Sharing the Gift

I've been looking at some beautiful art prints to buy to supplement my favorite wall in our living room and came across this one a while back by my all time favorite artist, Susan Rios. Just about all the prints on this wall are by her so it was wonderful to add to my collection. I love her art and we've been emailing back and forth. What a sense of humor this woman has. I am astounded by her beautiful paintings and showed her a picture of my wall. I think she liked it, but I would truly love to be able to paint like this little chickee. Oh my, how gorgeous is this one! It is called "Sharing the Gift" and I'd love to have a patio like this one on which to sit with lace cushions, smell the roses and dream of my garden.

This is how it looks on that wall above the biggest painting
Closer view of it.

And a little mosaic table my daughter made that I confiscated while down in California last week. It fits just perfectly there by my chair. I've been looking all over for a side table to sit in that area but wasn't able to find anything. Thank goodness I found this in her garage while down there.
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Random Thought

If you can't forgive your hubby or wife of anything, then you don't love them enough.

Decorating the Living Room

I seem to be making some headway in this house the last 2 days. But wouldn't ya know it; I had to stop and resuscitate the mouse!! She's been giving me a fit lately and I usually just dust her off - her belly button, ya know, that scroll wheel. But she's been sucking some serious dust around here so it's been a miracle that I can revive the little darling. *Sigh*.........................

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This was 2 days ago. I was so tired I didn't know whether to climb the ladder to paint/hang pix or get on my knees and put stuff back that was to be "lower"! My feet are killing me from standing on that ladder, chicks.

Do you realize that I "shopped" right outta this house??? Yep, old things placed in different places seem new again. Besides, hubs said to keep it to a minimum. They're just no fun when it comes to remodeling and redecorating. Actually, this whole remodel was his idea. Ya woulda expected me to say nuuuuuuuu?!?! Get a grip, chicks, this was decorating and spending money here. It's our lot in liiiiIIIIiiiiiffffffffee. (When I type the words that way you'll know I'm RAISING my voice and lowering it. Hah...No matter.......on with the show.)

Anyway, today shows a marked improvement.....in the living room. The family room??? Pfffffffffttttt. It's trashed! Now, I'm not so proud that I wouldn't show you but there's nothing to show in there at the moment. I've pretty much stripped the pix off the walls and brought them into living room.

Notice the french wire baskets. I don't know where to put them! I'll have hubs help me decide tonight. He's actually pretty good at noticing things and recommending things when I'm stymied. You all have been a big help with your email suggestions also. Thank you!

Clock was moved last night but moving a grandfather clock is a delicate matter. We had to almost disassemble it to move it - take out the weights and pendulum. But it's there. I've added 2 pix above it and some pretty little boxes on the overhead. Being from California I'm squeamish about putting things "UP" when they could "FALL" on your head! These are light however and not a problem.

The print on the left of the photo is 1 of 3 of my favorites. It's a Susan Rios print. The one in the middle below the painting of the girl (more on that in a moment) is my absolutely favorite of all times. When we lived in California I had a huge family room and had slipcovers made for a sofa I had. It was a wide pink and white stripe. That thing cost me a fortune! That was over 20 years ago and cost me $800.00. I could actually have bought a new sofa for less at that time. I loved it though.

One day when I was at the Valley Fair Mall in San Jose I went into the Martin Lawrence Gallery there and found this print. I immediately bought it because I absolutely adored it and it looked a great deal like my home with that sofa and the lace curtains. My heart was stolen, little sweets. But when we moved up here and then to this new house 3 years ago we didn't have room for it. I sold it for $100.00 and included 2 outdoor wrought iron chairs. Pathetic.

Anyway, the limited edition on the far right with a white frame is another of Susan's prints. So I grouped them all together.

Now, about that painting. I purchased it recently at Goodwill for a couple of dollars because it touched my heart and it has pink roses on her hat. BUT the thing is Susan Rios did a self-portrait once and that is a lot like her portrait. I have a book of her painting and prints in it and that portrait is in there. Except for the hat it could almost be her. It is truly amazing. So I hung it with her paintings. I've also included her self-portrait for you to see the similarities - the pose, the hair, the white blouse, the direction in which she's looking. You'll have to enlarge the pix of living room to see that portrait better.

