JUST A LOVELY ROOM

Beautiful Formal Parlour.

~IN LOVE WITH IT~

Silas Robbins Bed and Breakfast.

Oh how I'd love to visit this lovely place.

d

NEW Dining room Is An OLD Dining room

Hello from my corner of the world to yours.

I seem to always be shuffling things....guess that is just part 
of working at getting things the way we want as we morph right along.  

Our $10 Buffet and $28 Parlour Chair

 We knew that company was coming for Labor Day Week-end,

so out came a turkey from the freezer and we got into gear 

to transform our NEW Dining room into a functioning one.

 I say NEW Dining room because our old one is a staging area 

as we thin out our THINGS that make me smile.

ORIGINALLY, I believe that this NEW one was the actual Dining room in 1885  

so that makes it an OLD DINING ROOM.

Eventually this Dining room will become our Blue Willow 

Themed Dining room with blue and white walls with white curtains.

The embossed wallpaper is just waiting for the human touch 

to hang it in our new dining room.  

I have gone round and round about wallpapering this room.

Finally have peace about it and am making plans to paper before  

THANKSGIVING and CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS  

arrive.

Now a days our NEW Dining room was our Family room 

or what others might call THE DAY ROOM.

Our Formal Parlour is retired for now and has become our NEW FAMILY ROOM.  

This was a toughy for me as I have LOVED 

my eye candy room for 9 and a half years.

From this to this:

We cussed and discussed what way we are going to go 

as we enter into THE PHASING INTO RETIREMENT.

My Parlour Sofa is covered up over in the corner 

of our NEW Family room waiting until our Master Bedroom is completed 

and then it will venture upstairs into the Master Suite.

The Wing Chairs are being used in our NEW Dining room.

I want to have at least one Candle Light Meal 

for my Husband and I using the Wing Chairs 

before they disappear into the upstairs Bedroom.

One of my FAVORITE SPECIAL PLACES to dine has big chairs in their Dining room 

and I thought it would be wonderful for us to have at least one special meal together in our NEW Dining room using our big chairs.

As we progress and morph along on our house, 

one of the bedrooms which is now our junk room/spare room

will become a Parlour where my Doll Collection will live.  

I don't want to hold my breath until this happens.....it may be a while until this transforms.

For NOW

we have CREATED a Casual Family room

and Formal Dining room 

with a spruced up Kitchen in the making

and a Master Bedroom being PAINTED as I speak.

A new ceiling has gone in the bedroom 

and needs one more coat of paint.

An additional window will be installed and plaster repair to walls.

Can't wait for the crown molding to go up.

~grins~

 Mother's China Cabinet and Grandma's Sideboard are rearranged into the NEW Dining room to use.  
Since these pictures have been taken, we have already shuffled these two pieces about the room.  

One of these days I hope to have a beautiful Dining room table with at least 6 matching chairs and China Cabinet.  
Mom's and Grandma's pieces will go elsewhere in my old rock house.  Gotta PLAN.

Doing my research and put my prayer request in for such a delicacy. 

 TURKEY DINNER blessed and served 
at 6 PM on a Saturday.

Looks like a Rehearsal Dinner for THANKSGIVING to come.

Please let Martha Stewart know that this was 

a ALL partially HOME-MADE meal.

 

Turkey 

(We HUNTed for and bought this Dillons Turkey already to bake.  

No hunting license needed.  I used a store bought baking bag to bake this handsome Turkey)

Dinner Rolls with Butter (Store bought)

Relish Tray with Pickles and Olives (Store bought)

Celery (Picked from the Grocers refrigerated section)

Baby Carrots (Store bought and already bagged)

Waldorf Salad 

(Whipped to perfection in my personal Kitchen 

with all store bought ingredients)

Strawberries (Store bought)

Mashed Potatoes with Gravy 

(Hubby whipped real potatoes into a mash and prepared HOME-MADE Gravy)

Dressing (Prepared right in my Kitchen)

Green Beans 

(Store bought and seasoned with store bought butter)

Corn (Store bought)

Mac 'n Cheese  

(Packaged but prepared with my loving hands in my own Kitchen)

Fresh Brewed Iced Tea

(Store bought bags)

Coffee

(Store bought beans already ground)

Banana Pudding

(All made by my loving hands and store bought ingredients...I did not milk a cow, 

but no animals were hurt during this time of preparing Banana Pudding.)

 We all ate well if I do say so myself...

