Old Chair gets a Beachy Lift

  I had this old chair that I purchased around 1995 that was desperate for a re-do.It started out in my bedroom at home as a little escape for reading. Then it got pushed out of there for a exercise bike and relegated to the basement to withstand some character building abuse from the kiddos.
  So in mercy, I drug it down the shore and stuffed into my tiny serene bedroom, where it hardly got any use till recently, when we had the back deck renovated and made it into a sunroom right off my bedroom which now houses all kinds of comfy furniture for taking in the view.
  So here is the before.... hardly fitting in with the beach vibe we were going for....right?

I really wanted to find a fabric similar to the one in this Coastal Living magazine picture below.

With a bit of a nautical vibe. (This was in my vision file since 2002) 

My vision file is just a file of stuff I love.

So I finally found the fabric I would use!

But I am such a procrastinator some times.

This was one of those times. I'd made a slipcover once before for my sofa and I sewed for 12 hours straight, just stopping for nourishment! It's not something I am great at and didn't really look forward to.

Finally though this job was going to get done!

And here is the end result:

It fits in the room much better now in it's new skin. And it's still one of my most comfy little chairs!

A privilege to watch the sun rise and set.

The other day while riding back to North Wildwood from dinner in Stone Harbor with my sis, as we crossed the inlet bridge the sun was setting. This area is one of the few places where you are privileged to be able to see the sun rise over the ocean and set over the bay. I snapped the picture below with my phone and from a moving car. The view was incredible. The sky blue pink was reflected in the water. It is one of my favorites.

A fun little party at a Southerndaydreamer.blogspot called Outdoor Wednesday

The Fabric of Our Lives

I was perusing through my pictures to try to decide what I would post about today,

 and then I came across this.

 I awoke to this gorgeous site one morning, the sun rises just out my back door, down the shore. 

This is the view from the second floor in our sunroom just off the bedroom of my little Cottage.

This is what it is all about.

This is why I bought it.

A ramshackle little Cottage by the Sea.

 A small boat peacefully takes in the spectacle.

So this post is all about gratitude.

About enjoying life as it unfolds, slowly, yet so very quickly.

 It's different colors.

It's perfect hues.

Savoring the fleeting moments of peace and beauty.

Appreciating the canvas of our universe.

And it's imperfections are really only our perspective.

Taking comfort in the fabric of our lives.

My Backyard Escape

I never liked those plastic tables that are available for outside so I came up with an idea to make a table from a large slab of slate we had laying around. I have used slate for lots of stuff, including making a set of steps down from one area of my pool to a garden.
 I actually did this a few years ago with an old clay pot with this slate as the table top and this year I changed it up with a new pot I purchased at Home Goods. I liked the Mexican style of the pot and wanted to use that instead of the old clay that was looking a little too rustic.

 I added a little statue purchased many years ago in San Diego as a momento of a trip to see my Dad. Then I went on a search of my garage for old home decor items from way back when my kitchen had a southwestern flair. I founds lots of stuff to use.
I also made a coffee table from another big slab of flagstone and two upside down white flowerpots.

This little project became the "siesta spot" for relaxing and reading a good book, or having a cup of joe.

Can't you just see me with my feet up?

My plants, who persevered all winter in the house with us, were thrilled to move to this new locale!

It's a joy to water them now.

And all the family members liked my new design.

Little did I know, the new theme gave my kids something to consider when shopping for momma's birthday.

 My son bought me a great fountain piece for the wall.  :)

My daughter, the little sun that sits on the coffee table :)

I love my Backyard Escape and I've entered it in a contest.

 I'd love it if my peeps would vote for me!

I've named it Siesta Time and entered it into Backyard X-Scapes

Backyard of the month.

You can vote for me here. 

I've linked up with

Big things come in small packages in My Office

 I'm such a pushover, I get inspired at the drop of a hat.This image from a place called Cushions Unlimited inspired me.

It's simple and clean, and I was looking for something like this to make my office more inviting to me.
Just a small spot to sort through family photos and ...stuff. ( Im not saying that 4 letter word BILL)

Now I have a tiny little spot in my home that I call an office. It's 8 x 10. Honestly, it's not much more than a closet. Matter of fact my hubbo wants to steal it and make it a closet. Yes he is more of a diva than I when it comes to clothing!
I'm fighting to keep it.  I keep telling him, "Happy wife, Happy life"!
I love my closet...er ..office. It serves it's purpose of hiding all those papers and unsorted pictures from 20 yrs. ago or more, and those things we pay each month. All the papers are in pretty little boxes. Yep I have a bit of a box fetish. If the kids are ever stumped as to what to get me for my birthday. A box always does the trick.
He can't take my window seat. This is mine.

