Bathroom Blues, Part 2

Hola darlings!

Prior post.  Seriously - help me come up with a design for my main floor bath/powder room.

First prize is a Visa gift card of $50, runner-up design plan will receive a $25 Visa gift card.

My downstairs bath:

Yes, you've got your work cut out for you...

Bathroom Blues

Hola darlings!  It is so cold and windy here today!  Winds are gusting up to 35 mph and the temperature is rapidly dropping (it was 17 F when I got up at 7 a.m., now 14 F at 11 a.m.), but at least it's not snowing any longer (more is coming tonight...).  The sky is blue scattered with clouds and if it weren't for the windchill  and drifted snow mounds, one could almost imagine this could be a spring sky, it's that lovely.  We're expecting another one of those 45 below zero F days on Monday, and 30 below zero F on Tuesday, before it gets up to a balmy zero degrees F on Wednesday.  Thankfully, I've been getting rides to and from the office, for it has been too cold to walk back and forth the distance I have to go to get to the bus stop and it's difficult to breathe for a healthy person in this kind of weather, let alone someone like me with pulmonary issues.  I HATE being this dependent on others, but I am grateful to them too for, realistically, I could not get into work otherwise, and all of my "paid time off" would be blown soon because there appears to be no end in sight to this horrid winter season.  Not to mention my boss would blow a gasket and I would probably lose my job, a disaster at age 62 with an absolute need for health insurance coverage (not to mention a mortgage that still needs to be paid off).

But, I'm not here to bitch and moan about my miserable life, because it's not miserable at all, actually.  I am acutely aware of how much I have for which to be grateful and except for some health issues and missing Mr. Don, I am very happy with my life. 

Today I'm going to bitch and moan, instead, about my downstairs powder room:

 

The Look for Less: Traditional Home Bedroom in Grey by Barbara Westbrook

Hola darlings!

Today is the NFC Championship game and I'm rooting AGAINST the 49ers.  Boo hiss boo!

Show house bedroom, Atlanta Showhouse, by Barbara Westbrook.

I felt in the mood to do a new "Look for Less!"  I visited Traditional Home online where I happened across this grey bedroom and fell in love.  What IS it with me and bedrooms???  Guess I'm just an unabashedly incurable romantic :)

That French Style Fireplace Is Mine!

Woo woo, darlings!  I am so excited, I'm dancing in my chair!  I bought it this evening!

I wrote about how I suddenly developed this strange "urge" to get a fireplace for my bedroom during that horrid cold streak we had (it was cold even for SE Wisconsin). 

I went shopping on line, both for inspiration, and for the French style fireplace I decided I had to have, on January 4th.

I'm [So] Tired...

Hola everyone!

Holy Hathor, I'm so tired!  It's been an awful week of weather.  Even though the temperatures got up to 40 F or so today, there is nowhere for the thawing snow to go as it melts because the ground is frozen solid, so it puddles, pools and re-freezes on the sidewalks at night.  The same sidewalks that I use to get to and from the Pick 'n Save and the bus.

Argggghhhh!  I've got a classic video below, Madeline Kahn doing "So Tired" from Blazing Saddles.  I've put it at the end because, well, it's a little racy so be warned.  She doesn't take any clothes off but her song has lots of double-entendres and she does a perfect sort of semi-klutzy imitation of the famous Marlene Dietrich.  So if you are not the kind of gal who appreciates this, please do not watch the video!  I laughed out loud several times while watching it, and feel much better now.  But -- my beyatching isn't finished yet...

The Look for Less: HGTV Magazine Cover January/February 2014

This is a shorter than usual Look for Less this month.  I loved the cover look so I was excited to see if I could duplicate the look for less!

Here's the cover:

Oooh La La! French Style Fireplace! For My Bedroom!

Hola darlings!

Today it's about 30 degrees F, but it felt very damp as I was walking down to the Pick 'n Save and I though to myself, yep, we're going to get more snow.  Sure enough, the snow started while I was doing emergency stock-up shopping along with 50,000 other Greenfielders, or so it seemed!  Geez.  Nary a spot in the parking lot, and it's not a small parking lot!  Just because it may get to 40 below zero F on Monday doesn't mean the end of the world is coming.  We haven't had such temperatures around here in more than 15 years, thanks to global climate change.  So now everyone is freaking out because we don't remember how cold COLD can get!  LOL!  I shouldn't laugh, but it's that or cry.  It's been damn nasty here weather-wise, and that's a fact.  More snow than I can spit at (the spit would hit me right back in the face anyway because of that strong wind out of the southwest today, that is bringing us 24 hours of balmy temperatures for this time of year).  Shoveled once already and it looks like I may have to shovel again tonight before I go to bed.  I shouldn't be doing shoveling at all because of my heart issues, but that's the way it is. 

Mario Buatta: The Prince of Chintz (and English Country Style!!!)

Hola everyone!

I've got a thing for English Country.  While I'm not "chintzy" per se (I'm sometimes frugal but not chintzy, har!) I think if you look at my overall approach to decorating Maison Newton, you'll see that English Country influence expressed here and there.

I've ooohed and aaahed over Mario Buatta's interiors ever since the 1970's when I was living in apartments, and I've never stopped.

This month's edition of Ruby Lane's online magazine has a feature article on Mr. Buatta, not very long, that you may enjoy reading. 

I love this bedroom.  This is a Mario Buatta room.  The classic design principles incorporated into this room designed years ago by Buatta are incorporated and used in countless bedrooms today, right down to the glittery "chandy."  The photo is from a 2009 article in The Examiner.