Self, I say we all ate really well.

Blessings to you,

d

Decorating On The Prairie: Switch~A~Roo Parlour

Welcome to the Parlour!

I was ready for an Autumn change.

Decorating On The Prairie CONTINUES.   

One of the most economic ways to DECORATE is to just move furniture around that's already in the room or to House SHOP.  

When House SHOPPING you relocate items that are already in your home from another room and place it in a different location.

This week HOME HAVEN had her furniture moved around in 

The Parlour.

I'm doing DEEP CLEANING in here in preparation for Autumn and the Christmas Holidays fast approaching.

The pieces of furniture that were moved about were the 

Camel Back Sofa, two Wing Chairs, a Ottoman, small Coffee Table and Area Rug.  

The dolls I've had on the window sills were taken away and will eventually find their way upstairs to a new location that loves DOLLS.  I wanted to free up the windows for a cleaner appearance.  It was time.  At Christmas I have miniature Christmas Trees that go in these windows.  Just making room.

Okay here goes with pictures.

BEFORE

BEFORE

Camel Back Sofa facing the Panel covered Conservatory Door.
Wing Chairs on both sides of Door with Tea Table holding Lamp.
Traffic flow of room is behind the Sofa.
Piano up against the wall to the right.
Dolls are on Window Sills.
Over against the other wall on the left, a small Library Case was moved awhile back to this location and holds Nic~Nacs.  We had to do a shuffle to accommodate an old fashion Sewing Machine in the Family Room which caused a problem with an Armoire that had to be placed in the Parlour. 

Later in LIFE, the Library Case will be moved back to where she was when the Wardrobe journeys upstairs to a redone Victorian Bedroom.
Waiting for things to happen is a challenge for me.
PRAYER NEEDED.
MORPHING right along.


After we are more caught up on other PROJECTS, My Parlour will get a PAINT JOB more to my liking!  Until then. I'm Thankful for this room.  Different Window Treatments are on my WISH LIST.


We'd like to install a beautiful crystal window above the Conservatory Door Window.  

AND SO the furniture was shuffled!

AFTER

After the curtain panels were taken down from the Conservatory Door and washed....we cleaned the window pane in the door.  Previous owners along the way somewhere slopped paint on this door and didn't clean the excess paint off of the glass.  We finally cleaned her.  Liked the door withOUT the curtain panels.  Decided to leave these off.  NATURAL LIGHTING BRIGHTENS UP THE ROOM DURING THE DAY.

A Christmas Tree will go in the bump out off the front of the house called THE CONSERVATORY.  This area is small, BUT SHE'S THERE.  Later we will insulate, panel, prime and paint the Conservatory and probably remove the door?  I want to sew some Balloon Shades for the Bump out and call it good.  If I get lace panels for the Parlour, I thought I would use the present Parlour Panels for the Bump Out Windows which have nothing on them at the moment.

Dollies will go upstairs.

Piano stayed in same place.

Think I'll switch out the artificial Gladiolas I have and replace them with all white Glads instead of having so many colors.

My Thrift Store RUG is appreciated.
She got turned directions.

Tried the little ornate Table between chairs and didn't like it, 
so moved her back to sitting beside the sofa.

All in a days work.
Now to get the ceramic pumpkins out to  
SEASON the place.  
Will have to have some spiced tea.
Won't 'cha join me?


GOD BLESS,
~Deanna~


Luke 1:37
For nothing is impossible with God.

Take A Look Around My Parlour

Beloved, You have been invited to take a look around my Parlour. 

Not bragging, but wanted to share some real bargains with you.  I think it's encouraging to know that there are still bargains out there and these treasures can enhance our homes with a personality.

  Each person has their likes and dislikes when it comes to furnishing their own personal space.  As a 5 year old child I use to take the sales catalogs and pull pages out, lay them on the floor and make a paper home with the pages.  Like a doll house, except out of paper.  Nobody told me at the time that my house shouldn't have 14 bedrooms, 20 bathrooms, 6 living rooms, etc.

I had the best time playing make believe on the floor with the pages.  Mom was the one that let me play quietly on the living room floor by myself.  She nurtured this very inexpensive playtime activity.  The love of decorating was showing up as a child.

Like a lot of people, style and interest has morphed into different looks in the home furnishing department.  I grew up in a house that was quite small with my shared bedroom in the basement.  Slept in a double bed with my older sister and have many childhood stories of sharing the covers with a bed hog.  I'm the bed hog.  Our bedroom furniture was white french provincial and I loved the waviness in it.

