My First "Homemaking" Project!

My mom's parents have moved out of their apartment into an assisted living place and the kids and grandkids have been fortunate to get some of the items they aren't able to use anymore. I've gotten a number of great things that I will be talking about as I continue to update them... but here is the FIRST project I've really done on my house. I've lived here for 4 years so that's kind of sad... but I'll get over it if you will.

This is a wrought iron bed. I don't know how long it's been in the family. In my other guest bedroom, I have another iron bed that was my great-great-grandmas so these are pretty cool to have. Ben came over for two days and after sanding, dusting, taping, priming and using SIX cans of "Hyacinth" spray paint, behold.

The room isn't finished at all... pictures still to be hung, you can see the tiny leg of the little love seat in the corner and it needs a side table and a standing lamp. And I'm not even going there with the totally blank, stark white wall across from the bed. It's going to have to wait it's turn.

PLUS, the chair at the desk is silver. And the night stand on the other side of the bed has a cream base. That just won't do. I'm learning that the issue with projects is that once you start, you don't want to stop and it can be neverending. Never, ever, ever ending.

Someday, I will get new bedding, but the new bed definitely makes the existing bedding feel better in this room to me! And you can't really see the sheets, but they are a subtle striped grey-ish green that I love with the lavendar.

Why is the fan there?? Because I love it and I don't know where else to put it right now. It, also, was my grandmother's. She used to pull out an array of fans when we had tea parties when we were little girls and we'd fan ourselves as if we'd grow faint with another second without a PB&J tea sandwich with the crusts cut off.

Oh yes, and those back pillows are a peek of sunshine yellow. Notice the brass knobs and finials that we left on the bed. Is that what those are? I'm making this up. All I know is that whenever I see one of those knobs I want to tap on it and be transported to Bedknobs and Broomsticks land immediately.

I'm going to get brass pulls for my desk and dresser to match.

My great aunt, Auntie Beth, painted this gorgeous picture. The colors are ridiculously perfect for this room. That lamp was my grandmother's too. It has the same shades of purple and green plus a gold lampshade. Couldn't have found a more perfect thing if I searched for months and paid hundreds of dollars!

I have a few other things of Auntie Beth's in my house now and I'll show them to you sometime. This is hung a little high because that's where the nail was at the second I wanted to hang it. But I might leave it there and put a shallow shelf underneath. TBD.

A little detail on the pillow that you can't see from far away... the two fabric pins were Moyce's and the gold and enamel pin is my other grandma's (Della).

Just a little better contrast... I used my flash here. Pioneer Woman would yell at me. The color in the other picture is so much prettier, but you needed to see how cute these flowers are with their details.

I didn't have time to really sit and figure out aperture's and shutter speeds and composition and all that. But this at least shows you some of the things I'm doing with this amazing time I have on my hands. At the very least, I've blogged twice in two days!!! That should count for something.