The Ya Ya Room

When our youngest two grandsons visited a couple of weeks ago, I posted about finding a certain little boy's shorts hanging from the chandelier in this bedroom.  See it here.  When this was posted, I got a number of comments and emails asking to see the rest of this room, and the rest of the house.  I've been  a bit reluctant to show our home in great detail, but when I started getting phone calls asking for it, I decided to start featuring a room at a time.  So I'm starting with this guest room that I designed for a non-existent granddaughter.  We call it the Ya-Ya room. 

This was how the previous owners used it.

Deep colors, and heavy mahogany furniture.  I hate, hate, hate the look of overhead fans, even though they are necessary and wonderful in their practicality.  Out it went.  I put it in the potting shed.  You can see it here.

You can see that not only did we get rid of the popcorn ceiling, paint the whole room, replace the carpet, we also replaced the polished brass hardware with oil rubbed bronze.  We did this with the whole house, including the hinges on all of the doors.  I think this style of brass hardware really dated the house.  It was really good quality, but it had to go.

Here's my very favorite part of the room....this pink and white crystal chandelier.  Even the bulb has a cute little beaded cover.  I love this soooo much.  Listen.....it says "Ya-Ya"!!!!!!

I put twin beds in here.  It's always nice to have the option of twin beds for guests.  If you have a crowd, you can put compatible people in the same room, when you might not want to if they had to share a bed.  The carpet is an olefin that looks so much like sisal, that people can't believe it isn't sisal.  I couldn't go with real, since this is on the terrace level of the house, and has a cement subfloor.  The possible moisture problem is minimized with this product.  I've used in in several houses.

The sheets and shams are Yves De Lorme.  It is such great stuff!  Yes, I DO iron it, though.  When you do, it is so heavenly.  Soft but crisp.  Guests are worth it.  The beds are a tailored style of cherry and mahogany with just a tiny bit of gilt.  Very understated. 

The matelesse is a cute white polka-dot by Malabar.  I just keep hoping that guests won't put their suitcases on it.  Trust me, I always point out the luggage rack!  At the foot of each bed is a mohair throw that is so cuddly and soft.

Over each bed is an oil painting of a bunny in a deep burnished gold frame.  The plate is by Luneville, a French company.

In between the beds is this nightstand.  I found this white ironstone lamp years ago at a consignment shop in Indianapolis and put a white silk shade on it.  Every  guest room still needs an alarm clock, even though most people set their own cell phone alarms these days. The candle is lilly of the valley scented and is on a small green and white china butter pat, ans the little piece of lace was my grandmother's. 

On the floor under this nightstand is one of the few silk flower arrangements you'll find in our house.   I think these are exceptional quality and they are in a white porcelain urn from our older daughter's beautiful wedding.

Going around the room, next is this Victorian chest and mirror that I painted white and antiqued green.  It holds extra bedding and pillows and the drawers are lined with beautiful paper. 

This is actually three random pieces that I put together and unified with paint.  The top with the two small drawers, little shelves, and this great keysone was made to have a mirror hang off of it and tilt.  That mirror was missing, but I found one that is just hung on the wall.  These green hobnail lamps are from Martha Stewart's old mail order company and I replaced the paper shades with silk.  The porcelain dresser set is an antique.  I always have water in a guest room, too.  Oh, look here......it's another silk plant!  I guess I don't have as few as I thought.  This one is lilly of the valley.

Beside the dresser is this chaise lounge that has been in our family for years and years.  Between my mother and I, this has been recovered so many times that I can't count.  I have a great upholsterer that made these cute little flowers under the buttons.  I love this needlepoint pillow.  The one behind it has a bee skeep on it.

It matches some Osbourne and Little fabric that I used in our last house.

This pair of etchings are from Williamsburg and are hand colored.  They each represent the month of the birth of our daughters. 

This round table holds some very sentimental photos, a Limoges box, an antique plate, a metal candlestick, a paper mache rabbit and a lamp with a dimmer switch.  These sheer curtains are just off of the rack.  I'm still contemplating what I want to do.  I may just leave these plain, because I don't want any fabric to fight with this...........

beautiful organza overlay.  It is pretty great, isn't it?  The plaid is a pink and white silk.

The tub chair is another piece that has been recovered several times. 

The green and white pillow is hand painted and the needlepoint one is from a dear friend.

I'm sort of over this plaid, so I'm going to recover it in this fun fabric.  I think it will make this room look a little fresher.

The closet space is great on this room.  I use one side  for out of season clothing storage, and the other one is simply for guests.

I love this metal sconce and this photo of our family at the beach on Sanibel Island.

Don't you hate it when you're visiting someone and there's no trash can?  There's always those airline labels from your luggage at the very least.  I'm always surprised how much trash is in here from guests.  This is a good look at the carpet in this room.

Another special gift.  I have it hang on the doorknob.

Here's the inside of the closet.  Luggage rack, towels, ironing board, iron, padded hangers, and a plastic bag for dirty clothes.  I always bring these home from hotels so that our company can take their clothes home in them.  I also have a one-size-fits-all terry cloth robe and some washable slippers.  Another thing that I have in here and I'm surprised by how often it is used it this little fan.  Several people say they like the white noise of a fan.  Who knew?  At our house, you'll need it to drown out the noise of the crickets.

On a small wall over by the entrance are these two small antique French cartouches.  They are hand colored and matted in a gilt edged oval.

