FALL IS HERE~~~

and so welcome, from the summer heat here in our beloved Texas. Waking today to much cooler temps, is not only welcome, but inspiring. Busy as a bee I am these days with shelves to fill for the holidays, but I did find a few minutes to decorate with the colors of Fall in our cottage. Here are some random pics inside and out. Painting my chic bike white and the front door a new strawberrypink red was part of my staycation redo's. The color for the door is called Summer Pudding available at Lowe's.



























The pink shabby pumpkin was made by my good friend and talented, Amy from Bunny Rose Cottage several years ago.
Thank you for stopping by to visit my touch of Fall here in the Lone Star State. I hope your change of season is special in everyway.
Till next time, Blessings and Blue Autumn Skies, Celestina Marie

The Pink Rose

Her hair was up in a pony tail,
Her favorite dress tied with a bow.
Today was Daddy's Day at school,
And she couldn't wait to go..
But her mommy tried to tell her,
That she probably should stay home.
Why the kids might not understand,
If she went to school alone.

But she was not afraid;
She knew just what to say.
What to tell her classmates
Of why he wasn't there today.

But still her mother worried,
For her to face this day alone.
And that was why once again,
She tried to keep her daughter home...

But the little girl went to school
Eager to tell them all.
About a dad she never sees
A dad who never calls.




There were daddies along the back wall,
For everyone to meet.
Children squirming impatiently,
Anxious in their seats



One by one the teacher called
A student from the class.
To introduce their daddy,
As seconds slowly passed.

At last the teacher called her name,
Every child turned to stare.
Each of them was searching,
A man who wasn't there.

"Where's her daddy at?"
She heard a boy call out.
"She probably doesn't have one,"
Another student dared to shout.

And from somewhere near the back,
She heard a daddy say,
"Looks like another deadbeat dad,
Too busy to waste his day."


The words did not offend her,
As she smiled up at her Mom.
And looked back at her teacher,
Who told her to go on.


And with hands behind her back,
Slowly she began to speak.
And out from the mouth of a child,
Came words incredibly unique.

My Daddy couldn't be here,
Because he lives so far away.
But I know he wishes he could be,
Since this is such a special day.

And though you cannot meet him,
I wanted you to know.
All about my daddy,
And how much he loves me so.

He loved to tell me stories
He taught me to ride my bike.
He surprised me with pink roses,
And taught me to fly a kite.

We used to share fudge sundaes,
And ice cream in a cone.
And though you cannot see him.
I'm not standing here alone.

Cause my daddy's always with me,
Even though we are apart
I know because he told me,
He'll forever be in my heart

With that, her little hand reached up,
And lay across her chest.
Feeling her own heartbeat,
Beneath her favorite dress.

And from somewhere in the crowd of dads,
Her mother stood in tears.
Proudly watching her daughter,
Who was wise beyond her years.

For she stood up for the love
Of a man not in her life.
Doing what was best for her,
Doing what was right.

And when she dropped her hand back down,
Staring straight into the crowd..
She finished with a voice so soft,
But its message clear and loud..

I love my daddy very much,
he's my shining star.
And if he could, he'd be here,
But heaven's just too far.

You see he is a soldier
And died just this past year
When a roadside bomb hit his convoy
And taught brave men to fear.

But sometimes when I close my eyes,
it's like he never went away...
And then she closed her eyes,
And saw him there that day.

And to her mother's amazement,
She witnessed with surprise.
A room full of daddies and children,
All starting to close their eyes.

Who knows what they saw before them,
Who knows what they felt inside.
Perhaps for merely a second,
They saw him at her side.

"I know you're with me Daddy,"
To the silence she called out.
And what happened next made believers,
Of those once filled with doubt.

Not one in that room could explain it,
For each of their eyes had been closed.
But there on the desk beside her,
Was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose.

And a child was blessed, if only for a moment,
By the love of her shining star.
And given the gift of believing,
That heaven is never too far.

Author Unknown.



Till Next Time, Have a special day.
Blessings, Celestina Marie

ROOM FOR CHANGE~~PART 2

Before I start my redesign tour, I want to give a big thank you to Carolyn from Draffin Bears for the award she gave me. She has a lovely blog and is so very talented designing darling bears. If you have not visited her, please take the time to visit. She makes the most amazing bears and has a website with available bears to purchase. You will so enjoy your visit and reading her interesting posts. Thank you so very much Caroyln, I will add this to my slideshow of awards at the bottom.



Remember the HGTV show called Room for Change? Well it felt like an episode again as I redesign a very small powder room tucked under a staircase. The before room had blue stripes, which were nice at one time, and I still love stripes, but this room needed an upgrade to reflect the room it joins (library/family room) and the rest of our cottage style villa. This is a project I wanted to do for so long and our 2 week staycation gave me that time.


First I started by taking down the striped wall paper. Well, tearing it down in little strings is more like it. Even with the proper water preping, it is an awful job. The wall looked terrible at this point with parts of the drywall showing and layers of older paper. However, perfect for that old world stucco type look.
Now to achieve that look and style without stucco, I took sheets of unprinted newsprint paper. The type you collect antique shopping, when they wrap your purchases. Not as thin as tissue paper, but perfect to scrunch and tear to form wrinkles and folds. At this point, I soaked each piece in a bucket of watered down Elmer's glue before applying to the wall.

