POP! of Orange

I love the color orange! I find it overpowering in large amounts but there are little sparks of it in my dining and living room. So after scanning eBay on and off for months watching for a swag light to hang in my bay window when I spotted this orange glass one I placed my highest bid" and held my breath. At the end of the auction, it was mine! It arrived about a week ago and though I loved the orange globe immediately, the wiring needed to be replaced.


So last Friday, when my work week had ended, I scurried over the bridge to Northampton and paid a visit to Sabin's buying 14' of old-school brown fabric covered wire and a new replacement socket.











It wasn't until after I arrived back home that I decided the chain that came with the light was too rusty to use in my living room (it will likely be re-utilized in my garden).



So I had to run out to the nearby big box store for 14' of lamp chain. The silver lining to that trip was that the store had glass pull chain fobs with an amber colored swirl twining around clear glass. It looks as if it was made just for my light so it went into the cart as well.


Then, over the weekend I spent about an hour re-wiring the light. First, I had to get all the little parts that support the large hanging globe onto the wire in the correct order. I'm to embarrassed to tell you how many times I had to re-d o this step. I knew how it went but each time there was one piece or another out of place.






Anyway, finally it was all in line and I wired up the new socket.























The expert at Sabin's had showed & told me, "The plain encased wire is 'power' & goes to the brass screw." I kept repeating that in my head lest I hook up the wires incorrectly. After that was done, I threaded the wire through the chain links and wired up the plug.






Once I mounted a sturdy hook firmly in the ceiling and.... Wa La!




Before & After -




I love the effect both day and night! In the filtered sunlight it adds a some pop to the large expanse of glass and at night it gives that entire end of the living room a warm glow.

A Spot of Purple

I've been painting most items white or very light green, blue or yellow this winter but recently I had the urge to do a couple of small pieces for my living room in dark purple.




So, "Nairobi Dusk" now adds some pop.




A small table -- a Craig's List find.... had been in sad, sad shape is now embellished with swirls and holds a silver plated tray.





Across the room, a detailed little shelf done up in purple holds a well tarnished silver plated tea pot. These two items "followed me home" from my favorite local shop for special finds, The Trading Post.

Our Atelier Unfolds

Our new atelier (workshop) is unfolding!
Our 22 year old son has now moved out on his own (about a half mile away) leaving behind a nice space he had fixed up in our walk-out basement.










It sat for empty for a bit as we adjusted to the empty nest but in recent weeks I have begun to transform it into a creative workshop area.... our "atelier."












I am making the nice space he had renovated into the art & sewing area and transforming the still unfinished section into a space with various works stations for carpentry, wood working, painting, even metal work perhaps???


For those of you who love before pictures...the top 4 are a few taken just as he began to renovate it (2+ years ago)... and the bottom 3 are "now" as I make the inevitable mess that comes with it's current transformation. Hopefully there will soon be some "after" pictures showing some emerging order to the chaos.

Some new acquisitions

We've been laying the ground work for setting up the new art and project studio space on the lower level of the house; our "Atelier" maybe?

There are several balls in the air for this project from tiling the little bathroom to switching the carpentry area and art areas around, creating more storage and getting a lot of junk out of there! Lots of it was "planned' for January break but since I taught and B went to TN, well, not much happened. So I am working on it in bits and pieces, resigned to the fact that some aspects of it will likely have to wait until June when the semester is over. But then, May and June are the height of the gardening season so I am really trying to make headway during the winter months.

This week I acquired some fun pieces for the art area.





One is this great tabouret I bought from a local artist who is moving to Australia (lucky!!). He built this himself a number of years ago and has obviously used it well. I love the fact that the pigments and medium cover much of the horizontal surfaces. Perhaps some inspiration has been passed along with the piece. There are several great drawers for storage too.

Another section of the studio will be a sewing station. On Saturday I was over in the Berkshires and found this great wood storage cupboard that will help me keep thread and other do-dads organized. Oh...and....it came half filled already! I haven't decided if I'll paint it. Likely I will, since it isn't really nice wood and I want to integrate color into the space.

There are a few other additions too but the Super Bowl is on so, I'll share more another day.

More painted furniture.....

Here are a few of the pieces I've painted for family members over the past month or two.... a yellow and white table & 4 chairs, plus the vintage lamp, I re-wired and re-covered the shade; a light yellow magazine rack; and a light green wardrobe and chest /buffet set. Click on the pictures for larger images.

Furniture Renewal

In early December something nudged me back into an old groove..... painting old furniture. Years ago I was one of those "strip and refinish the natural wood" people but somewhere along the line I found paint. Some people are appalled by the very idea., "Paint wood furniture???" but not me; I love paint. I have painted every room in all 5 homes we have owned (at least once!) and have painted plenty of furniture over the years as well..but...I had not done so in quite some time.

In December, burnt out and bleary eyed from grading 100's of college students' papers... I began acquiring old pieces to "renew." I ended up doing several pieces for family members for Christmas and a few for my own house as well. Truth be told, there are currently several pieces around in various stages of renewal but, that it part of the fun.

I'll round up some more pictures and post them, but this is one piece I "found" on Craig's List. I drove to the seller's house at the start of a snow storm at dusk. We trekked through the snow to an old chicken coop out back. This lovely piece had been stored there and was looking quite forlorn. Here is is, almost complete, in the corner of my bedroom. I repaired damaged sections, sanded, clamped, primed, and painted. Some reproduction vintage paper was added to the back. Now it needs 2 new shelves added and a few other details to be complete.

Momma went shopping......

Yes.. it is true! In a little over 3 weeks we will have a new puppy at Sweetside. We are not sure of what mix she is but her mom was a Boston terrier mix. Obviously... her dad was something else! She is 3 months old, about 5 lbs, very playful, affectionate and fluffy. She is also "sassy" and incredibly smart according to Bernie and Jeff from A Place to Barks. They are the ones who rescued this puppy's mom, Gidget, who back in September had a litter of 10! We have not chosen a name for her yet... but she now has a lady bug t-shirt, a maroon jacket with embroidered flowers and covered buttons and a warm red parka -- two toys, a collar & leash and a bowl.