Sunny Yellow in A Girls Bath

For this metamorphosis Monday I am happy to share a project done by a friend of mine.  My friend is a talented Faux finisher in St. Petersberg Florida.  She recently completed her daughters bathroom.  

The bath before had great bones but needed some pizazz!

A sunny yellow was chosen for the walls.  She also did a wonderful damask on the yellow in white.  Black accents were added.  Sometimes black and yellow can come across harsh but not this time.  She kept the black light and fun by choosing elements like polka dot towels.

To dress up an otherwise bland shower stall she added a great Barley twist poll and fun curtain.  Isn't this  curtain great?  It was purchased at Target then dressed up by sewing the yellow pom pom fringe on the lead side.  I love it!

Carrying the damask pattern onto the ceiling creates even more interest.

As luck would have it she found the perfect bath mat at Target as well.  It looks like it was made for the bath!  Turquoise tiles along the perimeter of the bath add a third color of interest and she repeated this color in her art work.

I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did.  Thanks to my friend for her willingness to share!  To find more wonderful transformations visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

Have a Fabulous week!

"Won't You Join Me For Brunch Out On The Porch?"

Hello everyone.  Since I am still not up and about and my old self just yet.......I have plenty of time to dream about getting my porch and yard ready for Summer.  With that in mind I thought I would bring back an old Tablescape Thursday to share.  It is one of my personal favorites and it fits in with my yearning for time outdoors on my porch.  Hope you enjoy it the second time around as much as you did the first.  If this is your first time visiting this Tablescape....enjoy!

Welcome to another Tablescape Thursday. My second. Please join Susan at BetweenNapsonthePorch for more wonderful tables.

Come sit awhile. Would you like some tea?

Nothing evokes southern style more than spending time out on the porch in the spring. I have lived on my porch this week. Reading, lounging and dreaming about the improvements I want to make to it. I sit and admire my hydrangea bushes which are in full bloom. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers, are they yours?

I mentioned before that tablescapes are not a regular thing for me. As it happens though, since I have been spending so much time on my porch I decided to invite a friend over for brunch. Where else but on the porch! I just had to clip some of those hydrangeas for my table. I placed them in a blue transferware pitcher and added a fun tassel. The little white birdie decided to fly off my shelf and join us too.

I love toile and I love transferware. I love how you can mix it up and it becomes even better than it was when all the pieces matched. That is just what I did for this table for two. I can't resist picking up a plate here and there. I never worry about finding what to do with it. I am a creature of color and pattern and I always seem to find a way to make things work together that I love. I placed a simple plain white table cloth on the table and then added a folded piece of blue toile across the top. I had this fabric left from a panel I had made for my last home. I knew I would use it again some day!

I have had these tea cups since we got married. Over the past 19 years some have gone the way of the trash after a drop or two. The same holds true for the saucers. That doesn't bother me though it just gives me the opportunity to mix in another saucer! This one if from the Johnson Brothers Old Britain Castles collection.

I found this plate for $3 on the clearance aisle of HomeGoods awhile back. I love the pheasants. There was only one plate but I grabbed it!

These red Waverly plates were purchased years ago at Target. I originally bought them for the soffit area in the kitchen of my last home. They were displayed there for 3 years. Now I get to use them on my table. The pattern is Waverly Fruit Toile.

I mixed the pheasant salad plate with a Johnson Brothers Old Britain Castles transferware plate in red. My daily Pottery Barn plates were just large enough to peak out beneath the Johnson Brothers plate.

The sun is just breaking through out back and bringing all the colors of the garden to life.

~Blue Hydrangea, my favorite!~

~Brunch for two~

I love pillows and the way they cozy up a seat. I pulled my red and blue toile ones out for this setting.

I used a combination of these transferware plates for my table today.

Don't be afraid to mix it up. It adds intimacy and history to your table.

~I had to share my lovely pink hydrangea too!~

Thanks for joining me for an intimate brunch out on the porch. make sure to stop by tomorrow for Froodie Friday so I can share what was on the menu for this brunch. To view more wonderful tablescapes join Susan over at Betweennapsontheporch for this weekly event. Have a blessed Thursday!

Spring, Surgery, Friends and a Place Called Charming Charlies

It's been awhile.  First let me say I have loved the messages of encouragement.  The kind words.  Just knowing I have not been forgotten!  A lot has happend here in Whimsy Land since I last posted.   As you may recall I was going to be on a bit of a break because I was having back surgery on March 9th.  The break was longer than expected.  When I went in for my pre-op testing the week before surgery I was having problems with my asthma because pollen season here in the south was rearing it's ugly head!  What that meant was I FAILED my pre-op!  Yep, can you believe it?  UGH!  Off to a pulmonologist they sent me to get a handle on my emerging allergy nightmare and asthma.  New surgery date if all was in order April 20th.  Seriously?  Are you even kidding me?  But my back!  I am in pain!  To which they replied "Mrs. Whimsy if we operate on you in this condition we may never get you off the respirator".  You can bet that shut me up pretty quickly!  I was thereafter a very dutiful patient.  Lucky for me on April 20th I was clear and good to go and had my surgery.  Now 9 days post op I am feeling pretty good.  They have me wearing a corsitt for 6 weeks which greatly limits my ability to do things like lift, bend, sit AND DECORATE!  Patience is a true gift for people who have had back surgery and sadly I am not the most patient person.  But I am trying!  I have missed my projects, missed my blogging and missed my friends!  But this blog isn't all doom and gloom and WHINING.  Oh no!  Read on.........

