Cloche Party Time!

Marty's long-anticipated Cloche Party is upon us. I am showing a few cloches I have dressed up a bit for fall with things I already had around the house. I have a couple of acorn tureens that are a perfect size to fit inside, and I also used a flameless candle with some small Dickens volumes, as well as a ceramic pumpkin. I'm hoping to get more ideas from everyone else participating!





Happy Cloche Party!

Getting ready for the cloche party

Don't forget, Marty is hosting a cloche party on Friday! OMG!! Did you see?? The linky thing to Marty's blog works! I never did that before - thank you Susan!! (Ha-ha, I did it again!!)

Rooster Party!

I'm joining in at the last minute on a Rooster Party hosted by Barb at Bella Vista (http://barbsgoodlife.blogspot.com/2009/08/show-us-your-roosters-party-time.html)
I've got a few of them hiding out in my kitchen and dining area:





Happy Friday, have a nice weekend everyone!

Off on a cooking tangent, and Steph & Simon's House

At this stage of my life I am well aware of what makes me tick, and one of my idiosyncrasies is getting myself immersed in different interests until I get bored with them. Sometimes this does not take long, sometimes it takes years. Several weeks ago I picked up the book, "Julie & Julia" for a bit of light reading, and now I just feel like cooking a lot.

Honestly, despite an extensive cookbook collection, I've never been much of a cook, I'm more the type to throw a chicken in a crockpot or make something out of a box than to do any real cooking. But if Julia Child could start learning at 37, I can start at ... somewhat older than that. In the past few weeks, I've been really cooking, and it has not been pretty, so I haven't blogged about it. Not that things didn't turn out, they did, but I find I need to concentrate on what I'm doing, so keeping things tidy and remembering to take photos is sort of out of the question. I'll try to work on it though.

For my birthday, I got a couple of new cooking toys, a toaster oven from Steph and Simon, and a Tramontina enameled dutch oven which I got with birthday money from my parents (thanks Mom and Dad!) I've subscribed to the Cooks Illustrated website and they had a pretty high opinion of this pot, and since I don't have $300 to spend on the Le Creuset version (and probably wouldn't even if I did), I'm giving this one a whirl.

In other news, my daughter Steph and her fiance Simon bought their first house, a three story townhome laid out similarly to mine. Last weekend I helped them paint, and then move in. Here are a couple photos, the paint colors are really much better in person, but you get the idea. Dramatic red in the living room:

Deep mustardy gold in the dining room/kitchen. This looks AMAZING in person, wish I knew how to capture it properly.

I can't wait to see it all set up with the furniture!

Master Bath Metamorphosis

It's time again for Metamorphosis Monday! Please click on the icon in my sidebar to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, our gracious hostess for this weekly event, and link to all the other "mets" happening around blogland.

Last week I showed you my powder room, and this week I'm featuring my master bath. My starting canvas is a basic builder bath. Not that I'm complaining, I am certainly happy it's strictly a cosmetic makeover:
Basically what I have done so far is paint the walls and decorate, hardly a major redo, but the effect is pretty dramatic, I think. I chose "Bagel" from Sherwin Williams as my paint color, because I thought it looked like a nice neutral but warm beige. I have to say, in natural light it looks rather hideously like human skin, but my bathroom thankfully has no natural light, so the effect is a bit less creepy.
The color is really washed out by the flash in the pic below, the one above is more true to life.
I have had this big picture for a few years, I really like it in this room.
All my little canisters store makeup, brushes, and other necessities that don't fit in the tiny medicine cabinet (the mirror to the right of the vanity).
All the accessories coordinate....
I have a tiny linen closet that holds a broom and a couple of towels:
But I've also got this huge space where I want to put a storage piece to hold additional towels and extra toiletries. I am still looking for the right piece:
So, that is my little makeover. I'm hoping to change out the light fixture eventually for something less HOT, and also to frame the mirror in black. I'm also planning to paint the base cabinet black and add some nickel hardware. Think it will be too dark?
Thanks for coming by!

Teeny Weeny Powder Blue Powder Room

Time for Metamorphosis Monday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, or for a quick link - http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2009/07/welcome-to-27th-metamorphosis-monday.html

When I was on my painting binge last month, I painted my little bitty foyer bathroom "Sleepy Blue" from Sherwin Williams. I have put off photographing it because I don't feel it's quite "done", but I can't find what I'm looking for, so we'll go with what we have so far. I didn't do "before" shots, but certainly anyone can picture this builder white and empty, right?
I started with a different color that had a bit of green to it and that was all wrong from the minute I put it on the wall. Luckily I was using one of the $5 sample cans, so just went back and got another. I hit it right with this color, it was just what I had in mind. The room is so small, the sample can covered the whole thing! However, I bought another one to do a second coat.
I found a couple prints with some taupe/brown/blue tones, and got both blue and brown hand towels to swap out.
The little cabinet over the toilet was an absolute necessity because there was nothing but a pedestal sink and toilet in the room, and my daughter Amanda is using this room for toothbrushing, etc while she is home from college. Pedestal sinks don't leave much room for toiletries, and even the mirror is just a mirror, not a medicine cabinet. However, the white cabinet is very bare looking and I need some accessories. I love these little boxes, but they don't go with the look. I need to find some little brown birds or something more earthy. So that is my dilemma, and I have found nothing, zip, zilch, nada, that will fit on this tiny shelf and has the look I'm going for.
I picked out a small rug which barely fits in the room, but Mandy likes it because it keeps her feet warm. The little basket holds items too big for the cabinet (huge bottle of mouthwash...)
When I find something to "finish" it, I will be sure to show it again. Happy Monday!

A good way to decorate a cloche...

Marty from http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2009/07/another-cloche-party-september-11-th.html is hosting another cloche-decorating event in September, and I hope I remember to prepare for it this time so I can participate. I practiced this morning:It's pretty, yet sadly temporary since I already ruined the effect by eating the one on top for breakfast!