New Thrifted Artwork for My Bedroom

I purchased this framed poster several weeks ago on the third day of an estate sale. I couldn't believe my luck. I have always admired this artist and I have been living with a blank wall in my bedroom since 2004. It was very heavy (20 pounds) and I didn't get up the nerve to hang it until yesterday. I am beyond thrilled.

Here's a horizontal view showing how it lines up with my window. I got the placement right on the first try. Actual hanging it was a little tricky because the wire kept getting stuck on the hanger instead of the hook. After some tricky maneuvers I finally got it on the hook. I used to do custom framing and had a space in an antiques center where I hung my antique prints so I know how to measure the placement of hanging hooks.

Mine is, of course, a reproduction and that's fine with me. An original sold in 2007 at Christie's in London for 12,500 British pounds. Alphonse Mucha is the Czech artist, painter, illustrator and graphic artist living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period. This delightful  artwork was used as the cover for a promotional copy of a British literary magazine THE WEST END REVIEW in 1898. 

Thank you to those of you who have emailed me to see where I've been. It's nice to be missed. There are some things I'm supposed to be doing to my blog that I cannot figure out. I decided today to just keep doing what I know how and hope for the best. xo, Rosemary

Two Home Repair Photos in My Cottage

This is a partial photo of the full bath on my lower level. My handman had to totally demolish and replace the sheetrock on the soffit above the sink. It was water damaged due to a roof leak. It was on-the-job training for my young handyman but he did an amazing repair. One coat of paint was all it took for complete coverage and I couldn't be more pleased. This bathroom has a big walk-in shower, and a window. I kept the original toilet from the 1930s too. There are white marble tiles on the floor and plain white porcelain tiles on the inside of the shower. The door you see reflected in the mirror is the front of the batten door that was fully opened for this photo.

My guest room/dressing room is back in order again after some badly peeling plaster wall repair and the ceiling vent back in place. I turned on my central air for the first time this morning because it's going to be 94° today. It might be my imagination, but it seems to be more effective with the addition of the louvered fins behind the duct cover(s) throughout the first floor. I am still organizing and spring cleaning but the end is in sight. The month of May certainly zoomed by, didn't it? xo

A Corner of My Bedroom Showing AC Decorative Vent Cover

I haven't featured any photos of my bedroom lately. Here's a photo of the ceiling vent cover and some of my bookshelves. I love my blue and white checked curtains that have been remade over and over since 1972. They started out life in a NYC rental for sliding glass doors going out to a terrace. I purchased the fabric on the lower east side. xo

Perfect Summer Bedroom

Isn't this gorgeous? I love the ceiling. 

I would prefer no rug under the bed though.

I would want to put my bare feet on a cool bare floor in the summer. The rug could go back for the winter.

Photo found here.

xo

Bedroom Perfection

This is almost exactly the way I stack my pillows for watching TV in bed. The short long one goes behind my back. Mine has a white pillowcase I made for it. I have to put all but one pillows on a chair before I turn off the light to go to sleep. I love this bedroom, don't you? Found here.

A Very Elegant Bathroom

No Words!

Simply Spectacular.

Enlarge image here.

Are the walls hand-painted or nautical wallpaper?

The master bedroom looks nice too, doesn't it?

Swoon.

🐰The Rabbit's Dream🐰 Drawing Circa 1895-99 by Beatrix Potter

©Victoria & Albert Museum

Beatrix Potter’s drawing

“the Rabbit's Dream” one of four drawn over 4 years

He dreams BIG, doesn't he?

In the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

"Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale. This is one of four known versions of ‘The Rabbit’s Dream’, all dating from 1895 to 1899. The rabbit shown here – thought to be Potter's pet rabbit, Peter Piper – sleeps in the No. 4 bedroom at Camfield Place. Potter slept in this room when visiting her grandparents before they died, and made a detailed pen and ink drawing of the room. Framing the central rabbit are numerous drawings of him sleeping in different positions, reflecting the many studies of her pets Potter made."

I love learning the history behind her artwork and this one is very special. I love knowing she slept in this very room in her grandparents' house. Her drawing below is also in the Beatrix Potter collection housed in London at The Victoria and Albert Museum. I found it on Google Images. There is a new exhibit opening February 22, 2022 to celebrate her life. Beatrix Potter, Drawn to Nature. Be sure to mark your calendar and visit virtually. I'll try to remind you.

©Victoria and Albert Museum

Isn't this the most charming bedroom ever? I wonder if her grandparents' house was preserved? If so, there should be a sign: "Beatrix slept here." Sweet Dreams! xo

Gorgeous Small Bedroom in Black and White

I love it all. The black pelmets, the black lampshades, the black & white framed photographs, and the black and white wallpaper. The old spool bed too. Photo found here.

Delightful Bedroom with Bookshelves

I love a bedroom with bookshelves and I have them in mine too. This room has a lot of personality, doesn't it? I love the bedside tables, matching lamps twin windows, the wallpaper, the bed and linens, actually all of it!!! via

Beautiful Bedroom Wallpaper

I love the way this wallpaper looks in this bedroom with the plain fabrics, lampshade, and carpet. The room is simple and simply gorgeous. via

Black and White Bedroom Love

I love all the black and white touches in this bedroom. The black lampshades (my favorite) and black upholstered cornices against the black and white patterned wallpaper are perfect touches. via

Real Estate Staging Before and After

This is a before photo. The previous tenant was storing his furniture in the master bedroom and after one year he removed all of the furniture with almost no notice.