Look at this fun handbag.  Doesn't it just bring a smile to your face?  It does mine and it really just screams Spring and Summer and Warm Sunshine.  While little Miss Whimsy and I were at one of her cheer competitions we discovered a new store.  New to us anyway and pretty new overall to the country.  This chain is opening like gangbusters across the USA.  I think they had something incredible like 23 openings in various states this month alone.  Let me introduce you to Charming Charlie if you have not already met.  What is it you say?  It is first of all a girls dream no matter what age.  An accessorie store full of color coordinated sections of costume jewelry, shoes, handbags, scarves and so much more.  When you walk into the store your pulse quickens.  You are overwhelmed and slightly dizzy.   Sadly when we discovered Charming Charlies in D.C. we had no time to shop because we were on Cheer time.  A couple week back Little Miss had her final competition of the season and it was in Atlanta.  We opted to take the charter bus down because my back had not been operated on yet and sitting and driving long distances was not my friend.  Another mom drove and when she showed up to the venue for competition she was carrying this adorable handbag.  I commented profusely on it  and she then informed me that a Charming Charlies was opening up in Greensboro (which is an hour and a half from us) on April 27th.  "Ahhhhh",  I said "I will forever be deprived of Charming Charlies because my surgery is the 20th and I can't drive afterwards for some time!"  On the 27th I came home from my doctors office to find this handbag on my front porch.  This lovely friend drove to Greensboro to get this bag for me because she knew I had admired it so much and wanted to brighten my day with a GET WELL gift.  I am greatly touched.  If ever you question the people around you or feel like you are not thought about wait until something happens.  I have been surrounded by love.  Blessed with meals from neighbors.  Calls from friends.  Lovely flowers and so much more.  I can only be humbled.  Please know I appreciate every email and every post.  I hope to be able to post more regularly here on my blog now.  So stop in and see me every once and awhile and know that a smile is on my face when I am reading your kind words.  Blessings and have a terrific week!

P.S. I was told by a reader of my blog that she had tried to comment and had received a message telling her that I was not receiving comments at this time.  I have no idea why that happend.  Please know if ever you can't leave a message on this blog, you can reach me by email at southernwhimsy@yahoo.com

Lilac Fur-A-Licious!

Continuing my daughter's bedroom makeover, it was time to hunt down a desk chair.  We had already found a vanity/desk with great lines and we wanted something equally as wonderful for a desk chair.

Our hunt ended at the flea market where we picked up this chair for a song.  It was in need of some TLC. 

After some sanding I primed the chair to get it ready for the High Gloss Lilac paint.

The unexpected would make this chair fantastic.  Glossy Lilac, who would have thought?

On went the layers of paint.  One coat after another..........

Once I finished painting the chair I turned to re-upholstering the seat.  It was an old chair and the foam inside the cushion proved that.  I replaced the foam and covered it with new batting.

As if the bold lilac color wasn't enough of a surprise .....I decided to cover it in white fur.

A fun and funky twist sure to make this traditional Chippendale style chair perfect for a tween room!

TA-DA here it is complete and sitting at her new desk!

Fur-A-Licious Baby!

Do you think this will make her want to do her homework?

Hope you enjoyed this fun metamorphosis!  Please join Susan at Between Naps on the Porch by clicking HERE for more wonderful eye candy.

I am also linking up to Make it Monday at Cottage Instincts.  You an visit there by clicking Here

Enjoy your week!

Flea Market Fun

Every weekend at the Raleigh Fair grounds they have a flea market.  This past weekend Little Miss Whimsy and I decided to go there to hunt for a chair for her desk.  We had something very specific in mind!

Flea markets are always an adventure!  Look at these wonderful frames.  Oh let the imagination fly!  I am already working on a project involving a large ornate frame.  Even so I was tempted by these!

This flea is inside and outside.  There is so much to explore!

This is just a glimpse of some of the silver pieces and sets we saw.  Those are always hard to walk away from!

Here it is my favorite find of the day.  There were two matching ones both painted gray.  Oh man I wanted these.......badly.  I could imagine them on either side of my four poster bed as an unexpexted twist.  I even wondered if I should sell my existing side board in my formal dining room and place these in there!  I could strip them and refinish them or paint them a color that would compliment the room.  I must admit I love the gray but it would not work in my home!

A common feature in pieces like this the top "drawer" actually pulls out as a serving tray.  These were usually found in pieces from the 1940's.

The manufacturer was Morganton.  In the end I had to leave these for the next buyer as I simply had no place to put them......much to my dismay. I am still dreaming of them two days later!

Those weren't the only great furniture pieces to be found............

Need Oars?  These would be fantastic in a beach home or nautical themed boys room!

More drool ......

This vendor has the most beautiful beads and gems.

Our purchase of the day.  It was in pretty bad shape which is just what we wanted.  Lower price and ready to be made over!  I will be featuring this on an upcoming Monday.

The Raleigh Flea Market ....an entertaining way to spend a morning or afternoon!