive and cutesy room.

Coming upon the Christmas season, I thought I'd show you just a few photos from a Christmas room in the 90s.

How about that lighthouse? Is that cute or what?!

Lucky is the person who can have a room dedicated to the colors of the holiday season all year round. Same room as above.

I've always adored this tiny cottage kitchen area.

With this photo I caught the "animal skin" craze. I started making pillows with leopard print fabrics. Remember that? Sigh...

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Keep calm and glitter, glow or sparkle! ;-)

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
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Linking up with WOW. 

Caramel Apples and Fake Nails

Hubs and I went to the store the other day and on a whim I bought some caramel dip. I was amazed how many apples I ate that day! Do you know how many apples it takes to consume the entire container of caramel dip? So far I've eaten 4 apples and still have some left. Maybe 5 or 6 apples? Hmmmm.
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Getting my hair cut recently, I noticed a couple of women coming in for fake nails. There is no way possible those women do work of any kind! I have to file my nails at least once a week to be able to type/keyboard on this computer. Those women had them about 1-1/2 long. And that reminded me of an incident 30 years ago.

Back in the early 1980s, I had them put on for a USMC ball in November of that year. They looked gorgeous. But that night as I was trying to get my contacts out of my eyes I couldn't get my fingers into my eyes. I was in tears wondering how to get them out so I could get to bed that night. (I don't wear contacts anymore at all.) Hubs was absolutely no help because he's got men's fingers and they were too big. (He has gorgeous long beautiful fingers though.) So I had to cut them off that night. I only had them on one day. At the time it was $25 or $30 and that was a lot in 1980 dollars. Then, if  you try to pick your nose, you almost rip your eyeballs out! Never again. These hands work, chick, WORK!
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I thought this was a lovely house set out on a bit of acreage you might enjoy seeing. I love the blue metal roof. I wanted one several years ago, but since our roof required over 4,000 s.f., the cost was prohibitive. We settled for shingles.

You will forever see roses on this blog. Forever!!!!

Another sweet respite on a porch.

This is what I've been doing a lot of lately—using pins on making ribbon roses and a ruffled tablecloth.

A very simple, yet lovely, vignette. Why don't you try it?

A lovely picnic or they could be camping. (Shudderrrrr!)

Lovely linens and bottles in purple and lavender.

Now, it looks like the curtains are billowing in a breeze but, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how such a window could be opened. But what a view to wake up to each morning.

I just loved the illumination on this photo from the lights in the house, on the porch and fire in the pit.

Talk about quaint, vintage and rustic, this is it.

A cute radio and a space by the ocean.

Love this tiny space for a crafter.

Darling coin purse. Looks like a crafter made it.

A street in Europe somewhere. Can't see the writing on the canopy well enough to tell if it's in France or Italy though.

And I leave you today with this absolutely stunning roses cake. ;-)

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