  ------my box fetish

I bought the little drawers from JC Pennies, and together they make a small window seat. The shabby chic fabric was a duvet cover, I just covered the cushion with it. Re-use and recycle. My fabric shop has some similar  floral fabric.

I painted those walls with my own little hands, in a venitian plaster look. All around my little room.

 ----2 more boxes

I painted the shabby little dresser I found for 1 dollar at a flee market, with a fresh coat of white paint,

Just distressed it a little and dry brushed the wall color on the top coat. 

 The wall paint is  a pale grey with beige ragged on.

The dresser is white with beige dry brushed on.

My desk is important to me how could hubbo even think of replacing it with hangers.

Even more of my box fetish showing

I like my office. My little 8x10 hideaway. And my boxes.

He can't have it.

 I should have taken those before pics!

I'm linking with

The Power of Paint Party   

One gorgeous beach day!

This was Friday at the Jersey Shore. An incredible day! The ocean was warm, the waves were fantastic, and the sky was just gorgeous. I was dumb enough to forget my camera charger and all I had was my cell phone, but it does ok in a pinch. As you can see I'm not so good at it, I got my finger in the way DAAHH

Ok so here's one that is a bit farther away but without my finger in it :)

There is a few more people than I prefer on the beach but what the heck it's a big beach and there is lots of space between us. Don't ya just hate it when you're all crammed up on a tiny beach. This is a big expansive beach, lots of room for everyone.

Then on the way home I'm lucky enough to be able to walk thru the Gardens at the Lighthouse.

Beautiful Hydrangeas.

I will take lots more pics next week of the Gardens and the Lighthouse.. you know with the real camera!

But it's a cell phone pic so bear with me, Beach Babies.. 

Not so bad heh? For a cell pic.

A French Door dilemma

I have a beautiful set of French doors down at the shore house. but I also have a problem I have been eager to solve. They are wonderful doors that both open out onto the deck.

It makes it extremely nice to open the house up to the outside and let the sea breeze in...the ocean is just on the other side of the boulders with the concrete prominade on top. Just beyond all the damn tourists cars!

 I like it better when it's empty down here. I used to be able to see some of the ocean from my kitchen till the powers that be put up that prominade!!

 Anyway... there are days when.. well let's just say that the flies like to come in too!

I tried a fancy new Anderson roll screen, and have to say that just wasn't going to work with my crew.
For 2 reasons.

1. A thousand ins and outs is not exactly what that type of screen was made to endure.
2. Sometimes it is so breezy  that the screen would blow right out the bottom and get stuck, and not roll back in when you needed it too. Yep, you guessed it.. Extremely annoying! So that screen got nixed.

Now I have found a solution that is working for us.
This is what I did:

Hung a beautiful rod. ((Excuse the pics, it's my blackberry I forgot to bring the camera battery..daahhh.))

Found a curtain that was more like netting.

And bought some large easy sliding curtain hooks.

Now I knew I would need something to weigh down the panels or these curtains would be totally useless blowing in all over the house and letting in the busy little pests.

So I used what I had. Sea glass.

Mixed with some pale green glass pebbles

I must admit it is pretty in my green depression ware!
But I need it now for more important things.







All the sea glass and pebbles get thrown into the bottom hem

And sewn into pockets so the stay where I want them- in the middle and on the ends.












Now we are ready to test drive these babies......

They actually do their job. They blow in a little with a strong breeze, but stay weighted down.

Most of the time they can remain open, but when we are preparing food or eating, they have to be closed.

And this is the view from the exterior... stopping those pesky little flies.                               

My daughter is in there right now eating fruit salad.

Telling me I am a Blogaholic.

So that is my solution to "no screen to fit my french door without destroying it's gorgeousness" at the Cottage Beach House.

Flip Flop Fun

I just had to add another little touch to my outside shower re-do from last weekend. I came across these brightly colored adorable little flip flops for only 2 bucks and the minute I saw them an idea popped into my head.
So I strung em up and hung em up! Just slid them through a piece of twine and tied them to the knob on the Beach House sign, and twisted the twine to a hook around the corner.

The neat thing is if any little squirts visiting our beach house need a pair of flip flops, they can just untwist the twine.!

I just love this cute and whimsical idea, don't you?


A big thank you to the Redhead Riter for some feedback on fixing my blogger issues. I can post again!!
She is one of my favorites!