I know, it looks pretty bad! Remember, it always looks bad before it looks better! LOL!!
Next I applied mod podge to the stucco style papers and let it dry over night.

Now on to painting the walls right over the papers with a maple syrup color paint. It is a very warm and soft color.


The technique I used is one I tried many years ago for giving a stucco look without actually using thick plaster. I sort of made it up as I went along. This really makes it less expensive, in fact free, if you have saved the papers from shopping trips and less messy too. Any color can be painted over the dried papers.

As you can see in the finished pictures, I only did this on the bottom half of the wall, under the chair rail and old world style border paper I used on the top half.
After the paint is dry I again did the faux antiquing technique I shared below in my last post. This gives the aged look with shades of light and dark in the folds and wrinkles.


Over the "la toliet" area and shelf, I added a border of old books I found several years ago in a paper. I cut them out to look like they are real and standing on the shelf. Since this little powder room joins our library family room, it ties the look nicely.


I also covered a paper mache kleenex box with the book paper.

Some of the real books I used to accent are old school books of my mother and her brothers from the 30's and 40's.
The little side cabinet was made by my father and fits perfect to hold essentials. I also painted it with an off white ivory like the wall hutch in the family room.
Before~

After~

This got me to organize all the books in our little library. The TV is behind the center section. I really don't like to see it when not in use. Just a quirk of mine!

I also found this sweet little print at a resale shop. It had a gold frame and I also painted it the light ivory and adding it to the powder room.


Okay, now I am on a roll here and decided to make some short valance toppers in blue and white toile for the library windows. I kept them short since this room is dark and I wanted to let as much light in as possible.
Added 2 wall groupings along side the hutch and redesigned this charming floor lamp from the 40's with a chic shade along side a vintage table also painted in the light ivory. The lamp was my mother and dad's first living room purchase when they got married. It has a swing arm and perfect when I read or do hand work.




To finish up the area by the back door, I also made a small valance and placed it over a window type mirror that I painted light ivory along with a magnetic curtain rod and painted a larger mirror frame going up near the stairs, ivory as well. This is by a back coat closet. The mirrors open up the area and give it a larger feel.


Just these little touches made a big difference and I had so much fun. Thank you for stopping by. I'll be back next time with a few more little redo's. Till then, Have a great week and see you soon.
Blessings, Celestina Marie

Rooms, Redo's and Summer Staycation Projects!

Staycation 2009 turned out to be a fun time, and along the way, I accomplished a few fun projects in our cottage. You know the ones that you want to attempt, but never have enough time, unless you just make the time. Well, that's what I decided to do this summer and so glad I did. Here are a few pics of just some of the projects I finished on staycation.

First, I started with the kitchen. In the table area, there is a chair rail going around to the opposite side only in the dining area. I thought it would look accented and stand out if I did a faux sculpted finish on the bottom half. So to start with, I added over sculpted papers that I had added earlier, the wall color of the room and finished with a glaze finish added to a soft brown paint for an old world worn look. After this was complete and dry, DH added new curtains rods with rubbed bronze curtain tie back holders to finish. The long sheers are a mix of old world roses on a mixed and muted background of antique linen. I think this look takes me back to a time growing up and observing my grandmother's decor. She was from Naples Italy and her decorating revolved around vintage, old world, lots of handmade treasures and gorgeous floral and roses. She loved to paint and was always painting something. Her name was Celestina.

The first pics are the before wall, preparing the glaze and adding the finish.







See the wall cabinet off to the side of the table? This was a great find purchased from a shop closing in my town. It is an old piece, but made very well, sturdy and even has the original worm holes which I love. It was used to store and showcase designer candles, so the scent is heavenly!!
Here is the before shelves. Kind of dull and boring right?

I painted the entire shelves and bottom doors 2 caots of black. Added pages from a 1904 Ladies Home Journal for the background on the shelves and accented the bottom doors with two rooster prints. Sealed all with several coats of varnish on the painted areas and decoupaged the papers. The 1904 pages are from the year my grandmother was born. I actually made copies of the pages and kept the yellowed background for age. This way, the originals are in tack and can be used again.


Lastly to finish this room, I decided to paint the wood hood over the cooktop a pretty soft black with carved accent. I distressed the surface for age and wear before sealing with a soft satin varnish. Later I am planning, if all goes as I'd like, to faux Tuscan finish all the cabinets in an antiqued raw cotton. It will be a long and laboring project for after the holidays, but for now, these little additions added to the old world charm I love.



The print over the cooktop is one I found browsing through art work in a shop one day several years ago. I painted over the original colors to reflect my rooms colors and then framed and distressed the edges. It is all under glass and easy to clean in this area over the stove.

When I return, I will share the next project of a small under stairs powder room.
Till next time, Have a great Labor Day Weekend and Blessings Always.
Celestina Marie