Cottage Bedroom Wallpaper

Wallpaper is going up in my new Virginia cottage!

I love Jane's Rose Bouquet in faded blueberry.
It was the pattern I chose for my old Seattle cottage dining room.
I decided to use it in my new bedroom too.  Then I can recycle the gorgeous curtains I'd made to coordinate with it.

So far one wall has been completed - need to put a bed together and organize my boxes of clothing before I can hang the rest around the room.
But what fun I am having and how gorgeous the room will look when its all done!

The clock was a Goodwill find.  It was dark stained, hand made and plaid when I found it.
I added ormolu and painted, gilded the clock.
The interior is lined with a soft blueberry and white rose paper I decoupaged on.
I need to change the battery in order for it to work but who cares if its not keeping time?  It works wonders for my soul, for its beauty alone.  lol

Cottage Dreaming

As I wind down my 32 years in Seattle, I really look forward to a new beginning and new adventures back on the east coast.
Seattle has been good to me but after all these years, I find myself a little bored, not sure what to do with myself and ready for new challenges and experiences to jumpstart my heart and imagination again.

So I'm turning my attention to the east coast, but faced with a limited budget, I decided perhaps the Commonwealth of Virginia is going to be my new home.
I grew up in rural Wisconsin and always preferred rolling green fields and meadows with old oaks and maples, to deep, dark, cold pine forests and mountains.
I want to be around historical places, to explore and absorb their energies.
I want to meet new people and try my luck at building my cottage decor business in a new territory where the prevailing trend isn't mid-century modern in grey and teals.

And where I can afford to live!
I have no back up income, no husband or partner who helps pay the bills.  Its just me, my instincts,talent and my get-up-and-go!

I realize all the challenges ahead of me but I feel I face the same ones in Seattle where I am bored of being.
I view this as a midlife opportunity and I am embracing it!
The one thing I will miss here are my many wonderful friends.  But they all travel a lot and I am hoping they will swing by to stay with me a few days on their goings and comings from Europe!

Anyhoo - what I really look forward to, once I find a new cottage to purchase, is decorating it!!
hahaha - what artist/designer wouldn't??
Its what's keeping me sane and focused through the emotional highs and lows of selling my current home and arranging for a cross-country move with 4 cats and a young friend I've taken under my wing.
I have a lot on my shoulders but what perks me up on days when my knees feel like they are buckling, is the prospect of hanging pretty wallpapers, filling rooms with white slipcovered sofas, hanging antique chandeliers and laying the prettiest rugs I've ever seen, on the old hardwood floors.

So here is a sampling of what has been inspiring me, which I intend to use once I've landed somewhere in a simple cottage, in my new life.
As usual, its all blue & white!!  
(Although in my new place, I am contemplating wallpapering my art studio in a soft, buttercup yellow damask...)

What really gets me excited right now are the new French Blue rugs by Dash and Albert, in herringbones.  Both cotton or indoor/outdoor rugs, they are beautiful, quality rugs in a simple, fresh. clean Scandinavian style. The two herringbone rugs are must-haves for me. As soon as I buy a house, I will know which sizes to order.  They will be my anchor from which I do all the other decorating around!
Here's a link to the site where you can explore all the gorgeous rugs available:  Annie Selke
And for this who want to see my latest cottage-fresh designs for fabrics and wallpapers, here's a link to my Spoonflower shop, LilyOake.

An indoor/outdoor herringbone rug in French Blue, by Dash and Albert.  This will go on my living room floor.

Another Dash and Albert rug in a French Blue herringbone.  This cotton rug will go on my bedroom floor.

MY own design, Albertine is a strong contender for wallpaper in my future living room!

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper is on my current home's dining room walls.  Its a favorite of mine.

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper in blueberry blue.  This paper will grace the walls in my new bedroom.

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper in blueberry blue.

Cottage Check simplified is a strong contender as wallpaper in my future kitchen.

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper is feminine and soft, but holds it own with gilded frames and furniture!

Additional inspiration - my old garden lilacs and a myriad of blueberry blue and white cotton or linen fabrics in my Swedish cottage collections on Spoonflower

Jane's Rose Bouquet Stripe in blueberry blue - you can make curtains to match the wallpaper!

