A Teal Velvet Settee

Hi Friends!

Did you know that the word "friend" that we see in the Word of God is not the same as the way we commonly use it today in our society? The word "friend" is a term that they used for someone they were in covenant with. When the Bible says that Abraham was a friend of God, it means that he was in covenant with God!

When I say "friend," I am using it to say, "we are in covenant with each other as part of the Body of Christ!" I just love that!

I wanted to share more details of my entry makeover with you, including the other side of the room.

My husband and I bought this antique settee when we lived in Winchester, Virginia about 18 years ago. There was a beautiful little antique shop in town owned by the sweetest man. We were in there one day when I spotted this settee and 'oohed and ahhed' and stared and sighed. lol Not very subtle, right? Our anniversary was coming up and my husband suggested we buy it for our anniversary gift. We call it the "loooooove seat."

It was originally covered in an emerald green velvet which I'm sure, at one time,was beautiful. But time had caused it to fade and wear and you could tell it was old. I kept it that way for several years, as it went well with our decor in Virginia, but I've recovered it a couple of times in the last 16 years.

I recovered it this winter in this scrumptious teal velvet. (the actual color is a little greener. I couldn't get it to photograph as true as I wanted.) This kind of settee is easy to reupholster. I just used an electric staple gun to attach the fabric and then covered the staples with double piping that I sewed myself. You could also use premade trim if you wanted, which would mean no sewing at all!

The art piece behind it was also purchased at a Kirkland's in Virginia. I added this fun little gold stump table for a bit of whimsy. I've toyed with the idea of adding some modern pieces to our house lately.

Funny story about this gold stump...I was shopping online one day for something fun and whimsical to put next to the settee when I found a very similar gold stump. I marked it to think about, and come back later to purchase, if I decided I wanted it. Just a few days later, I was in HomeGoods in Grand Rapids with our daughter and one of the first things I spotted when we walked into the store was this gold stump! I promptly put it in my cart and it rode around the store with us until we left with it.

I ordered this teal velvet on line, which is always a risk, but when it arrived it was even more delicious than I had imagined. I had ordered all they had left and had just enough to cover the settee and make a pillow. I love the dramatic pop of color it gives to this room. I found an almost identical teal velvet home decor fabric at our nearby Joann's Fabric and am thinking about using it elsewhere in our house.

When I painted the blue buffet, I bought a sample-sized paint this same teal color and used it to deepen the color in the corners.

I'll be back soon to give you all the details about the walls. I used a fun technique that I've never done before and it was so easy! Hope you're having a great day!

love and blessings~

"and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God."

James 2:23

Home & Garden

A Teal Velvet Settee

Hi Friends!

When I say "friend," I am using it to say, "we are in covenant with each other as part of the Body of Christ!" I just love that!

I wanted to share more details of my entry makeover with you, including the other side of the room.

I'll be back soon to give you all the details about the walls. I used a fun technique that I've never done before and it was so easy! Hope you're having a great day!

love and blessings~

"and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God."

James 2:23

Home & Garden

A Softer Shade of Blue

Hi Friends!

I hope you and your family had a beautiful Resurrection Sunday as we celebrated the life, death and resurrection of Jesus! I was so blessed to see social media filled with proclamations of Jesus. He is our hope, our joy and our life!

We had an extremely harsh winter here in Michigan this year. And one snowy, icy day I decided to redecorate our entry. I genuinely loved this room before but always felt it didn't flow as well with the rest of the house as I'd like. I wanted less Traditional and more French Country.

The picture below was taken by the photographer from Romantic Homes a couple of years ago. The walls were blue a soft blue with a painted stencil and below the chair rail and trim was all bright white.

I started the redo by painting the trim and closet doors a light wood tone to match the rest of the house. I painted the walls in Sand by Sherwin Williams as a base coat, from top to bottom, including the chair rail. I'll share the paint technique and raised plaster stencil I did in a later post.

And then I repainted our blue dresser.

The new color is much lighter and more the color that shows up around our house in almost every room. I'm sorry I can't give you a color name. I used the same color that I custom mixed for our family room a few years ago and then added colors to it and layered it on until I got the look I wanted.

I always use a chalk paint additive I bought on Amazon. It gives your paint that smooth chalky finish but I can add it to any color that I already have.

For those of you who are new to this site, I bought this dresser second hand several years ago. It was an old, maple bedroom dresser that someone had in storage. It was in great shape and we paid $100 for it. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our home and I love the impact it gives when you walk in our front door.

