a Bicycle . . . a Box . . . a Bedspread

With lots of time on my hands, I'm working on projects - the challenge is working with what I have on hand.

This past week I tackled my To Do List with gusto.

From the title of my post, you can guess that the projects involved, among other things, a bicycle, a box and a bedspread.

Someone left an old black bicycle in our driveway years ago and I have wanted to paint it forever.

I have no idea what took me so long - it was easy, but I will use spray paint next time.

The box was easy with a quick coat of paint.

There are many fond memories of family gatherings attached to my mother's tattered and torn table cloths.

I have wanted to make them into pillows for a long time.

Last fall I made a patchwork bedspread out of my childhood chenille spread and plain white fabric.

Steve said it was just too heavy with the long ruffled sides so we replaced it with a duvet cover and bedskirt.

Last week, Lulu came in from the beach with tar on her paws and proceeded to walk on the crisp white covers of both our chaises - there was so much tar that I had to throw the covers away.

The bedspread was cut in half as was the ruffle and with some quick sewing, we have new chaise covers.

There were quite a few items on the list dealing with a back corner of the garden - all were complete, but I wish I could have found flowers like those in this old pic.

Sadly, the pickings at the nursery were limited - I know that eventually the ladder will have lots of fun flowers on each rung.

I will be adding plants beneath the studio window to my list and I can see that I need to redo the Welcome Friends sign.

The garden is looking good with new chaise covers, new pillows, and the yuccas thinned out (by our tree guy) and decorated with buoys.

I just have a few things left on the list, but I am taking the week off.

Except I see that the Mandevilla plant is creeping across one chaise so I will be working in the garden.

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.

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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!