Blue Rose Wreath in blueberry.  My current chair slipcovers are coming with me so my cottage will coordinate.  Any piece of furniture can go into any other room and fit right in.

I love European gingerbreading on houses and whatever home I buy, I will try to add personality in this style.

More inspiration:  white farmhouse sinks.  Double bowl...?

My current home has beautiful glass and crystal chandeliers so I hope to add this detail to my new home too.

If I stay under my budget, I have promised myself the Albertine gas range by La Cornue.  White?

...or Provence Blue?  I guess I will have to flip a coin, should the good fortune befall me where I get to fit one into my budget!

My own LilyOake designs, all will be present in my new cottage home.

I keep coming back to white cotton canvas slip covered furniture because it really fits my lifestyle.  And with 4 kitties, I can wash them any time!

A new white cotton canvas slip covered sofa is in my near future.  I can fill it with a mix of LilyOake cottage pillows.

A pretty detail - having packed most my house up already, I kept out a few things to keep close to me during the move

farmhouse sinks....single bowl...?

If I get a porch or sunroom, I would love to build a replica Swedish daybed to grace the space

A dream:  A Swedish tiled stove in blue and white.  IfI cant have the real thing, I can add tile to the kitchen backsplash or to a fireplace surround!

I've loved this image for years - an old Swedish desk in a soft white with a surprise bright blue interior!  I will paint all my furniture in this manner.

Fall is For Knitting!

Now that the temps are dropping, I turn my attention back to knitting.
I put it away in warmer months because there's so much other stuff to do outside AND who wants a ball of hot, wool yarn in their lap?  lol

There's nothing more relaxing for me right now, in between office work and house projects, then to sit for 30 minutes in the sun on a quiet Sunday morning and just knit.

Here is a current new project, color coordinated with one of my pillows I designed.  I didn't plan that, it just happened.  hahaha
The pattern's name is ELVIE in blueberry, printed here on the eco canvas.

ELVIE in blueberry, on eco canvas

Up-cycled Chair #2

   With the Arts North Studio Tour date approaching fast, I am back working on the soft furnishings projects after taking a break for a few weeks and doing some decoupage and yard work!

    I have 8 total chairs planned for the studio tour.  They will all be for sale during the tour and hopefully they'll all sell/find new homes with fellow blue & white lovers!

   Each chair is carefully chosen for its style, condition and sturdiness.  I give them a much needed makeover with paint and gold leaf, and then reupholster the seat AND sew a washable slip cover to go over the seat!  I also coat each frame with at least 2 layers of "Crystalfin" poly acrylic, to protect the paint finish and whatever gold leaf I might have applied.

   This way, the person who buys the chair has 2 options for using their new piece of furniture - and can wash the slip cover if someone gets messy during a holiday meal!

   Chair #2 has a fairly deep seat so I also sewed a small lumbar pillow for support, out of the same slipcover fabric.

   Since all my fabrics are in the same blueberry blue color way, the different patterns coordinate well together!

 I decided, after painting the frame and reupholstering the seat, that the chair needed more detail.

Sometimes you have to stand back and give the piece a good look over, halfway through the project, to make sure its

turning out as imagined.

No big deal making a few changes here and there, as long as it turns out like you wanted, in the end!

Since the seat was so deep, I added a lumbar pillow in the same fabric as the slip cover.  Its washable linen-cotton canvas.

 I thought you'd all appreciate a "during" photo of its paint make over.  I use chalk paint as a primer now!

And since I prefer to use my own durable acrylic paints in my own colors, I then paint the rest of the chair the old fashioned way.  

The final finish is then coated with 2 coats of poly acrylic.

 Sewing wavy scallops with piping was hard - not sure

I'll do them again! ha!!

 Adding the gold leaf...really added character and

a bit of cottage bling!

 Slipcovering the seat.

I removed all old upholstery and changed out the padding to new/fresh stuff.  

I abhor stapled upholstery and only use upholstery tacks.

I then cover the bottoms with a layer of white muslin, also tacked in place, with my logo sewn into the center.

The original with seat upholstered and frame painted, before I added a white accent and gold leaf