I added a little of the light blue to our HomeGoods mirror so that it coordinated better. This mirror was on clearance at HomeGoods a couple of years ago. It was all a uniform cream color and I painted it to match the dresser.

I layered one of our cowhide rugs over another rug. I love the mix of rustic with the feminine furniture.

Our entry is a pass-through with doors on all four sides. Below is the view from the front door. The door on the left goes into the rest of our house. The patio door you see goes out onto the deck and into the back yard and pool. The door you see reflected in the mirror goes into our garage.

I haven't shown you the other side of the room in a while. I'll share more details about recovering the antique settee on another post. I'd like to change our light fixtures in here to a soft gold, whether I refinish the ones we have or buy new ones.

There are a few other changes in here I'd still like to make and will give you updates in the future.

Thank you to those that have messaged me this past year. Your kind comments were a blessing to me and I appreciate it so much.

love and blessings~

"The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22

sources:
dresser, chair - Craigslist
mirror - HomeGoods
wooden bowl, vase and roses - HobbyLobby
lamp and candlesticks - Furniture City Consignment
french shopping basket - World Market
cherry blossoms - Joann's Fabrics
cowhide rug - Twisted Pine, Estes Park, CO
wall color - Sand by Sherwin Williams

Home & Garden

A Softer Shade of Blue

Hi Friends!

And then I repainted our blue dresser.

I layered one of our cowhide rugs over another rug. I love the mix of rustic with the feminine furniture.

"The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22

Home & Garden

Our Christmas Entry

For the last several years, I have put our nativity on the 'island' that separates our whole main floor. This year, I thought I'd let it be the first thing you see when you enter our house.

I love this nativity. I got it at Hobby Lobby several years ago and the last time I was there, they still had them. It's such a nice size and so easy to put out because it's one piece.

I placed a gold star behind it to give it more presence and surrounded it with faux greenery, sparkly trees and a Merry Christmas greeting.

I filled my French shopping basket with evergreen and added a small tree to my little wheelbarrow.

I haven't shown you the other side of our entry for a while. Right now, our armoire that used to be in our family room is there - waiting to be sold. It doesn't look bad - it's just not a design decision and is just temporary.

You can see the edge of it in this picture.

I'll be back soon with our master bedroom changes and Christmas decor.

love and blessings~

"Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” Luke 2

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Home & Garden

Our Christmas Entry

For the last several years, I have put our nativity on the 'island' that separates our whole main floor. This year, I thought I'd let it be the first thing you see when you enter our house.

I love this nativity. I got it at Hobby Lobby several years ago and the last time I was there, they still had them. It's such a nice size and so easy to put out because it's one piece.

I placed a gold star behind it to give it more presence and surrounded it with faux greenery, sparkly trees and a Merry Christmas greeting.

I filled my French shopping basket with evergreen and added a small tree to my little wheelbarrow.

You can see the edge of it in this picture.

I'll be back soon with our master bedroom changes and Christmas decor.

love and blessings~

Home & Garden

Our Christmas Entry

For the last several years, I have put our nativity on the 'island' that separates our whole main floor. This year, I thought I'd let it be the first thing you see when you enter our house.

I love this nativity. I got it at Hobby Lobby several years ago and the last time I was there, they still had them. It's such a nice size and so easy to put out because it's one piece.

I placed a gold star behind it to give it more presence and surrounded it with faux greenery, sparkly trees and a Merry Christmas greeting.

I filled my French shopping basket with evergreen and added a small tree to my little wheelbarrow.

You can see the edge of it in this picture.

I'll be back soon with our master bedroom changes and Christmas decor.

love and blessings~

Home & Garden

Our Christmas Entry

For the last several years, I have put our nativity on the 'island' that separates our whole main floor. This year, I thought I'd let it be the first thing you see when you enter our house.

I love this nativity. I got it at Hobby Lobby several years ago and the last time I was there, they still had them. It's such a nice size and so easy to put out because it's one piece.

I placed a gold star behind it to give it more presence and surrounded it with faux greenery, sparkly trees and a Merry Christmas greeting.

I filled my French shopping basket with evergreen and added a small tree to my little wheelbarrow.

You can see the edge of it in this picture.

I'll be back soon with our master bedroom changes and Christmas decor.

love and blessings~

Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Our Photo Shoot with Romantic Homes~Entry

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Well, our photo shoot is over. And after working so hard to get everything ready for the last two months, I have crashed!

What an adventure! It would be one thing to have one or two rooms ready to photograph but having eight rooms ready really wiped me out! My husband claims I collapsed on the kitchen counter as soon as the photographer left. He might be right.

