Picky and Pickier were at it Once Again

I have been very busy lately with lots of stuff and  with some painting my sister and I recently did, so I really kinda laid off the blogging for a few weeks. It's raining now so I am back.  I thought I would show you a little transformation my sis and I did, last weekend. We really had a lot of fun doing it, even though it was a lot of work. You may recognize some items here thrifted on our previous adventure !

Today, I can start with the "after"

A few years ago my sis sold her home in Pa. and bought one at the Jersey Shore and one in Florida, and retired. With them came the Hutch that they had for 30 some years.
The "Before'

Marilou ( my sis ... otherwise known as Pickier.. from the "Adventures of Picky and Pickier") desperately wanted to lighten and brighten,  and had purchased a lovely yellow table, with some white, some yellow chairs and all decked out in blue and yellow. But the hutch just wasn't to her liking anymore...so an idea was launched. She decided to paint it the color of the table. "NO, NO" screamed her grown children, as she presented this idea. "It's an antique," They protested.
Errmmmnnn no, it's maybe 35 years old kids.. not an antique. But they persisted she keep it as is, in honor of all the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners it presented and presided over. She caved.:(

But neccessity is the mother of invention!

So another idea was launched. While out junking one day with "Picky"( that would be moi) she spotted, a real antique china closet from about 1930, with nice details, that was in dire need of attention.

Thinking "they won't care if I paint this, it means nothing to them".. she bought it.
And we tackled that baby, Primed her up, in her garage over good music and hare of the dog from the night before. :)


 and a bunch of other stuff she had bought out junkin.

Since we didn't dare paint the sentimental hutch, it got moved to another spot and the back removed from the shelves.

This was her daughter's idea and it really helped to brighten it up. And made room for the new lighter brighter china closet.

The white cabinet on the left had been where the hutch is now.
 It replaced  this darker piece, below, which made it's way to a goodwill, with the dark wine pictures.

And the right corner got a piece that's been around for also 30 years paired with a thrifted shelf.

Some of the details on the vintage china closet...

Rescued from this..

Thanks for stopping by!.. Smooth sailing to ya!
Going off to join some parties... come along.

Furniture Feature Friday

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage 

Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground 

The "Frenchification" of my Studio/Guestroom Phase1

One thing I really enjoy doing is changing things. There are a lot of things that need it, in my world ;)

So I  have finally found some time to begin the process of Frenchifying the room my son moved out of.
I like that term " Frenchify"... I picked it up from Debra over at Common Ground, who just yesterday had a Design Challenge, featuring the room I am currently working on.
 Design Challenge: Eileen's Guestroom/Studio

So the Frenchification began today with this old mirror, I gave it the first coat.

Preparing her for her "White Wedding" ( cue Billy Idol)... she has the prettiest details, and a bit of chippy, layered, vintage charm.

I just need to give her another creamy white veil of color

 Then distress her up a bit for her marriage to the big dresser which will be my next paint project.
The way she looked before was kinda tired and old, and my daughter said give it to goodwill..

I think she is starting to look pretty sweet now.

This is my first attempt at Frenchifying!  This is the beginning stage of my Studio/ Guestroom re-design, you can see the plans in a previous post My Studio/ Guestroom redesign

I have previously "Beachified" many things, and I've posted some of the more miraculous changes, in the posts below, 

 It's been Beachified

Cottage Beach House Table Intervention

Cottage Beach House: Florida Dining Room, finally Completed Re-do

When I went down to Florida for 3 weeks, to paint and party with my sis.

 Oh and speaking of my sis, We just finished painting a slew of furniture for her Beach house. I'll post about that later... I am trying to get her to start a blog.... she loves to write, and she is so good at it. Some of the stuff we used for her place, we found on one of our thrifting adventures.

 The Thrifting Adventures of Picky and Pickier ...

Joining the fun at these linkies:
Good Life Wendesday @ A Beach Cottage
~White Wednesday # 118~ @ Faded Charm
Wow Us Wednesdays #32

My Studio/ Guestroom redesign

I am participating in the Design Challenge at Debra's Common Ground

I have this great room to redecorate and move my office into that I want to also function as a guest room.
The way it looks now is bad.  typical boy. Don't come in my room and do anything mom!
I know it's messy, but this is the reality, now, but not forever.

I want the wall above to look like this sketch.

And this wall where he had the bed right on the floor.

To get a vintage bed post and old nite table... like in this sketch

We want to turn this completely around and give it a
 French look.

I am using stuff that I already have around. Taken from other rooms that have been re designed.
I have sketched out the look I want, for all the above walls:

I am planning to paint this bureaux white or dove grey and marry it with a mirror that used to be in my daughter's room.

Another great piece I will paint white is a night table that has been sitting in the basement. I also plan to pull an old bed frame from the shed to paint up and include in the redesign.
My challenge is to only spend on paint and a new comforter, because I have so many pieces I can use already.
But as you can see from the sketch, I can't figure out what to do with the entrance.
Here it is now. Below
Yuk

help me out will ya?
Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.
You can go see the entire Design Challenge Feature at Common Ground
Where there are lots more sketches, and pieces I plan to use.
Debra and I would love to hear your thoughts on how to make this room a French Inspired Haven!
Also Sharing at
Coastal Charm
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com

http://www.houseofhepworths.com

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com
http://www.astepinthejourney.blogspot.com
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/

All settled into College

Last weekend we moved my youngest daughter into college. I miss her.
 They gave us a late move in time so,
We only had an hour to get everything into the room and then attend a parent meeting. There were some tears involved when we said goodbye. But not from her, from the rest of us. She is really looking forward to this.
When we arrived this was the look.

 This is after we got everything inside.