My new sink!!!!!! I love it. I like stainless steel and it's not as deep as the old porcelain one. I did put one pix over the sink that I can look at. Still much more to do there but I had to get some of them off the floor and hung! I'll get Love Bunny to put a shelf in there - I have no "shortage" of shelves or I'll hang that little french country shelf for miscellany.

This is a mosaic my daughter and granddaughter made me. She never got a photo of it 3 years ago and is updating her portfolio of mosaics. So I had to photograph it for her. If you want to see some of her pieces for sale go visit Nan. This is a hobby for her. She's like me and CANNOT do nothing!

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Now I want to share with you a special gift that Katie recently sent me! She just started a selling blog. But I have to tell you also that she recently has taken up silk ribbon embroidery. (We've created a monster!! Aaaack!) AND she's recently had her first grandchild, Syllah May, which was a terrific thrill for her. We followed the journey with her from the announcement of her daughter's pregnancy to the delivery of Miss Syllah. She's a beauty also, but has the most extensive wardrobe of any new chick I've ever seen!! Anyway, Katie made this quilted tote for me and it's lovely. You have got to go to her blog and see her exquisite silk ribbon embroidery! That new baby had the most exquisite first wardrobe I've ever seen. Goooooo! Ooooh and why the tote???? I guess she just "loves" me for some crazy reason! :-)~*~

*UPDATE at 10:15 pm TONIGHT!*
I composed this post tonight at 6 pm or so after working all day (but I wanted you to view the "latest" of the kitchen) and adding to the draft of this post and scheduling it to come on line at midnight, but hubs put up a couple of shelves for me tonight so it's 10:15 pm and I've been up for 20 hours now and still going strong............ Hah! If you believe that you're nuts because you can tell by the run on sentence!!!!! I'm about to keel over. BUT I'll just post this and go because hubs is tired.*Fini* Bon nuit!

Kitschy, Cute and Shabby Chic!

Oh be still my passionate heart! Here is why I love Susan Rios so much. Always romantic and feminine paintings. Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh........

California cottage chic! Don't you just love it? A little footstool as a tray for your cup of tea just adds cutesy to this bedroom. And that little chair? To die for!!! Lush pillows, serene view and vintage fabric draperies. Yuuuummm.......

Same home but the living room of the small cottage. I love that patio view and the lush foliage of California as that view. This kind of reminds me of a friend's redo of her Nevada living room. Look at Katie's blog. She's new but I'm sure she'll post pictures of her desert home redo! I'll "encourage" her to, but she's so thrilled with it all I think she'll readily to it. Be sure and visit this talented sweetie!

The living room above is in Seattle area and it just popped out at me. It is so sunny and light filled and that's very unusual for that area. But the couple achieved sunny, bright rooms with the colors they've chosen and the way the mirror tiles send light back into the room and make it look larger. Just a stunning project and it achieves much more than the effort it took. I had a kitchen in California that I did this to on the stovetop. It looked great, gave light and was sooooo easy to clean - just spritzed it with glass cleaner when the grease popped back there and it was clean. Wonderful thing to have in the kitchen!!

In the north midwest this kitchen is a summer cottage. I just love it for it's kitschy cute decor. The beadboard gives it even a more summer cottage flavor and doesn't take itself too seriously. Very cute.

Same summer cottage but I've shown the bathroom here. This could be done in a shabby cottage also. But this looks like it just needed a coat of paint and some antiques thrown in to give it the flavor it has.

This is more photos of the Oregon cottage from yesterday's post. I love the way she adds little flowers in vases to her window. Such a sweet and easy thing to achieve the dramatic statement.

The Oregon cottage dining area. I don't see anything in that room that is new. Just old accumulated junk! But how darling she made it. Little wooden pickets for her window dressings.........very original!

This struck me because of my recent laundry redo. I purchased a little vintage shelf to put in there to hold our shoes and put laundry soap and softener and such. The middle shelf of mine has some fluffy towels. After looking at this I think I'll add a little curtain to the middle shelf to hide those towels! How cute is this with all her vintage "stuff" to make a darling vignette!