Hickory dickory dock

. . . the mouse ran up the clock.

It was time for an update in the guest room even though there have been no guests for months.

Mainly I was ready for a different quote on the typewriter.

 I have lots of clock faces and mice so I decided to use them together.

Rather than a quote, I printed out some images of vintage post cards for the typewriter and added dried flowers.

The mouse door stop was a gift from my daughter, the pocket watch was found at a Paris flea market  and sadly the clock face sits in back because I broke a favorite clock while gathering items for the vignette.

I do like decorating with quotes so I wrote one on a little clipboard.

I googled quotes about time and saw one where a clock face made the O and knew that had to be my choice.

I know all the clocks and mice are a bit silly, but I like silly.

With a goose and a horse thrown in for good measure, I really should call this the animal room.

The guest room is all decorated, but we will be having guests in a few weeks

and I will have to remove a lot of stuff around the house.

My tchotchkes and creatures will be too tempting for these little boys.

After the Ball Is Over

By ball, if you read the title of my post, I'm referring to Christmas - I always have difficulty coming up with decor ideas after the colorful and creative chaos of Christmas.

The first room I tackled was the guest room mainly because Steve bought me one of the items I put on my Christmas list.

I spotted the Cabin Crafts chenille bedspread at a local vintage shop, Tattered Door.

Steve hates shopping, but he doesn't mind when I give him the names of the shops and pics of exactly what I want.

The cabinet got an update with clocks and hands.

 I had Steve bring in a new painting for above the headboard - we have lived in our city for over 40 years, but had never seen this view until recently when a neighborhood family invited us to a children's service at the Mormon church.

My old Underwood got a new message for a new year, but I'm not ready to share the word yet - still preparing the post.

I always dry my roses and had quite a few in a box I wanted to use for something else.

So I grabbed an old grapevine wreath from the garage and started hot gluing dried roses onto it - the eucalyptus was added at the end to give the wreath a little flair.

I always like popping quotes into my decor and this one really fits my life right now.

I used the cart as a workspace while I made the wreath so I decided to go for a desk look on the cart.

It is so nice to see the rooms of our house slowly coming to life once again in the new year.

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Sharing with Shabby Art Boutique for Create, Bake, Grow & Gather

A Feminine Look

The guest room is the one room in the house where I indulge my femininity.

The color palette is essentially red and blue, but in softer tones.

In January I posted about my 2018 goals and painting the white door was on the list.

This door shared by Maria of @dreamywhiteslifestyle had me dreaming of a blue door.

In that post, 2018 Goals, I said I was going to use either Louis Blue or Provence,

instead I combined Pure White and Provence 

to create my own color.

I found the chalkboard shelf in the attic and kept the decor simple with dried roses in vases and paper flowers on top.

I have been choosing colorful roses lately because they dry so beautifully.

The orange roses in this pic are now dried and they look just as pretty as they do here.

I restyled the shelves in this cabinet using clock faces both real and faux.

I'm debating on replacing the ladder with a chair, but I do like using the ladder as a bookshelf.

I used dried roses and eucalyptus to decorate one of my wire wreaths

and hung it on the tall cabinet next to the bed.

.

In my post, Panoply, I showed the cute hankie my friend Rita of the blog Panoply had sent- it is almost a perfect match with the blue cabinet.

and it looks so cute made into a pillow and sitting on the bed.

I'm happy with the new look in the guest room

from each view.

The best part of the project is that when a holiday comes that calls for a white door, I can just turn the door around.

I can't wait to have Miss Violet visit for two weeks next month - I hope she likes the feminine changes in the guest room.

Although Lulu isn't so excited - Miss Violet happens to be little chihuahua!

Details?

I do believe Thoreau had it right, "simplify, simplify", but I disagree with him a bit on details. 

This was the first version of my winter mantel - pleasant, yet something was missing.

You can see by the finished mantel that a little detail (greenery in this case) finishes off the look.

I spent the past week freshening up the guest room.

It all started when I found this scarf in the attic as I was "simplifying".

The wool scarf was joined by a wooden box and a knitted scarf found in the attic (saved from the donation pile)

 to add some interest to the guest room.

And you'll notice that just like the mantel, greenery adds a little interest.

The old door in the guest room got an update

and staying on theme, a little greenery dresses up the chalkboard.

A bag full of flowers

hangs on a cabinet door.

And an urn full of rosemary

is just what "Little Man" needed.

As I wrote this post, I decided (I hope Thoreau might agree) that flowers aren't details, they are essentials.

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I wanted to give a shout out to Ramsign for the cute Guest Room sign I won on a giveaway Linda of A La Carte hosted.