Taking time to turn the pages

Okay I admit it - here we are a week before St. Patrick's Day and I've just now gotten 'round to decorating Grandma's table. That's because I absolutely fell in love with the Valentines version, and I didn't want to put away the little tic-tac-toe set! 
But I finally decided to change it up, and here is the new arrangement:  

The book is a little over-whelming, perhaps, but it completely deserves center stage because it's absolutely stunning. More on that in a moment. 

I don't have (and didn't want) a lot of the traditional St. Paddy's decorations... I'll be honest, Leprechauns kind of give me the creeps ;)  Shamrocks are pretty but I felt like a vintage version would be better suited for the look I wanted. So I decided to just go for a green-and-white theme. 

Here is the little grouping just behind the book to the upper left in the picture: 

I've used my two green fluted vases found on a recent thrifting adventure, along with some Dollar Store silk carnations: 

And a tiny print courtesy of The Graphics Fairy in a diminutive silver-toned frame: 

Under the whole setting is this pretty white crocheted table runner - yes, I kept the romantic pink tablecloth (I couldn't bear to put it away!) but decided to try to mask it for my green-and-white tribute to the Emerald Isle. The pretty hanky also picks up the green-and-white theme, while lending a touch of pink. 

Around the other side of the table, we have the omni-present Mr. Duck...

In front of another pretty print from The Graphics Fairy. I thought this Irish girl was lovely! 

The book I'm using for this display is a real treasure - I picked it up in the bargain section at Barnes & Noble recently: Castles of Britain and Ireland, by Rodney Castleden (no pun intended, I'm sure!). 

It's hard to get a good shot of an open page because of the lighting, but it features beautiful photography and a bit of informational text about the centuries-old castles of England, Scotland, Wales, & Ireland. This spread shows Cashel Castle, a.k.a. The Rock of Cashel or The Rock of St. Patrick. 

The book is a little more in proportion to the table when it's closed, but having it open encourages one to flip through the pages - which I otherwise might forget to do! 

I'll be linking this happy little table to Marty's Tabletop Tuesday party over at A Stroll Thru Life! 

More soon, 

Cleaning an antique wool hooked rug: don't try this at home

I'm almost afraid to admit this, but I decided to toss my possibly antique wool hooked rug into the washer and dryer in hopes of restoring it to some sort of less-than-disgusting condition. 
It worked... for me. But consider yourself warned: DON'T try this on your cherished heirloom rug and then try to sue me when it falls apart in the washer. The ONLY reason I tried this on my rug was that it was specifically NOT a family heirloom. It was a good thrifty vintage find, the right colors for the right price... but it has always been really, really dirty, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely thrilled with having it in the house. 
Here it is the day I brought it home... it's about 3 feet by 4 feet in size. 

This "before" picture hopefully shows you how faded, dirty and matted-down the fibers were. 

I first tried to clean this rug last year by laying it out in the yard and blasting it with the garden hose. ("Sheep get wet, and they don't shrink," I reasoned.) It took for-ever to dry, and even then I felt like it wasn't clean. Plus it had grass clippings on it. So I put it in the dryer, and it came out nice and soft, but not as "revitalized" as I had hoped from a cleanliness standpoint. 
This time around, I decided to go all in. I set the washer on cold water, put the rug in by itself with a dash of liquid soap, and let 'er rip. When I opened the washer, quite honestly I was sorry I'd done it: there were globs of loose, wet, matted wool all over the drum, and I was sure I had ruined the rug. I peeled all the loosened wool off the rug (and cleaned out the washer). To my surprise, after doing that, it really looked like the only actual damage was to a small section of the binding. So I went ahead and put it in the dryer. 
An hour later when I pulled it out of the dryer, I was pleasantly surprised. 

Yes, I ruined a bit of the binding. I believe this would not have happened if I'd thought to set the washer on the gentle cycle. These two photos show the same section of binding, top and bottom. 

But, the rug itself was soft, and clean, and smelled like a dryer sheet. The colors really are beautiful, and the loops are no longer matted. This rug is welcome back in the Mom cave, even with the battle-scarred binding.  

Again, please remember: for me this worked because I had just $20 and zero emotion invested in my rug. And I got lucky, because the "sheep don't shrink" theory holds somewhat true. 
However, the "sheep come apart in the washing machine" theory is also somewhat true. And I would hate for that to happen to your family treasure. 
More soon, 

Printer cozy part 2, and a freebie

I noted on Twitter this past week that things change quickly - sometimes daily! - in the ol' Mom cave. I recently showed a picture of the cute little cozy I made for our scanner/printer, using a finished standard pillow sham. I sewed up the corners and made a nicely-fitting box cover. 

Well, "the rest of the story" is that this is only one of two printers that we owned, and both of them were out of ink. Needless to say, we finally came to the point where we HAD to print something, and also needless to say, we discovered it was cheaper to buy one new all-in-one unit than to replace the ink in both of them. 

So - short version: we got a new all-in-one printer, but it's more square than rectangular and now my cute little cozy doesn't fit properly! 

Now it's not all bad news... the good news is that we can print, remotely, with the cozy on. We only have to remove it if we want to use the document feed on top for multiple pages, or the scanner. So while the cozy doesn't fit as well as it did on the other one, this unit is functional while still "sort of" covered with shabby roses! 
The other bit of serendipity here is that by getting rid of two pieces of equipment, I freed up the top of this very pretty antique table for a display or vignette of some sort. 

