Monday, February 15, 2010

Corners of My Home: Upstairs Bedroom





Today I'm showing corners of one of the upstairs bedrooms....it's a nice vintage green with robin's egg blue ceiling and accents.

At first the colors weren't something that I was crazy about, but they've grown on me. Especially on a winter's day when color is something that is in short supply!


A rescued farm table, found at a neighbor's at our very first house...rescued and loved since then in all our homes, we've treasured and refinished her, and she's lived in almost every room of our old house except the kitchen!



You can see the holes here made for leaves to be inserted...we've never had or used the leaves but love it anyway.



This is one of the larger rooms upstairs, that looks straight out into the big silver maple. Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon after dinner, I'll steal away and take a nap up in this bedroom. There's something about "going upstairs" to bed that is strangely comforting to me! I sleep really well up there.




I can lay down and look up at this before I fall asleep...



The view above can be especially glorious in spring when the bright green leaves are all lacy and the sun is shining in the window; and in the fall when the maple is wearing the bright glow of autumn, the whole bedroom shines blazing yellow....

In the spring and summer when the windows can be open, a gentle breeze blows through, with the happy songs of the birds who make this tree their home.

I take my nap on that old couch, that we've had since we were married. (It had belonged to my husband's parents for years before that.) It's an old fold-out bench-style couch with wooden arms and trim that he restored for us before our wedding, and it's been recovered many times during almost thirty years of marriage.

It's made simply enough that repairs and re upholstery can easily be done to it and right now we've got it done in denim: perfect for a green and blue room. It has to be at least fifty years old.



Buddy Love, my son's indoor cat, lives upstairs most of the time and he likes this bedroom, too.



The bed is a replica of an old iron bed....in a powder white finish, ordered from a locally-owned furniture store that has since (sadly) gone out of business.

It's one I chose so it would "go with" old dressers that were in the room. I don't buy new furniture unless I have to, I'd rather have the old stuff. Since it's really hard to match a new bed made of new wood to old oak dressers, I go for replica designs.




I toned down the blue and the green with black and white: the quilt on the bed and the pillow shams and curtains...the curtains are the same pattern as the shams, they're trimmed with rick rack.

And just so you realize the strange quirkiness that comes with living in and loving an old house, the light switch is in the MIDDLE of the bedroom wall...making a headboard with openings a necessity. Who knows why, but since electricity was something that was added long after the home was built; it's just one of those type things you don't realize comes with an old house until you move in and rather than going to all the trouble to move it, you make adjustments and you buy open headboards to be able to make it work!



One of the best features of this room are the sloping ceilings resulting from the steep pitch of the roof....giving a feeling of coziness.


Like the rest of the house, the old trim has never been painted in this room and I love it.

This little door here leads to a large, walk-in attic that is a lifesaver for the storage it provides since our basement is a "Michigan basement" (otherwise known as a dungeon) one of the other special gifts that comes with living in a home built before the turn of the century.

The only downside to having only an attic for storage, is that when it's time for Christmas, is that in December this bedroom is the one that looks like Christmas threw up all over it; with all the various totes and boxes sit here waiting for weeks sometimes, for their turn to be emptied and put back as the decorating moves along; and then again in January when it's time to take it all down!




Below are the views out the window of this old bedroom.


North...



Looking down at the roof over one side of the old porch, which none of my kids has ever yet decided to take a "slide down" thank goodness!




And looking south to the neighbors who farm all of the land around us.

And what a beautiful day to look out the windows!

Here's hoping your day, even if it's winter where you are, is sunny and bright!


4 comments:

Julie Harward said...

I like your green bedroom...and the wood trim. It makes me think of the old farm house I was raised in, I can remember every corner of the upstairs. I have always loved the sloped ceilings too..new homes just don't have such character. Sounds like a lovely place for a nap, like being up in the tree house! Come say hi :D

Bloggin bout my Boys said...

Love the colors and could totally see napping up there! When I was caring for my Mom it was NOT unusual to go up to my old farmhouse bedroom and catch a quick cat nap while she was!! Is that also one of your son's rooms? Noticed the trophies and Nascar goodies! GREAT quilt set!

Valerie said...

Hi Joni!

First off, a huge thank you for your kind words regarding our possible Down Syndrome diagnosis. Enough time has passed that I've truly come to know peace and experience a sense of calm regarding this situation. It's amazing to think that God would choose me to be mother to this special babe...and as you said, prenatal testing can and often is wrong. Regardless, I'm up for the task!

Second, I loved today's post. Thank you for letting up take a peek into the corners of your upstairs guest bedroom. I too think the colors are perfect for cold Michigan winter days. And that quilt is to die for...I'm a huge fan of quilts.

Wishing I could take a nap right now and stare out and up at that beautiful silver maple.

Take care,
Val

mary your sis said...

Mmmm; so cozy, but not stuffy with the fresh color palette. And in the early summer with the windows open, it's nice to hear the birds sing in the tree.