A Special Gift, Guest Bedroom (Cowboy up!), Study

Hello Everyone,

I had a special phone call the other day from my realtor here in Michigan.  Now, before I tell you about that, I want you to know that I haven't had that many positive experiences with realtors.  (If you are a realtor, or if one of your loved ones is a realtor [Jill], I am sorry.  I am not making a generalization about all realtors, but I seem to have encountered my share of weird, kooky, and downright obnoxious realtors in my day.)  So, I've always been skeptical of them.  (No offense intended.)  However, Peg has been THE BEST.  Seriously, I count her as a friend here in Michigan now.  I have really enjoyed getting to know her, and she has just been so helpful to me in many ways since I've moved to town.

So, anyway, she calls me up one day and asks if I'd like to have a grandfather clock she's had for about 30 years and is ready to get rid of.  This is something Papa Pea and I have sort of longed for, so of course we said yes.  Well, we went to pick it up, and to my delight, it looks very, very similar to a grandfather clock my grandpa made.

 

My grandma always kept it in the kitchen, and I remember how the gonging would sometimes keep me up at night.  I have always loved my grandpa's clock.  So, I was really excited to have this.  It's sitting in the eating area of the kitchen for now.  Not sure if it will stay here (that's where Papa Pea likes it) or if it will go in the living room.  We'll see.  How thoughtful of Peg, huh?  See, I told you she was special.  Peg, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!

Even though we don't have carpet in the basement yet, we are moving furniture down there, because we want to get it in the house.  Papa Pea wants it out of his workshop area so he can set that up in a way that is functional for him.  I can understand that.  We won't get carpet in the basement (probably) until we build that addition.  So, it's going to be a while.  We'll throw down some rugs in the meantime.  But I thought you might like to see the progress down there.

Remember this room (below)?  Unicorns and rainbows?

 

Well, we pulled up that carpet (smelled of smoke) and stripped that wall paper.  I painted it the same "straw" color we painted our bedroom.

The paint is still wet in that photo.  Still need to paint trim and window.  Pulled out the baseboard heater.

Put in some furniture.  I was really happy to be able to put my cowboy quilt on this bed.  I made it specifically for this bed back when we lived in our first house in Idaho.  I wanted it for the guest bedroom.  We finished the unfinished basement and had just painted the guest bedroom this color when we sold the house....before I could even get the quilt on the bed.  Sigh.  Then, the next house we moved to had blue carpet in the guest bedroom, so I put this quilt away for 2 years.  (The carpet was too nice to replace at that time.)  You'll notice it's a little too big.  That's because it's king sized (and the bed is queen sized).  I did that on purpose, because we had Tempurpedic type mattresses on the bed, and they are soooooo tall.  But we have those on our bed now, and just regular mattresses on this bed at this time.  Someday we may replace these with taller mattresses.  That's okay.  I think it still works and is more like a bedspread.

The pattern called for these fussy-cut 1950's cowboys.  I totally LOVED this fabric and this pattern.  I had to buy it.  BUT, I thought it was pretty sexist to ONLY have cowBOYS.

So, I alternated the cowboys with these great cowGIRLS on the quilt.  (Kathy Olkowski did the awesome quilting for me.  She is the one who quilted Sweet Pea's quilt, too.  She is so good!)

I thought I was quite clever to buy enough of the cowboy and cowgirl fabric to make "his and hers" pillowcases to match.  Too bad--because I had never made a pillowcase before--I didn't take the directionality of the fabric into consideration when I reserved the extra fabric.  Shoot.  Had to make the heads going sideways to have enough fabric.  Sigh...  Oh well.  I guess it still works.  Now I want to buy or make a couple of cute smaller pillows for the top.  I am thinking of something leather.  Any ideas?

I really like this bed.  Papa Pea hates it and wants to get rid of it so bad.

I don't have many accessories in the room yet.  But I loved this lunchbox from Moda.  I bought it just for this room.  I am thinking I'll put guest supplies in it (extra toothbrushes, etc.).  I want to decorate the room with 1950's cowboy stuff and general cowboy stuff.  I think I may even hang Papa Pea's and my dress spurs on the walls.  We don't have our horses anymore, so it will be a good reminder of them.  I'll keep you posted as we finish decorating.  Still much to do (like put the light fixture back together, among other things!).

Okay, remember this room?  Tiny room with the airplanes?  This will be the study.  I stripped the wallpaper and we tore up the carpet.

I painted it this lovely sage green.  I love it.  We are putting the file cabinet in the closet.  As soon as we get all the closet doors painted, we'll put them back on.  Our dark wood furniture looks really good in here.  I'll show you more of that later.

Hope you enjoyed this little update.  Talk to you more tomorrow!

Until Next Time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[Susan Ramey Cleveland]

I love your cowboy guest room. That quilt and pillow cases are fun.

[Shelly]

I love the cowboy room! Can't wait to see more . . . You have been insanely busy, and I'd have cried if I thought I had to repaint everything yet one more time. You were very brave. I love what you've done so far!

[Lynn]

How about a suede pillow with fringe, like the suede coats with fringe down the back of the arms. Red bandanas might make cute pillow covers too.

[Maggie Szafranski]

I was gonna suggest bandana fabric, also! Everything is coming together very nicely!

[sisLH]

What alot of work into that cowboy quilt. I like Lynn's idea about the suede with fringe. Maybe you can find one of the old jackets to cut up. Bandanna might be nice added on the suede but may be too 'busy' alone with the quilt pattern. I have also seen large bandannas on the walls like a diamond shape and hang your pictures on each one.
I did the same thing with a child's John Deere vest last month that you did with the pillowcases-could have kicked myself for not thinking ahead!
I want the green room!