I know HE was the one who drove an hour to Grand Rapids to pick up our son at the airport while I took a nap!

Anyway, our photographer was Kristen Wheeler at khphotographics and she was so enjoyable! She's originally from Michigan and now lives with her husband close to New Orleans. She came alone and stayed almost three hours. She used one lense and got overall shots of each room. Then changed lenses and got close-ups of details.

She also did a live video connecting to all the people at Romantic Homes! That was cool. If you're on Facebook you can watch it on my page. Otherwise, here's the link.

So in the next several posts, I'll try to show you our house as it was staged for the photo shoot.

In our entry, I bought two sweetheart roses for my little wheelbarrow. I just placed the plastic pots in the wheelbarrow and covered them with foliage. This picture was taken before I staged the French shopping cart.

I got a new camera and I love that it takes a wider shot. Here you can see the entry as it goes into the rest of the house. You're looking straight down a hall and into the kitchen. You can also see how our stairs go up.

Then shortly before Kristen arrived, I took these flowers out of water, wrapped them in craft paper, and put them in my basket.

We played around with this a little bit, staging it in front of the dresser. I think I might have liked just the white flowers better, even though I chose the bright pink, but Kristen really liked the pop of color. The photos are planned for a Spring issue so the colors are appropriate. An umbrella, a rain coat and a loaf of French bread complete the vignette.

I haven't shown you the other end of the room for a while. The clock used to be on this wall. It's now in the living room. (see the last post) And these pictures used to be above the piano.

You can also see my door painted here.

Our baker's rack is still in the other corner.

I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of the whole room. I was just taking pictures while I waited for Kirsten to get here. And if you saw my instagram today you know there's a bike in here waiting for the upcoming birthday party now! And lots of shoes. ;)

We were blessed with beautiful weather! This was the view out our patio door at the end of the room.

As you can see, we haven't had a chance to do anything to our cabana yet. We're still going to try. I'll show you pictures of our whole deck very soon.

Here's sweet Kristen working hard.

I'm at home waiting for our new shower door to be delivered and tomorrow our new slipper tub will arrive. Our son will be here until Tuesday, and on Wednesday the demo on our master bathroom starts!

(Don't tell my family but I was happy to be the one to stay home today and wait for the shower door! Ha!)

I'll try to be back as soon as I can and share the rest of the rooms with you!

love and blessings~

"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."

Isaiah 54:11,12

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Rattlebridge Farms
dwellings-theheartofyourhome.

Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Our Photo Shoot with Romantic Homes~Entry

Then shortly before Kristen arrived, I took these flowers out of water, wrapped them in craft paper, and put them in my basket.

I haven't shown you the other end of the room for a while. The clock used to be on this wall. It's now in the living room. (see the last post) And these pictures used to be above the piano.

You can also see my door painted here.

Our baker's rack is still in the other corner.

As you can see, we haven't had a chance to do anything to our cabana yet. We're still going to try. I'll show you pictures of our whole deck very soon.

Here's sweet Kristen working hard.

"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."

Isaiah 54:11,12

I'm joining these parties:

peekingthruthesunflowers
poofingthepillows
addisonmeadowslane
Rattlebridge Farms
dwellings-theheartofyourhome.

Home & Garden, Tips & How To

New Lamps and a Little Blue and White

When I first refinished this cabinet in our entry a few months ago, I wanted some beautiful French candlestick lamps that I found on line. They were on sale but by the time I was ready to order them, they were full price. I figured I would wait until they went on sale again.

At Christmas, my husband and I made a shopping run down to Grand Rapids and stopped in at our favorite used furniture store.

I was amazed to spot a set of lamps - exactly like the ones I had wished for! And they were $20 a piece!

They were a tarnished gold brass and they had creepy shades but for $40 I was happy!

I used two colors of chalk paint right over the brass to get an uneven finish. Then I lightly sanded them to let a little of the gold shine through. I bought these lamp shades at Lowe's here in town.

I mentioned in my last post that I had added to my blue and white collection. I found this ginger jar at HomeGoods along with the little garden stool.

I added a silver footed tray on top of the dresser to drop keys or set your coffee on as you're going out the door.

It won't be spring in Michigan for a long time yet but this room feels fresh and bright and I love that.

I also want you to know that as I'm editing these pics, I can hear my 6'4" son in this room practicing his dribbling and watching himself shoot in this mirror. *sigh* So if anything's missing the next time I show you this room, it might have been 'killed' by a basketball!

Have a great day!

love and blessings~

"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."

Isaiah 54:11,12

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