Nautical Themes and Lots of Stuff

Let's see........

When we left our story, we had gotten this far .......


I was helping Helene, my friend and neighbor decorate her front sitting room.
You can read the beginning of the story here.....

I got the room to this point and felt that the wall above the sofa was too

 2 dimensional, flat, boring, NOT ENOUGH STUFF!!!!!!!!!
I KNOW!!!!!
We needed some shelves to hold stuff!!!!

So, I did what I ALWAYS do, and poked around the internet.

Ballard Design had some pretty wall bracket shelves, in two sizes.

First I had Helene order two of the large ones, and when they came in, I felt.....
WAIT!!!!!
2 AREN'T ENOUGH!!!!!
So I had her order 4 of the medium ones tooooooo.........
But before I get into this,
 let me go over what we had previously hung on the wall, 
'cuz I haven't discussed that yet, and you know I have to share 
EVERYTHING!!!!!

 We got the two bottom pictures from our neighbor Nika.
The stuff in our homes seems to ebb and flow from one house to the next.
(ebb and flow....get it???? Nautical them!!!!)

Then we went to Home Goods, and found the three dry mounted prints of shells.

Then we went to a gift shop that sells just a bunch of @#$ to the tourists, and bought these small shadow boxed, framed shells...

THEN.....
I worked a little outside the box, and forced asked Helene to buy these snack trays, that we wired up to hang on the wall.

Now, there were only 2 ways to hang these fish. Facing to the right, or facing to the left. 
I wired the big @#$, and told Helene that my fish would face to the left. 
SOOOOOO......
hers should face to the right. 
She had a 50% chance to get this right, girls and boys.....
OK, you know where this is going, 
suffice it to say, she had to redo it.
She's a lawyer.....
'nuff said.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay Doke.....
back to the wall brackets...
Now we needed to figure out what the @#$ to put on the shelves.
OY VEY!!!!


Had to be something nautical, 'cuz that was the theme of this room, and you guys know how I like my themes.......


So we went where tshatshkes grow, 
HOME GOODS!!!!
AND WE FOUND NOTHIN', NOTHIN', NOTHIN'!!
Oy Vey, now we were forced to go
(cover your ears)
SHOP AT A REGULAR RETAIL STORE!!!!!


THAT'S RIGHT, REGULAR RETAIL....
AAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
So we went back to the gift shop, just like a bunch of stinkin' tourists.
We found a pair of model sail boats in red and green. 
I plan on giving them a light dry wash of white paint, to soften the color.
BUT, I don't know when I'll get around to that, and I couldn't wait to show the room to you guys, so they're in their original colors in the photos.

I was very happy with the way this was turning out.
NOW WE HAD TO FIND SOME SHELLS!!!!
Oh Boy!!!
Back to a tourist shop!!!!!
This time a shell place that also sold T shirts.

Helene and one of her little girls just HAD to pose with the pirate....

We only shop in the classiest of places!!!!


There were lots of shells from which to choose.....

And a very happy proprietor to sell them to us.....

So then we hurried back to Helene's to get these babies up on the walls.....

I hung the lower brackets first.....
stood back......
 and congratulated myself on my brilliant ability as a designer...

Lovely, Lovely, Lovely.....


Then got on a ladder and hung the other two.....

Now, in case you're wondering why the photos seem to show two different greens....
THAT'S BECAUSE I TOOK THE FIRST SET OF PICTURES WITH THE CAMERA IN THE WRONG WHITE BALANCE SETTING!!!!!
This blogging business works all the sides (2) of my brain.


OK, now lets talk about tables.....
Helene found this end table at a yard sale....

I don't like it.
She does.
I don't like it.
I wanted the table next to the sofa to be taller.
This one is too short.
I don't like it.
So she moved it between the two chairs on the other side of the room.
At least now it's not so noticeable.....


Sooooooo.....
Helene, Lisette and I went to Home Goods, so that Betsy could find a 
GOODER table.
I found one that I felt had a beachy vibe, and forced, suggested that Helene buy the damn thing and bring it home.
I didn't go in with the two of them to see how it looked right away, and Lisette informed me later that it looked HORRIBLE.
HA!!!!!
No, No, No......
I couldn't fathom that I was THAT  far off.....
Sooooo.
I goes over dare, and checks it out.
THEY BE WRONG!!!
They had it turned the wrong way.
So I turned it 90 degrees, and set a straw picnic basket by its side, and then they 
LOVED
it!

