Little Sleeping Porch by the Ocean

Today I'm going to wrap up the Cape Cod Academy Showhouse room I did in 1995.

You guys are soooo lucky!!!!!

Off the attic bedroom was a little sleeping porch that I set up as a small sitting area with hammock and chair.

This was the perfect place to snooze and read and just gaze at the ocean.

Traditional Home Magazine 1995

To match the bedroom, I had the walls ceiling and floor painted the same color cream.

I wanted the two rooms to read like a suite.

This little porch was a jewel with it's view of the ocean.

For the window treatments I decided to go funky.

I had a bunch of natural un-dyed cotton bullion fringe that I looped and swagged over the windows.

I used to go to Pier One Imports to find fun unusual stuff.

I would re-purpose the hell out of everything!!!!!

Unfortunately, that store has gone the way of Corporate America, and become safer, more generic and less idiosyncratic.

But back in 1995, it was still fun and had jewelry and other unnecessary items that I could apply to my designs.

I found the pearl encrusted barrettes that I used to cover the nails in the middle of each swag.

I know you can't see the pearls in this picture, but take my word for it, 

they be pearl encrusted!!!!!

At each corner I hammered in a star fish pin I found in some catalog,

 I have no memory of where they came from.

So don't ask,'cuz I don't know.....

After all, this was a looooong time ago.

for the "tassels" in the center of each window, I hung a shell.

These were shells from Pier One that came with scented wax inside.

I couldn't stand the smell, so it took me forever to soak them and de-scent them.

Then

I had to drill a hole in the tip of each one.

Soooooo

I got out my trusty drill, 

and I'm drilling

and drilling

and drilling.

It took me for #$% ever.

After I was all done, 

I realized that I had set my drill in reverse.

OY OY OY.....

Sometimes the things I do are so stupid it's painful.

I found the metal sail boat in a junk store and felt it was the perfect touch for the ocean theme.

The lamp was an old alabaster one I had knocking around, I stuck the vintage lampshade on it.

I loved this lampshade, why don't they make stuff like this anymore?????

Over the back of the wicker chair I threw a knit cotton spread.

It had originally been too purpley pink, and I wanted it a little more to the orange, so it would go with the room.

I had the brilliant idea to dip it in tea, and change the color that way.

This was the first time I had ever done tea dipped.

This was before you could look up anything you wanted on the internet.

Soooooooo

I filled up the laundry sink in my basement with hot water and stuck some tea bags in it,

 and let them brew, 

and then I soaked the cotton spread in the sink, 

with the tea,

and the teabags......

Sooooooo.....

After a while, I drained the water and wrung out the spread, and looked at what I had created.

It was definitely more the dusty rose color that I wanted,

BUT.....

there were darker brown squares scattered over the spread from where the tea bags had rested against the fabric.

This spread had been slotted to use on the bed.

OOPS.....

Soooooo....

I folded it up, so you couldn't see the brown squares, and laid it over the back of the chair. 

I found the hammock in one of the catalogs I used to get...

Don't remember where.

Don't ask me, 'cuz I don't know.....

It was really cool, it had tassels!!!!!

So, that's it for this room, I don't think there's anymore to tell.

Connie closes on her new house this week, and then I can start blogging about that.

It's very exciting and we've been working our tails off on it.

I'm going back up to Massachusetts on Tuesday, but I took pictures of the new landscaping I had done on my own house,

 so I'll be showing that in my next post.

On that note,

Later, Gator