Isn't this exquisite?

And here's the other one, although a bit blurry.

Lastly, this hangs on the doorknob.  It tells me when this room is NOT ready for coffee.

The very, very best part of this room is the people who stay here.  We have moved so many times and have no family in town, so we miss so many people in our lives.  Nothing makes us happier than to fill this room with guests and spoil them a bit.  Would you like to make a reservation?

I'm posting on Metamorphis Monday at

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

This Is Not What I Planned!!!!

I always thought that there would be American Girl dolls, smocked dresses, Tinkerbell, and lots of pink in my life as a grandmother.  Well.....there are Rescue Heros, rubber snakes, muddy shoes, and Spider Man instead.  

No sweet little girl babies appeared in the delivery room.  Neither one of our daughters provided us with one of those pigtailed little children.

No pink.  No ballerinas.  No princess tiaras.

Instead, we were blessed with three of the sweetest little thugs on earth!  They all amaze me with their unique personalities and loving ways.  I wouldn't trade a day at the go-cart track for a toddler's mani/pedi for anything on earth.  Every hug and every smile are perfection and I treasure each and every one of them that I am lucky enough to get.  I know that the day will soon come when I'll sit in the stands at the football games and try real hard not to embarrass anyone.  I won't be holding hands with them in public much longer.  They won't fight about sitting beside me at dinner forever.  I won't hear "play with me" or "you're the best".  Each one of them has such a hold on my heart. 

Five years ago, when I decorated this guest room, I was still expecting hoping for this elusive grandaughter, so I designed what we call the ya-ya room.  All in pink and green, it is sophisticated enough for an adult, but was ready for a tutu in every corner.  Across the hall, is a red and camel guest room that I envisioned as the boys' room.  However, the twin beds in the ya-ya room worked best for the two youngest (5 and 7) when they visited last week.  (A single queen size bed gives them opportunity to "bug each other", you know.)  Since they were only in the ya-ya room to sleep, they didn't mind at all that they were surrounded by a sea of pink and green.

My very favorite feature of this room is this pink and white beaded chandelier.  I think it absolutely makes the room.  Even the bulb is covered with a little beaded jacket.  Perfection!  So imagine when I discovered this............

  a pair of size six, madras plaid boy's shorts hanging off of this treasured light fixture!!!  I know exactly who kicked them off, up into the air, and saw them land on the chandelier.  This was soooooo not how I saw my life happening!  But funny????  You better believe it!!!!  Not what a little girl would do with her Lilly Pulitizer skirt, but exactly what this little charmer would do!  I couldn't be mad.  I could only laugh and laugh.

But this mess in the bathroom is another story!

Breakfast in the Ya-Ya Room

When we moved to this house five years ago, I was still holding out hope for a grandaughter.  I made sure that one of our guest rooms was pink and green and I chose every item with this imaginary little girl in mind.  Well, you know what they say about God laughing at your plans?  We are the very proud grandparents of three darling little boys and NO girls!

Even so, I love this room.  It's where I let my pink flag fly!  Many of the items in it were in our former guest room that I decorated with the same little girl in mind.  It had a pink and white French toile on every wall, curtain, and all the bedding.  We called it the Ya-Ya room, and so this is the new Ya-Ya room.

This little table usually looks like this, but I thought it was just the right size for a girlie breakfast.

 The pink and white plaid taffeta skirt is topped with this beautiful embroidered organza cloth.  I bought it years ago at an antique show here in Atlanta that benefits the Cathedral of St. Philips.  It is in perfect shape and I have even washed it gently several times. (Once when a dirty diaper was laid on top!)

I was really dying to use these wonderful plates I bought at OneKingsLane.com during one of their designer sales.  I got four of them.

 

They are made in Portugal, even though I was at first sure that they were French.  The pattern is "Pescador", which probably means fisherman. 

They really made a pretty table.

Here's an overhead view of the placesetting.

I used this pink French flatware.  It's so feminine.  I wish I had some serving pieces to go with it.

I've had these pink linen napkins and the white wicker rings so long I can't even remember where I got them.

These old etched glasses are probably one of my best ever consignment shop finds.  I got them from The Board of Trade in Roswell, Georgia.  They were even marked down since they had been there a while.  I couldn't believe they hadn't sold right away!  Don't you sometimes wish that dinnerware could tell you stories of some parties it has been to?  I bet these beauties could tell some good ones.  Can any of you tell me anything about these?

I got these depression glass tumblers at Scott's Antique Show.  I bought them off the back of a truck that was selling tools and hardware.  Who knows why they had this one set of glasses?  They must have been anxious to get rid of them, as they made me a good deal on all twelve of them.

As I have said before, I'm not much for artificial flowers, but these just send me!  They appear old and faded.  Probably the epitomy of "Shabby Chic".  The grapes are beaded a beautiful shade of green.

 They're in an ivory pot from our oldest daughter's wedding.  I have these all over our house, and there's a lot of them in the potting shed, too.  It's just the nicest size and shape for so many arrangements of flowers, fruit, pinecones, or ornaments. 

I gave some thought to using these porcelin pieces in place of the flowers.  I love the soft colors and the French peasant style.

 But guess what?  They were made in Japan!

I think the flowers were better on this table, don't you?

I'm joining Susan's Tablescape Thursday at

betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Be sure to visit her and check out some beautiful tables this week.