We did our best to transform it in the short amount of time we had. Dad set up the TV, I set up the printer connections and the bed. Her sis helped us with everything, and her other sis stayed home and watched the baby dogs.
 She picked a red and white color scheme.

And then we had to leave because of set up activities for the students, and she had to finish the printer hook up and T.V. cable hook up, later . She did good. Wow they grow up too fast. Time moves too quickly.
 I know everyone says it, but it feels like yesterday she was this inquisitive, little squirt on the beach. Picking up big horseshoe crabs, larger than her head and peeking into them.

Then suddenly,
It's senior prom:

Enjoy your little angels they sprout wings way too fast.


Do you remember your college days? What did you like the most about them?

 Here's a pic of our new baby dog which she will surely miss.!

Have a great weekend!

a Pretty Rainbow

My cottage survived the storm very well. Thank you all for the emails and the prayers!
 I've been very busy lately putting things back in order, and cleaning up.
I thought it might be a good time to post a couple of nice rainbow pictures that I took in  North Wildwood.

It was a full arch and I don't have a wide angle lense so I had to take several separate shots!
Below is the other side of the arch.

And I just luv how the sea birds have a glow about them in this one:

Also been busy getting ready to move my youngest into a college dorm room tomorrow.  Making pillow covers and picking out bedding, and printing pictures for her new frames. We are trying to decorate with lots of pictures so she doesn't miss us all too much. I'll post pics of her dorm room  re -do, after we get it all set up.
She wanted to make a statement. Can you guess what color scheme she is going with?
The choices:

• black and white


• black, pink, and white


• red and white


• red and black

We've got everything ready now and packed in the car!
hasta la vista, baby

Hoping my Cottage holds fast.

A mandatory evacuation of New York buroughs that are low lying is a bit scary. First time in N.Y. history. In New Jersey all of Cape May county has been evacuated. These aren't suggestions they are mandatory which means if you stay you are breaking the law. You may not get help if you need it. I am glad I went down to my Jersey shore cottage yesterday to secure lawn furniture and close things tight.
As the sun shone and the skies darkened

 I wish I would have done more. Like boarded it up. It became a mandatory evac while I was locking things down, so I secured what I could and left. A one and a half hr trip home took 3 1/2 hrs. Lots of people leaving. There is only one gas station in North Wildwood on the way out and it had at least 75 cars in line. and a police presence. I was lucky, had a full tank.

I'm worried about my little cottage down the shore and really hope this hurricane will lose some of it's strength. They are saying it may be the worst in 50 years to hit the northeast. Gee we just had an earthquake the other day. what the heck is going on?

This is a vintage picture of the area where my seaside cottage is, back in the early part of this century.
The large garage type structure in the foreground is the Coast Guard  building. Behind it you will see a few cottages. Mine is the fourth one in. The first 3 cottages you see, all were destroyed in the Nor'Easter that hit in  March, 1962 .
North Wildwood, NJ

My cottage held fast. the 3 next to it ocean side, were totally destroyed and fell victim to the great Nor'easter

• The 2 story white shed you see below is still there. It is behind my cottage today.


• After those 3 homes were extremely damaged and torn down there were empty lots till the 80's

Picture after 1962 hurricane

Below is the same area yesterday, taken from an area over on the right side of this picture.

 There is a park in this area now, and 3 new big homes. That 2 story shed that survived the 62 storm? It's an effieceincy now in pink , with a deck and patio! See it in bottom right of pic below.

 There is just a peek of my little cottage behind the white house with red trim here.

A closer look. My neighbors taped their windows. My cottage is tiny, maybe the big houses will protect it! Recognize my sunroom? I hope she holds.

A lone police car. And the Coast Guard building from a different angle

I just heard that the Atlantic City casinos are shutting down tomorrow. Wow. that's a biggy.
Here's hoping my cottage holds fast.
In 62 the whole Jersey coast was hit pretty bad.
Below is a picture of Sea Isle after the storm.

So let's all send up some prayers, for the entire Eastern seaboard.

Picky's thrifty finds while Pickier was lazing away in Florida

I just want to show you a few fun and usable things that I found while out thrifting and they seem to fit right into my little cottage.

First off i love little porcelain pots, and cookware, and I found this great strainer for like 2.00 at our local thrift, so I nabbed it. ain't she sweet?
And the minute I saw this cute little spoon rest/ bowl/whatever i want to put in it, versatile  fish piece, I snatched it up with my greedy little paws. pretty, tiny hands.

It was only 1.00 and doesn't it look darling next to my fishy trivet by the oven?

One of my all time favorite pieces I ever thrifted was a wopping 3.00 platter
that says on the back "hand painted, Italy"
It is great for getting big orders off the Barbbie, or for a huge selection of fruit. I love the blues and greens, and that it features fish.

A big white glass embossed bowl perfect for serving mash potatoes in, Love at first sight- it had to come home with me!

Perfect for feathering my nest!

The blue tinted wine glass below, I grabbed at a yard sale down here at the shore a while back for 25 Cents... and wished they had more than one. It is featured below  at dinner. :)
I have been fooling around with my new camera all week. The photo challenge for week 4 at a step in the journey was dinner.

I'm not very experienced at taking pictures of food. I do see it around in magazines and food blogs. 

But  this was the challenge, so I took a few pics of the dinner I made, tortellini and meatballs, and settled on this one for my shot in the challenge, because I like how the wine glass looks up against the porcelain pasta strainer.

It's a simple dinner tonight only for two, and not a great big gang of us!

I gotta go finish setting the table....
 Arrivederci Amico
Eileen

Joining in at these parties!
Feathered Nest Fridays @ French Country Cottage
Photography Challenge: Week #4 @ A Step in the Journey