Helene and Lisette are wild for monograms, so I suggested that she goose up this chair with a little personalization.....

We had chosen this fabric.....

And while I was gone over the summer, she  PAID  someone to make the cushions!!!!!

So now, my old wicker chair has a new home and new clothes....

That's not a baby on the floor in the back.

No children were hurt during the production of this story......

We will continue this saga probably next year, when we get off our @$$'s and hang draperies in this room.

Until then.....

Later, Gator

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Beachy Keen Living Room

You may have not noticed.....

But I took the weekend OFF!!!!

I AM RETIRED.....

I AM LAZY!!!!!!

So here I am, back in blogland, to share what I've been up to.

I've been helping my neighbors.

I am a wonderful and beneficent neighbor.

They should worship the ground on which I lightly tread!!!!!

My neighbor (and friend, I don't do this for just anyone, ya know!), Helene admits that she's clueless when it comes to decorating. 

So she's at my mercy, because I could tell her that mirrors over her bed are the in thing right now, and she'd believe me.

I've been helping her with her front room.

It was supposed to be the dining room in the model she has, but then it would

never get used!!!!!

So we changed it to a sitting room, that gets lots of attention and  sprawling bodies.

I gave her most of the furniture in the room, as I was emptying out a small  cottage I had in West Palm Beach.

Her husband almost had a coronary, 'cuz he doesn't like cottagey design.

BUT IT WAS FREE!!!!!

JEESH!!!!

This is how it looked by the end of yesterday.....

OK, now here is how we did this.....

We started with a brown room the day I had the sh#% furniture moved into the house.

The sofa, wicker chair, armoire, two slip covered chairs, floor lamp and rug were from me, me, me.....

Helene had the ottoman, which her twin toddler girls had peed on, among other things, in their short life.

She likes blues and greens, so we decided to not use the draperies (hanging on the chair to the left), and bring in new toss pillows to change the color direction of my furniture.

The first thing we did,

 (this was two years ago, this has been a work in progress.......oy!!!)

was take an upholstery class at our local high school and reupholster the ottoman.

It was a plain canvas fabric with lots of interesting stains and smells.

So it was stripped down to its frame.

And we replaced all the foam and dacron, and then Helene came to Betsy's house for her own private sewing lesson......

So after I sewed the cover, it looked like this......

Stripes are really versatile, depending on how you seam the fabric.

By mitering the fabric, you can create squares or crosses.

Soooo.....

Then I chose a color for the walls, and somehow, I ended up helping with the paint job.

Don't these kids know.....

I'm too old for this #$%????

I chose a soft green, 

Don't ask me for the color!!!!!

It would look different in your house!!!!!

So, the room's now green.....

and we started to work on accessories.....

THE WALLS WERE BARE.....

OH NO!!!!!

BARE WALLS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!!!

I know!!!!!

Lets throw a bunch of stuff on the walls, and see what sticks!!!!

So I started with oyster plates, because Helene wanted to do a nautical theme.

I worked on the arrangement on top of the armoire. 

It was this.....

Needed some tweaking.....

So I added in a starfish theme.

Ya know, choose something and then do it over and over and over and over.

Helene, very cleverly attached the starfish on the basket by just hanging it on a nail, pushed through the woven side......

Just don't jostle it!!!!

We do things right down heah in Flerida.

Then we attacked the wall over the sofa.

Once again, I did a theme collection of nautical stuff.....

Now.....

at this point our friend and neighbor, Lissette....

(we all live on the same block)

felt that I had hung enough stuff on the walls.

HA!!!

She was sooooo wrong.

Now I just have to make her admit it.

The arrangement over the sofa felt flat and two dimensional to me.

Too pat.

NOT ENOUGH STUFF!!!!!

WE NEEDED BRACKETS!!!!

yeah, man, that's what we needed alrighty!!!

So I made advised Helene to buy them from Ballard Design, 'cuz I had seen some nice ones.

I had her get two of the large, and four of the medium size.

Next post, I will show how I worked out the wall arrangement, and planned out the whole shebang.

Later, Gator

Partying at:

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