I remember very well when long shag carpeting was all the rage. Mom's was dark green and covered a perfectly good hardwood floor.  Mom's living room had more straight line contemporary furniture in it than the frilly.  As I inched into adulthood, I said good-bye to this as avocado green, harvest gold and dark brown appliances merged into the marketplace making their way into homes.  I was so envious when my sister got married and she had one of those green stoves and fridges.  This made married life look inviting to me...ouch.  Thank you God, I know that appliances aren't all there is to marriage.

When on my own, it was second hand decorating all the way.  Once married, we were dirt poor.  One of the little rentals we lived in had pull down maps for dining room window treatments.  It wasn't what was popular, but we used them out of desperation.  We could travel around the world in just one glance.  Our end table in the living room was an actual tree stump.  We were shabby chic way before it's time.  We had second hand living room furniture, second hand bedroom furniture, cast offs for dining room furniture and second hand baby crib, old fridge that froze the food, borrowed stove.  Our dishes, silverware, drinking glasses, pots, pans, towels, sheets were all wedding gifts and much cherished. We stayed warm, never went hungry and we were madly in love as we started our family.

We helped the U.S. economy by using credit for a new refrigerator, stove and dishwasher.  What a romantic day it was when we charged a brand new Kirby vacuum sweeper for Valentine's Day. I'll need to blog about that later.  Soon a medium brown sofa and love seat made their way to our living room.  These sofas faithfully traveled with us each time we moved until we sold them about 20 years later just before another relocation.

Hastily I purchased a sleeper sofa which one of our sons inherited when we bought an over sized leather sofa. Then came my long awaited traditional camel back sofa, two over sized wing chairs with ottoman and decorative pillows.

It took us twelve years to save up the money to purchase this Ethan Allen furniture that we've had since 2000.  Pray it last a very long time.  There have been expenses that were more important than having formal furniture to look at.  A home full of love and warmth is far more valuable than a museum looking room.  One's home doesn't have to be cold or so proper.  You can decorate with great finds that aren't expensive and enjoyable to be around.






When I got into my thirties, I wanted a more formal room and so that's the look I was going to go for in the Formal Living room.  We had a formal living room with second hand sofa and wing chair as well as a family room with the older furniture we had.  The children were allowed to LIVE and BREATHE in the family room while the formal living room was for quieter times and manners.  Now into our 50s it's my turn to be a little more foo-foo.  Earned it.

Here's the tour of the Parlour.  The room has 9'6" high ceiling with two small matching chandeliers, four windows and a door that opens to a very small conservatory.  The plastered covered rock walls are 24 inches thick and curve inward toward the windows.  The floors are made of hardwood maple planks.

The Parlour houses a Ethan Allen Camel Back Sofa with two decorative pillows and two matching over sized Wing Chairs with Ottoman.
The solid wood Coffee Table was purchased at a Thrift Store for $38.00.
Old Books are a Flea Market find.
The Pie Table that sits between the wing chairs was a Texas purchase from when we lived there many years ago.
The lead crystal Vase with flowers was bought on clearance from a high dollar department store.
Flowers were from Garden Ridge.  I've had these so long, I don't remember what I paid for them.
The Piano belonged to my husband's Grandparents and later given to him as a gift because he was their only grandchild that showed an interest in playing the piano.  Husband refinished it.
Mirror above piano was a Christmas gift from my Parents.
The $24.99 area rug was a Salvation Army find.
Print from J.C. Penney.
The walnut Sideboard was a $10.00 neighborhood garage sale find that we excitedly carried home the distance of two blocks.  My husband refinished it as well.
The Lamp is a reproduction from Sams.
Family Pictures in discounted frames.
Discounted Table Runner.



There you have it.
I love our old house that we call home these days.  There's a lot of repairs and decorating we hope to complete.

Though this house is a temporary dwelling place, we are thankful to be here for the time being.

From a different post about The Parlour:
http://homehavenministry.blogspot.com/2011/09/decorating-on-prairie-switcharoo.html

Remember the words of our LORD that's recorded in JOHN 14: 1-2 which says " Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

What a place that will be.

Thank you for touring my Parlour.  No matter what style your home is decorated in or with, may it be a place of warmth and love that blesses those that are on your watch.
Deanna from Home Haven.