In other news, at work this week someone had set this little cutie on a table in the employee breakroom with a sign attached, "Free to a good home." My first thought was that the basket was a little too "cute country" for my current tastes, but my second thought was "spray paint." So, with the notion that I might eventually paint the basket, I snatched it up.  

I have to admit, it's kinda growing me just as it is. (Ha! get it? GROWING on me... because it's greenery... oh I crack me  up!) 
How was your week? :) 
More soon, 

Pink and ivory for Valentine's Day

It's time for another trip around Grandma Verdie's antique table... I've made this my "go-to girl" for seasonal or holiday-themed displays. So far we've seen a Spring tablescape, a bit of Christmas sparkle, and the clean, crisp look of blue and white for the new year. Now that Valentine's Day is on its way, I thought I would change it up again with pink and ivory. Here's the new look for the next month or so: 

It all starts with this lovely new tablecloth acquired via Ebay. It wasn't the best bargain I've ever found, but I did get it for my "best offer" price which was quite a bit lower than the asking price. I'd have been happier if they'd accepted my first offer, but it's very pretty and I'm not complaining - I really love it! 

Of course, Mr. Duck remains on the table, perched again on a small stack of seasonal Victoria and Romantic Homes magazines. The deep red glass heart is a paperweight - a gift from long ago. 

This pink glass candy dish, a flea market find with a pretty grape-and-leaf pattern, is awaiting some Hershey's Kisses. 

This pretty bowl, filled with silk carnations, came from my mother-in-law Betty. Just look at thoseheart-shaped cut-outs, and flirty gold-edged tab handles! 

And finally, truly a favorite thrifted find... a Cupid-themed tic tac toe game! 

What's neat about this piece, besides the overall look and weight of it, is how I acquired it: I found a bag containing just the pieces at my local Goodwill one day. They were so pretty I had to have them, even though, at the time, I could only guess at their purpose. 

Then several weeks later, on my next trip back to that same store, I found the game board. My guess had been correct, but obviously the elements had gotten separated at some point and I was lucky enough to spot them both! 

A bit later, just for fun, I added a soft stuffed heart which you can see in the background... but also wanted to capture a shot of the late afternoon sun streaking across the table. 

Also just for fun, a couple of filters applied through the "BeFunky" app on my iPhone. I find these little game pieces quite fascinating! 

I really enjoy doing little vignettes on this table - it gives me a chance to play with my stuff! LOL How about you - do you have a favorite spot for displays like this? 

I'll be joining Marty over at A Stroll Through Life for her fabulous Tabletop Tuesday party! Hope you will click through and visit all the pretty displays linked there!  More soon,

Mom-cave reveal!

Almost five years ago, we moved into our present home. It was a rather horrid mixture of busted walls, dog-pee carpets, and other peoples' smells. So, painting the entire thing was in order. But I have to admit, after five years, I just never fell in love with the color I chose for the 3rd and smallest bedroom - the room I commandeered as my dressing and craft room, a.k.a. the "Mom Cave." It was kind of a peachy color... not as orange as "tangerine" but not pink. 
I tried for a long time to force it into becoming my little cottagey retreat room, but this year I finally gave up. It just wasn't working. 
These two "before" pictures are a few years old but they are pretty accurate as far as showing the wall color. It's pretty, but I didn't love it:  

So I decided recently to do a make-over in the Mom-cave - mostly just changing the paint color, but also a few small projects that would help achieve the garden style I wanted for the room.  The challenge was, I had built a large glass-top desk in the room and there is really no way remove it completely - it's just too big. Plus, I didn't want to have to empty the barrister bookcase of all its contents. So, over the course of a week, I spent my evenings shoving the furniture around into various corners of the room (like a heavy game of Tetris!) while I taped then painted the walls one at a time. Here's a glimpse of what the mess of that method looked like: 

And here, just for fun, are shots of my original gallery walls. You can see they're kind of a hodge-podge: 

My new color is a soft botanical green. You can see the difference here: 

For each wall, I of course started by removing all the picture-hanging hardware and patching the holes. I taped off any wood trim, did the cutting in with a brush, then "filled in" with the roller. It took two coats. Here's a good representation of the new color: 

And here is my helper: 

My secondary goal in the room, next to painting, was to simplify just a bit. To cull a few of my collected items, and make room for items that I really liked but had in storage. That meant the gallery walls were ultimately going to look a little different. They are still a work in progress, but here are some after shots of the finished space. (You might see my other helper lurking on chairs or other flat surfaces.) 

I am truly in love with this color. It's my intention to use an off-white/ivory as the accent color, although a few items in the room are already bright white so they'll probably stay that way. 
I'll share the before-and-afters of a couple additional small project here in future posts, but here's a hint: there were two objects in the room that really needed a little "shabbifying." Here they are: 

You'll see more of those soon! This re-paint was a pretty big project for me and I really love the way it turned out! How about you - have you done any painting lately? Did your color choices turn out the way you wanted? 
I'm linking my re-painted Mom Cave to Jill's A Round Tuit party! Be sure to click through for SO much beautiful inspiration!    More soon,