Thank you Red!!
Visit her blog The Redhead Riter

Our outside Shower just needed some inspiration

7-4-10
I was a bit too busy to blog Saturday 7-3 and Friday 7-2 basically because I had some work to get done on my Cottage Beach House for the guests arrival, and of course I needed to get to the beach for a little fun in the sun!
So here is how that all went.
Friday: Went food shopping, Stuffed the fridge with all kinds of good food to eat.
Then set forth on cleaning up that outside shower that noooobody wanted to use anymore.
 I finally was inspired to spruce up the area where our outside shower is, after finding this picture out there in blogland.

It's to die for isn't it?

Ok, now I was inspired, but, oh what a mess I had to work with!

Take a look at this mess:

And the inside was like the scary scene from" Psycho"

So after giving it a really good scrubbing with some bleach and tide,

I started with a fresh Shower curtain which I got on sale  and a cute little hook with surf boards.

Then I scoured around the house for decorations hidden since my son's wedding in Florida last year, some star fish and netting.

 I moved one of our chairs near so we had an easy place to drop stuff. 

And last but not least I had this great sign that says "Beach House" that has been waiting well over 10 months for my hubbo to hang, which he finally agreed to after seeing my enthusiasm for the new shower redecorating project.

So now the inside looks a wee bit more inviting

And the finished  shower area is dare I say...Beachy!!

I just love an inspiring picture! To get my butt in gear.

I hate hard work and scrubbing but I do like a good challenge, and I get that from a beautiful picture.

Not bad eh??? I think I will add some flip flops.

Inspiration Shower

                                                                        

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For some reason I am not able to do new posts on blogger so I am dating them to separate them for now.

7-6-10

This is my really easy no bake 4th of July Trifle Cake that the whole family loves. I't's completely gone now of course!

I'm sure a lot of people already know how to make this but for those who don't here it is:

Ingredients needed:

• 1 and a half angel food cakes
• 4 jello instant vanilla pudding
• 2 boxes of strawberries
• 1 box blueberries
• 2 tubs cool whip

• 4 boxes of jello instant vanilla pudding ( just mix with milk amount on box and whip 5 minutes, fold into glass cake dish.

• Break up 1 and a half Angle food cakes and layer over pudding

• Spread  2 tubs cool whip on top of cake pieces

• Add a square of blueberries, and stripes of strawberries.

Chill till you are ready to eat cause it's already done!

Everyone I know loves this tasty treat,

 I've never been any kind of a baker so desserts are far and few around here,

 but guests all like this one too.

I would have liked to post this for you prior to the 4th but I only made it on the 4th. 

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7-1-2010
Today was the beginning of the 4th of July weekend and I began to cherish the special moments early this morning. It started with my grandbaby arriving all decked out in her red white and blue, which she will be representing all weekend in different outfits, I am sure!

"Grammy this thing needs a drink" is what she is probably thinking.

 At only 15 months she's just beginning to talk. She says " turtle" clearly but calls food 

"yang yang". I think she means yum yum.

We got a little morning stretch with a game of pick up...

Later she showed me her feet and I took her for a walk in her stroller

Let's get rollin' Grammy I wanna see some 4th of July decorations!

Oh the sights we might see as we roll and just BE

Red petunias, white puffy clouds, and a awesome blue sky!

What a day for a daydream...custom made for a daydreamin girl

Four little flags stand like soldiers all in a row

A nieghbor's special tribute has a warm cozy glow

And what would summer be without a windflower or three?

Oh Grammy.. it's nap  time for me.

I had such fun, but I gotta get my zzzzzzzzzzz

6-28-2010
I also thought I would get my 4th of July table ready and use what I have around. Lucky for me I have lots of fabric. I've been wanting to use these vintage milk glass and 1920's ruby glass vase, and today is it!

The fabric I will use for the tablecloth is a  Navy Blue and White cotton duckcloth with flags, lighthouses and anchors. I think it will be perfect for a Cottage Beach House 4th of July.

I used red and white flag fabric for the napkins.

15 x 12 inch is fine, Just accordian fold them.

And stuff into your goblet or lay on the table next to plates

 And do you remember making little tissue flowers as a child? That is how the centerpiece is made. It is fabric folded accordian style, then tied together with a rubber band, and fluffed out

4 more pieces of fabric for the centerpiece

folded accordian

Twist 4 together with rubberband, and fluff out

       put in to centerpiece vase

Then set your table and get your 4th on!!

That's my easy peesy  no cost 4th of July table

Show your crafty ideas  for the 4th of July at the CSI project