Being the resourceful person that I am, I remembered that my friend had a beautiful nickel silver king sized bed stored in her finished basement. She could not use it when she moved to her new house. In the flash of an eye, she and her husband delivered it and the rest is history. We already had the mattress and box spring and bedding which went together nicely the next day.

The sofa, leather chair and ottoman, and framed print were removed too. I was left with a completely empty room.

This beautiful sofa was in an upstairs bedroom where there were two sofas. I took the most beautiful one and it looks perfect between the twin built-in cupboards. I think the room looks nicer than before. There was a Victorian marble-top dresser in the spot where you see the black bench. This is an example of "A day in the life of the listing agent." The owners have no idea! I would have had to pay a stager a fortune. I researched buying a bed frame but they cost $275. So all of the above was $FREE. Click photos to enlarge.

Views of the empty bedroom.

Attic Bedroom Renovation

This is a carriage house renovation. Don't you love the simplicity of this all white attic bedroom with two built-in beds? The large window should keep it nice and cool in the summer. Speaking of cool, I have had to pull up a blanket the past two nights. I never sleep with the central air running, but love having my windows open. via

Beautiful Bedroom

I wouldn't change a thing. via

THE PERFECT BEDROOM

I don't recall ever seeing a more perfectly made bed! I could fall asleep between those crisp white sheets in an instant. This bedroom ticks all the boxes and I absolutely love everything in it. via

Home Office with Murphy Bed: AWESOME!

It's a home office with storage for office supplies, right?

Wrong. It's a bedroom or guest room in disguise.

I couldn't love this more. I found it in my iPhone photos and I've been saving the photos for a long time and have no idea where I found them. Isn't this the best home office ever? xo
UPDATE: California Closets designed this room and there are other Murphy Bed Designs HERE.

Perfect Cabin Bedroom

Bring on the red woolen blankets! via I redid my bedding yesterday for winter and I slept like a log last night. I found a red and white toile duvet cover in my linen closet that I had forgotten all about and had never used. I put on clean white percale sheets (top sheet was ironed) and then I put on the down comforter layer. I put the reversible duvet cover on as a bedspread and it looks so nice. It was larger than my comforter and makes the perfect spread. My bed was so easy to make up this morning and I can't wait to jump in it again tonight. Is it wrong to wake up already planning going back to bed again? I think now. It's all about getting accustomed to daylight time minus the "savings". They say it takes a week for your body to get in the new rhythm. xo

Over The Bed Artwork for My Cottage

It only took 14 years to find the perfect artwork to hang over the antique bed in my guest room used as my dressing room. I found it yesterday at a thrift shop and within 30 minutes of getting it in the front door, it was happily hanging on the wall. I was standing in the doorway to get this photo and you can also see an antique tile, a hogscraper candlestick with a brass "wedding band" and a miniature chest on the table next to my bookcase.

It was very hard to photograph too. The bedspread is not pink, it's white. You can see the blue and white curtains in my bedroom through the window in this photo. This lithograph was made from an original 1987 painting by a deceased local artist. I always thought her work was very much like a Wyeth. 

I found a photo of the print entitled: "Wild Rose Berries" circa 1987 by Pauline Eble Campanelli online by searching Google Images. Don't you think it's perfect for my room? It was worth the wait and I don't mind that it's a reproduction because everything else in the room is antique. The basket and cupboard that were the subjects of the painting were antiques and I bought the framed print for a song. The frame is stained a dark green and the matting is beautiful. Score!!

See you later. xo

Beautiful Bedroom

I love every single thing about this bedroom including the jointed teddy bear. The atique bed is wonderful and I especially like the plaid woolen blanket. The framed antiquarian maps look great against the grasscloth wallpaper which is on the ceiling too. How nice is that?!! I can tell this is a small room but it's packed with interest, isn't it? via

Clean Curtain in My Bedroom

You have all heard of selective hearing, right? Well, this is selective photography. What you can see looks perfect but in reality the bed is unmade and all my pillows are piled on the chair at the other window. My down comforter is usually folded accordion-style on this drop leaf table in case I get cold in the middle of the night. Anyway, I wanted to show you one clean and ironed curtain in my bedroom. I keep fiddling with the gathers trying to get them to hang just right. I was tempted to use my spray starch on them but I didn't. Right now, they are very soft to the touch and hopefully will develop a memory of the way I want them to look. They are on a tension rod inside the window casing.

I am so pleased with my domesticity lately but I have only dealt with the tip of the iceberg so far. There is still much to do. I have to assign myself certain tasks and try not to think about the big picture or I would surely go mad. The reflection you see on the right is my flatscreen TV on a pile of books so I can watch from my bed if I can manage to stay awake. 

Thank you all for your concern about my car. They will look at it on Monday. Have a great weekend. xo